Hey everyone, We’re getting close to the next update! Following up on the patch we released 3 weeks ago, this update will include the next generation of proxy meshes (another step towards beautiful, fluid terrain streaming) and will also fill out some more locations on our map, fix some of the bugs in the town, and whatever else we can squeeze in. We’re also getting close to resuming recruiting for our team. We had some limited success earlier this year but ran into some technical debt issues that made it too difficult to coordinate. These issues are nearly resolved, we will reach out to those players who have contacted us expressing interest – we are so grateful for your enthusiasm and support! Anyway, we wanted to have the patch ready today but were slightly delayed due to 4th of July holiday schedule. Expect to hear from us again late next week!

We've been wrestling with some technical debt and old code that has been plaguing performance and making it difficult to add new contributors to our team. Today's patch successfuly resolves many of these issues!

*Players should see greatly improved frame rates as well as reduced stuttering and load times! Please be patient as we update lighting, NPCs, and other content.

Notes

Update to the beta branch is live. This is one of many patches as we adopt the new 2D world map. We've cleaned up the region selection menu and are looking at bug related to dragon save files and their upgrades persisting between saves/versions. This week's next update will add more region details and some more UI adjustments. Next week we should be ready to share a new zone for you to explore and burnify.

Update to the beta branch is live. This is one of many patches as we adopt the new 2D world map. We've cleaned up the region selection menu and are looking at bug related to dragon save files and their upgrades persisting between saves/versions. This week's next update will add more region details and some more UI adjustments. Next week we should be ready to share a new zone for you to explore and burnify.

Hey everyone, We’re almost through November and we wanted to post a quick update. We’ve rolled back the main branch to an older version of the game while we work on patching the newest build (currently playable from the beta’s branch). We also met with our attorney to begin restructuring our company in preparation for bringing in new talent and capital. Our team had a nice Thanksgiving break and we’re headed to a tech conference this week. We’ll resume work to complete the overworld/2D map when we return, anticipating a patch the first week of December for you, slightly behind our Thanksgiving day target. Thanks for your support and patience. We're excited to be taking proactive steps to make 2018 Dragon's best year, yet!

Hey everyone, Were almost through November and we wanted to post a quick update. Weve rolled back the main branch to an older version of the game while we work on patching the newest build (currently playable from the betas branch). We also met with our attorney to begin restructuring our company in preparation for bringing in new talent and capital. Our team had a nice Thanksgiving break and were headed to a tech conference this week. Well resume work to complete the overworld/2D map when we return, anticipating a patch the first week of December for you, slightly behind our Thanksgiving day target. Thanks for your support and patience. We're excited to be taking proactive steps to make 2018 Dragon's best year, yet!

Hey everyone, Were getting the next patch together and want to check in. Theres been a lot of discussion about how to make the game as playable as possible while were moving through this (admittedly slow) transition. Fortunately, these growing pains are expected as we consolidate our code base, perform content inventories, and prepare for an expanded team in 2018. Our goal is to have the next build ready before Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, were considering the three most stable builds for the rollback, which we will deploy based on your response. Option 1: Circa 2015. Old world and graphics, but ran well. Missing recent content (dragon customizer, new dragon model, new terrain, skybox, shaders)
Option 2: Circa last summer. Open world and graphics update (Unity 5, new terrain), but runs slow. This build showcases Dragons capabilities but is not optimized for most machines. Some flight and UIX issues. Very pretty, but youll may have to manually adjust your draw distances and graphic settings if you experience hanging.
Option 3: Transition to world map and zones. Little game play ready. This is where the game is headed but there is admittedly not much to do. (Basically, no change)
A second consideration is whether you would prefer the rollback version to appear on the main branch (the default) or the beta branch (accessible via Steam console). The latest version of the game will be accessible through whichever branch is not used by the rollback. Wed like to move away from expecting players to opt in or out of the beta branch. Not everyone knows how to access the beta branch through the Steam console, and Steam doesnt notify players when the beta branch updates. Were considering a new build which will allow players to choose between the current stable build or the beta in-game. This build would be uploaded to the main branch. *Please share your preferences for the rollback - both your preferred option and which branch youd like to see it on - in the Making Dragon Playable thread in the forum.* The rollback will occur by Wednesday11/8. If no preferences are expressed or no consensus can be reached, we will push Option 2 to the main branch and leave the beta as-is. Thanks for your help!

Hey everyone, We’re getting the next patch together and want to check in. There’s been a lot of discussion about how to make the game as playable as possible while we’re moving through this (admittedly slow) transition. Fortunately, these growing pains are expected as we consolidate our code base, perform content inventories, and prepare for an expanded team in 2018. Our goal is to have the next build ready before Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, we’re considering the three most stable builds for the rollback, which we will deploy based on your response. Option 1: Circa 2015. Old world and graphics, but ran well. Missing recent content (dragon customizer, new dragon model, new terrain, skybox, shaders)
Option 2: Circa last summer. Open world and graphics update (Unity 5, new terrain), but runs slow. This build showcases Dragon’s capabilities but is not optimized for most machines. Some flight and UIX issues. Very pretty, but you’ll may have to manually adjust your draw distances and graphic settings if you experience hanging.
Option 3: Transition to world map and zones. Little game play ready. This is where the game is headed but there is admittedly not much to do. (Basically, no change)
A second consideration is whether you would prefer the rollback version to appear on the main branch (the default) or the beta branch (accessible via Steam console). The latest version of the game will be accessible through whichever branch is not used by the rollback. We’d like to move away from expecting players to opt in or out of the beta branch. Not everyone knows how to access the beta branch through the Steam console, and Steam doesn’t notify players when the beta branch updates. We’re considering a new build which will allow players to choose between the current stable build or the beta in-game. This build would be uploaded to the main branch. *Please share your preferences for the rollback - both your preferred option and which branch you’d like to see it on - in the “Making Dragon Playable” thread in the forum.* The rollback will occur by Wednesday11/8. If no preferences are expressed or no consensus can be reached, we will push Option 2 to the main branch and leave the beta as-is. Thanks for your help!

