Volin

Greetings Skylords!
A new month; a new Community Update! It's time to bring you up to speed with everything going on in Skylords Reborn!

 
• Halloween Patch

Happy Halloween Skylords! Last weekend, we released a surprise Halloween patch. This patch contains various bugfixes and quality of life changes. Additionally, we have implemented some balance changes, including the previously announced Stronghold changes. 
We have also added the Fire-themed Forge. Keep yourself warm this month with this special themed Forge (active as a featured Forge till the end of November), or complete the achievement ''Never Thought of Him'' to permanently unlock the Forge in addition to 100.000 gold. This reward is retroactive, meaning those who already completed the achievement in the past automatically have the Fire-forge. 
Skylords might remember our Spooky Encounters Halloween Event from last year. We have now implemented a returning achievement, where you can earn a Lost Souls booster and a special Pumpkin-avatar for beating the map during the Halloween season. 
For those looking for a more classic event, we also have a Halloween event that went live earlier today. 
We hope you enjoy this special Halloween patch. You can find the full patch notes here. 
 
• New Card Reveal - Soulstone

This patch also contained the surprise reveal and release of Soulstone!
Today we would like to dive a bit deeper into its design, and how the release is both sudden and overdue.  
 

 
Soulstone is the very first building card we have introduced in the Rebirth Edition (if you don't count our Promo Worldbreaker Gun). It is a Frost card requiring only a single Frost orb, but with a unique twist: Skylords are able to upgrade the card to tier 2 once they have a second orb available. This allows the card to transition throughout the game, powering up alongside the other tools at your disposal. 
Upgrading the card reduces the cost for its memorial ability, and increase its lifepoints. Soulstone is a rare card and can drop from boosters or be reforged into. We also have a special Halloween event where you have a chance to earn it, more about that later in this Community Update.
 
 
 

Let's break down the card: 

Frozen Ward
Activate to trigger a global shielding spell that enchants every friendly structure to grant friendly units within a 20m radius an Ice Shield that absorbs up to 120 damage for 10 seconds. Units that already have an Ice Shield are unaffected. Each unit can only be affected once every 10 seconds. Lasts for 30 seconds. Also affects structures that are still under construction. Has a 60 seconds cool-down after the building was built. Reusable every 60 seconds.  
 
Memorial (mode change)
Activate to regenerate the full power of the Soulstone. After 2 seconds, the building gains Soul Armor and loses Frozen Ward. Requires 2 orbs to activate. Has a 60 seconds cool-down after the building was build. 
 

Soul Armor
Activate to trigger a global shielding spell that enchants every friendly structure to grant friendly units within a 20m radius an Ice Shield that absorbs up to 180 damage for 10 seconds. Units that already have an Ice Shield are unaffected. Each unit can only be affected once every 10 seconds. Lasts for 30 seconds. Also affects structures that are still under construction. Reusable every 60 seconds.
 
Soulstone has been in the making for quite a while now, and we would like to share some behind the scenes' information about its road to release. To do so, Lead Designer Windhunter will take you all the way back to 2021.
 
• Soulstone Design Notes

The release of Soulstone is a testament to how far the Skylords Reborn team has come in its development capacities. The original design concept for Soulstone dates back to June 2021, where it was one of the first cards ever designed by the faction design department. Soulstone's initial design pattern was very closely on the Soulstone players encounter in Defense of Hope, similar to how Banzai Lord is patterned closely on its eponymous mini-boss in Mo. The idea was that the player Soulstone would achieve its full its strength upon reaching T2 just as the Soulstone in Defense of Hope regenerates its strength partway through the mission, summoning Skyelfs to defend itself. We did not think that Frost needed a Skyelf spawner, but we did believe that Frost needed early game sustain and that providing shields would fit well with Soulstone's existing identity. In terms of initial vision and final design, the Soulstone we released a few days ago and the Soulstone we originally designed 28 months ago are highly similar. So why did it take so long?
The challenge of creating a card like Soulstone that could transform into a stronger version of itself upon reaching a higher tier was riddled with technical hurdles. Despite how much we have achieved, it is important to remember that we do not have the source code for BattleForge. Much of what we do is a slow process of reverse engineering and subsequent tool development to allow ourselves to make use of that reverse engineering. Many of our new cards and major redesigns to existing cards have required at least one new mechanic to be successfully reverse engineered before they could proceed. It is a frequent occurrence for our team's faction designers to put forward an idea, have it be accepted as worthwhile to pursue, only for development to hit a wall while we wait for our developers to play Marco Polo with the game engine until they can isolate the correct variable that then allows our card implementers to make the card a reality.
For Soulstone, the primary challenge was the description length. Embedding the functionalities of two cards would result in an exceedingly lengthy description, unprecedented in the game. When we run into major issues like this, we ask ourselves, can we design around it? The best idea we had was to make the Memorial ability self-destruct the existing Soulstone and summon a new, better Soulstone in its place. Altar of Chaos and Portal Nexus both summon new buildings, so this was clearly possible. A little janky, but a promising workaround nonetheless, except that both Altar of Chaos and Portal Nexus' summon abilities are hardcoded, meaning that if we add the ability to a different building, it will always and only summon the building from the original ability. Additionally, even the ability icons were hardcoded, so even if we got it to work, Soulstone would have had an Altar of Chaos icon on it. For regular followers of our Community Updates, you may have pieced together that this same issue would seem to be true for our upcoming card Bedrock, which summons its own Stone Launcher, and if so, you would now have a better understanding of one reason for why said card is not yet released. Anyway, the workaround also proved impossible, so we decided to adjust the design so both the T1 and T2 version could reasonably fit into a single card.
While lacking its originally intended evolution mechanic, Soulstone would have still made a good addition to the game. We implemented the global shields and found that it worked fine. Then we started designing a slightly frostier texture for the building, the original is quite gray, only to find that when we tried to construct the Soulstone in-game that the building got stuck under the ground. It was there, but completely buried. With no knowledge of how to fix this issue, we had to abandon the possibility of using the Soulstone building itself. What we knew we could do was retexture existing buildings with functioning build animations, so we decided to change the name and use a different building instead. Our most promising attempt was trying to retexture Fountain of Rebirth, turning its roots into icicles in the process.
After a half dozen aborted tries leading to more and more frustration from the art team, and in light of the ongoing implementation struggles, we made the decision to shelve the development of Soulstone for the time being. This, while the right decision, became very awkward for us as a team because we justified several changes to Frost T1 cards with the reasoning that a new "Frost T1 sustain option" would be releasing next patch. Obviously, this was no longer true, so we scrambled to make changes to Northern Keep as compensation. Instances like this one are one reason we are careful not to announce things until we are sure they are possible.
For nearly two years, Soulstone sat untouched and largely forgotten until early this summer one of the team members pointed out that the original Soulstone design was now fully possible. We did a few preliminary tests and discovered that the team member was correct. In the course of two years, we had advanced our understanding of the game to the point that what was previously impossible was now relatively simple. Once the various card and ability artworks were finished, the building retextured, and the 3D FX crafted, the card implementation took a little under a week. At long last, on Oct. 28th 2023, Soulstone made its way into the Forge.
 
