One year, Chieftains!
That's right—365 days have passed since our Early Access launch, and Soulmask has journeyed alongside all of you! As our first survival game on Steam, Maggie and the rest of our development team have spent this year in a constant mix of anxiety and excitement. Many of you might still remember that somewhat incoherent report we published just 72 hours after launch. Indeed, facing the flood of feedback from Chieftains at that time, we had moments where we wondered if we might have "messed things up." But fortunately, each of you supported Soulmask and every one of us with absolute tolerance and enthusiasm.
We all agreed that we couldn't let down your support over this past year, so Soulmask has prepared an anniversary gift—what we believe best represents the core concept of Soulmask: a special free DLC featuring a brand-new mask representing an alien civilization, along with new automation features that will truly transform your tribe into a powerful machine.
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New Free DLC: Lost Civilization
Golden Visage, bright through ages, dazzling now.
The Star-Seer's own; it pierces the Nine Depths, touches celestial crowns.
A vigil of a thousand years.
——From an unknown civilization's tablet found beneath the sea
Meet "Golden Legend," Soulmask's first mask DLC. A mask lost beneath the ocean for a thousand years, along with the mysterious decorations of its vanished civilization. From the moment you touch it, you know it's different from all your other masks: there's no familiar echo of barbarian souls. Instead, it brings you something more... otherworldly, a mismatched civilization from distant shores.
Through it, the figures of your tribesmen become clearer. No longer just their bravery or cowardice—you can faintly sense the potential deep within their souls. Who is the true blade? Who is the most skilled craftsman? The barbarians' secrets are no longer hidden from you.
It holds many powers yet to be discovered. Where did it come from? Why was it found in that ocean corner? What civilization lies behind it? You know nothing, but it will completely change how you rule your tribe.
Yes, there's much more we could tell you about "Golden Legend," even about the entirely new civilization behind it. We'll release a dedicated introduction for it soon. But without doubt, it represents just the tip of the iceberg of Soulmask's ambitious vision.
Automation: From "Tribe" to "Empire”
Tribe management has always been Soulmask players' favorite part, but we're still not satisfied with our current management system. As we've said before, if Soulmask's goal is to be "the ultimate management-focused sandbox survival game," our current management system can obviously be improved.
So, on our EA anniversary today, you can see the first step of this blueprint: Construction and Transportation—the two issues Chieftains care about most. Today, on our anniversary, we finally have an automation solution that satisfies us.
First, welcome to experience the powered ropeway system. Power from windmill arrays can be directly input into these robust cables and pulleys, creating cargo transportation channels spanning camps, mines, and everywhere in between.
With powered ropeways, plus your clever building creativity and route planning, your tribe will no longer be limited to small primitive camps. They could potentially become logistics hubs spanning the entire map (provided you protect them well, of course!). But once established, your barbarian tribe—or even the embryo of a barbaric Empire—will gain a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Then there's construction. Our developers unanimously agreed that a great tribe's Chieftain shouldn't need to manually build every foundation and ceiling. So we've listened to your voices and let tribesmen handle it all: the building filling function lets you freely pre-build construction shadow, having tribesmen gather materials, produce components, and then automatically construct everything.
This allows Chieftains to more easily build desired structures in new camps, let the tribesmen there complete the remaining work, and then—you do whatever you want, handle your own business!
Like "Golden Legend," we'll provide more detailed systematic introductions in the coming days. But you'll experience this immediately: on June 5th, you'll "unwrap" this anniversary gift. Take a peek—we hope you like it.
And naturally, at this special anniversary moment, we need to chat with our producer ZIMA about our overall vision: What kind of game will future Soulmask be?
Yes, now let's bring out our producer ZIMA to take over the following section!
About the Future: The New Soulmask
Greetings, Chieftains. I'm ZIMA, it's been a while.
The last time we met should have been in this article where we discussed initial character issues (link). A year has flown by in the blink of an eye. With the support and feedback from all you Chieftains, Soulmask is getting closer and closer to its complete form.
Maggie has actually already discussed our 1.0 information here, but I still hope to briefly chat about future Soulmask using our anniversary gift: through them, you can see part of what we truly envisioned from the very beginning—what future Soulmask will look like.