Hi everyone, Sorry for the delayed updated, we’ve been working on a deal since late August and can (finally) share the exciting news! We’ve found a new partner who believes in Dragon’s future and wants to help us out. As we all know Dragon has been stuck without a consistently resourced team for about a year. This has created a ton of headaches for you, the players, and us the devs. Fortunately, we’ve found a new, mostly silent partner, who sees that our community behind Dragon is a huge indicator of this game’s potential. This partner wants to see Dragon’s development in proper hands; by scaling up our current team, or to pass development to a more experienced team. Before we can make this transition, a few major changes have to be made. As a company, we need to restructure our cap table and line up our books so that we can accommodate another round of fundraising. We also need to re-scope the next 4-6 months of development so that we can effectively resource and achieve these goals. Here’s how we envision the next steps. +First Step (October): Community Update (this post you're reading), update the team and reestablish regular communication with players and Kickstarters. +Second Step (November): Internal company restructuring. Audit formation documents and current shareholder agreements. Structure investments terms and $$$. +Third Step (December): Revise development road-map and begin vetting new developers. +Fourth Step (December/January): Release of funds, new hires, new development schedule. We know seeing these milestones a few months out can be hard but please remember, we’re moving as fast as possible to lock down a significant capital contribution. This requires paperwork, banks, and lawyers, which all take time and patience. Grant and Rhea are meeting this week to discuss community updates, Kickstarter announcements, and more. The current patch has taken a backseat to supporting this important fundraising effort. We're looking forward to sharing our progress with you in the days and weeks to come.

Hi everyone, Sorry for the delayed updated, weve been working on a deal since late August and can (finally) share the exciting news! Weve found a new partner who believes in Dragons future and wants to help us out. As we all know Dragon has been stuck without a consistently resourced team for about a year. This has created a ton of headaches for you, the players, and us the devs. Fortunately, weve found a new, mostly silent partner, who sees that our community behind Dragon is a huge indicator of this games potential. This partner wants to see Dragons development in proper hands; by scaling up our current team, or to pass development to a more experienced team. Before we can make this transition, a few major changes have to be made. As a company, we need to restructure our cap table and line up our books so that we can accommodate another round of fundraising. We also need to re-scope the next 4-6 months of development so that we can effectively resource and achieve these goals. Heres how we envision the next steps. +First Step (October): Community Update (this post you're reading), update the team and reestablish regular communication with players and Kickstarters. +Second Step (November): Internal company restructuring. Audit formation documents and current shareholder agreements. Structure investments terms and $$$. +Third Step (December): Revise development road-map and begin vetting new developers. +Fourth Step (December/January): Release of funds, new hires, new development schedule. We know seeing these milestones a few months out can be hard but please remember, were moving as fast as possible to lock down a significant capital contribution. This requires paperwork, banks, and lawyers, which all take time and patience. Grant and Rhea are meeting this week to discuss community updates, Kickstarter announcements, and more. The current patch has taken a backseat to supporting this important fundraising effort. We're looking forward to sharing our progress with you in the days and weeks to come.

Hey Everyone, Grant here. I'm looking for ways to communicate more casually with everyone in-between patch announcements and the occasional crisis ;) So for now, I'll be posting regularly here. Front page announcements will be used for major communications, patch notes, etc. As we work to get the game back on track and communications open-up, I will be watching the community closely. We want people to feel free to express their opinions, concerns, and complaints but I won't allow rampant pessimism and trolling. Since we launched almost 3 years ago we've never banned anyone and have locked very few discussion. Let's keep it that way. If we're trying to attract investors and new dev talent, we need a strong community. Thanks again for checking in on Dragon. We'll see you next week for our live stream

Hey Everyone, Grant here. I'm looking for ways to communicate more casually with everyone in-between patch announcements and the occasional crisis ;) So for now, I'll be posting regularly here. Front page announcements will be used for major communications, patch notes, etc. As we work to get the game back on track and communications open-up, I will be watching the community closely. We want people to feel free to express their opinions, concerns, and complaints but I won't allow rampant pessimism and trolling. Since we launched almost 3 years ago we've never banned anyone and have locked very few discussion. Let's keep it that way. If we're trying to attract investors and new dev talent, we need a strong community. Thanks again for checking in on Dragon. We'll see you next week for our live stream

Hey everyone, Grant here. The last few weeks at my day job have been intense, luckily I've got the weekend set aside to work on Dragon! I'll take a swing through the forums and post updates on Saturday and Sunday to keep you posted on my progress. Also, is anyone following Game of Thrones? I get goosebumps watching Daenery's dragons torching Lanisters and destroying ballista :)

Hey everyone, Grant here. The last few weeks at my day job have been intense, luckily I've got the weekend set aside to work on Dragon! I'll take a swing through the forums and post updates on Saturday and Sunday to keep you posted on my progress. Also, is anyone following Game of Thrones? I get goosebumps watching Daenery's dragons torching Lanisters and destroying ballista :)

