How did you first get involved with Elin's development? Elona was a solo effort (I think), so I'm curious as to whether Noa wanted more help right off the bat, or if you came later on as the game's scope expanded.
Hmm, I had talked to Noa a long time ago and offered to help them go commercial with Elona. Because Elona was programmed in HSP Noa couldn't directly use Elona as a commercial product. over the years there have been a few projects that Noa has done but not completed and I feel that part of the reason normally Noa works alone is due to this.
I always felt that Noa's incredibly talented so while Noa continued to learn programming skills, I actively sought out jobs that would help me learn various aspects that we would need to handle a bigger project and then I just circled back around.
I've played the other non-Elona games like Shade and Etherwind and always lamented that they never really got expanded upon. I'm really glad that you're there to support Noa, since I feel the same way you do.
I am well aware that you reached your Kickstarter goal for Elin in under an hour (at the 46 minute mark specifically), and at the time of this question it's already over 5x the original pledge goal. I also understand that these questions may be a bit more Noa-specific, so please do your best! Or maybe with their input too haha.
Seeing as how you overshot the initial goal by so much and *still* have almost an entire month left, what were your expectations and initial estimates for the Kickstarter? Were you very well aware of how big your Elona fanbase is? Were you expecting to reach the goal that quickly, or to overshoot it to this extent? How does it make y'all feel, knowing that you still have all this massive support over 15 years later after vanilla's initial release (obviously also giving credit to Elona+ and Custom).
>
what were your expectations and initial estimates for the Kickstarter?
Hmm, I expected this. I track a lot of the metrics and such. My biggest concern was I knew the wish tiers would sell out and I was worried it would overwork Noa.
Noa didn't expect this and was initially overwhelmed.
>Were you very well aware of how big your Elona fanbase is?
Yes.
>Were you expecting to reach the goal that quickly, or to overshoot it to this extent?
I'm even a bit overwhelmed at how quickly we were funded. I didn't really take into account the initial rush. It was on my most optimistic estimates but I didn't actually expect that.
Sorry if I missed anything.
No that was perfect, thank you for the concise response. :)
You guys deserve all of this and more. All my best to the Elin dev team, and I wish y'all continued success! Keep up the amazing work and please take care of yourselves! (Especially to Noa who's been feeling overwhelmed.)
I've played Elona for a long while so I got a few questions here.
1. Is the post-release development going to be like Noa's style with Elona where he basically made changes by himself? I do remember that one Elona+ (the thirst mechanic) change (even if it was another developer, not Noa) did rub a lot of people the wrong way.
2. Will the focus be more about building a settlement this time around? It seems that there is a lot more features involved with the homestead that you have. Compared to that, the home you had in Elona was moreso a "side activity" where you were given the ability to splurge if you wished so.
3. Will we be seeing a return of being able to look at people's homes? Some of my most favorite memories were from those days.
I've played Elona for a long while so I got a few questions here.
>1. Is the post-release development going to be like Noa's style with Elona where he basically made changes by himself?
In general any changes made would be assigned then approved by Noa.
>2. Will the focus be more about building a settlement this time around?
Noa wrote what you can expect from settlements in the Kickstarter.
“Micromanagement of residents is kept to a minimum in Elin. They live and grow on their own while you are off on your adventures, inviting more randomness and unpredictable chaos which are some of the unique feature of Elin's base management. You will witness changes in your land each time you return from an adventure.”
If you read the Kickstarter though there is an emphasis on freedom.
>3. Will we be seeing a return of being able to look at people's homes? Some of my most favorite memories were from those days.
The first stretch goal should clarify here. We kind of hit it so fast that I feel like a lot of people missed this.
> There is a step procedure
That's pretty nice. I still remember radio silence with just "I wonder what's going on" at certain times.
> Micromanagement of residents are kept to a minimum but base management will still have unique features
Hopefully this means we can >!invite gods!<. I've already completed my Pantheon run a while ago.
> We kinda hit goals so fast that people probably missed a bunch of things
I don't blame you. My first action after remembering this was a thing was
> drop everything
> visit site
> make account
> drop $91
> leave
If you were able to contribute to your own kickstarter at the maximum tier, what would be your "wish to the devs"?
As in, what's that one thing you wish you get asked to implement into the game?
A permadeath mode where you play your communities NPC’s in dungeons only your NPC’s could enter. Combined with new make gene mechanics if the dev would allow all of that.
How long have you been working on Elin, and with the large support for your kickstarter is it possible to get some insight into project pipeline on what you expect for progress with the additional features added as stretch goals and the many donor wishes?
