Dawn Of Defiance FAQ

[Monday]

We will intend to keep this FAQ sheet pretty up-to-date for you guys. Keep in mind our game is headed to early access, so some information may change as things develop! Please continue asking us great (or terrible) questions, and consider visiting the Discord if you want a quicker reply.

[Monday]

BASICS

What is Dawn Of Defiance?

Dawn Of Defiance is a new open world survival craft inspired by Greek mythology. You will play as a fallen soldier, starting from nothing on a mythic coast where you must survive and grow in power to prove yourself and discover why you were brought to the isles. Read the DoD’s steam page and visit the website [dawnofdefiance.com] for the full official description.

How much will it cost?

At launch, base price is $20, but with a limited time 25% launch discount! We hope the lower initial price rewards early-adopters for supporting our game! As we roll-out significant updates in early access, please anticipate scaled pricing. We'll notify you in advance of these price changes!

What is the expected release date?

We will be releasing into PC early access on August 15th! Please visit the news page for the official launch date announcement.

On what platforms can I play DoD?

We will enter Early Access on PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store. I cannot provide information about the possibility of a console port at this time. We will revisit the conversation in the future, and we will notify the community if a decision has been made. We have no current plans for VR.

What are the hardware requirements?

Please see the hardware requirements listed on our store pages!

Is there controller support?

We will support Xbox and Playstation controllers. Currently, our Steam page lists us as “partial controller support,” as opposed to “full controller support.” This is because we currently do not offer a virtual keyboard which is required for the “full support” label. We will not be adding the virtual keyboard in time for early access launch.

Can you have dedicated servers?

Going into early access, players will be able host listen servers, and we hope to extend the option to set up dedicated servers later in early access.
Player-hosted/listen server means to specify that the servers require the host to be an active player. For private/unlisted servers, you can join by share-code and hopefully a couple other methods that we're still testing implementation. Public servers will show up on the join server list. You can password protect your server in either configuration.

What server settings/modes are available?

Besides singleplayer and multiplayer options, there will not be an official Creative or Hard mode at launch. You will be able to alter certain difficulty settings and enable cheats for your server, but the rulesets are still being implemented and not working 100% as intended in the current build.

Is multiplayer hard-capped at 4 players?

We're testing and optimizing our game for up to 4 players, so this is the number we recommend. You can technically push the number higher in the settings, but mileage may vary, and players should expect unexpected problems.

What languages are supported?

Interface and subtitles are currently in English. There is currently one voiced NPC to help guide the player character. We will be revisiting localization options in the future, but we do not have updates at this time ahead of launch.

What are the accessibility options?

We have basic, toggleable color-blind filters provided through UE, and the ability to remap key bindings. HUD elements can be moved and resized as needed. Other accessibility features will likely only be implemented based on community-requested priority.

[Monday]

DESIGN, ART, & MECHANICS

What will be included at early access launch?

The Early Access version will feature the following content which aims to provide a well-rounded experience offering many hours of replayability:

• A major biome across two islands, excluding a section that will be locked at launch.
  
• Multiple sub-biomes, each with different resources, enemy variants, and potentially environmental hazards
  
• 8 of 12 Deity shrines and their associated "Labors," with the remaining 4 to come in early access.
  
• Up to 9 enemy types, including golems, gorgons, soldiers, cultists, captains, and their variants. This does not include aggressive fauna like wolves and boar.
  
• Enhanced movement modes and various melee weapons and bows with select elemental weapon enhancements
  
• The first tiers of armor, tools, and structures
  
• Most crafting facilities, although they won’t be fully upgradable until later updates
  
• Inventory system, including backpack, gear slots, equip hot bar, and chests.
  
• Progression guideposts with minimal narrative
  
• Minor challenges and puzzles to earn recipes & upgrades

What survival elements should we expect?

You will need to hunt and collect resources to advance in Dawn Of Defiance. This will involve a need to eat, but players will not die of starvation; consumable recipes serve as means to heal and buff your player to take on tough challenges. Similarly, environmental effects like wetness and heat may slow your advancement, but never kill you. Your tools, armor, and structures are subject to damage.

Will there be NPCs?

As our game is not narratively-focused, there will only be one player guide with minimal dialogue for the purposes of guiding the player character and supplying new objectives.

Are the Gods in the Game?

The Olympic Pantheon is not slated to be physically present in the game as interactable NPCs or enemies. I’m afraid you will not be able to fist fight Zeus, no matter how much he deserves it. Their influence will be seen on the isles, referenced by player objectives and POIs.

Is there character customization?

