2024 sure started with a bang! Between all the changes we made to Skygard Arena, and our upcoming February Playtest, we have many news to share with you today, so why don't we just get started?


First and foremost, let’s take a closer look at Raine, the Scarlet Witch of the Crimson Empire faction!

Raine’s ambition is matched only by the power of her magic. On the battlefield, she uses her spells to reinforce her allies, and trap her enemies in her sinister garden of brambles and crimson roses.

In Skygard Arena, Raine serves as a battlemage, dealing damage and providing support in the middle of the fray. As she casts spells every turn, she generates Bloodrage (the Crimson Empire’s unique mechanic), which makes her even stronger. The longer she can stay in the fight, the more unstoppable Raine will become!

Visually, it was important to convey that Raine isn’t afraid to get in the middle of fights, and powerful enough to turn the tides with her devastating spells.

Let us know how much you’re looking forward to dominating the battlefield with Raine!

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In the GIF above, you might also have noticed some user interface elements that weren't there before. Our objective with these changes was to improve readability in battle, both for the Heroes you'll be controlling, and for enemies you will encounter in the PvE solo campaign and in PvP matches.

Among other changes, you'll new have an indicator of which spell you're casting as you're selecting your target. We’ve also improved controls for casting spells overall, especially spells that hit in a zone. Casting spells has never been easier!

And due to popular demand among our Playtesters, we’ve also included a tactical Ruler Mode to allow players to better plan their moves.

Aerica is not be able to target Jorn from her current position…

… but she could get a clear shot after moving in position!

The Ruler mode will allow players to clearly see whether or not they have a line of sight to their target, from their current position and others as well!

Long story short, we've worked hard to make Skygard Arena more accessible. Some visual elements are still WIP (that orange is soooo 2023), but we hope you enjoy your time in the Arena when you get your hands on the game in our upcoming playtest! Speaking of which...

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That's right, we'll be holding a Community Playtest from February 8th to February 18th! Unlike our previous Playtest, this one will be rather PvP-centric: we've made a lot of design and balancing changes lately, and we're eager for player feedback.

Among other things, we’ve reworked a couple of Heroes, and made a lot of visual changes - both to Heroes and to our UI, as showcased aboved. Full patchnotes will be available on our Discord server[discord.gg] once the Playtest starts.

If you’re interested in participating in this Playtest, make sure to let me (@mekklord) know on Discord! My DMs are always open and we’re always looking for playtesters to share their feedback with us. I hope to hear from you soon, and to face you all in the Arena!

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And that’ll be all for this month! Thank you once again for your time and interest, and see you very soon in the Arena!

Christmas is coming, and bearing lots of gifts with it. But don't worry, we have gifts of our own to share!


Na Jima was one of our most popular and powerful Heroes in the Alpha Playtest we held earlier this year, and balancing her was one of our toughest challenges yet! Her combination of high damage, mobility and utility made her able to pick apart and kite individual targets without much room for counterplay... so we reworked her!

Na Jima is now more focused on gaining Power for each different target she strikes, and unleashing devastating combos as she does! Let's take a quick look at some of her new, updated Spells!

Here's Seeking Arrow...

... and here's her Ultimate Spell, Star Storm!

Impressive, isn’t it?

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As advertised in our last Dev Blog, we held a Community Playtest in early December, during which players could discover the first PvE missions!

Our new PvE missions consisted of:

• A first mission involving a straightforward tutorial, teaching mechanics to all new players;
  
• A second mission based around positioning Heroes and controlling objectives, during which players faced Champei and her leafy minions;
  
• A tougher, “eliminate all enemies” third mission, during which players faced Jorn, Seraphine, and Silver Kingdom soldiers;

We invited our players to share their first impressions on these missions, and, to our pleasure, they had many takes on our challenging third mission. We knew this mission would be rather difficult, and it was very interesting to see how players would react to this difficulty. Thanks to their feedback, we'll be able to iron our desired difficulty, to create the perfect balance between challenging and motivating.

Overall, players really enjoyed our playtest, and we got a lot of suggestions from our testers as well. Many thanks to those who participated in the Playtest, and helped us make Skygard Arena even better!

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December has also been a great month for giving and receiving gifts! We've held our first Secret Santa just a couple of days ago, and we've shared some delicious raclette as well. What better way to end this year than with the people you love working with?

Here’s a little gift from our Secret Santa! Can you guess which game it comes from?

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And that will conclude our December Dev Blog! Thank you once again for reading, see you in 2024, and all of Gemelli Games wishes you a Merry Christmas!