Dev Update #5 - Alpha Preparation, Update Roadmap & Steam Keys

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to another weekly news post. 

First of all, thank you to all those who submitted a survey response! We’ve gotten hundreds of responses, which really helps us understand the opinions of the community and to understand early feedback.

If you haven’t completed the survey yet, you can do so here: https://forms.gle/xiDQEXPNwEuG9rsz5

We will share the results in a future news post.

Now, let’s dive into the rest of the update!

Melvor Idle 2 Steam Keys

We have set up an automated method to claim your Melvor Idle 2 Steam Keys.

Elite Supporters - If you wish to claim your Steam Key for Melvor Idle 2, you can do so by following the steps in this link:

https://gamesbymalcs.itch.io/melvor-idle-2/patreon-access

You’ll be asked to login via Patreon to claim your Steam Key.

Important information about the Steam Key:

• The key will activate the game on your Steam account, allowing you to play it as soon as Early Access launches.

• It does not provide access to the Alpha (More details below).

• I recommend creating an Itch account so you can link the key to the account.

Alpha Preparation

Next week, we plan to release the initial Alpha for everyone to dive in and start testing it out. We’re still adding the final touches, so fingers crossed we can get it in your hands!

For anyone that is new to “Alpha” tests, it may take you by surprise at just how early in development the game actually is. There are a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle that may affect your initial experience. If you thought “Early Access” games on Steam released too early, wait until you see an “Alpha” release.

The idea is that we need to start getting feedback early so we can make adjustments where necessary before everything is too far in development. You’ll look back on this initial build in 6 months time and go “wow, a lot has changed”. We’re going to do this together, and make it the best experience possible in the end.

Here’s some important things to consider while playing the Alpha.

Alpha means Alpha

This is a statement we’ll use a lot during the testing period. It simply means that we are watching, listening, and adjusting at all times. Things will change constantly, content will grow, bugs will be squashed.

It’s not an indication of the final product. Its purpose is to show the direction of the game, and involve everyone here in making it the best final product possible.

Context matters, but you don’t have that yet

When creating a game like Melvor Idle 2, design considerations need to be made for the whole product. Content is designed and implemented knowing what is coming in the future, as there would be planned interactions for certain Skills that don’t exist yet.

Lots of things may not make sense initially, because they’re waiting for one or more of the future Skills to be implemented.

Another big one is the speed in which you progress, especially in the mid-late game. It will probably feel slow now, but that’s because Skills or content that is designed to boost it is yet to be implemented.

We are doing our best to design content knowing what’s coming, that way every new addition feels like a power boost. We want to avoid releasing new content and having to nerf everything in the game to accommodate for the power increase. 

Balance, Balance, Balance

Content in the Alpha is going to be balanced, rebalanced, adjusted, and rebalanced again on a consistent basis. When more and more content is added, we need to ensure everything is still working well together.

Responses won’t be instant from the Team

There’s going to be a looot of feedback, bugs, suggestions etc coming through. We don’t have the ability to respond directly to everything, mainly because our time is spent working on the game behind the scenes.

Just know we are seeing it! We have everyone watching, collecting and listening to your feedback. Straw will be monitoring and bringing all important discussions to the team. Prat will be analysing game design feedback. Malcs and Coolrox will be looking out for bugs or technical issues. Tapi will be looking at artwork feedback.

Weekly news posts, surveys, and updates will be used to show that we are listening. So keep a lookout for all those.

Alpha Update Roadmap

Here is the current v1.0 Alpha Update Roadmap. This roadmap can change at any time, so be sure to save and reference the version number (bottom right) to know if something is a bit different.

This gives you an idea on what to expect in coming updates in the Alpha.

We also have the names of the secret (???) Skills on there!

Larger image URL: https://i.golb.ink/u/CyQMr0.png

Accessing the Alpha

The initial release of the Alpha will be provided by a download link, most likely from Google Drive. Downloads will be versioned so you can see exactly what version you have downloaded or are playing.

It will be available to download on Windows, MacOS and Linux.

The initial download link will be posted on a Patreon news post, and will be available to view via Discord and a pinned news post on Patreon.

Alpha on Steam & Alpha Steam Keys

We are in the process of getting a hidden Steam Playtest up and running, which allows us to distribute Steam keys and builds outside of the main game so you can play immediately.

We can’t distribute keys for the main Melvor Idle 2 for Alpha testing purposes due to Steam limiting how many keys they will provide to override the release status. There’s a very high chance we’d hit this limit in the future.

The Melvor Idle 2 Playtest Steam key will only be used for Alpha testing. Details on how to claim this Alpha key will be posted once we have an approved Steam Playtest build!

What we have been working on 

Here is what we’ve been working on since last week.

Development

Malcs:

• Finalised v1.0 of the Alpha Roadmap.

• Has been spending lots of time in the game tweaking content, numbers and making design adjustments.

• Setting up the Steam Playtest app.

• More UI adjustments.

Coolrox:

• Finished work on the release management process for different operating systems, and game versioning,

• Upgraded the game to use the latest stable release of the Godot Engine

• Added some additional functionality to the Game Data system.

• Cleaned up/fixed some issues with the existing Cloud functionality.

• Planned initial implementation of Cloud Saves.

Game Design

Prat:

• Working on Hunter and Beastcrafting for this week. 

• Agility and Construction has reached a planned state.

Artwork

Tapi:

• Continuing work on various enemies.

• Check out the colour ideation for the Sand Scorpion!

Recapping from last week’s News Post

Similar to last week, there isn’t too much to recap from last week’s post, but we’ll add some clarifications here just in case. 

How will we know the Alpha has gone live?

We’ll make a dedicated Patreon post, of course! We’ll also share on socials / Discord / Reddit so the rest of the community is aware. 

Will there still be weekly Patreon news posts during Alpha?

Yes, we’ll still be posting news each week so you can see what we are up to behind the scenes. The format might slightly change in terms of the content provided, but we aim to continue to update you all on a weekly basis.

Hey, will alpha progression carry over to an eventually early access version?

Yes, it will!

Does the Melvor Idle 2 Steam Key allow me to play the Alpha?

No - the standard Melvor Idle 2 steam key only allows you to play the game once Early Access Launches. Alpha is a separate Steam Key that will be distributed in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for the news post!

Conclusion

That’s all for this week’s post! We’ll see you again at this time next week. 👋

• Straw