Greetings,

the latest patch for Darfall is ready and released.

• Added better tooltips for perks and abilities.

• Early game resource balance adjustments.
  
• Increased maximum distance for Freezing Nova.
  
• Buffed demon portals.
  
• Adjusted timing balance for demo waves.

• Fixed issue where the "End Demo" button would inadvertently complete the game.
  
• Fixed various text, value, and icon inconsistencies.
  
• Fixed issue with the hero not being the main selection after respawning into a control group.
  
• Fixed issue with the Magus quest, where entities were spawning while the hero was outside the designated circle.
  
• Fixed issue where armor set stats were not working correctly.

If you encounter any issues or want to share a suggestion, feel free to do so in our discord suggestions[discord.com] forum, or bug-reports[discord.com] forum respectively.

Farewell,
SquareNite from beyond the darkness of Darfall Wastes

Greetings,

the latest patch for Darfall Demo is ready and released.

The demo launch went quite smoothly, with no critical issues reported so far. We are grateful for all your in-game bug reports and discord feedback, know that we read each and every one of them.

• Updated demo notice UI panels for a clearer user experience.
  
• Removed unfinished localizations, keeping only English.

• Fixed hero frame visibility issue when hero is not present in the scenario.
  
• Fixed lamp producing light even when designating it.
  
• Fixed camp immunity drop for all structures on game load.
  
• Fixed issue where the final invasion could not reach the keep, causing the game to be won automatically.
  
• Fixed selection order to prioritize units over farm buildings for better selection.
  
• Fixed Ardan quest, which previously couldn't be completed due to not resetting and causing errors.

If you encounter any issues or want to share a suggestion, feel free to do so in our discord suggestions[discord.com] forum, or bug-reports[discord.com] forum respectively.

Farewell,
Darfall team from beyond the darkness of Darfall

Hello Darfall Community!

It’s been a few months, and today we’re back with some news! We spent this time well, implementing the feedback we got from our last demo. Before we dive into details, including information on a new demo, have a look at this brand new trailer, and see if you can notice any difference!

We’re happy to share that Darfall now has brand new visuals! We overhauled the game’s graphics into new, low-poly style. We hope you’ll enjoy defending your towns, and pushing back the darkness, with this new aesthetic!

But that’s not all!


We have a brand new demo for you to try, starting today!

https://node2.projectplanet.cn/@store.steampowered.com/app/1961600/Darfall/

The demo is available right now, and comes with full graphical overhaul of the game, Survival Mode and one more surprise - a fully-imagined Scenario Editor, coming with Steam Workshop integration, so you can share your creations with other players!

Our new demo focuses on two of the three main pillars of the game - The Survival Mode and the Scenario Editor (We'll talk more about the Campaign later!). Read below to get a better idea of what to expect this time!

The new Survival Mode comes with a number of brand new gameplay improvements:

• A new hero unit Ardan. An Aran’thal archmage with powerful abilities.
  
• Edgescar Survival Map. Our first survival map, set in the grassland biome.
  
• Nightly Undead Invasions, with increasing challenges each night.
  
• Orc Raids, that grow in intensity the richer and more prosperous your town becomes.
  
• Dark Pylon Waves, which need to be proactively destroyed, to control the amount of enemy forces.
  
• Class-specific quests for the hero Ardan.
  
• Improved AI, providing smarter enemies, formation and more.
  
• Exploration: Venture beyond your town to find treasures, events and other adventures.

The brand new addition to Darfall - the Scenario Editor - comes with a number of features:

• Terrain Editor: paint landscapes, raise mountains, place buildings, add special effects, and position units wherever you like.
  
• Trigger Editor: Use a simple, sentence-based interface, define events, conditions, and actions to control what happens. Have a boss deliver a warning when you enter its lair, or command an orc army to march and attack—your storytelling is limitless.
  
• Quest Editor: Create custom quests with objectives, subtasks, and markers that appear on the minimap or within the world.
  
• Modify Objects: Adjust any object’s properties, including health, damage, and AI behavior. Craft your own challenging boss mechanics and interactions to give players memorable encounters.
  
• Create Custom Items: Design unique items, from resources to hero equipment, and assign them custom icons. Bundle your creations with your scenario files, making it easy to share your custom gear, resources, and more with others.
  
