Update 0.5.3 - TL;DR

New spell: Shock Matchmaking is closed for now Fewer people working on Spellsworn More financial freedom Focus on increasing player base

Hello everybody!

This time I have some good and bad news for you. But first of all the change log for Version 0.5.3

• NEW SPELL: Shock Send a burst of lightning in a straight line in front of you. Shocking the first thing it hits.
• Added effects for upgraded spells:
  • Damaging Ground
  • Dimension Gate
  • Chakram
  • Chainhook
  • Fireball
  • Frostbolt
  • Lockdown
  • Time Anchor
• Added Environment hit effects
• Removed Halloween decorations
• Closed Matchmaking temporarily (see below)

The status of Frogsong:

We feel we should update you on who is currently working on the game more or less full time. There is Me (Anders), Zacho, and our lovely interns Martin and Mighty. Both of whom will have flown the nest a little bit after January. The other three are currently outsourced to other companies in order to secure funding for Frogsong and Spellsworn.
The bad news this entails is that there will mostly be us two working on Spellsworn until its completion. This means we will have to cut some non-vital content for the complete game, or postpone the release of the final product. We have thought long and well about this and decided to narrow down our scope and try to deliver things that got cut as free updates later. The GOOD NEWS is that we don't need to worry about making money while we are finishing Spellsworn, and that is a HUGE weight off our shoulders. We hope you understand and agree that this is the right decision to take.

Matchmaking closed for now

We decided to close the servers and disable the matchmaking, and we should explain why: First there are lots of bugs hidden within that system, with servers not responding, throwing errors at players, and generally acting up. Secondly it is a dent in our current budget, and thirdly we feel that currently it goes faster to find a game using custom games, than matchmaking. This combined with the lack of raw manpower we want to shift focus to gameplay and match summary and things like that before we go back to looking at the matchmaking. If you don't agree, please let us know!

The Future of Spellsworn

This year is full of challenges to overcome. The biggest one is to get more active players, because without opponents there really is no game. To combat this I am planning to make regular play-dates where I play the game with you on a regular basis. More on this later. I know this sounds dark, but it really isn't. We're still on track to finish the game, and most of the features we've cut is in the "could be nice to have"-category. Secondly, since half the studio is outsourced, we're bringing in enough funds to extend the production if we need to! This means more time for testing, and more time for the player-base to grow before release! Thanks for reading this huge wall of text! See you on the arena! /Anders Frogsong Studios

[ 2016-01-15 10:05:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Spellsworn is an Online Player vs. Player Arena Game. It is a place where wizards and magical creatures use their wits and spells to wage war in an everchanging arena. Prove yourself in the arena and battle with all who dare call themselves your peers. Victory and pride outweighs reason and diplomacy, thus any debate between wizards is indistinguishable from outright warfare. Alliances will be broken, lives will be lost and the world will crumble. Will you remain, towering over the ashes?

Spellsworn is heavily inspired by classic arena games such as DotA, League of Legends, Super Smash Bros. and traditional sumo-wrestling. Most of all however; Spellsworn is inspired by the user-created mod Warlock, made in Warcraft III.

• Spells

Each round you, the spellsworn, will recieve some coins to fund your battle. A shop stocked full of spells will serve as your arsenal as you prepare for the next battle round. It's imperative that you choose your spells carefully, as they may be completely countered by your enemy if you're not careful. There's very little grace to be had when standing with your pants down and no way of counterattacking your enemy's barrage of destruction.

• Game modes

There's plenty of ways to play Spellsworn. If you enjoy playing in teams and making up sick combos and rediculous plays with friends then maybe 2v2, 3v3 or 2v2v2 is for you. If you're more of a strong independent lonewolf then 1v1 is also fully supported (including all of the FFA variations, i.e 1v1v1v1 and so on). In the future we're hoping to include workshop support for your own scripted gamemodes and playstyles.

• Matchmaking and progression

Spellsworn will definitely have a competitive side to it - which means ranked plays and matchmaking is a must. It will likely follow the Elo standard that is used in many established e-sports games today. There will be a leveling system as well which will progress as you complete matches. Stats will be recorded during each session so that you can follow your progression along and track how well you're doing compared to past games.

• Forums

If you want to connect with us and discuss mad strats or other unrelated topics with people from the community, we do have a public forum over at http://www.reddit.com/r/spellsworn as well as the forum here on steam. Join us and give feedback. Let us know what you like and what you dislike so we can work together to make this an awesome game for everyone.