In the letter I sent at the beginning of Early Access I mentioned the concept Soulmask yearns to explore with players: the mysterious mask capable of "consciousness uploading" as a possibility for civilization development:
Through masks, what is civilization's endpoint? Besides this tribal world, are there other mask civilizations?
This question is what we hope to let Chieftains truly experience in Soulmask's gameplay—the truth of this world.
As mentioned before, Soulmask has three concepts that occupy important parts of the game—【Masks】, 【Tribes】, 【Civilizations】:
【Civilizations】: Different "lost civilizations" will be one of future Soulmask's core themes.
"Golden Legend" clearly shows everyone the style of another mask-dominated civilization: different civilizations obviously vary greatly in the role masks play within them and their ability to use these magical artifacts.
【Tribes】: Chieftains who obtain multiple masks will eventually embark on a unique tribal growth path. Pre-construction and logistics transportation are just the beginning—the connection between tribal members and each of you will become increasingly closer, ultimately becoming a new civilization exclusively yours.
【Masks】: Yes, masks—mysterious creations. "Golden Legend's" special abilities will make you can't help but imagine more. Their secrets seem not yet fully explored: What other capabilities do they have? How many civilizations have they influenced? As carriers of consciousness transfer, might they still harbor some... consciousness other than yours?
Maggie and I will discuss the true appearance of Soulmask 1.0 in more detail after some time.
However, beyond our own vision for Soulmask, Soulmask's 1.0 will still have another equally important content: responses to feedback and support from all of you. This game is a collaborative work between all of you and us.
Looking Back: Thank You ALL
Honestly, the process from a game's conception to a complete work requires a difficult and lengthy journey, and our choice of "Early Access" makes this even more so.
Even though we had prepared sufficient expectations, from the first day of Soulmask's Early Access, we received tidal waves of opinions from Chieftains. I personally have vivid memories of feedback from @Periwinkle: he clearly loved Soulmask and believed we "had all the elements of a great game." But he was indeed defeated by dissatisfaction with the initial character—his opinion, representative of many Chieftains' views on initial characters, was also an important reason I decided to write that separate article. I want to tell @Periwinkle that we improved initial character strength early on in our first major update "The Evolution of Mask" If you can see this, welcome back!
Of course, what made me even happier were the first batch of Chieftains who liked Soulmask during Early Access and gave us precious positive reviews. We can't thank each of you individually, but I need you to know this is the primary reason Soulmask has persevered until now.
Especially those Chieftains who spent enormous effort giving us lengthy positive reviews, like @VeronaKate, @Heitri, and @Bleddy (by the way, Bleddy, tribesman tools are more intelligent now! You should come back and try it). I have a particularly strong impression of @~MysticalKitty~'s supplementary comment. She and her husband were troubled by enemies constantly spawning around barbarian camps. After we fixed it, her additional praise made our development team incredibly energized: such recognition of our modification work gave meaning to our nightly hard work.
Yes, "The Evolution of Mask" could be said to be our first update collaborating with all of you to perfect Soulmask. After that, we began meeting more of your demands for new content:
- For instance, @Kira Simone mentioned furniture, buildings, and other functional—or decorative—structures. I think the little gadgets we've added across several consecutive updates and DLCs should keep you entertained for a while (though of course, this is far from enough).;
- We heard @indigo46n2 complain about insufficient map content density, so we tried adding world events and wild bosses in the major "Wild Ride" update. We believe world events will become a system Soulmask continues to deepen.
- Regarding flying mounts that @mBBbasar, @chelle, and others in the Steam community asked about, we've already updated with flying gliders. And there are even more impressive things coming afterward—trust me.
- And Chieftains like @Ramenx who are very enthusiastic about community mods—received! We've opened the Workshop, and now 200+ community content pieces let you freely combine your preferred Soulmask world.
I futilely attempt to mention everyone who provided valuable feedback in this article, but obviously this is an impossible task. I just want to say one thing: current and future Soulmask are developed together by us and all of you. This world belongs to everyone.
And certainly, Soulmask's 1.0 won't be the end either. We'll persistently perfect this work, making it more excellent and more worthy of everyone's support.
Once again, thank you everyone!
We'll meet again soon—a new Soulmask is coming.
