After some weeks of running our Closed Alpha we have started to gather the feedback from our first players: the brave souls that have decided to support Soul Shards in its first and very rough exposition to the community. Thanks to the community's feedback we have found out that the game needs polishing in certain areas before it gets further exposition. Because of this and after careful deliberation, we have decided to extend the Closed Alpha until the end of Second Quarter 2018.
As a result, the Early Access will be postponed until the Closed Alpha finishes. We still want to uphold our commitment to the community, so if you were looking forward to play the game at the end of April, please reach out to us on this link and we will enroll you in the Alpha. If you want to wait until the gameplay experience is a bit more mature, we would recommend that you join us when the Early Access launches.
Closed Alpha extension reasons
We need to improve our player onboarding experience: Our gameplay style is something unique. While the game does have some tutorials at this point, we have found that the experience of getting started might be daunting. We want players enjoying what our game has to give them. Not being frustrated because our explanation of it is lacking. Because of this, we are committed to build a series of interactive tutorials that will give players all the tools they need to be able to enjoy the game!
We need to improve menu and user interface flow: Right now users have to dig to find all the available features in the User Interface. Furthermore, sometimes the features are not even getting discovered! We are working hard to improve the flow of the UI so it flows more naturally and adapts better to the flow of the different game modes.
We will be adding some more content: The content we decided to release at the end of April was the bare minimum. With the new timeline, and as we continue the Closed Alpha, we will increase our content base. During this time, we will start to release the content of the next expansion set: "Soul Shards: Dar Void". Dark void's theme is Sci Fi, and we will release new creatures, spells and environments, so stay tuned!
We wanted to finalize the announcement by extending our most sincere appreciation to those who have participated in the Alpha. Thanks to you this will become an awesome game!
Soul Shards Dev Team
Alpha Update (4-21-2018)
Hello,
Here's the list of changes that were packaged with the most recent update. The team focus at this point is achieving a better experience for first time users.
Help us with the testing!
We would love to have your help in testing some key features. For each feature you test, we would love to have your specific feedback about that feature:
New Home Defense menu tiles: We have made some changes that should make the discoverability of Home Defense tournament game mode a little bit easier. If you haven't created a home defense just go into the "Single Player Menu" and you should be able to see the new tiles there.
Participate in the Home Defense Tournament: We have added new options to the Home Defense game mode so you can select to attack other players in the Home Defense tournament. Create your home defense, enable it, and then you should be able to attack other players from the deck selection screen.
Nightmare Game Mode: Check out the new information we have added about this game mode and play-test the first 50 levels. Once you reach level 50 you will face an unbeatable challenge that will be locking you out of the next levels. Soon we will be adding the next 200 levels!
Multiplayer matches: Look for us in discord (https://discordapp.com/invite/M3q3Zbb) to have multiplayer matches!
New Features and Content Updates
Enabled multiplayer practice queue: Upon request we can now enable the multiplayer practice queue. Players can start playing multiplayer without the need to add other players as friends in Steam. If you are looking for multiplayer matches, look for them in discord (https://discordapp.com/invite/M3q3Zbb).
User Interface Changes
Direct shortcut to deck builder in main menu: Previously clicking on "Deck Builder" would take the user to the web portal, where the user needed to do some navigation before finding the deck builder. As this was a bit confusing we have fixed this so Deck Builder menu item takes the user directly to the deck builder.
Improvements to home defense flow: There are several improvements that will allow for better discoverability of the different steps that need to be undertaken in order to participate in the Home Defense Tournament. New tiles have been added to the "Single Player" menu that will guide the user in this process. A shortcut to the home defense builder has been added to the deck selection screen. Also several actions have been added to this screen to allow the user to engage in different actions like Attack, Practice, or Enable Home Defense.
Additional Game Mode Information: Additional information about the purpose of each game mode has been added to the deck selection screen.
Web Portal menu element added to Main Menu: A web portal menu item has been added to the main menu to allow the user access to the entire web portal (as previously done by the Deck Builder men item).
Bug Fixes
Web server performance improvements: Several performance improvements have been done on our web servers that should make the navigation between menus faster.
