We're back!

Guess it’s been too long since our last announcement. Sorry that we can’t deliver the content update as promised.
Things happened, and we had to pause the development for almost 2 months.

Long story short, we're sort of burned out, and decided to cool ourselves with a long break after a whole year of development.

We also had a discussion about the future of this project, and we came up with some conclusions that we need to tell you.
It might upset some, but in the end it’s what is best for the dev team and the continuation of this project.


[For those who already purchased the game, you can contact us to get the DLC for free when it's available.]

Yes, this game will already cost nothing once Steam approves the price change (It takes about one week to process).
Some of you might have a bad image of "Free to Play" model, but we can assure you that it doesn't mean this game will be a money-grabbing gacha game.
Just like our previous title, you can complete Epic Conquest 2 in several days without spending anything. Of course, once the game is 100% completed.

We'll have some DLC in the form of cosmetics, HQ artwork, music pack, etc if you're willing to support the developer. And that's that. No paywall to enjoy and finish the game.
There might still be some sort of premium items, but we'll make sure that you can get it just by grinding. Or, if it's not available to grind, it's an item that won't put you in a great disadvantage if you don't have it.

We just realized that this style of development (paid early access) doesn’t suit us at all. It feels like we're being burdened by responsibility in every sale we made. We end up doing things in a hurry, rather than enjoying the process in our own pace and polishing every bit of the game. Therefore, we decided to return to our old and comfy way, that is more enjoyable for us to continue the development.

Apparently, what makes us most motivated is simply to have more people enjoy our creation. And if some people decide to support us along the way (not just in money. we also accept morale support :p), that would greatly help us stay motivated and always do our best!


Right now, there are so many players from the first Epic Conquest (currently with over 4mil installs), patiently waiting this project to be completed, and published to android.
At first, we said that it will be ready by the end of 2021. But looking at how slow the development progress can be, we don't think we can finish it on time.
They've supported us over the year, and making them wait even longer just doesn't sit right.

Therefore, we decided to support both platforms (PC and android) at the same time, even if it takes more work and time.
Of course this will impact the game itself, but we don't think it will be much different from EC2 at its current state.


====================

So, once again, We're very sorry for the slow updates.
If you have some questions, just ask here.

As you probably guessed, a new character is joining the party!
But because we took a long time to make this new character, the next version [v0.2.0] will only cover a tiny bit of story progression.

2nd region (Desert) will be covered in v0.2.1, thus the next tier of equipment won't be available for now as it will be harder for us to preserve the 2nd region difficulty.




We need several more weeks to do some polishing, and doing some math and testing to balance the numbers. And of course, to write the story and cutscenes.
We will announce it later.


==============
Additional things that are not mentioned in the video.

As you can see, PS4 button mapping is now supported.

And there's a change in the controller scheme, "Interact/Item Pick" will be moved to (Y/Triangle) button as it's a more common approach in games nowadays, and not to confuse players because it has the same function as "Cancel" button.

And "Special (Resonance Mode)" button is of course moved to (B/O). People who already played with controllers before need to adjust to this new control, but we think it's for the better.

Thanks to Noco for pointing this out.


The upcoming update also comes with various bug fixes and difficulty balancing that we've collected. So if you have more things to report, we can fix more things in v0.2.0.

• Reduced enemy in some areas
  
• Reduced fish effects
  
• Reduced "Dimension Shard" sell price
  
• Bogu Miner (ranged) attack speed and damage reduce
  
• Minotaur's enraged roar damage reduce 25%

• Thunder Wolf (1st encounter can be killed)
  
• Thunder Wolf (2nd encounter) set at Lv1 and error on die
  
• Die animation not playing after 2nd death
  
• Missing portal at Plains -> Forest
  
• Missing portal at Cave (before Boss Room)
  
• Missing Great Boar / Thunderwolf / Big Slime spawner
  
• Forest Tree material crash with fog
  
• Claris "Impact Crash" triggers permanent super armor at certain condition
  
• Claris resonance mode triggers at Wolf 1st battle

New content is up guys! This update really ends up larger than we planned.
Unlike the previous update where we only work on main story content, this time is main story + multiple major features + more fixes and adjustments following the player's feedback.

