Its been a while and sure time passes slowly if you are waiting and nothing happens. Eventually people start to worry.
On my end however time passed much more quickly - which is how time works I guess if you are in head over heels.

My first intend was to delay news just until I got everything sort out and something solid to present. Shouldn't take too long - right?

STEAM Early Access put a lot of pressure on us. More then some of us could handle. We worked insanely hard for month before Early Access even started and even more after release. People who are with us since ever know we are no quitters - we are used to work hard but his was beyond our design parameters as humans.
Slowly I started to loose sleep and for the first time in many years I had no idea how to fix things since I'm a technical guy yet the problem was not primarily of a technical nature. In a tragic way we fell victim to our own initial success and the nature of STEAM itself.

My plan was to successfully launch on STEAM and build up a small team with its own office etc which would have reduced the pressure and work hours. The first few weeks it looked promising. Early Access went up like a rocket but just like the law of physics: "What goes up must come down" It wouldn't take long until it came back crashing right into my front yard. At times it felt like being a small fish in a pool of sharks trying to survive. I don't want to point fingers but darkfalzx's words in his Legend of Iya Newsletter #31 make much more sense to me now: "To make matters worse, the once mighty STEAM has become a cesspool of shovelware and asset flips, where good games go to die."

I by no means want to imply KOL is a good game but darkfalzx's "Mystik Bell" totally is.

STEAM may not be the right place for us - and even if we manage somehow at some point - for now we have to withdraw the game.

Maybe we can relaunch as free to play, maybe we have to leave STEAM entirely and go back to our own website and game service. I don't know yet.

Whatever comes next there are some changes to the game which we would need to incorporate in order to reduce workload and incorporate the feedback we got so far. The biggest change would be a much more simplified art style, procedural generated maps, double the view distance by reducing the assets size or double the game engine resolution, re-code the player control module ... just to mention a few.

I know its still pretty vague and more so most certainly not what most of you signed on for but at least this puts an end to all of you worrying about the people behind the game more then for the game it self. I'm deeply sorry that I have no better news for you.

Presbyter & his Team.

First of all let me apologize for the unusual late news. Obviously something essential to the project kept us busy and that's why todays news starts with a message from our pixelartist Vierbit:

I shouldn't write this statement in the first place. But the current state of KoL makes this a necessary. As many of you noticed the development is crawling along at snail pace, and understandable the questions arise why that is the case. Without going into personal details, let's just say due to health issues I wasn't able to work to my fullest potential, especially during the last few months in 2017.

We're a small team and everyone is a crucial part of the development, with me being responsible of creating the art assets for KoL. Working too slow on my side also slows down the whole project. While that is no excuse, being transparent about the issues is the least I can offer.

While doing so, it's also necessary to address our estimated release date. While still more than a year away it becomes more and more apparentthe full release will get delayed. To clarify, this doesn't mean Kingdom of Loot is cancelled. But the development hit some rocky ground, and it's necessary to address these problems rather now than later.

Vierbit
KoL's Pixelartist


Right now we evaluate options to get this solved. With such a small team where every single team member is essential to success above could happen to anyone of the team. Normally we just push even harder but off course there are limits. Especially while being in EA. Right now its too early to present other then what we did create since the last news ... and its even more then I can show right now. But as Vierbit tried to explain the situation binds a lot the teams workpower on finding and evaluating options rather then just merrily working along.

New login screen adjusted for new Overworld concept:


Region is completed by completing a special Tower:




Twilight Mine Teaser (map assets completed by now):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MOAQHG9Dy8

That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.
Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com

First of all let me apologize for the unusual late news. Obviously something essential to the project kept us busy and that's why todays news starts with a message from our pixelartist Vierbit:

I shouldn't write this statement in the first place. But the current state of KoL makes this a necessary. As many of you noticed the development is crawling along at snail pace, and understandable the questions arise why that is the case. Without going into personal details, let's just say due to health issues I wasn't able to work to my fullest potential, especially during the last few months in 2017.

We're a small team and everyone is a crucial part of the development, with me being responsible of creating the art assets for KoL. Working too slow on my side also slows down the whole project. While that is no excuse, being transparent about the issues is the least I can offer.

While doing so, it's also necessary to address our estimated release date. While still more than a year away it becomes more and more apparentthe full release will get delayed. To clarify, this doesn't mean Kingdom of Loot is cancelled. But the development hit some rocky ground, and it's necessary to address these problems rather now than later.

Vierbit
KoL's Pixelartist


Right now we evaluate options to get this solved. With such a small team where every single team member is essential to success above could happen to anyone of the team. Normally we just push even harder but off course there are limits. Especially while being in EA. Right now its too early to present other then what we did create since the last news ... and its even more then I can show right now. But as Vierbit tried to explain the situation binds a lot the teams workpower on finding and evaluating options rather then just merrily working along.

New login screen adjusted for new Overworld concept:


Region is completed by completing a special Tower:




Twilight Mine Teaser (map assets completed by now):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MOAQHG9Dy8

That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.
Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com

As announced earlier today the latest installment of KOL has arrived.

All serves are patched and ready to go.

