The State of TOME: Immortal Arena

[76561198161669907]

UPDATE (5/17/2015): The TOME: Immortal Arena servers will be going down in the near future. This post will be updated when they are finally turned off.

Hello everyone, WrongThinker here.

As you are likely well aware, KIXEYE stopped development of TOME: Immortal Arena a little over a month ago. Many of us who had worked on TOME have since transitioned to other exciting projects here at KIXEYE, but our passion for Tome didn’t end with its development.

And so, with that passion driving us, I’m proud to announce that TOME: Immortal Arena is now entering "unofficial development."

This means that a handful of us are, in our spare time, going to keep making Tome a better game. Obviously, with our reduced numbers and reduced time, you won’t be seeing gigantic weekly updates or tons of content, but what you will get: balance updates, improved gameplay, and other tweaks/changes to improve the experience for everyone.

I am going to provide written updates on a fairly regular basis (I’m going to try and deliver one every Friday) about what we’re working on and the design philosophy behind those decisions. Next week I’ll provide some details about the first things we’re going to tackle.

We’re doing this for no other reason than our desire to make a fun game for you. We sincerely hope you enjoy.

-WT

[Biaxin]

Thanks for all that my only wonder is, guardian are now all from and some of us paid for the guardian pack, will you offer a refund for them?

[Gespenst Gaming]

1. I'd be curious to know the exact number/who's doing what. It'd be nice if you could all come and introduce yourselves. So if we create a thread about something specific like a UI problem we can know who to direct it to in the thread title.

2. I'm at a real cross roads as to what Tome needs/needed most, balance or more content.
Part of what drove people off was that every game played out EXACTLY the same, and there wasn't alot of push-pull/comeback mechanics in the game.

The balance issue was that people with CC and high HP had damage that was high enough where then can just lock people down too easily and make the fights unbalanced because one team member is just dead and there wasn't anything that could be done.

Also the same guardians were always being picked, this is partly due to both the balance of the guardians and the limited selection of guardians.

3. I think individual performance based character levels may be bad for a casual MOBA like TOME, and something like a team-wide level ala Heroes of the Storm would be better.

4. The reason you weren't making money from the store was also because there wasn't anything particularly interesting worth buying, or they were just too expensive for what they were. If you make something cheap enough where it feels like I'm getting a real good deal you'll sell more. Relying solely on "whales" is a bad business model, contrary to what all the economic/psycology majors tell you.

5. I also really feel that items are bad for casual mobas, and bad for a small dev team. Items make balancing your game near impossible, as every change you make to an item has vast and wide reaching consequences. Some characters are broken because of certain items, and others are only viable because of those items. If you don't have items and only have individual character/hero choices then if a character is unbalanced, you know exactly where the problem is and how to fix it.

These are fairly large suggestions to change the game, but their from my experience and feelings that made me slowly start to play less.

Well, that and matchmaking. The game was unplayable for us experienced players because gettting stuck with brand new players just ruined the entire match for us win or lose, it's too much work to help them win and makes the game not enjoyable to play. Super strict matchmaking with a public MMR is the right way to go about this.

[76561198161669907]

Hi, Gespenst!

Glad to see you're still on the forums and curious about TOME. I'm going to do my best to answer your questions.

1.) The exact number is not exact. The team will grow and shrink based upon what we want to accomplish. So, for example, let's say an artist decides they want to improve the visuals of a particular character, they'll join the team and make it happen. Right now we're looking at 3 to 4 people, but that number will grow and sometimes shrink based on what we're doing.

I'm not going to introduce other team members (I'm sure some of them will be talking on here at some point), but allow me to introduce you to the design team: me.

Allow me to introduce you to the balance team: me and you (the community).

2.) Realistically, given our team size, balance is going to be the initial order of business (content takes much more time and manpower), but that balance won't be restricted to specific Guardians. I'll be messing about with the foundation a little to create a better play experience. The first update (which will come out next Friday) will give you quite a bit of detail. Hopefully, you'll actually see more characters become viable with this initial wave of work, so that'll be LIKE new content.* XD

3.) Bold suggestion! There are advantages and disadvantages to such an approach, as I'm sure you're aware. I'd like to discuss this idea further, but I'd like to do it once we're a little further down the road and we've had a chance to discuss, as a community, some of the fundamentals of TOME. The first real opportunity to do this will be starting with next week's post.

