Legends of Dawn Reborn

Hi all!

Guess who's back

I have a rather exciting news to share with you. And I apologize for the following wall of text, but please bear with me

In the manner of TotalBiscuit (keep fighting that damn illness, man!), we are asking a simple question: WTF is… Legends of Dawn Reborn?

Legends of Dawn Reborn is a re-release of our very first RPG title; Legends of Dawn. In fact, all those major updates are coming in a form of a new game, primarily because the changes are too deep and too complicated to simply update the older version of Legends of Dawn.

Most of you are aware of our work on Wave of Darkness ("WoD" in the following text) which will be released very soon. The work on WoD helped Legends of Dawn ("LoD" in the following text) as we were able to move it to 64-bit architecture world thus ensuring support and updates for much longer and you were able to witness a number of improvements during the last two years.

However, as the development on WoD continued further we realized that we would need another refresh of the Legends of Dawn engine in order to remain in sync. But changes in WoD Dreamatrix 2 engine were too deep and we couldn’t risk patching the old engine further by injecting the new code. Too many things could have gone wrong. Instead, we moved the content (the world, graphics and quests) from LoD to the new WoD engine and decided to re-release LoD with the added suffix in the title; Legends of Dawn Reborn.

A few months ago we retired the old LoD on Steam in preparation for the new LoD Reborn which will now replace Legends of Dawn, with its own page, price, fresh forum, achievements etc.

LoD Reborn has its own APP ID so it will appear as a separate title on Steam, with new higher price on the same level as release retail price of the Wave of Darkness and with the new community hub. There is a clear trend in recent years, showing that most of the purchases happen during introductory and season discounts so the new price will allow us to offer greater discounts. With the new price the game will now be less likely perceived as a casual title which it isn’t. The new community hub will help us start with a clean slate.

Most importantly, Legends of Dawn Reborn will be completely FREE for our old friends and all purchasers who own original LoD. All you have to do is; visit your Steam Library and add Legends of Dawn Reborn to the download queue, and that's it!

"Reborn"

The biggest and the most complicated part of this work was to convert the whole game to the new engine, which was created for the purposes of successfully Kickstarted title, Wave of Darkness. The new Dreamatrix 2 engine. 2.5 years in the making, makes the game more stable, more robust, more future-proof, and much easier to patch.

The game is now heavily optimized, thanks to the new 64-bit architecture. There are over 60 major fixes, improvements and new features to Legends of Dawn, including Inventory overhaul, completely changed crafting system, upgraded spell system with mastering, upgraded chest unlocking, major map update, Empowered, Blessed and Cursed items, and many more.

The response to Wave of Darkness during Early Access development phase was great. The players liked the improvements and in general loved the game much more than the original Legends of Dawn. So instead of patching the old engine Dreamatrix decided to port the content from the Legends of Dawn to the new engine and to discontinue the old title and re-release it revamped with the new engine and RPG system “under the hood” and the new price. So here is the list of differences and similarities:

• Dreamatrix 2, optimized engine used in Early Access title Wave of Darkness
• Legends of Dawn Reborn is a 64-bit ONLY title. Streaming technology enables playing without any loading screens. All data seamlessly loads in background
• Huge expandable inventory, bags with item stacking and sorting
• Completely new informative tooltips holding all data about single item type, including runes, potions and spells; important data about magic level, crafting etc.
• Redefined Spell generator - create powerful magic out of runes which you collect throughout the world; your spell casting will increase your spell level (visible in tooltips)
• New full screen map with plenty of filters
• New advanced crafting system
• Additional combat animations
• Upgraded Unlocking System with Keys and Runes: using specific runes or keys players can interactively unlock and activate locked chests or crates and other mechanisms in the game
• New class of items: Cursed Items, Blessings, Relics etc.
• Major upgrade with keyboard and mouse navigation
• Full freedom to explore hundreds of unique locations in any direction
• Innumerable wild creatures and monsters that drop loads of loot
• 100% port of Legends of Dawn quests and the world, exactly the same as you know it
• Achievement system (150) and Steam Cards
• Original Legends of Dawn is no longer supported or available for purchase
• Legends of Dawn Reborn IS FREE FOR OWNERS OF Legends of Dawn! If you already purchased LoD do not buy LoD Reborn, you are qualified to get it free of charge.

