Our Development Method

Build, test, remember, improve

The original game cannot be reconstructed from one perfect source. The strongest results come from putting a working iteration in players' hands and improving it with their testing, logs, memories, and discussion.

Why the process works

The clearest example came with Magick iteration one. Once players could cast and test spells again, people came out of the woodwork with remembered details about messaging, spell behavior, runes, balance, and missing functionality. Those details drove several follow-on updates and brought the system closer to the Dragon's Gate experience than documents alone could have done.

  1. Release a controlled, playable iteration.
  2. Let real play jog memories and expose gaps.
  3. Compare feedback with logs, archives, and current game data.
  4. Correct behavior and balance in follow-on updates.
  5. Repeat as the next layer becomes testable.

Ways the community helps

  • Test a newly released system and describe exactly what happened.
  • Share logs or remembered behavior, while identifying what is memory rather than confirmed evidence.
  • Report reproducible bugs with commands, targets, timing, and expected results.
  • Correct website lore, spelling, navigation, and current-status information.
  • Offer original artwork only when the artist clearly permits the website to use it.

Credit for accepted work

Significant community-supplied updates and fixes will be credited when they are incorporated. Credit may appear on the relevant page or in a website update, depending on the contribution. Contributors should tell the team the name they want displayed.

Submitted artwork remains the creator's work. Before it is published, the team needs clear permission covering website use so ownership does not become a problem later.

Join the discussion

Use the community Discord for game testing and discussion. Website ideas and corrections can be discussed in the website suggestions thread so they can be reviewed openly and improved as a group.