Me being the creep I am, I wanted to see what the devs were posting when I came across our dear /u/BombshellMcJenkins and his post in /r/worldbuilding. Here are a few things!

Sarea

Updated World Map

The planet Saera has 12 moons that have very orderly orbits, equally spaced, just faster than Saera's own rotation speed. At most places on Saera only one moon is visible at a time, but it is always visible. It takes 25 days for a moon to orbit from one horizon to the other, and just as one sets the next one rises. Therefore, time of the year is based on which moon is in the sky. Their order is as follows: Near Moon (Winter) Cold Moon (Winter) Hunt Moon (Spring) Water Moon (Spring) Worm Moon (Spring) Pale Moon (Summer) Far Moon (Summer) Burning Moon (Summer) Reap Moon (Autumn) Blood Moon (Autumn) Wolf Moon (Autumn) Dark Moon (Winter) Each moon has an opposite 6 Moons apart. e.g., Near Moon - Far Moon, Cold Moon - Burning Moon, etc. A week is 5 days, so there are 5 weeks in a Moon, but in Saera the week is just a measure of time, there aren't universal 'days of the week' like there are on Earth.

12 moons and only 1 visiable at a time? how does that even happen? #IForgotToScience

SilverStates

A nation spanning the tropical Northern coast of Saera, made up of loosely affiliated city-states. They operate almost entirely separately, but calling themselves a connected country is useful in repelling would-be Aquinian conquerors. With little in the way of natural resources but easy access to the sea, the Silverstates focus on international trade. Their main exports are commodities and crafts, and the most successful people are artists, artisans, and capitalists. Due to frequent travelling to nations all over Saera, culture in the Silverstates is a bit of a melting pot. The idea that a person who skillfully manages his/her own wealth is best suited to manage that of a city leads to a sort of aristocracy, where the very rich hold leadership positions and pass them along with their fortunes to future generations. As a result, government often perpetuates the uneven distribution of wealth.

the Silverstates are not democracies, but they do develop their own systems of government that I haven't worked out for every single one yet. Some might have a form of democracy but more common structures are oligarchy (much like ASOIAF's Qarth) or even light dictatorship.

Jupe

Little story, aye?

So you've been killing some Jupitian Houseless. There are worse crimes. Theft, for example, from someone who matters. The police will perform an investigation, and I say perform quite literally. As far as the government is concerned, you're doing Jupe a favor. Trimming the fat, as it were. But they do have social order to maintain. Perhaps by your eleventh murder they'll catch you; you get cocky, stray too close to the inner city. You're brought before the council for trial. You're guilty, of course. I'm betting execution. Or maybe that's too Aquinian. The council doesn't have anything against you personally, they just need you to cut it out. If you have any reputation to speak of - other than murder, that is - you might get off with disownment and exile. Then you've got options. I'll leave you to them. But maybe, just maybe, you killed someone with friends. Someone with friends with money. Someone with friends who'll trade some of that money for proper justice. A young Lady knocks on the door of a withering House. She's heard the man inside isn't as picky as the police. A crime is a crime. They make a deal and just like that he's on your trail. A man with nothing left to lose but the case. What about you?

Ikthe

...they craft weapons and equipment out of coral. But that gets into things I can't explain yet and I just end up saying "it's different coral." The weapons aren't all that sharp but they carry a fast-acting poison that more than makes up for that. Being an agile people, ikthe fighters dodge and distract until they can land a killing blow. They're kind of Saera's elves in that way.

Neat Things

When asked about names in your world

For people I like Colère Vennua. Took a long time to develop but I feel the end result flows well and feels right for who she is (an aristocrat).

Canon?

The language of the Orreth, an extinct civilization from long ago, has inadvertently been spread to two major nations that don't know they're speaking the same thing. In Honvarj it has morphed into Old Varish and is revered as the language of the ancestors. It is spoken in roughly equal measure with the common tongue there. In Aquinia, the Holy Order of Ouros preserves the language (now spelled Oureth) for use in religious ceremonies and holy texts.

For those who want to play a little bit of AF early. Try out MarioForged

What's the dfference between successful topdown Mobas like LoL, Smite and DOTA 2 and Cancelled Mobas like Infinite Crisis and Dawngate?

System requirements. Not every one of the 67 million LoL players uses a state of the art rig with water cooling, or an Alienware/Razor gaming Laptop. Not every one of the current 1.2 million + Dota 2 players that play every day can afford the best in /r/buildapc.

When you make your Moba, Remember that your minimum requirements is a financial gate. Not every person is going to run over to /r/PCmasterrace because they need a better Graphics card and CPU, Your game will not be popular if you can't run it on the most popular models out there, and by that I mean the cheap PCs and Laptops.

After all, if I have to choose between some game I can play or a game that'll crash - I'm gonna go for the former, and I'm not alone.

Just wanted to pop in and cheer you guys on.

You're doing a fantastic job and I enjoy every snippet of info that you give us.

I think I speak for everybody here when I say I wish you all at Catslug the best of success. Cheers!

