Dev diaries №1: Shades
Hi everyone!
It’s been a while since we shared news about Shades with you. Meanwhile, three months have already passed since CBT ended so it's time to unveil some secrets!
In this devblog we plan to share all the project updates and plans regarding the gameplay and content. Enjoy the devblog! We look forward to your comments!
The Closed Beta-Test showed us your great amount of interest in Shades. Even two weeks after the test ended a lot of players continued to play the game, persevered in studying characters in depth and obtaining rare items. Your level of personal involvement combined with the positive feedback was incredibly inspiring to us, convincing us that we were on the right path..
Please note: The content of the devblog is not necessarily finalized. The actual content of the game may differ!
Shades
The Shades system received a lot of positive feedback from the CBT participants, therefore we don't expect that it will have any significant changes in the future. Therefore our main focus will be on improving the current balance of shades and adding new schools.
Tick-tock-toxin!
Those who took part in the CBT have become acquainted with two supernatural schools of shades: Lighting and Fire. In the next update you will have a chance to try two new schools: the school of Poison and the school of Bombs. The latter will allow you to avenge Lynx with his own weapons to experiment with mystical and highly explosive substances.
We have nothing to worry about. Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power! A mere copy will never surpass the original.
Flutter like a monkey
One of the schools of shades showed mixed results during the CBT—school of acrobatics. On the one hand, a Fast & Ferocious shade (guaranteed critical hit after a roll) turned out to be the strongest in the game. On the other hand, other shades of this school turned out to be the least popular. Therefore, we decided to rework this school completely. We will cunningly keep the details a secret, but you can rest assured that you will love new shades, especially if you enjoy moving around the battlefield during the fight.
I know that you have the skills to move like a ninja. But do you have the guts to use them?
Schools of shades
It may not have been very obvious during the CBT, but all the shades of the game belong to different schools. We are working on making them unique both in terms of gameplay and visual style. Our goal is to make it easy for players to tell the schools apart. This will make it more intuitive for players to plan builds and to communicate to one other. And also, wouldn’t you agree that ‘An Ifrit Bear Build’ just sounds awesome!?
Stretch your fingers!
At the start of the CBT we assumed that most players would just complete our first act in a couple of days. In reality, things turned out to be much more exciting! A lot of players kept playing the game long after beating our final boss.
In the light of this, we decided to revise our plans and make a ‘Hardcore’ mode for our story acts. In this mode, not only Shadow but also his opponents will get various shades at each stage. The higher the difficulty, the more shades your enemies will have!
This will make the time you spend playing so much more varied and exciting! Imagine all the range of emotions you will experience when fighting against all sorts of opponents? (an enemy with Lightning? an enemy with Lightning and Regeneration?!)
The story
We were thrilled to learn that so many of you enjoyed the first act of Shades' story. This reassures us that we are on the right track!
It is our intention to paint an all-round picture of the characters and their inner worlds, for you to get to know them on a deeper personal level. Notice when revisiting the bosses they will give you different reactions every time: some are humorous, while others are far too serious. Every detail is there for a reason, bit by bit shedding light on the Shadow Fight Universe, as you move along your personal journey of its discovery. We want Shades to become a personal journey for each of you.
We were really excited to see that the in-game comic-style illustrations were enjoyed by so many players! We are planning to add lots more! This feature is a great way to show things that we can’t show in the game for different reasons: for example, events that occur off-screen. Here’s a new illustration from the comics for you. What do you think is happening here?
The shadow of the greater knowledge
You’ve probably noticed a mysterious stranger in the right part of this devblog’s header. Many of you probably recognized her: this is Seeker. In a coming version of Shades this otherworldly ally of Shadow will get her own bonus room. If you are lucky there is a chance you may visit this room as part of your runs. Knowing our fans' love for lore, we risked and did something that you rarely see in mobile games: Seeker’s Library is a purely narrative room. There, through Shadow’s dialogues with Seeker you will get to know new things about the SF universe as a whole and about Shades' story in particular. Right now, there are not many dialogues. The reason for this is that we want to receive our players' feedback. Do you perceive this room to be a valuable part of the game? What features would you like to be added to it?
Future plans
I know that you really want to know the release date ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )
According to my predictive analysis system, the first quarter of 2023 is the most plausible option. However, when it comes to humans, you can never be sure of anything... except for one thing. You are always drawn by the shadows.