Hey Everyone!

Although Early Access 02 isn't quite ready, I wanted to post a general update. I'm very excited to announce that two amazing developers will be joining to work on Arakion part-time. Andrew Milne a coder extraordinaire! He helped code the foundation of Arakion a long time ago and will be joining to create and maintain some of the new Early Access 02 features as well as improve existing features. Daniel Viana Alcaraz an excellent 3D and graphic artist. He will help develop additional graphics and once the new editors are finished will hopefully join in on level creation/content implementation! With these two joining in, I need to bring them up to date on all things Arakion. This shouldn't take longer than a couple weeks. Afterward, we'll be able to produce better content for you at a faster pace. The long-term goal is to eventually bring them on full-time but part-time for now is fantastic and a huge help.

So let's talk a little about Early Access 02.

So what is it? Early Access 02 is a massive update and content addition for Arakion. It adds a new early chapter, multiple new dungeons (and new randomized dungeons), tons of new loot and puzzles, an extensive town overhaul, player made dungeons, the ability to visit other players towns (universes), extensive graphical updates, extensive skill updates and so much more! When is it? The new planned launch date is August 7th. A little later than I wanted, but this is a good thing. Internally we're focusing on speeding up long-term development including building new and better custom editors (that you'll be using to create your own dungeons in-game!) Will saves transfer over? Yep, no worries. Some New Features:

• [beta] Player made dungeons - This OPTIONAL gameplay mechanic allows you to create a dungeon beneath your town that your friends can visit. If they fall in your dungeon you are rewarded. The first player to succeed in your dungeon daily will receive a reward.
• Massive optimizations! The install size has already been reduced from 5.5 gigs to 2.5 gigs in early testing. Additionally, memory usage and the overall cpu/gpu footprint has been decreased dramatically. Additionally, Arakion is now being built with Unity Cloud which will allow all versions of Arakion to be built every week.
• Extensive town overhaul! You will begin creating your town within an hour of beginning your journey. Additionally, the content of the town will expand greatly and [beta] town customization will show up (like changing the season).
• New starting chapter! This will be right before the current Chapter One and will introduce the player to the major threat of the game.
• New Recipes, new dungeons, new content! Just lots more of the same stuff you already love.
• General mob and combat improvements (maaaybe turn-based, we're working hard on it!)
• Lots of player feedback features implemented!
• So very very much more!

A big focus of Early Access 02 is to bring the story to the forefront and get the community more involved in the game. Having two people help develop, even part-time, will go a long way towards speeding up development in Arakion. So be sure to get involved! Tell me what you think below and what you'd like to see (or not see) in this big update. What type of dungeons would you like to create? What recipes would you like to see? What type of areas would you like to explore? I take player feedback to heart and really try to implement features you all would like to see.

Until next week!

Lavidimus