Artificial Core, the developer behind the much-anticipated MMORPG Corepunk, has recently ramped up its hiring efforts, specifically seeking a significant number of artists. This surge in job postings on platforms like ArtStation has caught the attention of the game's community, leading to widespread speculation about the reasons behind this sudden need for artistic talent.
The noticeable uptick in job listings has players and fans buzzing with curiosity and concern. The timing of this hiring spree, especially so late in the game's development cycle, has raised several questions. Some community members on platforms like Reddit have speculated that this could indicate a variety of scenarios, ranging from internal shifts to strategic preparations for the game's impending launch.
One prevalent theory among the community is that there might have been recent departures within the artistic team at Artificial Core. This kind of turnover isn't uncommon in the gaming industry, especially as projects evolve and move through different phases of development. If key artists have indeed left the company, this hiring wave could be an effort to fill those critical gaps and ensure the project's visual components remain on track.
Another possibility is that Artificial Core is gearing up for a major phase of production as they approach the game's launch. The final stages of game development often require intensive effort to polish graphics, create promotional materials, and ensure all visual elements are seamlessly integrated. Hiring additional artists could be a strategic move to bolster the team and meet these high demands, ensuring the game is visually stunning and ready for release.
On forums like Reddit, discussions about these job postings are filled with both curiosity and concern. Some users question the legitimacy of the job posts, while others ponder the underlying reasons for such a hiring surge. This discourse highlights the community's deep investment in Corepunk's development and their desire for transparency from Artificial Core.
Despite the speculation, many fans remain optimistic. They see the hiring spree as a positive sign that the company is committed to delivering a high-quality game. By bringing in more talent, Artificial Core might be ensuring that Corepunk meets, or even exceeds, player expectations.
As Artificial Core continues to seek new artistic talent, the Corepunk community remains watchful and engaged. Whether this hiring push is a response to recent staff changes or a strategic move to prepare for launch, one thing is clear: the company is investing heavily in the visual excellence of Corepunk. Fans eagerly await further updates, hopeful that this expansion will contribute to the creation of a vibrant and immersive game world.
The following is an official news post, originally available here.
Hello everyone!
We want to inform you that our next test will be held during the first week of July, from July 1st to July 7th.
Currently, we are working hard on optimization and resolving disconnects. Additionally, we will introduce a new iteration of game balance. More details will be shared closer to the dates of the test.
The previous test did not go as planned, and we are now preparing for the next round. We hope to resolve the main issues so you can enjoy the next testing phase while we gain new insights.
As long as you support us, we will keep moving forward no matter what. No one is immune to failure, but iteration after iteration, we will create a high-quality game worthy of your time and attention.
See you soon, Adventurers!
The following is an official news post, originally available here.
Thank you for following the game. We hope you will enjoy your time in the world of Kwalat!
Note: We didn't manage to introduce the trader system and new quests we were preparing for the test, but the good news is that we have almost everything ready for this. Additionally, we have added over 100 new NPCs to the game, each with their own story, and there will be no spoilers before early access. :)
We want to remind you that the game is still in active development, so expect bugs and various rough edges. We hope your expectations are accordingly set.
⚠️ 1. IMPORTANT: Close and reopen your launcher, log out from launcher, log out from browser, re-log in again to have less disconnects.
⚠️ 2. Please keep the launcher open during gameplay to have less.
⚠️ 3. If you get disconnected often - repeat step 1.
⚠️ 4. Check your previously bricked heroes, they should work now.
📢 5. To follow server updates, join the official Discord thread.
The following is an official news post, originally available here.
Today we want to share our thoughts about the ongoing test and a little bit about everything in general.
Warning! Lots of text ahead.
We have already gathered a vast amount of important feedback and continue to collect more. We've identified critical bugs and see the areas that need our focus. Our technical team has been working diligently these days, analyzing a large amount of real-time data from the test. We want to highlight the exemplary resilience of the Artificial Core technical department in improving gameplay experience during the test with quick and effective solutions. We also want to thank you, our players, for continuing to play despite constant disconnects and shard bugs, as well as game balance issues. Your persistence in logging back into the game and playing helps us tremendously. This means everything will certainly be fixed, and that's great news.
