Hello, Skylanders! We're excited to bring you our 2024 Q2 Development Update. In this post, we'll focus on weapons, outfits, arenas and technical features, along with insights into the next phase of our journey. Get ready to explore our latest innovations, new assets, maps and future goals. Stay tuned for more!

Starfury Champions → Starfury: Rise of Ankor

As we moved closer and closer to Starfury Champions release we realized it was going to fall short of our goal. What we want to deliver on is a unique world containing everything from professions and quests, to PvP combat arenas with astonishing cosmetics. We felt that Starfury Champions would not fully encapsulate that goal, so moving forward we have decided to expand the scope and aim for bringing to life the first chapter of our MMO, Starfury: Rise of Ankor.

Discover New Skylands: A Wilderness Adventure Awaits

These uncharted territories are brimming with thrilling adventures, formidable enemies, and a plethora of side quests that promise to keep you engaged for hours on end. Comparable in size to the well-loved region of Ankor, each Skyland offers a unique blend of challenges and opportunities for every intrepid explorer.

What Awaits You in these Skylands?

Formidable Enemies: Test your skills against a diverse array of adversaries, each with unique abilities and tactics. From cunning bandits to mystical creatures, the skylands are home to foes that will push your combat prowess to the limit.

Engaging Side Quests: Dive into captivating side quests that reveal the rich lore and hidden secrets of these Skylands. Whether you're aiding local inhabitants, hunting for rare artifacts, or solving ancient puzzles, each quest adds depth and excitement to your adventure.

Unique Resources: Gather exclusive resources found only deep withing these uncharted territories. These materials are essential for crafting powerful items and enhancing your equipment, giving you the edge you need to conquer the challenges that lie ahead.

Stunning Landscapes: Marvel at the breathtaking scenery as you traverse diverse environments, from lush forests and serene lakes to towering mountains and mysterious ruins. Each Skyland offers a distinct visual experience, making exploration as rewarding as the battles you fight.

Professions: Master Your Craft

At the launch of Rise of Ankor, you'll have the opportunity to dive into a variety of professions, each offering a unique way to contribute to your journey and enhance your gameplay. Alongside these professions, you'll also unlock the first few tiers of passive skills that will bolster your abilities and efficiency in each field. Here's a closer look at the professions you can master:

Logging: Become a skilled lumberjack, harvesting trees and gathering wooden materials essential for crafting and construction.

Mining: Delve deep into the earth to extract valuable Novax crystals and metal ores, crucial for upgrading your armor and equipment.

Herbalism: Explore the wilderness to collect and identify wild flora. Your knowledge of herbs will be indispensable for various crafting recipes.

Alchemy: Master the art of brewing potions and consumables. Whether you need a health boost or a temporary enhancement, alchemy has you covered.

Fishing: Cast your line and reel in a variety of fish from serene lakes and rushing rivers. Fishing provides both sustenance and materials for crafting.

Cooking: Turn raw ingredients into delicious and nourishing food items. A well-prepared meal can provide significant benefits on your adventures.

Forging: Upgrade your armor and weapons with the skills of a master blacksmith. Improve your gear to gain the upper hand in battles and quests.

Each profession not only adds depth to your character's development but also enriches your overall experience in the world of Starfury. As you progress, you'll unlock passive skills that enhance your efficiency and effectiveness in your chosen professions, allowing you to specialize and excel in your craft.

MSQ: Unveil the Mysteries of Ankor

We're excited to introduce the first chapter of our main story quest set in the vibrant merchant city of Ankor. This narrative journey will delve into the intriguing history and secrets that have enabled Ankor to thrive amidst the perilous Skylands.

What to Expect in the Ankor MSQ:

Fascinating Factions: Meet and interact with the diverse factions that call Ankor home. Each group has its own unique role in the city’s ecosystem and its own story to tell, adding rich layers to your understanding of Ankor’s society.

Daily Life of Inhabitants: Experience the daily hustle and bustle of Ankor's residents. From merchants and artisans to scholars and adventurers, you’ll get a glimpse into the lives that contribute to the city's vibrant atmosphere.

The Enigma of Novax: Dive deeper into the lore of the magical crystal known as Novax. Uncover its origins, its significance, and the power it holds. Understanding Novax will be crucial to your journey and to the future of Ankor.

Explore the intricate details that make Ankor a beacon of commerce and culture in the Skylands. As you progress through the main story quest, you'll unravel the mysteries that have shaped this remarkable city and the forces that continue to influence its fate.