Hey everyone, I'm in-between implementing the 2D map but think I found a solution to the combat-crash-2-desktop bug that's been plaguing some of you. If you're interested in helping out, please opt into the beta branch. Once in the game click through the single unlabeled button to the placeholder 2D map and load into Raythenholt. This build isn't supposed to be clean or fun it is supposed to test if we've fixed the combat bug. Thanks for your patience and help. I'm looking forward to the next general public release. - Grant

Hey everyone, I'm in-between implementing the 2D map but think I found a solution to the combat-crash-2-desktop bug that's been plaguing some of you. If you're interested in helping out, please opt into the beta branch. Once in the game click through the single unlabeled button to the placeholder 2D map and load into Raythenholt. This build isn't supposed to be clean or fun it is supposed to test if we've fixed the combat bug. Thanks for your patience and help. I'm looking forward to the next general public release. - Grant

Hey everyone, We're about to launch the pilot 2D map! While Dragon will remain a fiery 3D experience, we're putting together a huge, adventurous, top-down world map to explore as you move from region to region spreading terror or majesty in your wake. We've got ideas for dozens of cool encounters and zones for your dragon and to keep the action going, there will be random encounters, other dragons, groups of men and monsters wandering the map and more.
While this does somewhat break the open 3D world feel, it's a necessary workaround for our little team and keeps the game running as fast as possible, not having to manage all of the regions "in-between" the major zones of the game. As development continues, we may pivot back to the fully 3D world space, if time resources and money allows. Unfortunately, this patch didn't come out last month. At this time Dragon is in something of a holding pattern as figure out how to fund development. In the meantime, our contributors are working outside of their day jobs to continue to move the ball forward We apologize for the delay but remain committed to Dragon! We're all looking forward to having more time to work on development later this summer. Talk soon!

Hey everyone, We're about to launch the pilot 2D map! While Dragon will remain a fiery 3D experience, we're putting together a huge, adventurous, top-down world map to explore as you move from region to region spreading terror or majesty in your wake. We've got ideas for dozens of cool encounters and zones for your dragon and to keep the action going, there will be random encounters, other dragons, groups of men and monsters wandering the map and more.
While this does somewhat break the open 3D world feel, it's a necessary workaround for our little team and keeps the game running as fast as possible, not having to manage all of the regions "in-between" the major zones of the game. As development continues, we may pivot back to the fully 3D world space, if time resources and money allows. Unfortunately, this patch didn't come out last month. At this time Dragon is in something of a holding pattern as figure out how to fund development. In the meantime, our contributors are working outside of their day jobs to continue to move the ball forward We apologize for the delay but remain committed to Dragon! We're looking forward to devoting increasing amounts of time towards development later this summer. Talk soon!

The next patch is almost out! Had a couple bugs when we complied tonight and I want to tighten up the GUI but ran out of time this evening. We'll let you know tomorrow or Wednesday when the update is live. Thanks everyone! -- We're opening up the overworld map so you may again roam free! You'll be able to roam our map, entering and leaving zones as you please by flying to the edge of the map or above the cloud line. We hope this will make for better performing, more detailed encounters/adventures we've been calling "zones". Set in an open world with random events and sandbox play, we can deploy a lot more dragon-y content faster this way. This design also lends itself to better "domain" and strategy play as you claim your lands and find yourself tied up in the politics of dragons and men.

The next patch is almost out! Had a couple bugs when we complied tonight and I want to tighten up the GUI but ran out of time this evening. We'll let you know tomorrow or Wednesday when the update is live. Thanks everyone! -- We're opening up the overworld map so you may again roam free! You'll be able to roam our map, entering and leaving zones as you please by flying to the edge of the map or above the cloud line. We hope this will make for better performing, more detailed encounters/adventures we've been calling "zones". Set in an open world with random events and sandbox play, we can deploy a lot more dragon-y content faster this way. This design also lends itself to better "domain" and strategy play as you claim your lands and find yourself tied up in the politics of dragons and men.

Hey guys - still here, just checking in, sorry for late post and delayed patch. We are still working, and odds are good we'll put something out this weekend. Bigger post will be on the way. -L

Hey guys, We're still plugging along. It sounds like Grant is going to have a first look (read: patch) for the overworld ready next week. We'll still have to see what all is going to make it into it. Please temper your expectations - this has been put together as a representation of where we are headed, and still has plenty of placeholders, etc. It is on a small map of one area. The good news is, once we start moving along on this path, finish up some bug fixing and system reviews, we'll be on our way to putting some muscle and fat (so to speak) on the game. I've been a bit inattentive, and I apologize - I am having some personal issues (excuses, I know) that have been pretty distracting over the last few weeks. It is going to be an intermittent problem for the forseeable future but you will for sure continue to hear from me at least weekly. Thanks guys, more info as I get it. -L

Hey crew, Sorry for no post on Monday/Tuesday. I have been very busy personally. This will be a short update - this is one of those weeks where we are plugging along on a few things and looking for a few more to tackle. The overworld patch is coming along. We have a small dummy map in place and a few zones (currently marked with a dragon logo icon) that you can go into/out of. We are still a ways out from releasing it for you guys to look at. Quite a bit of things we still need/want to include, as well as a thorough round of bug fixing. I am still working on a large scale map, but that isn't going to hold up the first look at the overworld. Wish I had more news - I have said a few times there is slow goings yet ahead, and this is a slow stretch as we find time to work wherever we can. Take care, and I'll post back if there is anything new an interesting to report. -L

