Letter from the Dev Team — Dragon Chronicles: Black Tears News

Dear adventurers,
This is Director Jay from Dragon Chronicles: Black Tears development team.

A week has already flown by since our Early Access launch, and it still feels unreal!
We are incredibly grateful to every adventurer who has embarked on this journey with us.
Your passionate thoughts, insightful opinions, and heartfelt feedback are truly invaluable.

Initially, we considered replying directly to your amazing reviews on our official Steam and Discord community pages.
However, we decided an official announcement would be more effective, ensuring everyone is informed about our plans and deeply appreciative of your participation in the Early Access phase.

◆ The challenge of the game intensifies as contamination levels rise.
- Yes, the game gets more difficult as contamination level increases. However, contamination spread from the Black Tears also offer a path to considerable power.
Gora, a prominent boss from the Kingdom of Kerkin, succumbed to this allure, becoming consumed by the Black Tear's strength.
This led to his downfall as a king, perpetually seeking even greater power from the Black Tears. Similarly, the rising contamination level not only signifies a more challenging experience but also increases your hero's abilities.

We acknowledge that managing contamination levels has presented difficulties for many players. The challenges escalate when contamination surpasses 50%, inflicting damage on nearby allies and potentially wiping out your entire team at max level.

Our initial intention for the contamination level system was to offer strategic advantages during battles, not to be a source of stress.
However, we recognized that the system's negativity outweighs its benefits. Consequently, we are exploring revisions as outlined below:

◌ Implement positive effects from contamination buildup at an earlier stage than currently implemented. Besides, activate the contamination spread to allies at a higher contamination level, compared to the existing threshold.

◆ High-risk of expedition failure
- We understand the frustration of losing gathered resources due to expedition failure.
Yet, we believe this system offers a thrilling experience, allowing players to define their path within the map and approach battles with cautious strategy.
Furthermore, an ultimate success of an expedition amplifies the sense of accomplishment.

Expedition failure is undeniably linked to accumulating contamination levels. Therefore, our initial focus for revision will be adjusting the contamination system. Subsequently, we will explore options to refine expedition difficulty and decrease failure risks.

◆ Hero card balance and synergy improvements
- We have identified some challenges in showcasing hero card synergies effectively.
In certain cases, hero cards may struggle to manage their ever-accumulating contamination levels by taunting themselves. To address these concerns, we are planning a balance update that will adjust several hero cards.

Furthermore, we are actively exploring ways to enhance the abilities of supporter-type heroes, making them more valuable during expeditions.
A comprehensive update outlining these details will be provided as soon as possible.

◆ Equipment customization and artifact diversification
- We understand the desire for a system that allows players to equip each hero card with unique equipment. While such a system is not currently in development, we recognize the value of diversified customization options.

The existing Divination Hall system utilizing Imprinting Stones already provides a platform to customize hero abilities. We hope players can try different types of Imprinting Stones based on their enemy types, boss encounters, and overall deck synergy.

Moving forward, we will be focusing on adding a wider variety of Imprinting Stones to the game.
This will provide players with more options to tailor hero abilities and unlock new strategic possibilities.
Additionally, we are exploring ways to improve the functionality of underutilized Imprinting Stones and enhance the overall balance between artifacts and specific hero card combinations. These changes will be reflected in upcoming balance updates, with a focus on promoting strong synergies between artifacts and specific hero combinations.

◆ Adding more content and engaging events
- We are committed to meticulously reviewing and brainstorming diverse ideas to introduce refreshing and entertaining sub-missions and events that will keep your expedition gameplay exciting.
Additionally, we aim to develop streamlined and entertaining gameplay content that allows players to take a break from the lengthy and arduous battles.

◆ Controller support
- Controller support for the game is a high priority for our team. We are actively working on its implementation and will provide updates as soon as it is available.

◆ Introducing a dynamic difficulty mode
- Based on your valuable feedback, we are thrilled to announce the development of a "difficult mode" for the game. This will go beyond simply increasing enemy stats by offering a more engaging experience. Difficulty will increase based on your in-game progress (weeks played) and by introducing deeper roguelike elements.

Our goal is not to create artificial difficulty by adjusting numerical values or balancing.
Instead, we want the difficulty to adapt to your choices.

To prepare for these challenges, we are planning to introduce new heroes, artifacts, and Imprinting Stones, making deck building and hero recruitment a more enjoyable and rewarding process. We believe these additions will significantly enhance your gameplay experience.

A detailed developer note outlining the development roadmap for the difficulty mode will be provided as soon as possible. Stay tuned for further updates!

◆ Is it truly a deck-building game?
- We understand there may be some confusion regarding the genre of our game.
Dragon Chronicles: Black Tears is a unique blend of roguelike, RPG, and deck-building elements.

While the deck-building mechanics may not be entirely traditional, the game offers strategic depth.
Players will need to carefully consider whether to prioritize hero recruitment or town development, creating a personalized gameplay experience. We are committed to further refining the deck-building aspects of the game, empowering players to develop their own unique playstyles through strategic decision-making.

Lastly, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has participated in the Dragon Chronicles: Black Tears Early Access!

Your valuable feedback, heartfelt reviews, and passionate suggestions are instrumental in the ongoing development of the project.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts!
We look forward to sharing more exciting news and content in the future.

Until then, take care!

Sincerely,
Jay from Dragon Chronicles: Black Tears

This announcement was written and published by the developers/publisher of Dragon Chronicles: Black Tears on Steam; it is mirrored here unedited for readability, with full credit and a link to the original above. © the respective rights holders. Rights holder and want it removed? Email us — we take it down promptly.