As usual, we'll be standby for 2 - 3 days to immediately fix any major issues.

• Due to some technical problem, those who cleared 0.1.2 will skip a certain cutscene (After Wolf battle). Currently there's no way to view that cutscene unless you play it from the beginning. :'<
  
• 0.1.2 and 0.1.3 is not yet proofread. Please deal with the grammatical error for now.
  
• Due to accessory revamp (blacksmith), previously owned accessory will be converted to a new one (+0).
  
• There's a noticeable change in overall experience of the game (see the details below). If you don't mind, playing it from the beginning would really help us to better the experience.
  (You can skip the cutscene by holding Esc/Start, though it's not shown in game for reasons :p)

• Chapter 1 Final Part
  
• 6th skill unlocked (Skills now unlocked at Level 2 - 5 - 9 - 12 - 15)
  
• Claris Masteries and Special Gauge
  
• Fishing (currently it's used to get special consumables like atk booster)
  
• Reworked Field Boss
  
• Reworked Dimension Rift
  
• World Map and Fast Travel
  
• Accessory upgrade now follows the same rule with other equipment

• Major tweak to "cancel dodge" frame. It's now easier to dodge mid-attack.
  
• Attack speed now affects item usage animation, and most skill action speed. (also affects when attack speed is heavily reduced by status ailments.)
  
• Cooldown reduction now reduces Evasion cooldown. (base evasion cd : 1s)
  
• Fixed bug where Claris can only attack once after taking a hit
  
• Fixed bug where Claris combo is interrupted when spamming the attack button on certain condition
  
• Improved Tackle : Enemies won't stuck at magnet point anymore
  
• Improved Impact Crash : Claris will stop moving forward if touching enemy mid-air, easier use in combat.
  
• Auto target nearest enemy (when no directional input)

• Major optimization on several areas, so it loads faster. (the capital optimization will come in upcoming updates)
  
• Bleeding debuff (from enemy) now last longer, but lowers damage per tick.
  
• Progression : Changed equipment upgrade material to preserve the difficulty in main story.
  
• Checkpoint Orb now recovers HP fully
  
• Field Boss spawner for better grinding flow

• Missing minimap icons (checkpoint, rifts, etc)
  
• Stuck when rapidly pressing interact button on NPC
  
• Can't use potion after taking stun effect in the middle of item usage animation
  
• Blackscreen after respawn at Kalem Woods (at certain quest)
  
• Can't close minimap using Return button
  
• Many other bugs that we forgot to list

No time to write a long post right now, so we'll just keep this short. :p

Next version update (0.1.3) will come in a week or so. Although we never stated it before, we told some ppl on discord that we'll release it by 30 July. So it's a delayed release for some. :<

The content of this update end up bigger than we expected, as we implement more key features that needs extra effort. (New feature brings new bugs)

10 August is the estimated date. So, it can be sooner or later.

Hi, everyone! It's time for some news about the development!

So, after v0.1.2 update on May 31, we took a break for a whole week before we continue the development. We're truly sorry that we just left some bugs unfixed.

That being said, it's been 18 days into the development, and we'd like to show you things that we've been working on, so you have an idea of what we have in upcoming versions. (Please note that not all of these will be implemented immediately in the next update.)

Edit : We've made a short video to demonstrate the main features. :))


It's just like that battle with the thunder wolf, but of course, the real one is the nerfed version. You have to build the gauge by fighting, and once it reach a certain threshold, Claris can activate Resonance mode where she can borrow Miria's Mana and fight more offensively for a limited time.
The "Sp.Gauge" random option will also be unlocked along with this new system.


This thing will take your character build even further (and more confusing). Mastery will be unlocked upon reaching Lv11, and you can just pick anything as long as you have the Mastery Points.


She's the one summoning a minotaur in the middle of the night. Her current silhouette in that cutscene is actually just a placeholder, mind you. ːsteammockingː
And here's our demon waif final design! Her brother will appear later. XD


This one is much more difficult than any bosses before. He has that glowing red eye, after all.


A small progress on our world map. This will be the base for some features, like fast traveling, quest guides, (rift guides?), and anything that we can think of.


