As development continues, EXODE would like to exchange a bit about current endeavors in 2325, but also in 2022.
This will then be some kind of informal post here!
Come up and join us!
Ok, I admit our blog article may lack a bit on the coffee, or on the talk, as it's "me" writing here! ;-)
While reading feel free to interpret, imagine, then react...
Stay tuned for the end of the article as there will be some questions there!
All these blogs are informal ; maybe this one is even a little bit more.
Devlindos is quite powered up these days so it's like taking a break while coding! ;)
EXODE going forward, but could use more speed!
I think the main concept of a game is to bring evasion, depth, challenge and all kinds of fun.
And I think EXODE fits that ambition:
And it has more than an epic spark to it!
So first objective: let's keep it epic and sparky!
Yet I admit development has been slower than I wanted in the past weeks.
We took three intern artists this year and kept one as employee. So until September we may have been dedicating some CPU to a "team experience". Or maybe it removed the little bit of "inspired clarity" because we have to be more practical in such situations, always called back to a different area to plan things. Even if I limited leadership tasks to the absolute necessity that's one additional task and you know our number of scenes also "expanded" as they always do, taking more CPU as Fixolindos.
But our last team member, Art_eto, is really effective and does not use a lot of team leadership or CPU to be working like an expert. And that's exactly the kind of profiles we need as a small team!
So EXODE has gained that!
A solid team member is an immense victory.
In the following months I hope to add more persons of the same quality when the funds will allow it.
So the aim continues to be:
Team (mainly front dev), content and gameplay.
Navigating through the next weeks: a lot of fun ahread!
And about content and gameplay the main target here is to reconciliate some of our roadmap by adding Evacuation Missions ; while keeping our focus on releasing and expanding the Colonization Loop.
When all that will be deployed we will have added a lot of fun here.
Evacuation missions aim at collection gameplay which can benefit to all players and give value to all kind of cards. And it's not a secret Colonization loop has been our aim for all the last months.
Because EXODE has a lot of ambitions to fulfill!
And let's share another art about it:
I don't know about you, but I absolutely love the Cyberpunk noir aspect of it!
It could even become one of my preferred atmosphere. What about you?
So what about the loop?
We'll make blog articles later about Evacuation Missions so let's share some words about our colonization loop. So what about it?
EXODE has:
- a playable Evacuation since its beginning, which stabilized on its 'version E' 4 months after,
- a playable Scanning 4 months later,
- but even if we added early Region maps and Landing,
- and tested some bits of colonial actions in Away Teams step 1 much later,
- and deployed an early Landscape,
- then added Team creation, Research interface in some kind of colonization UI,
... we are still lacking and working on the ultimate assembly of it, the "big prize", the colonization loop. Our first attempt at a final deployment was in end September.
Technically we have been aiming at "a few weeks to deploy it" for like all infinity because it always was an attainable release. EXODE works with "gameplay scenes", which helps a lot in determining what we want from each scene.
But every time we approached the milestone we realized there were too many issues with the format we aimed for. Or rather, that it opened better ways to do it.
We have issues in EVAC, in Scanning ( Evacuation still lacks balance and clarity, Scanning lacks a lot of elements and interactivity ) and they have stayed for a long time, and we know we can't remove the same things easily from an existing deployed game loop.
The entire team concept is a strength because you then send orders to "a team" instead of a character and your team can have some members sleeping, wounded, or in Away Teams and this won't be a big issue for the player. It's flexible. The team concept comes thanks to the Away Teams experience, where we have teams and roles but also builds as its own concept.
It needed its own UI and then because we exploited the idea in other areas it needed a better one.
A tentative build in early October focused on adding food policies in the starting loop but it was held hostage by QA because it needed some fixes.
Between fixing and adding design, there has been a battle often won with the "let's deepen the design" conclusion (because that's really what we must always do) so we did just that as quickly as possible.
We inserted the beta presale after preparing its packs and contents and are now coming out of our beta presale since just a few days. But we haven't stopped working on it.
