Looking forward to participating in the Elyria on Earth contest!
I would also enjoy hearing about the religion system mechanics, but I'll take more biome info for now. See you guys next Monday.
Hail, Elyrians!
We wish you a very happy holiday season! Even though a chill is in the air here, the fire in our bellies has not been diminished. We have some holiday gifts to share with you throughout the season, so allow me to begin with what to look forward to next!
The highly-anticipated store update is just around the corner! We’d planned on a mid-November release but a few things needed to be addressed before we felt good about pushing that out. Namely:
Last week, we pushed out a minor update to address #1. For those of you who would like to use that to lock in a product tier, you are now able to do so. You'll see it in the store. That same update also allows you to see the Influence awards you have received. In order to see how much you’ve earned, go to your Profile and select Influence from the left navigation.
For #2, some folks are having not bound their Kickstarter account to their CoE account for a couple of reasons: a bug that is not allowing the accounts to bind, they no longer have the same email address, or maybe they just forgot about it!!
We are making a concerted effort to reach out to those people who haven’t bound their accounts yet and getting everything squared away. Some 3500 of the roughly 10500 backers haven’t yet claimed their Kickstarter package – about one-third! If you are in that lot, please note that the email with the binding information would have been sent to the email address you used during the Kickstarter (not your CoE account’s email address if they are different).
To further expedite the account binding, we are going to automatically bind your Kickstarter and CoE account for anyone whose email addresses match, but whom haven’t yet claimed their reward. If you haven't bound your account, but your email addresses are the same, and you don't want us to automatically bind them for reasons I might need an explanation for, you have until next Wednesday, December 7th to stop us. If you continue to have an issue with binding your Kickstarter after next Wednesday, please email [email protected].
After we’ve done everything we can there, the new store with new product tiers and packages, as well as the Exposition Store, will be launched! I promised ZRO I wouldn’t post any screenshots of the work-in-progress, but I can say that I am really, super-duper excited about it! I can’t wait for it to go live!
In our last sprint, a lot of behind-the-scenes work went on that will be integrated into the build over the next sprint or two. The most exciting being the prep work for getting the female character model, dryas elk, flower-cup porcupine, and ursaphant in the game. We’re all anxious to see the world populated with all the plants, animals, and people it deserves. Right now, the ratio of plants is much too high! Although, they are really pretty plants.
That didn’t keep us from having fun in our end-of-sprint playtest with the weather system!
Tosker welcomes a frosty morning on his way to New Haven
Tosker makes it down into the woods still blanketed by morning fog
Tosker encounters a ruin after reaching the road to New Haven
At last Tosker reaches New Haven to find work as a mercenary
Andry checks out the new gate on his morning constitutional
Andry is caught off guard by the first snow of the season
Looks like somebody forgot his coat
Keveth hunkers down for the winter in New Haven
Winter comes to New Haven
As spring returns, Keveth tries to hide that he gained some weight
Armélus observes a Flower-Cup Porcupine specimen exhibiting curious behavior
Fleyt scopes out the gates to the city from a safe distance
Fleyt looks for a back way into New Haven
Fleyt wonders if he can climb that to get over the wall unnoticed
Fleyt encounters a pack of canis rabbits
Hopefully the screenshots above give you some inspiration for your entry into the Elyria on Earth contest! Some folks have asked whether there is a limit to the number of entries they make and the answer is: no - make as many entries as you like!
As a reminder of how to enter, upload an image and tweet it to @SoulboundStudio with the hashtag #ElyriaOnEarth! Entries must be submitted by January 15th to be eligible. To remind you about the fabulous prizes, they are:
Keep those entries coming and show us what #ElyriaOnEarth looks like to you!
Please join us on our Twitch.tv channel on Monday, December 12th at 4pm PST / 7pm EST / 12am GMT for another Live Q&A session. The topic this time is Biomes!
Just what are biomes, you ask? It is a naturally occurring collection of plants and animals within a habitat, such as a desert or tundra. This concept has been hinted at in previous design journals, but it’s a huge part of how the world of Elyria will live and breathe around you.
Caspian will be joined by designer Miguel “Souzou” Sierra and art director Eddie “Heat” Smith to answer your questions in this 1-hour Q&A live stream. We will be taking both pre-voted questions on reddit, as well as responding live to follow-up questions from those watching.
