Greetings, heroes of Songs of Silence! ⚔️ We continue our [i]Road to Launch[/i] series... (finally! 🥳) This week, we give you an insight on [i]TWO[/i] key parts of ✨Songs of Silence✨! [list] [*]⚔️ [b]The Campaign[/b] [*]⚖️ [b]The Difficulty Settings[/b] [/list] Early Access and player feedback (you!) enabled us to improve and even [b]rehaul certain chapters[/b]! 🛠️ This also fueled development for the rest of the campaign. As for [b]Difficulty Settings[/b], both provided us with precious [b]balancing inputs[/b]! 💡 [h2]⚔️ The Campaign ⚔️[/h2] [h3]📖 [i][b]Chapter 2[/b][/i][/h3] When we released into Early Access, chapter 2 was [i]strongly[/i] criticized. 😤 It suffered from several issues, which led us to the following changes: [list] [*] We shortened and [b]rehauled the first section[/b] for a faster, simpler navigation 🗺️ [*] We improved the [b]movement meter[/b] to indicate when a player may hide or not 📏 [*] We reworked the [b]forests and armies[/b] placed in the [b]middle section[/b] to be more intuitive 🌲 [*] We fine-tuned the [b]AI[/b] to be less punitive 🩹 [/list] Here's some before and after pictures below! 👇👇👇 [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43578526/656579412071e6ca4ad50384166e0297ab0e35de.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43578526/73ece77ee487a82cd08998b16fcee938eb8b305d.jpg[/img] [h3]⛰️ [i][b]Terrain & Decorations[/b][/i][/h3] Between Early Access and 1.0 release, every campaign map (as well as skirmish) underwent a beautification pass. 💅 In practice, this meant adding... [list] [*] 3D decorations 🗿 [*] Improved terrain textures ⛰️ [*] Unique shaders and VFX 🌪️ [/list] Before and after pictures below! 👇👇👇 [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43578526/b3c29e95da31b62acce8c00d83f4394b320b9a6c.jpg[/img] [h3]🎁 [i][b]Secrets...[/b][/i][/h3] A video game isn't really one without some secrets... 🤫 We [i]sparkled[/i] them throughout the campaign to incentivise [b]exploration[/b]. We don't want to spoil you, so here's a [i]hint[/i] of what to look out for... 😏 [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43578526/53af2419431a990d0cb3f228c49c4ca3ece05630.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43578526/a8f75e4f9038db2b4180d37f0f778613d3e0711c.png[/img] [h2]⚖️ Difficulty Settings ⚖️[/h2] Its main objective: cater to multiple strategy playstyles - from [i]hardcore[/i] to [i]casual[/i]. Below is an overview - straight out of our Game Design documents - how [i]Difficulty Settings[/i] work. [i][b]Armies[/b][/i] Adjusting difficulties revolves around [b]neutral [/b]and[b] AI army compositions[/b]. 👹 [list] [*] Adjust Hero levels / maximum army sizes [*] Adjust army compositions for existing armies (neutral & AI) [*] Adjust AI hero revive pools (max respawn with weaker / stronger armies) [*] Adjust AI hero respawn timers [*] Add additional neutral or AI armies to maps [*] Add cards to AI Hero pools [/list] [i][b]Locations[/b][/i] [list] [*] Adjust location balancing [*] Adjust location starting state per difficulty (Prosperity level or ruined) [/list] [i][b]Objectives[/b][/i] [list] [*] Adjust objectives dynamically between difficulty levels [/list] In a Campaign chapter, it would show like this! 👇👇👇 [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43578526/d7af289d0d0cecf86c24d6171da4af13c59f84a5.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43578526/a8f75e4f9038db2b4180d37f0f778613d3e0711c.png[/img] And that's all for today folks! 🫡 As usual - have fun, and do leave us a review if you like the game! ✨ ⚔️ See you on the battlefield! ⚔️ Cheers, The Chimera Team