DEFENDERS,Now that we’re a week out from our PAX return, we’re ready to share a lot of information about Dungeon Defenders: Awakened and what you can expect. There’s a lot to talk about, and based off the title of STEAM EARLY ACCESS, you probably already have a ton of questions. Let’s get into it!Steam Early AccessDungeon Defenders: Awakened is going to be available for Steam Early Access on February 21, 2020 (just in case you thought it was February 2021). This is something we’re incredibly excited for and hope that you are too!
There’s a lot of reasoning that went into this, so we’re going to break it down because we want to be as transparent as possible to you, our GLORIOUS Defenders.We previously mentioned that we would be avoiding Early Access, but we feel this is the best route to deliver on our promise that we’re working very hard, while being able to also deliver something tangible to you by the extended deadline we provided. Our continued goal is to be as transparent as possible and have our fans tied to our development for years to come.FeedbackWe received A LOT of feedback. We put out a survey to our testers at the end of last year/early this year, and the turnout was insane.
The thousands of results outlined what all of you thought about our game. In fact, for how rough the Beta was, we were ecstatic by the results:In total, it’s less than 10% of the most diehard hardcore Dungeon Defenders fans were not happy with the Beta.
In terms of testing a game that’s a home run! We knew that we were doing a lot of things good, but based on the feedback provided, we know we can do better than good and produce great work.The feedback outlined a lot of what people enjoyed about the game so far, and also some of the holes we had to fill. We went through and outlined everything we could make better based off the feedback from the survey, forums, and feedback provided through zendesk. It was a lot, and we’re not devs who shy away from a lot of hard work. Some of the feedback we’ve received made it into the PAX build and had an incredibly positive reception, showing that our approach to focusing on pushing from good to great is the best approach for not only us as a studio, but to all of our incredibly loyal community.Studio WorkWe’ve been working at a pretty high capacity to make sure things get out on time.
Dungeon Defenders II is a cooperative Action Tower Defense game packed with roleplaying elements like loot, leveling, and pets. Login Store Featured Wishlist News Stats.
We could have made a February launch for both PC and Nintendo Switch, but based on the feedback we received, it would have felt like 8090% of the game you expected. This created a lot of internal conflict, because the people who work here at Chromatic are incredibly talented individuals who have done such a great job in such a short amount of time (we’re coming up on only 1 year of development), and we hold ourselves to a higher standard because 100% of what’s in the game is a reflection of our work.When we received the feedback, we knew that if we weren’t feeling the game was at 100%, then we couldn’t be dishonest and release it saying it was 100% ready. We want gameplay to feel polished and smooth, we want everything to look amazing and crisp, we want the systems to be seamless for people to use, and we want it to be a Dungeon Defenders game that our players are proud to support for years to come. Our goal is to be as transparent as possible, which leads us into what our Early Access schedule looks like.Why Early Access?Going into Early Access on Steam allows us to get where the game is at into the hands of our players on PC. By doing so, we’re able to iterate quickly, getting Dungeon Defenders: Awakened into that 100% state as soon as possible. We are still going to be honoring our Nintendo Switch exclusive deal with Nintendo, with our PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases coming in Q3 2020.That said, this Early Access is not going to be like other games, or like Dungeon Defenders II. The Early Access period is going to be incredibly short, because we’re really spending this time to polish up the game and meet your expectations.
Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is going to be fully released during Q2 on PC and Nintendo Switch. We want Early Access to be as short as possible so that we can get Dungeon Defenders: Awakened out to all of you as the best version of the game.A lot of the polish we’re doing is to systems and gameplay, those are a bit harder to show off or discuss, but they encompass enemies spawning, how much loot drops, what kind of loot drops, enemy difficulty, enemy AI, and more across the entirety of the game.One of the things we can show is the visual changes to some portions of our feedback. One thing that was shown off at PAX (and is still being iterated on) was the changes to the HUD:The feedback from the survey was overwhelmingly positive:That’s 4.5% that were dissatisfied, which when it comes to feedback, it's a slam dunk equivalent to (Space Jam spoiler alert) Michael Jordan slam dunking with his long arm at the end of Space Jam on the Monstars to score the two points needed to save the world:As a result, we’re going to continue to use this time to polish up UIs in a similar fashion to how the HUD was polished.
We’re excited to get these updates out to you in Early Access, and will be continuing iteration through Early Access based on feedback. As we speak, the UI has received even more polish than what’s shown here.Another change that we made was to the Huntress and Monk.