Hey crew. Another small update for you guys, let's dive in. First - there should be a small patch rolled out consisting of a couple of control tweaks and improvements. Moving "backwards" while flying should give more of a "flapping in place" hovering effect, and should no longer flip you around the other direction. I haven't had an opportunity to playtest it, honestly, but I am excited to see what Grant put together as that is one of the things I really wanted to see (so you can do that *flap* *flap* *fire* pose) Another complaint we've looked at is the POV of the camera; it has felt too low to me, so we have lifted it a bit above your shoulder so you can see what and where you are biting. This is a first step towards making combat a little more visible and intuitive. We have some other improvements in mind, but this was an easy one to tweak. I think there are a few other quiet goodies in there as well, but I will have to check our documentation to see. (Sorry, I know that's amateur-hour of me - Grant and I both had busy weekends so we didn't communicate much.) In any case, load up and kick around a bit; if you have control comments now is definitely the time to make them heard. We'll keep trying to tidy up as we go along. In other news, the overworld map patch is officially underway. Grant has the infrastructure in place to make it work; now we are working on some assets to make it look good. We'll be starting with a relatively "small" area this time around, with 2-3 zones accessible. When that goes out and we like it, we will be able to start expanding things pretty quickly, and adding map UI functionality, and so on. That said - after the first overworld patch, odds are good we will do a few more upgrade passes; things like the experience system and UI are in need of attention. When we get a little closer to rolling this one out, I'll yet you know what's next on the docket. As far as schedule, it mostly depends on how much polish we want to put on before we roll it out, but I would expect the overworld map to be working and pleasing in four weeks or less. I will keep you posted as we progress, even if it's going to take longer, but that is my hope. ETA: here is a taste - I am working this through Campaign Cartographer 3+, which I have some experience in, using the Herman Wielink (sp) palette. In the future, we can consider hiring an artist to do an overhaul, but for the time being this hit the right balance between looking good, and within my abilities.

Hey guys (puns!) I want to point out really quick before I forget - if you are posting comments in response to news posts, that is cool, we appreciate hearing from you, etc. - however it is not the best place to get a response, as it doesn't send me a notification when a new comment is posted there. I get notifications for forum posts, which I review regularly. So, if you want the best chance for a quick response, post in the forums please! I was out of town last weekend, so I didn't get much face time at RWS, but I did drop in for a few hours on Sunday when I got back. Grant and I talked a bit about what our next steps are going to be, and he showed me what he has been working on. We have the infrastructure in place for a zone-in, zone-out approach to the game. We considered dropping it in a patch on Monday, but I'll be honest - it kind of looks like hell at the moment, because we are just throwing some assets together to test the code, and there are still some bugs to squash. Since this is a new conceptual approach we are testing out, there are still a few questions we need to answer internally. The biggest one right now is how best to display the map. We have a few approaches in mind - I will list what we have considered and what we are looking at. The current prototype uses a smaller-scaled version of existing map assets - the idea was for it to feel a bit like a "travel" mode where you can still fly around etc. This wold look and feel pretty cool; but it presents some challenges as well. The first is we want a soft and hard fog of war on the map; this is hard for us to simulate. We also run into the draw distance/map scale problem; which basically amounts to there not being a big enough difference between the two scales of map. The other way to tackle it, and what we are looking into now, is a hand drawn 2D map, similar to what you might see in an RPG. This comes with a lot of advantages: we can show the fog of war really easily; it lends itself more to the "realm management" UI a player would want to interact with (for instance, to see which villages you control, and what they are sending you.) The downside is that it is less hands-on than a 3D overworld would be. And, of course, someone has to draw it. It is looking like 2D approach would: a) ultimately "look" better, b) be more fun, and c) be much easier to implement with regards to the eventual realm management UI. At this point, we are not fully committed to either approach, but our judgement is saying a 2D map is going to be our best bet, so is what we're going to test first. For the next "big" patch, our goal is going to be a small explore-able 2D map with two or three area nodes, fog of war working, and make it all look look pretty good. Rather than hold off and wait for an entire map to be made, we are going to just make a small one for now and if it looks like it's the way we want to go, we will put some effort (and possibly precious dollar bills) into a better one with a distinct art style some time in the future. We are looking to push something like this out in the next few weeks, with some luck. If it is going to take longer, I'll let you know where we are at. When I get a look at the sample map, I'll see if I can post a sample. In the meantime, we are going to try to get a small patch out on Monday with a bug fix/QoL improvement or two. We have a meeting on Wednesday where we'll discuss what we can get out this week. All for now. -Laersk

Hey guys. There should be a new patch rolled out to the main branch. As I have said before, this patch was mostly to get the game running better. The map you load into is a sample of the size you can expect when you "zone in" to an area on the overworld map, which we should have up and running in a few patches. Let me know in forum if you are having performance issues on this new size. Oh, we also changed "S" to move your dragon backwards, rather than flip them around. A few more controls improvements will likely be coming next. Short term - our next goal is to take a pass with some polish (or let's be real, some high grit sandpaper) and tidy up a big list of issues that are already in the game. We are also going to look at the movement controller and see if we can smooth it out a bit. As we break ground on this I'll give you a bit more detail. I didn't post it yesterday - look for a forum thread today with our big list of fixes and upgrades for the current build. -Laersk

