Rounding Up - December Kandria Update
over 1 year ago – Mon, Dec 05, 2022 at 08:42:16 AM

This is a shorter update, as this month was primarily spent on translation and bugfixing, neither of which we can really tell you much about. If you missed last month's though, please be aware that the game will release on January 11th!

Various Things

The translation is going slow, as I'm doing it myself and am not used to a good workflow for that. I expect I'll get the hang of it yet though and I've already made pretty significant progress on it.

Other than that, the achievement icons are done, thanks to Blob! I'm really happy with how they turned out, and it's nice to have some of his high-res art associated with the game.

Finally, I took two days to develop a new webservice for key distribution, which will allow you to buy the game DRM-free directly on our website once it releases. This will also ensure that 95% of your money goes to us, rather than the 70% we get on Steam.

The Soundtrack is also now fully mastered and done, and is ready to be released at the same time as the game, which is 1500 CET, January 11th. Those that backed us via Kickstarter can expect to get their keys sometime early January, though the game won't unlock until the official release date.

Roadmap

Since last month things have not changed drastically, though the game is now "done" as far as the English version is concerned. Most of the remaining time until release in January will be spent on very niche bugfixes and the German translation.

• Spruce up some of the sound effects and music tracks
• Create achievement icons and integrate them into the game
• Translate into German
• Release the full game
• Backport re-usable components into Trial
• Separate out the assets from the main repository
• Publish the source code under a permissive license
• Fix a plethora of bugs and inconveniences in Alloy
• Polish the editor and make it more stable
• Release the editor
• Develop a modding system for Trial
• Finish the Forge build system at least to an extent where it's usable
• Integrate the mod.io API with the modding system
• Create a mod manager and browser UI
• Document more parts of Trial and Kandria
• Release an official modding kit

Well then until that fateful day, 11th of January, please continue to share the steam page with your friends and other communities! We really need all the help we can get leading up to release.

Please also look forward to a yearly roundup at the end of the month, and until then I hope you have a great holiday season!

Release Date Announcement! - November Kandria Update
over 1 year ago – Tue, Nov 15, 2022 at 01:56:08 PM

This update's an important one! The final release date, a new trailer, and some more announcements. Dang! Well, without further ado:

Release Date: 11th of January!

Alright, I'm happy to announce that we got a final release date for Kandria, which is as the title says, Wednesday, 11th of January 2023! To celebrate the release date announcement, and the large amounts of progress we've made polishing the game, please enjoy this brand new trailer as well:

The game will release on Steam, itch.io, and onto the website as a direct sale. All copies of the game will be DRM-free. I'm also excited to say that the game will release both in English and in German, translated by yours truly. We have enough time left over to do the localisation, so I really want to do it.

Shevalin Single

The full soundtrack of the game (which is excellent, by the way!) will be released together with the game in January. However, you can enjoy a single from the soundtrack right now:

https://hypeddit.com/q89kb4

This is Shevalin, the ending credits song, composed by our very talented Mikel Dale, and sung by the incredible Julie Elven. I hope you enjoy it!

User Feedback

Currently we're still polishing everything we can find and responding to user feedback. One of the most prominent things we noticed watching people play was that they were confused by the locked doors in the first region of the game. So hey, we finally added crashable doors:

If you're part of the beta programme, please give the game a try! We still have some time to include more changes if you have any suggestions.

Development

Okey, last month we got a new roadmap, so let's look at that now:

• Add even more detail tiles, foliage, and animal spawners throughout the world
• Fine-tune the levelling, trade prices, and enemy difficulty
• Create new key art
• Create a new trailer
• Spruce up some of the sound effects and music tracks
• Create achievement icons and integrate them into the game
• Translate everything (over 50'000 words) into German
• Release the full game
• Backport re-usable components into Trial
• Separate out the assets from the main repository
• Publish the source code under a permissive license
• Fix a plethora of bugs and inconveniences in Alloy
• Polish the editor and make it more stable
• Release the editor
• Develop a modding system for Trial
• Finish the Forge build system at least to an extent where it's usable
• Integrate the mod.io API with the modding system
• Create a mod manager and browser UI
• Document more parts of Trial and Kandria
• Release an official modding kit

Alright! Until the 11th of January finally hits, please continue to share the steam page with your friends and other communities!

Mapping the Road to Release - October Kandria Update
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 10, 2022 at 11:09:43 AM

So, we've been in beta for over a month and gotten lots of useful feedback. Thanks a bunch! We'll continue to listen eagerly for feedback as we move towards the end of the development.

Some of you also still haven't filled out your Backerkit Surveys. Please do so, or you won't be able to receive a key on launch!

HeroFest

Another convention!

We'll be at the HeroFest in Bern, October 14-16! You'll be able to play the latest Kandria release there and chat about whatever. If you're in the area, please stop on by and check out the rest of the Swiss indie games presenting there as well.

Soundtrack

The release of the soundtrack has been delayed by a bit, as our composer got swamped with work, and we're still trying to hash out the complicated stuff behind royalties and all. However, a single of the soundtrack should be out soon. Please keep an ear out for that!

