Hey everyone,

I've been working hard on Axu lately, and thought I would jot down some thoughts about where the game is headed, some goals, and the like. 

    As you may or may not know, I've been developing the game for quite a few years now. With time comes experience in coding and game design, so I've run into a wall many times trying to work around or replace old code/systems. I've known many game designers who give up at that particular point in order to "start fresh" or abandon the project completely. Frankly, that seems like wasted time and effort, especially given the community that has been building around this growing hobby project of mine. Another pitfall tends to be a giant scope, only to find many aspects are not feasible in any lifetime. I have definitely been guilty of this, given the large nature of the project I've undertaken. The original game design document had fully simulated migration, trade routes, ships, interconnected factions with dynamic reputations to each other, sieges, etc... Many of these ideas I've had to abandon due in part to my lack of skill, and also because of the "after work" nature of Axu. My job, sleep, friends, relationships, and taking care of myself obviously come first, and at times it is hard to squeeze in a few hours of coding. Just know that I'm working as hard as I can to untangle my messy code, implement suggestions, and move forward with creating content. 0.5 was a huge milestone, but I'm still only halfway to a "base" release with a full story, fleshed out world, and numerous side quests to partake in. After that, I hope to add more to the game. 

    So what's planned for Axu? Quite a bit. Right now I'm working on moving hard-coded text out to files for modders to edit at their hearts' content. This will be especially nice for those who have shown interest in translating to languages other than English. I am also working on fixing major and minor bugs reported by you guys. Some of these have proven to be very elusive and situational. I'll be releasing a Developer build with 0.5.1 if anyone is interested in sending me the error messages. On the content side, I have a large list of things I'd love to start work on, including: 

• Building your own allies out of body parts (both organic and synthetic)
• Manors and noble housing, with towns surrounding it, like a villa.
• Base building, complete with raids and traders/visitors.
• Artifact items with randomized effects, both good and bad.
• A new faction that inhabits the red desert, the Xul.
• Communicating with spirits who can give you directions to their unique belongings, imbue you with power, and much more (for a price)
• Varied underground areas.
• More unique hand-made locations to stumble upon.
• Whips as an item category, with a different swing pattern.
• Scaling enemies/loot/danger to your level more effectively.
• Choosing sides in the war between the Kin of the Deep and the Ensis. Perhaps a third path where you'd like to make both an enemy.
• Tons of new items, abilities, traits, mutations, quests, locations, item mods, body parts, and other ways to make your character unique.
• Abilities tied to the Felony you pick at the start of the game, as well as diverse stat scaling for each one.
• Much more!

   Above is just the start of what I'd love to see in game. A huge draw to any game is the diversity each playthrough can have. I hope to give you a system to make stories. Anyways, it's past 4AM here, so I need to get some sleep. I hope you're just as excited as I am for the future of Axu!

Cheers,

Matt (Cynapse)