Development Schedule

This page provides historical information about the development process. It shows which development stages are defined and what their purpose is, and how these are planned, either subsequent or parallel, in a development schedule. The page also documents the current timeline/schedule as well as the historical development timeline.

Development schedule
The development schedule presented here is derived from this blog post by Caspian: 'The State of Elyria'.

For the development schedule of Chronicles of Elyria 3 determinant categories of phases/stages/events can be distinguished: test phases, soft launches and community events.


 * SBS distinguishes 6 test phases: Pre-Alpha, Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Beta 1, Beta 2 and the final stress test before launch.
 * And 3 soft launches are planned: Prelyria, Kingdoms of Elyria and Exposition.
 * To ensure the game develops in agreement with the needs and desires of the CoE player-base, a number of key community events are intertwined in the development schedule for the game.

Above-mentioned test phases, soft launches and community events can roughly be put in the following (actual) order: Click here to show the development schedule. Click here to collapse development schedule.

Test phases
Pre-alpha

Pre-alpha testing is intended to be testing for the core game engine as well as developing the unreal client.

Alpha
Alpha testing is intended to be functional testing. The focus here is on game-play mechanics rather than bugs. It is an opportunity to validate the game as fun and make changes as necessary to ensure the best possible design.


 * Alpha 1 focuses on the adventurer tier. The mechanics here will focus on survival, exploration, combat, and crafting. Basically, most of the features that adventurers are likely to use.
 * Alpha 2 focuses on the gentry, aristocracy, and nobility tiers, with mechanics such as land management, housing and settlement building, and domain and kingdom management.

Beta
Beta testing is about finding bugs and ensuring as smooth a launch as possible.


 * Beta 1 is about finding bugs unrelated to stress or latency. The focus will be on UI/mechanical bugs that are not time-critical, such as crafting, settlement and domain management, survival, etc.
 * Beta 2 is about finding bugs that are related to stress or latency. The focus will be on combat and other high-action activities.

Soft Launches
Prelyria: This is a first soft launch planned during the Alpha test phases. It is a role-playing game with a subset of the features relating to Chronicles of Elyria. In part, Prelyria will allow SBS to test and design the massively multiplayer features of Chronicles of Elyria and the Soulborn Engine, containing low-res textures for the purpose of speeding up development. Prelyria is planned to be released in access tiers for Alpha-Beta backers.

Kingdoms of Elyria: Uses the UE4/Prelyria client and takes place during the Alpha test phases. This game allows people to play remnants of the past, their ancestors, to help test some functionality and also to help build on the recent history (52 years preceding launch)

Exposition: Uses the Launch client for the Exposition Phase, where Bloodline+ backers get early access to build the world, parallel to the Beta test phases. This phase happens shortly before launch.

State of Elyria: Into the Abyss
With the funding for Soulbound Studios coming to an end, Chronicles of Elyria is forced into a dormant state. As of March 24, 2020, they have had to lay off their employees and shut down the studio, halting production as stated in the State of Elyria: Into the Abyss.

Realized
The following table provides a current list (Updated 12/10/19) of milestones and goals, and their progressions. The table will be updated as time progresses.

Abbreviations


 * Q - Quarter (3 month period)
 * T - Trimester (4 month period)
 * S - Semester (6 month period)

Provided below are historical/outdated timelines.

Historical Event Timeline
This section shows the realized sequence of events marking the development of Chronicles of Elyria.

Click here to show the historical event timeline. Click here to collapse the historical event timeline.

Original
This section shows the original anticipated development timeline as presented in July 2017.

Please note that this timeline is heavily outdated, and the goals in the below timeline were not release timelines.

Click here to show the anticipated development timeline in July 2017. Abbreviations


 * Q - Quarter (3 month period)
 * T - Trimester (4 month period)
 * S - Semester (6 month period)

Click here to collapse anticipated development timline in July 2017.