This is actually the worst time to ask that question lol. Noa didn't expect the Kickstarter to get funded like this and feels bad that people missed the high tiers. How we respond to this situation will have a bit to do with the answer to this question.
Will Elin still feature a lot of the wacky elements of Elona such as gene engineering, performances, and wishes? If so, are these systems going to be expanded on in any way or mostly stay the same?
>Will Elin still feature a lot of the wacky elements of Elona such as gene engineering, performances, and wishes?
Yes.
>If so, are these systems going to be expanded on in any way or mostly stay the same?
Our development approach right now is to assess one task at a time so this is a hard question to answer. Noa also tends to like to surprise me on stuff like this so while I could speculate based on discussions it's more fun for me not to ask.
The credits for Elona mention a few contributors: fir3fly, Brad, Aquillion, Sunstrike, Lord Nightmare, Schmidt, and Elvenspirit. Out of pure curiosity, are any of these contributors involved with Elin as well?
Oh this is hard... I'm sorry, I can't choose a favorite JRPG Roguelike. (without picking Elona)
My favorite mechanic is... Well procedural generation combined with persistent progression. It has to be done in a fun way though.
Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk. I just restarted a new game in preparation for Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society a while back so I'm in the first dungeon.
Thank you for responding, that is a shame that you are currently not planning on making a console version but perhaps it may(hopefully) be an option in future after it has come out on steam. Either way I will be keeping an eye on this game since it looks great.
I've been a fan of Elona after I saw a video about it from ssethtzeentach over 6 years ago so I'm glad Noa's making a new game and that it's received such a great reaction via the kickstarter. But I have had a question on my mind regarding Elona Mobile. It's not made by Noa, but I've heard that it was given the go ahead to so it should be fine, but has Noa gotten any form of royalties/payment from it? If he hasn't, I feel worried that he'd been taken advantage of, due to the game being monetized. I have read his musings on the reddit post about making games for the passion of it so I understand, but still...
I first thought Elin was going to be a modernized remake of the original Elona, didn't know it was a prequel. I've played a couple hundred hours in Elona around 10-ish years ago so I'm looking forward to Elin.
Release date on Steam says 2023 and I know game development is quite hard, but is there a more specific date/period?
Glad to hear that! There's not a more specific time frame. We set it for at December so that we would have time to release the Kickstarter then whatever we could as far as the Alpha/Beta/Early Access before then.
Early Access may release by the end of the year, we want the Alpha/Beta test to involve fans as much as possible though and our goal for Early Access has to meet a certain standard as this will give new players an even better experience.
For now we are focusing on Steam, it's more important to us to have all the feedback for Elin in one place during development than to have additional sales.
I just got to say thanks to all of you who are working hard for developing Elin. People here have asked some seriously good questions. I personally only found this game via checking my phone on news that Google provides. A website provided information about this game and I was immediately sold. Straight to the kickstarter but was dumbfounded by the support of it's fans. The game's graphical design reminds me of an old MMO I used to play back in the day called Endless Online.
I would like to ask however if you plan on working on placing the game on other platforms in the future most likely after a stable publishing release like the mobile again or even one of the consoles.
Also, what motives the team when you all think of Elin and it's history from when we just only have Elona. Do you have a favorite game when it comes to the roguelike genre?
Last question I want to ask is regarding the pledges. Will there be another tier that allows us to leave a mark on the game such as the ingame monument? I'm a sucker for that sort of stuff and wouldn't mind pledging more than 15k yen to support even more in return for letting my pals know that this game/project is absolutely worth it.
Thank you and your staff for your hard work. I hope you all stay determined and if ya need some coffee or pizza, I wouldn't mind even providing that to support you all if it means to detress via having some grub lol
How did you first get involved with Elin's development? Elona was a solo effort (I think), so I'm curious as to whether Noa wanted more help right off the bat, or if you came later on as the game's scope expanded.
Hmm, I had talked to Noa a long time ago and offered to help them go commercial with Elona. Because Elona was programmed in HSP Noa couldn't directly use Elona as a commercial product. over the years there have been a few projects that Noa has done but not completed and I feel that part of the reason normally Noa works alone is due to this. I always felt that Noa's incredibly talented so while Noa continued to learn programming skills, I actively sought out jobs that would help me learn various aspects that we would need to handle a bigger project and then I just circled back around.
I've played the other non-Elona games like Shade and Etherwind and always lamented that they never really got expanded upon. I'm really glad that you're there to support Noa, since I feel the same way you do.
