Чому дочасний доступ?

«Developing a RPG is maybe one of the hardest tasks in game development. Alaloth - Champions of The Four Kingdoms is the game we always dreamt to work on and time is finally come. We are sure that at this stage the Early Access option is the best way to build-up a community playing an active role in the development on daily basis, putting all our effort in converting feeds in features (when possible). Share your ideas and help us craft a super cool high fantasy RPG, staying in between great classics and modern action games! The pipeline is working properly and the team is set since almost 2 years, we are hoping to run a productive and efficient Early Access for Alaloth. However, due to the nature and scale of game that we have envisioned, there may be various problems or missing features and content during the course of Early Access. Here are a few aspects you may need to know:

BALANCING
Various aspects of the combat sys may be unbalanced. Parts of the game may be too easy or too hard.

VOICE OVERS
Since the game uses a lot of text and hundreds of NPCs, we are planning to record voice overs for only a limited subset of the dialog (greetings, companion introductions and main quest). Some of these planned voice overs may be missing or using placeholder versions during EA.

SAVES
We will strive to keep savegame compatibility during Early Access, however it may be technically infeasible to provide 100% backward compatibility in savegames and you may occasionally have to start a new game after updating to a new version. So far [April 2024] we've NEVER wiped a save keeping 100% compatibility and we are proud of this.

BUGS & GLITCHES
The game will be actively developed during Early Access and hence there will be a greater chance of bugs and glitches creeping up. It will of course be a priority to fix these. No game breaking bugs so far [April 2024]

LOC
Our current plan is to add languages on the way. Prio is for the following languages: French, Italian, German, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish (Latin American) and Turkish. Other languages may be added later too, all depends on sales in key territories. During EA, localizations for these languages may be missing entirely or may be incomplete.»

Як довго гра буде у дочасному доступі?

«Our aim is to ensure the best experience possible. It is difficult to say precisely how long it will take to process player feedback and further develop the game accordingly, going for a full release. The focus is on ensuring that the game is fun and enjoyable rather than imposing a deadline that might have a negative impact on the full release. The game is fully playable since D1 with no issues. We've just built on it. The original EA schedule was set on approximatively 12 months, we've delivered ALL the contents in half the time and released 6 Major Updates and 80+ patches [April 2024], with 40+ hours of contents added»

Чим повна версія гри буде відрізнятися від версії для дочасного доступу?

«The Early Access version of the game contains a wealth of content that will keep players engaged for many hours. While the Early Access version is solid and fully playable, players can expect to run into some bugs and other issues while playing that we intend to locate and fix before the full release.

STRONGHOLDS UPDATE
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/919360/view/3378282860045230569

WINTERWRATH UPDATE
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/919360/view/3648510249337999460

DRAGONHOLD UPDATE https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/919360/view/5358762517220787013

LOREBOUND UPDATE
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/919360/view/3685684605312614134

SKYLIGHT UPDATE
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/919360/view/3862463748006596238

CHRONICLES
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/919360/view/4168717862258977934

These are the Major Updates released so far, along with around 80+ patches. We've delivered the original contents scheduled in around 6 months [full list of the orignal contents below here], including tons of deliverables that was not originally in the plan [i.e. we announcend 8 new locations, it ended up with adding 60+].

ORIGINALLY PLANNED FEATURES HERE

STRONGHOLDS
A fully customizable environment to be used as hub by the player, with the chance to customize skins, meet new unique NPC, train yourself in combat etc.
IN SINCE AUGUST 2022

NEW LOCATIONS
8 new locations on maps with new quests available
ADDED MORE THAN 80 NEW LOCATIONS, MAP SIZE INCREASED 30%

NEW QUESTS
A full new layer of quests with multiple options to be completed and brand new storyline for unique chars
200+ QUESTS AVAILABLE

NEW BOSS FIGHTS
Dragons' Season anyone?
IN WITH DRAGONHOLD UPDATE

NEW MOBS
Expanding the roster with new mobs for each kingdom
A TON OF NEW MOBS ADDED AND AROUND 30 HOURS GAMEPLAY SINCE LAUNCH

LOCAL MULTIPLAYER FEATURES
Introducing Arena Mode [name TBC] with the chance to fight PVP sessions with friends»

Який поточний стан версії для дочасного доступу?

«In terms of content, the Early Access version of the game contains all of the main staples of the Alaloth experiences in a vast singleplayer sandbox setting where no two playthroughs are the same. The Early Access version contains a vast world with a wealth of content and all the core mechanics in place. The team worked hard to ensure we deliver a great experience and robust build from day one. A bit of numbers:

2 GAME MODES
A full single player campaign and a competitive mode fighting against champions from other houses

50+ HOUSES & CLANS
Their lore, their story: you can fight as one of them [or create your own legacy]

40 CHAMPIONS
Representing houses & clans, with their own behavior. Challenge them in competitive mode or meet them around as NPC

A HUGE LIVING WORLD TO EXPLORE
6 Kingdoms, 30+ cities, 50+ Fighting Areas, 40+ Point of Interest, Special Areas to be unlocked

CRAFTING
14 different materials to choose from, dozens of armor sets and weapons to craft

ENCHANTING
Use your gems to increase your equipment stats

ALCHEMY
Craft your potions

4 FIGHTING STYLES
1H and Shield, Heavy Weapons, Polearms, Dual Wielding: choose your style [anim set is different for each weapon]

400+ CHARS TO INTERACT WITH
Merchants, warriors, masters, QG, kings & queens: meet them all

200+ QUESTS
Each run a different story: a huge main quest to complete to beat the game and the complete freedom on taking on the tasks you want

AND MUCH MUCH MORE
Tons of items, stories, dynamic events: not the same run twice!»

Чи буде відрізнятися ціна гри протягом дочасного доступу та після його завершення?

«Pricing has not changed during the first 12 months of EA, the period we've originally scheduled to complete the game. Consider that all the EA contents scheduled have been delivered in just 6 months, and we continued with a massive number of updates on the way, completely for free. We've released 6 Major Updates since then, adding around 50 hours of contents, mobs, quests, features and much more. To keep going at this pace, and considering the new roadmap recently released https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/919360/view/3690191375747808011 we had a modest price adjustment set in January 2024 to ensure more and more improvements before reaching the 1.0. A new adjustment will be set with the 1.0»

Як ви плануєте залучати спільноту до розробки гри?

«JOIN THE GUILD
https://www.gamerainteractive.it/the-guild

"Participative design" is what we are aiming for and at this stage, we could be able to iterate with the community to include ad hoc features following the feedbacks. Alaloth is our most ambitious game yet, and player feedback is essential to help us achieve our goals. We want to know every idea the community can come up with. We created a Discord server where the developers themselves will hear your voice. We will also be active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube, so make sure to follow us to receive the latest news and updates. A closed test-group of players will have access to the latest builds of the game and work closely with the dev-team. The test-group will evaluate and test new features and changes before they are released publicly. We will continue to develop this process based on the needs and feedback of the community. We intend to use a range of different methods to gather player feedback and data throughout the Early Access period. These include engaging with users directly, requesting specific feedback through questionnaires, hosting and participating in events alongside our community, and using analytics tools to gather data.

Make sure to Wishlist Alaloth - Champions of The Four Kingdoms to get notified when the full release will happen!»