Steam Deck Support

Gaben finally delivered a Steam Deck to me, and I've tested Kandria on it. There were a couple of minor fixes to make it more usable, but now it seems to run flawlessly on the deck! Nice!

The Deck is a wonderful piece of tech, and I've been enjoying playing other games on it as well. While I still would like for Kandria to run on the Switch as well, this is the next best thing for now.

Development

We're still rounding out the last bits of polish and bugs, and focusing on playing through the game more to ensure the balance and progression also work well. Development of the core game will officially end at the end of November, after which focus will shift towards adding the stretch goals we promised during the Kickstarter, preparing promotional materials, and so on.

To that end, here's a new rough roadmap of all the stuff left to do including post-release updates:

• Add even more detail tiles, foliage, and animal spawners throughout the world
• Fine-tune the levelling, trade prices, and enemy difficulty
• Spruce up some of the sound effects and music tracks
• Create achievement icons and integrate them into the game
• Release the full game
• Backport re-usable components into Trial
• Separate out the assets from the main repository
• Publish the source code under a permissive license
• Fix a plethora of bugs and inconveniences in Alloy
• Polish the editor and make it more stable
• Release the editor
• Develop a modding system for Trial
• Finish the Forge build system at least to an extent where it's usable
• Integrate the mod.io API with the modding system
• Create a mod manager and browser UI
• Document more parts of Trial and Kandria
• Release an official modding kit

We're also planning some cool events to celebrate the three big release milestones, though more info about that as we actually get closer to them.

For now, please continue to share the steam page with friends and other groups. It would help a lot to ensure that we can continue to make games in the future!

Going enters Beta - September Kandria Update
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 08, 2022 at 01:16:21 PM

Kandria has finally entered beta, and the keys have been rolled out to all the Kickstarter backers of the Hunter tier and above. We've already got some good feedback in from that, and are continuing to polish the remaining areas.

If you're a beta backer and haven't gotten your key, please check your emails and your Backerkit account here: https://kandria.backerkit.com/

In case you missed the Kickstarter but would still like to support us, you can also do so by preordering Kandria or its soundtrack through Backerkit. Unlike Kickstarter, this also accepts PayPal, if you don't have access to a credit card.

Gamescom & Devcom

We were part of the Swiss Games delegation to Gamescom this year, and had a stand at their incredible booth:

A bunch of people stopped by to talk to us about the game and try it out for themselves, which is always fun to observe.

On Thursday we were even allowed to use the booth's big LED wall for a small event, where participants could race for the lowest time in one of our side quests!

It was all an extremely exhausting week, though. Having to stand at the booth all day, plus the almost two hours of travel time between the venue and where I was staying every morning and evening ended up being quite taxing.

Luckily I somehow managed to dodge Covid again, despite most people not wearing a mask again...

Development

In the meantime, development continued and we finally got some full-game playthrough tests done! We asked a number of people to play through the game casually, and found that on average a playthrough will take about 6-8 hours, which is an excellent time for a game of this type. If you do all the side quests, I imagine it'll take about 10-12 hours. And if you go for all the secrets and everything, probably even longer than that, so there's definitely a lot of content stuffed into the game!

So compared to last month, we already got two of the major steps left to do finished out. The main questline is working well, and all of the side quests for the game, including the Kickstarter stretch goal "Synthesis" questline are done and playable. We're also almost done detailing in all the rooms with tiles. We also tuned the RPG levelling quite a bit already, though I imagine I'll want to tune that some more based on player feedback.

What's left to do now is mostly ironing out all of the bugs, testing everything front and back and whatever other ways we can think of, and marketing the game some more to make sure people actually know it exists, too. And here's where I unfortunately have to make another announcement: the release will be delayed to January. Releasing in November is not a good move, especially for a young studio like ours. January is much calmer and generally results in better marketing and better sales, which we'll really need.

The time spent between November and January won't be wasted, though. We'll keep responding to feedback from our testers, and we'll work on the stretch goals from the Kickstarter as well. With any luck, the game will be able to launch with the level editor already integrated and available!

But yes, we need a good launch if we're to make more games, and I really, really would like to. Again, I ask that if you know anyone at all, or any groups that may be interested in Kandria, please share the steam page with them. It would help us out a lot, as we're not doing so hot with our general outreach.

Well then, that's it for this month. See you next month, or next week if you're on the mailing list!

We're at Gamescom / Please fill in your surveys!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 24, 2022 at 01:03:33 AM

Hello everyone!

Just a quick update to say that we're at Gamescom this week! If you're also in the area, please stop by the Swiss Games booth in Hall 4.1! We got chocolates 😉

Also, please fill out your Backerkit Survey if you haven't yet. There's still about 50 people that have not filled out their surveys, and we can ill finish the game or get you your rewards without that! Especially if you are a backer of the Architect tier, please check your Kickstarter messages about the custom game content!

And finally, if you would like more frequent development updates and occasional deep-dives into the development tech behind Kandria, sign up for our mailing list! We post weekly updates on what's going on there.

Alright, that's all for now! Hope to see you at Gamescom!