Hey guys, let's jump right in. First and foremost - the game runs poorly for most of you (it does for me.) The very first thing we wanted to get done was get it running for as many users as possible. We spent some time over the weekend looking at it. As I mentioned last week - at least some portion of the performance problem (probably/hopefully a lot of it) has been the sheer size of the map. We tested builds with incrementally smaller maps to evaluate this, and as suspected the game runs much smoother with a slimmed down map. (I'll add - the proposed size of the zone feels plenty large, and still takes ~1 minute to fly straight across.) In testing, I noticed there still seems to be some "grit" (for lack of a better term) while moving that persisted no matter how large or small the map is. Initially this seemed like the last tiny bits of hardware chop, but the camera was reporting 60+fps and remained smooth throughout. Our hypothesis is there is still something in the dragon animation or player controller that is acting a little odd, and it was never really noticed until now - we'll be looking at that soon. (TM) Overall - the above observation aside, I can report that the game is running smoothly again on the smaller map. The next big step will be implementing the infrastructure for the overworld map; this is all new so it may take a little trial and error, but once it's worked out it should help us (eventually) create content faster. We started breaking ground on this already, but it won't be ready to patch in until it is fleshed out and working properly-ish; so this will take some time yet. As far as the specific map - for now, we have used the "original" map and just disabled most of it; in the future we will be able to make new made-to-order maps for specific areas. In addition to these major things, we have a pretty long list running that includes some tidying up and quality of life improvements; some remaining controls and camera tweaks, etc. I will post this list over in the forums, feel free to toss any requests on it that match the flavor (i.e. not looking for feature requests, just stuff that needs to feel/look/handle better.) We'll prioritize the low hanging fruit first. At this moment in time, the next patch will probably just be the smaller map. I'm sorry it is not more exciting than that, but hopefully some of you that haven't been able to play will be able to get in and fly around smoothly for a change. Later this week, I will status the overworld map implementation and our list of QOL fixes, and start to talk about plans for the next patch as the picture materializes. -Laersk

Hey Guys, So, as you can tell - we've got some good news and some bad news. Good news - I'm here. You'll be in contact with the dev team. I'm not going anywhere. Neutral news - ownership/responsibility of the game is transferring from Red Level Games to Red Wyrm Studios. As I mentioned before, this should be pretty transparent, you won't notice much of a difference, but I wanted to mention that here first, because it'll be updated on the store page sometime next week. Bad news - patch won't be out for a week or two or three yet, unless like...everything that can go right goes right. Good news - big picture - we are taking actions to get the game back on course and start making steady progress again. Bad news - we are removing/changing some features from the game. I know this is upsetting. And I appreciate that when you say you are going to include something in your game as a developer, that is an implicit promise. So I do apologize, but we have decided it's what's best for the game. At the risk of taking away someone's "favorite thing," this was necessary to get the game back on course. This isn't a hard and fast list yet (I guess nothing is final until we start patching again) but you can expect the following: - removing "open world," but don't panic - more on that in a minute - removing multiplayer - we are going to focus on making it an enriching one-player RPG experience, and there is frankly enough on the plate. - we'll be upping the minimum system requirements a bit. This shouldn't be a massive shift - but in the interest of honesty/transparency, I'm letting you know. - Linux support is a long ways (TM) off. I know we have some users on Linux who this is not going to sit well with. I'm sorry, but if I'm committing to honesty with you all, it can't be good news all the time. The fact of the matter is there are bigger fires to put out right now. That's all off the top of my head - there might be something I've missed, if it comes up in the comments I'll address it. Moving on. I said I would expand on the "Open World" change. As you might have noticed - the current version of Dragon doesn't run well. At all. On like, anything. Let me explain a little bit about that situation. You may have not realized it (I hadn't), but Dragon's world map is actually massive. It doesn't run well enough to really practically go out and explore it so you'll have to take my word on it. But it is quite large. To put this in context: Skyrim: ~16 square miles Fallout 4: ~4 square miles Dayz: ~86 square miles Dragon: ...~400 square miles. *estimates from some google searches And I know what you are thinking - "lol you guys are NOT making Skyrim." I know. We aren't. But the technical challenge we are facing right now is one of scale, and it is a much differently sized-scale than the comparable "open world" games you are familiar with. I'll add - for a veteran team, this might not be as big of a problem; but for us, it has been a gordian knot. We spent money trying to fix the problem and it didn't go away. That sucked. So we're going to try a different approach - and that involves doing away with the massive single-world map. Our new strategy is to instead incorporate an overworld map with area nodes. The overworld map will be a zoomed-out look at the world and your dragon; the hope is we can still capture the sense of scale we are going for - you'll still be represented as a dragon on the map, after all - but we can do away with the very complicated matter of streaming in a map four times the size of DayZ's. As you fly over forests, caves, cities and various points of dragon-interest, you will be able to "fly down to them," which will load in a single static map of the area. Depending on the place, this might just be a big forest to do some quick hunting in, or it might be a fortress to capture. These will be smaller "action arenas" where you can do your fighting and eating. As you exit (either through the sky or the edges of the map, naturally) you will load back to the overworld map. There are a lot more details involved in this change - but that is the idea. It sucks to change course, but it should allow us to up the pace (or at least, allow us to tackle the next headache.) Short Term: The very first thing to do is get the game in a state where it is running smoothly. To do this, we are going to dispense with the massive world map entirely and for now, load you into what will be one of the "arena sized" maps mentioned above. From there - we are going to go over all the areas that are in need of attention but have been neglected and/or are still weird - UI, action, controls, and camera. The goal for next patch is going to be to deliver the first bit of this. At the minimum, it will be: a small map that runs smooth. Thrilling, I know - but I'd prefer to under-promise and over-deliver for a change. I'll post on Monday 4/10 and let you know how this plan is shaping up - I'll have an opportunity to check on development this Saturday 4/8. That's all for now guys. -Laersk

