Hey guys! Early today in Discord Caspian was around and some people asked him some questions. He gave a mini-unoffical State of Elyria. Here it is!

(OCE) iSagan - Today at 2:27 AM

State of elyria edges closer.....

Caspian - Today at 2:27 AM

State of Elyria?

I wasn't planning on doing any kind of State of Elyria. Unlike last July it doesn't seem necessary. We're working our way through the releases 0.3.0, 0.4.0, etc. There's not much more to say. Things are going well, the platform is up and running, and we're working on both gameplay mechanics as well as a lot of procedural content for the world, including world generation itself.

We've gotten into a good rhythm of posting release intros, doing a Q&A on it, and then posting the release write-ups that show or talk about what we worked on in the previous release.

Well, at this point, everything is progressing as intended. We're technically at a point where we could release a pre-Alpha, but we're holding onto it a bit longer until we're happy with the amount of content there is available to our early backers.

It's one thing to have access to the game, it's another to have something to do or to look at while you're in the game. :smiley: A lot of work right now on world generation, so that should fill in a missing piece for us.

Protey Joat - Today at 2:31 AM

So does that mean you're going to wait until 0.5.0 for releasing pre-Alpha?

Caspian - Today at 2:32 AM

@Protey Joat No. It doesn't mean we're going to wait for 0.5.0. It just means we're not ready to release it yet.

We're moving forward on the Alpha 1 features and gameplay mechanics, while also doing world generation. When we've got the content and the quality we're looking for, we'll move forward with a pre-Alpha release. We've also opted to hold onto a pre-Alpha until such time as we actually need it.

We've long been interested in getting the pre-Alpha into the hands of the players. We know it makes it seem a lot more "real" for many people. However, once something goes live, even if it's just a few hours a week, there will be support tickets, hosting and server fees, etc. For better or worse, any kind of release, even a pre-Alpha, comes with a minimum requirement for service. And since we don't have a live ops team right now, and it would take from developer time to maintain the servers, we're opting to get a bit more mechanics in before releasing to the public. That makes a pre-Alpha far more valuable to us.

I know there's been some speculation in the community about a Pre-Alpha, now that 0.3.0 is complete. The short of it, we're at a point where we could release a pre-Alpha, but we don't want to yet. It's not in the best interest of the development, so we're holding onto it for the moment.

(ᴏᴄᴇ)(ꜰᴀʀᴍᴇʀ) ᴍᴇᴅᴜꜱꜱᴀ - Today at 2:37 AM

so ppl go buy more promo items so we get the funding to start prealpha

Caspian - Today at 2:37 AM

It's not really a funding issue.

heh. I mean, throw money at us if you want to. Just know that pre-Alpha is gated on us getting more procedurally generated content, and a few more mechanics than just "walk and talk." That just requires time and patience while we do our work. But believe me. When it's ready, we'll let everyone know.

Caspian - Today at 2:40 AM

As for package merging, I've been handing off my website work to another dev on the team so I can focus on the world-building stuff. But adding merging, title transfer, and title trade-in are high priority for us.

I can't give you a timeline on when package merging, trade in, and transfers will be available until after they are complete. And it's still on our todo list.

Yep. I've been working on gameplay mechanics, but turning my attention back to world gen soon.

(ᴏᴄᴇ)(ꜰᴀʀᴍᴇʀ) ᴍᴇᴅᴜꜱꜱᴀ - Today at 2:40 AM

i happy to just get in and walk and talk

Caspian - Today at 2:42 AM

@(ᴏᴄᴇ)(ꜰᴀʀᴍᴇʀ) ᴍᴇᴅᴜꜱꜱᴀ I know you are. Many would be. But many wouldn't be. Or they would be for about 30 minutes, and then they'd be impatient for what comes next. In the end, pre-Alpha is really about allowing us to answer questions, and allowing you guys to provide feedback. But there's still questions we can answer without a pre-Alpha, so we should do so, and we need to make sure there's enough there to get feedback on when it is in the hands of players.

Just know that progress is coming rapidly right now, the engineering and design guilds have never worked more closely, new mechanics are being explored and iterated on very quickly right now, and I'm happy with how things are progressing.

Caspian - Today at 2:44 AM

There. There's your State of Elyria

The state of elyria is, we're moving through our scheduled releases and are now on 0.4.0. The write-up for that should be out next week. Much good. Very wow.

I hope this helped those who were curious about the status of Pre-Alpha as. I know not everyone checks the Discord as well as it was early morning for most North/South Americans, and even others in the EU so I hope this helps!