WAVEN – A Project That's Nearing Completion

What Was the Alpha 0.10?

Some castaways have been sailing with us for some time now. They already know us so well, so this part of the article is for newcomers who recently joined the crew. We would like to take this opportunity to go over what this version of WAVEN had to offer.
 

Starting the Game

Six classes were available: Cra, Iop, Eniripsa, Sram, Xelor, and Sacrier. Each included five Heroes with their own gameplay styles, and they had received a thorough overhaul.
 

 
When you first arrived, Goultard welcomed you and introduced you to the game's main mechanics through a tutorial pitting you against invading Shushus. Then, you could leave right away to embark on the various Monster Islands (MIs) that make up the WAVEN map, which were all accessible from the start of the game.
 

 
 

Content

For castaways who had collected enough Quest Points (QPs) on the surrounding islands, the island nation of Bonta offered further challenges to those who landed there. Also, collecting QPs made it possible to unlock PvP mode and the Asynchronous Arena.
 

 
The Asynchronous Arena was based on the basic principle that was introduced in the Alpha 0.9 – attacking other players' Haven Islands and protecting yours. The difference was that it was up to your Hero to defend your Haven Island with a specific deck editor. Also, the game's interfaces and ergonomics were redesigned to dissociate each round of deck-building based on the desired game mode from among PvE, PvP, and Asynchronous Arena. You can learn more about this in the devblog article on this game mode.
 
The Alpha 0.10 was the opportunity to add Daily Quests (DQs) to your progress. Five random mission drawings across all the MIs let you combine exploration and storytelling. In total, almost two hundred daily quests were available to you. To learn more about this game system, we published a devblog article in November 2022.
 
Progress was also reflected in the reward system. Whether it was the rotating equipment, the reward chests, or the introduction of the bonus reward system (loot received the first time you complete a fight), you could quickly get to grips with your character's potential and optimization.
 
For those who wanted to go on a cooperative adventure with two or three players, with a group of other castaways, or with friends, please note that the Alpha 0.10 marked the end of action resource pooling (gauges and AP). Each character played with their own allocated resources, as opposed to the Alpha 0.9, where these resources were shared between all characters on a team. We wanted to test a cooperative gameplay mechanic in 0.9, and we decided to separate action resources. However, we still want to rework cooperation for the game's release. We also introduced a new challenge system, where the amount was equivalent to the number of players in the fight. They were both cooperative and competitive at the same time – success only benefited the team member who completed the challenge, but failure impacted the whole group.
 
So, for four weeks, you boat was able to sail the seas of this version of WAVEN and its nine Monster Islands. And the trade winds taught us that the Pig bosses were the toughest to fight, giving many of you a good thrashing… and anyone who'd expected to turn them into sausage meat ended up being the smoked ham!
 

 
The end of an alpha version is always difficult for us. Your feedback turns placid waters into rough seas, and we have to take quite a long time to gain some perspective, rework some things, and provide long-lasting solutions to the issues you raised. We relied on the various feedback you gave us through the questions asked on our communication channels. So, let's take a moment's peace on dry land to better view the horizon that's getting clearer!
 
 

What Does the Future of WAVEN Have in Store?

Our Ambitions for the Game

The WAVEN project aims to be innovative in how it brings fun to the gaming experience, both in its gameplay pillars and its storytelling. We are aiming for more concise development internationally compared to our other Ankama games, and we want to conquer other territories, on top of those that have already opened their hearts to us.
 
We're borrowing from different video game genres – from classic RPGs to turn-by-turn tactical games and deck-builders. WAVEN has several strengths, such as its rich and colorful artistic direction and its anime-style design, making it easy for those who don't know WAVEN or Ankama to pick up the game. Similarly, the game is based on the transmedia universe of the Krosmoz, which has been developed for more than twenty years through our various productions (video games, manga, animation, etc.). The free-to-play business model provides free access to all playable content, and its cross-platform development lets you continue your adventure on PC, Mac, tablet, and smartphone. Its deep, rewarding turn-based gameplay, which is easy to pick up but difficult to master, borrows from the deck-building system for developing the Hero's power potential. What's more, we're working on a more advanced specialization system, but we'll tell you all about that at a later date!
 
Several player profiles are expected. Tacticians and TCG players will have plenty of material for theory-crafting with the numerous decks they can customize to execute their strategies against the environment or other players in PvE, PvP, and PvX (Asynchronous Arena). RPG players will be able to dive into the deep and immersive main storyline, enhanced by Ankama's signature burlesque style, to write their odyssey and fulfill their destiny discovering the world's many secrets. The adventure can be experienced alone or with others; cooperation and its social features make WAVEN a multiplayer game. For players who can't wait to take on a few heroic challenges, both game modes and islands for high levels (level 100+) will also be available after the game is released. Thanks to its tactical turn-by-turn gameplay, we also want to offer challenges that are more difficult to complete so fans of complexity will be satisfied, but that doesn't mean your first steps in the game or the game itself will be insurmountable. As such, some fights will be simple to understand and finish, while others will rely on punishing mechanics such as the Crackler mini-boss in the optional off-road dungeon path.
 
We would like to remind you that what you saw during the last alpha is not representative of all the final content. Among other things, storytelling wasn't implemented, three nations were missing, many quests weren't on offer, etc.
 
From a more pragmatic point of view, our internal ambitions are, above all, to meet the deadlines we have set ourselves and to enrich the game with many things after the official release. Your abundant feedback, support, and enthusiastic encouragement drive us to always aim higher and farther.
 