• Create Map Links: Want to design a campaign or epic RPG? Connect multiple scenarios, preserving player progress between them. Allow heroes to carry over items, levels or any custom variables from zone to zone, giving players a massive world with distinct biomes and quests.
  
• Steam Workshop Integration: Ready to share your creation with the world? Whether it’s a tower defense map, a puzzle, or an epic RPG across a vast continent, publish your scenario directly from the editor to steam workshop with just a few clicks—complete with a custom thumbnail from the game.

Darfall is currently planned to release in 2025, with a fully realized campaign, survival mode and scenario editor. We hope you’ll enjoy the changes we’ve made in the current demo, and that you’ll consider wishlisting our game! The continent of Aganor needs your help!

And on that note, we have one more thing we’d like to show you. Our new campaign map. We tried to evoke a classic fantasy feeling with it and we'd love to know what you think. You can, of course, also see it in the demo and full game, in even more detail!

It's me, Lukas, and in today's devblog, we're excited to share insights into the redesign of the main menu, the introduction of new loot chests and their mechanics, and the introduction of hero class-specific quests!


Our main menu redesign aims to set the tone for Darfall, capturing the essence of our world through both visuals and music. We envisioned the menu as an “iconic” view that immediately immerses you into the game's atmosphere.


Initially, we explored the idea of a demonic portal, visualizing the invasion's onset. This concept featured an army of demons pouring out, set against the backdrop of Darfall Wastes.

You can see the initial sketches, then the 3d model and finally how would it look like in the menu.

While looking amazing, even though this was far from final art, we wanted to try another perspective, which would more capture the actual gameplay and main goal of the game.


Our next idea brought the focus to a city under siege by the undead.

This direction required experimenting with various architectural designs to find the right fit for Darfall, exploring different perspectives to achieve a balance between scale and detail.

We then needed to capture the best point of view, to create a sense of scale, while being able to show off the undead army.

You can see we even modelled the entire scene, this is so we can dynamically adjust the camera to check all of the angles, which would be very problematic with concept art only, as you need to redraw basically entire scene each time you want to try a new perspective.

The final product, thanks to Dalibor's exceptional talent, not only showcases a city fighting against the undead but also embodies Darfall's color palette of blue, orange, and purple.

This, combined with the main theme music and dynamic menu animations, aims to be a memorable first impression for you.


We're also introducing unique quests for each hero class to enhance their distinctiveness and provide engaging objectives within survival maps.

Each hero has one unique quest that can be completed on any survival map, the quest always fits the thematic of that hero.


For the Magus class, exemplified by our main character Ardan, the quest involves a corrupted obelisk that you must cleanse using your magical abilities.

This mission tests your ability to defend against demonic assaults while maintaining your focus on the obelisk. Moving out of obelisk area will decrease the quest progress, so stay close!


Kalen, our Slayer, faces a formidable demon lord powered by demonic sigils.

You must disrupt this power sources, facing lesser demons after each sigil, before confronting the demon lord himself and having a “nice conversion” with him (using your Greataxe).


Nariel, the Ranger, is tasked with finding and purifying a mutated ancient tree and its guardian.

Then you need to track the beast and end its misery. But be prepared, it won’t be an easy fight.


You can also see behind the scenes into the initial design of all 3 quests done in Figma. As with any mechanics, we always design the concepts in whiteboard first to get the flow and details down before actual implementations.


To add depth to the looting mechanics, we've introduced three tiers of treasure chests: Poor (Gray), Fine (Green), and Epic (Purple), each offering loot of varying quality and difficulty to access.


These forgotten chests, found throughout the map, require keys for access, which can be discovered in monster camps or crafted, adding a layer of strategy to your exploration.


Protected by orc warbands, these chests vary in difficulty, with the most valuable ones located within heavily guarded orc fortifications, challenging you to engage with fort defences and orc warlord in combat.


Situated in undead territories, these chests demand a resource sacrifice for their treasures, introducing a tough decision-making aspect to your looting strategy.

You can pick any of 3 resources offered you wish to sacrifice, which will open the chest.

To make the exploration more interesting and reduce the amount of times you need to return to base to heal up or get energy, there will be also rare spawns of healing and energy fountains.

There are many, many new additions to mechanics and map features, but we want to leave some also for the next devblogs, right?


Lastly, we had the pleasure of visiting Paradox Interactive HQ in Stockholm, discussing Darfall's future and how we can make it the ultimate RPG city-building experience for you.