Finally, one small, humble yet very important request

Developing ambitious titles like Legends of Dawn and Wave of Darkness is an incredibly passionate, yet at the same time very demanding and difficult task. It takes many hours throughout many days, weeks, months and years of work and enthusiasm to develop these kind of titles, and even though it can be a rewarding experience, a lot of stuff can go wrong.

We had our fair share of mistakes, but we have learned a lot. We all remember extremely rocky start that we had with LoD. Negative reviews, thumbs down and furious heat in Steam forum were killing us and consequently poor sales were making very hard for us to invest time in patching and improving the game. Our team grew smaller. But nevertheless we did as much as we could and actually, a lot more than LoD sales were allowing us.

With this re-release we hope to give LoD Reborn a chance of a fresh and positive start that LoD didn’t have. If we can manage to get positive reviews and thumbs up on Steam and get constructive atmosphere in the forum the sales will improve and enable us to continue improving the game and continue to add new and exciting features.

Our marketing budget is nonexistent; we can’t break through to most relevant media. Our only major resource are your reviews on Steam and your word of mouth.

Therefore, we are taking this opportunity to humbly ask you to post a "Positive" review on Legends of Dawn Reborn Steam page. That is, if you enjoyed Legends of Dawn and recognized our willingness to keep improving it.

On the other hand, if some of you don’t like Legends of Dawn, even after so many changes and improvements, we kindly ask you to refrain from negative reviews and posts for the sake of others who would like to experience further development and improvements.

Thank you for reading and we sincerely can't wait to see you on Legends of Dawn Reborn discussion boards!

If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask!

Iggy_Dreamatrix said:

Therefore, we are taking this opportunity to humbly ask you to post a "Positive" review on Legends of Dawn Reborn Steam page. That is, if you enjoyed Legends of Dawn and recognized our willingness to keep improving it.

On the other hand, if some of you don’t like Legends of Dawn, even after so many changes and improvements, we kindly ask you to refrain from negative reviews and posts for the sake of others who would like to experience further development and improvements.

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I don't know… I am one who shied away from LoD due to negative reviews, and I would want to know honest opinions on whether or not the game improved. What you're asking feels a little… dishonest, for lack of better word. Refraining from negative reviews?

I appreciate the tough spot and all that, and I appreciate that you're fixing your game for free, but I feel like it is not right to ask for people to refrain from voicing a negative opinion if that is truly how they feel.

This leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I will try and load it up sometime over the next few days, work is busy and the D:OS EE is almost here.

Though I will post exactly how I feel the game works and plays. I am happy that you guys put a ton of work into the game to try and improve it. Lets face it though it was basically unplayable in the state that I tried 4 times to play it.

To be honest, Wave of Darkness was an improvement, but still fell short for me. After 15 hours of messing around with it I had deleted the icon from my desk top.

Just had a bit more coffee while working here at home.

I don't think I will load it up, it really doesn't sit well with me you asking people not to post how they really feel about the game. If you like it please praise it for us, if you don't like don't say a word????

I know if I do load it up after reading that, every little think I don't like about I would post. I guess by not trying to play it again I am doing you solid!!!!!!

dont worry, its full of negative reviews already on steam

The reason I asked you to, well, not to post negative reviews is because we are overrun with trolls who are following us since the days of the original Legends of Dawn. And they hate us simply because, well, they hate us. There is a number of 0.1 hours negative reviews, and it's difficult to battle with that kind of extremely negative attitude towards our work and our game.

I know that our plea it sounds fishy and you have every right to be upset because of that. I just wanted to let you know why we asked you that.

porcozaur said:

dont worry, its full of negative reviews already on steam

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Kind of trollish to be gleeful about that.

Iggy_Dreamatrix said:

The reason I asked you to, well, not to post negative reviews is because we are overrun with trolls who are following us since the days of the original Legends of Dawn. And they hate us simply because, well, they hate us. There is a number of 0.1 hours negative reviews, and it's difficult to battle with that kind of extremely negative attitude towards our work and our game.

