Hi everyone, Koi here! I just want to make a general post about the state of Elyxium and our future plans/changes moving forward into this new year. It may be a long post, so apologies in advance. 

General

Aphex, the first Elyxium species, was created all the way back around 2016! Crazy to think how much time has passed since their initial conception, and in that time, many species have been added alongside Aphex. I was 16 at that time, and my ability for storytelling and worldbuilding was still rather unrefined, and as more species were added, the lore of the world became complicated and messy. Come 2024, I had a hard look at Elyxium as a whole and finally accepted I no longer felt connected to the world I created 8 years prior. My key beliefs, themes, and aesthetics had been refined after so long, and I wanted Elyxium to reflect that. I wanted to make something that reflected myself, with a world that felt unique, and where the species all belonged in unity instead of trying to force puzzle pieces where they just didn't fit.

While we started off as a closed species and grew in that space, a closed species is no longer what I want Elyxium's experience to feel like. We want to inspire creativity, world-building, and roleplaying, not exclusivity. Strictly limiting permissions with characters, trading, and creating (in my experience) can be demotivating, especially to new members. We have made many changes in an effort to diverge from this label while keeping the core fundamentals to ensure playability as a game, but I thought I would bring it up just to clarify the direction we are heading for those in the dark. Creating characters, ideas, lore etc even if not canon, is perfectly fine and welcomed, however only official characters will be able to participate in Elyxium's future mechanics. We want to create a world that players can build upon and expand past the foundations we create. For now, this simply means art with unofficial characters do not earn full earnings, but once more updates are pushed through, characters not approved and on the masterlist can not participate in the website activities. We do not police "unofficial" designs, and request that users be inclusive of members who want to be involved in Elyxium, even if they do not wish to play directly on the website. Unofficial designs can always be made official with MYO licenses and appropriate traits etc. We have been using these terms for a few years now, but I just wanted to clarify my stance on unofficial designs. This also means if you have any official designs, you are completely free to create background characters for story purposes as well, it is your choice to have them officially listed or not. 

Art Submissions

As more activities are added to the website to earn currency, we will eventually phase out art submissions as the main way to earn game currency. There are many factors when it comes to grading art, and it's very difficult to assess every unique art style and skill level fairly. We absolutely love seeing art submissions and will look for ways to show off your art in-game, but in terms of balancing and rewards, we will be steering away from this method for the future. We also want to give non-artists and those who do not have time to draw, activities that feel engaging and rewarding. While we don't have a date when art submissions will eventually close, we will give due notice so artworks can be submitted!

Lore Reworks

As mentioned before, Elyxuim (and the species within) will be going through reworks to ensure they are in line with the reworked lore of the world. Luckily (For me at least), a lot of the fundamental lore that is being changed has been kept secret and only alluded to in partial context. I have spent the last two years reworking the world-building for Elyxuim, and I finally reached a point where I am confident in the direction I want to go. What does this mean for the species and characters within? Honestly, this shouldn't affect much at all. The primary lore that is being changed is context I have never fully written out. Human lore IS being reworked drastically, but the foundations of the soul lore introduced in 2020 is still somewhat accurate, even if infantile in conception. This rework will slowly also introduce a new map, lore-accurate currency, and clearer reincarnation rules etc. As much as I want to write all my concepts down in a neat little bow, I will be keeping the juicy stuff for users to discover and piece together as they explore and interact within Elyxium. 

Specie Updates

A major element I want to focus on is sorting out species traits, lore and categories, main species, compainions etc. Many species and subtypes are HEAVILY outdated in terms of anatomy and sometimes lore. We will be going through these species and updating them, as well as sorting out class stats and abilities in the backend, however this will be implemented last. Unfortunately, when planning the future of Elyxium I must make some hard decisions to ensure the lore and mechanics feel appropriate to the world. This means some species may lose their label as a "Main Species" while others will be fleshed out and pushed to this level. My main consideration is Lockeys & Cyphons, which feel like the biggest underliers in the collection of main species, both for various reasons. More info about this change will come at a later date, but we will try to keep masterlists in-tact for characters falling in this category (But base lore may be revised to function). 

Upcoming

In terms of website updates, there are a lot of management systems we intend to put in place that may not be all too exciting, such as bug reports, blocking, forums and messaging systems. Systems already included in the game are on our priority list, such as leveling, foraging, the wishing tree etc. We are also sorting out mechanics for fun side activities such as fishing and/or gardening as another methods of earning currency. We will keep you posted about what to expect next!

Wow that was a lot! I tried to keep it brief, but I want to be transparent about our next steps for Elyxium's future. This is a world that is 10 years in the making, and those who have stuck by our development, we thank you. I went through a phase where I wanted to create as much content as I could, and now we have 800+ items, 600+ pets, 2400+ listed characters, 24 species and at least 2 subtypes for each main species ohmygosh// So we are slowing down new content to refine and give TLC to our existing species.