Added Home Defense building restrictions: Empty home defense creation is no longer allowed. Now home defenses require a minimum of 10 cards.
Removed difficulty levels when defeating your own home defense: When users defeat their own home defenses in order to enable them, the game was allowing to select a level of difficulty. This is not allowed anymore, as users should always enabled their own home defenses at the highest level of difficulty.
Fixed Home Defense asking the user to save changes when home defense has no changes: Home defense was always asking the user to save changes when the home defense was empty and the user had made no chances. This has been fixed.
Home Attack and Defense progression visualization fixed: Home defense tournament progress was not updated in the progress screen. Now it is.
Starter deck templates were updated: This will not affect starter decks for already onboarded users.
Added ally target icon to Role Enchants: Cards like Bound, Coward, Evasive, Opportunistic Attacker, Pursuer, Sentry, Supporter, Unleashed, Wanderer were not showing the proper target icon in the in game card representation. Now they are.
Thanks for joining the community in this early phase. Your contribution (testing and feedback) is what will make this a great game!
Soul Shards Dev Team.
Alpha Update (4-13-2018)
Hello,
Here's the list of changes that were packaged with the most recent update:
New Features and Content Updates
Added Difficulty option to "Home Defense Challenge" and "Nightmare" game modes: Now players can tweak their experience by selecting different levels of difficulty. Home defense game mode has additional "Invasion Phase" time for Easy and Medium game difficulties. (Thanks to @LostPerson for the Feedback!).
User Interface Changes
Discord Community Live!
Hi everyone, today we would like to invite you to join our Discord Community, this is going to be a direct way to interact with us, give us feedback and meet other players from Soul Shards too! Hope to see you all there! (also remember to share this link with your friends so they can join too!)
Alpha Walkthrough
Hi! Today we bring you a video with a quick glimpse of everything you can do right now on our closed alpha.
This is the first of several videos explaining our game. Later videos will go more in depth on each feature so don't worry if you still feel kind of lost after watching this one. Do your best and keep playing! More features are yet to come.
Have fun!
"Soul Shards – Ice Void" Closed Alpha released!
The day is here! Our closed alpha is live. If you already have a key, download the game so you can play now! If you just heard about Soul Shards, please go to this link and request a spot in the closed alpha, there is still plenty of time for joining.
This is just the start of the journey, and we are aware that there may be plenty of crashes, bugs, balance issues and all the fun stuff that goes into this stage! We are eager to hear what the community has to say so please feel free to give us your feedback this link, or help us polish the game and report bugs on this link.
BTW, the Challenge a Friend option will be enabled soon on the game. In few days check the multiplayer menu and you'll be able to challenge directly your friends on the closed alpha!
Lets have some fun!
Join Soul Shards – Ice Void Closed Alpha!
ALPHA ANNOUNCEMENT
We are excited to announce that we’re starting a Closed Alpha for Soul Shards – Ice Void on Steam! This Closed Alpha phase will help us evaluate our core game mechanics and test our technology in a real environment. If you want to be considered for the alpha, please go to this forum discussion and post a comment requesting the key. If you are selected for the alpha, we will be sending you an Steam Key as a private message.
The Alpha will take place between the 6th of April and the end of April. We want to express our gratitude to those of you who decide to join us during this stage!
Kind Regards,
The Soul Shards team.
DISCLAIMER
It’s important to be aware that, even when we have made our best effort to deliver a stable game experience, the game is unstable now. You must understand that you will be testing an unfinished product. Also, it means that not all the features are in there yet.
The Closed Alpha scope is very limited. You will not find all the features that will be released in a final version, like more single player game modes, multiplayer game modes, maps and cards. Also, all our servers are currently located in the US.
We cannot guarantee an instant spot in the alpha for all whose request it, but we will be doing our best to send invitations to most of you. If not, you’ll be able to register on the Early Access at the end of April.
If you want to be up to date with the game, please follow us on Twitter or Facebook and we’ll really appreciate if you tell your friends about Soul Shards. Thanks a lot for your support!
If you have any feedback or suggestions, please let us know!
