Q&A session: AMA answers and "Season 1" release date!

Feudals,

following the yesterday's AMA, please read below the written answers to the questions you had submitted. Thank you all for coming for the event, we greatly appreciate it!

What will "Seasonal Arden" be like? Do you have a clear vision for the game's and specifically "seasonal" Arden's direction and if so - what is that vision like?

When we think about the "seasonal" model for Life is Feudal, three words come to mind: predictability, variety and change.

Arden Seasonal is designed as a PvP-focused cycle that will be interesting and challenging throughout its duration for both day-one players and late joiners. We strive to enhance the inherently "feudal" traits - combat and sieges, guild rivalry and socialization, - while introducing new elements in a controllable manner. The world progresses through 'Ages" on a schedule, the rules and available content evolve over time, and then the world resets.

For players, this model will be predictable - you will know exactly how long a season will last, and which new elements were introduced. No spontaneous wipes, no changes that come completely out of the blue. At the same time, seasons bring variety: this time we introduced the "Ages" mechanic, but we have more ideas on how to enhance the experience for the seasons to come.

Also, "seasonal" model enables us to analyze gameplay in a controlled, time-bound environment. The changes that enrich the experience will be kept in the game, while the ones hindering it will be abandoned. "Seasons" are meant to be a vehicle of change for Life is Feudal, improving the game with each cycle.

Have you thought about pivoting from the traditional MMO model to something closer to Rust, DayZ, or the old YO? (e.g., official and community servers with a 90-200 player cap)?

We’re not planning to pivot LiF into a Rust/DayZ-style survival server model. Life is Feudal MMO/Arden has its own core identity (terraforming, guild politics, long progression), and we want to build on this strong foundation rather than replace it.

Give people the chance to rent their own servers with the ability to modify whatever they want. Community is never satisfied, we think we are misunderstood, rarely satisfied with the changes made. The game no longer resembles the MMO it was nine years ago. Change your strategy: give the option for people to run their own servers like YO under your full authority. In the end, players will play where they feel the most comfortable.

Live games constantly change and evolve, and the fact that Life is Feudal does not quite resemble itself from years ago means that the game is alive and capable of change.

It is hardly possible to satisfy all groups as each player has their own opinion, but finding common ground is what we try to achieve. As in any MMO, a player will meet many people who they do not see eye to eye with, but, in a way, it is a part of the MMO experience.

We’ve discussed options closer to the YO model (including more flexible server formats), but right now our focus is making the official experience healthy for "Season 1". We are aware of such ideas.

Which changes can we expect in "Season 1" compared to "pre-season"?

Compared to "pre-season", "Season 1" will be tuned for a longer full cycle: progression will be reverted to standard speed, points-of-interest(POI)/layout (resources on the map, trade posts, knool areas) will be redistributed.

Players can expect new food and jewelry recipes, and new buildings. Another huge production change is that we d isabled the way to burn soil, and players won't be able to drop less than 15 units of soil at a time. Although it became a “legal exploit,” after carefully weighing all the pros and cons, we decided that removing these functions would be better for the long-term health of the game.

We have updated the Judgement Hours schedule for it to be more player-friendly.

Also, "Season 1" will feature a Season Pass with weekly rewards!

How long will "Season 1" be ? How long will each "Age" be?

"Season 1" will be 37 weeks long, starting from Febrary 10th, 2026 till the end of October.

Early "Ages" will be around 1.5 months each, with later "Ages" being around 2 months. We’ll publish the exact "Age" timeline when "Season 1" launches so everyone can plan accordingly.

Do you have internal metrics that justify the current duration of the seasons? To maintain high engagement, the ideal wipe cycle should be between 3 to 4 months.

We’re not convinced there’s a single “perfect” season length for LiF. With slower progression and fixed terraforming exploits, a very short cycle can feel rushed and unhealthy. We’ll track activity across "Season 1" and adjust the duration for future seasons based on real data and feedback.

Will characters that are moved back to Arden , be wiped?

When the "Seasonal Arden" wipe happens, characters in this world will be deleted as a part of the reset. If you want to keep a character, you should transfer it to the non-seasonal (regular) Arden before the shutdown (February 3rd). Use ability "Sail to another world" available at any guild monument to teleport. On February 10th, all characters on regular "Arden" will be teleported to the "green" zone; they can choose their further destination from there. After the wipe, any teleportation to "Seasonal Arden"/"Orange" zone will follow the usual rules (including skill/stat resets where applicable).