However, we all got surprised by sudden snow haha! 😃

Thanks for reading this update. We're eager to share more with you in our next devblogs.

Lukas and rest of the team from beyond the darkness of Darfall

Hello, Darfall community!

It’s me Lukas and we have some thrilling news to share that marks a new era in the journey of Darfall. We are incredibly proud and excited to announce our partnership with the renowned game publisher, Paradox! More specifically, their Arc initiative.

This collaboration is not just a milestone for us at SquareNite, but also a testament to the potential of Darfall.

For us, collaborating with Paradox is a dream realized. Their commitment to crafting quality, strategic games that captivate players for countless hours aligns perfectly with our vision for Darfall.

Check out the announcement trailer!

https://node2.projectplanet.cn/@store.steampowered.com/app/1961600/Darfall/

Before we dive into what this means for Darfall, let's take a moment to appreciate the people behind the scenes. Here's a snapshot of our first office we set up beginning of this month, where magic happens every day.

From left to right, meet Erik, Lukas, and Martin:


January has been a month of relentless passion and hard work for our team. Here's a sneak peek into what each of us has been up to:

Lukas:

• Generating of voice overs for all the human units
  
• Cage captive system for map camps
  
• Added abilities to elites and bosses
  
• Hero gathering animations (finally!)

Martin:

• UI improvements and art for the “survival timer”
  
• Forging of our company logo
  
• Improving the survival world map
  
• Guidance of music composer for Darfall

Erik:

• Getting to know the project!
  
• Adding abilities to undead Graveguard elite
  
• Implementing the “survival timer” into UI
  
• Giving loot chests some special features
  
• Added numerous new tutorial steps

As we progress towards our early access in the upcoming months, let's go over the newest additions in more details.

Handcrafted Soundtracks

Thanks to our Paradox cooperation, we're excited to welcome Robert Bruckmayer, an exceptionally talented Slovak music composer, to our team.

He'll be meticulously crafting the soundtracks for Darfall, starting with the main theme that you can hear in our announcement trailer. This soundtrack resonates every time we hear it, capturing and elevating the essence of the Darfall universe.

Survival Timer

The “Survival Timer” now displays not only each impending undead invasion night but also the countdown to the ultimate challenge - the final demonic invasion.

Boss Abilities

Our elites and bosses now boast unique abilities, adding an extra layer of tactical depth to your gameplay. Here is a peek at the Blazing Overlord, the formidable final boss in survival mode.

'
This demon leaves a trail of fire in his path and occasionally unleashes a radial inferno, challenging you to adapt your troop positions swiftly to escape his scorching wrath.

Loot Chests & Art

Our loot chests have undergone a stunning transformation, both visually and functionally.

We're proud to introduce Jakub, a supremely talented freelance artist who has joined our team to elevate Darfall's visual aesthetics. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the revamped chest models:

Main Menu Concept Art

We're also sprucing up our main menu in preparation for the grand release. The main menu concept art is currently being crafted by our talented concept artist friend, Dalibor.

Here are a few sketches from the work he has done. We will reveal the final concept art in upcoming dev blogs!

Studio Logo

And finally, feast your eyes on the newly minted logo for our studio, SquareNite, created by Martin!

This logo symbolizes a “squared knight”, imbued with elements from Darfall, to signify our first game. The three peaks in the helmet crown design pay homage to Slovakia's national emblem.

And More...

This is just a small glimpse of what's to come. We have many more features and additions up our sleeves, which we'll either leave as surprises or gradually unveil in our upcoming dev blogs. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!


Our partnership with Paradox is a game-changer, quite literally. Thanks to the partnership with Paradox, we’ve been able to make some significant enhancements to Darfall.

This includes huge improvements to sound effects, the hiring of a skilled music composer who will bring audio experience to the next level, and additional talented artists to elevate the game’s visual experience. Their support has been instrumental in bringing our vision for Darfall closer to reality.


As we move closer to our early access release, we want to thank our community from Discord and other social media for your support. Your feedback, enthusiasm, and love for Darfall have been our driving force. Stay tuned for more updates, and get ready to experience a world like no other in Darfall!

With gratitude and excitement,
The SquareNite Team, from beyond the darkness of Darfall.

