Hello Almorians!
I would like to officially announce commencment on the second, separate and completly new part of the game – Almora Darkosen 2. It means that it’ll be an independent app from the previous version. I’ll give you more information further down in this announcment.
Almora Darkosen 2 will be a continuation of the story known to us from the first part, altrough the game engine will be modified and improved, more solutions and game mechanics will be available.
The most important changes in the new upcoming game:
- Much bigger world with day/night system! Ability to sleep – regeneration.
- Some randomly generated locations ( Caves, Crypts etc. ) #roguelike.
- Possibility to save more than one character on one Profile.
- Possibility to equip your Mercenary or Mercenaries.
- Character Classes( Warrior, Mage, Archer ).
- Unique Class professions ( Thief, Spy, Herbalist, etc. )
- Possibility to have a “pet”, that will help us in our journey.
- Huge Skill tree – these will have their levels and won’t be based on a character’s base damage value.
- Improved Crafting system.
- More mini-games with online ( playing with other players )
- Item recasting system ( unwanted gear can be melted down for some resources )
- Extensive map/minimap management system and indicators.
- Archery and ranged combat ( not by just skills ).
- Improved inventory management ( divided into Main Quest items, healing, keys etc. ).
- Dual wield fighting ( this obviously excludes the use of the shield ).
- Better and longer dialogue and conversation options.
- Zoom in/out of the playing area/screen.
- Adjusting the resolution to device screen.
- Game in online/offline mode
- Online – possibility to save in cloud, multiplayer, access to other player statistics, possibility to play PREMIUM**
- Offline – able to finish the whole game, but without Premium.
- Multiplayer ( co-op mode ) – however this won’t be an MMORPG.
- Support for even more languages/translations.
- Possibility to play with a pad or keyboard and mouse.
- A number of settings such as: screen brightness, enlarging/reducing the font size, dialogue speed.
- Extensive quest and dialogue log.
- Ability to set the position of function buttons on the screen.
Players who are fans of Almora can notice many new solutions here, which they also proposed themselves. This list is a collection of all player feedback, observations, and hours of trying to finish the game. By creating the second part of the game, it is possible to prepare the engine to implement all these aspects.
Currently, Almora Darkosen 1 has limited capabilities because the engine is not designed for it.
These are just the most important features, as many solutions and systems will undergo a major facelift and a number of modifications.
** PREMIUM will only be available online (but you don’t need to set up an account – you need just to be online), this is due to piracy protection.
What’s with the Expansion to the current game?
There won’t be a full expansion for the first part. However, this doesn’t mean the end of work on the game, because there will certainly be game modes with difficulty levels (which I mentioned in previous messages) and improvements and fixes that are currently being implemented. This list also includes gamepad support and a port of the engine to other platforms such as Steam Deck / Nintendo Switch. I’ll write more about porting on a regular basis, because there are also license issues that I am currently trying to acquire.
Why this decision? Why Almora Darkosen 2 instead of an expansion pack?
Almora Darkosen is my life project, I’m very proud of it and reading the review and players’ opinions I know that there is even more potential in this game than I thought at the very beginning of its release. I was not expecting such a warm and positive reaction from the players. At the moment, the game has been downloaded by almost 1,000,000 people from around the world! I’m a person who doesn’t like to stand still, and I’m very motivated and full of energy, in other words I’m ready to start creating a new game for you and for myself!
The first game engine was created 10 years ago, then the flagship phone was “Samsung Galaxy S+” ( Galaxy S1 ). I remember when I was writing the code, I was adding new effects and solutions to the engine every year, because phones were quickly getting more powerful and the capabilities of smartphones increased year by year. Nevertheless, the roots of the current engine go back to old times and should be rewritten for current technical conditions. At the moment I am very limited and meeting the requests of the players I am not able to implement certain solutions. 10 years ago I did not think that Almora Darkosen would be such a huge project with the potential for such expansion – seriously!
So I think that spending at least a year to create an add-on to the current version of the game is simply a waste of time. In short, it would be a form of “regression in development”. I don’t want to force it, I want to add more freshness to the game, and as I mentioned before, I am limited by the age of the game engine.
I just want to bring you a new experience, new gameplay and even better solutions in a completely new project.
I assure you in advance that the atmosphere of the game will definitely not change, I will do my best to make it even better! Most of the graphics will still be created by me, but if I need help, I will definitely use it and I promise to exercise proper supervision so that nothing deviates from the current climate of Almora.
Almora Darkosen 2 but when?
This is my favorite question that I cannot answer precisely. I’d be rich if I got $1 for every question “when’s the new version coming out?”.
In fact, it’s hard to say (so nothing new), but there are some facts that help to estimate the approximate date of the first beta tests.
Facts:
- I have a game engine written that I don’t have to rewrite from scratch, it just needs tweaking and improvements. There are a lot of functions currently being written – correct, fully usable also in the new game engine. Many of them are literally a copy/paste.
- My experience has been enriched by 10 years ( in total over 20 years ) in programming ( that includes analyzing errors, because there were many fixes after the premiere of Almora that were successfully implemented ). The experience I’ve gained will allow me to avoid many problems in the future project. This is a huge gain of time.
- I’m able to reach out to other people for help. I don’t need to create everything myself.
- I don’t have to invent anything by force, all new solutions have long been written down on my list and are waiting for their turn. A lot of solutions were also suggested by great players.
So it seems to me that the first, preliminary version will be able to be tested (closed tests) in a year 2024/2025. The date of the official beta version available to everyone will depend on the result of the first tests, and then the release of the full game. This is quite an optimistic version, but very real.
If that seems like a long time to you, let me just say that you would have to wait a similar amount of time to expand to the first part of the game, and the engine would still be old, without a future and without new solutions.
Please remember that I am only human, I also have a job, a home, a family, one health, and there are only 24 hours in a day. I spend a lot of time programming, but it’s not the only thing I do in my life 🙂
Can you help me?
Of course! Any help is welcome 🙂
If you create music, sounds, can draw or just have cool ideas, write to me!
In addition, I invite you to the Discord channel, there are appropriate sections where you can also submit your ideas and suggestions: Discord
You can also support me financially:
PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/almoradarkosen
YouTube (donation): https://tipply.pl/u/gear-studio
The end word
I hope you understand my decision and that you’ll support me in creating a new version of the game. Visiting and sharing on social media like Facebook, Twitter or Discord will also be supportive. I’ll try to keep you updated on the progress of the new project. I also invite you to my YouTube channel, where I’ll share videos of the progress of the project #almoradarkosen2
I also plan to post videos of prototyping of new solutions in the project there. It’s going to be kind of a series of movies #devlog. Thanks to this, you’ll be able to suggest your ideas, comment on mine and express your opinion on a regular basis, which is very important! This series of videos will also allow you to see how it all comes together and how much time and work it takes to create such a game. It’s a pity that 10 years ago I didn’t use YouTube so much, but those were different times 🙂
As you can see, I have a lot of work ahead of me, but if you do what you love, it’s not a job, but a pleasant code writing:) Can I do it? You already know it yourself…
Thank you for being with me and for sharing and sending really cool ideas, without you there would be no plans for Almora Darkosen 2!
Keep your fingers crossed for the project and see you soon!
Let’s make Almora Darkosen 2
P.S. Don’t forget about a good rating in Google Play / App Store, it’s really motivating! 🙂
Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.GearStudio.AlmoraDarkosen
App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/almora-darkosen-rpg/id1594920342
dev Grzegorz Borkowski