We had seen through written feedback that people were not happy with their visuals, so we made some changes and presented them in the survey. People were happy with the direction we were going, but weren’t sold all the way. Something we weren’t able to get in the PAX build was our next iteration on the Huntress and Monk:You can see the progression we made over time, the first being the version we released into Beta, the second being a first pass presented in the survey, and the last being an updated version based on the feedback we got.These images felt to us a lot closer to Dungeon Defenders, while bringing them graphically up to 2020. We’re going to continue to get feedback on these as well, but we’re really happy with where they are at currently.RoadmapReleasing into Early Access isn’t only going to be setting the game live in its early state and then providing the finished product months later. Instead, we’re going to be updating it over time, adding in features as they become polished and in a state we’re happy with.
Thus, THE ROADMAP IS BORN!As a studio, this is what we are sticking to as a studio. Should anything change, we are going to make sure that we keep all of you updated as soon as possible. We want this road map to serve as a look into where our focus is and as a promise for what we’ll deliver.Beta ClosingWe’ve already implemented a ton of Beta feedback and are currently working through more. As a result, we’re going to be bringing the Beta to an end on Sunday, February 2nd at 11:59PM.
We were very happy with the amount of people that we got in and the amount of feedback provided. If you had fun in the Beta, it’s only the surface of what’s in store for you on Early Access and our full release! Early Access is less than a month away.What’s Next?We’re going to keep working. As shown in the Roadmap, we’ve got some ground to cover still.
We want to keep updates coming and to further enhance our transparency and direct communication with our community. After Early Access launches, we plan on having updates showcasing the work that has been done, introducing you to members of the team, and giving you a look at the work it took to make Dungeon Defenders: Awakened.Chromatic Weekend Wind Down, Dev Streams, and more are going to be coming as we continue development. We’re very excited for everything coming out and are excited that all of you are along for the ride!Social DefendersTo get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:.The entire team thanks you for your support. We’re working to make Chromatic Games a studio that is able to create games current and future that our Defenders are sure to enjoy, because our games are made for YOU!For Etheria!Chromatic Games. DEFENDERS,Beta has been out for a few weeks now, and what a ride it has been! As a studio, it is incredibly exhilarating to have a ton of the hard work that we’ve been hammering away at as a studio out into the wild.
Between watching streams and youtube videos; discussions on the forums, Twitter, Facebook, Steam, and Discord; the plethora of feedback that’s been provided; and just playing the games ourselves with friends and family, it’s been an incredibly awesome experience. So let’s start with Beta in general!Beta, What is it Good For — Absolutely A LotOur Beta launch was something that we were incredibly happy with. When putting something as complex as a game out into the wild has developers putting on a helmet, and strapping down everything, for the potential chaos that can come with a Beta that just aren’t able to be tested in an internal environment. We launched with relatively low issues: gameplay was working at a very high degree with little bug issues; crashes were low and easy to identify; lanes performed with little issues, and our testers computers didn’t burst into flames (that was a super huge one). We were able to address crashes and tweak some things to improve the Beta experience pretty quickly, releasing four patches in a very short amount of time — SIX DAYS!Betas over time have taken a turn in the industry to have a large range in what that actually entail. Our version of Beta was the original approach, that is getting a functional build that is very representative of the final experience regarding the core gameplay loot: build, defend, fight, and get sweet loot.
A lot of things performed correctly, and the gameplay, for a Beta, could not have been better for us! That said, we have received a lot of the feedback, and are still parsing through a lot of it. Things like UI art, character visuals/faces, Survival scaling, hero and tower balance, and more are on our radar. There’s a lot of feedback that we’re getting that was anticipated, so we’ve had plans to address these things for the most part. We received a ton of feedback regarding UI visuals, and we are going to be making sure to give it that Dungeon Defenders feel.
What was in the Beta was focused on functionality, to ensure we didn’t waste any work making art that could lead to wasted work. Needless to say, there’s a lot of improvements that we’re going to be making, and your feedback has been incredibly helpful to validate our plans moving forward!Pre-order and BackingWe’ve had multiple ways that Defenders have been able to get Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. Starting with Kickstarter, which then transferred to BackerKit, and finally ending on our current store. There were bumps along the way, many we are still sorting through (note: if you preordered through Kickstarter and BackerKit, with any issues, please reach out to [email protected], DO NOT if you purchased through our current store, that should be done through [email protected]). These three phases were part of our total plan, but the bumps were a very large learning process and we are working diligently to make sure we provide everything we can to our supporters.One of the things that we’re going to be doing is sending out beta keys to our BackerKit supporters who purchased the $25 copy of the game. The store outlined what was included, but there was some confusing messaging going out about the BackerKit store.
