The Future of Lioden

Wolvden is going to launch very soon!
We're extremely excited, and we know many of you are too! It means many things in the global scale for our staff team and the future of Lioden's development.

We have never planned to neglect Lioden once Wolvden is publicly released—in fact, quite the opposite! All the work we've done in the past few years for the new game has taught us so many things (programming-wise as well). The new coding feels like Cyberpunk, while Lioden's "guts" resemble a rusty base built over with years of content, getting shiny on top, but creaking at the base as it struggles to hold everything together. It's difficult to update or add new, exciting features to Lioden with an outdated engine.

This is why we want to tell you about our future plan for Lioden.
A plan that may take a year or more as we begin the rehaul in 2021—this depends on what's happening in the real world, as well—but we have a vision in our minds and we want to share it with you.

Lioden will be recoded entirely. In a way, the game will remain the same. It won't be "Lioden: The Sequel", but it will be refreshed, streamlined, and easy to use on mobile!

We DO have a question for you, our dedicated community.
We'd like to know what you'd expect from us in regards to monthly updates as we work on the recode. You do not need to respond in the comments, but your vote in the POLL would be amazing!
1. Should we continue with smaller coding updates while the recode is being worked on (and thus, take longer with the recode)?
or
2. Should we pause all coding updates and work faster on the recode (and thus, no minor or major changes will be made to the game as it is)?

Don't worry—content updates will still be added! Event content , explore encounters, mutations, items, things like that are absolutely doable without burdening the recode.

Lioden HAS to change, there's no escaping from that fact. There is no way we can add so many of your suggestions or our own visions to the existing code.

This means the layout will change, buttons will change, etc.
We know change is hard. That's why we hope a big heads up far in advance would be okay with you, and any players who may struggle with sensory overloads to new content. We hope that transparency will ease the change, in regards to monthly updates and information.

You know what comes with this new layout change? Fresh, modern CSS... and perhaps.. dark mode?

The Roadmap

We won't have a roadmap with set dates. We've noticed a trend in the games we follow where roadmaps create huge tension among teams if obstacles appear. We'd like to do it in a different way.

We'd like to announce what we plan in general, show you already prepared art, similar examples of features from Wolvden, and design an update system for you—complete with monthly updates on progress to keep you all in the loop and excited!

Explore

The Explore system would work more like it does on Wolvden.
We'd like to switch to four seasons (Dry, Wet, Bloom, Normal) and include four times of day (Dawn, Day, Dusk, Night)... and on top of that, weather!

There would be 12 completely redone biomes, with us adding a bunch of new ones and removing some old ones. The whole "world" of encounters would be rehauled, biome-specific levelled enemies would appear, and encounters would be enriched. Almost every interaction would always have more than one outcome.

We're not sure yet if it would be tied to level unlocks (as it currently is on Lioden) or follow a Wolvden-esque system with discovering a map, having access to all biomes, and moving your pride to different biomes... but, if we do stick to levels, it'd definitely be adjusted.

Hunting

The Hunting system would work more like it does on Wolvden as well.
As with Explore, it would also receive seasonal cycles and weather, along with four hunting subzones for prey variety, hunting team synergy, prey spotting, and much more!

Layout

Here's a tiny sneak peek of the upcoming layout and OH HELLO what's that, a new fancy LOGO?!? :O

Live Updates

With Wolvden, we discovered it is incredibly convenient to have an "Update Box" on the main page that players can see 24/7. You'll see live updates of fixed bugs, minor or major changes, tweaks, and additions that can happen in between news posts. Later, we'd copy them into a news post as a summary for players that do not look at the "Update Box". Still, it's pretty amazing to be aware of everything in just one glance! We think this would be an incredible new addition to Lioden, as well.

Bugbox

This modern version of bug handling is present in many games that we play. It's a very interactive way for players to report and be aware of bugs—much better than a traditional forum! Players can browse bug reports more easily, we're able to smoothly merge multiple bug reports on the same issue with ease, and everyone can comment and pitch in to see the status of the bug!


We do not plan to change how Lioden works. We do not plan to wipe your accounts or your lions. We just want the game to work better, to be streamlined, smooth, responsive on mobile, to have a better layout, less bugs, less page loads, and be easier on your internet data and our servers. We are not planning to make the game harder, Lioden is not turning into Wolvden :D

This requires work. Since the game is 8 years old, we think it's really time to stop recoding parts of the game and do major surgery on the entire system without changing its personality.

ATTENTION

the base of the game is not changing! The game and its personality stays the same!
We're not wiping your lions
We're not adding HP
We're not adding WD illnesses
We're just recoding the game engine and streamlining existing features into richer experience such as explore rehaul or hunting - but the food rates and your general experience will be the same!
We're not turning Lioden into Wolvden, Wolvden just inspired a few things, such as Update Box or Bug Box.