Please provide detailed rules and mechanics for the Orange Zone.

"Orange" zone is a guild space with limited PvP. What does this mean?

• in the "orange" zone, JHs, IBs, and sieges are disabled;

• players receive 90% protection bonus while on thier guild territory;

• a guild can only expand to the fiefs adjacent to their monument fief (no MOPs).

Meanwhile, open-world PvP received no restrictions and remains a viable option for the feudals who want some action.

The map size for the "orange" zone will be reduced, please see attached picture.

Is there any possibility of a new map in the future?

Yes future "Seasons" will have new maps.

Will resources be randomized across the map to encourage exploration?

Yes, we’re planning to redistribute resources across the already familiar "red zone" map for "Season 1" to encourage exploration.

Less is more. I suggest a map optimized for a maximum of 500 players to avoid the "empty world" feeling and encourage interaction.

We understand the “empty world” concern, but the map also needs enough space for building and long-term politics. With additional POIs and activity drivers, we believe the current scale is the right balance for now. We’ll keep evaluating as population changes.

Currently, resources are too easily accessible inside bases, which discourages players from exploring the map. We suggest that vital resources (like Iron) are placed in specific locations outside protected areas. This will force guilds to organize escorts and defenses, generating open-world PvP and ambushes. What will the resource gathering rate be? If the current version is 100%, will "Season 1" be tuned down (e.g., to 20%) to increase scarcity?

For now, we have no plans of altering production inside bases and resources gathering rate. We agree that the game would benefit from more player mobility, but we plan to achieve it through other means. However, adding requirements for stable outpost production ("fuel" gathered in the open world) is something we're willing to explore in the future.

Have you considered testing different guild member limits per season? For example, a 70-member limit for one season and a 40-member limit for the next to see how it affects the meta.

Yes, we’re open to testing different guild size limits across seasons.

"Season 1" starts with the current cap of 70 members, and we’ll closely monitor the situation to decide what to test next.

Focus on Smaller Groups: adapt the construction model or create a progression system tailored for teams of 5 to 10 players. This democratizes the game and increases overall competitiveness.

Small-group play is important. The "orange" zone is specifically intended to be a place where smaller groups can build and play with much lower risk of total destruction, while still having PvP opportunities. Seasonal PvP will remain the higher-stakes option for groups that want full siege gameplay.

Can we know the dimensions of the buildings that you are adding, so that we can plan the base accordingly?

Yes, we will release the exact sizes and placement footprints of the new buildings in the nearest future.

Are there plans to make JH more meaningful and suspenseful? For a PvP-focused server, JH needs to feel like a high-stakes event.

Yes, we are definitely exploring the ways to refresh the JH experience. Right now, we are analyzing and discussing the idea of enabling a certain degree of destruction during JHs. The idea is to let players destroy walls completely during JHs, and up to 50% of structures on the JH(ed) outpost (on 50% durability the doors open, and you can loot the buildings). This change is still in pre-development and will not be active at the start of the "Season 1".

What did you decide about the JH time zones: will you create another one for Europe (during winter time), or are you going to move it 2 hours later?

Time zones are always a compromise. This situation led to us completely changing our approach to JH time zones.

For "Season 1", JH will happen on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. We’re simplifying Judgement Hours by removing secondary JH time during weekdays, so guilds can choose a single prime time. The duration of JH has also been altered for different guild ranks.

We will most likely allow guilds to change prime-time during summer-winter time transition, so they can adjust the prime-time depending on guilds situation.

Another change to align with specific JH days is that we increased the cooldown for upgrading an outpost after capture to 96 hours, so defender/attacker wont upgrade it back before next JH. We understand this is a major change. We made this decision after many requests from the community to reduce the need for constant daily play and to make the game easier to enjoy alongside real life. We will monitor the situation to evaluate the results of this change.

How will you rebalance the servers according to each time zone ? Will an updated map be released before the launch?

Yes, we plan to shuffle the time zones across the map so that players can explore different locations. We’ll also publish an updated map/timezone layout closer to launch so everyone can plan around the real schedule.