Our higher paying backers have had access to the Beta for a while, giving them exclusive access, and now we want to open it up to show our appreciation for your support, and also to make up for any confusing messaging that may have been sent.We’re also offering more rewards through our newest storefront. We don’t want to exclude people who backed early from these rewards, so we’re going to be doing our best to be as inclusive as possible:.First, anyone who purchased through BackerKit will be moved over to our current storefront in the coming weeks. We'll let you know when this change is made. This means that you’ll get what’s at the $40 tier, but also have the option to upgrade to a higher tier if you want to, instead of having to purchase an entirely new copy.Second, anyone who backed on Kickstarter at or above the purchase tiers on the new storefront will receive the rewards included in the new packs.
For example, did you purchase the $75 tier on Kickstarter? You’ll receive everything included in the Prestigious pack, the costumes, titles, everything!Our goal is to make sure that when you’re purchasing Dungeon Defenders: Awakened, you feel good about the purchase, and that you’re getting awesome rewards with an awesome game. You guys help make the game, and we want to make sure you know you’re valued.Beta Late Than NevaWe’re sorry for that pun. It’s terrible, but it had to be said. With preordering and getting beta keys, the vast majority got out, but there were some keys that weren’t properly transferred over, surveys were submitted late, etc., that lead to people not receiving their keys on time.
One thing we’re going to do is extend the Beta into January. Here’s why:.You have provided a ton of feedback and we want to increase the window so that every nook and cranny is covered. DEFENDERS,It’s time. It’s FINALLY time.
Oh good golly gosh, it’s finally time BETA IS HERE! Today we launched the Beta, getting Dungeon Defenders: Awakened into the hands of Etheria’s brave Defenders.
There’s so much to cover, that we’re not going to cover it all. We want you to discover all the beta has to offer on your own. Let’s get into it!Beta ReleaseThe current Beta is available to our Kickstarter Backers first. This is a promise that we made during our Kickstarter, and are going to make sure to uphold. Kickstarter Backers currently have advanced Beta access. On Friday, November 22nd, we are going to open up the Beta to everyone who has purchased the $40+ preorder packages.Beta is currently scheduled to run for roughly three weeks! Starting on November 22nd and ending on 13th, this gives us a great window to gather feedback and be able to make necessary changes before launching in February.Progress and data from the Beta does NOT carry over to the release of the game.
Beta is used as a testing ground to make sure that the game is in the best possible state. Keeping data from Beta (ha, it rhymes) can cause major issues when updating to the release version.If you did not receive a Beta key, and are a Kickstarter Backer, make sure you have filled out the surveys that were sent to your registered Kickstarter E-mails from 'Backerkit'. If that survey is not filled out, then the Beta key is not sent.All pre-order and Kickstarter Backer keys have been sent out. If you are missing keys, please write to [email protected], using the e-mail you used for Kickstarter and/or BackerKit.Remaining pre-orders will be handled through our If you run into any issues getting a key ordering from this store, contact support the or using the link on the receipt of your purchase.Streaming and Content CreationDuring the Beta, you are free to stream, make videos, or whatever content you want. We want Defenders to enjoy and share as much as they want when it comes to Dungeon Defenders: Awakened!What’s Missing?There’s a lot to cover what’s in a game. Patch notes usually say what’s new, but with so much of the game being new, we’re going to let you explore the game.
Instead, we're going to outline what may not be in the Beta that we are currently polishing and iterating on to get in for release (we may be missing some things from this list as well):Tactical MapThis is currently in a functional state. We’re going to be updating the map images, and make sure it’s a lot prettier come release.Challenge MapsWe’re currently wanting to make sure that balance feels good across the map in general. Challenge Maps are coming your way on release!MapsThere are a total of 15 maps in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened.
Not included in the Beta is Act II, Act III, and the Bonus Maps. Act I is the big focus for our beta test, helping us set the foundation so the rest of the maps bring the right amount of challenge.DifficultyNightmare and Massacre are not going to be included in the Beta. We don’t want people beating all the hardest content during testing. Gotta have something scary hard for you to master on release!EnemiesWith Nightmare not in the beta, Sharken, Djinn, Spiders, and Goblin Copter will not be spawning in a lane near you.WeaponsAll of our weapons are not in the game. We have a pool of roughly 5 different weapons per hero to simulate the amount of weapons you would see during your playthrough of Act I on release. Weapon random colorization is also not reflected in the beta build, but will be implemented for release.HUDWe’re going to be adding various improvements to the HUD. Currently we have it setup for beta to be functional.