Hey guys. We have some things to discuss, so here goes. TL;DR: The game is not abandoned, progress will continue to be challenging, and you'll be hearing from us. Thanks for your patience. This is clear to anyone that has been paying attention, but I will reiterate, because this is the first step towards taking responsibility: we have not made the progress on Dragon we would have liked to by this point in time, and development has been inconsistent. The original vision for Dragon was, even by AAA standards, vast and complex, and implementing it has been difficult, all the way down to basic foundation of the game. In addition to this, Dragon was launched with a fledgling development team on a tight budget, and if we're being honest, we suffered from a streak of hubris on the outset. You have undoubtedly heard this before by now - an Early Access team coming out to say, "Well, we tried our best, but our project was hard and we're sorry." In addition - we have let our forums grow cold and have updated inconsistently. At times it has been difficult to address you guys. Mea Culpa. I know there are those of you who are accusing Dragon of taking your money and running. I understand your discontent - but I can emphatically say this is not the case. One thing that is certain - there are no plans to permanently cease development of Dragon. There is a fun game in here somewhere that we love dearly, and we have learned a lot about how to best suss it out. Right now, there is still some uncertainty and slow going ahead of us - and at the moment, that cannot be helped. It's just the reality of this business. We are very short on guarantees for you, but one that I will make is this - we will never leave you in the dark again. For those of you rolling your eyes - that's fair. Wait and see, and I will do what I can. Ultimately, I am writing you to say: I acknowledge that we have lost your trust. Allow us to earn it back, if we can. In the short term: 1. Right now we are protecting the remaining funds we have set aside for this project, because we were not getting value out of spending them - and we won't be spending them until we know we will get a substantial return. There is still a skeleton crew at the helm who is working for free - this will continue for some time. 2. We are transitioning leadership of the project away from RLG, which is assuming the role of publisher, to Red Wyrm Studios, the team that formally owns the game. It will be mostly transparent to you, but it is a step we are taking to right the ship. 3. We are acting upon a renewed commitment to be responsive to the community on this page, on the forums, and on social media (in that order of priority.) 4. Potentially in the next patch or two, we are looking to roll back the game to a smoother, more stable, and hopefully more fun design. There may be a few interesting changes to discuss soon, but that is fodder for another post. -Laersk, DtG Community Manager ETA: I'll be cleaning up the forums as well...excuse the mess.

It’s been a while but we finally have an exciting update for you and the next patch is getting close. I apologize for the delay and lack of communications. it’s been a wild couple months and we can’t always talk publicly about possible opportunities until they're properly vetted.

We have great news to share; Red Level Games as a studio and Dragon: The Game as a product are taking the next steps to become wildly successful.

Next Steps

**NEW: Version 8.90**

Bug Fixes

*BUGS TO WATCH FOR*

What's Next

*Thank you for supporting Early Access! We couldn't do this without your support, encouragement, and patience!* I had originally intended to share this update last week but instead decided to spend the extra time improving performance and updating the flight controls. We worked straight through the weekend and have touched almost every system. We hope you'll be delighted with the new eating system, aerial acrobatics, growing/crafting system, updated shaders, dynamic sky, color palette, and more. Of course, like any major patch, there will be bugs and tweaks. The list below details our patch notes. Please let us know what you think!

**NEW: Version 8.50**

*BUGS TO WATCH FOR*

What's Next?

It’s the end of June and version 8.5 is almost here! Thanks for your patience, the last few weeks have been intense and challenging, yet extremely rewarding and fun. I also want to apologize for the lack communication. The team has been trying to find another great dev to join us for the last 8 weeks, to no avail. After much consideration, Grant (me) decided to move from a part-time developer to a full-time role. It’s taken a couple hundred hours for me to get up to speed, giving myself a crash course in Unity and C# and I still have a lot more to learn. I was nervous about reaching out and promising any particular development and didn’t want to scare you guys (our awesome players) or commit to anything before putting my head down and seeing if this is something I can handle. It is, and I'm proud to share what we have for you. We’ve still got a ways to go, but think you’ll like what we’ve put together. A lot of these systems are tightly coupled and it didn’t make sense to work on one, without the other. For example, the day/night system has to work intimately with our new dynamic sky and cloud system. These systems need to play well with the terrain, draw distance options, and our horizon generator. Here are the new features of our world:
• High-rez textures, new shaders, far plane trees, terrain, and structures. A truly dragon size region, we're experimenting with 20x20km and 40x40km terrains. Players with powerful PCs can increase the draw distance of terrain and trees for miles, which really increases the immersion.
• Dynamic day and night cycle, new sky system complete with clouds, moons, stars, and ambient effects.
• New belly and growth mechanics Eating fallen prey fills your belly. This food is digested and converted into growth points, which can be used to grow new gear and upgrades for your dragon.
• Grow new weapons, armor, abilities We’ve implemented a fun, crafting like system for your dragon. Spend growth points you’ve earned from hunting and quests to grow new jaws, breath weapons, scales, abilities and more. Unlock new upgrades, body parts, and special abilities or develop your own unique, specialized items. Stats are slightly randomized and different gear is tiered according to its power level and your dragon’s hoard requirements.
• Archer and Wizard Projectiles Archers, towers, wizards, cyclops, and enemy dragons can now aim at and shoot you. Hails of arrows and spells will greet unwanted visitors to human lands. Cyclops (and other monsters) are now even more threatening when they throw boulders and other dragon-smashing projectiles at you.

What's Next?