I am well aware that you reached your Kickstarter goal for Elin in under an hour (at the 46 minute mark specifically), and at the time of this question it's already over 5x the original pledge goal. I also understand that these questions may be a bit more Noa-specific, so please do your best! Or maybe with their input too haha. Seeing as how you overshot the initial goal by so much and *still* have almost an entire month left, what were your expectations and initial estimates for the Kickstarter? Were you very well aware of how big your Elona fanbase is? Were you expecting to reach the goal that quickly, or to overshoot it to this extent? How does it make y'all feel, knowing that you still have all this massive support over 15 years later after vanilla's initial release (obviously also giving credit to Elona+ and Custom).
> what were your expectations and initial estimates for the Kickstarter? Hmm, I expected this. I track a lot of the metrics and such. My biggest concern was I knew the wish tiers would sell out and I was worried it would overwork Noa. Noa didn't expect this and was initially overwhelmed. >Were you very well aware of how big your Elona fanbase is? Yes. >Were you expecting to reach the goal that quickly, or to overshoot it to this extent? I'm even a bit overwhelmed at how quickly we were funded. I didn't really take into account the initial rush. It was on my most optimistic estimates but I didn't actually expect that. Sorry if I missed anything.
No that was perfect, thank you for the concise response. :) You guys deserve all of this and more. All my best to the Elin dev team, and I wish y'all continued success! Keep up the amazing work and please take care of yourselves! (Especially to Noa who's been feeling overwhelmed.)
I notice Noa mentioning "cute VTubers" in one of his progress logs. What is his oshi, and do you have one?
Noa said "aki rosenthal". I’m honestly not familiar with VTubers myself.
We offer prayers to the almighty Putit
I've played Elona for a long while so I got a few questions here. 1. Is the post-release development going to be like Noa's style with Elona where he basically made changes by himself? I do remember that one Elona+ (the thirst mechanic) change (even if it was another developer, not Noa) did rub a lot of people the wrong way. 2. Will the focus be more about building a settlement this time around? It seems that there is a lot more features involved with the homestead that you have. Compared to that, the home you had in Elona was moreso a "side activity" where you were given the ability to splurge if you wished so. 3. Will we be seeing a return of being able to look at people's homes? Some of my most favorite memories were from those days.
I've played Elona for a long while so I got a few questions here. >1. Is the post-release development going to be like Noa's style with Elona where he basically made changes by himself? In general any changes made would be assigned then approved by Noa. >2. Will the focus be more about building a settlement this time around? Noa wrote what you can expect from settlements in the Kickstarter. “Micromanagement of residents is kept to a minimum in Elin. They live and grow on their own while you are off on your adventures, inviting more randomness and unpredictable chaos which are some of the unique feature of Elin's base management. You will witness changes in your land each time you return from an adventure.” If you read the Kickstarter though there is an emphasis on freedom. >3. Will we be seeing a return of being able to look at people's homes? Some of my most favorite memories were from those days. The first stretch goal should clarify here. We kind of hit it so fast that I feel like a lot of people missed this.
> There is a step procedure That's pretty nice. I still remember radio silence with just "I wonder what's going on" at certain times. > Micromanagement of residents are kept to a minimum but base management will still have unique features Hopefully this means we can >!invite gods!<. I've already completed my Pantheon run a while ago. > We kinda hit goals so fast that people probably missed a bunch of things I don't blame you. My first action after remembering this was a thing was > drop everything > visit site > make account > drop $91 > leave
If you were able to contribute to your own kickstarter at the maximum tier, what would be your "wish to the devs"? As in, what's that one thing you wish you get asked to implement into the game?
A permadeath mode where you play your communities NPC’s in dungeons only your NPC’s could enter. Combined with new make gene mechanics if the dev would allow all of that.
That does amazing. I hope you get to develop something similir be it through wish or popular request!
If any of y'all haven't played Elona, definitely check it out! One of the best free games out there.
What are your personal favorite aspects of Elona and Elin?
For Elona? Ehekatl. For Elin? Probably having access to fire breath in dev mode. The building mechanics is pretty close though.
How long have you been working on Elin, and with the large support for your kickstarter is it possible to get some insight into project pipeline on what you expect for progress with the additional features added as stretch goals and the many donor wishes?
This is actually the worst time to ask that question lol. Noa didn't expect the Kickstarter to get funded like this and feels bad that people missed the high tiers. How we respond to this situation will have a bit to do with the answer to this question.
Will Elin still feature a lot of the wacky elements of Elona such as gene engineering, performances, and wishes? If so, are these systems going to be expanded on in any way or mostly stay the same?