Releasing into Early Access, we will not have any character customization. It is very high on our priority list for game updates, namely the female player model which has been in development but still needs a lot more work. She’s pitiful, I fear.

Will mythologic creatures be in-game?

The gorgons and golems, as revealed in our trailers, will be present at our early access release. Beyond that, we want to do justice to the enemies we add into the game, so we will spread out updates for additional, polished mythic monsters during early access, rather than front load a bunch half-baked at launch. We recognize the importance of mythic monsters to immerse players in the landscape they’re expecting and excited for, so consider it high on our priority list to continue adding them.

Is the map procedurally generated?

Our map is not procedurally generated but crafted by our team. We want locations to be memorable, so we’re building islands with unique points of interest and landmarks. At early access launch, we’ll have two islands to explore, and we hope to deliver map expansions in our roadmap to the 1.0 final release.

What kind of abilities will the player have?

At present, our player abilities are enhanced movement modes, gained separately, including:

• Glide – Hover, elevate, and gently drift to the ground from any height
  
• Dash – A boost of speed, can be used in the air
  
• Hardfall – Withstand falls from a great distance and damage opponents on impact.

While our players earn their abilities through supernatural means, they are still mortal heroes grounded by stamina and gravity. The player character cannot fly indefinitely, but they can use their abilities as traversal tools. Besides the movement modes, players may encounter weapon enhancements like elemental and poison arrows.

How does gameplay address multiplayer?

Chest Rewards and quest objectives will be server-side, meaning discovering and unlocking a sword recipe will unlock it for your full server party. Likewise, the main “golden path” objectives will be treated communally, so players will want to work together to progress. The key here is that rewards are shared and never blocked by a single player, so you won’t fall behind or miss out. The spawn system will also account for multiple players to address respawn rates, and general game difficulty can be adjusted in the server settings.

[Monday]

COMMUNITY

Why Early Access?

Early access is a good fit for us and Dawn Of Defiance for two reasons: on one hand, we see this genre being largely popular for its ability to cater to different players and playstyles, and early access allows us to improve and iterate on the game to make it adaptable to the larger community. On the other hand, we are small team with big dreams and little time, and early access helps support us while we continue development and achieving our long-term vision.

Will there be a beta or demo before release?

We do not have plans for a beta, open or closed, before our early access release. If our plans change in this regard, the Discord and newsletter subscribers are likely to be the only ones notified!

Where will we submit bugs, suggestions, or general feedback?

The official method to submit bugs and suggestions will filter through our feature up-vote page that we will make available at launch. There will also be spaces to discuss feedback in the Discord, but to be certain it is weighed for consideration by the dev team, it will need to be processed through feature vote-up.

When will we see a roadmap?

While we would like to provide a comprehensive roadmap in advance of release, we know the first months following our early access launch will likely realign our priorities, so please give us 2-3 months after launch to have worked through quality of life improvements and process feedback from the community before we will outline the official roadmap. For now, this early take at the roadmap (our "pre" roadmap if you will) tries to keep things high-level to avoid false promises, but we hope it still helps set expectations for what we will be working on first in early access and at least a few features we already would like to see in a 1.0 version:

Immediate Goals:
Quality of Life Improvements–Please expect our first 2-3 months after launch to be focused on improving the immediate needs of players to make the game the best it can be for long-term growth!
‍Roadmap Assessments– We will compare the feedback/suggestions/requests from players at launch with our internal planned feature list and the time we will be able to sustain early access to then dictate our priorities.
Improved Shrine Labors– Part of your trials on the Crossroads is to visit the shrines of the Olympians and complete their associated Labors. We aim to upgrade this existing experience with more thoughtful and challenging quests before adding the remaining shrines.

Short-term Goals:
Expand the Crossroads and advance the narrative –‍ You’ll notice when you join our game on the 15th that part of our map is locked! We will be working to open this up to players which will include the remaining 4 Olympian shrines. With all 12 shrines on the map to complete, we will be able to progress the player on to the final arc of our narrative.
More buildables –We have a backlog of art assets nearly finished, namely buildables, that we can see being wrapped up in the short-term to expand players' options!

On the Table:
Character Creator (including a female protagonist), more mythical enemies, and mod support – ‍These are things the Dev team would like to see in our 1.0. Where they fall in our priority list remains to be decided!

Can I get a game key?

If you’re a content creator looking for a game key or other collaborative opportunities, please submit a request here: Request Form [sbx.gg]

Where can I find tips and guides?

You should try out our Fandom Wiki [dawn-of-defiance.fandom.com] which we hope to see grow with more information soon. If not there, visit our Discord to ask community members for help!