Knights of Frontier Valley

[rusty_shackleford]

[Acrux]

I've escaped from jail 3 different times only to be caught and put right back in by guards wandering around outside.

[Acrux]

This is a nice little write-up of what he learned and plans to fix based on the playtest. I wish more devs would list things like this.

Honorable Knights,

The Playtest concluded successfully - my thanks go out to everyone who participated and provided feedback. Aside from the obvious bugs, many good ideas were submitted and some have already been implemented while the Playtest was still running (for a full list see the last update).


At the end we had about 2700 registered playtesters, many of who sent friend invites to spread the word. Some players really got into the game, building up 100+ playing hours within the few weeks. They also pushed the boundaries of what can be accomplished in the Playtest far beyond my expectation. It is really exciting to see this level of engagement and joy.


Some pointed out QoL issues as their main problem with the game, which just shows how playable it already is - it might easily be mistaken for something that is near completion, but that is actually not the case. A lot more is to come... to name just two examples, the areas of magic and factions have not even been touched.


Some mentioned that starting the (mandatory) tutorial adventure in prison was not ideal - there are those who loved it, but from the messages I received, it seems a larger number of players did not.

I acknowledge that presenting the prison mechanics as the first thing might have put off some folks, as it is quite different than the actual game. The fact that escaping from prison could be an obstacle which some players were never able (or willing) to overcome is not something I anticipated though... there are many ways of breaking out, and there is even a mechanic in place that gets the PC released after just a few days (which does not take long when time is accelerated)... but first impressions matter.

Lockpicking also proved to be unpopular and a showstopper for some, even though it is a standard feature in many RPGs (including titles like Skyrim or KCD) and it is not necessary to pick locks in the game to proceed. That said, I am taking this feedback serious and am considering alternatives - this is what the Playtest was all about.


The automatic crash reporter turned out to be an invaluable helper - there is no way crashes could have been debugged and fixed so easily without it. Every minute spent on this feature saved hours (if not days) of troubleshooting.


A question often asked was whether the game will have modding capabilities. The answer is: Yes. Modding features, some of which are already being used for development, will become available to the public after the full release.



Some players ran into a manticore in the Playtest - a formidable enemy that's best avoided at lower levels



Next up: the official Demo

Let's take a look ahead. There are a few things I still want to do before moving on to the next version, like fixing leftover crashes. This is because some players, including Patrons, already have access to the real game and I want them to have a stable checkpoint before moving on. This will take a few days, and then I will start working on the Demo.


While the scope isn't finalized, there are certain features high up in the list:

Advancement up to to chapter 5, including corresponding PC leveling

New quests

New NPC types

New towns

New dungeons

New items

New crafting schemas

New music and sound effects

Improved NPC behavior

QoL improvements, such as inventory item stacking and an "always-run" option

Finishing incomplete mechanics, such as character relations and NPCs accepting offered items

Balancing improvements

Multiple game saves (non-ironman mode)

New Steam Achievements

Technical improvements

Bugfixes

There is a lot more I would like to include, like fast travel, an overworld map, visible arrows, alchemy, item wear and maintenance, translations into other languages, and much more, but I'm a solodev and it is important to not drag the next release out for too long. It will be a demo, not EA or the finished game.


What did you like most (or least) about the Playtest? I'd love to read about it in the comments.


Until next time,

Martin