Development Roadmap
Concept demo
V4 "Berries and Weeds" - April 2024 - published on 13 May 2024
- Improved interface:
- Updated menu backgrounds.
- Better fonts.
- Decent icons.
- Foraging. Berries and new types of grass.
- Illness mechanics: food poisoning from uncooked meat and some berries.
- Information on the player's health in the main menu (a new tab).
- Fullscreen support.
- Built-in feedback support.
V5 "Books and Scrolls" - July 2024 - published on 22 September 2024
- Magic skill tree. Unlock new spell fragments by learning new magic skills. Some skills require other skills to be learned first.
- Scrolls. Learn new spells by heart by reading discovered scrolls. Scrolls with unknown spell fragments can not be learned.
- Books. Learn new skills by reading books. Limited to magic skills for the moment.
- Gemstones. Gems accumulate magic energy over time, and the stored energy can be drawn much quicker. On the other hand, energy held by the player will now dissipate quickly.
Pre-alpha: public announcement
V6 "Rock and Stone" - October 2024 - now planned for December 2024
- Mountain generation. Stone terrain blocks. Canyons, cliffs, and ravines. Smaller rocks.
- Structure generation: abandoned houses, towers, and other ruins.
- Options: mouse sensitivity and FOV.
- Improved drag-and-drop in menus [feedback based].
- Improved hotbar (mouse wheel usage) [feedback based].
The V6 is the first version I plan to announce to a larger audience (via forums etc.).
V7 - January 2025 - now planned for March 2025
- Fixes and usability improvements following the launch of the V6 and the community feedback.
- Falling sick from cold temperature.
- Faster, more aggressive animals. Improved pathfinding.
Early alpha: itch.io demo
After taking care of the very first feedback for a limited release (V6/V7), the next step is to get more eyes on the game by publishing V8 on itch.io.
V8 - April 2025 - now planned for May 2025
- Better object placement and snapping for construction.
- Better terrain removal and placement: "smart dump" utility.
- Ambient sounds: wind.
- Options: key bindings.
Post V8 - accelerated development
Starting from summer 2025, and provided there is at least some feedback from the community (meaning people I do not personally know) with respect to the V6 and the following versions, I plan to speed up the development significantly. The release cycle will accelerate accordingly, with a new release every 6 or 8 weeks.
During this phase, I would like to work on the following topics, roughly in this order:
Reinforcing the core loop by improving exploration and threats:
- Mysterious magical threats in certain zones.
- Improved structure generation and more varied loot.
Polishing the existing features for a stronger gameplay "vertical slice":
- Natural-looking trees (randomized size, number of branches, and so on).
- Trees with leaves.
- Growing plants.
- Respawning berries.
- Advanced woodcutting: ability to cut logs into smaller chunks.
Further improving the visuals:
- Semi-dynamic local lighting. Underground, in particular, it should be dark.
- Dynamic light sources. No shadows, though.
- Visibility increased to 200 meters (650 feet).
Improving the sounds:
- Birds. Their lovely chirping should do wonders to the ambient sound landscape.
- Dynamic step sounds (depending on the surface you walk on).
- Music.
Adding new mechanics, improved skill system, and better hunting:
- Magical traps. The appearance of this feature soon after the birds is a pure coincidence.
- Clothes. Cloth salvaging and sewing.
- Wounds: infections and bleeding.
- Healing spells.
- Thirst mechanics. Liquid containers. Wells.
- Cooking pots.
- Non-magical skill trees with focus on survival.
- Skill experience: gaining experience by performing an action. Higher skill levels result in increased efficiency.
- New skill unlock method: reaching certain experience levels in related skills.
- New skill unlock method: item analysis (research). Three alternate ways to learn a skill (via books, experience, or research) will allow you to choose the levelling strategy you prefer.
- Rabbits or other small animals.
- Spears.
Alpha: Steam demo
A certain period of accelerated development and the first minor marketing steps should confirm the potential of the game. When I see the interest rising to a certain level, I will finally create a Steam page, add a demo there as well, and ramp up both the marketing and the development efforts. I hope this will happen within a year from the acceleration point, i.e. somewhere in 2026.
During this second phase of the accelerated development, all major mechanics should already be in place, and it should be clear what the game is aiming for. The following features will probably be added during this period (although this is so far away right now that this is bound to change quite a bit):
- More plants with a wide range of properties (healing, sleeping, enhanced senses and so on).
- Maps.
- Climbing.
- Fast travel: portals. One should bring some stones from the target location to create a portal to it.
- Small rivers and lakes. One can play in a world without bodies of water only for so long! This topic includes: air supply / drowning mechanic and viscosity mechanic. No flowing water, yet.
- New regions: savannas and steppes.
- Rain.
- Swimming.
- Improved sky rendering. Sun, moon, and stars.
- Global dynamic shadows (i.e., shadows from the sun).
- New regions: deserts and snow planes.
Beta: Steam early access
For the early access release, if I feel that the project starts to stand on its own feet and the game becomes truly fun to play, I will consider selling it rather than giving it out for free. The goal is, of course, to eventually finance the development of progressively more features, more regions, ... more magic! I hope to reach this milestone in 2027.
At this stage, the roadmap should become heavily influenced by the community feedback. But, of course, I already have some ideas of my own:
- Multiplayer. The foundations for the multiplayer engine are already there, as the game was built from the very beginning with multiplayer in mind. Yet, defining and balancing the multiplayer modes, and solving various performance issues that may arise will certainly prove tricky. This makes me focus on getting the single player experience as advanced as possible before spending any time on the multiplayer. This position can certainly be reviewed based on the community feedback.
- Modding. The MagicScript engine behind the magic simulation, the AI, and even the menus makes Arcs Of Magic perfectly suited for the full modding support. In particular, all world generation routines will be made available to the MagicScript engine. This will give a great world creation freedom to the future mod authors.
- Flowing water simulation.
- Seas and oceans. Islands and archipelagos.
- Mounts.
- New regions: wetlands and swamps.
- Visibility increased to 800 meters (0.5 miles).
- New regions: rainforests and jungles.
- Wind simulation.
- Controlling animals. Too wounded to get back to your cabin for medical supplies? Possess a wolf and fetch what is needed in no time. Want to see what's hidden behind the walls? Become a raven and fly over them.
- Animated dead. Reanimated wizards could become powerful allies in investigating the mysteries of these strange lands.
Long term (post Steam release)
The ultimate goal for me is to put together a team that would be able to give this project the time and the care it deserves, and to fully flesh out the world of Arcs of Magic:
- Villages and towns, missions and quests. I love the survival games and their ambience. But I also believe that the unlimited magic crafting possibilities will truly shine in a game world filled with hamlets, villages, farms, port towns, castles, outposts, and all kinds of people living and working in them. This would be a huge undertaking and will only be possible if I manage to secure the necessary resources for its development. In fact, it would require so many new things that it may even end up being a DLC or a separate game.
During this journey, please bear with me. I hope you enjoy playing the game, even in its early stages, as much as I enjoy creating it!