Community Update - May 2024

[Majora]

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!

• Patch Release

Our latest patch is out! People are now able to collect a new Stonekin Ultra-rare card: Bedrock! 

To help players get their hands on the new cards created by the Skylords Reborn team, we have also introduced the Rebirth booster. This special booster contains 3 cards, all from the Rebirth edition, with a substantially increased chance of producing an Ultra-rare card.

Players can earn Rebirth boosters by playing our new Map-of-the-Day. Each day, a different map is highlighted on the world map. Completing this map awards players with additional rewards, like increased gold, upgrades and/or bfp. For every 10 days you complete the Map of the Day, players are rewarded with a Rebirth booster. These boosters will also be available through certain events, so keep your eyes out for that!

We have also added some balance changes to underperforming Twilight cards, as well as a bugfix to a longstanding bug with heal stacking. To round out the patch, we added a batch of quality of life changes requested by the community. 

 

Click here to read the full patch notes. 

 

• Where is Gate of Akylos

Returning readers of the Community Update might wonder whatever happened to Gate of Akylos. In our last Community Update we mentioned the recent patch would contain both Bedrock and Gate of Akylos as two new Ultra-rare cards, but only the Turtle made it to the live server.

Sadly, Gate of Akylos (GoA) could not make the deadline. GoA is a very labor-intensive card. While the effect might read easy on paper, the only way to make this effect work is making adjustments to all Lost Souls units. We underestimated the amount of work and time this would take, and with us all being volunteers, we had to make the call to delay the card or the whole patch. We opted for the later, and will continue working on getting GoA released in the future. We apologize for the premature announcement, we always strive to find a good balance between announcing upcoming content and making sure they get in your hands in a timely matter. We hope for your patience as we continue working on new content.  

 

• Feedback Survey - Community Updates

For the past 3 years we have been providing you with a recurring Community Update, sharing upcoming features and behind the scenes information about the project. We are now at Community Update #47, and we are really curious about your opinion on them. What sections do you like? What would you like to see more off? Do you like to see things that we are currently working on, or prefer for us to only share information when a release date is near? 

We have decided not to put a booster behind the survey this time (though be sure to check the scratch code at the bottom of this Community Update for a special treat!) but we hope you will take a few minutes to answer these questions regardless. 

• New Card Reveal - Icespike

We are taking a break from our new Amii card reveals (check out Skydancer and Amii Sentinel in case you missed them) to talk about an upcoming new Frost card. Scheduled for a release later this year, say hello to Icespike! 

Please note: We are still working on the card. While we are generally happy with it, numbers and effects might still change before release. 

Icespike will be a new tier 3 Frost unit, and will be an uncommon. It will release in a future patch. Let's break down the card.
 

Brrrrr!
Enemy units attacked by Icespike are frozen for 15 seconds. After freeze wears off, targets are immune against Freeze for 10 seconds.

 

Frozen Blanket - Cost: 50p
Activate to bestow up to 5 friendly units in a 20m radius with an Ice Shield. Each Ice Shield absorbs up to 800 damage for 30 seconds and can be strengthened to absorb up to 2000 damage. Reusable every 30 / 20 / 20 / 20 seconds.

 

Design notes: When we first started working on Frost way back in March 2021, we identified the lack of ways to create Ice Shields as one of the faction's biggest problems. At the time, the only ways to create more than one Ice Shield at once were Winter Witch and Area Ice Shield. Since then, we have added Coat of Protection to T4 and Soulstone to T1. Tier 3 Frost is still lacking a way to create Ice Shields, which is an even bigger issue because Ice Age exists in T3. Enter Icespike. We originally wanted to give a multi-target Ice Shield spell to Avatar of Frost, but we ran into animation issues which caused the card to moonwalk after using the ability. Additionally, we feel that Avatar is in a good spot already and we wanted to add a card which could fit into multiple different Frost decks. 

