Future Plan & Insights from the Steam Next Fest
Hello everyone, this is Double Cross Studio, along with our colleagues from the 2P Games publishing team!
First, we need to thank all players for their attention to 'Sultan's Game'! To be honest, the love that everyone has shown for the game has far exceeded our expectations... Of course, this is a great thing for us as game developers, giving us the motivation and confidence to make the game even better, to match everyone's love and expectations.
Our team will now focus on developing the full version, so don’t expect more updates on the demo. But don’t worry,
you can still play it for as long as you want. Based on the issues discovered, your feedback, and our own game plans, we will focus our future efforts on the following aspects:
Adding and enhancing the storyline and mechanics of the game
- More characters will have personal storylines, and new characters will be added. This workload is nearly equivalent to the entire current text volume. We aim to complete most characters' personal stories by the time the game launches; however, we need to balance the development progress with the release date. If these tasks are not fully completed by launch, we will include them in future updates at no additional cost, similar to how Baldur's Gate 3 handled some storylines.
- The five reputation attributes will have independent mechanics and stories, which will influence the endings and intersect with other characters' personal stories
- Additional storylines and endings influenced by the gods of good and evil, the Right Path, and the Cultist
- More random events will be added
- Some existing events will expand the variety of available Sultan Cards and add corresponding story branches
- We are also optimizing storyline requirements that rely too heavy on card sequence for certain characters, balancing the cost and reward of joining
- We’ll improve underutilized mechanisms such as troops and mounts
Interaction experience, art presentation, and system optimization
- Adding an extra hand organization area and shortcut functions
- For repeated events, allowing players to record and quickly place cards used in previous round
- Introducing a powerful mechanic to directly add success dice to outcomes
- Dividing the game into three different, selectable difficulty levels
- Providing more guidance and prompts for basic function buttons
- Enhancing the sound effects for cards interactions and events
Art-related
- We will continue working to complete the remaining card images. Once the important character portraits are finished, we will share them with everyone on social media
- We plan to design a more artistic background and card slot distribution for most events to enhance their narratives
- As shown in the picture, the Rare Treasures will eventually become part of the map’s decoration and have an independent ritual settlement, instead of being part of an unified and overly complex ritual
Game Endings
In the final version, the endings will be more substantial. For example, there will be more narrative scenarios and challenges both before and after escape or rebellion. The way the player manages and responds to each character will also play a crucial role in determining the ending, influencing the fate of both the player and their followers, Correspondingly, the conditions for achieving simple endings will be looser. For instance, there will be alternatives to the current Golden Ideological Trend that can meet conditions more easily, but the rebellion endings brought by different Ideological Trends will also vary.
We will ensure that in at least one or other special endings, players can deal with the Sultan as they wish (It is what he deserves. And many people have been especially waiting for this... we know). Of course, the coherence and flavor of the story remain our top priority, so this won’t be an easy goal to achieve, and certainly not the most interesting ending
Apart from eradicating all Sultan Cards, rebellion, and escape, the game will also include additional endings... but please allow us to keep this surprise for later
Publishing, Community Support, and Promotion Activities
- Optimize the quality of translations and add new languages
- For future versions, organize small-scale playtesting subsequently
- Establish communication channels with WIKI contributors, strategy authors, and broadcasters among others, to support these community contributors.
Multi-platform and control support
- The game will be Steam Deck verified and include a Mac version, possibly before or shortly after the release.
- After the game release, we’ll consider the possibility of porting the game to consoles like Nintendo Switch, but as of now, this will have to wait until after the game is completed to be included in the schedule.
- Similarly, we do look forward to a mobile version of Sultan’s Game, but it faces more complex challenges than console platforms, so this remains a post-completion consideration.
Workshop support and development guide
During the Steam Next Fest, we were shocked to discover players creating simple mods - by cracking our game... The Sultan will (nicely) punish you!
- After the game's release, we will provide modding support and tools, allowing players to switch between different mods without damaging the game's files.
- Additionally, based on community suggestions, we will release more detailed explanations of the game’s system structures and storytelling methods in an accessible format. This will not only offer players more convenience but also allow us to share the excitement of the game development process.
About launch time
We aim to release the game in the first quarter of 2025.
However, given the overwhelming player interest, we’ve undeniably raised our production goals, expanding the game’s content to include more refined systems, large and beautifully stunning monuments, improve music and sound effects… and for many minor characters —good news: you’ll have more personal stories added; bad news: those stories are, well, hehe...
To set expectations, we can’t promise there won’t be any delays. That said, as a small team working on a single-player game for the first time, we’re considering releasing it in Early Access. Many players have told us that the demo already is an EA, tho... But we have to focus on completing what we have, bringing the game to a near-final state and then, after internal testing and further discussions with the player community, we’ll determine the most appropriate release strategy.
Producer's closing remarks
The Atul language has some intriguing terms. One such was the notion of uzan-iya, which was what they called the moment when an innocent heart first contemplated the act of murder. To the Atul, the crime itself was secondary to this initial corruption. Carolyn found that idea—and its implications—fascinating.——Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char (a very interesting novel, which happens to be a gift I received from the Sultan’s script writer several years ago)
This idea deeply attracted me.
If we repeatedly simulate the moment when a soul becomes stained, won't we have a greater chance to observe the shape of our own soul? Sultan’s Game emerges from such an experiment.
When the soul declines, the cries are mournful, and the blaze is dazzling enough to illuminate the true self and foster self-enlightenment.
Interestingly, almost everyone, including team members, has contradictory and divided opinions about this game. One of the struggles and joys of the producer is standing at the center of the project where all contradictions converge.
On the same day, I heard two different people say to me separately, "Absolutely no man will play this game" and "Absolutely no woman will play this game" (of course, there were many more extreme comments that are better left unsaid).
I also encountered a colleague who, in the morning would defend moral integrity with all their soul, claiming to be a righteous person who would never write such an awful plot; and by the afternoon, came to me wanting to add a killing/indulgence option to another event.
This is not sarcasm; in fact, this is the shape of our soul, which is neither smooth, solid, flat nor symmetrical. We are rugged, full of impurities, with caves and pores, like grotesque, misshapen fruits. We are also sculpted by life, destiny, public opinion, and trends—just as rocks can be shaped by earth, wind, and water, but also polished by skillful or clumsy artisans.
From the chaotic sediment, we can discover the true shapes of all beings. Observe the radiance bursting from these unpolished gems in the intense light of the soul's burning. See the multi-colored glories refracted from the swirling mortal dust... Such an endless joy that we’re looking forward to appreciating with you.
Everything lies within Sultan’s Game.
Double Cross Studio
