Soulbound Studio CEO Jeromy Walsh is back once more with additional update details for Kingdoms of Elyria, the side piece standalone strategy title that claims to be driving development of the studio’s originally planned MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria. In the dev blog, followers get a look at some promised features for the next phase of development, otherwise known as Milestone 2.
Milestone 2 will be broken up into two parts. The first part will focus on adding things like NPC AI, contracts, and further development of the game’s fog of war mechanic. The NPC AI and contract systems are called out as important steps, allowing players to form reciprocal relationships with NPCs that will have a desire to live and survive. The second part will flesh out NPC behavior further, adding personalities, traits, the trading of information between player and NPC via gossip, and zoning that lets NPCs focus on a specific location. More details are expected in the coming weeks, while most of Milestone 2 part one will be arriving sometime later.
source: official site
Chronicles of Elyria stunned MMO gamers in 2020 by announcing it was out of money, had laid off the devs, had closed Soulbound Studio, and had ended development on the game. Though CEO Jeromy Walsh later retracted much of that and said the game was still in production with volunteer staff, the gamers who’d backed it for $14M+ in crowdfunds pressed on with legal action. In 2021, Walsh has been releasing new videos on the production he says is happening, though the focus has been more on spinoff game Kingdoms of Elyria.
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