During that time we expanded the number of possible team profiles. We also implemented a concept about team specialization. This quickly challenged our existing UI/UX so we refined it for more clarity.
After an initial draft shared in our channels we refined it again last weekend, ending up with our better version shared on Discord.
The impact of this change is now complete and this immensely expands our number of possible team presets and the areas where they can be used.
Also, an added design is that Research will now be able to unlock more team profiles to make sure we can make the initial listing comprehensive enough yet not overly complex.
But ok, let's get to the bottomline, the truth is:
we are still working on the colonization loop.
Because we definitely are.
But we are so much closer too.
It has food policies, team specialization, more team tasks, it already had research and habitat/sleeping. We would like to add it the interactive events we talked about so many times then it will have everything we feel we need. So we fix a few last bugs, refine our simulation, adjust values and package a release!
I know, I said that no later than September/October and then we refined our team profiles.
Right now, I mention we need to test our interactive events and this makes sense.
Interactive events were mentioned for Scanning too but we never paused to fix their last UI bugs (and it could be nice to do that, scanning needs it!).
Now, another good thing:
Every time we do something we actually expand our "UI Toolset" as we add everything to our own EXODE UI framework.
That is the reason why you see some kind of shared presentation across all of our colonization screens. To refine our team listings we implemented our new UI components, new "UI API" commands to trigger front actions.
Of course, all that would have been faster with a dedicated front developer... and we need one who would be very easy to manage too, a top quality member. Which leads to the next section!
... ok so what were the informal points about?
So many words, yet so many other things to say!
I promised I would detail the new team profiles in a blog post but I'll lack the space to do so. Because I haven't yet talked about some of the latest main events.
As you all know there were these "odd people" doing "odd things" in the crypto world, such as FTX using its own self-printed token as collateral in loans, or trading against its own users thanks to its sister company Almeda and then making a lot of money go "puff".
We did not touch FTX within a parsec.
But while someone named Bankman made all that, we ourselves were in the middle of our last presale days.
Because of the moving situation and complete cryptocrash some of our big accounts which aimed to take packs had to pause and did not place their order. In hindsight that's a good news to players with beta packs! Because it gives even more value to the discounted beta packs they acquired: thanks to it they will enjoy low distribution numbers!
Another effect of the cryptocrash is that even if we put mitigations in place the sales collected lost considerable value "for now" (we did not take "the hit" yet) especially as the sale was on its last days.
During crypto crashes it is our responsibility to protect value and we did exactly that. We put mitigations in place and used them. But the conditions did make it easy.
Since we have an employee now things are different than with me only. This has been weighting on my mind in the past week and for the coming weeks.
... what solutions are there?
HIVE has the capacity and drive to grind back its value.
In case it does not, we must think of solutions.
Thoughts such as below are only considerations for later such as January / February.
So a decision will be approached by the end of December.
Heading to more player growth and deploying beta "sooner" is one solution.
But alpha is really used for us for what alpha should be used for. A lot of game scenes need to increase their "welcoming potential" to reach beta status. This may move priority to other scenes than the game loop.
Even transactions, player support, market needs for bids etc will be increased before (or as soon as) we reach beta status.
Also, beta opens an idea about player growth which could be compatible with thinking about "player packs" that players could "try out" to get a feel of the game, for instance, and join or apply for a guild, meaning guild features may like to expand too. It's a social aspect and is good for new players.
(they can feel more welcome, receive advice, they can "fit in" better with the existing community and its great values)
Increasing virality is also important and one of our objectives before beta:
such as adding public profile pages (that you can share to others).
We even shared today an idea about defining a "public page for your colony", where you could add captain diaries, other content or media (even music you create) and players could browse your characters. This can be fun and also increase virality and commitment, as players can share it, and the value of all events happening later in the game loop.
Alone it may not do much but I believe this is compatible with the beta objective, meaning the focus would be placed on "player growth" and that kind of virality where 1 player brings 1+ players (which is an objective in beta) thanks to having things to share. However, as mentioned above, the game is not absolutely ready for that whereas it could need it as a priority.
