Ember Strike
Update 0.256 - Challenge anyone on Steam! Strike Visuals!
Server Update at 6:45 EST today - Public Challenges and Strike Visuals
Update 0.252 - Early Game Balancing and bug fixes
Updated Plans and Roadmap!
Our plans change all the time based on what we are hearing from you, and what's happening in the game. New features sometimes sound better in the idea stage and then don't work out during implementation or we come up with something better.
June 15th, 2016
Wow it's been a crazy first set of weeks for Early Access! Thank you all so much for your feedback, and the positive reviews. The game has changed drastically because you as a community wanted it to. We have a big backlog to work through now, but here's our current plan:
In Progress:
-Challenge Queues: We tested challenges with friends-only to make sure that it didn't explode. Now we are going to let you get matched with anyone. This is an experimental feature that will be turned off if we detect any form of abuse. There may be restrictions for challenges with gem rewards for players to protect the economy and players, like how steam deals with limited accounts. This will be the first time that players can earn gems in the game directly, so we have to be extra sensitive to preventing exploits.
- Story Mode Expansion and Balance part 1: Short-term - we will be pushing a tiny update to chill out early game a bit. Current players who are far on the map will not feel a huge difference in the difficulty curve. If you are past Bao, then please consider that the great wilderness and expect a high curve until we can finish Story mode so that math will work out. We didn't anticipate this much demand for story mode at launch vs. PvP, and we are most definitely going to double down on making the experience great. Long-term: We do not want it to be impossible/pay-only to have a fun experience in the map, and many players who have not bought gems have unlocked Chairman Bao. The point of the story is to find and recruit heroes, but we have always intended for every minion in the game to be part of the world. Please rest assured-this is our highest priority after bug-fixes and challenges.
Up next:
- Sound
- Reaching 100+ minions
- More Heroes
- More Strikes
Unscheduled planned: (In no order)
- More mini-games
- Tournaments
- Language Localization
- Login with your Steam Account in our future iOS/Android version of Ember Strike.
- OS X support
- Linux support
- New game modes
Previous Roadmap work completed
Finished
- Earn gold in PvP!: This is by far the most common we've request we've had, and it's a great idea. PvP is the true heart of the game. (Done! version 0.211)
-Strike System Tutorial: Capturing mana stones and striker order is crucial, and we didn't make it clear for players.
-Better PvP UI: You'll now be able to see how your rank changes between battles. (Done! version 0.211)
-Ratings for Heroic Players: Once you hit the top rank of PvP, you'll now see your rating. (Done! version 0.211)
-More strikes and Minions: We are working on our next big set that has the new conjurations mechanic!(Done!)
-Mystics: Special versions of minions that can travel between players, and have fancier cards. Every minion will have a mystic version, but each mystic will only be available for a limited time and sometimes quantity and then never again, ever. (Done!)
-Steam Community Marketplace: Mystics will be able to be sold to other players for real money. (Done!)
- Direct friend challenge (Done!)
Forum comments: http://steamcommunity.com/app/374670/discussions/0/357284767255956462/
Update 0.250 - Big Update! Challenges, Strike Cutscene Lockout, VAC, Potato, and Stun Immunity
Challenges
- You can now challenge your Steam friends directly!
- Earn gems by entering into challenges with rewards!
VAC integration. - VAC reporting officially underway. Lots of anti-cheating measures also added.
Stun immunity - After being stunned, a minion cannot be stunned again for a certain amount of time.
Strike Mechanic Callouts-Tons of new information displayed in-game about your strikes so you can see what's happening. We still have a lot more work to do here, but this should be a big improvement.
Wiki Buttons - We put buttons direct to our new Wiki from within the game. It's a new wiki, and we'll be adding to it continually.
Balancing!
Strike Camera Lockout - Some strikes were able to animation spam and unfairly block opponents.
Strike Cutscene Caps -During battle, each minions strike cutscene will happen at most twice. The strike will still happen but it will not pause the game. Should make end of game a lot smoother, more fair, and more exciting.
Stuns do not affect strikes - It was always this way, but we weren't showing "Strike Ready" due to a bug.
Potato - Some clever players figured out how to dominate with Potato, so we adjusted it quite a bit.
Up Next - we're working on expanding Story mode and adjusting difficulty for single player. We know it's frustrating some people right now, and we are listening. It's now our top priority, so please stay tuned.
Server update coming at 5:15 EST for big update!
Update 0.240 - Strike effect visual update, 16:9 for party space.
Notifications for:
- Stun
- Curse
- Buffs
- Heal Shield
Strikes now display the current striker as well as the name of the attack.
Strike camera animation adnjusted.
Lastly, we spread out the minions quite a bit, and fixed to a wide-screen 16:9 format. This was an important change as it allows a lot more room for each minion to display status effects, auras, text notifications, and conjurations.
Please leave any feedback you have in the forums, and we will definitely read it!
Server update at 1:00am EST
Update 0.239 - Chairman Bao unlockable, Minion Hero Class Labled, and higher res portraits.
Update: Server maintenance today at 3:00pm EST - Level 50 fix
We have an issue with unlocking Chairman Bao and we'll be deploying a fix for it at 3:00pm today. The servers should be down for about 20 minutes.