I know that our plea it sounds fishy and you have every right to be upset because of that. I just wanted to let you know why we asked you that.

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Though it is really to bad about that, it isn't like you gave us a game that could say they are wrong.

I am not saying you haven't put hard work into both of these games. Though both for me are unplayable as a finished product. My youngest really loves hockey, would spend hours playing and just messing around on the outside rink.

His hard work though made him a better okay player it didn't make me a great player. I wasn't going to give Wave of Darkness a try but I did and gave it a real go.

It is better but not much better, so for myself to go back and try legends and not post how I feel about the game would be lying to the great people of this site who I trust as well when it comes to games I play.

Being late is the norm of crowdfunded projects. They are late.
After that, it is a matter of tastes.
Some people prefer that people behind schedule take off their time to signal they are late and try to explain it (nothing of this changing the fact they are late).
Others prefer that people behind schedule keep their heads down to try to release as soon as possible.

People behind schedule, when they lay out excuses, please some and displease others.

People behind schedule, when they do not profess excuses, displease some and please others.

One solution to avoid the situation is to deliver on time. But that is not what crowdfunded projects do. Crowdfunded projects are late.

Hating crowdfunded projects that do not explain their delay is hating for hating.

Icefire said:

I want HONEST opinions posted.

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They might be honest opinions. Anything reflecting the mindset of a poster is honest.

Honest to the product, that is another story.
Steam reviews do not provide honest to the product when they are crowdfunded.
There is an obvious bias toward the product for the simple fact of being crowdfunded.

Crowdfunded devs who do not benefit from the preferential treatment are fully legitimate in wondering how this happens.

I read thru the reviews today. There are a large number of trolls that simply are posting negative trash with 0.1 hours played. Clearly they feel hurt about the past campaign etc.

The campaign was run terribly, the communication was terrible, your forum was terrible. I think if even the communication was clearer it would have been easier on you.

I am willing to post a review on the game after I get some time into it. I'm judging it based on what it is, not what I'd like it to be.

Icefire said:

Maybe they "hate you" because it took you over a year & a half to finally deliver what was promised in Feb. 2013. I finally received it in October 2014!! And the reason why I "hate" you is because you couldn't be bothered to, you know, take 3 seconds out of your day and just explain the delay. You did nothing. NOTHING. For MONTHS. You would appear every 6 months & say "We are working on a new patch. Physical rewards will be delivered soon". Feb. 2013, May. 2013, August 2013, Feb.2014, June 2014. Same thing every time, with nothing else in between.

NOW you have the brass balls to come here and say we were all trolls & haters, you take ZERO responsibility for the long delay, and the totally crap product that was first released, and then ask us not leave a negative review, just a good one. Are you fucking kidding me??? I want HONEST opinions posted. Positive, or negative. Yes, some people go too far with the negative comments, and grossly exaggerate how bad a game is. But we have a brain. We know what is a legitimate gripe and what is just hateful BS. But to ask to not post ANY negative comments, is grossly inappropriate.

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You are staff here and wrote that?

Pretty shameful.

Icefire said:

Maybe they "hate you" because it took you over a year & a half to finally deliver what was promised in Feb. 2013. I finally received it in October 2014!! And the reason why I "hate" you is because you couldn't be bothered to, you know, take 3 seconds out of your day and just explain the delay. You did nothing. NOTHING. For MONTHS. You would appear every 6 months & say "We are working on a new patch. Physical rewards will be delivered soon". Feb. 2013, May. 2013, August 2013, Feb.2014, June 2014. Same thing every time, with nothing else in between.

NOW you have the brass balls to come here and say we were all trolls & haters, you take ZERO responsibility for the long delay, and the totally crap product that was first released, and then ask us not leave a negative review, just a good one. Are you fucking kidding me??? I want HONEST opinions posted. Positive, or negative. Yes, some people go too far with the negative comments, and grossly exaggerate how bad a game is. But we have a brain. We know what is a legitimate gripe and what is just hateful BS. But to ask to not post ANY negative comments, is grossly inappropriate.