* * *

The Content Roadmap
This is what we DO have planned in the upcoming months/year, and this is NOT related AT ALL to the recode:
- "Spirited" male pose with compatible decors
- Karma encounters expansion
- New enemies
- New mutations
- Mukombero Adventure
- July event rehaul
- Usual event content, no change!
- Usual decor, bases, marking content, no change!
- Eye update (removing integrated lineart for future eyes, such as goat pupil, no pupil, etc.)—this will not affect how the current eyes look, unless you'd like it to. :D
- We are debating submutations, e.g. allowing achromia, piebald, etc. on Primal (Smilus). It is not 100% certain to happen in 2021 due to the rehaul.

Disclaimer: This listed order is randomised and not related to release dates.

Today's Update

Today, the update is smaller for obvious reasons, but we hope the roadmap content is exciting enough—it certainly is for us!!

Wolvden's public launch is delayed, but not by much. To (pre)celebrate it, we've added two items to the game, which you can purchase from Monkey Business until October 31st!

Wolf Challengers Background

Liowolf Decor

But Wait, There's More!

Based on a suggestion posted by cake ⛱ {❤glass} (#53239) (thank you!), we thought we'd definitely have time to add in a very nice-looking recolour of Cloudburst: Squall! We hope this will refresh the love for the Unholy base.

Factors: Cloudburst x Unholy
Genetics: Red Medium Countershaded Special

Based on the green poll winners ("light warm pastel green" and "craftable applicator base"), Citron is introduced as a green touch to the Cream section!

Genetics: Cream Light Solid Special

Citron Body 50x African Cucumber, 1x Beetle: Lycus trabeatus [Yellow], 2x Beetle: Smaragdesthes africana [Yellow], 3x Beetle: Proagoderus rangifer [Green], 100x Rainbow Stones

Event Update

There's so much stuff we were preparing for October. Check it all out!!

Hell

Amok Horns

Eldritch Wings - Demon [Top]

Eldritch Wings - Demon [Bottom]

Rump Membrane - Demon

Heaven

Blindfold of Penance

Union Horns

Blood Beetle Shack

The Nav Tier 3	Shadow of Veles Tier 3	Horse Skeleton Tier 2	Eldritch Wings - Bat [Top] Tier 2
Eldritch Wings - Bat [Bottom] Tier 2	Rump Membrane - Bat Tier 2	Spooky Pumpkins Tier 1	Nav Eyes Tier 1
Flame Accents - Nav [Tail] Tier 1	Flame Accents - Nav [Ears] Tier 1	Flame Accents - Nav [Paws] Tier 1	Flame Accents - Nav [Head] Tier 1
Flame Accents - Lich [Tail] Tier 1	Flame Accents - Lich [Ears] Tier 1	Flame Accents - Lich [Paws] Tier 1	Flame Accents - Lich [Head] Tier 1
Flame Accents [Tail] Tier 1	Flame Accents [Ears] Tier 1	Flame Accents [Paws] Tier 1	Flame Accents [Head] Tier 1

Manticore

Eldritch Wings - Dark [Top]

Eldritch Wings - Dark [Bottom]

Rump Membrane - Dark

Halloween Bundle Exclusives

Flame Accents - Toxic [Tail]	Flame Accents - Toxic [Ears]	Flame Accents - Toxic [Paws]	Flame Accents - Toxic [Head]
Toxic Sparkles	Toxic Radiation

Reminder: The Halloween Bundle also includes every background and decor available from the Blood Beetle Shack, explore decor drops, and Manticore decors!

Additionally, four encounters received an art refresh!
- Rabid Red Fox
- Rabid Hyena Clan
- Rabid Dog
- Rabid Wolves

Minor changes:
* Tweaked prices of Tier 3 applicators to be more uniform (some apps lowered by 10 BB etc)
* Incubus mane app requirements lowered from 7x7 items needed to 5x5

Art issues fixed:
* Hyena Cub encounter not showing up
* Rabid Old Lion not having a battle picture
* Missing Spotted Hyena nr2 enounter picture
* Oculus Horns wrong cutout for Pariah mane
* Bubbly Growth wrong file for Teen Male
* Vual's Hood missing for Incubus mane
* Flowering Crown of Thorns missing due to wrong layering
* Strong Skimmer missing for Evil pose
* Yam missing for Evil pose
* Fruit Bats clipping issues on Cub stage and Regal mane stage
* Whisper decor clipping issue on adult male stage
* Stray smudges on multiple stages for Veil of Isfet/Sunset
* Shadow clipping on Western Chimpanzee

(if you still see the issue, please clear your browser cache!)

Raffle Lioness

Congrats Chaos (lights on, 1/10gb) (#211139)! You have won last week's Cairngorm lady, woo!
A new Temporal lady with Feline 9 Noctis, Feline 9 Onyx, and the third Lake Tanganyika background is up for impressing in the Special Lioness area linked here!

Tags!
Shad has added 20 new tags this month in the Breeding and October categories!

Poll Results - Wow, so close! Uh oh.. healthy lions, look out! Looks like there's some rabid lions among us.

NEW POLL - As requested above, help us decide on 2021's coding workload.

Next Update: Community Update - October 16th!
Next Development Update: November 13th!!