Development Schedule

This pages provides historical information! about the development process, It show which development stage are defined and what their purpose is. and how these are planned, either subsequent or parallels. in a development schedules, The pages also document! the current timelines/schedule as well as the historical development timelines.

## Development schedule

The development schedule presented here is derived from this blog post by Caspian: 'The State of Elyria'.

For the development schedule of Chronicles of Elyria 3 determinant categories of phases/stages/events can be distinguished: test phases, soft launches and community events.

* SBS distinguishes 6 test phases: Pre-Alpha, Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Beta 1, Beta 2 and the final stress test before launch.
* And 3 soft launches are planned: Prelyria, Kingdoms of Elyria and Exposition.
* To ensure the game develops in agreement with the needs and desires of the CoE player-base, a number of key community events are intertwined in the development schedule for the game.

Above-mentioned test phases, soft launches and community events can roughly be put in the following (actual) order:

***Click here to show the development schedule.***

 Launch

***Click here to collapse development schedule.***

## Key phases & milestones

### Test phases

**Pre-alpha**

Pre-alpha testing is intended to be testing for the core game engine as well as developing the unreal client.

#### Alpha

Alpha testing is intended to be functional testing. The focus here is on game-play mechanics rather than bugs. It is an opportunity to validate the game as fun and make changes as necessary to ensure the best possible design.

* Alpha 1 focuses on the adventurer tier. The mechanics here will focus on survival, exploration, combat, and crafting. Basically, most of the features that adventurers are likely to use.
* Alpha 2 focuses on the gentry, aristocracy, and nobility tiers, with mechanics such as land management, housing and settlement building, and domain and kingdom management.

#### Beta

Beta testing is about finding bugs and ensuring as smooth a launch as possible.

* Beta 1 is about finding bugs unrelated to stress or latency. The focus will be on UI/mechanical bugs that are not time-critical, such as crafting, settlement and domain management, survival, etc.
* Beta 2 is about finding bugs that **are related** to stress or latency. The focus will be on combat and other high-action activities.

### Soft Launches

Prelyria: This is a first soft launch planned during the Alpha test phases. It is a role-playing game with a subset of the features relating to Chronicles of Elyria. In part, Prelyria will allow SBS to test and design the massively multiplayer features of Chronicles of Elyria and the Soulborn Engine, containing low-res textures for the purpose of speeding up development. Prelyria is planned to be released in access tiers for Alpha-Beta backers.

Kingdoms of Elyria: Uses the UE4/Prelyria client and takes place during the Alpha test phases. This game allows people to play remnants of the past, their ancestors, to help test some functionality and also to help build on the recent history (52 years preceding launch)

Exposition: Uses the Launch client for the Exposition Phase, where Bloodline+ backers get early access to build the world, parallel to the Beta test phases. This phase happens shortly before launch.

## Development Timeline

### **State of Elyria: Into the Abyss**

With the funding for Soulbound Studios coming to an end, Chronicles of Elyria is forced into a dormant state. As of March 24, 2020, they have had to lay off their employees and shut down the studio, halting production as stated in the State of Elyria: Into the Abyss.

### Realized

The following table provides a current list (Updated 12/10/19) of milestones and goals, and their progressions. The table will be updated as time progresses.

**Abbreviations**

* Q - Quarter (3 month period)
* T - Trimester (4 month period)
* S - Semester (6 month period)

**Provided below are historical/outdated timelines.**

#### Historical Event Timeline

This section shows the realized sequence of events marking the development of Chronicles of Elyria.

***Click here to show the historical event timeline.***

* **November 19, 2018** - Map Voting Concluded
* **October 22, 2018** - Map Voting begins
* **March 1, 2018** - Surname reservation begins
* **February 28, 2018** - Account merging ends
* **February 12, 2018** - The first batch of the V3 website game guides published.
* **February 2, 2018** - Account merging begins
* **February 1, 2018** - Bonus Influence awarded for community participation
* **December 1, 2017** - Top 3 packages retired
* **November 8, 2017** - Package prices increase; layaway option returns (until May 2018)
* **November 1, 2017** - "Kingdom tokens" available in store for NA-East free kingdom competition
* **October 11, 2017** - List of official Kingdoms released
* **August 31, 2017** - Website version 3.0 deployed (phase 1)
* **July 26, 2017** - State of Elyria released; Development timeline updated
* **July 6, 2017** - Website update deployed (layaway option removed, inventory listed in profile, etc.)
* **May 23, 2017** - Kickstarter anniversary week 4 brings the ability to gift a package to a friend
* **May 18, 2017** - Kickstarter anniversary week 3 brings a Token contest
* **May 16, 2017** - Website version 2.11.0 deployed (general improvements)
* **May 8, 2017** - Kickstarter anniversary week 2 brings discounts on Exposition Points
* **May 1, 2017** - Kickstarter anniversary week 1 brings 10% discounts to Pledge Packages
* **April 6, 2017** - Website version 2.6.0 deployed (avatars, change email and user name, preview, etc.)
* **December 28, 2016** - Online Store updates with new backer packages. Funding for stretch goals ends.Note: Packages were adjusted slightly later, based on community feedback.
* **October 28, 2016** - Package layaway becomes available
* **October 3, 2016** - Online Store opens with continued Kickstarter Rewards
* **August 5, 2016** - Website v2.09 deployed (general improvements)
* **July 29, 2016** - Website v2.08 deployed (general improvements)
* **June 3, 2016** - Kickstarter closes
* **May 3, 2016** - Kickstarter opens

***Click here to collapse the historical event timeline.***

### Original

This section shows the original anticipated development timeline as presented in July 2017.

*Please note that this timeline is heavily outdated, and the goals in the below timeline were not release timelines.*

***Click here to show the anticipated development timeline in July 2017.***

**Abbreviations**

* Q - Quarter (3 month period)
* T - Trimester (4 month period)
* S - Semester (6 month period)

***Click here to collapse anticipated development timline in July 2017.***

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Caspian, State of Elyria - July 2017, 27 July 2017
2. ↑ Caspian, State of Elyria: Into the Abyss, March 24 2020
3. ↑ Snipehunter, The votes are in! Map Voting is Over and the Winners are..., 19 November 2018
4. ↑ Vye, Domain & Settlement Claiming Begins on August 30!, 28 August 2019
5. ↑ AshKain, Announcing the Settlers of Elyria, 18 December 2019
6. ↑ Caspian, A Year of Foundation, 12 January 2018
7. ↑ Caspian, Adventure Completion: From Pre to Alpha, 3 October 2018