Elementyle

Hello.

I would like to first apologize for the lack of an August update. It has been a tumultuous time, and some extremely serious personal issues overshadowed me and my ability to get the update out. I am hoping not to run into anything like this again but will be adjusting the communication strategy for the game moving forward.

First of all, there is a lot of pruning to do for sources of information. I am not a social media person, and having five or more places to check or post information is simply overwhelming. To rectify this, there are now exclusively two places for updates to be posted: this website and the Steam Page.

The update cadence will remain the same, projecting updates every other month on the 15th. In the event of an issue with the update (or more likely a small delay), a post will be uploaded here and to the Steam page.

My focus for Elementyle is to create a fun game above all else. I have had some personal issues hanging over me for the last month, which has prevented me from truly sitting down and working on the project. I have gone days or even up to a week without even turning a personal computer on. I am hoping that I can move past this and keep making updates to get this game closer to the vision I have for it.

Looking to the October update, I already have a few things in mind, which, in all fairness, were mostly intended to be released in August. The core of the October update will focus on player and match statistics, achievements, and general gameplay improvements. 

The plans for the item system are still being worked on, and I intend to get the system integrated as soon as I can. For the time being, however, there is plenty of low-hanging fruit to knock down before that update gets released.

Another point of focus, though not as critical, is the idea of monetezation. I had initially planned the game as free forever with some non-player-power related microtransactions. This is still currently the goal, and the game will still be free to play while Elementyle remains in Early Access. However, upon full release, a small price (no more than $10) may be placed on the game.

The reason for this is simple. With minimal traffic and usage, server and database costs are current ~$40 per month. The game costs approximately $480 per year for development hosting, and the cost will only increase if player count increases.

Overall, the financial goal for this game is to break even. 100% of the development costs are currently being absorbed by me, and I am totally fine with that as long as they remain relatively low.

Monetezation is a difficult topic in general and one I likely won’t be discussing too much, especially in the future, unless it becomes a higher priority. I want the game to be worth putting money into first, and my personal opinion is that it still has a long way to go.

I look forward to continuing to develop and work on this project. I’ve had struggles and personal issues slow or stop my progress recently, but I am trying to get back into development. In addition to working on Elementyle, I have a few other ideas I am exploring, which are significantly smaller in scope and will allow me to test and play with other concepts and mechanics before incorporating them into the larger project.