The next part takes place inside a dark cave.


A simple fishing to gather more materials? Still experimental, tho. :p




Now that the gameplay part is all done (new enemies, areas, etc), it's time for the story crafting. Usually it takes 2-3 weeks to finish all the dialogues and cutscenes, so you have to wait for our next announcement.

Bug Fixes:
- Jessie's Accessory tab. You can craft Mind II and Haste II now.
- 'Bleed' debuff bug on area change.
- 2 Treasure Chests at Sil Plains (river) that crashes the game / already opened. (pls report if problem still occurs)
- Treasure point in Knight Hall that gives u so many Cobalt ingots.
- Boss hidden HpBar at some Rifts
- Blackthunder Wolf (field boss) zero respawn time
- Treasure Chest behind every field boss should only give 1 rare material.

Adjustments:
- Add more Rift spawn.
- Adjust enemy level at some Rifts

New :
- Story update and new Forest Area
- Max Level to 15, unlocks new skill
- New Bosses and Accessories

Adjustments :
- Major changes on Boss combat design (higher hp, shield, and defense, but less damage output and more breather during fight)
- Adjust enemy HP scaling
- Nina's shop is now cheaper
- Increase Toughness max value on additional stat (5 -> 10)
- Vitality [hp +5 / res +0.2%] changed to [hp +8 / res +0.1%]
- Evasion cap to 30%
- Adjust (nerf) accessory stats

QoL Update :
- Checkpoint at Southern Outskirts exit
- Auto face nearest enemy when directional input is not pressed. (No in-game toggle/tutorial for that yet)
- Adjust the "cancel attack frame" to be 5 frames faster (evasion can be triggered easier mid-attacks)

Bug Fixes :
- Claris' Round Slash bugged damage when critical hitting multiple enemies.

• Dimension Rift will always be the final content while we're in Early Access stage. Therefore, it will be disabled until you finish the updated story.
  Once we have enough contents, we'll work on a better Rift system.
  
  
• Better teleport system will be added once we have the world map illustration (probably in the next update). Atm, we have to deal with what's available. XD
  
  
• World Map also needed for us to make Quest Objective Pointers. Right now, we'll just use the Journal to guide you where to go next (though, it can be vague sometimes).
  
  
• More Achievements are under construction.

It's been almost a month since the release of Early Access, and we're so happy to receive so much positive feedback! Thank you for all the support!

Just to let you know, this project started around July 2019 with only 2 people. For 10 months, we've only been working on this ideal project of ours, day and night, until it takes shape. Then in the middle of development we have 2 more people in the team, so we can achieve better results in less time.
After the EA release, we took a week off and only did little patches (Time to finish all those games and animes that's been piling up). So, the next update won't come in exactly a month (20 May) because we don't want to rush things and drop the quality.

That said, the upcoming content will be ready by 31 May.
But if everything goes very well, it may come sooner than estimated.


===============
So, here's a sneak peek!

New Content

• The 2nd part of Chapter 1. Will add around 1 hour to the main game play.
  
• New areas to explore, with new enemies that's even deadlier than before.
  
• Unlocked the "Resistance" option on equipment's effect, as the new enemies can attack you with various ailments. (currently Stun, Bleed, and Paralyze)
  
• Max Level to 15, 5th Skill unlocked
  
• Several fixes and adjustments from player feedback

2nd character in development

Honestly, we'd like to push the content and story so the next part won't be as short as the first. But, as we want to introduce this guy on the next part, we have to slowly work on him from now. And with this small team, we can't do both at the same time. :<



A more detailed changelog will be announced once the new content is up. There may also be some decision changes that makes the final result a little bit different.

And that's it! Love you all, and hope for your continuous support!

Another small update.
We will be focusing on new content after this, so there will be no more small patches until the next story part comes. (unless there's a major bug)


Added Custom Key Bind (beta):
Only for keyboard. Expect some minor bugs.
Doesn't work in Start Screen. This menu only available in Pause > Options.

Fixes :
- Optimize the Capital scene (should be much lighter)
- Apple description to match its effect (restore 40 hp)
- More smol fixes we forgot to note. :<