Open development and test philosophy

The recording emphasizes an unusually open development process in which unfinished systems are shown publicly and discussed in detail. This approach is presented as a tradeoff: it exposes rough work, placeholders, and temporary problems, but it also creates direct feedback loops and a stronger sense of community participation.

Weekly public iteration

The project is described as being reviewed publicly on Sundays, with systems shown in active development rather than only after they are polished. This includes placeholder UI, temporary assets, incomplete animations, and editor-based demonstrations.

The stated goal is to let players see progression over time rather than only curated reveals. This is framed as a loss in short-term presentation impact, because a later polished reveal would appear more dramatic, but a gain in trust and collaborative feedback.

Community input during development

The dueling system is used as an example of community-guided iteration. Feedback on duel radius, edge cases, and usability is collected immediately, and live changes are made during the session. The process is described as "community development" in the sense that players can see when a feature was built and how their suggestions influenced it.

Polls are also used to decide future stream topics, such as whether to focus next on gathering and crafting or on class talents.

Scope of the team

The studio is described as having a little over 100 people when outsourcing partners are included, with around 80 people employed under contract directly in the company at the time of the recording.

This staffing level is used to explain both the pace of feature development and the practical limits on bespoke content production.

Test structure and expectations

The April 30 test is described as a staged test rather than a near-final release candidate. The version players will first access is explicitly characterized as the worst version of the game they are expected to play, because it is the baseline from which feedback-driven improvements will begin.

Players are encouraged to evaluate movement, combat feel, and overall ideas, while understanding that many systems, animations, and visuals are not final.

The test is also described as being released in drops. Early access is expected to focus on open-world play, quests, gathering, crafting, talents, and dueling, while later drops may add dungeons or structured PvP such as battlegrounds and arenas.

Playtesting priorities

The recording stresses that tests should direct players toward specific goals rather than simply opening the game without guidance. The stated intention is to tell players what needs to be tested so feedback can be more actionable.

There is also mention of needing a tutorial and a feedback-reporting system before broader testing, since the current game state lacks both.

Internal playtest philosophy

Internal Thursday playtests are described as the main venue for reviewing systems across the company. The stated design principle is that systems should be judged primarily by whether they are fun in practice, not merely interesting in theory.

The recording argues that developers should be willing to discard or rework features that are not enjoyable, even after effort has already been spent on them. This is presented as especially important for MMORPG development, where system complexity can easily become excessive.

Character creation and temporary limitations

Character creation is expected to be available in the test, but only with basic customization. The available options are described as non-representative of the intended long-term character creator.

Similarly, some character animations shown in the current build are acknowledged as temporary, including cases where a female model is still using a male animation set.

Source

• Recording: Scars OF Honor - Review of new Feature, Game Discussions with Community!
• YouTube: Watch on YouTube
• Published: Sunday, March 22, 2026 at 8:52 PM UTC