Help shape history with Ara: History Untolds Technical Alpha 2

Hi everyone, Michael Califf, Lead Designer on Ara: Untold story Here! In the name of the whole We buy On the Oxide Games team, we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has expressed their enthusiasm for the game since we unveiled it at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase in June, as well as everyone who has played the game and given us their feedback recent – and first – Technical Alpha. Your enthusiasm fuels our fire and drives us to create the greatest strategy game we can!

Based on the positive response to our first Technical Alpha, it feels like we’re on the right track, but that was just a sneak peek of everything to come Ara: Untold story. Player feedback is invaluable when developing a game, and more people have been interested in trying our game than we ever expected. Players found crafting fascinating, constructing buildings satisfying, and managing citizen stats engaging.

It also highlighted clear areas where we needed to improve. Combat statistics were difficult to understand. Information was sometimes difficult to access or simply absent. Some of this was due to an incomplete UI, which is usually one of the last features to be completed, but we’ve already made many improvements. We’ve also received feedback that cities don’t feel or look like cities, and that support for founding new cities or expanding borders was unnecessarily obfuscated. The latter comes more from hard data than direct player feedback, but both are crucial as we continue to iterate.

Of course, iterating is exactly what we did. In the months since the first Technical Alpha, we’ve moved on two intertwined paths: one evaluating and responding to player feedback, and the other continuing to implement planned features (with some changes based on the what we heard). Both tracks have progressed far enough that we’re ready to announce our next opportunity for the community to see how Ara: Untold story

Technical Alpha 2 will offer players more of the game to try, including some of the most requested features from the first Technical Alpha. There will be more of the game to play, more players to talk to, and more time to play. And we’re particularly excited to announce that another act in the story will be available, allowing players to progress through technology right up to the brink of the industrial revolution. Coastal buildings and fleets are now included. Perhaps most importantly, maps will become more varied and procedurally generated maps more accessible.

There’s a lot more coming in our upcoming second Technical Alpha, but to learn more about it, you’ll need to opt-in to ours insider program. Also follow us on Twitter at @AraHistory for more news and updates.