Note: Chests should not drop like this; we mixed up the chances :). Epic items in the game will be rare, just like the chests. But we've left it this way for the test; let it be so in this iteration. Besides, we'll still be tweaking the balance settings, so don't pay attention to it for now.
You can already see the main direction and fundamental principles of the game. Overall, the gameplay is built around the progression of your character (what a surprise). You level up your character, unlock all available systems, and in the endgame, you work on improving or finding your builds.
As we mentioned earlier, our goal was never to tell you how to play. Our goal has always been to provide you with good tools. To achieve this, we tried to make character progression systems versatile, giving players as many opportunities as possible for creativity.
The game starts slowly, that's a fact. This is a design necessity. We're not saying we are right; we're saying this is how we envision the game. From a slow start comes the motivation to progress, and you start to advance further. It's important that at this stage, the game can captivate you with its style, atmosphere, and basic gameplay, making you want to stay in the world for a while. This is not a long time, and considering the feedback and advice from our community, we have significantly improved the smoothness of the experience from levels 1-5. Ask the testers from the first test about what they had to go through 🙂. Now, we think it's acceptable in terms of speed and time spent, considering that the game now has 20 levels.
The game requires you to put in a small amount of effort, and if you do, once you start succeeding in playing the game, you will begin to feel good. Corepunk is one of those games where you need to really play to start understanding what it's about. The more you know about the game, the more interesting and deeper it will become, and this will pay off because the further you go, the more enjoyment you will get. In Corepunk, to get enjoyment, you need to put in a bit of effort. This is how motivation systems in the game are designed. With each artifact, each level, each talent, you will feel your character becoming stronger, subconsciously sensing this progression. Your brain starts to be motivated to seek more information about the game, to learn more, to unlock more, to progress further because you feel this progression. This is our goal. This is how we see our progression. The initial effort is necessary to achieve a contrast in sensations and boost motivation at the first significant improvement (e.g., an artifact, or better yet, two).
To ease the pain of the initial stages, we use various techniques. For example, we create pleasant visuals, graphics, and an atmosphere that can captivate you, allowing you to enjoy being in and exploring the new world of a new game. We create NPCs with well-thought-out stories and backgrounds, work on more thoughtful dialogues, choose jokes, and constantly improve the experience in the world.
Let's note right away that this does not negate the fact that we need to polish the initial game from levels 1-5 (to be honest, everything needs to be polished) and make it more user-friendly through QoL features, improved quest systems, rewards, etc., including many tutorials. We know where we need to work.
In our opinion, you start playing the game when you begin to learn it, when you are motivated to progress by learning more about the game, its world, and its community. The game begins at that very moment. The game in Corepunk started from the moment it was announced. When the first community members began to show interest. When discussions started on Discord and the forum.
Of course, we want to have all our dialogues voiced by professional actors; we'll tell you more, it's our dream! But we are an independent mid-sized studio, and we simply must choose very carefully where we can and cannot direct our limited resources—it's a matter of survival. In this case, using AI to do the work and show players how it can look and feel greatly helps in the development and promotion of the game. So, don't view it only negatively. Look at the possibilities. This opportunity allows us to present our product to the public faster and show some things at least in a draft version, which means survival in the modern market conditions and, in turn, means that we will be another studio able to hire many voice actors because we will have the opportunity to provide our players with a higher quality game. We don't know of any independent studio on the market that wouldn't want to include professional voice acting in their games.
Since the announcement date, we have openly talked about this topic. We have always envisioned Corepunk as a no pay-to-win model. Our marketing plan was clear: we wanted the game to sell itself with its visuals, idea, concept, and execution. We always believed that people would play a good game. A good game will always find its player if it is made with love, attention, and an understanding of what we want.
The game will be sold on a Buy to Play model with an in-game store that will not have items capable of enhancing your character, no boosters, or any other gameplay elements for sale. Previously, we had an idea to introduce battle passes, but we have since abandoned that idea, and there will be no battle passes.