For those who miss it, the recording will be watchable on Twitch.tv for a limited time afterward and on our YouTube channel forever. So even if you can’t make the live session, your question from reddit may still be answered.
Please follow these rules when posting questions for the Q&A.
In addition, many of the most common questions about CoE can be answered by reading over our design journals . If you're new to CoE, there is a wealth of information to begin with there.
See you Monday, December 12th at 4pm PST / 7pm EST / 12am GMT!
Pledged to Your Continued Adventures in Life, Both Actual and Fantasy,
Vye
Looking forward to participating in the Elyria on Earth contest!
I would also enjoy hearing about the religion system mechanics, but I'll take more biome info for now. See you guys next Monday.
I'm gonna be nice but some of these pictures bother me and worry me...
I know personally for me the picture with the caption "Keveth hunkers down for the winter in New Haven" looks pretty shoddy.
Ok, you're "worried" now... but about what? Which pictures? What about them worries you?
The pictures look great to me, especially for pre-alpha
Ok I was wondering because a moat is likely to freeze in the winter making that season probably the best to attack a moated castle. But that water looked as if it was running.
Friend code 2f398a I am bound to the Luna server
Posted By AubinRivers at 1:18 PM - Thu Dec 01 2016
Ok I was wondering because a moat is likely to freeze in the winter making that season probably the best to attack a moated castle. But that water looked as if it was running.
I mean it is pre-alpha stuff
Posted By Caspian at 9:50 PM - Thu Dec 01 2016
What about it looks shoddy?
I am just guessing, but I think their issue with the screenshots are with the grass "texture", but I'm just guessing and that is the only thing that stands out for me as "low" quality.
In any case I love the pictures, and the fact that you are all making progress with the game, so thank you for the update.
Posted By Caspian at 8:50 PM - Thu Dec 01 2016
What about it looks shoddy?
Just had to zoom in as im on mobile at the mo. Most of the graphics look awesome.
The ruins could maybe use a bush or rock etc. They are a bit too "neat" if that makes sense.
The newhaven hunker image has a flaw in the shading I suspect. Check the unusually neat lines on the roof in the bottom right :)
Aside from that, loving the new clutter and depth. It's really coming alive. Superb work from the team.
This is getting expensive. Just showed the images, talked about it briefly and "sold 2 more copies". I'll wait and see if more "carriage for 2" packs or something pop in the store lol.
Really needs some focus on AI simulation for NPCs etc. Framework at least so you can "add professions" and other behaviours in. A spread of professional preferences and different levels of bravery, greed etc will make things interesting :)
Posted By Antaryon at 2:31 PM - Thu Dec 01 2016
Posted By Caspian at 9:50 PM - Thu Dec 01 2016
What about it looks shoddy?
I am just guessing, but I think their issue with the screenshots are with the grass "texture", but I'm just guessing and that is the only thing that stands out for me as "low" quality.
In any case I love the pictures, and the fact that you are all making progress with the game, so thank you for the update.
it might be the funky shadows on the roof's of the various buildings in the image. It looks like the snow has other textures clashing with it (though, its super early in development, so it should be a free pass). But, since people are jumping on pictures and pointing stuff out. Just for Caspian, if I had to pick something out of the screen shots it would be in "Winter comes to New Haven". What is standing out to me is the stone of the keep in the back. The drastic contrast of light grey on the wall facing the character doesn't seem like it fits at all.
edit: to finish my thought, I looked back and forth with other screen shots of the same keep. The light grey is definitely not supposed to be like that as when its a bit closer it all fills in.
Posted By AubinRivers at 10:18 PM - Thu Dec 01 2016
Ok I was wondering because a moat is likely to freeze in the winter making that season probably the best to attack a moated castle. But that water looked as if it was running.
besides the fact that your soldiers are gonna have a hard time sieging in winter... the whole travel to enemytown, travelrations, supplies... everything much harder in winter. frozen moats might be a small bonus in winter, but thats nothing compared to all the negatives usually.
Friend Code: 30EF47
Content >> graphics
There's a reason im replaying Morrowind right now and not Skyrim...