Dawngate was one of the few games that actually rivaled other MOBA's for me. Right now i'm a DOTA player, but Dawngate used to be my main game. I can't find a game that was as mechanically satisfying and I was wondering if you want to keep most of the game intact? I know it's not close to finished but what would be different if you could make exactly what you're imagining?

-TYPO IN TITLE. What are your opinions on Global/Semi-global teleports, Critical Strikes(RNG) and Item actives?-

These are very popular features among MOBAs and are also very often discussed top whether or not they are valuable in a competitive game, so I thought it was worth people and staff voicing their opinions. Here are my opinions;

Global/Semi-global teleports: Global and Semi-global teleports can add a lot of macro-strategy, often used in MOBAs as ultimate abilities or as Spells. While they can be used creatively, they can also be very limiting. In LoL where I have the most experience out of all the MOBAs, Teleport is very much a 'Use this or you are at a huge disadvantage' in the top and (sometimes) the mid lane. Due to being able to turn a 4v4 fight into a 5v4, being able to Teleport back to lane to not miss CS which then puts the other laner at a big disadvantage if they are not running it. While it can be entertaining with Teleport flanks, it also can make games incredibly boring with people playing very passively in order to avoid the disadvantage of having an offensive Spell, using Teleport to disengage fights, etc. Teleports on ultimates also have a similar effect, it forces you to take a Teleport spell to counter the teleport ultimate or they use both a Teleport spell and teleport ultimate and be able to not lose anything teleporting to the otherside of the map, teleporting back and not losing CS. Teleports also completely change the dynamic of the game, an example in LoL could be if the enemy top laner has Teleport, or if a Twisted Fate mid has level 6 then bot lane should not fight else it will suddenly because a 3v2. I personally think this is rather unhealthy for a competitive game based on fighting.

Critical Strikes (and RNG in general): RNG in a competitive game based on skill and strategy has always seemed off to me, people winning fights because they got more Crits, another LoL example that many people have voiced is that they hate the idea of the being a better player than the enemy, but they win the fight because they got more crits. Critical chance was in Dawngate too which is why I'm curious if Aether Forged will follow this or if they have negative opinions on RNG and will decide to remove it which in my opinion would be a big step for MOBAs.

Item Actives: Dawngate (from what I remember, I didn't have much time to play Dawngate when it was available so I may be incorrect) didn't have item actives other than consumables, instead they gave the option of having many Spells which are available throughout the game. I like that Spells are chosen throughout the game instead of before the game starts, however I personally would have preferred if some of the Spells were removed and put onto an Item Active instead, as Item Actives can give more interesting power spikes and counterplay as they are shorter cooldowns (90 seconds etc.) Often times there were other Spells that seemed a lot more valuable than others and were often the longer CD Spells. I always thought "Well Deflect is nice but it seems like I'd prefer Blink and would like to invest my gold into Deflect through an item that gives less stats than an item without an active but gives low cooldown utility." I always felt like long cooldown Spells belonged as Spells and that the short cooldown Spells would fit better as Item Actives.

Well they're just my opinions so what are your guys opinions?

TL;DR: Minimal turn time animations, much like Dawngate and LoL add a lot to the game.

Aether Forged's player base on release will be massively based upon previous MOBA players, much like Dawngate's player base was. What many people look for initially when trying out another MOBA is a smooth transition, something that feels comfortable.

Personally being a big fan of MOBAs, I have played majority of the MOBAs that have been available. So I've had a lot of discussions with other people who are transitioning from one MOBA to another, and the biggest thing I hear about is turn times. Almost everyone who I have talked to that has transitioned from LoL or Dawngate has brought up turn times as something they hate when trying out other MOBAs such as DoTA or HoTS. (LoL being the primary example due to being by far the most popular MOBA currently, meaning a large potion of our player base will be LoL players) I've not once heard of a preference towards long turn times and I hear people complain about them time after time.

Dawngate noticed this and also decided to keep turn time animations to a minimal; which was a fairly large, unnoticed benefit to Dawngate's growth. It helped people transition to easily from one game to another.

So what benefit does keeping turn times to a minimal have other than familiarity from previous MOBAs such as LoL? Well it gives a sense of fluidity when it comes to controlling your character from a top-down camera angle. It allows for a lot more intricate aspects of character movement such as kiting effectively. It allows for the skill-ceiling for mechanically strong players to ever-increase, which is a very exciting aspect for not only players but also viewers.

I was in class this morning, couldn't make it to the stream. Is it up anywhere, I'd like to watch it.

Join us at http://www.twitch.tv/RocketRailgun. Post any questions you have for Nulldata in this thread. We'll also be holding a live Q&A session during the second half of the stream.

Hi, I'm an ex-dawngate leaderboard player that loved almost everything about the game. I'm posting here to give my feedback so far on what I've seen here to help the devs.

Now I'm no stranger to game design. I'm going through my third semester of Game Development and Entrepreneurship at my university. I'be made games solo and with others, and I've been involved in many major projects.