Side Quests:

In addition to the main story, our side quests offer a closer look at the lives of Ankor's residents and the hidden treasures of the city.

Highlights of Ankor’s Side Quests:

Character Insights and Hidden Lore: Get to know the unique stories and personalities of Ankor’s inhabitants while uncovering the secrets and history that enrich Ankor’s world.

Exclusive Resources and Diverse Challenges: Unlock rare materials and items to aid in your journey through a variety of tasks, from solving puzzles to intense combat.

PvP Arenas:

While Rise of Ankor focuses on the world of Arya, we also want to offer that thrilling PvP action we promised with Starfury Champions. We're introducing custom Skylands Arenas for intense 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 battles. Challenge your friends or rivals and prove your skills in these exciting battlegrounds!

Weapons

Each type of weapon in Starfury has its own unique skill tree and abilities, allowing players to seamlessly swap between weapons, effectively changing classes. This flexibility lets players adapt their build and playstyle to different challenges on the fly.

With more than 50 weapons available, the skill trees offer a variety of abilities and upgrades, from powerful offensive moves to defensive tactics and utility skills. Each weapon's base stats, such as damage, range, and speed, are carefully balanced, encouraging experimentation with different playstyles.

In addition to gameplay mechanics, our weapon types feature detailed artwork and animations, enhancing the immersive experience. Whether wielding a great-axe or a mystical staff, the visual effects and animations bring your character to life, making the combat experience both dynamic and visually stunning.

Swords & Shields

This weapon set will be wielded by our guardian, Symbolizing unyielding resilience and unwavering defense. Guardians stand as a stalwart symbol of protection and enduring strength in the world of Arya.

Great-Axes

The great-axe belongs to the berserker, a warrior that embodies the unbridled rage and relentless strength. Tempered with the blood of fallen foes, they are beings of raw power and untamed fury.

Muskets

Muskets belong to the musketeers, deadly snipers and freedom fighters who take a stance against tyranny. Crafted only by those who have trained to do so, they would lay down their life to defend Arya's freedom.

Pyro Staffs

The pyro staff is our first magic weapon (but not our last!), These staffs belong to those who can channel the power of Pyro Novax. In skilled hands, it unleashes devastating infernos, leaving trails of searing destruction.

Character Customization

In Starfury, our versatile clothing system lets you design full outfits and mix and match components to create your perfect look. Unleash your creativity and express your unique style with our extensive customization options in Starfury!

GUI Builder: Empowering Our Development Team

We're thrilled to unveil a powerful new backend tool for our internal development: the GUI Builder! This tool enables our developers and designers to seamlessly customize and iterate on the user interface. With its intuitive, no-code, drag-and-drop interface, the GUI Builder facilitates the creation of layouts tailored to various playstyles and preferences.

Key Features of the GUI Builder:

Customization: Easily tailor the HUD by adjusting the placement and size of elements to enhance the in-game experience.

Components: Choose from a variety of pre-built components or create custom ones to save and reuse, providing flexibility and efficiency in UI design.

Themes: Apply different themes to the GUI, allowing for customization to meet complex requirements and deliver a cohesive aesthetic.

The GUI Builder is designed to streamline our development process, enabling rapid prototyping and refinement to ensure the best possible user experience.

Infrastructure

As we develop Starfury Champions, we've placed significant emphasis on our infrastructure to ensure every player enjoys a smooth and reliable connection. Our servers are strategically located in US East, optimizing connectivity and minimizing latency for our broad player base.

Utilizing Kubernetes, we orchestrate our tools, services, and games with efficiency and scalability. This platform allows us to dynamically scale our resources based on real-time metrics tracked by Prometheus, ensuring our servers perform optimally under varying loads.

Explore a simplified diagram of our infrastructure:

Our commitment to robust infrastructure guarantees that Starfury Champions delivers a consistently high-quality gaming experience to all our players.

What's Next: Shaping the Future of Starfury

As we bring our project closer to realization, aligning with our vision, we're excited to announce that more updates are on the horizon in the coming months. Our commitment remains steadfast in delivering top-tier quality.

Join Our Feedback Team:

We invite our community members to become part of the decision-making process and help shape the world of Starfury. Your insights are invaluable to us. Apply to join our feedback team here and make your voice heard!

Together, let's continue to elevate the experience of Starfury and create something extraordinary.