Alpha Release
We are releasing the second iteration of the Alpha, version 0.2! The evolution of this update is immense and I would like to discuss a few. The teaser with release date will be linked below so you can skip ahead if you want.
We are releasing the second iteration of the Alpha, version 0.2! The evolution of this update is immense and I would like to discuss a few. The teaser with release date will be linked below so you can skip ahead if you want.
Initial Plan
The initial plan of the v0.2 update was to populate the forest and the mining region. Moreover, it would feature a class release and plan to fulfil promised donator features such as banking space. Quality of life fixes would be performed by software changes and more quests would be added to the aforementioned region. The level cap would have been expanded by five levels and we would call it a day. The tally would be around 20 tickets for the content team to tackle and about 50 for its software counter part. All looked well, we tackled feedback and addressed it. But one comment in a video stood out to us. The content lacked personality.
Personality
We realised that this remark was correct, but we were in alpha stages after all. The map was not populated or lively because making any MMORPG is time consuming. We wrote down all player feedback posted in #alpha and started development for v0.2. This update was originally planned to release in the first quarter of 2022. But once juggling around content something clicked and the remainder of the aforementioned remark rang true. The comment concluded that the content was not engaging and it could not be fixed by polishing out the current content. "We needed someone that could make engaging content". We dismissed this at first, but the player was right. The content was not engaging. The MQL fell flat and the combat (partly because of the mana drought) felt like a chore. After all, we did not need someone new. We could learn. What we did need was to start over.
New Beginnings
So we did. We started over. Clemens was unorganised, bland, and repetitive. It was a ghost town. The quests were spread out but required to traverse the city over and over. The MQL had no emotion and felt like a task list that needed to be checked off. Walking distance was feedback we should easily be able to solve... right? Maybe, but there was one major thing blocking most change. Clemens. After careful consideration, it had to be remade from the ground up. This felt right, it played well. But, every now and then something would block us. We would ponder how to solve a current issue and more often than not, we realised it could not be solved. It had to be redone. So we did. We started gutting the quests. Removing a few, reworking others. We were left with the MQL... The prime quest line that felt aged and dated. We rang the alarm bells, to the butcher you go. The ticket count kept rising and rising, totalling more than 300+ combined tickets.
The v0.2 release, New Beginnings, reworks Dyescape's content and systems from the ground up. We dissolved our own pride and listened. We worked through many issues. We rebuilt and restructured. For these specific reasons the release has grown upon us and felt a higher attachment to the current material we started producing. It felt fantastic compared to the initial release. We were proud of what stood before us. It is a reflection of our passion and willingness to learn. Initially this pride wanted us to show it off to the world. A marketing campaign was planned, but it did not feel right and we cancelled it. The update feels more personal. And we want you to experience the same. The community of Dyescape has supported throughout these years. With their feedback we were able to develop v0.2 to its current standard. We thank you.
Release Date
The release date will become apparent in 2 days, on YouTube.