Icespike will apply a weak 800-strength Ice Shield to up to 5 allied units. This shield can be strengthened up to 2000 total strength by Ice Age. This will give Frost T3 a new sustain option in addition to Ward of the North. Icespike will also freeze any unit it attacks on contact. This kind of auto-attack CC is common among NPC enemies, but as of yet it is not a feature of any player card. We thought this was thematically fitting, turn enemies to ice while using ice to protect allies, and it makes the unit a bit more interesting than being just a walking Ice Shield generator. 

 

• Art Spotlight - Icespike

The artwork for Icespike is based on an unused* artwork from BattleForge called ''Winter Demon''. We are always on the lookout for ways to increase the flow of new content, and we thought the artwork was very promising, but not very Frost looking. Our artist Tweeto ended up tuning the artwork to fit in better with other Frost cards, making changes to both the background and the color on the entity itself. We hope you like it!

          

*Technically the original artwork appears in the game once: on the map Ascension for Viridya's Aspects of Winter

We have also adjusted the model, as originally it was completely transparent and therefore hard to see. You will be able to get your hands on Icespike as a player card later this year.

 

• New Community Map & Event: Town in Need

While you are waiting for the new campaign maps, why not explore a brand new community map created by the map maker R4bitF00t!
In this map, you choose whether to defend the Town, or launch an attack against the Twilight. Here is a special trailer for the occasion: 

The map is now available in the Community Map section. You can also win some prizes by competing in the event currently running. Click here for more information.  

 

• 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 - Official Event #13 - A Town in Need is a Town Indeed - until 14.05.2024
Play a newly released community map, where you have the choice of defending the town or overwhelming the Twilight attackers. Whichever way you choose you get a chance for amazing prices, including the newly released Bedrock card. More information.

 

• NEW - Battle of Tactics #7: This isn't even my final form - on 11.05.2024
Ultralord is back with a new PvP Tome Tournament! As is common for the Battle of Tactics, there is a small twist to it. The tournament has a very large prize pool, so be sure to sign-up! More information.

 

 • SECOND PHASE STARTED - 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 Event Organizer @Metagross31. 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.

 

• Map Testers needed

With the latest patch behind us, our focus is now on the next patch, which includes highly anticipated new campaign maps. Progress is steady, but to ensure high-quality content, we're in urgent need of additional map testers.

As a map tester, you'll gain exclusive early access to maps in various stages of development. Your tasks may vary from simply playing the map on specified difficulties and sharing feedback, to executing particular strategies or focusing on specific areas of the map. Since the majority of the content currently in the works requires at least 2 players, we're seeking players who can reliably commit their time to the testing process.

For more information and to apply, please click here. 

Unexpected Visitors will be one of the new campaign maps coming in 2024. 

 

• Team changes

Speaking of map testers, Volin has concluded his role of Map Tester Coordinator. We want to thank him for his contributions. 
If anyone is interested to take on the mantle, please consider to...

 

• Contribute to Skylords Reborn

Skylords Reborn is a community-driven project fueled by the passion and dedication of over 50 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 some more proofreaders (English), to read over stuff like the Community Update and Event posts before they go live. We are also looking for translators (French, Russian) to help with our new campaign maps and more. 

Don't have time to formally join the staff, but still would like to help out? Please check out this guide on how to support Skylords Reborn as a community member.

 

• 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.
Just this month, the code will reward you with one of the new Rebirth booster: JUST-AONE-TIME-GIFT

The code is valid until June 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 April 2024

[Dutchy]

1 hour ago, Majora said:

Feedback Survey

The Burrower image looks awesome in the survey!

[Carofex]

For how much you would sell the Rebirth booster?

[Dutchy]

The current values on SMJ: https://smj.cards/boosters

 

[Hrdina_Imperia]

Always love new cards :^)

[Metagross31]

[fShark]

Always love news about Lost Souls! 

[Stippy]

Some one else getting antivirus messages when starting skyloards now? Must have come with the newest patch, as 2-3 days ago I did not get any issue. Apparently Antivir detects some files as possible Trojans. Using Avira Security (free version)

Edited May 2 by Stippy

[Cocofang]

AV often randomly triggers on Skylords, which can happen again with updates.