4.) This may seem kind of weird, but, right now, I give no craps about making money (though I agree 100% with your comment about "whales" in regards to how it applies to TOME). I give ALL the craps about making the game better. That comes first.

5.) I think this is an interesting point. I like that you're thinking outside the box. Honestly, items are on the table (maybe we revise or rethink them, maybe we cut them, maybe we replace them with something else entirely). This is another discussion I'll want to have with the community, but I want to get some fundamental stuff out of the way first (sorry to keep alluding to that... again, more deets next Friday).

I just want to restate what is likely already obvious: this is something a handful of people are working on IN THEIR SPARE TIME. So, things aren't going to happen lightning fast, but this indie-style development means a lot more can be discussed openly and decisions can be made faster. It will be interesting to see how this goes...

*Disclaimer: I am actually aware that making old characters more viable isn't a substitute for new content.

[Mundas]

Hey Gespenst, item evaluation was actually something I was working on (with a handful of other folks including Wrongthinker) right before the decision was made to cease development. As I'll be assisting in whatever capacity I can with this continued development you can bet that this item work will remain on our radar.

Note: My account doesn't like being flagged as a developer but rest assured I'm still here.

[76561198161669907]

Just to confirm, despite his lack of tags (some kind of glitch in the system with his account), Soviet Mundas (or, just Mundas for short) is indeed one of handful who will be spare-time Toming.

[XeEvilRen]

Thank you, I hope we can enjoy this game for long time.

[tanyusha⚝]

Truly amazed... Faith in humannity is comeing back... I will keep an eye of you bad boys but the road in front of you was never that hard i think... <3 <3 <3

[76561198161669907]

<3 Loki

[zymethgames]

Once you start working on things, having exact details of what you are working on in the forum gives us the opportunity to let you know whats good and whats bad.

Since your working on tome in your spare time, you dont have to work on tome alone when there are a lot of people willing to help.

And finally, welcome back. :3

[76561198161669907]

Hi Zymeth,

I'll be trying to post updates every Friday. Definitely bust out the feedback when the time comes.

One other advantage of where we are in this process is: if I push something live, it settles, and everyone hates it... we can always revert some or all of those changes! I'll definitely be going in to detail, when the first post goes live, you can be the judge if I live up to my claim. :)

[Rocknwar]

Wrongthinker You will be our Community Manager for now. Let me know if you need spread the word I'll help out

[76561198161669907]

Thanks, Rock.

Right now, the kinds of players we need are those willing to understand that the game has a small community and want to be a part of the process of making the game better. I think in 2-4 months, the game will just straight up play better and will better speak for itself.

So, take that how you will and feel free to tell those you feel would benefit the community.

[zymethgames]

Originally posted by Gespenst Mk-II:

Well, that and matchmaking. The game was unplayable for us experienced players because gettting stuck with brand new players just ruined the entire match for us win or lose, it's too much work to help them win and makes the game not enjoyable to play. Super strict matchmaking with a public MMR is the right way to go about this.

Lets be realistic about that issue, there is currently no matchmaking since most queues take longer than 3 minutes and then ( like you said ) it will just put people together in teams regardless of mmr. ( though a public mmr isnt bad so you see right away who's gonna get beaten and who will dominate )

My opinion is below even though I think the other points have a higher priority so read it or do not read it. ( Its kinda about balance too that has nothing to do with items or guardians so might aswell give it a shot. )



((One problem that tome currently has are duo players.

"but the game is unplayable if you cant play with your friend" ...
DuoQ was deleted for good, and it was reintroduced when tome moved to steam and that tbh was a mistake.

It worked out when we had 2k players because they had a good chance to get another duo or 3 man team but right now its just not soooooooo gonna happen.

It wont fix the matchmaking right away, but it takes away the legal chance to break through it.

hate me, hang me, but dont deny it))

[Blazing_Darkness]

Good news everyone! Wait, I'm not the professor... But still great news.

1. I'm willing to help if there's anything I could possibly do. Tome is the moba I still care most about.

2. Is there any chance Erebus could be renabled, even if it's the old kit?

[76561198166378973]

I think it's too late to revive Tome, many players do not become lost. Anyway congratulations you continúe with the intent to "up" the game.