Let's clarify right away: we are not against other monetization models or games with such models (never say never). Any model that can bring income to developers and feed their families is deeply respected by us because we know what a titanic effort it is. We simply believe that Corepunk, in its base, is built so that it will not survive and earn enough for long-term existence with such a model. Most of the systems embedded in the game from the project's early stages are exclusively related to gameplay and not focused on monetization. If we wanted to monetize it through P2W, we would have to redesign the project almost entirely.
Our only way to exist as a studio is to release a game that will be very interesting to play.
The main thing we want to say is that the core principle of our game launch ideas has always been that we can start monetizing the game only when players have seen it, tried it, and made their own conclusions about whether they find it interesting to play. Players should understand what they are paying for. And we need to understand if we are selling a product ready for fun, where people can spend their time and enjoy it. We are confident that Corepunk in early access will fully meet this.
You already see and understand what the game will be like and how it will be played. For early access, as we previously reported, we will add two new major settlements and two new biomes with their own NPCs, quests, and monsters. One biome will be entirely PvP, and the other will be entirely PvE-oriented. Two instances and two battlegrounds. Several world bosses to kill. Tier 3 itemization. The synthesis machine and its full functionality. And a lot of other content that can't all be listed in an article, and a lot of polishing in all areas. All this, combined with all the game systems being designed for full replayability, will give players many months of enjoyable gameplay.
We want to enter early access as soon as possible for two reasons. First, we have been working on the game for 10 years, and we need to pay our bills. Second, but no less important, the last test, and especially this one, showed us how great it is to have constantly online servers with real players and receive real-time technical and gameplay feedback. The accuracy and speed of iterations increase many times over, which is invaluable. With such a production pipeline, where we have a constantly playing player base, Corepunk will reach the highest level of gameplay quality. Calibration will be insanely effective. And early access sales will give us the opportunity to significantly increase the speed and quality of content production.
Corepunk was not just made as a business, although it certainly was, but it was also created as a project of passion and love for games. This is our contribution to the world of games. Every team member currently working on the game has put a piece of themselves into it, a part of their soul. We never doubted that when people see the game and play it, they will love it because they will feel how the game was created, every pixel, every step. We found our unique style, our unique game design.
The game has evolved significantly over the years, our community has grown (over 100,000 registrations in the last 6 months alone), and we have developed, all of which have influenced Corepunk. You can't imagine how many of your ideas over the years have been incorporated into the game from Discord, the forum, comments on various YouTube videos, and all the content you create. Corepunk is a product of the collective efforts of developers and the community. This is its strength.
Many people think that there is no point in focusing on players having to discover everything themselves, that over time there will be tons of guides about the game, and everything will be explained, and people will have to search through various video channels and websites created by players to learn everything, and that it's pointless. But we see the point in this. When players have the opportunity to create various content about the game, share something they found or learned, or share their secrets with the public, it's a huge plus for everyone the content creator, the player seeking answers, and us, the developers.
The game looks beautiful on streams, attracts attention with its appearance, and people enjoy watching what happens on the screen because there is a lot of exploration and unexpected situations.
This is how you showcase the game to the public, how the community grows, creating an ecosystem around the game from which not only developers but also the entire community can benefit, whether they are readers or content creators. This is our goal. The game is more than just the game; it's the community and the ecosystem growing around it, and we understand this perfectly.
Thank you, friends, for playing, streaming, and creating content about Corepunk. You provide invaluable support in promoting and growing the game, especially in these challenging times with fierce competition and many excellent teams and games. We greatly appreciate your contribution, and all we can do from our side is to release a game where you, the players, your viewers, readers, and everyone interested in Corepunk and its content will have fun and find it profitable for many, many years.
Thank you to everyone who read this long message! Thank you to everyone testing the game, watching streams, and showing interest in the game. You are part of this universe, and we are grateful to you for it!
Your Corepunk team.
The following is an official news post, originally available here.
Hope everything is going well.
We just want to share some news and tell you what we are working on at the moment.
The back end and front end of the game are still not optimized, so that's the main reason why we have not conducted Beta yet. But we are working in this direction. We improved our environment for faster feedback with the help of Bots. Their behavior is very similar to that of a player; they can do practically everything the real player can - kill monsters, do quests, craft and gather resources and then craft, etc. And we will continue expanding their abilities even further. But right now we are using this for our load testing of server-infrastructure and automatic testing of the game.