The Skylords launcher functions in a way that triggers some AV. But it's harmless for the user yet necessary for the game to work.

By default, the game is meant to send your login credentials to the EA server, just like every other always-online game communicates with the official server. However, EA shut down the official server, there is nothing to communicate with. And without the EA server the game cannot function at all, it's dead. In order for this project to work it needs to use a technique that "steals" the login credentials that you enter when logging in and reroutes them to the Skylords Reborn server instead of the non-existent EA server.

So to be clear, what is being taken are the login credentials that this project already has from you signing up. And those are being sent to the SR server instead of the EA server. Otherwise the game would just try and fail to connect to the dead EA server and not work.

[Vrizz]

23 hours ago, Majora said:

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!

• Patch Release

Our latest patch is out! People are now able to collect a new Stonekin Ultra-rare card: Bedrock! 

To help players get their hands on the new cards created by the Skylords Reborn team, we have also introduced the Rebirth booster. This special booster contains 3 cards, all from the Rebirth edition, with a substantially increased chance of producing an Ultra-rare card.

Players can earn Rebirth boosters by playing our new Map-of-the-Day. Each day, a different map is highlighted on the world map. Completing this map awards players with additional rewards, like increased gold, upgrades and/or bfp. For every 10 days you complete the Map of the Day, players are rewarded with a Rebirth booster. These boosters will also be available through certain events, so keep your eyes out for that!

We have also added some balance changes to underperforming Twilight cards, as well as a bugfix to a longstanding bug with heal stacking. To round out the patch, we added a batch of quality of life changes requested by the community. 

 

Click here to read the full patch notes. 

 

• Where is Gate of Akylos

Returning readers of the Community Update might wonder whatever happened to Gate of Akylos. In our last Community Update we mentioned the recent patch would contain both Bedrock and Gate of Akylos as two new Ultra-rare cards, but only the Turtle made it to the live server.

Sadly, Gate of Akylos (GoA) could not make the deadline. GoA is a very labor-intensive card. While the effect might read easy on paper, the only way to make this effect work is making adjustments to all Lost Souls units. We underestimated the amount of work and time this would take, and with us all being volunteers, we had to make the call to delay the card or the whole patch. We opted for the later, and will continue working on getting GoA released in the future. We apologize for the premature announcement, we always strive to find a good balance between announcing upcoming content and making sure they get in your hands in a timely matter. We hope for your patience as we continue working on new content.  

 

• Feedback Survey - Community Updates

For the past 3 years we have been providing you with a recurring Community Update, sharing upcoming features and behind the scenes information about the project. We are now at Community Update #47, and we are really curious about your opinion on them. What sections do you like? What would you like to see more off? Do you like to see things that we are currently working on, or prefer for us to only share information when a release date is near? 

We have decided not to put a booster behind the survey this time (though be sure to check the scratch code at the bottom of this Community Update for a special treat!) but we hope you will take a few minutes to answer these questions regardless. 

• New Card Reveal - Icespike

We are taking a break from our new Amii card reveals (check out Skydancer and Amii Sentinel in case you missed them) to talk about an upcoming new Frost card. Scheduled for a release later this year, say hello to Icespike! 

Please note: We are still working on the card. While we are generally happy with it, numbers and effects might still change before release. 

Icespike will be a new tier 3 Frost unit, and will be an uncommon. It will release in a future patch. Let's break down the card.
 

Brrrrr!
Enemy units attacked by Icespike are frozen for 15 seconds. After freeze wears off, targets are immune against Freeze for 10 seconds.

 

Frozen Blanket - Cost: 50p
Activate to bestow up to 5 friendly units in a 20m radius with an Ice Shield. Each Ice Shield absorbs up to 800 damage for 30 seconds and can be strengthened to absorb up to 2000 damage. Reusable every 30 / 20 / 20 / 20 seconds.