There’s a ton of work that we’ve done not in the Beta, but expect improvements on launch.ArmorCurrently we have placeholder armor models in. The final models are currently getting a last pass and will be sparkling and shining on release.Set BonusesSet bonuses are working but may not currently be showing up correctly.Split ScreenWe’re testing base functionality currently, so split screen is not available during the Beta.Spawn ImmunityEnemies are immune up until a certain point in spawn doors. Indicators are not included in Beta, but will be here on release.SocialWe’re wanting to make sure that getting your friends into a match is as easy as possible, give hosts control over their sessions, and showing who’s in your party. These are currently not in the beta, and can be expected on release.HardcoreCurrently not in Beta, coming on release.Twitch IntegrationCurrently being developed, it will not be in the Beta.Game ModesIn the Beta we have Campaign and Survival. Other game modes are coming on release.PetsThere are a total of four pets that are available during the Beta.
On release, there will be much more!Elemental WeaponsSome weapon elemental affinity visuals may be disabled, as we’re making sure performance comes first. Your weapons will be shooting flames and electricity during release.Kickstarter RewardsKickstarter rewards, such as exclusive skins and portraits, are not available during the beta.CurrencyMana from the original Dungeon Defenders is being split into three different categories. Currently in the game is ability and defense mana.
Ability mana regenertaes over time, and Defense mana is gained from defeating enemies and completing waves. Currency in the form of gold is what will persist outside of maps, being used for trading between players and upgrading items.TradingTrading is currently not enabled during the Beta.UpgradingWith currency not in the Beta version, you are unable to upgrade items.Boss FightsBoss fights are coming with release. These are big epic moments that we want to make sure are special for release.Cross SavesThe beta is only available on PC, so Cross Save functionality is not part of the beta.TavernCurrently you are unable to build defenses in the Tavern. As such, there are not any training dummies for you to beat up.Defender ForgeWe’re testing for functionality currently with our Inventory and Hero Deck systems. The Defender Forge makes its glorious arrival on launch.New User ExperienceThis is something we’ve spent quite a bit of time on, and are going to refine. It is important for new Defenders to understand how to protect the world of Etheria, but it will be available on release.Tower InspectionA step up from what was offered in Dungeon Defenders II, tower inspection shows you the most pertinent information for your currently placed tower.
This is currently disabled, and will be available at release.Tower ViewAnother feature brought over from Dungeon Defenders II, where you are able to hold a button/key and see what the range of your defenses are. This is currently disabled, and will be available at release.Gamepad SupportThis is disabled for the Beta currently. We’re actively polishing the gamepad experience and did not want to provide it in an unpolished state.Hero CustomizationDuring the beta, the heroes will not be able to be customized in regards to color changing and costumes.Auto EquipThis is a feature we are providing for Defenders who don’t understand the item system right away. This will come during release.Level RequirementsDuring beta, there are no level requirements for gear. What you get is what you can use.
Since we’re not having trading, we wanted to make sure getting gear was as fun as possible for testing.Mana ChestsMana chests are gone-gone-gone. Keep an eye out for end-of-wave loot chests.Options MenuThe options menu is currently in a beta state and does not reflect every option that will be available upon full release.CinematicsThe in-game cinematics are not part of the Beta.Known IssuesA lot.
It's beta, so there's a ton we're still working on. Music not playing correctly, audio playing from different parts of the map instead of where you are, UIs not working properly.
There's a ton, but we're knocking them out super quick. Be sure to leave feedback in theNext StepsWe’re going to be monitoring gameplay and feedback that all of you provide.
While polishing and finishing remaining systems for our February launch, we’re also going to be scouring feedback to make sure that we get the game into the best state possible. Nothing in the Beta is guaranteed to be final, and is going to be scrutinized heavily.From now until release, we’re going to keep churning away to make sure DD:A is the best it can be!Social DefendersTo get reliable updates on what’s to come, be sure to check out our social platforms for the latest juiciest beans to be spilled:.The entire team cannot wait to see you tear apart the Beta. We’re excited for release in February and thank you for joining us on this journey!For Etheria!Chromatic Games.
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