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A lot of negative things happened post-Legends of Dawn launch (the original one). Our team grew smaller, and it was much difficult to provide new patches on a more regular basis.

Regarding the physical rewards, there is literally crapload of administrative obstacles we had to overcome, mostly because we sent that from Croatia. Croatia has some ridiculous laws that are simply non-comprehensible to foreigners. Or another example: for six months we couldn't find a factory that could make a box where we could put the rewards into. A. Simple. Box. The factories wanted INSANE prices for that, and we had a very fixed budget.

Moving on. From your post I'm getting an impression that somehow I called everyone here on RPGWatch forums, and everyone who purchased the original LoD trolls and haters. Where are you getting that from? I simply wrote that there are trolls and haters who posted 0.1 hours reviews simply to hurt us and our efforts to make the game better. That's it.

ChienAboyeur said:

Being late is the norm of crowdfunded projects. They are late.
After that, it is a matter of tastes.
Some people prefer that people behind schedule take off their time to signal they are late and try to explain it (nothing of this changing the fact they are late).
Others prefer that people behind schedule keep their heads down to try to release as soon as possible.

People behind schedule, when they lay out excuses, please some and displease others.

People behind schedule, when they do not profess excuses, displease some and please others.

One solution to avoid the situation is to deliver on time. But that is not what crowdfunded projects do. Crowdfunded projects are late.

Hating crowdfunded projects that do not explain their delay is hating for hating.


They might be honest opinions. Anything reflecting the mindset of a poster is honest.

Honest to the product, that is another story.
Steam reviews do not provide honest to the product when they are crowdfunded.
There is an obvious bias toward the product for the simple fact of being crowdfunded.

Crowdfunded devs who do not benefit from the preferential treatment are fully legitimate in wondering how this happens.

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If you owe a Doctors bill, and don't have the money to pay, is it better to ignore it, and throw away the letters and ignore the phone calls, or to call the Dr. and explain WHY you have not paid them yet? Is that being "hateful?" No. It's common sense. I understand there is delays. But to post constantly when you are asking for the money to be funded, and then disappearing when people ask where the rewards are, there is no excuse for. Yes, you may piss off a few people who feel like they are excuses, but you piss off far more people by ignoring it.

And my apologies, Iggy. I will edit my post. I have several learning disabilities. What i read & what I comprehend are very often 2 different things. I misunderstood what you were asking for. I thought you meant no negative comments at all, anywhere. And rune i am sorry my disabilities are "shameful." I will try and do better.

Icefire said:

And rune i am sorry my disabilities are "shameful." I will try and do better.

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Its not your disability, it was your attitude. Don't make rune say something he didn't.

Wisdom said:

Its not your disability, it was your attitude. Don't make rune say something he didn't.

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Thank you...I wasn't saying anything about his disabilities at all...it was purely the attitude.

I just want to show you what we are dealing with, and I simply can't understand why do people write this kind of crap.

So after we posted an update on LoD Kickstarter yesterday regarding the latest patch, this guy said

I really wish you would stop sending out these updates on this dead KSer. I still never received my rewards from this scam of a KSer, and if you keep asking for feedback, I will start putting feedback about how 3 years late I still do not have what I paid for, yet you are still making money ripping people off!

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So I went to the backer report in order to find the guy and send him the message in order to help him out regarding the rewards he apparently didn't receive, and found this



Sure, he wasn't able to run the game properly at the time, but he did receive his reward. He pledged for the $25 tier, so there is no chance that he didn't receive a physical Collector's Box.

Thank you for the update. I look forward to downloading it and giving it a spin.

Icefire said:

If you owe a Doctors bill, and don't have the money to pay, is it better to ignore it, and throw away the letters and ignore the phone calls, or to call the Dr. and explain WHY you have not paid them yet? Is that being "hateful?" No. It's common sense.

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Better hurry up before the doctor phones to demand the money.

I understand there is delays.

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Crowdfunded projects are late.
The delay is known beforehand. That severely impairs the apology thing.