 

End-of-Game Content and Replay Value

The topic of the endgame can be approached from several angles, depending on the profiles of the players reading this. Some will be more interested in the main storyline, which they will want to complete so that they can explore all the themes in WAVEN, while others will want to focus exclusively on high-level hardcore PvE challenges. For this last category, some of the content made just for them won't be available at launch but will come later, such as the Boss Fight (Q3) game mode, which is currently suspended to enable us to focus on other priorities. That said, we're planning islands for levels 100 and above, such as Albuera Island (which you've been able to see since the Lance Dur series was launched on the ADN video-on-demand platform and for free in webtoon format in the Ankama Launcher). In addition, other game modes similar to the Asynchronous Arena may appear after the launch (but we have dropped the Asynchronous Dungeon system as it was too ambitious). Furthermore, we are also planning mechanics that will enable you to adjust the difficulty of your fights in the Q1 (Discovery Quest) and Q2 (Dungeon) instances to try to win more rewards in exchange for increased difficulty.
 
Many of you have also shown interest in the game's replay value. In the Alpha 0.10, we saw that some castaways had managed the feat of approaching or even reaching the maximum level within four weeks.
 

 
We would like to use this post to recap the features that, among other things, foster replay value in WAVEN: the thirty different Heroes to master, the relative infinity of deck-building combinations for you to test, the rotating and end-of-dungeon equipment, the different game modes (PvE, PvP, and Asynchronous Arena), and the upcoming Q3 and Q4… We are also working on several other things that will further increase the game's replay value, some of which will be announced soon.
 
Also, you wondered whether we were satisfied with the state of Heroes during this alpha. Only adjustments will be needed before the game is released, especially on the excessive advantage that decks based on the Explosion and Rebound effects have. All our attention is focused on companions and equipment, which we are currently reworking.
 
 

PvE/PvP Balancing

In the Alpha 0.10, you found the PvP mode that had already been implemented in WAVEN version 0.9. The PvE and PvP systems differ in how you assemble your build – there are two different pages for these two game modes. In PvP, Heroes are all limited to level 1, and we remove all equipment bonuses, spell skills, companions, and critical hits. We want to focus on PvE balancing first and foremost, while keeping in mind that PvP is a game mode that some players in the community really like. In this regard, internally, we are planning balancing tools that will enable us to further differentiate the balancing of both modes so that each one gains in soundness and durability without worsening the other.
 
 

Cooperation

We've read a lot of feedback about challenges and the cooperation system. Firstly, we would like to remind you that in general, the purpose of an alpha version is to conduct tests and collect feedback so we can draw conclusions and move forward. We noticed that you weren't completely satisfied with the two systems we introduced. We are overhauling them right now. Our goal is to strengthen the multiplayer aspect, and that may result in more social features in the future.
 
 

Universal Spells

Universal spells haven't been permanently abandoned – they'll be back in a new form. We're preparing an article on this subject to tell you more about this.
 
 

Housing

It will be possible to customize your Haven Island, both outdoors and indoors, by displaying trophies obtained during your adventure. These can be collected by winning boss fights, for example.
 
A special Haven Island menu is being added to the right of the classic menu. These two menus will have different colors so you can identify them more easily.
 
Both outdoors and indoors, you'll be able to activate a decoration editing mode. In this mode, Heroes and Minions disappear and make way for slot areas. You can display the trophies you like by dragging and dropping. A special feature of decorating indoors is that the background is also a customization tool.
 
 

Saving Progress

Outside a demo version of WAVEN, you shouldn't need to fear tidal waves washing away your progress. Progress made on your account will be preserved. However, in the event of critical need, we won't rule out resorting to this.
 
 

Is That All?

Our teams are putting the finishing touches to their final preparations before embarking on the great expedition of the game's launch. We've even been joined by an expert international publishing team for WAVEN, which some pro-gaming press articles have already covered. In terms of production, we are continuing to work on the smartphone and tablet version, we are solidifying the main storyline and its integration in the Ankama ecosystem, and we have even dropped a few hints about some of our work areas in this article… We'll be back soon with new content and dates to share with you – that's a promise. One thing is certain – you'll be able to come meet us soon at Japan Expo Paris 2023! It's a pleasure to talk about the game with you and share our enthusiasm and excitement that fuel our shared passion: WAVEN! We will obviously be preparing activities for you at the event, in addition to the gameplay, so stay tuned!
 
We would like to thank you again – because we can't ever thank you enough – from the bottom of our hearts for your support and the time you devote to having fun on our seas. We wouldn't have made it this far without your valuable feedback. It has been a very long crossing, but land is in sight, and we'll be there soon!
 
See you soon, castaways,
The WAVEN Team
 
 
 

Glossary

"MI": Monster Islands, the main exploration area where the corresponding monster family (Gobballs, Cracklers, Tofus, etc.) is located.

"Q1": Discovery Quest, the first quest you can start on a MI. It aims to familiarize you with the area's bestiary and is divided into 5 ranks of 10 chapters each.
Recommended level: 2. Prerequisites: none.

"Q2": Dungeons, each of which you explore through 5 ranks and 3 chapters – 1 final boss and 2 or 3 demi-bosses await you there, as well as various rewards and an end-of-dungeon Peddler.
Recommended level: 10. Prerequisites: 15 QP.

"Q3": Boss Fights, where you face a unique boss in 3 ranks and 3 chapters.
Recommended level: 50. Prerequisites: Q3 key.

"Q4": Boss Fights with waves of monsters, where you face a unique boss along with waves of monsters in 3 ranks and 3 chapters.
Recommended level: 50. Prerequisites: Q4 key.

"DQ": Daily Quests, which are random exotic quests giving you access to specific types of gameplay and side stories.