Greetings, swordsmiths! We are entering a very exciting phase for Bladesong. We finished our [b]Vertical Slice[/b] – a playable section of the game, basic implementations of core features and a quality bar close to where we imagine the final game to be. In our case, this means that we now have a first working version of the game’s [b]Campaign Mode[/b] on our hands: Forge swords for customers, manage your forge, and at the end of each in-game day, experience a bit of the story set in Eren Keep. It’s still an early preview, gameplay will go through quite some changes and progression is virtually non-existent, but it illustrates the vision we have for Bladesong. [h1]Welcome to Gdańsk![/h1] The fine folk at DevGAMM are hosting various game dev conferences throughout the year and we got the chance to be part of this year’s [b]DevGAMM Gdańsk[/b]! So, we travelled to Poland and got a host of great opportunities: First, we got the chance to take part in a [b]Public Pitch[/b] – 5 minutes on stage to present Bladesong to publishers and investors. The jury loved the pitch and we even got recognition for the [i]Best Public Pitch[/i] ❤️ The whole thing was recorded and can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWlTLJhM5EE Second, we were one of three nominees for the [b]Digital Vikings Award[/b] in the category M[i]ost Innovative Game[/i]. We almost couldn’t believe it when we heard the name “Bladesong” and could take the award home! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/72b542ece5734810a53a4616def42db5ce9b9f43.jpg[/img] Last but not least, we were part of the [b]Games Showcase[/b]! People stopped by to play Bladesong’s Creative Mode and make their own beautiful swords and horrendous abominations. For us devs, this was the first chance to look over the shoulder of new players and see where things aren’t going as smooth as they should be. Very insightful indeed! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/1cf6833a6d7d049ad4fd67f235c6a4afd7699c17.jpg[/img] [h1]The Path Ahead[/h1] Armed with our Vertical Slice and the great feedback we got at DevGAMM, we started saying hello to [b]publishers[/b] to help us with the release of Bladesong! Of course, in this day and age, self-publishing is a valid option, but there’s more to it than simply hitting the release button on Steam: reaching out to content creators and the press, getting into online and on-site events, finding opportunities for collaborations, structured testing and feedback sessions, localisation and a few other things. Managing all of this costs time and money. A publisher should be a boost to our team, so that we devs can focus more of our attention on making the game fantastic. We’re going to take the time and make sure we find the right partner for our beloved Bladesong. [h1]What else?[/h1] You’ve seen Bladesong’s all-about-the-swordmaking [b]Creative Mode[/b] in the playtests and videos, but there’s another side to the game: the [b]Campaign Mode[/b]. To illustrate that idea for the [b]Vertical Slice[/b], we have put a lot of work into building customer commissions, rating swords according to physical principles and improving our narrative systems and our dialogue tool [i]Serpent Tongue[/i]. [url={STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/abdcec28aaf1b585dd2aeb9d3656601e763e58c9.jpg][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/32713b9e14bdf7360b7d32e56b65fd9c4612984a.jpg[/img][/url] [url={STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/081815fbf61b196b501563221782dd9913b68a86.jpg][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/4e39e75f85029aded6ebdce0503f5a543ba09d76.jpg[/img][/url] [url={STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/0763b2fc70eeb0208fab38b7b3499167e08f839e.png][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/647c5b041320c6e1866af61c23348f900220286b.png[/img][/url] [url={STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/dc96cc0c7d4899d1d046675527b8a15cd37803df.png][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44245257/804ef375dc3be7c33bc701299ac8253223a90c15.png[/img][/url] [h1]Playtest when?[/h1] We are pinning down Bladesong’s next major milestones as we speak. Another playtest will be part of this, so we will let you know when the time comes! For first-time playtesters, we are keeping the sign-ups open – just press [b]Request Access[/b] on our [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2305640/Bladesong/]Steam page[/url] and you’ll get a notification from Steam when it’s there! If you have taken part in a previous playtest, Steam won’t notify you again, so watch our [url=https://discord.gg/SM2jyxt7qM]Discord[/url] for announcements. Thank you for being part of this. – David and the Bladesong team ⚔️