New update is live! This is a big playability update and we changed a lot of systems so be prepared for tweaks to animations, AI, ragdolls, the camera, combat, and controls. There are bound to be bugs, please let us know what you love and what needs more work. We’re working over the weekend to resolve the bugs and other issue you find.

April 15th Patch Notes

Still in Progress…

April 1st Patch Notes

Development Goals: 4/11 to 4/15

Coming soon…

Lore Update: In the Name of the Dreaded (QUEST)

March is here! We received our Kickstarter funds last Wednesday and are getting aligned with our development goals. We apologize for the late update. There were a lot of things to consider and discuss internally before we reached out to you this month. We’ve also hit a few technical snags along the way. While the realities of software development mean we can’t always hit our targets to release an update on a specific date, we can be a lot more communicative about the process, our frustrations, and the path-forward. These monthly progress reports, along with weekly updates, are important to us, as well as you. Additionally, we want to be good stewards of our backer’s money (and our player’s patience :)). In order to help the team focus on what’s important to our players, we will be running a survey to find out what you’d prefer us to work on, next. Here are some examples questions our official survey will be asking. Feel free to comment below, although we’ll be collecting official responses, later. • What does Dragon: The Game offer, or could offer, that no other game does? • What 3 things NEED to be great, for you to love D:TG? • What is missing in the current game, that is driving you crazy? • What drew you to Dragon: The Game

Story & Lore Update

Development Plans v8.4.3 to v8.5

Current Version 8.4.3 Patch Notes & Known Issues

Other News…

We are one month into the new year, dragons. The team is excited to be making large, developmental strides. Our Kickstarter campaign just passed $31,000 raised! Thanks for all of your support. Please help us exceed our goals and unlock additional stretch goals by spreading the word! A successful Kickstarter will help us greatly accelerate development! The campaign ends on Sunday 2/14 at noon PST.

*Update: 2/12* Development Plans v8.4 to v8.5*

We are one month into the new year, dragons. The team is excited to be making large, developmental strides. Plus, we’re closing in on our Kickstarter goal of raising $30,000 for Dragon: The Game, thanks for all the support! There are only 13 days left and we’re approaching 60% funded. Please help us reach and exceed our goals by spreading the word! A successful Kickstarter will help us greatly accelerate development!

Development Plans v8.4 to v8.5

Current Version 8.4.0 Patch Notes & Known Issues

Other News…

We've made a handful of improvements and are testing our Quest system. Patch notes coming soon, enjoy!

Tired of taxes, homework, and traffic? Try being a dragon!

Uploaded this morning: a hotfix for Version 8.3. Changes include:

• Ragdolls have been implemented for living creatures.
• Grabbing living NPCs has been re-enabled. Watch them dangle from your jaws!
• We've changed the way spawners work to increase performance.
• Flight controls have been tweaked and automatic banking has been activated. Now your dragon will bank in the air as you move the mouse.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Thank you for playing Dragon: The Game. We're very excited to have new players joining us. Uploaded this morning: a hotfix for Version 8.3. Changes include:

• Updated GUI - Saving, loading, and creating new dragons has been reenabled.
• Ragdolls are now active for all slain creatures, villagers, and animals.
• GUI prompts when you can eat, or pick up objects or NPCS.
• Weapons are now displayed when creating a dragon and when exploring the world.
• Help, Controls. and Tips are now available from the pause menu (hit ESC to open).
• Some performance optimizations.
• Fixed terrain-seams.
• We've disabled picking up living NPCS so we can setup ragdolls for them.
• Co-Op is disabled as we make upgrades, it will be live soon.
• Fixed a bug where carried ragdolls would deform to absurd proportions.
• Fixed a game would not load error for some players

The new update is live! This build includes ragdoll physics for villagers and animals, improved dragon creation and customization, and slew of other enhancements. A detailed change log will be posted here this weekend. Enjoy!

Your dragonfire has been improved and co-op play now has a chat window, accessible with the enter key. We've also fixed an issue with heavy shadows and added a visibility slider to the options menu. A handful of bugfixes to the pause menu (escape key) and tweaks to the game world have been made as well. To the skies!

Controls and Tips

• Use WASD or the arrows keys to move your dragon in the direction of the camera. Steer your dragon with the mouse.
• Hold SHIFT to strafe and move in reverse.
• Hit SPACEBAR to jump, hit it again and hold it to fly. Holding spacebar while flying will cause your dragon to gain altitude. W and S act as a throttle while flying. A and D will cause your dragon to bank. Combine this with your mouse to perform aerial manuevers and tricks.
• LMB for a tail attack, RMB to unleash your firebreath.
• Use the mouse wheel to zoom the camera in and out.
• Eat villagers and fallen prey with E, pick up and drop villagers with Q or the MMB. You must get close enough to grab them in your jaws.These are still buggy.
• You can knock over trees if you fly into them with enough speed or smash them with your tail, over and over.
• Host and join multiplayer games by hitting the "CoOp" button on the main menu. For now the game will automatically matchmake. Joining specific player's games will in before December 1st.
• We're testing the cave and lair system, you may get stuck in the cave and have to restart. You've been warned!
• Steam Achievements have been activated but not enabled.

Update: The pickup and drop bug is squashed, your dragon's hunting capabilities now include swooping in and grabbing your prey. Use the Q button, as described below. Look at the meal we just caught. Can you catch a villager? A deer? Update: You can now create your own multiplayer games and view available games in a lobby. Use the "CoOp" button, as described below.