• Events

If you want to get your hands on the brand-new Soulstone card, be sure to participate in our official Halloween event! We will distribute the card among 50% of the participants, and there are also Lost Souls boosters to be won! 
 
• NEW - Official 1p rPvE Contest - Resurrection of the Lost Soul
The Bandits have disturbed our rest for too long! It is time for the Souls to hunt the Soulhunters, show the Power of Lost Souls in this rPvE 1p Contest. The more participate, the more Soulstones we will Raffle! More information.
 
 • FIRST PHASE - PvP AI programming contest
We are gathering players for a new type of event. Get ready for an AI Programming Tournament, where the submitted programs will face off in an epic showdown to find the ultimate AI strategist! More information.
 
• FINISHED - PvP Rookie Tournament
Last weekend, Triggz hosted a special Rookie 1vs1 Tournament. 22 inexperienced players entered the ring and battled it out. The tournament was streamed live, and can be rewatched on the YouTube-channel of Eirias. More information. 
 
In between our monthly Community Updates, we host various events and tournaments, so be sure to keep a close eye on the in-game event tab and the forum calendar to stay informed and not miss out on any exciting events!

• Host your own tournament / event
Want to host a tournament or event? Please reach out to our other Event Organizers, @Metagross31or @Minashigo Hiko. We can help you out with various topics and are glad to discuss potential ideas. We can also sponsor the prize pool for your event. If you have a cool idea for a PvE event, or want to host a PvP tournament, please don't hesitate to reach out to us, we will gladly assist you.
 
• Community Spotlight - Masters of the Forge

In this podcast-like series, Kapo interviews various staff members to discuss the project and personal stories about their interaction with BattleForge and Skylords Reborn. There are currently 5 episodes to watch:
• Episode 1: Dutchy, Lead Moderator - Watch now.
• Episode 2: Majora, Project Coordinator - Watch now.
• Episode 3: Volin, Testing Coordinator -  Watch now.

• New: Episode 4: RadicalX, Faction Designer
In this episode, Kapo and RadicalX talk about Radicals fame as one of the best players in speedrunning and PvP, but also about design (decisions) and loads of topics submitted by user questions. Watch now.

• New: Episode 5: Ult, Server Developer
In this episode, Kapo and Ult talk about the server side of the game, especially about systems like the achievements or cosmetics, as well as future projects like map modifiers. Watch now.
Episode 6 will be hosted live on the 4th of November and feature Ultralord, Video Editor. Tune in live on Twitch, or watch back on YouTube the day after.  
 
• Team changes

During the past month, WaterMelonLord, Nukie and Dallarian have moved on from the team for various reasons. All three of them helped us out with moderation. Additionally, Nukie managed the Event Department, where Dallarian helped the Map Department set the first step into new campaign maps. We appreciate their contributions and wish them well in their future endeavors!
Meanwhile, Noah.K has joined the team as our second Audio Editor. He is helping us out with adding new voicelines into the game by providing editing and advice regarding the recorded takes we have received from our voice-actors. In the moderator department, Linkz has been promoted to Global Moderator. 
 
• Contribute

Skylords Reborn is a community-driven project fuelled by the passion and dedication of over 45 volunteers. We are always on the lookout for like-minded individuals. If you have a passion for gaming, programming, design, or marketing, we invite you to have a look at our open positions!


We are especially looking for an active and passionate outreach coordinator, helping us reach new Skylords by contacting streamers, influencers, media, and other potential parties. This role can make a drastic impact for Skylords Reborn, so please consider applying.
• Marketeer / Outreach Coordinator
As a Marketeer / Outreach Coordinator, you are responsible to spread the word and create awareness about Skylords Reborn, attracting veteran and new players alike. 
Your tasks will include actively researching and reaching out to potentially interested streamers, YouTubers, Discord channels, game magazines, among others. You will be responsible for the communication to and from interested parties and for any promotion deals (for example involving scratch codes). Please note that Skylords Reborn cannot do any paid promotions. 
More information. 
 