 

Design notes: When we first started working on Frost way back in March 2021, we identified the lack of ways to create Ice Shields as one of the faction's biggest problems. At the time, the only ways to create more than one Ice Shield at once were Winter Witch and Area Ice Shield. Since then, we have added Coat of Protection to T4 and Soulstone to T1. Tier 3 Frost is still lacking a way to create Ice Shields, which is an even bigger issue because Ice Age exists in T3. Enter Icespike. We originally wanted to give a multi-target Ice Shield spell to Avatar of Frost, but we ran into animation issues which caused the card to moonwalk after using the ability. Additionally, we feel that Avatar is in a good spot already and we wanted to add a card which could fit into multiple different Frost decks. 

Icespike will apply a weak 800-strength Ice Shield to up to 5 allied units. This shield can be strengthened up to 2000 total strength by Ice Age. This will give Frost T3 a new sustain option in addition to Ward of the North. Icespike will also freeze any unit it attacks on contact. This kind of auto-attack CC is common among NPC enemies, but as of yet it is not a feature of any player card. We thought this was thematically fitting, turn enemies to ice while using ice to protect allies, and it makes the unit a bit more interesting than being just a walking Ice Shield generator. 

 

• Art Spotlight - Icespike

The artwork for Icespike is based on an unused* artwork from BattleForge called ''Winter Demon''. We are always on the lookout for ways to increase the flow of new content, and we thought the artwork was very promising, but not very Frost looking. Our artist Tweeto ended up tuning the artwork to fit in better with other Frost cards, making changes to both the background and the color on the entity itself. We hope you like it!

          

*Technically the original artwork appears in the game once: on the map Ascension for Viridya's Aspects of Winter

We have also adjusted the model, as originally it was completely transparent and therefore hard to see. You will be able to get your hands on Icespike as a player card later this year.

 

• New Community Map & Event: Town in Need

While you are waiting for the new campaign maps, why not explore a brand new community map created by the map maker R4bitF00t!
In this map, you choose whether to defend the Town, or launch an attack against the Twilight. Here is a special trailer for the occasion: 

The map is now available in the Community Map section. You can also win some prizes by competing in the event currently running. Click here for more information.  

 

• 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 - Official Event #13 - A Town in Need is a Town Indeed - until 14.05.2024
Play a newly released community map, where you have the choice of defending the town or overwhelming the Twilight attackers. Whichever way you choose you get a chance for amazing prices, including the newly released Bedrock card. More information.

 

• NEW - Battle of Tactics #7: This isn't even my final form - on 11.05.2024
Ultralord is back with a new PvP Tome Tournament! As is common for the Battle of Tactics, there is a small twist to it. The tournament has a very large prize pool, so be sure to sign-up! More information.

 

 • SECOND PHASE STARTED - 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 Event Organizer @Metagross31. 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.

 

• Map Testers needed

With the latest patch behind us, our focus is now on the next patch, which includes highly anticipated new campaign maps. Progress is steady, but to ensure high-quality content, we're in urgent need of additional map testers.

As a map tester, you'll gain exclusive early access to maps in various stages of development. Your tasks may vary from simply playing the map on specified difficulties and sharing feedback, to executing particular strategies or focusing on specific areas of the map. Since the majority of the content currently in the works requires at least 2 players, we're seeking players who can reliably commit their time to the testing process.

For more information and to apply, please click here. 

Unexpected Visitors will be one of the new campaign maps coming in 2024. 

 

• Team changes

Speaking of map testers, Volin has concluded his role of Map Tester Coordinator. We want to thank him for his contributions. 
If anyone is interested to take on the mantle, please consider to...

 

• Contribute to Skylords Reborn

Skylords Reborn is a community-driven project fueled by the passion and dedication of over 50 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 some more proofreaders (English), to read over stuff like the Community Update and Event posts before they go live. We are also looking for translators (French, Russian) to help with our new campaign maps and more. 

Don't have time to formally join the staff, but still would like to help out? Please check out this guide on how to support Skylords Reborn as a community member.

 

• 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.
Just this month, the code will reward you with one of the new Rebirth booster: JUST-AONE-TIME-GIFT

The code is valid until June 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 April 2024

Email newsletter redirected me to some virus-dense crappy site with lots of ads. Is it on my side?

