Hi, everyone!
As with previous updates, I’m sharing this as official spokesperson of the Board of Directors as a whole. I hope you find it interesting and encouraging. Questions and comments are most welcome.
We had our third board meeting last week, where we focused on development:
REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS SO FAR
Our initial development focus has been on establishing a foundation for a development roadmap we can share with our players and Token Holders. Without this foundation in place, it was impossible to forecast what was possible, what it might cost or how long it might take to deliver.
Campaign Human CotC Map 1 Dialogue
These 100 missions of dialogue were intended to improve the new player experience as well as deliver the first phase of a long-awaited feature for veterans. Doing this initial work has helped us plan the release of the remaining dialogue across two maps for each hero.
Best Score Ranking System
Players have quite rightly been complaining about deficiencies of the Shadow Era ranking system for as long as there have been public rankings. We decided it was time this was addressed, so we implemented a new system that has been in effect in October.
Lost Lands Part 2 Artwork
We have 26 completed pieces now, of which four can be seen here as generated card images.
Synchronized Release of v3.51 with Bug Fixes and UI improvements
A number of minor bug reports had accumulated since v3.17 that were not fixed in v3.50 and some new bugs were found in v3.50 as well. We prioritised tackling these to create a more stable experience for our players for now and to build on. We added some minor UI improvements that were requested by the community too. Unlike v3.50, we ensured v3.51 was a synchronized release to avoid a split player-base and we intend to do only synchronized releases going forwards.
Bundle Offers in v3.51
Since Shadow Era was released on mobile, the only items you could buy with your hard-earned cash were Shadow Crystals in differing amounts, to then spend on whatever you liked; this tended to be other starter decks to go with the one you got free. This meant that players could end up missing one of the most thrilling aspects of a TCG: cracking open packs. We decided to address this by offering super-value bundles with 12 packs in each, so new players could get that pack opening experience and discover new cards as they went for a lower price and better value than buying starter decks with Shadow Crystals.
DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP
With the foundation elements in place, we are ready to announce our development roadmap to cover the next six months.
2017 Q4 - Campaign Shadow CotC Map 1 Dialogue
We released the Baduruu missions this week. The other nine CotC Shadow will be released in turn over the next five weeks.
2017 Q4 - Rated Match Improvements
Before the end of the year, there will be per-hero rankings and other additions intended to improve the Rated match experience for players and, in turn, the level of Rated match activity.
2018 Q1 - Steam Launch
Inclusion on Steam will greatly increase our exposure to new players as well as allow Shadow Era players on Steam to benefit from their Friends lists, instant messaging and achievements system.
2018 Q1 - Campaign Human/Shadow CotC Map 2 Dialogue
With the first maps done for the Call of the Crystals heroes, we will continue their stories to lead up to where Dark Prophecies begins.
2018 Q1 - Lost Lands Part 2 Release (67 new cards)
After effectively being on ice for more than a year, I'm pleased to confirm we now have the capacity and budget to complete Lost Lands Part 2. This will involve design work, coding, play-testing and artwork commissions. We will be giving development updates as this progresses and will be reopening the Players' Focus Group for play-testing and pre-release balancing at the appropriate time.
If you have any comments or questions on this update, please reply below or send direct to me or other board members.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your continued support.
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