Replace regional JHs with unified time slots that accommodate both European and American time zones simultaneously.

For now, we have not yet learned to bend space-time in a way that would enable us to provide JHs for Europe and America simultaneously.

At the moment people play for a couple of weeks/months and then quit because the game feels like a second job, and the fun parts about the game become less and less available. Are there any plans like for example instead of calling a holy JH you can start a holy raid where you have to kill as many people as possible and the winning side gets a reward (next to the loot of the kills) This would provide content without having to destroy peoples hard work, for example.

We agree the game can feel like a second job when all the fun is locked behind a narrow window. That’s why we’re planning more regular events/activities on days without Judgement Hours, so there’s meaningful PvP and progression without constant all-in sieges.

Do you plan to replace/drastically change the sieges mechanic in the future? Siege is a fundamental part of the game, that likely contributes heavily to the player base erosion. Every time, there are always a few to most members deciding its not worth starting over, because the loss of effort invested in a guild makes the thought of returning unpalatable.

We recognize the "siege burnout" problem. For now, we made minor adjustments to the system here and there, but we are not satisfied with the end-result.

We want to keep LiF’s hardcore stakes, but we’re looking at the ways to reduce “all or nothing” outcomes and make the lead-up and aftermath healthier. One of the possible ways is to add more instanced activities that don't touch or non-directly touch open world buildings. We’ll share more concrete siege changes once they’re ready.

Are you going to rework and improve Instance battles and Arena and use them to add new content? If yes, how? Have you considered adding new IB regimes, like "capture the flag"? It can also be an open-world event.

Yes, we do want to expand IBs and Arena as repeatable content with more maps that feature complex terrain, pre-built structures and objects. This will enable tactics and will require a thoughtful planning from the guilds: which classes and which items to bring. Events may include open-world “carry the totem”, instanced "battle royale" and "hunger games".

One of the things I would like to see is more arena servers: maybe not only the different number of fighters, but also arena for cavallery, even mixed arenas in larger areas where one can simulate skirmishes with more than 20 people. Also, the stability of the arena is also important - currently dreadfully laggy...Another thing is IBs just for the ""heck"" of it - why not allow "friendly" IBs, just for fun?

For now, we have no plans that target arenas specifically, and performance improvements will apply for the whole game. However, it is possible that arenas will receive updates to accomodates new, non-JH PvP activities.

"Friendly” IBs (no territory impact, just for PvP practice/fun) is a good idea and relatively straightforward to implement.

Currently, parrying feels overpowered. High-skill players face no downsides when mastering it. Would you consider adding a chip-damage system (taking a % of damage even when parrying), similar to YO, to keep it balanced?

Combat balance is something we’ll keep iterating on. Parry is a high-skill mechanic and we want it to feel rewarding, but not without counterplay. We’ll monitor "Season 1" meta closely and adjust if it becomes dominant (including options like partial damage or stamina tradeoffs).

How will the knool camps be used to ensure they are a source of content?

We see knools as a promising element of the game that can provide adequate challenges and gatekeep valuable resources and POI. The natives have been consistenly receiving new functions and AI improvements that boost their combat prowess. In "Season 1" you’ll see more reasons to visit them, as they will be guarding treasure chests - a new point of attraction for potential PvP encounters.

Will the central knool city be handcrafted by GMs like on Arden, or will it be developed/created with a unique design (as the regular knool camps are)?

All knool settlements, including the central knool “cities”, are always GM-built and hand-placed.

In the "Seasonal Arden", will it be possible to access knoll camps in more locations across the map? Also, knoll camps were technically present in multiple locations, but certain parts of them didn’t work - NPC were supposed to spawn there, but they didn’t. Will the knoll camp zones be reduced in size? I understand that many players use it to place a monument right next to it, but wouldn’t it be possible to really make the zone smaller?

We agree that admin lands can be very restrictive in terms of guild placements. We’re adjusting knool placement for "Season 1", but there are hard constraints: each camp/city needs protected admin.land around it, and too many locations would remove too much buildable space. Moreover, as players cannot build tradeposts on "Seasonal Arden", some of them took places of knool camps. The plan is fewer but more meaningful knool hubs (and fixes for missing spawns where needed).

