Development history

Below is a list of all known changes made to *HighSpell* and its website throughout development.

## Updates and news

* 2021-04-05: HighSpell - Coming Soon!
* 2021-04-18: Registration opening soon
* 2021-04-20: Beta version is ready to play
* 2021-05-02: Graphical Settings Update
* 2021-07-22: Fixed Bug When Connection is Lost
* 2022-01-16: Friend list has been added
* 2022-01-26: Various Game Updates and Changes
* 2022-01-29: More Updates and Bug Fixes
* 2022-02-11: Game Camera Updated and More
* 2022-02-19: New Fishing Area and Bug Fixes
* 2022-02-23: Armour Buffs and Enchanting Changes

## Game history

### Pre-release

#### Beta announcement (21 October 2019)

* A beta was announced to be launching "soon."

#### Beta screenshots (15 November 2019)

* Work-in-progress screenshots were posted.
* A possible beta launch period of sometime "before Christmas" was posted.
* The development team was confirmed to consist solely of dewdrinkr.

#### Game engine news (16 November 2019)

* Player movement was confirmed to be bound to a grid.
* The game's engine was confirmed to be written in TypeScript, with BabylonJS being used for graphics rendering.

#### Shields and necklaces implemented (7 December 2019)

* Shields and necklaces were added to the game.
* Development on adding additional NPCs to the world was announced.

#### Release date news (9 December 2019)

* A possible release date of 1 January 2020 was posted along with the possibility of a delay.

#### Major content implemented (29 February 2020)

* A map expansion, additional NPCs, a quest system, a PvP area and the potion-making skill were confirmed to have been implemented.
* The possibility of a name change was announced.
* The launch of the beta was announced to be "getting a lot closer."
* Rollbacks and resets of in-game player progression were confirmed not to occur in the upcoming beta unless a major bug was discovered.

#### Beta screenshots and game rebranding news (21 March 2020)

* Work-in-progress screenshots were posted.
* The release of the game was confirmed to be "getting a lot closer."
* The name change known to have been previously considered on 29 February 2020 was confirmed to happen soon.

#### Release date and game rebranding news (1 July 2020)

* The gameplay and graphics were confirmed to be similar in design to *RuneScape Classic*.
* The game's release was announced to be "getting closer."
* The game's new name was confirmed to have been chosen and would be announced at a later date.

#### Release date news (17 August 2020)

* 1 October 2020 was mentioned as the target release date for the game.

#### Renamed from *CarbonOdyssey* to *HighSpell* (31 August 2020)

* The game's name was changed from *CarbonOdyssey* to *HighSpell*.
* The game's setting was confirmed to have been changed at some point in development from Ancient Greece to medieval fantasy.
* As the game now had "enough content to be in a releasable state," the planned release period was announced to be sometime before 1 October 2020.
* Work-in-progress screenshots were posted.

#### Development progress and release date news (5 January 2021)

* Development on the game was confirmed to have previously been temporarily halted for a period of time.
* A planned release date of 1 February 2021 was confirmed along with an affirmation that the release wouldn't be too much longer otherwise.

#### Overworld map and release date news (1 March 2021)

* An image of the overworld map was posted.
* It was stated that this iteration of the map would "most likely" be the finalised map in use on release.
* The game was confirmed to be "finally getting ready for release," along with an acknowledgement of the previously announced speculative release dates.

#### Game client went live (18 April 2021)

* The first public version of the game client was made available to access, although gameplay was unavailable at the time due to account registration being unavailable.

### Beta

#### Public beta released (20 April 2021)

* A beta version of the game was released to the public for the first time.
* Although the game was fully playable, dewdrinkr warned that database rollbacks may occur, resulting in potential loss of account progression.

#### Graphical settings and gameplay changes (2 May 2021)

* A field-of-view slider, draw distance slider and a roof-rendering toggle were added to the in-game settings menu.
* The damage output of chickens, squirrels and cows was reduced.
* The chance of successfully cooking food at lower Cooking levels was increased.
* The respawn length of some items found in the Wastelands was increased.
* A bug involving exchanging squirrel pelts for coins at Ned's Squirrel Ranch was fixed.

#### Connection changes (22 July 2021)

* A bug that resulted in the client freezing upon losing connection to the server was fixed.
* The logout timer was reduced from 5 minutes to 1 minute.

#### Friends list implemented (16 January 2022)

* The in-game friends list was finally implemented, allowing players to see each other's online status and send private messages to each other in-game.

#### Bank and newbie quality-of-life changes implemented (26 January 2022)

* Several quality-of-life changes were made to the bank interface, including the addition of a "withdraw all but one" drop-down option and the remembrance of the player's last manual withdrawal amount.
* The chat box now features a scroll bar.
* The rooster guarding the spawn in Middlefern and the goblins on the south bridge have been moved elsewhere.
* Additional bronze items have been placed around Middlefern's spawn.

##### Undocumented changes

* Additional ghosts, skeletal dwarves, rats and skeletons added to the world.
* Bones, coins, corn and an iron helmet added to the ground.
* Great rod fishing level reduced from 15 to 10.
* Master rod fishing level reduced from 60 to 50.
* Nature's Fury damage reduced from 5 to 4.
* Nature's Rage damage reduced from 11 to 10.
* Skeletal Dwarf NPC added.
* The frame rate was uncapped.
* Ultra rod fishing level reduced from 40 to 35.
* Water's Rage damage reduced from 10 to 8.

