Earlier this week, we hosted a live AMA in our Telegram community with Cliff Cawley, the developer behind Lost Relics.
Here’s what Cliff had to say about the Diablo-inspired action-adventure RPG, the cross-game Cyborg’s Quest, and more.
Cliff: Thanks @BryanaEnjin, and hi everyone! I’m the one many army behind Lost Relics, the Action-Adventure RPG that’s been live on Ethereum mainnet for over a year now.
I’m a veteran in the video games industry but I decided to branch out into blockchain game development, which landed me here! ?
The last year has been a blast and chatting with everyone on Telegram and Discord while I develop the game has been really rewarding.
Cliff: I am planning to add multiplayer as soon as I have the single player finalized after the next major update.
I’ll definitely be adding 4 player co-op and I’m also looking to add a PvP arena.
It’s going to be fun taking on the challenges that await you with a group of 3 others at your side! Although Ogandor won’t stand a chance with 4 players dancing around him so I’ll need to spend time crafting multiplayer only experiences, too.
I have a few options for the PvP arena too. The first idea I’d like to implement is an arena where the weapon is chosen ahead of time. All competitors will be given the same weapon to use, and the winner will be the last one standing!
This will allow people to try out some of the weapons that are no longer dropping in the game, which might entice them to buy one on the Enjin Marketplace!
Cliff: Just before the gas fees increased, I finished work on a new hybrid solution which is live now.
Basically the game holds all your items in a wallet on the server and you can use those items within the game as you like, including for Quest completion.
If you want to send them to your wallet for safe keeping or to trade them, then you can do that whenever you like by simply paying for the transfer using Transfer Crystals.
It’s been working really well for many months now and has definitely meant that the high gas fees have had little effect on the gameplay.
Cliff: It’s a great question, and in a traditional progression game, you will always be able to obtain the same items as other players, usually through Quests.
Some of those games have attempted to introduce special items along with a marketplace, but ended up failing because of bugs and the eventual discovery of too many of the limited items causing the value of the items to drop.
The limited items in Lost Relics will only get more valuable as time goes on because of their limited supply and the increasing player base.
The base progression won’t rely on these items, instead you will find traditional virtual items to help you progress, you just may miss out on some rare items along the way.
If you were one of the lucky ones in the early days, you’ll have one of the limited edition Godslayers (with a total world supply of 15!)
Cliff: Fear not, I’m still in early development and am about to release a massive update which I’m sure you will find gives you many reasons to have more fun again!
Once this next major update is out of the way, I’ll switch back to my fast release cycle where I’ll be showering everyone with regular events and content.
One of my favourite events would be The Fallen Tablets event, where players shared 3 fallen tablets with each other to unlock a treasure room filled with chests. If you missed out, you can check it out, along with all previous events on our events page.
As for multiverse items, I’ll definitely be expanding support for the existing platforms I already make use of! I also have plans to do more than just allow you to use the items verbatim. Summoning rare bosses or starting unique adventurers are all planned for the future.
Here is a list of currently supported multiverse items:
Lost Relics: Multiverse Item Support
Multiverse items are items that are supported across a variety of games. Each item is represented in it’s own unique way in that particular game. Lost Relics supports many Multiverse items and will add more as time goes on.
lostrelics.io
Cliff: No, I don’t intend to add classes. I’m not a fan of re-rolling characters because you’ve decided you want to change to magic based skills or you’re tired of kiting and want to do more melee.
In Lost Relics, you simply change the items you’ve got equipped in your loadout. The items give you your abilities and powers and you can build your own custom class around that.
There are also a growing number of available Outfits to change the look of your character. Check out Hamlin who’s currently only available to those holding a Founder’s token:
Last year for Halloween, I released a limited-edition Halloween Outfit called ‘Flamin’ Jack.’
Limited-edition outfits like this are a great way to show your participation during that event, and I’ve got plans for plenty more coming in the future!
Cliff: I think it’s a good simple preview of something that’s possible, but the gaming universe is so diverse that I don’t think it’ll primarily be the focus. Given a lot more time and planning, I’m sure developers can create some really compelling cross-game content and experiences.
I think in the near future, you’ll see more indie developers adopting it, but major studios have a lot of red tape and IP-related restrictions that they will have to overcome first, before they’ll adopt it heavily.
At the very least, I think we’ll see a lot more collaborations, allowing for cross-game play and ownership.
I still love watching my Nestables run after me in the dungeons! He’s so cute.
Have you seen our collaboration with @ForgottenArtif? If you have a Cube, you can use the Nestables pet ingame to follow you around in towns and dungeons. They make a pretty fierce companion!#indigame #enjinmultiverse #nestables pic.twitter.com/SmKCZKlFxL
— Nestables (@nestablesgame) May 11, 2020
Cliff: Content is key and as features creep in, they usually require more content to be created to supplement them. Being a solo developer, you can only add so much new content a day.
It can be challenging to balance feature requests with what’s possible for a small team (especially for solo devs), so I think if you’re conscious of this and know your capabilities, you’ll be able to make decisions about which features to add or not.
If you spend some time planning out your features and what content they’ll require, you can save yourself time later on, too.
I also think that regular releases and feedback from your community are a great way to keep you motivated, so don’t develop in a silo!
For example, I have had bombs in the game for a while, and recently decided to add some variations which add a whole new gameplay mechanic.
Here you can see a new ‘Flashfire mine’ which allows you to place the mine, waiting for monsters to walk over it before it explodes:
Cliff: As with everything in this space, you sometimes have to move fast, and I think I’m agile enough to do that.
I’ll definitely see what Efinity brings, but my goals have changed a little too (i.e., I used to rely on trade fees for Quests, but I no longer do that). So, I think I’ll just evaluate it when the time comes, because so much will have changed by then anyway.
Cliff: Yes, I’ve got plans in the future. I’ve started a small amount of translations already with the help from the community, but because of the large changes and the pre-alpha status, it can end up being a waste of effort to do that too early on. I’ll do it more once I’ve finalised a few more areas.
Cliff: It’s been steadily increasing over time and with the recent Cyborg event we hit 500 Monthly Active Users with total accounts over 5,000. The next update should help that even more.
Cliff: Yes, I’m considering allowing them to attack soon!
Cliff: I previously forced everyone to link their wallet before they could play the game, however I’m not longer doing that.
Instead, I’m taking a stance of education and information. Everyone will be playing with both virtual and blockchain items, and as the blockchain items spread, they’ll increase awareness and intrigue.
Basically, I’m throwing everyone in the same pool together ?
Cliff: Yes! I’ll have the first simple one coming in the next update, but definitely plenty more coming soon!
Cliff: I’ll be revealing it on my Twitch stream on August 16th, straight after I do the Cyborg winners announcement at 4:00pm Pacific.
2.5 more days until the Cyborg's Quest ends! Have you found the decryption key yet? ?
16 keys will uncover vast riches and provide free access to the @swissborg Wealth Portal.
? Winners to be announced via Twitch on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 4:00pm Pacific: https://t.co/EBSJRrf53d pic.twitter.com/xYhpbPu4cm
— Enjin (@enjin) August 13, 2020
We’d like extend a big thank you to Cliff for taking the time to join us, and to everyone who participated!
Until next time—see you in the chat room.