When we approach the size of the admin.lands protecting the camps, we always aim for optimal size that would not deprive players of too much space, but will also ensure that no guild can monopolize the location. It is a hard balance, but we always value players' feedback and try to adjust accordingly.

Are you going to add more POI's (points of interest) around the map ?

Yes. We’re experimenting with more POIs: trade posts, knool hubs, and new open-world treasure chest activities to pull people out of their bases and create conflict points across the map.

Have you got any plans to make LiF at least slightly more attractive to a wider range of players - not only grinders, but also more casual ones or people with way less time on their hands?

Yes, we're exploring various options to add variety and levels to the LiF experience. Our plan is to add more activities which do not require an “all-or-nothing” and "high doorstep" approach, while keeping the overall hardcore identity of LiF intact.

How do you intend to streamline the onboarding process so new players can learn complex mechanics without being forced into an isolated environment? Is there a plan to phase out "Newbie Island" and replace it with a tutorial system integrated directly into the main world?

I believe a "mentorship" system or dynamic tutorials within the main map would greatly help keep new players active and engaged with existing communities from day one.

Up until now, our main focus was on restoring and polishing the existing core game mechanics aimed at players who are already familiar with the game. One of the major shifts in our short- to mid-term priorities is to make the game more approachable for new players. This includes improving onboarding process. We’re working on a more modern tutorial flow and an updated knowledge base so players can learn core systems. We’re also open to ideas like mentorship/community guidance, but we want to establish the foundation (tutorial + knowledge base) first.

In a way, we believe that LiF's "hard to learn, hard to master" quality makes it stand out against other survival experiences. However, the entrance barrier should not as steep as it is now.

For a new player, joining the PvP server 3 months into the season is intimidating and often discouraging. Meanwhile, the PvE server has a slow progression and no clear path to transition into the 'real' action. This isolation often leads to the PvP server feeling empty over time as new blood isn't being funneled in.

We agree with the core problem: late-joiners need a better path into the action, and PvP servers need a steady flow of new players. For "Season 1" our immediate focus is better onboarding (tutorial + knowledge base) and making the "seasonal" loop clearer and more predictable. Catch-up/migration incentives are something we can evaluate once the "Season 1" ecosystem stabilizes, so we can avoid creating abuse cases.

I suggest making it mandatory for players to link their Discord account to their character to unlock initial rewards and progression. The goal is to force newcomers to see the 'real' game: the recruitment channels, the trade markets, and the wealth of community knowledge. They need to understand from Day 1 that Life is Feudal is a social and diplomatic game, not a solo experience.

We absolutely recommend joining Discord because LiF is a social game, but we don’t plan to make Discord linking mandatory for core progression. Instead, we’re focusing on improving in-game onboarding and surfacing community resources (guides, recruitment, trade) in a more player-friendly way.

Can you give us an update on the possible transition of the game to Unreal Engine 5?

The UE5 transition is currently on hold. It’s a huge undertaking, and right now our priority is delivering gameplay/content updates and improving the live experience.

Since the UE5 client is currently on hold, will work be done on updating the outdated Torque 3D version? Modern QOL features like UI scaling, HDR or DLSS/FSR wouldn't hurt the game. I strongly suspect it will be much easier to develop new mechanics and content for the latest version of the engine. It will make the best use of the latest hardware and provide a smoother gaming experience overall.

Life is Feudal employs a custom Torque-3D modification with unique properties. Upgrading the underlying engine branch of Torque 3D or doing a major engine modernization would take a very large chunk of time and would effectively pause content development. Although we agree on the importance of this task, right now we’re prioritizing content and live-service improvements over a deep engine upgrade.

Believe us when we say - we don't like it, either...

Are there any plans to make the server infrastructure and combat mechanics more "democratic" for players outside Europe? Are you considering implementing better lag compensation, netcode optimizations, or perhaps regional servers to lower the barrier of entry for the South American audience?

We’ve investigated options like region-splitting servers within one world, technically it's almost impossible to do this without players taking experince damage. For now we’re focusing on optimizations we can deliver within the current infrastructure, but we plan to revisit the regional approach in the future.

Will there be any QoL updates?

Yes, we plan to do targeted QoL/UI improvements where feasible.

