New Beginnings for Eternium

[John Welch | CEO]

Hello again!

Thank you for the valuable feedback and questions in response to my previous post. There were some helpful insights and some fair criticisms. There were observations and speculations, some more accurate than others, but what can you expect without communication from us? While things may have seemed quiet at Making Fun and Dream Primer, the reality has been anything but. It is time to break the silence!

This post is mostly an update on Eternium. Dream Primer are excited to show you what they have been working on in Unreal 5. Expect a post from Adrian in January.

Managing a live game on an orphaned engine is no small feat. Dream Primer had someone who developed expertise hacking the engine and running the build process, but that person left and this difficult task fell on Adrian’s shoulders. Developing the next game and running events and a complex build and release process that gets broken by every Apple or Android API upgrade left little time for bug fixing or feature development on Eternium.

Together, Dream Primer and Making Fun discussed all the possibilities. We agreed that Eternium remains a best-in-class ARPG that should continue moving forward. We also agreed that we should support Dream Primer to pour their talents and passion into world building and multiplayer in the new Unreal-based title. To make this happen, we decided to move most Eternium development and live ops work over to the Making Fun team.

We are implementing the build process, including figuring out *exactly* what versions of various tools and libraries last updated years ago actually work. A few weeks ago, I was able to create a Marmalade simulator build on my PC! It was fun to be part of the action. Another MF engineer continued this effort, and we are now testing a build he made with the latest Android SDK, a necessary step before we can publish an updated build on Google Play. We are now working on the iOS build, which involves a tangle of Apple certificates, profiles, and other goo on top of the Marmalade madness.

I chose now to send this message because we are making tangible progress. It took substantial effort to get the first successful build on a machine not in the Dream Primer office. Now that I can play a release candidate build on my Pixel phone, I feel confident that the other platforms will soon follow.

Once the Making Fun team can build, test, and release on all platforms we will turn to migrating event management (start, stop, issuing medals, and cheater banning) from Dream Primer. We will add automation to process event results faster and issue medals in a more timely manner.

Moving a big chunk of the workload doesn’t mean Dream Primer is leaving Eternium behind. On the contrary, it means they can focus their time on the things that most require their very deep, specific experience. With engine and release management and event ops off their plate, Dream Primer can use their “Eternium time” to advance on the bug and feature backlog.

The decisions to create a “next generation” action RPG in Unreal 5 and to better maintain the Marmalade version still leave us with the question of what to do about our live game running on an outdated engine. We all still want Act V, new hero classes, and new event types! We have started to evaluate the effort to port the Marmalade code to Unity, an actively supported engine where Making Fun has deep experience and skilled programmers, so that we can resume the addition of major features.

Things have been in motion behind the scenes, and it is exciting to report that we have some new (to the project) people working on Eternium. You will hear from me more often going forward. Until then…

Happy Holidays!

John Welch
CEO @ Making Fun

[Tin Man]

Who/where does my lawyer serve the papers for the personal injury lawsuit due to the severe whiplash injuries that I have been suffering?

Gonna port Eternium to Unreal.

Gonna port Eternium to Unreal.

Not gonna port Eternium to Unreal. Develop on Eternium is dead and any new content will be Eternium 2.

Here is a first look at proposed Eternium 2 graphics and Unreal feel.

Taking steps to get Eternium ported to Unreal.

This is all over a period of four years or so?

That Eternium as we know it, if I understand correctly, is good as the game play style is nice and the proposed Eternium 2 peak behind the scenes greater changed that. The steps port Eternium to Unreal will have to be rather involved, only makes sense. Yes, I understand that Dream Primer was over enthusiastic is making their initial Unreal port comments so long ago and this can be forgiven.

Nothing that you have said is bad news. The bad news is that there is such a huge gap between any news even just a "We are still working on this." Is a least a quarterly check-in to say that there is at least still some neural activity left in the process, asking whether there is a remaining heartbeat could be too big of an ask. Yes, Travis is great and points out that Dream Primer still exists and that things are still going on behind the scenes. I am talking about a formal update that you do not have to be a frequent crawler of the Forum or Discord to spot or have long-in-the-tooth history to get some sense about what is going on.

