Hello everyone!
So first thing first, we took a bit of a break from development and enjoyed some holidays in the last couple of weeks. So we didn’t make enough progress to give a release window for the next big update.
(But please keep reading, I gave this Chronicle much love <3).
That being said, this break was much needed and allowed us to take a step back from development and look at the game, the comments and the reviews we got from a fresh perspective.
Addressing Reviews
The most important issue we get on Steam and Discord is how grindy the game is and how repetitive and boring it quickly becomes.
I believe we’ve already mentioned in another Slormite Chronicle that addressing the repetitiveness was one of our top priorities during Early Access. But coming back from our break, and after reading the comments we got from the endgame mode we’ve recently introduced, we realized that we did the opposite.
The Slorm Temple is pretty much the quintessence of a grindy and repetitive content. We know we could have done a MUCH better job so we’re not happy about that.
We were probably too impatient to deliver additional content and we did not take the time to think it through. It turns out The Slorm Temple is not that fun.
But that’s about to change (more about it down below).
As for the rest of the content, our goal is to slowly introduce enough mechanics, enemies and environments so that the game is enjoyable for a much greater amount of time.
The amount of grind needed to unlock new things such as Masteries, Skills, Primordial Reapers or even Levels is also on the to-do list of things we want to adjust.
We also saw a couple of reviews and comments talking about the development being slow and/or focusing on the wrong things (either balance or content that’s not the story).
We pretty much agree to some extent. We’re slowly learning that developing a game during an Early Access is quite different than developing an unpublished game on our own. We definitely could have done a better job and could have prioritized better.
I guess we’re still trying to find the correct pace of our Early Access.
But don’t give up! We’re still determined to make one pretty damn fine RPG with The Slormancer.
The Slorm Temple
As mentioned above, we are not happy with The Slorm Temple and we are going to introduce some major changes that are currently being worked on. This includes more unique encounters, Traps and Events inside the Temple, a Boss, a soft ending and valuable UNIQUE things to collect, giving the player good reasons to get into the Temple.
The Slorm Temple will no longer be something you start over from Floor 1 when you want to spend Pure Slorm: You will be able to purchase upgrades (and other fancy things) from Olorin whenever you want, in the village or directly inside the Temple. Your progression in The Slorm Temple will also be permanent (no need to start over).
The progress you’ve made so far in the Temple will still be relevant and Pure Slorm spent will be refunded.
What about Act II?
We have no release window for that yet. We definitely don’t want to rush anything given how things went with The Slorm Temple and we want to make sure that the experience we offer lays the foundations of something solid and fun for the rest of the development.
Quality of Life
Oh! And we have Quality of Life changes on the way for the next update. These were all suggestions from our Discord members.
We’re introducing a Loot FIlter of our own in The Slormancer. Its purpose is to declutter the screen AND prevent a decent amount of trips to Jemma and/or Friedrich since filtered items can be immediately transformed into either Fragments or Gold.
Also, there are a couple of changes to the Inventory.
First, there’s an additional Tab. It is not yet available but we plan to add the very-requested “Materials Tab” very soon. Second, you will notice “Filter” buttons: Level, Reinforcement, Extras and Purity.
These will allow you to quickly display informations directly on your items so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
Last but not least, you will have the ability to easily throw an item and to easily split Slormites and Fragments into stacks of various sizes. There are other changes coming but these were the “cool” ones.
That’s about it for now.
Thanks for reading this and following the development of the game!
See you next time!