Sword of the Necromancer Launch Brief
about 3 years ago – Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 07:29:23 PM

Hello everyone

It has been almost 3 weeks since the game's launch. Now that things have settled up a bit, we think it is a good time to tell you about the launch and how the game is performing.

Launch was met with a lot of unexpected issues. In addition to the problem with North American Switch keys for backers (which was solved the day after launch, sorry for the delay), players found some critical bugs and problems on launch day. 

We want to apologize for that and justify ourselves a bit: we tested the game ourselves a lot, and even had the help of a good amount of backers who acted as beta-testers, but in the end we are a very small team (currently 5 people), and we can only test on a single platform (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One) at a time. On top of that, only the PC version could be tested by several people, as we only have one devkit for each console. So when suddenly literally thousands of people started to play the game, each and every one of them did in very different ways (some that we did not account for) which triggered these bugs and crashes.

We worked as fast as we could to fix these issues, and released several patches.

To date, almost all of the reported problems have been solved and the fixes are available in the latest updates in all platforms.

In fact, we have waited up until today to write this update because we wanted to have every console version with these fixes, withNintendo Switch being the last one yesterday. 

As you might know, releasing a game on a console is not as straightforward as in PC. Each console manufacturer (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft) runs a series of tests to certificate the game adheres to the console's specifications, and patches are no exception. This is a process that is done completely on the console manufacturer's side, in which we don't have any control, and the time it takes depends on how heavy is their workload. We made the patches as soon as possible and sent them as they were finished testing on our side but, for example, the Switch patch that was accepted yesterday was sent 13 days ago.

Currently, Nintendo Switch is a patch behind the rest of versions, but the big issues have been fixed.

Game Reception and sales

Even with these issues, we are very happy with how the game has been received, specially by the players. Reviews on game sites are very polarized (ranging from as high as 93 to as low as 40), which was something that we expected due to the niche target that we aimed for.

Players (which is what matters to us) on the other hand have been mostly having fun and enjoying the game and its story, and we have received very good feedback in our Discord server and social media sites. We thank you for the kind comments and feedback and encourage you to leave us a good review on the game's store page and/or Metacritic (if you use it), that would help us a lot.

Game sales numbers during the first two weeks have been really good, and by now they are following the natural trend of declining to reach the "plateau". On platforms like Nintendo Switch, Sword of the Necromancer reached the Top 30 Digital-only games and stood there for a week in both the North American and European eShop (as high as the 24th position), surpassing the other games released on the same week. The game was also in the top positions on "New and Trending games" on Steam during its first week.

Those two platforms (Switch and Steam) are clearly the best performing for our game.

Sword of the Necromancer was highlighted by Nintendo in their last newsletter, alongside other great games like Cyber Shadow and Olija.

Game update

After receiving some feedback, we decided to include an Item Bag that stores up to 4 more items. Items stored in the Item Bag are not lost upon death (no matter your configuration in Game Settings) and may help players to train monsters or save good weapons for later runs. Items still need to be equipped in your main 4 slots to grant passive effects or be used.

This tries to fix one of the major complaints about the game: the reduced equipment size. 

We also included more options in Game Settings, so players can further customize their experience. You can even disable the new Item Bag if you want to play the game as it was originally.

Besides that, we have fixed several bugs, crashes and glitches, including one that could potentially lock the game from being playable when equipping a "Heart -X" item in the Altar.

We will keep on working to improve the game, adding more features and fixing all the issues we encounter.

Working on the DLC/free update

We are currently working on the DLC that will be available free of charge alongside the Physical Editions, around June. Remember that the Physical Editions will include this content inside the package, and that's why we decided to release them later.

The DLC will include new bosses, new game modes and a new Epilogue when you complete it.

Fan Art Contest

Finally, we are holding a Fan Art Contest on Twitter, participate to win one of the 5 OST CDs we are giving away!

Just upload a picture or video of your Fan Art to Twitter with the hashtags #SwordOfTheNecromancer #FanArt, and tag us (@GrimorioG) so we can see it.

You have until March 31st to submit your fanart, and then we will have the voting begin.

Kind regards!