Initiating a small usable gameplay segment (and making it accessible even in a F2P format) could also be another solution.
It could be a small playable content we could make for all blockchains (wax etc) and which could leverage funds if we target the largest communities. This way, there will be a player growth but one which won't require to finalize or transform a lot of scenes and won't move priorities but "overwrite" a month or two instead.
You know most other games don't have the large EXODE concept and start with an automatic battle, and this could be the idea. To convert users to the larger EXODE concept it would be best to be sci-fi and in the same world of course.
We have ideas there such as the concept of War Infinitum, a former prototype which featured the corporation and nation wars before 2325. Existing EXODE players would have playable decks generated right away with their faction power for instance. This one can be really huge.
Or a text-based cyberpunk roleplaying game in the world of 2325, with atmosphere and all that mystery; such as setting the context before the evacuation happens.
This one could open ways to be released as a standalone even on game stores, because it feels "niche" and original and it has appeal thanks to the cyberpunk theme. And why not later use the characters from that game as crew and passengers in EXODE.
Or setting up mini-contests as if it were a simulator in 2325, like a space soccer.
(I said space soccer, I did not say space shooter ;) )
Yet... imagine a Rekatron shooter-soccer team fighting a Syndicate one!
that's very thematic!
Ok, that one could have used some graphical humph and we'll lack time for a proper one ; so imagine a "simple version" of it. It's still quite thematic, and could allow to feature countless corporations.
The advantage of these segments (let's call that a minigame) is that they avoid hitting pack value and can even add a separate utility to existing packs or faction power. They can also convert players from one setup to the other - a F2P setup is possible there more easily and even highly encouraged to favor player growth and some conversion metrics to EXODE. Also, they basically raise funds on their own.
Of course, all three concepts are compatible, some could be pushed for later, some could be put inside an "idea box" and never come to life. And there could be plenty more ideas too.
Honestly, I drop all such ideas but I don't want to be judged for them: even if you would find them of poor quality or mentioned at a wrong time. I am not "pausing" to do that right now, I am only putting them on a blog. It's understandable that I have to weight what I should do to keep adding people even if the crypto crash limited funding.
Also, later we could ask Epic Games or other routes for funding (a kickstarter can bring players too) but I just think crypto has an image right now we would have had to defend (what with FTX doing all that bad stuff).
So it's best if it comes when EXODE is closer to being "release-ready", such as a purchase giving you a full game-ready account with an equipped starter, making crypto "invisible" to external players and not having to defend that angle this much.
I am thinking out loud and making you participate publicly ;) I am interested in advance in your reaction to these concepts. Is there one you like more, one you like less? it's not a decision by vote but I am interested in your opinions!
Also, please remember the two next items in our roadmap before we get back to discuss this:
- Colonization Loop!
- Evacuation Missions!
... and then we'll see if HIVE got back to its full strength!
Go HIVE!
As another note, on our discord we discussed rentals, and I hope the next EXODE wrap up (latest one has come out and is here! ) would discuss that idea!
Thank you everyone, thank you for what you have been doing!
EXODE can be accessed and played from its website at:
https://exode.io.
Don't forget also to join our discord!
I will first say that I am in the "Field of Dreams" school of thought when it comes to attracting a following: if you build it, they will come. Having a good compelling product is the absolute first step. Otherwise if they happen to come they just leave again thinking, whatever. So I think the idea of getting more added to the game and revisiting the growth issue thereafter is exactly correct.
That said, I like the idea of allowing new players to use a basic starter deck of cards that enables a certain amount of game play, but without producing any tradeable rewards. I would expect that this could work very well in EXODE to the extent that players need to produce different types of resources to advance in the game (food, energy, wood, metal, etc.) while it is easier to specialize and produce a limited number of resource types and use what you produce to trade for what you don't produce.
