Our plans for the future.

Heya all!

This is Ian here, the creative director and designer of Ravemark. I know it’s usually Kev that posts on our developer blog here and responds to your comments (I tend to hang out at the Touch Arcade forum page here), but I thought it best that I share with you guys our plans for the future and the changes we’ll be making in our line-up. Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as Kev made it out to be. =)

Before I get into it I’d like to that everyone for the incredible support and feedback we’ve gotten over the past few months. It’s heartening to know that so many of you bother to keep in touch with us and help us as we endeavour to make Ravenmark a quality game we can be proud of. We could not ask for better fans. I’d also like to thank the local support in Singapore we’ve gotten thus far from friends, family, media and people that simply believed that we could make a product of Ravenmark’s quality!

It’s with that glowing thought that I’ll move on to more serious issues. Ravenmark, thus far has been a critical success however we look at it – from glowing reviews from major sites to a 4.6 star average on iTunes. I can honestly say we could never dream about the response its gotten so far. Unfortunately, being a critical success doesn’t necessary equate zomgawesome sales. I can safely say we’re making a comfortable amount to keep us going, but it’s not enough to expand so we can get you guys more content in a timely fashion. Keeping that in mind, we’ve reorganised our future line up of updates and games to keep us going.

Here’s what we plan to do;

1. Suneaters Campaign

Suneaters is well on it’s way, assets are done we’re putting together the missions and balancing the armies. Along with the campaign comes a number of UI and game mechanic improvements. Notably, you can now track the paths taken by the various factions on the world map as they trapeze across Eclisse. The main reason for the delay is that the Kaysani army functions distinctly differently from Estellion and we took some time to ensure that the experience was fun and manageable with Swarms. You can expect it roughly at the end of February, latest being the first week of March.

2. Ravenmark, Arc II

If you’ve played through the Ravenhood Campaign, you’re aware that the story ends on a cliffhanger with more questions than answers. Now, Arc II of Ravenmark intends to answer those questions and (perhaps) ask a few more. Previously, we had intended to release Arc II within the current app as a free update. Sadly, we can’t can’t afford to do that and we will be releasing it as a separate app for a small sum to keep us going.

Included in Arc II are:

• Deepwood Dragoons – Where we follow Thaddeus and Dwight into the Lyri Barrens and see what dangers they face from both allies and enemies alike.
• Raven’s Dusk – We return to Calius’ side, as he deals with the situation dropped on him in Ravenhood; and Rook Harper as he fights to the teeth to defend his people.
• Raven’s Rise – The dramatic conclusion to the Kaysani Invasion.

At release, players will have access to Deepwood Dragoons and Raven’s Dusk, while Raven’s Rise will follow a few months after. We’re targeting a June release for Ravenmark, Arc II.

3. Ravenmark, Multiplayer

Some time ago, we promised to add a skirmish function to the current version of Ravenmark. After many a long discussion we’ve decided against this. Ravenmark Multiplayer will be its own app. There’s many reasons why we’ve taken this path, but here are a few of the main ones:

1. Our game is asset heavy – Having the skirmish mode in a ballooned app isn’t very appealing to people. Moreso for those with devices of a lower capacity.
2. Game Balancing – Taking a page from Starcraft, we feel that the single and multi-player game should be balanced differently since both experience are vastly different.
3. Support for a separate app is easier – We figured no one would be keen to update a 700ish mb app just for game balancing.
4. It needs to be sustained – Unlike offline/single player games, a multiplayer game requires a lot of attention to be kept running. Income from point 5 would help keep that support alive.
5. We can use a freemium model – This allows people to enjoy the game at no cost while giving a player that wants to invest in the game new experiences. We intend to make it such that bought content adds to experience rather than overpower non-paying players. We’ve mentioned many a time that we aren’t here to make “stupid” money, we hope to provide you guys quality content that you see value in paying for.

Ravenmark MP will include asynchronous multiplayer, hotseat multiplayer and a skirmish mode to test your chops against our annoying evil AI. We haven’t started work on this version of Ravenmark yet, but we hope to have this out in the second half next year.

4. A new untitled project (set in the Ravenmark world, Eclisse)

As you can tell, we’ve got a lot on our plate as it is. Aside from all that madness, we also have another game brewing in the design stages that returns us to Eclisse, Ravenmark’s home campaign world. If everything goes as planned, we’ll start work on this with an expanded team to bring you guys a new game. It’s aimed to be something lighter and easier to play. We’ll give you guys more information as it comes together.

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So! Lots happening in the months to come. I hope that you all will continue to support us as we take this journey. It’s not going to be easy, I’m certain – but you guys are worth it.

Once again, everyone here at WHS is thankful for the support you all have gladly given!

 

Cheers,

Ian

Creative Director