Mortals, things have been "hectic" here in Eucos! New tutorials, performance boosts, the launcher rebrand, balance updates, lore refresh, and so much more! Pssst - the best part? We chatted to our new Executive Producer and got some sneaky leaks! Gather round to find out what the "devs have been doing" for it's been a while.
A note from the Executive Producer, Justin Hulog
Hello Mortals! This update's main focus areas are stability, balance and general bug crushing. We *should be* on track to deliver the most-anticipated Daily Play and Earn feature by the end of the month. I can't share a date yet but stay tuned cause we will be able to share one in the coming week!
Another aspect I'm really excited about working on is the additions to our lore. Full disclosure: you'll just have to patiently wait to see what mere mortals are capable of!
Speaking more broadly about our lore refresh, planning has taken a pretty comprehensive route. We've stepped back into the drawing board to set the foundational aspects of the lore right - redefining the rules of the world, how gods derive their powers, their relationships to mortals and even key characters getting revised (wink wink).
Our lore has always been one of the strongest points guiding game design, and now more than ever, we're looking to incorporate it in multiple ways as we think about expanding the Gods Unchained Universe while looking to the future. This led to several new initiatives, which I'm excited to showcase to the community during our next AMA. Stay tuned for that date.
Some recent highlights
Offering of the $GODS
Most mortals should have claimed their rewards from our constant reminders, but for those who've been too busy battling in the Arena, we introduced manual staking last month. What is it, you ask? Well, it's our answer to "wen" staking. Our whitepaper outlined that one of the ways we'd be introducing utility to the $GODS token would be by providing opportunities for staking and, eventually, governance. Manual staking is a solution we're delivering before we roll out our final staking solution, which is in the works (you heard it here first!).
A total of 1M $GODS are being handed out to the community in two types of rewards. Surprise Rewards amounting to around 33% of the total rewards ~355k $GODS and Ongoing Rewards amounting to 67% of the total $GODS or ~734k $GODS. The Surprise Rewards are available for claim now for everyone who held their tokens in their Immutable X wallets from 1st December 2021 to 12th June 2022. The Ongoing Rewards are available to all active community members from 13th June 2022 until October 2022. It's super easy to become eligible. All you need to do is follow these simple steps:
- You must have held/hold $GODS on Immutable X.
- You must have linked your wallet to Immutable X and GU.
- Also need one of the following:
- Play a ranked game of Gods Unchained OR
- Forge OR
- Purchase packs OR
- Trade (buy/sell) any Gods Unchained NFT on the Immutable X platform (any marketplace)
Pro Tip: Eligibility is being looked at for each period (weekly). Remember, the more you stake, the more you make!
API Refactor
For those who've been playing recently, you would've noticed how much quicker it is to get into a match! That's all thanks to our API Refactor whose sole job was to make the game client more stable, load quicker and improve performance. On that note, we're ecstatic to share that our failure rate is now down from the previous 15.05% to only 4.85%. That's what we call success. Stats like this show the proof is in the pudding.
Launcher Rebrand and Website Performance
Another feather in our cap and a sight to behold for your weary eyes is probably how quickly the launcher now loads and how divine it looks! Don't you feel proud now, mortal, each time you play the game on seeing the Gods Unchained launcher? We, for one, are so excited to refer to friends as they don't ask, "what's Immutable? Didn't you ask me to play Gods Unchained?!"
Fun fact: the devs initially envisioned the Immutable Launcher housing multiple games, but their roadmap for GU got bigger and better as time went on. And that's how frens, they never got to updating it as they were too busy drowning in building the game. But by the gods, the new launcher icon is a sight to behold.
Speaking of improved experiences, have you noticed the improvement to our website load speed too? Much faster, wouldn't you say? We're going back to basics and are laser-focused on delighting you, mortals! In the last few months, you would've noticed how we're doubling down our efforts on improving the quality of game performance from the bottom up.
Some things to look forward to
Upcoming Balance Patches
We hope you've also noticed our new cadence on patch notes and balance blog posts. Each week we have an array of bug fixes, feature updates and additions going live, while every fortnight or so, we have a long list of meta changes to the game. Our next balance blog post will roll out in the week of 15th August. We're confident we've gotten the balance to a stable position, but honestly, we're starting to make deliberate (aggressive) moves to rock the boat, creating a more exciting play. Once the first updates are live next week, we'll aim to take three more patches live after that before we begin consolidating balance again. Get ready for two months of wildness on the ladder.
Combat Log and Arena Game Mode Select
This one's quick. A way to outdo your opponent. We're working on a new way for you to see the sequence of cards played and actions taken to track each move and help you strategize in the heat of the moment! So ready your blades and prepare your swords; the battle for Weekend Ranked champion awaits. To complement the launcher update, we'll make a few UI changes to the layout of the Arena screen and game mode options. The new refreshed 'game mode select' look and feel will make it much more intuitive.
Daily Play & Earn
Ah yes, we haven't forgotten. Justin Hulog, our Chief Studio Officer, now Executive Producer, promised to launch this feature in less than a month, and we're hard at work on the way to delivering it. Next week, we *should* be able to share a hard date! What does that mean for you? More earnings with daily $GODS rewards. It may be wise to look at this blog post to understand how you can maximize your reward potential when the new Daily Play and Earn system goes live. We're introducing new concepts like fragments, gameplay modifiers, and deck modifiers, so get in the know now.
Lore Refresh
Last off, for today, we're enhancing the foundations of our world lore-wise and defining strong cornerstones to further build upon. While it may mean a few tweaks to aspects of the GU universe, this work will ensure we have a much more cohesive game and story going ahead. It means we're set up to tell really cool and exciting stories, and the team's having a lot of fun looking at where we want to go.
We're also exploring interesting ways the story, events, and characters can expand into and affect the greater Gods Unchained ecosystem. We already have a rich world to play in, but it currently sits in a small corner of the game. We want the lore to feel palpable and for it to truly enrich gameplay and trading alike. One way this can tie in is with a direct influence on the marketplace. We'll be experimenting with a new lore-driven system shortly, so watch this space.
That's all for this time, mortals. As always, if you notice any reemergence of old bugs, some new ones, or in general, if things seem a bit off, you know what you need to do: Bug Report.