• In Conclusion

That's all for this Community Update! We appreciate you taking the time to read through it.
As is tradition, we're including a scratch code as a small token of our appreciation for your support.
The code will reward you with a Lost Souls booster: SOUL-STON-ENOW-LIVE
The code is valid until December 1st, when we will bring you another Community Update. 
We're always looking for ways to improve and value your feedback. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to share them with us. We'll be back next month with more updates on our ongoing projects and upcoming features. You can also sign up to our e-mail newsletter here. 

Archive
• Skylords Reborn Documents (Deep Dives, Behind the Scenes, PvP Guide)  
• Overview Community Updates
• Community Update October 2023

Hotfix - 30 October 2023

General Changes
Adjusted the ordering of cosmetics. They will now be ordered by the Legacy avatars (purchasable with gold) and then achievement avatars. the cosmetic unlock description. the cosmetic name. General Fixes
Fixed a regression that prevented ground units from opening gold chests while in combat. Fixed an issue in the cosmetics paging logic that caused entries to be displayed twice in some cases. Fixed replays displaying the wrong date and time in the replay selection menu. Card Fixes
Soulstone: Fixed the cooldown of Soul Armor (T2 Shielding ability) to actually work. Stronghold: Improved EN/DE description of Cannon Turrets to be more consistent. Improved non-EN description of Bombardment to be more consistent. Improved EN description of To the Last! to be more consistent.

Patch #400044 - 28 October 2023
🎃👻 Welcome to the Spoooooky Halloween Patch! 🦇🕷️
Skylords, gather 'round as the shadows lengthen and the nights grow cold! We're thrilled to present our ninth balance patch, teeming with delightful treats and perhaps a trick or two.
Dive deep into the abyss to discover a mysterious new card, unveil chilling new achievements that await the brave, and embrace the night as you light up the forge with a hauntingly beautiful new theme.
Happy Halloween in the Forge, Skylords!

Achievement Updates
[New] Happy Halloween! Rewards: Halloween Pumpkin (Avatar) + 1x Lost Souls Booster
Win the PvE community map Spooky Encounters on expert difficulty during the Halloween season. (One week from Oct. 28th)
[Updated] Never Thought of Him
Now rewards a brand new Fire Forge theme in addition to the 100,000 gold. Reward is retroactive.
Corporate Downsizing
Added 2 additional levels to the achievement with 2 additional progressive avatars.
General Changes
The deck limit has been raised to 500 total decks, inclusive of PvP, Tutorial, and General decks. Please note: Performance issues may occur at higher deck counts. A warning for this will be displayed once you reach 100 decks. Players using a deck level below 100 will now receive a notification encouraging them to check out the free PvP decks. High-res textures are now used for "Flightblocking" objects. Completed goals in maps will now be stored in replay files. The "Seasonal" forge theme has been renamed to the "Featured" forge theme. The new Fire Forge will be the featured theme until the end of November 2023. The game's file system logic has been updated to use UTF-8 paths for enhanced support. This feature is experimental and may be rolled back if necessary. Profile comparison section has been improved with filters allowing sorting by achievement group, achievement type, and locked achievements.
General Fixes
The 'Show Upgrades' button has been repositioned, creating more space between it and the 'Create Game' button. The brown background issue that occurred when clicking on the leaderboard entry in 2 player scenarios has been fixed. Leaderboard filters no longer reload incorrectly after choosing the map from the dropdown. Flying units are now restricted from opening gold chests. This rectifies an issue introduced by a previous change. Issues related to entities like power wells, monuments, and walls not updating their position correctly when teleported via map scripts have been fixed. Achievement Fixes
The tooltip for the forge spring theme locked achievement now correctly displays (8 maps) instead of (10 maps). Corrected faulty achievement descriptions with missing placeholder values in the profile comparison section. Resolved issues with the type filter not functioning properly in the profile comparison section. Chat commands in the chat menu will remain visible when switching chat regions. Community Map Fixes
Removed misleading error messages that appeared after downloading a community map when joining an open game. Resolved issues related to rapidly switching between community map entries which affected the minimap load. Private maps will now be deleted after 3 hours as intended. Downloaded maps will now properly replace older map versions on the filesystem. The "Local" map type filter will from now on display all locally available community maps, including those downloaded and already on the server. Fixed the issue of daily quests not progressing when playing featured community maps. Rectified the error where maps were counted multiple times for the 'complete different featured community maps' achievement. Resolved inaccuracies in the text for hardcoded local community maps.  

New Cards
Soulstone  - 70p T1 Frost ()
You will find the upgrades for this card on the map Defending Hope.
A common complaint among players is that Frost lacks good shield spells and abilities for PvE before T4. This hole in Frost's design is real, and leads to other issues, such as a lack of teamplay oriented utility and army sustain in the early game. Soulstone, a Frost-like version of Fountain of Rebirth that grants ice shields, fills this gap. It is also the first card to make use of a new evolution mechanic we are adding to the game. Once the player reaches T2, Soulstone can be transformed into a stronger version of itself. This allows it to scale with the player, without being overpowered in T1. We hope players enjoy this new card and the many synergies it brings to Frost, and we cannot wait to see what you do with it.  

