Summoners Fate Wins Big in the Big Indie Pitch CompetitionFirst off, thank you all for being so kind, patient and supportive during our development process. It means so much to get your personal messages of encouragement and know that you're still behind me in this journey we're on together. I hope this update brings a smile and some joy to your day.
Check Out Our Award-Winning PitchI'm pleased to share that Summoners Fate just won third place in the Big Indie Pitch competition! Not only did we get a chance to validate our game with veteran game journalists and publishers, we also take away a $3000 prize package in marketing and exposure with Pocket Gamer and 148Apps.
Here's a video of the winning pitch I delivered:But, the build Ross, what about the build?!As ecstatic as I am about our recent victory, I am absolutely thrilled to announce the release details for our long-anticipated single-player build.
When to Expect the New Build:We plan to release the new build to prerelease players next month (June). I've just completed all the content planned for this release, and now it's just a matter of fixing known issues and optimizing the experience. I don't have an exact date. The timing will depend on final testing as well as review process for the Apple submission. My goal is ASAP, and I will commit to delivering before the end of June, whatever state it's in.
What To Expect in the New Build:The next release of Summoners Fate is all about the single player experience. When you first login, you'll be transported to the forest realm where you'll once again help Sylvia, the Druid save the forest - only this time it will introduce our free-roam, open world mechanics including campsites, lore and fate encounters.
The Cosmic Tortoise invites you to relax by the fire and play Summoners Fate.Upon completing this mission, you'll be presented with our new Play menu featuring the fan-favorite tortoise who has evolved into a key character within the game, carrying the burden of your growing card collection as well as opening portals to new worlds. From the play menu, you'll be able to choose the new Adventure mode or Battle mode (the gameplay mode you know and love from our earlier builds).
Adventure or Battle? Choose Your FateAdventures have three chapters, each featuring a different world. You'll choose a starting Summoner and begin your quest to defeat the three bosses. Worlds are populated with a combination of hand-crafted battles, fate encounters, shops, treasure and camp sites, selected through procedural curation to ensure you'll have a unique experience each time you play.
Note: For the sake of getting this build out to you sooner, there will be 3 different world biomes (dungeon, forest and desert), surfaced in a linear order, and with fixed bosses. For full release, I have plans for at least 2 additional biomes as well as up to 3 potential bosses per biome. For future builds, the biome order will also become dynamic (rather than linear) with the enemies scaling in difficulty according to the number of chapter the world is played on.
Another great feature in the upcoming build: You'll be able to switch between single player and multiplayer/battle mode at will. Battles and deckbuilding for multiplayer can be accessed directly from the settings menu, and upon battle completion, you'll return seamlessly to your current single player world. And with our new asset caching, load times between battles have been virtually eliminated.
Lore - Our Unique Way of Telling StoriesBattles in Summoners Fate are complimented by story presented through fate encounters and lore. In a previous update, I discussed how Fate Encounters will use D20 dice to determine the outcome of light RPG scenarios (ex: freeing a caged bear) to deliver story, activate events and unlock new characters. Lore is a new mechanic to Summoners Fate that I designed to help bridge the gap between these encounters and the story of the world and its characters.
Scrolls containing lore can be dropped by defeated enemies and discovered while searching objects. The text in these scrolls can:
Identify and provide flavor and depth to characters you encounter in the current world you are exploring
Reveal the identify of the world boss and tactics useful for defeating them
Reveal interesting insights about the world of Summoners Fate (this is called "universal lore")
We've found that lore can foster emergent story telling due to the random timings of its reveals with the encounters in the world. I think lore will also help further connect you to the characters you so diligently command in battle.
If nothing else, lore should ease any concerns you may have about the characters looking up at youUntil Next TimeI know you're all super excited to get your hands on the new build, and believe me, I am too! I can't wait to see our Discord and forums ignite with your feedback and ideas for new fate encounters and lore. I have a strong feeling the new adventure mode is going to spark some amazing creativity in our community.
See you next month for the release of Summoners Fate adventures!