With the release of the game closing in, I am happy to announce that there will be a closed beta test that will include nearly all the content that is planned for the release version.
The closed beta test will last from 30 of January till 13 of February. During this time we will resend invitations to all closed Alpha Testers and on top of that add a few more new players. The closed beta test will have a scenario of release. Meaning players wont receive lots of resources and Adventurers as was the case with the Alpha, but instead, will start fresh and progress trough the game normally.
Lets take a look at some of the new developments! My main focus was a massive overhaul of the numbers so they are more in line with each other and feel balanced. The first hurdle was to create a system where each ability will be valued and placed correctly in a balanced system of points. As we already know, there are three different abilities each adventurer can have – Primary, Secondary and Ultimate. Each of these has to have a increased amount of point value they own. At the same time each ability belongs to an adventurer, therefore, they have to scale appropriately with the rarity and grade of the adventurer. This means that S grade adventurers will have stronger abilities than A grade, but only by a small margin.
After revamping all of the old and new abilities, I moved on to update the XP gain rate in all Fields and Adventure battles. The goal is to reward players for doing Adventure battles much more than doing Field battles. The main thought was that a player going out to the store or pub can gain almost the same amount of XP than a player farming during that time at home. While leveling adventurers with Adventure battles will be easier, the game’s difficulty is planned to increase greatly, making the choices you make and the strategy you employ an important aspect of your gameplay.
I also added a new evolving system. Each time an Adventurer talent is eligible for a level up that Adventurer stops gaining experience and requires an evolve. Evolving will be required at levels 5, 10, and 15. To evolve an Adventurer, it has have maximum experience of that level.
Evolving table (Food are other adventurers):
- level 5 Max adventurer requires 1 food of level 5
- level 10 Max adventurer requires 2 food of level 10
- level 15 Max adventurer requires 3 food of level 15
When an adventurer is evolved it immediately gains a level up and is allowed to progress further until the next required evolution. You can evolve adventurers in the power up tab.
Powering up adventurers also got a new functionality. When you power up adventurers with the same family of adventurers or the guild puppy (new food yeeey!) you can level up that adventurers abilities! Yes! Abilities now have a functionality of being leveled up and increasing their potency.
In the previous blog post I talked about the Undead theme that is coming. I am happy to announce now that there will be 2 new themes added in the months before the games release. First one is Rebels Keep, where players will have to battle a rebellion that is occurring close to the guild hall, and the second one is a Field where players will battle forces of the elements – working on a name still!
These two fields will unfortunately not be available for testing in Closed beta.
The main theme of January was Balance, that is why I pressed forwards with the idea I had when started the game development roughly 2 years ago. The idea focuses on Adventurer itemization being the core of an individual adventurers power. This means that an S grade adventurer can lose to a C grade adventurer with better gear. Gear will be obtained through a players effort of defeating bosses, Fields, Adventure battles and in the future, Location Raids, Dungeons and other yet unannounced areas.
In Journey Online a players effort will always beat a paying player. However, because Journey Online requires funds to operate and sustain the server costs there will be an in-game marketplace in Journey Online. The core items on the Market will be the Premium package and in the future items that will change adventurers appearance – Guild hall skins and so on. The premium package is designed with players in mind who want to support our game, in return for a fee you will receive greater XP and Gold rewards to help you on your journey – no real power to be found here.
Journey Online will never sell items that directly increases a Players or Adventurers power. This game is done by a gamer for gamers. Its focus will be to cater for both the adults working and the younger audience with more time on their hands.
So for the plans of the upcoming release. If the closed beta is successful, I can predict the release to happen in February-March of 2019.
After release, the game will be publicly available on the Google Play Market first and will also be released on IOS store at the end of 2019. The game will be free to play.
The developments focus after release will be on the Location Raids, Crafting System, Pet System and the addition of many new adventurers.
I wish to see all of you in the closed beta.
Alas! Off I go to write more code!
Jure Veler, the Creator of Journey Online