Nintendo Switch - North American keys received!
about 3 years ago – Thu, Jan 28, 2021 at 11:37:03 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Key distribution! Check your Backerkits!
about 3 years ago – Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 09:40:22 PM

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow (January 28th) is the great day! As we said in the last update, we are sending the keys today to the backers. Just check your Backerkit. 

You can check your Backerkit entering the email you used to pledge on Kickstarter and clicking on "Get my Survey"

You will receive a mail with a link, if you follow that link you will get redirected to your Backerkit. If you completed the survey you will see the image below (if you didn't you will be redirected to the survey, in that case you will have to wait until your order is locked to see the image below).

Click there and you will see your game keys and download links for your digital goodies. If you have the digital Soundtrack, in addition to being able to download from Backerkit, we will also add a key so you can have it on Steam in the following days.

All the backers will receive a PDF file with all the IR Codes, regardless if they bought the packs or not.

As for the Digital Artbook, it will be available soon (we still have to receive some monsters and bosses from backers, and they should be in the artbook).

NOTE: If you already had the game on Steam (from the backer beta demo we gave to all backers with Beta Access), it will update to the final game. Backers who chose Steam as a platform and got a beta key will receive another Steam key they can gift.

Nintendo Switch NA keys

We have encountered an issue with the Nintendo Switch North American keys and we are working to solve it as soon as possible. We may need to wait until the game is oficially released tomorrow to solve this problem, so unfortunately backers who chose this platform and region will have to wait a bit. This was the reason we waited to post this update until today (we hoped to have been solved by now, but we could not).

Sorry for the inconvenience, we are working with Nintendo to fix this issue.

Backers who chose other regions and platforms will be able to get their keys today in Backerkit as described above.

 Streaming and sharing the game on social networks

Now that you have the game, you can share screenshots and stream the game as you please (but if you started tomorrow on release day, you'd do us a favor!). In fact, we created a feature for PC so streamers can make their viewers affect the game: Streamer Mode.

You have more details about the Streamer Mode here.

Also, we ask you not to spoil the game for others. You can discuss the game in our Discord, where we have a channel for spoilers.

Sword of the Necromancer Wiki

Some time ago, some backers started gathering information from playing the demo and asked us to create a wiki so they could start adding that info there once the game is released.

You can access the Wiki here [link].

 Some last words

We hope you have a great time with the game, and if you like it, please leave us a positive review on your platform of choice. That helps us a lot more than you think.

We are pretty nervous, but excited at the same time. 

It has been an intense journey, and we have learnt a lot during this time. We are extremely grateful that you believed in us and helped us. Without you, we wouldn't have voice acting, new music, an anime opening (!) among a lot of other things, and the development would have been a lot more difficult.

We will now keep working to improve the game, and add the content and features we set as Stretch Goals in the campaign, like the Colosseum Mode, extra bosses and the like, which will be included in the physical edition and as an update for the digital ones.

As with every new release, it's possible that you find issues or bugs. We have tried to test the game as much as we could, and some of you actively helped us in testing as beta testers (thank you!). Thankfully, nowadays updating a game is possible, so in case you find some issue, please report it to us (in our Discord, for example) and we will fix it as soon as possible. 

 Thank you and kind regards from the Grimorio and Jandusoft teams! 

One more thing...

 Check out this cool project! Ova Magica

Our friend ClaudiaTheDev is holding a Kickstarter campaign for their game Ova Magica, a game that combines the farming from Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, with the monster taming from Pokémon or Azure Dreams, one of our inspirations for Sword of the Necromancer!

The Kickstarter campaign has already reached 240% of its initial goal in less than 24 hours, and is shaping to be a great success!

Release week! Complete your Backerkit surveys if you haven't!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 10:49:47 PM

Hi everyone!

This is the release week! Sword of the Necromancer will be released on January 28th, on Steam, GOG, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in Europe, Australia and America. 

And on Nintendo Switch, we will release on that day in Japan too! PS4 version will be released in Japan soon after that, as the process to submit a title is different (but we have already passed certification in Japan for PS4).

Tomorrow, we will set up Backerkit so you can all have your game on January 27th, one day before the game's official release.

To receive your keys (and other digital goodies), you will only need to access Backerkit with your Kickstarter email.

