Hello, Storm Strikers!
In this post, we want to discuss what the development team is targeting for the second quarter and what important events we are preparing for.
The article is a bit long, but I would appreciate your interest.
2nd quarter roadmap
First, the list of tasks selected by each team for the second quarter is as shown above.
Our goal is to complete at least 3 or more of these.
Below, we will explain why these tasks were chosen for our work list.
Technical Team
Shop
The store system is essential for the ongoing operation of the game.
Having a store allows players to spend the in-game currency they've earned,
which can provide a small but significant motivation to play the game.
Therefore, the development of the store system is our top priority.
Mission
The mission system provides players with daily and weekly missions to give them short-term motivation to play.
Currently, the fun of playing the game is the sole reason to play, which we believe is too much of a burden.
To alleviate this, we think developing a mission system is appropriate.
Hero Mastery
There are players, including some of our staff, who only play specific heroes.
To make the game more enjoyable for these players, we believe a system where playing a hero increases their mastery, unlocking skills, titles, emotes, and other items, would be beneficial. It also allows players to show off their understanding of the hero to others.
Account Leveling
Sometimes, hero mastery alone might not fully show how well someone knows Storm Striker.
We think an account leveling system, by revealing the account level to others, can compensate for this.
Hero Rotation
We plan to sell heroes, but obviously, new players will not have any heroes initially.
Therefore, we're preparing a system that offers a set of heroes that can be used on a weekly or monthly basis.
Optimization
We've made several optimizations but believe there's still more we can do.
Providing a smoother gameplay experience remains a priority for us.
Design Team
Modern Mode
Modern Mode is a system that exchanges attack power for accuracy.
This is a solution to one of the biggest challenges the design team has faced.
From data gathered over the last six months, we found a significant problem:
70% of new players choosing melee heroes in their first match do not play the game again.
Most of these players did not even achieve 30% of the average damage.
In contrast, new players who chose support or ranged heroes in their first match continued to play in 80% of cases, and they rarely quit the game mid-match even if they chose a melee hero later.
This suggests that new players selecting melee heroes struggle to survive in the game.
We believe the root cause is a lack of enjoyment due to not being able to deal damage or feeling useless in the game.
Modern Mode aims to address this by systemically assisting melee heroes to land their skills, even at the cost of reducing their damage by 25%.
Maximus and Alice will be the first to receive this adjustment on April 11 for testing. Based on the outcomes, we plan to consider applying it to all melee heroes.
Shifu Release
Originally, we planned to release Shifu in March.
However, we realized in March that we needed to rebalance before adding new heroes.
Electra was rushed out due to high anticipation, leading to ongoing adjustments post-release.
We intend to prepare Shifu for a higher quality release.
Replacement skill expansion
Currently, Storm Striker have no hero swapping and growth elements.
We believe the skill change system is a unique feature that needs expansion for players to enjoy mixing various skills for combat.
We aim to prepare two swap skills per slot to offer broader choices.
Improvement of unused skills
Unfortunately, some replacement skills are currently seen as unnecessary.
These unused skills fail to showcase Storm Striker' appeal.
We aim to improve these skills to encourage players to think about which ones to use based on the situation.
Balancing
Balance adjustments are an ongoing challenge for PVP games.
We plan to introduce changes to various skills and add new heroes, always aiming to maintain enjoyable gameplay.
Art Team
Effect Improvements
We have long recognized the issue that effects make it difficult to discern the battlefield situation. To address this, the art team has defined several rules for effects, and in the update at the end of March, we have started changing some skills to effects that improve visibility. We will continue to improve effects in the second quarter to ensure the screen is not cluttered.
Sound Improvements
Hearing is also a sense used to comprehend the battlefield situation. We have identified that currently, many unnecessary sounds are being played. We plan to refine this by focusing on essential sounds while still enhancing game immersion.
New Hero Production
Following Siphu, we are in the process of creating a hero named Lightning. We are committed to creating an attractive hero.
Trailer Production
Like other games, we believe Storm Striker also needs a trailer that is separate from in-game footage, one that encapsulates the world and the narrative story of Storm Striker. However, we prioritize quality in trailer production, so even if it takes a long time, we will prepare to present it with a high level of completion, even if it means showing it to our users later.
Cinematic Video Production
We regret not preparing even a simple story video for the release of Electra. Cinematic videos are short animations that explain each hero's story and the world. Starting with the hero Lightning, we plan to prepare and show videos that can raise anticipation for new heroes before their release.
About Early Access and Official Release
To solve the development team's concerns together with our users, we launched an early access on November 17 last year. Through early access, we have learned a lot from our users and accumulated know-how on operation. We originally planned for the early access period to be six months, which makes May 17 the six-month mark. We do not yet have a plan for what to do on May 17, so it is difficult to give a definitive answer to our users about future plans.
However, one thing we can say for certain is that Storm Striker will definitely have an official release. We anticipate this could be as early as the beginning of Q4 or as late as the end of Q4.
It's true that we are in a difficult and challenging situation due to the lack of players. But we haven't given up because we believe that once we have shown everything about the game, our users will enjoy it. For now, all we can ask is for you to trust us. The game is still lacking in many ways and there's much left to develop, but we will not give up, and we would be grateful if our users could also keep their faith in us.
Lastly, Regarding Developer Comments
As the person responsible for writing this notice, I have always believed that it is right for our users to see the content and form their own answers regarding announcements, patch notes, and official statements from the development side. I have been cautious about adding developer comments to explain and interpret on their behalf. However, writing this has made me reconsider my stance. Going forward, while it may be difficult to comment on every item, we will make sure to add comments, especially on aspects that may be sensitive to our users, so that our intentions are clearly communicated.
Thank you for reading this long message.