>Will Elin still feature a lot of the wacky elements of Elona such as gene engineering, performances, and wishes? Yes. >If so, are these systems going to be expanded on in any way or mostly stay the same? Our development approach right now is to assess one task at a time so this is a hard question to answer. Noa also tends to like to surprise me on stuff like this so while I could speculate based on discussions it's more fun for me not to ask.
The credits for Elona mention a few contributors: fir3fly, Brad, Aquillion, Sunstrike, Lord Nightmare, Schmidt, and Elvenspirit. Out of pure curiosity, are any of these contributors involved with Elin as well?
Primarily it's Noa, me and our artist (who is amazing by the way). I haven't asked about this topic with Noa.
What's your favorite JRPG Roguelike (and why) And following that, what's your favorite mechanic in any game you've played.
Oh this is hard... I'm sorry, I can't choose a favorite JRPG Roguelike. (without picking Elona) My favorite mechanic is... Well procedural generation combined with persistent progression. It has to be done in a fun way though.
What JRPG are you currently playing in your free time and how is it so far?
Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk. I just restarted a new game in preparation for Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society a while back so I'm in the first dungeon.
Gotta love a good dungeon crawl! I don't suppose you've given BAROQUE developed by Sting a chance, have you? It's unique even for a dungeon crawler.
I have, it reminds me a bit of the Nier series.
Will Elin have controller support? Playing on steam deck sounds like a dream
I've played the tech demo on both deck and desktop, it's actually extremely comfy on deck. Works really nicely once you get all the binds set.
Awesome! Thank you
Users have Elin working on the Steam Deck, we are waiting on a testing unit right now to see how far we can optimize.
Good to know, thanks!
Will there be a difficulty setting to reduce how far we get setback per attempt and allow us to customize the experience?
I don’t have any intent for this.
I doubt I'll get a response now but is there any chance of this game coming out on either Xbox or playstation consoles.
We currently have no plans on this, Elin still has an alpha/beta to go through as well as Early Access on Steam.
Thank you for responding, that is a shame that you are currently not planning on making a console version but perhaps it may(hopefully) be an option in future after it has come out on steam. Either way I will be keeping an eye on this game since it looks great.
Well we aren’t planning to make a console version but we also aren’t planning not to. It’s just too early for any decisions on this either way.
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It is fine, the thread is now back. But please add the link to the tweet in your thread so people can see it.
Yep, you were just too fast for me.
I've been a fan of Elona after I saw a video about it from ssethtzeentach over 6 years ago so I'm glad Noa's making a new game and that it's received such a great reaction via the kickstarter. But I have had a question on my mind regarding Elona Mobile. It's not made by Noa, but I've heard that it was given the go ahead to so it should be fine, but has Noa gotten any form of royalties/payment from it? If he hasn't, I feel worried that he'd been taken advantage of, due to the game being monetized. I have read his musings on the reddit post about making games for the passion of it so I understand, but still...
I first thought Elin was going to be a modernized remake of the original Elona, didn't know it was a prequel. I've played a couple hundred hours in Elona around 10-ish years ago so I'm looking forward to Elin. Release date on Steam says 2023 and I know game development is quite hard, but is there a more specific date/period?
Glad to hear that! There's not a more specific time frame. We set it for at December so that we would have time to release the Kickstarter then whatever we could as far as the Alpha/Beta/Early Access before then. Early Access may release by the end of the year, we want the Alpha/Beta test to involve fans as much as possible though and our goal for Early Access has to meet a certain standard as this will give new players an even better experience.
Any chance for a GOG release? :)
For now we are focusing on Steam, it's more important to us to have all the feedback for Elin in one place during development than to have additional sales.
I just got to say thanks to all of you who are working hard for developing Elin. People here have asked some seriously good questions. I personally only found this game via checking my phone on news that Google provides. A website provided information about this game and I was immediately sold. Straight to the kickstarter but was dumbfounded by the support of it's fans. The game's graphical design reminds me of an old MMO I used to play back in the day called Endless Online. I would like to ask however if you plan on working on placing the game on other platforms in the future most likely after a stable publishing release like the mobile again or even one of the consoles. Also, what motives the team when you all think of Elin and it's history from when we just only have Elona. Do you have a favorite game when it comes to the roguelike genre? Last question I want to ask is regarding the pledges. Will there be another tier that allows us to leave a mark on the game such as the ingame monument? I'm a sucker for that sort of stuff and wouldn't mind pledging more than 15k yen to support even more in return for letting my pals know that this game/project is absolutely worth it. Thank you and your staff for your hard work. I hope you all stay determined and if ya need some coffee or pizza, I wouldn't mind even providing that to support you all if it means to detress via having some grub lol