Dear Friends

First and foremost, thanks to everyone that provided feedback in a constructive manner whether it be on instagram, twitter, reddit or directly in the stores. You can imagine it was quite a short night for us as we went through all the comments, feedback and reviews.

We now want to shed light on the most prominent topics and what led us to the decisions that are heavily discussed.

Multimedia Pack and Pricing

Let’s talk about the most discussed topic first, shall we? The multimedia pack in Duskwood was often heavily criticized. Some players simply couldn’t afford to make real money purchases or were unsure whether it would actually be worth it. None of the content that can be unlocked is required to solve the case by any means. All important images, calls and storylines are straight up free (just like in Duskwood). 

We still wanted to completely remove the hard paywall (Multimedia Pack) and allow everyone (that is not in a hurry) to unlock everything for free.

Here is how it works:

We designed a new system that allows you to experience and unlock all dialogue options over the course of multiple playthroughs without ever spending money. There is a steady income of currency if you just play the game as various things grant in-game currency like solving hard mini games, collecting achievements or finishing daily quests. There is also a reset-reward (called timewalk) at the end of each episode which should alone cover the costs to unlock at least two premium items in your next play-through. Given the fact that most of the things that you unlock will remain unlocked this quickly builds up to a completely free episode with all premium content unlocked.

The intention was also to keep replays more interesting and we think this is generally a move in the right direction. However, we did not explain this system very well, and many of you seem to have felt the pressure to purchase everything in the first go. We’re sorry for this and want to emphasize again that no premium content is required to solve the case. Remember how fast an episode is played through and how long the wait felt until the next one was out. Save up some premium content for your next playthrough to keep things exciting. Use the reset reward to pay for it!

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Balancing adjustments to rewards and/or prices will likely happen (as they do in all games) when new systems like these are introduced. Nothing is written in stone 🙂

The usage of AI in general

For a small studio like ours the usage of AI to create visual assets can be a big help and provide a lot of flexibility and reduced risks especially when experimenting with new content (like the player profile customization). To be fair, the results are not always desirable right now, but the older ones might remember how the world and the internet has changed over the last two decades. It is quite likely that AI will not vanish from our lives and can bring huge benefits to the table when it comes to interactive storytelling. Our author who put all her heart into writing the dialogues for Duskwood and Moonvale will never be replaced by AI, but imagine the little gimmicks and fun AI could add around the main storyline.

Imagine being able to talk to your favorite character about everything that happened in the last episodes and not being limited in selecting out of three options.

Imagine having a funny polaroid picture of your mc and Jake at the china restaurant as a memory of what magical night that was.

Imagine being able to enable an option to get all text messages from your favorite character as a voice message (without the filesize of the game blowing up). 

Don’t get us wrong – these are not elementary things but more optional funny interactions that we know for sure many would enjoy (including ourselves). Moonvale as a game does not necessarily need that now – but we as a progressive studio have the duty to experiment and keep up with this technology now in order to be able to use it’s potential in the future or, in good conscience, ditch it completely. It is safe to say though, that we all will laugh about current results that found their way into Moonvale in a few years 🙂

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Some of you have expressed the wish for classy art or more realistic alternatives when it comes to the player profile. We will make that happen. We will also have another look on how profile customizations are obtained.

The usage of AI for characters

We want to introduce one character (and it’s actor) at a time so each of your new friends gets the spotlight they deserve. Those of you who have been around since the beginning might remember that this is exactly what we did in Duskwood as well. The casting process is something we take very seriously. We can 100% assure we did not move away from the idea that every important character deserves its own actor.

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Some of you have asked that Ash, Charlie and Violet get a new profile picture sooner rather than later which is something we can arrange 👍

The (default) messenger theme

Many of you seem to dislike the new look of the messenger (although for different reasons). We experimented a lot with this during the development as this is where all the magic happens, right? Based on the most favored themes in Duskwood, we’ve chosen this as the new default theme. The messenger appearance in general is quite a subjective topic and the only way to really solve this problem is to simply let you choose.

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Messenger Themes (ranging from realistic to cute) are on the roadmap for Moonvale and will be available with a future episode.

Duskwood Side Story

Some of you are concerned that the Duskwood content in Moonvale comes a bit short. We want to let you know that this is just the beginning. Duskwood side story content will accompany you throughout the coming Moonvale episodes and will develop into an own storyline. As you might have noticed playing the first episode of Moonvale, we designed the side story to have its own nostalgic moments deeply rooted within the new Moonvale content. Both share the same universe so it makes sense to glue everything together as much as possible. This is not done in a single episode and what we have planned for the side story needs its own build up and space,… Everything else would feel rushed, which is the last thing our friends from Duskwood deserve 😉 So look forward to the next episodes of Moonvale with us as things start to grow…

Vanished Chat (Bug)

We’ve rebuilt the complete game from the ground to ensure more stability and a solid fundament for the future. Only parts of the code have been copied from Duskwood. Unfortunately this doesn’t come without issues and some of you experienced a new device specific bug that freezes the game – a fix is already on the way and should be available as soon as Google gives green lights. Once it has rolled out, please reset the episode (do not delete your account!) via the options menu in the upper left corner.

Final Words

We’re super happy so many of you have been here on the first day! We really appreciate this after two years of development. We had countless sleepless nights preparing everything for the release and seeing you so disappointed really hit us like a truck 😞 The adaptations might take a while, but we will address the issues to make Moonvale the wonderful journey you’re here for 🙂 

Thanks to everyone who left a good review to encourage us during this not so easy time.

Thanks to everyone that has the trust in us and the patience to let Moonvale grow.

Thanks to all of you being here ❤️