August AMA audio, timestamps and transcript

In this post I go over the Gods Unchained AMA in August 2024. I include a link to the audio, timestamps for the most relevant topics, a rough transcription and some commentary.

August 8th 2024

Max. attendants: ~ 50 people?

Audio Recording:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yu6lbdsEWoOm_s_tUZSoiBi95vfIBnLh/view?usp=drive_link

Auto-generated transcript:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GWHiR3SAKdUjc8HQnGyvYhwp0_PG0J9OonP45e65YXE/edit?usp=sharing

Comments

First of all, this is a most welcome voice communication from the team, after a long hiatus created by the end of the last Council of Mortals cycle. It also follows the high profile exits of the producer Daniel Paez and the community manager Eclipse.

The team went over a few current topics in the state and development of the game. It wasn't actually an AMA in the strict sense of the term, though. It was very short and only a few very selected questions were chosen by the team to be addressed; not so so much 'ask me anything' but more 'replies to some very few selected questions'. It was a mix of staff introduction, discussing recent events, introducing upcoming game features and addressing a few community issues at the end. It was not an AMA. I would very much like to see that happen soon though.

The new producer Iman Taeb wasn't on the call, which I find strange and disappointing. I hope he gets around to introduce himself to the community soon. During this voice call Bryn ended talking about topics I would expect would be addressed by someone in this role.

Bryn also said starting from 6:44s he would like to "walk back towards a more creature trading, interactive board gameplay sort of setup. We tried going a few new places in the last few sets, some more from-hand combos and things like that". It's worth listening to this entire section. I understand where this is coming from, but I wonder if the introduction of new game mechanics akin to traps or secrets would allow for counterplay - which is actually what players complain about, they can't fight back - and keep the design space wide and creative while ensuring there is interaction regardless of archetype.

We did get to hear from the new Marketing Lead Jonathan - GUApe. Cheers to you and best of luck for the future!

This is all happening in the backdrop of the uncertainty and worry caused by important staff exits, a significant reduction in the number of active players, an unusually long period without official communication from the team, no game updates, and mistakes with the DA collection rewards airdrop that went on for way too many days without any official communication. Hats off to Bryn for being active in Discord during this time, both during his work hours and after work as well.

There was no information about the future of the Council of Mortals. I really hope we can have a new vote and start a new season in the next few weeks!

The game is not in a good place right now and there are legitimate questions about what will happen if the current trajectory continues. This audio call was an important sign of life, but didn't really dispel these concerns or provide any assurance the game will continue to be supported and developed to a state where it can be considered mature and ready for a wider audience. Lets hope the team is able to turn this sentiment around quickly.

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Timestamped topics

03:03 Bryn/Jammy and Cloudy introductions

06:44 Bryn's vision for the game on archetype design and changes going forward as a result from player's feedback

07:40 New formats / game modes. Changes to DP&E

11:31 Lore, crossovers and community contribution

11:31 Cracking down on fraudulent match fixing, bans, anti-bot detection

14:48 Content Creator program

16:05 DA collection rewards fixes and unawarded tournament rewards

19:15 Avatars (PFP) release earlier this week

20:52 Decklist peeking situation and future fixes. Server logic re-write - ETA is no later than Q1 next year.

23:48 IP crossovers with other games

25:06 Tournaments

26:05 Priorities for the rest of the year: code refactoring, chest migration, progression system, new sets

27:22 No plans to transition from StarkEx to zkEVM in the short term