Welcome to the 13th installment of our devblog, Paladins of Aganor! It’s me Lukas, and today we're diving into the inspiration behind, and the current iteration of, the hero perk system.

In case you missed it, don't forget to check out our previous devblog #12, where we delved into the intricacies of the newly reworked survival map, showcasing its enhancements and difficulty options.


Our current perk system represents a pivotal aspect of hero customization. It consists of various nodes that you can unlock using perk points.

These nodes offer a range of enhancements - from health and damage boosts to the exciting possibility of doubling loot drops (yes, double legendary drops if you are super lucky!). They even allow heroes to directly mine resources like iron or silver.

For those interested for more behind the scenes technical info, I have also created a coding session with implementation in Unity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eQ9XHY99Jo


We've designed multiple avenues for accumulating perk points to allow diverse strategic approaches:

- Leveling up a hero grants +1 perk point.
- Using the 'Book of Knowledge' item from the inventory also adds +1 perk point.
- This valuable book drops from defeating elite or boss enemies.
- Additionally, the 'Book of Knowledge' can be crafted in the new Library building, which consumes mana orbs.

Our aim is to provide you with a variety of strategies and sources to acquire these points.



In the early design phase, depicted in Figma, the focus was not only on the node visuals but also on the mechanics of acquiring them.

Initially, I considered a progression system where performing specific actions with heroes, like resource gathering or enemy combat, would level up related skills. However, this concept often leads to a grinding routine seen in other RPGs, such as Albion Online, and didn't seem to fit a strategy game with city-building elements.


Ultimately, I decided on a more straightforward approach: unrestricted perk points that you can assign freely. This decision steers clear of grinding and offers flexibility in character development.


A major source of inspiration for our perk system is the intricate passive tree from Path of Exile, renowned for its depth and complexity.

This model offers us the exciting potential to continually expand our system. We can add more ranks to existing nodes, like health or damage boosts, or introduce entirely new enhancements to further grow our hero's capabilities.

Stay tuned for more updates and insights in our upcoming devblogs!

- Lukas from beyond the darkness of Darfall

Welcome back, Darfall enthusiasts, to our 12th devblog! It's Lukas here, ready to dive into the latest enhancements we've made to the survival world map of Aganor, as well as introduced difficulty options into the game.


In a shift from the typical UI dropdowns seen in similar genre games, we've embraced a world map approach for our survival mode. This decision isn't just about a fresh gameplay experience; it's about laying the foundation for the expansive Darfall universe, complete with its diverse races, sprawling landmasses, and iconic cities.

Below is our initial world map design, crafted using Incarnate. While this version won't feature in the game directly, it's a crucial step for us developers in shaping Aganor's geography before its digital implementation.

For lore enthusiasts, this map is more than just a tool - it's a window into the world of Darfall. You can trace the paths our heroes have taken and the sites of pivotal events that have shaped our universe.

As for the Darfall Wastes' mysterious northern reaches, we're keeping that under wraps for now. Rest assured, it's a region teeming with perils and rich in lore, with plenty of surprises in store as we advance the game's story through the campaign mode.


Our world map's evolution is ongoing, but here's a sneak peek at its current form in Magica Voxel. This tool is our go-to for everything from terrain modeling to creating trees and units.

A big shoutout to Jany, our talented freelance artist, who's spearheading the 3D modeling of the world map.


We're upping the game with adjustable difficulty levels, offering new challenges for every player.

Before launching a map, you can select from three difficulty options:

- Easy: Enemies at 80% standard damage and health. Score multiplier: 1x.
- Medium: Default setting with enemies at 100% damage and health. Score multiplier: 1.2x.
- Hard: Unlocks after a medium difficulty victory. Enemies have 130% damage and health. Score multiplier: 1.5x.

And here's a glimpse at the revamped hero selection, map choice, objectives, and difficulty screen:


We've repositioned cities on the world map for clarity and alignment with the new continental layout. This change not only clarifies your progression path but also integrates seamlessly with the updated map.

Now, you can also view the survival days required for each map, adding another layer of strategy to your gameplay.

(Please keep in mind, the bellow model is work-in-progress and does not represent the final version)
Stay tuned for more updates, where we will go over the new Perk System and thanks for being part of our Darfall journey!

- Lukas from beyond the darkness of Darfall.

Hello, everyone!