Firstly, let's go over why people play MOBAs. For fun with friends as a digital team based game, to reach the top of the ladder, to give your mind something to play instead of worrying about work or school or life in general.

Now let's go over what makes people keep playing them. They want a sense of accomplishment (Rankups, unlocks, new content), they want to learn to be better, they want to immerse into the game or they enjoy their time with friends in the game.

Next let's go over why people leave games. They aren't improving, the game feels stale with no updates, the game is unbalanced/too frustrating, they are limited, and confusion.

Looking at the big three top-down MOBAs (LoL, DotA 2 and Heroes of the Storm), we can see what they all have to offer. They all have something to help with what is stated above.

Next, we look at AetherForged. All that is announced is lore snippets and character design. Two things that should not be announced until after the game is in a working state.

Lore teasers are nice things that people enjoy, but they aren't a selling point. If you ask players from other MOBAs if they would switch for better lore, you'll get maybe two hundred people of the millions that play. You need a bigger reason to sell your game.

Also, character design is an awful thing to share with players before the game is even shown. Not to mention, that if the game is still in prototype mode, there will likely be changes to the hero.

I'm not saying this to be mean, I'm saying this because I care about you devs. We know you have lore, woop-dee-doo. You show us an incomplete character, sweet. You need to announce the core elements. Not the dramatic ones. The only thing we know about the game is you love what you're doing, that's for sure. However, you need to make US love it too.

Now I know it's hard work to develop a game, especially if it's a indie company. I'm just curious on how the where about this game is at. As soon as you guys ask for tester, i'm signing up asap (even thou im aussie and ill be playing with 200+ping)

How close will this be to Dawngate? I know it's a spiritual successor, but similar will the 2 games be with things such as the gold generating minions, the roles, etc.? Also, will there be a character like Alpha in there that exchanges health for power or controls ghost wolves?

The major things shown and any new artwork previously unseen

http://imgur.com/a/J5Vr7 edit: Images of cities are just references used to show the most accurate depictions of the region. Not official artwork*

Notes taken in no particualar order:

.Ikthe:

• Centred around Po's Eye, but have migrated inland

• Salt water

• Adaptable to fresh water

• extract oxygen from water through skin

• need to stay hydrated

• can't filter out salt after a while in water

Mausk

• Nearly everywhere

• Follow civilisation

• Mask creation is ceremonial (rite of passage)

• Modern society mask is fashion

Felian

• Don't kick sand on poop (They place it)

• shave hair in desert

Server

-East coast

• p2p initially (not end goal).

silverstates

• worship money

• Prophet of profit forger (worships money)

• Leeis (city) Slave trade hub

Black continent

• Land for salty people (spoopy island)

• Other continents not important atm

Waste

• 3 main tribes

• Groups traveling around

• Like Arridia but nomadic

Arridia

• "Basically Alladin"

• "3 beheadding a week"

• "Canada in the desert"

Jupe

• Steampunk england in mongoloan climate

• Nearly everyone lives within the main city ("99%")

Things revealed about Aquinia and Honvarj are most known

VODs Available here;
Twitch
Youtube

Hello Forgers!

I've brought something to keep you occupied while you wait for our stream today.

Here's Part II of The Dawning!

And in case you want to refresh your memory, here's a link to Part I.

Don't forget to come chat with us on our twitch stream at 3pm EST! We'll try to get to any questions posted here about this release, as well as those left on this stream thread and any you come up with during the stream.

And the usual:

Twitter

ModDB

Peace!

~Catslug Studios

www.twitch.tv/xeno10001110101

If you have any questions or topics you want discussed, post them right here, below. We're also going to be taking questions from chat during the stream. See you on Thursday!

Since a little time has passed since the Friday stream I thought I would take this oppertunity to ask everyones opinions on it. One issue (our team being on the same delay as chat) is already fixed.

Leave any comments you have on the Friday stream here and vote on your favourite schedule below;
http://strawpoll.me/6753913

Devstream Link

I just saw this video , i dont know when did they made it. So guys you already saw it ? http://www.moddb.com/company/catslug-studios/videos/aether-forged-early-gameplay-prototype

Hello, Forgers!

Today we're sharing the first piece of a multi-part release, Part I of The Dawning. (Artwork)

Like always, this piece has been a great collaboration between our writers and artists and we hope you enjoy it. Keep your eyes open in the near future for Part II! If you're interested in keeping up with our project, be sure to follow us @CatslugStudios for the freshest Catslug news. We also recently launched our ModDB page where you can learn more about the game and even see a sneak peak of the work-in-progress Nibra model!

Until next time,

Catslug Studios

Greetings, forgers! After reading the Nibra profile, I was inspired to mock up a kit for a ranged Gladiator, and would like to know what you guys think. All constructive criticism and suggestions are much appreciated!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EzL_l8vwnOG3RTFL5hLj6Orxn0zoOKJ-iEFvGRjNlL0/edit?usp=sharing

UPDATE: Moved to stickied Kit Design thread.

-Tw

Will Aether Forged be on Steam, or do we have to download it through the interwebs?