Card & NPC Balance Changes

Global Changes
Standardize Basic Class Types:
Added missing faction & affinity class tags to all player buildings. Fixed wrong affinity class type on dozens of units. Added missing class type to dozens of units and buildings.  While technically a balance change as it fixes several card inconsistencies, such as some affinities not working with the correct elemental crystal card, this change also improves the accuracy of the card filtering function.

Description Fixes:
  Cleaned up the descriptions of dozens of player cards and NPCs for improved clarity in each language.     Introduced a new standard description for rage on all cards with the ability. Bug Fixes:
Shrine of Martyrs: Fixed a bug preventing alive units from being affected by a shrine if they had already been affected and the current one was destroyed. Sun Reaver: Fixed various faulty interactions with linked fire.
PvE Balance Changes
 Earthen Gift:
1. Charges: 8 ➜ 12
 Frontier Keep:
1. Power cost: 250p ➜ 125p
In truth, we have little idea how strong Frontier Keep is as a card, merely that it is overpriced for its current effect. As such, we are cutting its price in half and seeing what happens. 
 Grinder(r):
1. Infused Provoke (r): The damage buff is now stackable with external effects. 
Grinder's built-in damage buff after using provoke will now stack with effects like Earthen Gift(r) and Wheel of Gifts. 
 Mindweaver:
1. Fixed a bug where the population cap would be permanently increased beyond the 120 limit if a controlled unit died.
2. Edict of Command range: 30m ➜ 40m
3. Added a 40m radius indicator for Edict of Command on card play-out.
 Parasite Swarm:
1. Can now takeover T3 units on upgrade 2 instead of upgrade 3. 
Make Parasite Swarm more accessible to new players by reducing the total gold investment to reach T3 takeovers. 
 Sleet Storm:
1. Radius: 15m ➜ 20m
2. Spell delay: 5 seconds ➜ 4 seconds
Sleet Storm released below the power level we wanted for the card. We have increased the effect radius and decreased the time it takes for the root and gravity surge effects to activate to ensure the player can ensnare faster moving L and XL-units more consistently. 
 Stone Launcher:
1. Orb cost: 1 Frost, 1 Nature, 1 Neutral ➜ 1 Frost, 1 Nature, 1 Hybrid
2. Power cost: 70p ➜ 100p
3. Life points: 1700 ➜ 2200
4. Rock shot
   A. Splash radius: 5m ➜ 8m
   B. Now damages both air and ground units
5. Pulldown power cost: 80 / 80 / 75 / 70p ➜ 50 / 50 / 45 / 40p
Stone Launcher is now a normal tower. We think that T3+ AA-only towers are largely a bad design, and, on top of that, we needed a normal T3 Stonekin tower for our upcoming card Bedrock to be able to summon and Tectonic Shift to teleport.
 Stronghold:
1. Power cost: 150p ➜ 200p
2. Displayed attack value: 2850 dp20 ➜ 4950 dp20
3. Life points: 3600 ➜ 4500
4. Cannon Turrets: 
   A. Splash radius: 5m ➜ 10m
   B. Turret firing arc: Allow up to 3 turrets to attack a target at a time.
   C. Damage: 74 damage, up to 110 in total ➜ 164 damage, up to 246 in total
5. Bombardment:
   A. Now an active ability
   B. New description: Activate to shoot a mortar shell that deals 800 damage to enemies in a 15m radius around its target, up to 3200 in total. Knocks back small, medium, and large units. Has a range of 40m. Reusable every 30 seconds.
6. New passive, "To the Last!" 
   A. Description: If the fortress has equal to or less than 3000 life points left it will deal 25% more damage and take 25% less damage. If the fortress has equal or less than 1500 life points left it will deal 50% more damage and take 50% less damage.
7. New passive, "Slowed Construction:" Construction time is increased by 50%.
Stronghold has been reworked from the ground up and is finally worthy of being an Ultra-rare card. We encourage players to experience the card for themselves and we hope that we have done the card sufficient justice so that it will live up to its name and model. 
NPC Balance Changes
[ Existing NPC Changes ]
The changes discussed in this section pertain to the non-player versions of these entities which players encounter in campaign and random PvE.
 Flame Crystal:
1. Can now be frozen and disintegrated.
 Howling Shrine (rPvE variant):
1. Root Network connection radius: 25m ➜ 40m
 Mindweaver (rPvE variant):
1. Added small and medium knockback.
2. Splash radius: 5m ➜ 8m
 Nature Random PvE Boss Units:
1. Removed the "Nature" class to prevent unintended interactions with player cards (such as Protector's Seal)
2. Boss Tier: T5 ➜ T4
 Primal Defender (rPvE variant):
1. Orb cost: 3 Nature ➜ 2 Nature
2. Power cost: 150p ➜ 100p 
Now able to be overtaken by both affinities of Matter Mastery.
 Root Network Units (Nature rPvE Variants):
1. Fixed an issue where Treespirit, Thornbark, and Guardian of Nature would not aggro against flying units.
2. Increased ranged at which these units root to attack enemies from 20m to 28m.  
 Root Nexus:
1. No longer provides 2 support. 
2. Removed from Nature rPvE and replaced by the new Earth Crystal.
 Stranglehold:
1. Tower range: 30m ➜ 40m
[ New NPCs ]
These new NPCs are available to map makers to use for community maps. 
New NPC Units:
   1. Pest Creepers: A permanent version of the nature affinity Pest Creepers spawned by Sunken Temple. 
   2. Earth Crystal: Provides 2 support to root network entities within a 20m radius, replaces Root Nexus in Nature rPvE. 
   3. Fortress of Nature: Boss variant of Howling Shrine with 50m range.
   4. Bramblethorn: New Nature variant of Stonekin Rockstorm which roots on-hit. 
   5. Amii Phantom: Ranged-only with swift. 
 

