Last month, Soulbound Studios’ Jeromy Walsh wrote another long-form address discussing the merging of design documents for Kingdoms of Elyria and its erstwhile (i.e., originally Kickstarted) game Chronicles of Elyria, as well as working on the website for the titles and re-opening its “toxic” Discord. Following that post, Walsh held a Discord chat last week for a reportedly very limited number of fans, which prompted players to submit feedback about his current plans for the game; that prompted a dev blog-length response to those followers on Discord this week.
According to Walsh, feedback from players fell into three categories: suggestions on what he should be working on, feedback that re-opening Discord is a bad idea, and thoughts on how much information should be shared. In all three cases, Walsh effectively tries to defend his stances.
He explains that getting the game’s website back up and running is important not only for Discord integration but to ensure players know when tests are running and for a “better Alpha 2 experience.”
He also believes that stronger moderation tools and recent feedback would make the Discord’s return “safe and desireable.”
Finally, he rationalizes showing as much of the game’s progress as possible instead of waiting to show gameplay, screenshots, or other in-game footage as a way to ensure followers can “truly understand either the amount of work involved in making a game like CoE or the measurable progress [he’s] making.”
In conclusion, Walsh says that he will continue working on the website for a while longer and will slowly open portions of the Discord to the public; this will happen in tiers as the game moves through its planned alpha and beta stages. We hasten to point out here that all that has been offered is the shipment of a portion of KoE this year, while there were earlier plans for testing leading into a late 2024 release. All the while, the one-man studio has been in debt and paying down legal fees as a result of a backer lawsuit that was dismissed.
source:
Reddit, thanks to Felix for the tip!
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 a
lawsuit that was
dismissed in 2022. Since 2021, the revivified but ensmallened team has focused on spinoff game
Kingdoms of Elyria.
Further reading:
• Chronicles of Elyria studio tosses ‘quick release’ strategy after inking a licensing deal
• Chronicles of Elyria boss explains how Soulbound burned through nearly $7M in three years
• Chronicles of Elyria claims its Soulborn Engine ‘is a functional MMO engine once again’
• Chronicles of Elyria dev insists it will ‘return as a full-fledged MMO in no time’
• Chronicles of Elyria dev again recaps backend work, saying ‘the core platform is nearing completion’
• Chronicles of Elyria apologizes for ‘toxic’ Discord, aims to test Kingdoms of Elyria again soon
• Chronicles of Elyria boss insists Kingdoms of Elyria: Settlements will ship in 2023 in spite of lawsuit appeal
• Chronicles of Elyria dev celebrates dismissal of backer lawsuit as next phase of ‘hero’s journey’
• Chronicles of Elyria admits to running out of money in 2021, ‘hemorrhaging cash’ ever since
• Chronicles of Elyria says the mid-alpha test phase will roll out this spring, addresses stock assets
• Chronicles of Elyria is now estimating a late 2024 release
• Chronicles of Elyria’s subreddit reopens, promising ‘no more censorship from Soulbound Studios’
• Gamers’ class-action against Chronicles of Elyria studio proceeds, suit against Xsolla deferred
• The Chronicles of Elyria class-action lawsuit has been split up between two states now
• Chronicles of Elyria tweaks NDA, locks down Reddit over death threats, and proposes NFT land trades
• Chronicles of Elyria backers sound the alarm on class action waiver in new NDA
• Kingdoms of Elyria colony sim alpha test starts on July 6
• Chronicles of Elyria talks rebuilding trust in backer Q&A as the consumer lawsuit continues
• Chronicles of Elyria previews Kingdoms of Elyria gameplay, outlines the path to alpha
• Chronicles of Elyria previews its Kingdoms of Elyria alpha
• Chronicles of Elyria dev answers backers’ Kingdoms of Elyria questions
• Chronicles of Elyria developer offers a look at Milestone 2 features coming to side game Kingdoms of Elyria
• Chronicles of Elyria, now back up to five devs, examines its development achievements and shortcomings
• Chronicles of Elyria team hopes to avoid the ‘one-man economy’ pitfall
• Chronicles of Elyria on the purpose and mechanics of Kingdoms of Elyria’s fog of war
• Chronicles of Elyria boss outlines four-tier release for Kingdoms of Elyria standalone game
• Chronicles of Elyria is releasing Kingdoms of Elyria as a standalone product for backers
• Make My MMO: Chronicles of Elyria backers lodge lawsuit, Wagadu snags more funding
• Chronicles of Elyria says it’s focusing on settlement development in the short term
• Chronicles of Elyria clarifies art and comms as players vow their lawsuit will go forward
• Chronicles of Elyria is still in development, new video from Soulbound vows
• Soulbound Studios insists work on Chronicles of Elyria continues in pre-litigation paperwork response
• Chronicles of Elyria fans have filed the pre-litigation paperwork necessary to sue Soulbound Studios
• Chronicles of Elyria backers have now hired a lawyer to file a class action suit
• Chronicles of Elyria restores forums and gives parkour demo to all backers
• Chronicles of Elyria players allege that Xsolla is now stonewalling on refunds
• Chronicles of Elyria boss insists work on the game continues in spite of team layoff
• Make My MMO: Following Chronicles of Elyria reports, state attorney general addresses crowdfunding scams
• Chronicles of Elyria boss says development is still ongoing, still seeking funding
• Disgruntled Chronicles of Elyria backers seek aid from the Washington attorney general
• Vague Patch Notes: Chronicles of Elyria’s road to nowhere
• The Daily Grind: Are you angry about the collapse of Chronicles of Elyria?
• Make My MMO: Chronicles of Elyria becomes the highest-profile MMORPG Kickstarter to crash and burn
• Kickstarted MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria halts development, lays off all employees