What are your concrete plans for Godenland? All remaining players are still paying a subscription, but no new buildings (e.g. "stockpiles") have been added for a long time.

Right now we are preparing tradepost and map updates right after Ardens update, but it’s mostly about fixes and QOL features like which server is offline.

Most of our effort is focused on Arden and the "seasonal" transition. Godenland is still online, but we don’t want to promise major new feature drops there while we’re concentrating on "Season 1". We’ll communicate any decisions about its future as soon as we have something final.

Porting new Arden buildings to Godenland will require additional adaptation due to technical differences and how the project evolved. For now, all our resources are poured into the "seasonal" transition for Arden, so we can’t give a firm date.

For 33 months, nearly three years, the same rewards have been rotating. When will new rewards or benefits be added? Many players are frustrated with receiving the same rewards since Bobic’s Godenland.

We understand the frustration with long-rotating rewards. At the moment our development focus is on "seasonal" transition, which limits how much new content we can safely bring to Godenland. We’ll share an update on what changes (rewards/benefits) we can deliver, and when.

When will in-game map be updated to clearly show which servers are offline and therefore not passable?

This is being improved. We’re adding clearer in-game map information so you can see which servers are offline / not passable (and other useful layer info).

Why no more Dev.Diaries videos on your YouTube channel and no more streams?

Dev.Diaries take a lot of coordinated effort (script approvals, capturing fresh high-quality footage, editing, etc.). We haven’t been able to sustain them consistently. We’ll continue with written updates and will bring back more video content when we can produce it at the quality you expect.

At the same time, we continue to scale up our communication efforts with regular AMAs, dev.talks and proactive community engagement.

What will you do to ensure you attract as many players as possible for "Season 1" (advertising / videos / partnerships etc.)? When do you plan to make an advertisement move?

We plan marketing around meaningful milestones. Right now, we believe that the biggest push makes sense when onboarding is improved (tutorial + knowledge base), so new players stick instead of bouncing. For "Season 1" you can expect trailers, creator/community outreach, announcements, and we’ll scale up as the new-player experience improves.

Is there a player number the dev.team would see as a success after season opening, so it will be justified in their eyes to continue developing the game?

We’re not setting a single “success number.” We look at a mix of metrics: retention across the season, activity levels, and how healthy the server/guild ecosystem is. Either way, we already have confirmed plans beyond "Season 1".

Is there a plan B if the "seasonal" concept fails, or would that be the end of LIF?

The overall "seasonal" model cannot fail as we need to wipe the "red" map sometimes anyway. If "Season 1" has issues, the plan B is "Season 2" with fixes and adjustments. "Pre-season" results and feedback so far are encouraging, and the project is not planned to end with "Season 1".

How many developers are currently working on the game and how often per week/month ?

What we can say is that it’s a smaller dedicated team than in the original development era, focused on live operations and targeted feature work.

The team contains at least one hamster...🐹

What are your plans for the future of the game? What is your vision for the game? What is LiF about, in your opinion, and how do you plan to expand on it?

Our long-term vision for Life is Feudal is to keep it a hardcore, slow-paced medieval MMO built around player-driven conflict, cooperation, and meaningful consequences.

At its core, LiF is about territory, social dynamics, and risk vs reward - not theme-park or disposable content.

What new content can we expect in the future?

Going forward, we want to expand the range of activities available to players, including new open-world and instanced content, and continue developing future Seasons with new features. Our goal is to move toward a game that is not defined solely by sieges, but also offers meaningful gameplay for smaller groups and individual players, while still feeding into the larger MMO world.

Why the development process is taking so long? Can we expect a roadmap to track the development process?

The main reason we’ve avoided a “date-by-date” roadmap is that our estimates move as soon as we hit technical risks, urgent tasks cause - it’s a live sandbox, and we don’t want to repeatedly miss dates. We can do better on transparency: we’re preparing an “intentions / focus” roadmap (without hard dates) and we’ll keep it updated alongside release notes and dev. posts.

This marks the end of our AMA. Thank you all for submitting your questions and attending the streams! Once again, we congratulate Capybaras de la Tormenta for acing the "pre-season" (hope you like the picture!). We will see you all on February 10th, the launch date for "Season 1"! "Pre-season" done, "Season 1" - just around the corner, and many more to come!