Happy Halloween! 👻

Skylords and Skyladies;
Masters of the Forge will shine a light on all those people working so tirelessly on Skylords Reborn - for the average Skylord, [Game Masters] are elite, mythical creatures too many know nothing about, and we will hopefully change that. So, in this dev-talk-like podcast series we will meet several Masters of the Forge in person, and hopefully I will be able to ask them questions that are interesting to you. And, you will also get the chance to ask them some questions! The series will be streamed on Twitch and afterwards uploaded on YouTube.
Please note that while the content created is supported by the SR Team and will be all about Skylords Reborn, this is no official event or dev-talk. The focus will be around the guest, what their duties are, how they feel about the game and its development - we will not elaborate future changes in depth or announce anything fancy. But hopefully we will know more about the guest and how It's like to be part of the SR Team.
As my sixth guest, I invited [GM] @Ultralord, Video Editor; well known not only for videos but also as a profound artist (#giggle), but most famous for his amazing streams.
 
Quick Overview:
Guest                         [GM] Ultralord, Video Editor Date                           04. 11. 2023 Time                          19:30 CEST Link                            www.twitch.tv/kapostream
If you got any questions you would want to see asked, you are very welcome to drop me a DM here on the forums (@Kapo) or on Discord (#kapojones).
Kapo
 
Previous Episodes:
#1 [GM] Dutchy, Lead Moderator
#2 [GM] Majora, Project Coordinator
#3 [GM] Volin, Testing Coordinator
#4 [GM] RadicalX, Faction Designer
#5 [GM] Ult, Server Developer

Hello Skyladies, Skylords and other Skybeings,
Welcome to a Halloween-Season PvE event!


I remember, long was it ago,  
When I vanished, beneath earth's solemn throw.  
An Event Manager once, lively and grand,  
Whose absence turned into legend, across the land.
But now the Spooky Season calls my name,  
Awakening my spirit, rekindling my flame.  
A Lost Soul, rising from the earthly bed,  
With haunting ideas that fill the night with dread.
No longer gone, I’ve returned to my post,  
To host a Skylord Reborn's event, let's raise a ghostly toast.  
For this Halloween, let eerie magic unspool,  
A resurrection, from the land of the ghoul.
So come forth, brave warriors, if you dare,  
For this event promises a spine-chilling scare.  
I’m back to bring you ghoulish delight,  
Happy Haunting to all, and to all a frightful night!
 
Quick Overview:
Map                          - 1p rPvE Difficulty                   - 8 (Map of the Month) Date                          - 01.11 until 15.11  (23:59 UTC+2) Prizes                        - Boosters and the new card "Soulstone" Winner reveal           - On the 18th of November in this topic  
Goals and Restrictions:
You need to play the 1p rPvE map of the month on Difficulty 8 and achieve following three goals under two restrictions:
• Restriction 1: Your first and second orb are restricted to Frost and Shadows orbs only (this means also no double frost or double shadow start)
• Restriction 2: Once you are T2 (have your second orb available), you are only allowed to spawn Lost Soul units. This also means you are no longer allowed to play tier 1 units. This restriction does not apply to spells or buildings.
• Goal 1: Win the Map
• Goal 2: Open all Gold Chests
• Goal 3: Reach T4 without Amii Monument (The faster, the better)

 
FAQ:
I will update the FAQ below as questions are asked throughout the event. 

How can I participate?

Everyone with an ingame account can participate in the event, there is no need to sign up separately.
You just have to send in your best replay, including the player names and the time of map finish, to mHiko on Discord (minashigohiko) or the forum
(@Minashigo Hiko).
Replay name format - "mHiko_00h20m30s_.pmv"

You can send in your replays until 15.11 23:59 UTC+2.
You can find your replays here: Documents=>Battleforge=>replays


What's the Prize Pool?
The following prize pool will be adjusted according to the amount of participants.
All bfp prizes have been sponsored by @Vysnia
You can join the event multiple times, but only your fastest T4 time will be rewarded, and you can only enter the raffle once:
1st Place: 7 Lost Souls Boosters
2nd Place: 6 Lost Souls Boosters 
3rd Place: 6 Lost Souls Boosters 
4th Place: 3 Lost Souls Boosters + 1k BFP
5th Place: 3 Lost Souls Boosters + 1k BFP
6th Place: 3 Lost Souls Boosters + 1k BFP
7th Place: 3 Lost Souls Boosters + 1k BFP
8th Place: 3 Lost Souls Boosters + 1k BFP
9th-50% Place: 3 Lost Souls Boosters
Raffle
There are two Raffles:
• Raffle 1: we will raffle 10x General Boosters among players who did not win a prize or raffle yet (might scale with increasing participation)
• Raffle 2: The new card "Soulstone" will be raffled to half of the participating players (your placement doesn't matter for this)
 
When will the winners be announced?