That's why we would like to remind you that if you haven't completed your Backerkit survey yet, please do it before January 27th, or you won't get your game on time. Just access the link above and ask the survey's questions.

We will make another update on January 27th to explain a few more things and celebrate the release!

It's the final stretch!

Thank you very much and kind regards! 

Happy Holidays! Greetings and project roadmap for the next year
over 3 years ago – Wed, Dec 23, 2020 at 08:42:36 PM

Hello everyone!

We hope you are all fine and can enjoy these holidays in the company of your loved ones, be it physically or via Internet.

On our side, we will take a couple days off to return to work at full force next week! 

This is a message to inform you on the state of the project and our plans for the new year. Again, sorry for the delay on the game's release. We still think it was the best for the project, and thank you a lot for the support and understanding.

Game Release

The game is scheduled for release on January 28th on all planned platforms (PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch). The game will also be playable on next gen platforms (PS5, and Xbox Series X|S) thanks to retrocompatibility.

Backers will be able to get the digital keys for their selected platform on Backerkit. We will make another update before the release day to announce when you can get your keys.

Physical Edition and Physical Rewards

Physical Editions (for PS4 and Nintendo Switch) continue to be scheduled for June (and the delay has not affected them, don't worry!). Remember that we chose to release the Physical Edition once the free content update is ready, so it can be included in the cart/BluRay and you get the full game in the package (with no downloads required).

Development of the post-launch content update is going well, and some extra modes have already been implemented (Colosseum and Boss Rush). We are currently testing them and creating new content for those modes (new maps and bosses, mainly).

We are aiming to finish the content update by April and release it digitally with the Physical Edition's release. Getting the Switch cartridges and PS4 BluRays once the ROMs are done should take less than a month or so, but we leave some buffer time just in case.

The physical rewards (cards, OST CDs, Artbooks, plushes and figurines) will be sent alongside the physical editions, starting on June, to save on shipping and prepare the packages with time and checking everyone is sent what they asked for. Keep in mind that the packages will be handled by ourselves one by one, and that can take a while.

Production of the physical goods has started already and we are close to receiving some of them, like the OST CDs.

Here is a view of the final OST cover!

This CD will contain 33 themes made exclusively for the game, including the song composed by Dale North and sung by Emi Evans that we could have thanks to your support on the Kickstarter campaign. You can get a sneak peek of that song by the end of this video.

Regarding the plushes, we have some news: due to the high demand (a lot of you selected the plushes as an add-on on Backerkit! We didn't expect that much and caught us offguard!), the people at Boira Plushies can't make all of them by hand (we are speaking of more than 120 plushes), so they will require the help of a plush factory. Rest assured that the final plushes will be of a good quality, as Boira Plushies is supervising the production, and providing the patterns and designs. Once the plushes are done, they will quality check each one of them and perform fixes if necessary (they have a lot of experience!).

Here you have an image of the plush prototypes:

New features: Difficulty selector

We are using the extra time we got due to the delay to include new features (like the forge) in the game and tweak the gameplay to make it feel better and more accessible.

Since we released the Prologue on Steam, we have been watching gameplay videos that people have been uploading and listening to all the feedback. Some people complain that the Prologue is too easy (despite it being just the first level, so of course it wouldn't be as hard as the rest of the game!) while others struggle a lot to defeat the first boss.

That's why, in addition to the use of the IR Codes to customize your game equipment (to either get some help or even some hindrances to make it more challenging), we have included a Game Settings menu to further customize your experience.

With these Game Settings, you can even turn off game features like losing items or levels on death, in case you don't like those typical Rogue-lite elements. You can also make the game harder if you feel it isn't challenging enough! This menu is unlocked under certain conditions, and only lets you modify the settings before you enter the dungeon, so you can't change the difficulty in the middle of the game!

A couple of things

Some of the backers that pledged for the Monster or Boss rewards have not answered yet, we will get in contact with them before the year ends. Those monsters and bosses will be available in the content update.

Also, our friends at JanduSoft (under the Ultra Collectors brand) have something to annouce soon, so keep tuned! You can follow them on Twitter

Have a happy and safe end of the year!