Hey everyone,
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
We’re almost exactly one month after the full release of Dragonkin: The Banished (!!!), and while we’ve been a bit quiet lately, we’re excited to share some fantastic news today.
This isn’t the end of development. We’re still working on Dragonkin.
In today’s DevBlog, we just want to take a moment to talk about where the game is right now, and share a bit more about how we’re approaching what is still a very important and ongoing journey for us.
Before anything else, thank you so much for your support, truly.
We wouldn’t have come this far without your feedback, your time, and your care for the game.
We’ve learned a lot from this Early Access
From how to gather feedback, to how to identify what’s most relevant for us to focus on, and most importantly, how to better understand you, players.
As many of you know, launch day is never really the end of anything.
For us, it quickly became a mix of hotfixes, QoL improvements, and making sure multiplayer was as stable as possible across platforms. Because of the time we spent in Early Access, and your constant feedback and support, we were able to react as fast as possible, pushing out a hotfix, as well as releasing a post-launch update (also introducing a new modifier).
We’ve also really enjoyed watching streams and tinkering with the Ancestral Grid.
Seeing your players come up with creative builds and pushing our systems further than we expected, has been an absolute thrill for the team.
How do we feel right now?
It wouldn't be possible to describe in words how we feel right now but there has been a unanimous sentiment on the team that we genuinely ended up with something we would consider special.
We’re continuing to work on Dragonkin, and we now have the opportunity to bring in content that didn’t make it into the launch version, along with some of the most requested features
So…
We’ve been taking some time internally to go through your feedback and reflect on what could be improved, and what you’d like to see next.
One thing is very clear: you want more of Dragonkin: The Banished.
We do feel the game still has plenty of room to grow, and there are a few different directions we could take it in. Now that we’re past the initial release on both PC and console, we’re taking a short step back to breathe, look at everything together, and think carefully about what comes next.
Right now, we’re going through feedback and data, and there’s a lot of it, especially on Discord! We’re reading everything we can. Even when we can’t reply to every message, please know it’s being seen, shared, and discussed within the team.
Is Dragonkin becoming a live-service game?
No, Dragonkin: The Banished is not becoming a live-service game.
We’ve seen this question come up a few times, so we wanted to take a moment to address it directly.
From the beginning, our goal has been to build a complete experience, not a game built around seasons or ongoing mandatory content cycles. We’ve always preferred the approach of classic games in the genre of focused, self-contained experiences that feel whole on their own.
As such, we plan to expand the game through FREE updates and DLCs.
Basically, pieces of content that stand on their own, and feel like natural, non-mandatory extensions of the initial experience, rather than something you need to keep up with.
Is there anything we can share (yet)?
At this time, the size and content of this update are still to be decided. While we already have some early ideas we’re excited about, we’re not quite ready to share details just yet. You can expect to hear more on Discord and Steam next week!
We mentioned earlier how your feedback and encouragement have been shaping what Dragonkin has become today, and we really want to highlight how important that has been for us, across every place you reach out to us: Steam forums, Discord, Reddit.
In today’s industry, it’s not always easy for a game to find its place, especially in a genre like ARPGs where so many releases coexist. It’s actually a really exciting time for fans of the genre, even if it does make things more competitive for developers.
To other developers reading this: we hope you find your place too.
As we said before, Dragonkin is not a live-service game. Because of that, we understand that players will naturally come and go, some will finish the game and move on, others might return later when they get new build ideas.
And in any case, if you’ve enjoyed your time with the game and feel like spreading the word, the best way is to like our videos, leave a comment on YouTube, and share this DevBlog!
That genuinely helps us more than we can say.
We can’t wait to reveal more in the coming months! As always, you can find us on Discord if you need help or have questions.
Thank you again for your patience, and for staying with us on this journey. It really means a lot.
Until next time, Dragon Hunters.
Discord: https://discord.gg/K2dJ7WuK2f