Ashes of Creation’s (AoC) creative director, Steven Sharif, took to Reddit today to answer some questions about the combat revamp that was originally slated for a March Alpha One Preview Test. The revamp is meant to make combat more fluid, although Sharif indicates that the final form of combat may still change as AoC’s development continues.
Last month, Sharif announced in the Creative Director’s Letter that Intrepid Studio’s would be moving into a new office and has added quite a few new development team members. The progress made to this point is encouraging for Sharif and Intrepid, as a non-NDA test looms in May, with Alpha One planned for June 1st. However, just as Sharif mentioned in the Creative Director’s Letter, sometimes delays happen, but Intrepid feels that this is alright as long as the community is kept in the loop. To that end, a question was proposed recently on Reddit regarding the Combat Revamp that players expected back in March. Sharif clarified when players may expect to see more information regarding the revamp:
“The revamp is taking a bit longer than expected. We are still in the process of overhauling the backend of the combat and ability systems before we touch the front end components. The changes and prototypes will be rolled out slowly and in phases during and post alpha one."
-Steven Sharif, Creative Director, Ashes of Creation
He goes on to give a little more information related to the combat revamp, and how the combat system’s targeting will work:
“The current system has both tab and action. You can swap modes with the default z hotkey. The revamp on the front end of combat will begin by incorporating greater mobility with abilities.”
-Steven Sharif, Creative Director, Ashes of Creation
Ashes of Creation successfully funded on Kickstarter on June 3rd 2017. While the Kickstarter generated over 3.2 million dollars from more than 19 thousand backers, the project has largely been funded by Sharif himself to the tune of over 30 million dollars. Intrepid Studio’s has also been in receipt of two PPP loans, the first back in April of 2020 for 1.13 million for 52 employees and the second in February of 2021 for 1.4 million dollars with 82 employees, indicating that the team at Intrepid has increased significantly as they ramp up their development cycle.
As more MMORPG’s look for alternative funding methods for development, often times resulting in substantial delays, those that have been keeping an eye on Ashes of Creation to determine if the game is right for them will get another chance later this month, as the non-NDA test should provide some ample indications of what state the game is in now, heading into Alpha One in June.