It's the biggest update released so far in Early Access. It introduces the long awaited new Overworld concept of navigating the world as well as a total overhaul if the game world it self. It took a hell lot of work to transform the game based on your input, reports and suggestions.

Together with our friends over at http://chrono.gg we will offer a heavily discounted 2-pack the next 24 hours. If you or your friends have been hesitant to check the game out to this point - now its the time.

Stay tuned since this is just the first update of a series of updates required to get everything we got done online. But as always - lets take one step at a time and this weekend belongs to gaming on your end and some rest on ours.


That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.

Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com

As announced earlier today the latest installment of KOL has arrived.

All serves are patched and ready to go.

It's the biggest update released so far in Early Access. It introduces the long awaited new Overworld concept of navigating the world as well as a total overhaul if the game world it self. It took a hell lot of work to transform the game based on your input, reports and suggestions.

Together with our friends over at http://chrono.gg we will offer a heavily discounted 2-pack the next 24 hours. If you or your friends have been hesitant to check the game out to this point - now its the time.

Stay tuned since this is just the first update of a series of updates required to get everything we got done online. But as always - lets take one step at a time and this weekend belongs to gaming on your end and some rest on ours.


That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.

Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com

Today we finally release the long awaited update EA.021 which introduces the new Overworld concept as well as a new map "Funghi Forest" next to a huge amount of changes to the overall integration to the gameworld and the way you will navigate and explore it.
The update is one of a series of updates addressing the input we got from you the players and the problems we discovered when developing - especially balancing and expanding.

We will celebrate this milestones with our friends over at Chrono.gg with a huge discount on a two player bundle for the next 24 hours. Event will start in about 12 hours and can be checked via chrono.gg website.

Okay back to work, still alot things to do before acutally patching the gameservice. Expect some downtime the next 12 hours while patching is in progress.


That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.

Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com

Today we finally release the long awaited update EA.021 which introduces the new Overworld concept as well as a new map "Funghi Forest" next to a huge amount of changes to the overall integration to the gameworld and the way you will navigate and explore it.
The update is one of a series of updates addressing the input we got from you the players and the problems we discovered when developing - especially balancing and expanding.

We will celebrate this milestones with our friends over at Chrono.gg with a huge discount on a two player bundle for the next 24 hours. Event will start in about 12 hours and can be checked via chrono.gg website.

Okay back to work, still alot things to do before acutally patching the gameservice. Expect some downtime the next 12 hours while patching is in progress.


That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.

Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com

Hello fellow Looters,

I just upload two new videos to YouTube showing the latest progress.
Time to publish a new Insight.

Overworld:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Kms2v3VHU
From a technical point of view the new Overworld is almost done. Whats left is to implement a way to balance its maps more easily. Right now we have to change actual data instead of just "turning a knob" to increase or decrease difficulty.

Work also continued on content creation to fill up the empty Overworld spots.

New Map: Fungi Forest:





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cTN_czSxP0
Video also shows the Anglel shapeshift of the Cleric Class in action for the first time.

Fitting all the new stuff together to a playable update is our major focus. It will be the by far most complex update since entering Early Access and I do not dare to give an estimate on when it will be ready. Right now it looks like we are on track to release a complete first zone upon Easter 2018 which will be used as a template for the other zones to come. Fingers crossed.

That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.

Development continues!
Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com

Hello fellow Looters,

I just upload two new videos to YouTube showing the latest progress.
Time to publish a new Insight.

Overworld:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Kms2v3VHU
From a technical point of view the new Overworld is almost done. Whats left is to implement a way to balance its maps more easily. Right now we have to change actual data instead of just "turning a knob" to increase or decrease difficulty.

Work also continued on content creation to fill up the empty Overworld spots.

New Map: Fungi Forest:





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cTN_czSxP0
Video also shows the Anglel shapeshift of the Cleric Class in action for the first time.

Fitting all the new stuff together to a playable update is our major focus. It will be the by far most complex update since entering Early Access and I do not dare to give an estimate on when it will be ready. Right now it looks like we are on track to release a complete first zone upon Easter 2018 which will be used as a template for the other zones to come. Fingers crossed.

That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.

Development continues!
Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com

Hello fellow Looters,

last time I showed a static image of the new Overworld concept. Today I finally can show you an actual ingame implementation of what is to come. Its recorded directly from the development system and has some frame rate issues which will be ironed out in time but you will get the point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcsV5JYJF9g&lc=
Right now we spend all available resources into replacing the old Overworld with the new one.

Also while redesigning the Overworld and more or less the entire game world in respects of size and content with it we laid out the entire development roadmap until release. More on that in future Insights.


What I can show you right now however is a concept preview of the first boss:


I would really like to keep you guys and girls more into the loop of whats going on but its pretty hard to develop and push forward while making time to just stop what you do right now and send this out. I hope that once we made the huge step from the old game world architecture to the new one we got much more settled down in terms of actual content creation instead of constant prototyping.

Lastly we finally also got the tools finished to re-work the GUI to your recommendations. Once the Overworld is done we will make time to work on that as well. Also more on that in future.


That's all for now and If it happens you have been - thank you for reading.

Development continues!
Presbyter and his team.
support@epicbeyond.com