We are continuously working on refining the items and their balance. Here are a few new items that we have recently implemented and are currently conducting playtests with. Meanwhile, we continue to create new artifacts to combine different sets of characteristics in them. So, we finished this part of the job.
To achieve maximum effectiveness you can use some consumables. They have a short-term impact and give an increase in characteristics. We have finished with these ones as well.
Well, we have been focusing on camps as a key aspect of our work. In our latest video, you might have noticed that the camps of the encountered mobs were quite simple. So, at this moment we are working on designing more vibrant and integrated camps that truly reflect the essence of these creatures and their lives within their environment.
Here is the finished concept of a camp for the leafy monsters. These dangerous monsters are the result of chemical experiments that went wrong. So, now they feel more natural and more integrated into the world.
Next is the finalized concept of the construction set for the imp camp. The camp is a self-sufficient community that can support a large number of imps. The creatures are mean and swear a lot.
Deep in the forest, we have massive camps for Dendroids. They are big in size, so you won't miss them. They guard their camps, maintain eco-balance and order. This project will give you a glimpse of what the camps look like and what kind of environment the creatures live in.
On Kwalat, there are many places to explore, but today we'll be focusing on the forest area. You might have already seen one of them in our latest video. They vary in size and have different abilities. Let's take a look at them.
This Dendroid Guard causes an explosion with his fists.
This mid-sized Dendroid puts its hand on the ground in the direction of the chosen target and roots begin to creep.
This small one throws seeds at the player, the seed germinates and explodes.
Next three wooden predators are emitting wasps from their body that bite the nearest enemy, making a scream that deals damage periodically, doing a tail strike in a semicircle in front of itself which causes heavy physical damage.
This wooden deer is dashing into a lane in front of him, dealing physical damage.
We do hope that you have enjoyed our updates. Give us some feedback whether you're interested in posts like this, what things you wanna know more about and we will dive into that in our next posts.
Please stay tuned and thank you very much for being with us!
The following is an official news post, originally available here.
Today we want to introduce you to three new weapon specializations and talents for six specializations. Weapon talents enhance a hero's abilities, activate additional effects, change mechanics, or add new skills.
Weapon talents become available automatically at level 6. From level 6, players can use consumables and accumulate energy. Talents can be reset at an NPC. In the test, there will be simplified functionality for teachers, including passive talent teachers, who will be limited to selling consumables for resetting talents. In early access, this functionality will be expanded, and the cost of resetting talents will increase each time. Our goal is to strike a balance, making talent resets accessible but thoughtful actions.
To upgrade weapon talents, players need to accumulate energy in the specialization. With each level increase, players can choose one talent and progress further along the branch. Consumables providing energy can be obtained as quest rewards and as loot in world drops. Consumables can be used directly from the inventory by right-clicking, and the energy will replenish the specialization's experience. Players can simultaneously upgrade 26 talents. There are no restrictions on how much to upgrade each skill branch. Players can upgrade any talents while following the upgrade sequence within the branch.
Weapon specialization talents are another progression system designed to give players the ability to customize their character more flexibly and accurately to their playstyle. Along with passive talent and itemization systems, players have extensive options for build creation. It's also important to note that in Corepunk, almost all systems have a set of unique stats they are designed to enhance. There are a few exceptions to the general rule, but overall, the progression structure is built to ensure players don't feel repetition when increasing their character's power.
We have also reworked the heroes, and they are slightly different from what was previously presented on the website. Today, we present to you three new specializations—Archer, Shaman, and Infiltrator. We hope you like their set of outplay possibilities, and we look forward to your comments and suggestions.
We are still tweaking the numbers and balance for the test these very days, so keep that in mind when theorycrafting with the numbers. However, all the mechanics are already in place for the test, so you can start playing around with them.
Thank you for your attention and warmth. We hope you are waiting to try everything out for yourselves, and we look forward to seeing you in the game soon!
Your Corepunk team!
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