Greetings, adventurers!
Before we dive in, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to every player who has explored Archaelund or even just wishlisted the game. Your support makes Archaelund possible and keeps me motivated and excited to make it bigger and better every day. Thanks to you, the long road to 1.0 feels much less lonely. I am especially grateful to those who post reviews; even when a developer has a clear vision of what they want to achieve, feedback is essential for understanding our progress and building confidence.
Expanding the World
Since the Early Access release, updates have been frequent—typically every two weeks. However, the next update will be a bit different. It will include a new outdoor area, several dungeons, and many new dialogues and quests. Naturally, this extensive content needs to be released as a whole, not in small installments. My target is to release version 0.8.1 by the end of September, with further refinements and completions of this new area into October. Keep in mind, these are estimates!
EDIT (August 15th): originally I targeted late August for this release.
In addition to adding content, version 0.8.1 will bring several gameplay improvements, raise the XP cap, and likely the level cap (though this might be delayed to version 0.8.2).
The new content won't include a new chapter of the Main Quest. Once the new outdoor area meets my satisfaction (probably by version 0.8.3 or 0.8.4), I'll continue working on another outdoor area and the completion of the second chapter of the Main Quest. This objective will mark the 0.9 update. By then, the game will offer around 40-50 hours of total content and a level cap of 6 or 7.
Archaelund Future Pricing and Sales
Many are asking me if Archaelund will take part in the upcoming Summer Sale or see other discounts. I like to be transparent about our development plans, and that extends to our pricing policy as well.
The players who have purchased (and continue to purchase) the initial Early Access release have put a lot of trust into me and into the game's development. To repay this good faith, I want to protect their investment by ensuring that the game's price will only increase as it grows larger and more polished.
Sales and discounts might happen in the future, but the game will never be cheaper than the original Early Access release price of $19.99 (subject to regional pricing and taxes). For instance, I might offer a 20% discount when the base price has risen to $25, thus equaling, but not undercutting, the original price. The plan is to sell the complete game for $30 to $35, with a -15% to -25% discount during seasonal sales.
However, I can't make absolute promises for the distant future—these are interesting times, and who knows what the future holds? But this is the policy I'll follow at least until the game is released as version 1.0 and for a couple of years afterward. This policy isn't just about my gratitude to Early Access players; I generally do not favor huge discounts. Exiled Kingdoms, which has been on Steam for over six years, still keeps its original release price and typically goes on a -25% sale.
On Performance
The next outdoor area is just as big and complex as the Peninsula, but new optimizations and improvements make it run with about 25% increased frame rate, and much shorter loading times. I'll work hard to bring the Peninsula performance to the same level.
Updates?!? What updates?!?
If you tried the original 0.7 release back in January and have been off the hook since, current release 0.8 added a couple extra dungeons to the Peninsula, an extra Apprentice companion, four extra quests, new spells and items, and many gameplay improvements. Check the changelog, or roadmap for details.
That's all. Enjoy your summer, and happy adventuring!