The winners under top 5 will be announced via a comment in this topic on the 18th of November. Ultralord will also host a Twitch stream, where he will show the remaining 5 runs, a quiz and some interesting data from the event.
Stream: 24th of November at 19:00 (UTC+1)

Hey,
You are not the first one to be mistaken about this - your task is not to play with Twilight cards, but cards from the Twilight Edition.
#
You can recognize them by the symbol (not color) on the lower right of every card. You can also sort your cards by Edition, or enter "edition:3" in the search field. 
So long story short: Its not about Twilight as a faction, but to play the initially released maps with the initially released set of cards which was called "Twilight Edition". Also check out the Wiki:

https://skylords-reborn.fandom.com/wiki/Editions

I will add a promo Manawing for each of the first 16 places. Looks like a reasonable number of participants. Let's have a good turnament.

Skylords and Skyladies;
Masters of the Forge will shine a light on all those people working so tirelessly on Skylords Reborn - for the average Skylord, [Game Masters] are elite, mythical creatures too many know nothing about, and we will hopefully change that. So, in this dev-talk-like podcast series we will meet several Masters of the Forge in person, and hopefully I will be able to ask them questions that are interesting to you. And, you will also get the chance to ask them some questions! The series will be streamed on Twitch and afterwards uploaded on YouTube.
Please note that while the content created is supported by the SR Team and will be all about Skylords Reborn, this is no official event or dev-talk. The focus will be around the guest, what their duties are, how they feel about the game and its development - we will not elaborate future changes in depth or announce anything fancy. But hopefully we will know more about the guest and how It's like to be part of the SR Team.
As my fifth guest, I invited [GM] @UltDragon, Server Developer; who is (together with the other developers) tasked to implement cool features like the cosmetics, comparing profiles, and many more stuff we will talk about. 
 
Quick Overview:
Guest                         [GM] Ult, Server Developer Date                           21. 10. 2023 Time                          19:30 CEST Link                            www.twitch.tv/kapostream
If you got any questions you would want to see asked, you are very welcome to drop me a DM here on the forums (@Kapo) or on Discord (#kapojones).
Kapo
 
Previous Episodes:
#1 [GM] Dutchy, Lead Moderator
#2 [GM] Majora, Project Coordinator
#3 [GM] Volin, Testing Coordinator
#4 [GM] RadicalX, Faction Designer

Masters of the Forge #4 is now also on YouTube: 
 

I hoped you liked this episode, and we also learned how bad a deck must get so that RadicalX loses to a noob:



 
Thanks again to @RadicalX for joining the series. Next up is Developer @UltDragon on the 21st of October, also 19:30 CEST.
See you in the Forge, fellow Skylords!

Yeah would love to see the "character" feature reindroduced and comming with an Ironman/SSF whatever modus

This is an idea we in the dev team are supportive of, but which we have not yet been able to implement. 

It is done.
After two big brain moves (especially around how to handle the infestation (not-)killings) - once you are T3 you are a winner.
TD Behind Enemy Lines.pmv
Concluding Thoughts:
Because of a long pause of frustration in this endeavour, it took almost two years (just 2 days missing). Without any resources on the harder maps, coming up with a strategy is really painful, especially Oceans and BEL was a mess. 
I won't do all 2P maps (mostly out of missing interest of other players), but if somebody wants to do one of the easier maps (like Slave Master) I would join that - just hit me up.

Hi guys,
So I was wondering if the community is interested in a non-trade mode to play the game. 
I have a 'finished' account (Dwightschrude) where I have all the cards and gold that I want and more, much more. I don't want to throw away my account
At the same time, the biggest joy by far, for me at least, is to play the game from scratch and collect cards and build decks to do the achievements. For example, doing Sunbridge on expert is so much more fun when you have to make due with a few shitty cards you opened from your first bunch of boosters and build a creative deck with it, because it is all you have. For me, at least. 
So I was thinking, there is this game called Runescape, where there is an Ironman mode. This mode makes the player not being able to trade and so they have to collect everything on their own. Its an extra challenging mode and it makes the player feel he has to rely more on his own resources and creativity.
What I also like about this mode is that we can have a cake and eat it too, because then a player could keep his or her main account and have a second non-trade account to experience a new challenge and enjoy the best part of the game again. Since the second account cannot trade, it should not become something people would 'exploit', I think?
So yeah, idk, it was just an idea, I don't know the first thing about coding or whether people would be interested
Cheers!
 
 

Only one to go 😃
 

TD Oracle.pmv

Hello Skylords,
After starting the Masters of the Forge, I had the setup ready to record some videos - and since I was always drawn to Pure Nature, I thought it would be nice to have some chill sessions and record all necessary maps for the Mana Wing Promo.
In the playlist linked below, you will find a complete collection of Pure Nature playthroughs - I might also add some bonus content, especially if there are some requests.
CLICK HERE FOR THE PLAYLIST
This content is in honour of BadKen, who did the same back in the days, and I remember very fondly that his content helped me a lot not only to understand how to play Nature, but also how the more tricky expert maps work.
See you in the Forge, fellow Skylords!

The days of wandering in the desert will soon reach their completion. Changes are coming to the achievement alongside the upcoming release of rPvE 9.5.

Stonekin Hype ♥️
 
And Map Tester Hype! Pls come and give Feedback 👍🏻 

Greetings Skylords!
A new month; a new Community Update! It's time to bring you up to speed with everything going on in Skylords Reborn!