Way too long between formal announcements. Updates that we have taken a fork in the road and even circled back a bit can be uncomfortable but still let your relationship to get some critical oxygenated blood to maintain some vital neural activity.

Every formal update that has been made and even the less formal ones are greatly appreciated.

Patience is running very thin. Add a layer of protection more frequently by giving us some real carrots even if we are not necessarily going to not be able to sleep for a month because the update is so massive that our excitement is more than a 5-year-old sitting at the base of a fully stocked Christmas tree.

Yes, thank you for this new update. The news is encouraging. That Dream Primer and Making Fun continue to work to bring us this game that as absorbed so much of so many lives is appreciated.

The whiplash is not an issue and even not unwelcomed news. The gaps between anything are what is heard loudest.

Gonna have to have some wounds for our fingers before some of use become less cynical and more encouraged.

[WarriorSeven]

So, let me get this straight ...

At the end of all of this, it appears we'll all be presented with:

1) an in-house updated and modifiable Marmalade engine GAME retaining the "Eternium" tag, configurable for continued use, but with plans to port the code to yet another engine, Unity, PLUS,

2) a brand new unnamed Unreal 5 engine GAME that we were teased with NY @Adrian awhile ago with a new UI and immersive graphics (and dare I ASS-UME with completely new gameplay?).

[Shintara]

Thank you for giving us some insight in what has been going on behind the screens.

It's clear that it all has been a real feat. And for a long time too!
A lot of things going on HR wise, with technical difficulties, making choices, the (almost) unreachable code,etc, etc., and it seems like there were a lot of 'fall down, get back up again' things happening.
It sounds like now you've found the right people to work on the different aspects of the game(s), and I'm really happy and optimistic about that.

I can't wait to hear about the next big breakthrough!

Good luck to all of you and don't forget to have some fun in the process too!

[Skyla]

Hmmm....
let's hope they leave Eternium (aside from maybe fixing a few of the existing bugs) alone and just put their new fangled ideas into a second version. Would hate to see them jack up the original, for which I've(we've) loved for so long and continue to love to this day. With that said, I'm slightly excited to see what they have in store for a second version, despite never really dawning hopes of seeing said second version. I expect it to be something laggy and unplayable for some of us who are pure mobile, considering the idea of unreal engine, but that comes with the territory of mobile gameplay I guess. Considering the quotes and ideas that this is a dedicated and "for the player" team, I hope it's not just gonna be some "money grab pos second version that has nothing to do with the first" that disappoints the fan base. However to reiterate, I mostly just hope they don't destroy the original and interrupt what has been for years, a fantastic game that I continue to play and love to this day. Good luck and godspeed with your plans!

[Agus1994]

really eternium entertained me for a long time but it came to an end. I would love an eternium 2!

Happy new year!!!

[papa jim]

I like the update with the exception of one item in this section "Once the Making Fun team can build, test, and release on all platforms we will turn to migrating event management (start, stop, issuing medals, and cheater banning) from Dream Primer. We will add automation to process event results faster and issue medals in a more timely manner."

Are you going to continue the farce of giving the same ANB medals to three different groups in each class? With the change from being an award for excelling to a participation award medals became no longer special and a huge show of disrespect for those who played/supported this game for years and earned them. Sounds like kindergarten or a world cup in which Argentina wins the cup but they also award the same to the food truck driver and the beer vendor.

The solution, I don't know but, if continued medals should return to being an award for achievement,

[rifLeR]

Once the Making Fun team can build, test, and release on all platforms we will turn to migrating event management (start, stop, issuing medals, and cheater banning) from Dream Primer. We will add automation to process event results faster and issue medals in a more timely manner.

Moving a big chunk of the workload doesn’t mean Dream Primer is leaving Eternium behind. On the contrary, it means they can focus their time on the things that most require their very deep, specific experience. With engine and release management and event ops off their plate, Dream Primer can use their “Eternium time” to advance on the bug and feature backlog.

Hi everyone

John, I have a question. I've asked it in the Discord channel to Adrian and Travis answered me that I should ask you here, cause you're likely to respond he said.

I see DP and MF point of "Eternium 2", but I really don't understand what DP and MF are going to do with the Eternium (present version). Could you tell me about it please?

