Alder's Blood - summary of 2018 news

Hey hey guys! It’s already January of 2019, so it is time to make summaries and talk about new year resolutions, right? Today’s post will be just that, a summary of all the things that happened with Alder’s Blood in 2018. It will be immediately followed up by a second post with what to expect of the project in 2019.

A working prototype!

We released our first working demo in 2018, which was one of the most important pillars of the year. We could finally play the game (on Steam, wow) and compare our design docs with reality. We received a lot of praise from that short demo, but we decided that we should still think through everything and continue to work on the design process to be fully satisfied.

Kickstarter

Another big thing of 2018 was our first Kickstarter campaign. Although we weren't able to fund the project, we did get a group of very loyal followers (thank you all for your support!) and tons of positive feedback. This was a very important experience for all of us. It allowed us to take a closer look at the project, compare it with the very first design docs... and make some maybe a bit radical, but crucial decisions.

Ch ch ch changes!

The bucket of cold water that was our Kickstarter campaign was actually very positive for the project as a whole. We could distant ourselves from it more and be more critical towards our work. We spent two or three months idealising the “new/old” Alder’s Blood. In the rush of early development too many of the original ideas were scrapped, and it started to show. So we made a very drastic decision and decided to basically cut 50% of the game, to focus on the parts that really matter.

The graphics were made from scratch. A new art style allowed us to make better looking animations and terrain elements. There is still a lot of work in polishing and adjusting the visuals of Alder’s Blood, but that one decision is already starting to pay off.

We completely revamped the strategic layer of the game. Players are now closer to the action, and we have introduced a travelling mechanic. Conversations with characters were also introduced, allowing us to create a more entertaining story. There’s more to the changes we made, but we’ll cover it in future devlogs.

We dropped hunter classes, and focused more on stealth mechanics. We have already added tonnes of new features, both big and small, which complement the base mechanics of Alder's Blood. But the idea behind all of this is simple: make Alder’s Blood the best game we can.

Fat Dog Games

There was a pretty dark period in the development following the Kickstarter, when we were unsure if we would be able to fund the project any further. We even made plans to make it more of a hobby on the side rather than a main job. But fortunately for us, it all ended last summer when we signed a publishing contract with Fat Dog Games. And wow, what a relief it was. Thanks to our cooperation, the game now benefits from a more professional development cycle which it certainly needed.

A lot happened in 2018, good and bad, but the important bit is that: we survived!