Controls and Tips

• Use WASD or the arrows keys to move your dragon in the direction of the camera. Steer your dragon with the mouse.
• Hold SHIFT to strafe and move in reverse.
• Hit SPACEBAR to jump, hit it again and hold it to fly. Holding spacebar while flying will cause your dragon to gain altitude. W and S act as a throttle while flying. A and D will cause your dragon to bank. Combine this with your mouse to perform aerial manuevers and tricks.
• LMB for a tail attack, RMB to unleash your firebreath.
• Use the mouse wheel to zoom the camera in and out.
• Eat villagers and fallen prey with E, pick up and drop villagers with Q or the MMB. You must get close enough to grab them in your jaws.These are still buggy.
• You can knock over trees if you fly into them with enough speed or smash them with your tail, over and over.
• Host and join multiplayer games by hitting the "CoOp" button on the main menu. For now the game will automatically matchmake. Joining specific player's games will in before December 1st.
• We're testing the cave and lair system, you may get stuck in the cave and have to restart. You've been warned!
• Steam Achievements have been activated but not enabled.

Like a black dragon, we sneakily posted an update this weekend! Version 0.810 is the first build with our new multiplayer code. This code is still under construction (and may allow too many players into your game) but we're very excited to roll it out. The team is working on multiplayer and single player improvements this week. We'll have another update for you to enjoy before your Thanksgiving holiday. To opt into the beta right-click on "Dragon The Game" in your Steam library. Click on "Properties" and then select "public_ea1" under the "Betas" tab. *Warning: Switching to the beta server may delete your saved dragons.*

Improvements to your dragon's breath attack and flight controls.

• Use the mouse to control where your dragon looks. This also aims your dragon's breath attack.
• While flying, A and D keys now cause your dragon to bank.

We've spent the last month improving the game to maximize this winter's update and the new features of Unity 5.

Short-list of New Code and Features

• Large performance improvements
• Streaming terrain and the planet's horizon creates a continuous, open world.
• New, complex trees (soon to be destructible!)
• Super dense, high-performance forests
• Customize your dragon's scales (major and minor colors)
• Underground, explorable caves, soon to be lairs, are in the game.
• Swimming
• Migration to new flight system and controls
• Improved combat mechanics: weapon system for NPCs, cool down timers for your dragon's attacks, etc.
• Deer and Cyclops are back in the world
• Adjustable camera with the mouse wheel

The next build is taking longer than expected but you're going to love what's coming your way. Here are screen shots for the dragon customization and RPG upgrades., and our new higher resolution terrain The actual update will come with a change log in the days to come. We're excited for this update and are working as fast as possible! Thanks!

We've made a handful of updates this week. Including today's update you'll find... +Health and Stamina counters for your dragon and NPCs. +Streaming terrain; fly towards any edge of the map and the game world will load in, as you move the dragon across the landscape. +Growth points are counting correctly after you eat them. +Camera Orbit, hold the middle mouse button to rotate the camera. +Compatability issues with Linux, Mac. +Flight Mechanics and animations, you can now dive (hold shift) to pull back your dragon's wings for maximum acceleration. -Changes to tree paging (fewer trees for now, they'll be back soon) We're working over the weekend to dial in these features. Please let us know how the latest version runs for you. See you on Monday, with another update! -- To opt into the beta right-click on "Dragon The Game" in your Steam library. Click on "Properties" and then select "public_ea1" under the "Betas" tab. *Warning: Switching to the beta server may delete your saved dragons.*

Earlier this week we posted July's second combat update. Villagers are back in and your dragon's roar (R key) now produces a sonic boom effect, knocking creatures into the air and damaging buildings and trees. For now, we've removed the cooldown and stamina costs, so go crazy with it! In the game world this will be an upgradeable, potentially earth shattering, ability. Hunting cyclopes is now much easier with a well timed roar. Speaking of hunting, we're moving to the new FEEDING system. Creatures you kill must be eaten, they no longer just drop their food. Use the mouse to bring you dragon's head into contact with your food source and right click. This is still buggy so you may need to try multiple times.GUI prompts coming soon. Bigger prey will require more time and many more bites to fully consume, but that's a good problem to have. Other forms of food (prepared meals from tribute, fruit and branches of trees, schools of fish, etc) will be consumed in the same way. We've polished the test world's terrain for your enjoyment too, as we continue to work on the lands of the game world. -- To opt into the beta right-click on "Dragon The Game" in your Steam library. Click on "Properties" and then select "public_ea1" under the "Betas" tab. *Warning: Switching to the beta server may delete your saved dragons.*

Hi Everyone, New combat code is live! Use your fire breath and mobility to find and kill the 5 cyclops. This is the first of several updates, as we roll out the new combat system. We've also squashed a bug that stopped trees from burning down, the dragon's animations have also been adjusted. -- To opt into the beta right-click on "Dragon The Game" in your Steam library. Click on "Properties" and then select "public_ea1" under the "Betas" tab. *Warning: Switching to the beta server may delete your saved dragons.*

Hi Everyone, We are testing new movement code on the beta server. Major improvements to ground and flying controls, animations, and physics. You can now perform aerial maneuvers like the roll and loop. Use the F1 help menu for more information. Please post screen shots of your awesome aerial tricks (and fails)! You can also crawl and climb on slopes, sufficiently large trees, and some buildings (still buggy). Head tracking is also being tested. Your dragon will look around in response to your mouse cursor. This is also an excellent way to aim your breath weapon and bite (coming soon). All this, plus new music! Have fun! To opt into the beta right-click on "Dragon The Game" in your Steam library. Click on "Properties" and then select "public_ea1" under the "Betas" tab. *Warning: Switching to the beta server may delete your saved dragons.*