Normally, we try to present the State of Shadowbane as a quarterly update to let everyone know what is going on with the game we all love. But, as we can all no doubt attest, these last couple of months have been anything but normal. The last State of Shadowbane brought everyone up to date with current events, especially as they pertain to our studio and to the game. Enough of the present; now I want to talk a little about the future.

First and foremost, in the months to come you will see new patches, and many changes made to improve the game. We will be working on streamlining the code for better performance, as well as rectifying issues as they arise. We’ll target behavior in the game that was not originally intended, like the siege changes in Patch 16. Guild Leaders are now the only owners of Buildings of War – we made the change so to keep players from bypassing the balance restrictions placed on attacking forces. Improvements and adjustments such as these will always be high on our priority list and an ongoing process. We have more of these kinds of changes planned.

While these sort of adjustments are part of Shadowbane’s future, they really do not answer the question as to what lies ahead of us. Not too long ago I took the reigns of Shadowbane’s design, and I have some big shoes to fill. I will do my best to keep within the original vision of Shadowbane, but I intend to bring some of my own ideas into.

That’s what this State of Shadowbane update is; instead of listing a bunch of micro design changes, I want to talk about my vision for the game, and my goals for the Shadowbane Player-vs.-Player experience. These goals are what lie behind all the power tweaks and system refinements: they’re the yardstick I’m using when charting future patches.

Over the years many people have posted to ask us “what were you thinking?” Well, that’s not entirely true – their language wasn’t nearly so clean. Here’s an answer to that question: The following three (3) items outline my grand strategy for Shadowbane’s future direction.

Here’s what I’m thinking...