 

Who can provide more info about tester coordinator?

[Majora]

37 minutes ago, Vrizz said:

Email newsletter redirected me to some virus-dense crappy site with lots of ads. Is it on my side?

 

Who can provide more info about tester coordinator?

Thats.. weird. Looks like the bitly link is expired and now links to something random instead. I have removed the link while we grab the correct sign-up link. Apologies for the inconvenience, and thank you for pointing it out! 

As for your other question, @Dutchyshould be able to help you out, please contact him for any questions you might have. 

[Stippy]

On 5/2/2024 at 5:32 PM, Cocofang said:

AV often randomly triggers on Skylords, which can happen again with updates.

The Skylords launcher functions in a way that triggers some AV. But it's harmless for the user yet necessary for the game to work.

By default, the game is meant to send your login credentials to the EA server, just like every other always-online game communicates with the official server. However, EA shut down the official server, there is nothing to communicate with. And without the EA server the game cannot function at all, it's dead. In order for this project to work it needs to use a technique that "steals" the login credentials that you enter when logging in and reroutes them to the Skylords Reborn server instead of the non-existent EA server.

So to be clear, what is being taken are the login credentials that this project already has from you signing up. And those are being sent to the SR server instead of the EA server. Otherwise the game would just try and fail to connect to the dead EA server and not work.

Ty. Just wanted to make sure, not that the update has brought in some stuff that was unintended.

 

/Edit: And btw I love what you guys are adding to the game! Really looking forward to the Amii cards update, then loving the new card Icespike for frost T3 - I think that tier is currently in need of another viable unit opening up possible choices. Additionally the map of the day and its new incentive to play is really cool!
Is there currently a way of seeing, how many map of the days have been played and when you get the next booster out of that?

Edited May 4 by Stippy

[Majora]

On 5/2/2024 at 10:35 PM, Stippy said:

Ty. Just wanted to make sure, not that the update has brought in some stuff that was unintended.

 

/Edit: And btw I love what you guys are adding to the game! Really looking forward to the Amii cards update, then loving the new card Icespike for frost T3 - I think that tier is currently in need of another viable unit opening up possible choices. Additionally the map of the day and its new incentive to play is really cool!
Is there currently a way of seeing, how many map of the days have been played and when you get the next booster out of that?

Thanks for the kind words!

Its tied to an returning achievement, where you can see your progress; every 10th map you get the rebirth booster. We are currently working on showing your map of the day progress in other places for a bit more clarity too.

[Draconnor]

This new map is definitely nice - It would be nice to add some voiceovers and put it on world map or something if its possible 😉

[Metagross31]

16 hours ago, Draconnor said:

This new map is definitely nice - It would be nice to add some voiceovers and put it on world map or something if its possible 😉

The map is only a community map and not supposed to be part of the upcoming new campaign maps. Also, it is currently not possible to add custom voicelines to community maps as far as I know.

But I am glad to hear that you like it 🙂

[Kelieto]

I was curious as to how map of the day functions. Some questions I have are is it randomly picked? Or is it on a set rotation? Are single player maps able to be map of the day?

[WindHunter]

32 minutes ago, Kelieto said:

I was curious as to how map of the day functions. Some questions I have are is it randomly picked? Or is it on a set rotation? Are single player maps able to be map of the day?

Map of the Day is multiplayer only. We did this because we wanted to use it as a way to funnel players together on campaign maps similar to what happens with rPvE. The choice of which map is the MotD is random with weights. The longer a map has not been the MotD, the higher its chance to be chosen the next day. 

[Majora]

E-mail newsletter sign-up link has been fixed. You can sign-up here if you haven't already. 

If you have experience creating newsletters and would love to help out, please reach out to us. We are currently severely understaffed in Marketing. 

[Stippy]

New update today? Really looking forward to it ^^'
No pressure though!

[Majora]

1 hour ago, Stippy said:

New update today? Really looking forward to it ^^'
No pressure though!

First of the month, so absolutely 😄 Will be live in a bit