• General Update

It's been a while since our last content patch, and we'd like to provide a brief update on the project. Skylords Reborn relies entirely on the free time of our dedicated volunteers. While we strive to address sudden spikes in inactivity as effectively as possible, there are occasions when unexpected delays are inevitable. Our aim is to strike a balance between revealing upcoming new content and features and getting them into your hands. Currently, this balance is a bit off, resulting in the announcement of some upcoming features a while ago, while they have not yet been implemented. We hope for your understanding in these matters and that you still appreciate us showing what we are working on.
We'd also like to inform you that progress on our upcoming campaign maps is proceeding smoothly. Although we haven't disclosed specific details yet, this decision was made deliberately. The process of map creation can be complex, and even in the late stages of development, maps can undergo significant changes. We want to ensure that our new maps earn their place alongside the existing campaign, so we've invested substantial time in establishing the foundational elements to build upon. Our dedicated testers are currently working to ensure these maps provide an enjoyable playing experience, and we're confident that the end result will be something you'll greatly appreciate. Please stay tuned for more updates!
 
• New Card Reveal - Bedrock

In June, we unveiled the artwork for our highly anticipated tier 4 Stonekin turtle. Since then, people have been curious about the card and its associated effects. Today we are excited to show you the design for the upcoming Stonekin unit: Bedrock.
Please note: We are still testing the card. While we are generally happy with it, numbers, effects, and its rarity might still change before release. 
 

 
Delving further into the building-focused Stonekin archetype, Bedrock offers Stonekin players an exciting and versatile tool for the endgame. If you want to learn more about this archetype, please check out the Stonekin Deep Dive!
Bedrock stands as a formidable elemental destroyer, capable of both laying siege to enemy buildings and constructing new ones. Additionally, it possesses the ability to fortify friendly structures with an Ice Shield. This card has a ranged auto-attack, siege, two active abilities, and, naturally, the Stonekin passive ability.
Bedrock will be available in two different affinities, each influencing its unique Sculptor ability. Once released, the card will drop from boosters and can be reforgable. 
Bedrock will be the first Ultra Rare card from the Rebirth Edition. To make sure enough players will be able to enjoy the card, we are considering hosting an event around the release where you can earn the card. Stay tuned for more information.  
 
 
 
Let's break down the card: 
 
 Rock Throw (auto attack)
Range: 30m
Every 3 seconds, unit fires a molten stone dealing 633 damage, up to 950 in total. Knocks back small and medium units.
 

Blessed/Tainted Sculptor
Range: 30m
Place a Stone Launcher with an affinity towards Frost/Shadow that deconstructs after 30 seconds at a target location within a 30m radius. Only one tower may be placed at a time. Can be placed nearby enemy units and structures. Reusable every 30 seconds.
 
Living Rampart
Cost: 50p - Range: 30m
All friendly buildings in a 30m radius will be fortified, gaining an Ice Shield that absorbs 1800 damage for 15 seconds. The Ice Shield renews itself once after 15 seconds to absorb an additional 1800 damage. Reusable every 30 seconds.
 
 Siege
Deals 100% more damage against structures.
 Adamant Skin (Stonekin faction passive ability)
The unit takes 15% less damage
 
Bedrock has been in the making for quite some time now, and we still need a little more time to work on some technical implications. Alongside the new Tectonic Shift card and some upcoming balance changes, we hope to improve and explore the playstyles of the Stonekin faction. We are currently not able to communicate a release date yet.
 
• Look reveal - Bedrock

And finally, here's a sneak peek at how Bedrock will appear in the game!  We hope you are looking forward to our new favourite stone turtle!
   • Community Spotlight - Masters of the Forge

Skylord of Honour and CCC-host Kapo started a new project this month: Masters of the Forge.
In this podcast-like series, Kapo interviews various staff members to discuss the project and personal stories about their interaction with BattleForge and Skylords Reborn. In his own words:
Masters of the Forge will shine a light on all those people working so tirelessly on Skylords Reborn - for the average Skylord, [Game Masters] are elite, mythical creatures too many know nothing about, and we will hopefully change that. So, in this dev-talk-like podcast series we will meet several Masters of the Forge in person, and hopefully I will be able to ask them questions that are interesting to you. And, you will also get the chance to ask them some questions! The series will be streamed on Twitch and afterwards uploaded on YouTube.
Please note that while the content created is supported by the SR Team and will be all about Skylords Reborn, this is no official event or dev-talk. The focus will be around the guest, what their duties are, how they feel about the game and its development - we will not elaborate future changes in depth or announce anything fancy. But hopefully we will know more about the guest and how It's like to be part of the SR Team.

There are currently 3 episodes to watch:
• Episode 1: Dutchy, Lead Moderator
In this episode, Kapo and Dutchy discuss various moderator-related topics. Find out about how our moderators keep Skylords Reborn a fair community. Watch now.

• Episode 2: Majora, Project Coordinator
In this episode, Kapo and yours truly talk about the Community Updates and Project Coordination. We also go over what goes into creating a new card for Skylords Reborn, and which departments are needed to make it happen. Watch now.

• Episode 3: Volin, Testing Coordinator
In this episode, Kapo and Volin dive into the topic of testing, a crucial part of the game. As a special treat, Volin showcases the new rPvE difficulty 9.5, as previously announced in our community update. Watch now.
Episode 4 will be hosted live on the 7th of October and feature RadicalX, Game Designer and PvP expert. Tune in live on Twitch, or watch back on YouTube the day after.  
 
• Events

In between our monthly Community Updates, we host various events and tournaments, so be sure to keep a close eye on the in-game event tab and the forum calendar to stay informed and not miss out on any exciting events!
 