It's me Lukas and I’m excited to delve into the biome features that are in the works for our Early Access release. Our aim is not only to offer visual diversity across biomes, but also to enrich gameplay by introducing unique challenges and interactive environments.

The three starting Early Access biomes are:

1. Grassland
2. Desert
3. Swamp

Each biome is designed to offer more than just eye candy, they integrate unique natural obstacles or events that compel you to adapt your gameplay strategies.


In the Grassland biome, prepare yourself for heavy storms, accompanied by rain, fog, and lightning. These weather conditions are random and will sporadically occur as you progress through the map.

- Lightning Strikes: Not only do these add a visual spectacle, but they can also be dangerous for your city. Lightning can strike randomly across the map, causing damage to whatever it hits.
- Spread of Fire: To make things more challenging, lightning strikes can ignite fires. These fires will spread and last for a certain duration, posing a risk to both units and structures in their path. Fire damage is currently mild, as there's no fire defense mechanism in place. We plan on evolving fire mechanics in future updates.


Fire will play a larger role in the game. Our plans involve allowing you to use fire as an additional defensive line by igniting a flammable surface, such as oil, just before the undead wave reaches you.

One scene that comes to mind is the famous Battle of Winterfell in Game of Thrones, for those of you who have watched it:

In Darfall, each tile and object has a flammable level, which determines how quickly fire can spread to that tile if there is already a fire nearby. For example, grass tile has a flammable level of 1, while in the desert, it may be just 0.5, preventing the spread of fire on sand.

To recreate a flame wall similar to Game of Thrones, we can introduce buildable flammable oil tiles with a high flammable level, such as 10. Igniting just one of these tiles will rapidly spread the fire to the rest of the connected oil tiles.

Here is a quick preview of some flame wall tests we plan to integrate into the game in the future:

So for now, the only way how the fire can be created is via lightning strikes, as there are still unanswered design questions regarding the fire, particularly how to ignite it and how to combat it when it spreads into your city.

Any ideas will be much appreciated! Feel free to share them on our Discord[discord.gg].


The desert biome has its own environmental obstacle: heatwaves. At any moment, the temperature can soar, affecting your workers' efficiency.

- Adapting to Heat: You can counter the impact of heatwaves by crafting specific building upgrades—a refreshing mug of beer for your workers. This innovative mechanism will negate the adverse effects of the heatwave entirely for that structure.


In the Swamp biome, mud is the primary natural obstacle. Although it doesn't trigger like other events, mud patches are present right from the start.

- Reduced Mobility: These mud patches slow down the movement speed of any unit—friend or foe—that crosses them.
- Counteracting Mud: You can build roads over these patches to eliminate the slowdown effect. Road construction becomes a strategic necessity in this biome.


That sums up the features of our initial three biomes. Post Early Access, expect to see even more biomes, each teeming with its own set of unique features and challenges.

So, stay tuned for more exciting updates from us!
- Lukas

Hello everyone,

This is Lukas, and we have some exciting news to share with you today. Darfall is about to embark on a thrilling new journey as we enter into a collaboration with a publisher. While we can't reveal the publisher's name just yet, we promise to unveil this exciting partnership in the coming months. What we can tell you is that this collaboration will bring about significant changes, transforming Darfall into an even more immersive and polished experience.

As a gamer myself, I've had the privilege of playing many titles from this publisher, and can tell you I'm a huge fan. This partnership is a dream come true, and I can assure you that you won't be disappointed. Together, we're committed to elevating Darfall to new heights.

Currently, we've set our sights on an Early Access release in Q1 2024. We acknowledge that news of a release delay may not be everyone's preference. Yet, we stand firmly behind the belief that ensuring a polished and immersive product is well worth the wait. After all, you can only launch a game once!

This collaboration opens up exciting opportunities for us to enhance Darfall in various ways. It enables us to invest in crucial aspects such as localization, creating bespoke music and sound effects in partnership with sound studios, and refining animations or particle effects to enrich your gaming experience.

Over the next few months, we'll be sharing more updates as we work diligently to bring you an even better Darfall. Our focus is on delivering more content and improvements to the game before its Early Access release.

Thank you for your unwavering support. This collaboration marks a new chapter in Darfall's development, and we can't wait to share the incredible journey ahead with all of you.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates, and let's make Darfall's future brighter than ever.

Warm regards,
Lukas and Martin from beyond the darkness of Darfall.