Truly, I don’t understand plans about Eternium after reading your thread. I hope it just seems to me, but your post looks like sort of preparing to “close the project”, when “Eternium 2” will released. I just wanna know that it’s not true and about plans sounded before, like a splitting lb, porting from marmalade to unity or ue, adding Act V, at least some supporting and progressing of the Eternium in future?

[John Welch | CEO]

Please read Adrian’s post and the ensuing conversations, then continue here…

The Making Fun team now has the main responsibility for managing Eternium’s Marmalade code base. We have been working over the past several weeks to make builds and take over the live operations tasks that we weren’t already doing. Given the holidays, the World Cup (much of our team is in Argentina & Uruguay), and that just about everyone got sick at one point or another, I’d say it is going very well. We now have builds in test for all platforms except Steam, which has some unique requirements and hence a separate code branch and build process. We will push new builds live in the next few weeks that will include a few bug fixes Adrian made.

We will keep Eternium working in harmony with the various app stores through their evolving requirements and operating system updates. We will fix bugs and exploits and explore making improvements. It is TBD how much we will be able to improve this version. We will let you know more about what to expect as we get further along. In the meantime, I asked Travis to start a new community wish list, so please send your thoughts his way (Forum, Discord, etc.).

Adrian hinted at some other big news... As additional members of the Making Fun team finish their work on an upcoming Runestrike release, they will roll onto a remake of Eternium in Unity. We expect this to blaze along, given access to the source code and source art from the Marmalade version, guidance from Dream Primer, and a good sized development team deeply experienced with Unity on the project.

The point of remaking Eternium isn’t just to get rid of Marmalade; it is to reproduce as faithfully as possible the magic and soul of Eternium on a foundation supportive of delivering more of everything you love. If we can’t get you into battle with Ragadam in the Marmalade build, we will do that in the Unity version. More levels, more story, more playable characters, new event types. We will release alpha and beta versions this year. We are targeting a production (live) release in early 2024. It is too soon to say much more about the exact features and roadmap, but we will share more as we build.

In summary, we have in active development:

1. Live Eternium, managed by Making Fun with Dream Primer guidance
2. A Unity-based remake of Eternium as the main focus of Making Fun
3. A new Unreal-based ARPG code-named Artemis as the main focus of Dream Primer

Thank you for all the comments and questions. Keep them coming, and we’ll keep the updates coming.

John

I know it's probably too early to say but....will beta continue to be restricted to Android / Google Playstore, or can that be opened up to other platforms too?

[John Welch | CEO]

Definitely Google. Most likely YES in a PC/Mac build we distribute from EterniumGame.com. However, iOS is tricky / limiting and not sure if it would be possible on Steam or Windows.

[Bali_Lenni]

Cheers for the wishlist and Tally Ho for the battles fought outside maps and trials .....TBD The broken dragon to be deciding....?!

[Arawn]

Travis I have a question, at one time it was said that the jewelry crafting system was going to be given a complete overhaul. With MF taking over the development of Eternium is that still the plan? Did DP ever begin that process? If not then do you know what direction they were wanting to take? Thanks

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

is that still the plan?

Stuff like that is on their radar to improve in the Unity version.

do you know what direction they were wanting to take?

Not yet.

[techizhong]

Eternium is dead

[WarriorSeven]

Nah ... It's alive and kicking, especially since the enhanced MF team has grabbed the bull by the horns for Unity development and existing Eternium maintenance, allowing DP free to focus on developing the new game.

I'd say the entire Eternium team is quite active and engaged in existing game fixes concurrently with new game development. PLUS many of us are going to have the opportunity to beta test new gameplay in the coming weeks.

Certainly doesn't seem to me that Eternium is dead at all!

[LiamRedbeard]

Gone are the days when gaming's pace was likened to a snail race. Humans these days are an impatient lot. With instant communication as a driving force, people expect and want instant gratification. It used to be, "Good things come to those who wait", but now it is, "Good things happen to those who hustle". Some games I play now have weekly updates, not just fixes. There are so many games out there to choose from it boggles the mind. Once you find one you like, you stick with it. I stuck with Eternium for quite a while, not like some though, and enjoyed every repetitive minute. But it got old, at least for me. I still log in once in a while and watch the forums. Good luck with Unity.