In the case of players using a starter deck, the produced resources won't be tradable, requiring the players to produce everything they need on their own. As long is it is made clear in the UI that for the cost of a origins pack the player could trade rather than needing to produce every type of resource, (perhaps even allowing a player to upgrade an existing starter deck game by buying the origins pack) there is a natural pathway to draw the players in after they have experienced enough of the game that they want to be able to progress in a more efficient manner.
This is a take on the "smaller playable game segment" idea, but it makes more of the game available, which I think has a better chance of converting players. Naturally, being able to trade within the game is only a draw if it is slow and difficult to go it alone. The missing game element doesn't need to be trade, it could be anything, but in a game with an economy it's an obvious choice.
As a side note, having the element of resources produced by players in game and trading them also helps achieve a workable economy as long as players have avenues to advance in the game without producing resources as well (perhaps using the time to develop proficiency producing a different resource.) In times where player activity is low, and resources are not being consumed, players need something to do other and continuously over producing unneeded resources and thus permanently crashing the market. Naturally, in times of high player activity when resources are in high demand players will want to produce them for their higher trade values. As a further aside, I think the biggest problem most P2E games have is that they keep producing tradable assets even when there is no demand for them... Big surprise when the market crashes. As a still further aside, I wonder if it is feasible to make the amount of a resource a player can produce inversely proportional to the the market value or current supply of that resource. So even if a player tries to produce unneeded resources they experience very low yields. I think this would really just be an anti-botting measure, as a real, thinking player will want to produce resources they can reasonably expect to be able to trade. Bots generally don't care and keep farming as long as there is something to farm.
I don't dislike the idea of minigames, but that approach does require other, different games to be developed in addition to the main game, so the approach clearly requires addition development effort.
I also think doing things on other blockchains is good as well. More exposure and being easier to find is always a good thing.
Finally, I also agree with @lifesavings that for blockchain games the general lack of blockchain knowledge in the larger game playing population is a real obstacle. The more gently a blockchain game can introduce players to dealing with blockchains, the more likely it can draw in the larger segment of gamers who are basically blockchain illiterate. I further agree that many game players just want something that immediately seems cool to them.
The hard part blatantly: Exode needs more investment to push forward, especially for a great front-end developer. Right now the gamers are the only investors here. Newbs are going to want to see a fancy-looking site to dig any deeper or buy packs.
Most other 'games' have investors, often 5 or more. These investors end up being the only ones that get profit in the end. Simply because they dump the coin right into the early growth period. Normies look at a game, see the various investors, and think it's a hopeful sign - but it's usually the opposite! The blockchain game marketplaces are too often too soft for investors to cash out while the game is just beginning to gain traction.
Exode is fighting to move forward without taking an investor. Elindos is under a lot of pressure to get the game looking better, so he can promote it more effectively. We need people that want to actually play.
The unfortunate issue is money - a front-end developer ASAP. Needs to make the website more visually appealing to attract players. Newcomers don't easily see what we know. Wildly enough, most gamers will just look at the website and invest if it 'looks cool'. That's it!
Exode already does have a reasonable amount of content. Enough to sell more beta. Also, a great outlook for the future. So much about Exode is just right! The problem is, we need to bring more people in. We can't do that without it all looking top-notch. A site developer will lead a lot of people to research the potential of Exode further. But we need to catch their eye first! A fancy website is an initial attraction we need now. I bet Elindos spends too much of his time on design when his skills are better suited for other things.
The player page is a great idea. The Exode community is smart and strong. People love to show off and receive views + interactions. Displaying achievements and all sorts of things. It's a great idea, but again, it's something in need of a gifted front-end developer while Elindos does what he's good at.
Crypto winter is real. Exode is trying to raise funds at a time when everyone else is, but for very different reasons. Exode is trying to get off the ground with the basics. Others are trying to raise capital to save themselves from their ultimate fate - failed (completed?) ponzis. Small gamers have been abused in other games. They don't know how to figure out what is honest and real vs a literal scam. It's true, many games are fundamentally scams. It takes a lot of digging to see it! The thing is, they look good on the surface. You really have to pop the hood to see that they're scams! Most people don't take the time...
