A Valley Without Wind Public Alpha Canceled For Good of the Game

A note from Arcen Games this weekend stated that the scheduled public alpha was canceled and that the first public look at the game will be a beta later this year. The game’s release itself is not delayed and is still set for October, it’s just a delay in when the public will see it.

Here’s part of the blog post about it over at Arcen’s Dev Diary for the game.

It pains me to say that we’re delaying the first public version, but Keith and I spent a good while talking about it today, and we agree it’s for the best.  We’ve decided to scrap the idea of a public alpha, and instead are going to start with a public beta. 

In practical terms, what does that mean?  It means that instead of having a version for preorder/demo in 3-4 weeks, our timetable is shifted to "we don’t know."  It might be May or June, or it might be even further along.  We don’t have a crystal ball, but things are proceeding well so far, and we’ll know when we see it.  In the meantime we’ll keep you as informed as possible about both our progress and plans.

The Obvious Question: Is The Project Behind Schedule?
Not in so many words, no.  It’s simply lopsided.  We have an awesome engine at this point, but not a lot of actual game so far.  We’ve been focusing on the technical aspects, and the construction of this infinite world itself, and multiplayer, and the basic systems for gameplay such as crafting and item use and combat.  These were the bits we were most unsure about, and the bits that underlie everything else.

In many respects, we’re a lot further along than I’d expected to be at this point.  It’s also high quality work: the worldbuilding code that is there is practically final, and we just need a lot more layers on top to really make a truly varied world; the parts of combat implemented so far are also really solid, and work in multiplayer, and most importantly are fun.

But that’s not an entire game yet.  To put it bluntly, what we have at the moment is this fairly repetitive world that is nevertheless infinite, and which has very repetitive gameplay due to simple lack of content.  Skelebots chase you, and you fire spells at them, and that’s about it.  This tiny scrap of gameplay is fun, but most people would wear it out after 20 minutes or so.

You can read more about the decision and get the latest updates on the game at the dev diary blog.