 • NEW - PvP AI programming contest
We are gathering players for a new type of event. Get ready for an AI Programming Tournament, where the submitted programs will face off in an epic showdown to find the ultimate AI strategist! More information.
 
• Host your own tournament / event
Want to host a tournament or event? Please reach out to our other Event Organizers, @Metagross31or @Minashigo Hiko. We can help you out with various topics and are glad to discuss potential ideas. We can also sponsor the prize pool for your event. If you have a cool idea for a PvE event, or want to host a PvP tournament, please don't hesitate to reach out to us, we will gladly assist you.
 
• Contribute - Spotlight

If you are interested in helping out with our upcoming new campaign maps, Map Tester might be of interest to you!
 
• Open Position - Map Tester
As a map tester, you get early access to new maps and game modes and are responsible to playtest them and provide feedback to the other map developers about possible issues or improvements. This includes checking how balanced the map is, how fun it is to play, if there are any exploits, if areas on the map need to be prettified etc. Map developers/designers/artists should be able to rely on you to make sure maps that are released or changed are done so properly.
More information.
 
But there are more roles available. Below, you can take a look at all our open positions. 
Skylords Reborn is a community-driven project fuelled by the passion and dedication of over 45 volunteers. We are always on the lookout for like-minded individuals. If you have a passion for gaming, programming, design, or marketing, we invite you to take a look at our open positions!
 

 
• In Conclusion

That's all for this Community Update! We appreciate you taking the time to read through it.
As is tradition, we're including a scratch code as a small token of our appreciation for your support.
The code will reward you with a Stonekin booster: DOYO-ULIK-ETUR-TLES
The code is valid until November 1st, when we will bring you another Community Update. 
We're always looking for ways to improve and value your feedback. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to share them with us. We'll be back next month with more updates on our ongoing projects and upcoming features. You can also sign up to our e-mail newsletter here. 

Archive
• Skylords Reborn Documents (Deep Dives, Behind the Scenes, PvP Guide)  
• Overview Community Updates
• Community Update September 2023

Heyho,
I guess thats its a known bug and I strongly assume that it is an individual error but I just wanted to let you know that it rarely still happens.
Most of the time I spend waiting in the lobby looking for videos/music/podcasts in the Windows interface to listen to while I play. Since I'm playing in windowed mode, it shows me when the game has started by lighting up the Skylord icon.
However, from time to time (about twice a year - no matter on which map) the following visual bug happens when I tab back into the game:
 
 

Playing on my AMD Radeon RX580, but this also happened to me with graphics cards from NVIDIA.
 

"Alt + Enter" doesnt fix this.
When I restart the game and view the replay everything is back to normal.
 
Greets to the team 🥰
Y.W.W.W.M.

Dont try this at home. Dont try it at your friends house. Just leave it alone.
This took forever, with so many tries to get the strategy worked to reach the final island - just to get trashed there so easily by what is awaiting. I hope if anybody else ever did this before, they found a better strategy, this is just madness.
But after a while - and this means weeks of trying - you get to the point where you dont need good RNG, just not bad RNG (speaking of Ravenship spawns).
And then you have to find out the hard way how the final boss spawn mechanic works, and it always takes an hour to have a shot at it - if you even make it there. With bad Ravenship spawns in between, where you waste more time.
I will not get into all other details. Just. Let. It. Be. You will waste so much time. You have been warned.
TD Oceans.pmv

The episode is now also on YouTube:
 
Thanks again @Volin for joining the stream, I hope some people enjoyed the footage of the upcoming rPvE 9.5. 
My next guest will be Faction Designer @RadicalX, who will join me on the 7th of October.

And, as Volin highlighted in the end of the stream: Testing can become a bottleneck, so feel free to apply as a Tester:
 

Howdy folks!
As many of you know, I've been streaming my "One Deck" Challenge recently, and I'm almost done with Pure Frost! If you missed these and want to catch up, you can find them in the livestream tab of my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Eirias_h4/streams
At some point I'll probably clip these videos into their own Youtube videos, but for now I'm just linking them in a spreadsheet, in case you're interested in checking out a specific map.


The rules of the challenge:
Beat all Expert campaign maps with the same "Pure" deck (no modifications between maps) No Neutral Orb cards (especially Amii Monument) If any teammates join on the map, they also have to use the One Deck At the moment, the only map left in my Pure Frost challenge is Nightmare Shard. I have a couple unsuccessful attempts trying to solo the map, and I'll probably revisit it in the future, but by the time you're reading this I have probably finished it with a partner and am ready to move on to the next deck!
Speaking of which, I promised I'd put it up to vote! I want to take care of the pure decks first, so that leaves Pure Fire, Pure Shadow, and Pure Nature. Vote!
 
I'll also include my deck lists here, if anyone wants to prepare their own decks to join me in the challenge. Since I haven't started any maps with these decks yet, I'm also open to suggestions for modification. In particular, I might need to adjust the Pure Nature deck to beat Ascension map 2.
Pure Fire decklist: 
/importdeck MiFaFCNEUNSCP0MkV_KKUKMiEdIcTZXEGWLGNCGlK

Pure Nature decklist:
/importdeck MgGqFLaZFuLUMgVvGkGwGOMsPGQHQYUzMULsXELoR

Pure Shadow decklist:
/importdeck MvExENLuMRPXKdUeUKKyIEVKQrYZM8M6V9MQLBVgS

Yes, we can! 😃