All this info can be found in the official LiF Discord server, but I can't be bothered to go fishing for it, so you'll have to take my word for it.
So earlier today I was searching on Twitter for "Life is Feudal" to see if I could find any news, and a fan's reply pointed me in this direction: https://twitter.com/LTGpublisher/status ... 6212452353
What is this account? It's a new publisher called Long Tale Games. Based in "Malasiya", account made in August, 152 followers, and following no one. Official website: https://longtalegames.com
They have two games coming up, one of which is the "sword, armor and throne" one mentioned in the tweet above. Even fewer details are available about the other (nothing beyond yet another blurred pic).
The publisher will be taking part in a conference in Tel Aviv, and one of the studios they are dealing with has a Russian head. Not Bobik, some other Russian guy who made some crappy small game, who cares. But at least the Russian connection is there. So that's something.
More tellingly though, the people in the comments are posting this image, which appears to be the source for the blurred-out image in the tweet above:
I can't backtrace this image, but in the comments they are saying it's a LiF concept art, and I believe they might be right because the armor seems like LiF. There are at least 5-6 people in the comments talking about LiF, and no one is saying WHERE they found the link to this publisher. My guess is it's from some kind of leak from the official LiF Discord.
But it gets weirder. Because the publisher has a job posting on their site for a "Game Designer" for an MMO/MMORPG with... wait for it... blockchain and "play-to-earn"/"metaverse" experience: https://longtalegames.com/vacancies#vacancy2
And just in case you thought, well, maybe they're publishing TWO MMOs, the position is remote to the... Russian Federation.
Long Tale Games wrote:Full VMI in the Russian Federation (telemedicine + psychology)
Though weirdly, if you want to relocate, you have to move to...
Long Tale Games wrote:Remote work or Relocation to Kuala Lumpur
It's really not surprising if Bobik's going for crypto. Crypto and NFTs were made for this kind of game, and I am sure Chris Roberts already has plans for how to implement it when the time's right. But especially in Bobik's case, whose game struggled to stay above water, any source of funding whatsoever should be explored in such a niche and endangered genre, and crypto is a no-brainer. Whether it can be implemented to the benefit of the game is another story. I think to the benefit, mechanically, no. Only if you consider that perhaps without crypto the game would not be made at all, or not survive for long, can you then accept crypto as acting to the benefit of the ENTIRE game, even if mechanically it will be detrimental. I was planning an essay about this years ago, but never got around to writing it. It would have explored this subject in gambling first (explaining why all the gambling games are boring without the money), and then expanded to all games, explaining why the introduction of real money—or real goals of any kind—is inescapably detrimental to the design. Maybe I should write this article now, as it's getting quite topical, and will get more and more so, I am sure.
Back to LiF2. The last bits of info to be analyzed are the contents of the tweet itself. First of all, it speaks of "the battle for the throne". There was no mechanical significance to thrones in the first game that I am aware of, so unless this is just marketing-speak, it seems this game might have an actual goal and endgame or semi-endgame! I can see a battle royale design between clans! This is pretty much what I've been saying for years that Rust needs, by the way, and Bobik with his countless brilliant mechanical innovations is just the man to devise and implement this first.
And finally, and most wildly, the battle "starts soon"!
No previews or early accesses or betas. The fucking battle starts soon!
So... I don't know what to say, but if I am anywhere near the mark with the above speculation, and this thing drops out of the sky ready to play anytime "soon", expect me to lose at least a month of my life to it, and all my projects to be pushed a month back. Just sayin'.
What a Christmas present it would be if we got it in the holidays.
P.S. For newcomers, LiF is the second-best game of all time. (Third, if you count my game, which I don't quite yet, because it's not quite ready.)