MoonWard Going Forward (July 2025)
- Slaveyko Slaveykov
- 20 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Welcome to the "MoonWard Going Forward" (MGF) blog!
I'm Mr. Slate and I'm here to let you know what's been happening with MoonWard as of mid July 2025!
Please make sure to check out the MoonWard demo on the Google Play Store and our Discord Community! If you'd like to support us, please check our Patreon and Ko-fi!
Before I continue:
The Android release of MoonWard is delayed to the 27th of September 2025
To everyone excited and expecting the release - I'm sorry - things have been moving slower than I hoped, life has been getting in the way, the demo at MegaCon required more work than I thought it would and finally, I realised there was in fact quite a lot more work than I originally planned for. Between all of the above and needing to be done at least a couple weeks earlier so I can send copies and codes to reviewers, I decided to push the release. Again, I'm sorry guys, please bear with me just a while longer.
Live Demos & Events
I'm demoing MoonWard at MegaCon Live in Manchester on the 26th and 27th of July!
It's a massive expo full of nerds like me and I never thought I'd get the chance to show my work at a place like that! I have to thank Game Republic
and specifically Jamie, Jackie and all the awesome GR staff for this opportunity, thank you guys!
New Cinematic & Release Trailer
It's been moving along quite well!
I managed to arrange to work with Zap again. He's the artist who made the character art for me last year. We've been getting some art made for the new videos. To the right you can see a very early sketch in the actual scene! I'm so excited about this!
Just for the sake of completeness - here again are the articles with the old mock up shots:
Character Art
I've kept up posting new character art from MoonWard! There are a couple more of these. Then I'll switch to more environment art in the coming weeks!
Go to our Patreon to check out more character art and read the articles giving in world context about the different playable races!
Writing
Finished writing the main story! Those last few stories in County 5 were an absolute pain. I always knew it was going to be difficult finishing the main plot but I didn't realise just how hard it would be.
But it's all done now. At least the first drafts. I need to review and edit them so I can get rid of typos, inconsistencies, etc.. By the way, did you know my first ever year of university was studying how to be an editor! I only did one year because my passion was in making games but I did very much enjoy it. It's funny how things like that come in handy!
Anyway, after editing the main story, I've also got about 8 side stories to write and edit. Once I'm done with all that I need to put it all in the game. I have a tool that significantly hastens the process but it's not great. What I'd like to have is something that automates the process from spreadsheet to in-game content. Just can't find the time to make it. Maybe once MW is out.
Quick Start
It's done! Well, a first working version of it is done, it has yet to be UX tested so the way it looks will probably change a bit. To the left is what it looks like at the moment. There are some edges to smooth, some bits to replace, but I like the general layout and I think I'll keep it!
Next Demo Patch
One of the few good things about delaying MoonWard is that I'll finally have some time for a proper patch!
It'll include the quick start menu for one, but also more story content, some small quality of life improvements and a few more animated events. Classes will be slightly re-designed to better fit their roles. Some other gameplay will be re-balanced for good measure. It'll also include some UI usability improvements. And finally a ton of bug fixes!
I'll make a commitment right now and say version 0.9.69 will be out on the 12th of August!
Features
Here's a list of approved and work in progress features as of writing this:
DONE: quick start.
WIP 70%: new cinematic.
WIP 85%: of the story written.
WIP 50%: release trailer.
WIP 80%: bounty locations images. The splash screens appearing behind the story and bounty descriptions in the journal. Only story backgrounds left!
WIP 80%: All player character art is done, I now need to replace and update story and bounty portraits.
WIP 85%: Increased hex variation. All that's left are the hexes for County 5 towns and cities.
WIP 20%: Long term Save Game. Currently all of your characters are deleted forever when the game is uninstalled. This is obviously not ideal. Modern games save these in the cloud. I'm not interested in that. I did some research on this and it seems plausible to save on device.
WIP 50%:Â iOS Release. I'm now on the Apple Developer program! Next steps - create and set up a store page!
Pricing and Support
Here is where I elaborate on a couple of things regarding the demo and pricing.
Price. The demo (and App Store intro version if that's even happening anymore) will always be free. The full version (on Android or iOS) will always be a one time purchase per store. There will never be any in-app purchases. There will never be any adverts. There will never be battle passes. There will never be Web3 technology.
Support/Patching. When the full version is released, the demo will continue to receive patches at the same rate as the full version. This will include new or changed content in county 1 and partially (side stories and bounties) in county 2, as well as any new/upgraded mechanics available in those hubs. The demo will also get bugfixes and balance updates in parallel with the full version.
Before I go, if you'd like to support us, please check our Patreon and Ko-fi! Any donations and patronage towards Slate Games and MoonWard development are greatly appreciated!
I hope you found this month's MoonWard Going Forward to be informative (and maybe a little entertaining). Thank you all so much for your continued support! It's very humbling to be able to do what I love!
Like always,
stay awesome!