## Website history

### Pre-release

#### Website development announced (7 December 2019)

* Development on the website was announced.

#### Subreddit migration announced (21 March 2020)

* The upcoming migration of r/CarbonOdyssey to a new name was announced.

#### Subreddit migration and website rebranding (31 August 2020)

* r/CarbonOdyssey was migrated to r/HighSpell.
* The rename from *CarbonOdyssey* to *HighSpell* was confirmed to have partly been influenced by the desire to simplify the website's address from *carbonodyssey.com* to *highspell.com* (neither website was online at this point).

#### Website completion and release date news (5 January 2021)

* Development on the website was confirmed to have been completed and would be published at a later date.
* The website's planned launch date of 1 February 2021 was confirmed along with an affirmation that the release wouldn't be too much longer otherwise.

#### Silent website launch (6 April 2021)

* The website silently went live along with the first news post, although account registration and gameplay was unavailable at the time.

### Beta

#### Account registration opened (20 April 2021)

* To coincide with the launch of the first public beta, account registration was made available to the public for the first time.

#### Interactive world map, media and forum links added (24 January 2022)

* A link to an interactive world map featuring a new render was added to the navigation bar, in addition to links to screenshots and the r/HighSpell subreddit.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/dl4onr/to\_anyone\_reading\_this\_beta\_will\_be\_launching/
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/dwsxee/a\_few\_screenshots/
3. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/dwsxee/a\_few\_screenshots/f7myvzn/
4. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/dwsxee/a\_few\_screenshots/f7n11by/
5. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/dx29fj/gridbound\_movement/f7n0req/
6. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/dwz2mx/what\_game\_engine\_are\_you\_using/f7mqeip/
7. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/e0wb0a/magic\_skill\_implemented/
8. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/e7f1xe/just\_finishing\_up\_a\_few\_things\_and\_adding\_a\_bit/
9. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/e7f1xe/just\_finishing\_up\_a\_few\_things\_and\_adding\_a\_bit/
10. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/e7f1xe/just\_finishing\_up\_a\_few\_things\_and\_adding\_a\_bit/faagbgd/
11. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/f9fvab/is\_the\_game\_finished\_yet/fj348jg/
12. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/f9fvab/is\_the\_game\_finished\_yet/fj348jg/
13. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/f9fvab/is\_the\_game\_finished\_yet/fj348jg/
14. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/f9fvab/is\_the\_game\_finished\_yet/fj348jg/
15. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/fmlxq7/some\_new\_screenshots/
16. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/fmlxq7/some\_new\_screenshots/
17. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/fmlxq7/some\_new\_screenshots/
18. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/hgutly/whats\_the\_point\_of\_a\_clone/fwm0j0o/
19. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/hgutly/whats\_the\_point\_of\_a\_clone/fwm0j0o/
20. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/hgutly/whats\_the\_point\_of\_a\_clone/fwm0j0o/
21. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/hgutly/whats\_the\_point\_of\_a\_clone/g1sbwwy/
22. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/ijyyd9/new\_name\_highspell\_please\_use\_the\_new\_subreddit/
23. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/ijyyd9/new\_name\_highspell\_please\_use\_the\_new\_subreddit/
24. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/ijyyd9/new\_name\_highspell\_please\_use\_the\_new\_subreddit/
25. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/HighSpell/comments/ijyplm/welcome\_to\_highspell/
26. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/HighSpell/comments/ijyplm/welcome\_to\_highspell/gi5plt7
27. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/HighSpell/comments/ijyplm/welcome\_to\_highspell/gi5plt7
28. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/HighSpell/comments/lv3c1r/current\_overworld\_map/
29. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/HighSpell/comments/lv3c1r/current\_overworld\_map/gpa1yva
30. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/HighSpell/comments/lv3c1r/current\_overworld\_map/gpa1yva
31. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/beta-launched
32. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/beta-launched
33. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/graphical-settings-update
34. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/graphical-settings-update
35. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/graphical-settings-update
36. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/graphical-settings-update
37. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/graphical-settings-update
38. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/connection-lost-bug-fix
39. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/connection-lost-bug-fix
40. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/friend-list-added
41. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/bank-and-other-updates
42. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/bank-and-other-updates
43. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/bank-and-other-updates
44. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/bank-and-other-updates
45. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/kilns-changes-and-bug-fixes
46. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/game-camera-updated-and-more
47. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/new-fishing-area-bug-fixes
48. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/enchanting-changes-helmet-buffs
49. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/dauy9t/carbonodyssey\_has\_been\_created/
50. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/e7f1xe/just\_finishing\_up\_a\_few\_things\_and\_adding\_a\_bit/
51. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/fmlxq7/some\_new\_screenshots/
52. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/ijyyd9/new\_name\_highspell\_please\_use\_the\_new\_subreddit/
53. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/CarbonOdyssey/comments/ijyyd9/new\_name\_highspell\_please\_use\_the\_new\_subreddit/
54. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/HighSpell/comments/ijyplm/welcome\_to\_highspell/gi5plt7/
55. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/HighSpell/comments/ijyplm/welcome\_to\_highspell/gi5plt7
56. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210406105555/https://highspell.com/
57. ↑ https://highspell.com/news/beta-launched