It’s crazy to believe that we’re already in August. Due to COVID-19, this summer has certainly felt like a weird one, but to be honest all of the extra time inside has given me many more opportunities to work on the game!
Now that we're into August, this means our alpha version of Nihongo Quest is finally about to launch. I’m both really excited and a bit nervous to share the game with all of you.
When is the Alpha being released?
I should be submitting the alpha version of our game to Discord this weekend. Once it is approved, it will take a little time to set up the game on our server. I am hoping to have the game up and running by next weekend, but to be honest, I'm not sure how long it takes to get everything processed through Discord.
The alpha version is launching a little later than I had hoped. However, this is because I've added some new features that I previously did not think were going to be possible, so I would like to talk about some changes below.
One game to rule them all
The first exciting announcement I have is that Nihongo Quest will now only be one game. Instead of making everybody buy one game and four sequels, I'm hoping to just create one massive game that will continually be getting updates. Not only will this be financially better for the player, but it will allow our team to focus on both updating previously released content and creating completely new content all at the same time.
Online play
Here’s the one I think you will be REALLY excited about. I am excited to announce that you will be able to play Nihongo Quest online with your friends!
Online play won’t quite be a co-op mode, as I want each individual to experience and learn all of the contents of the game on their own. However, here are some features you can expect:
- Play the game on the same server as your friends (in a similar way to Minecraft).
- Chat with your friends as you play the game.
- Trade items with your friends.
I will continue to add features to make the game more interactive, but we are very excited about the progress so far.
In-game SRS
The game will also feature a spaced repetition system (SRS) within the game. SRS is an extremely useful study tool. I will be going into more detail on exactly what that means in a later article.
How to participate in the Alpha
All of that being said, I really hope all of you will join us for our free Alpha version of the game. To make sure you can play the game, here’s what you need to do:
- Click this link to join our Discord.
- Wait about one minute for our security bot to automatically verify you.
- Once you have been verified, go to our #get-access. Send !rank n5 (or whatever your JLPT rank is) to the chat to claim your rank.
It's VERY important that you claim your rank. Otherwise, you won't be able to participate in the server. After claiming it, you will then have full access to our Discord. Once the Alpha officially launches on Discord, we will send further instructions through there.
Multiplatform
At this time, only PC players will be able to test the game. We will get a test version for other platforms soon, but for now, we can’t announce exactly when that will be.
That’s pretty much it for today’s update, but once the Alpha launches, expect this blog to be updated more regularly. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to update it weekly, but hopefully I can at least update it two to three times a month.
As always, be sure to let me know if you have any feedback. Stay healthy everyone!