Seems Elindos needs something to happen within in the next month or 2. Really, we need to sell the beta. To do that, we need a front-end developer. One way or another, he's going to get the help. Let's hope we can attract new players before he's forced to look for an investor. It's come so far...only lacking a key person to make the site look amazing.
Beta and wax seems promising (of course beta has been calling to me for a long time now ;) But i do like those minigame ideas.
Thanks!
I think the idea of (F2P )minigames is very interesting to bring new players to EXODE. If they like it, they will see what else you can do in EXODE. That being said, i think there will have to be enough content (in the main game )to keep them entertained or they might lose interest very quickly.
I like the 'space soccer' idea a lot to, in my head it has a 'blood bowl' vibe, smashing and brawling your way to the goal. While the other team might be very agile or fast depending on your faction.
Another idea for a minigame could be; you control the alien ships and have to make sure nobody escapes from a space station. Playing this game should also teach you how to evacuate more succesfully.
Actually, I almost did put "playing aliens and finding player planets" as a 4th minigame proposal :D I just thought it would make players feel bad to be detected.
Organizing mass attacks in the pre-evacuation with a preset of fleets could be viable too, reading reports and committing fleets.
Or as you say, making sure no one escapes from a station!
But here I am stopped, because I like to keep the aliens and their fleet profile as a mystery that players should investigate.
As for the space soccer, I am glad you see the BB vibe in that because that sure is a good reference.
Nice idea on the evac mini game, it would give a good intro to the game.
But I think a functionnal colonization loop is needed to keep players, you're right. Otherwise they might get bored.
Of course this makes me think that an actual IRL coffee-talk would be great... that's sure to happen for when I am less needed on the coding deck!
About the questions raised I actually anticipate that many players would point out to rush beta as being the best solution. I am ok with the fact it will become the preferred option. We still need weeks to implement the arts and features for it but it sounds like a good option.
It's just that I observed that with all the information EXODE has, it needs to refine UI/UX at every corner. Or it can very quickly lose the gameplay it can aim for (because of too much or unclear information containers, lack of purpose, lack of events or too many of them, etc).
Proposing EXODE content to WAX could be something to do too and which was planned actually since months (some alpha boosters were even set aside for it).
On that angle I think demands about guild features, social aspects, market bids, better transactions clarity and especially improving EVAC/Scanning scenes are still required to make sure "new players fit in". Some of this can be delayed, or put aside, but most should be implemented.
That's why I'll think about it again in end December, once we can play with more content on EXODE itself!
I have read through your long post now and thought about it a while, and here is what I think: I have been a proponent for (prio) finishing the colonization loop for a long time now, and still think its important to see the core scenes working together. Having said that I also understand the current situation and the need to bring in more players/interested parties and possibly funding. I propose that the focus of such a path should be centered around your ideas of "collection game play" and evacuation missions. I think you already have created many elements needed for such a limited gameplay and you also have the ideas for it. Such game content would still be more sophisticated than the many mining games that exist out there in the crypto space. With such a completed (but simpler game play) it would be possible to market this game towards a larger audience, get more people interested in the project, and make it possible to have a larger audience for additional monetizing activities. If bringing in more money to the project means an additional developer then I am all for it, even if it means relative dilution of my game assets.
Dear @elindos,
May I ask you to review and support the new HiveSQL Proposal so we can keep it free to use for the community?
You can do it on Peakd, ecency,
Thank you!
Done with elindos/exodegame/exoderewards!
It already fulfilled its target but you'll still get the votes.
Sorry if I did not catch the notification ; I always have a few hundreds in wait.
I am doing an everyone tag right now on our discord about one of our articles and will add information about it!
I wish you the best for the coming year!
I know how it is to have hundreds of pending notification to manage 😅
Thank you for your support, really appreciate it!
Without imposing and as we are in a renewal period for proposals, if you could take a look at the HiveBuzz Proposal Renewal - #248 as well 😁