Welcome to Spellbrook
Everything is about to change. Spellbrook started out as a passion project, to provide small commission jobs for struggling creatives in Minecraft and to bring a group of friends together to work on something that excites them. But it's quickly grown into a strong and passionate community. And now with the support of Spark Universe - Spellbrook is entering a spellbinding new chapter!
Everything is changing in Spellbrook as we shift our focus into making the game more of a Social Survival RPG. We're completely rethinking the new player experience. From adding Companions, Broomsticks & Boss Fights to revamping the whole magic system - Spellbrook (despite being new to begin with) is entirely reinventing itself.
We even got some mystical new branding!✨
Let's Make Some Magic (literally)
The Magic system is the heart of Spellbrook. Players will begin their journey by choosing a starting Magic type of Fire, Water or Nature Magic. Long-term we plan to release expansions that introduce new and exciting Magic types that all come with their own levels of progression - as well as (eventually) hundreds of Spells.
For those of you who have participated in the Spellbrook Early Access testing so far - the Magic System will be getting a complete overhaul! This time around we'll be making a lot of quality-of-life improvements, implementing Wand/Staff upgrading and introducing a mana system. The Magic System is a critical part of what will make Spellbrook fun to play - so we're willing to scrap elements of it entirely until we get it right. As with everything on Spellbrook (and why we're calling it community-led), it is an iterative process driven by the community's feedback.
We'll always be improving our Spells and spellcasting visuals and designs too!
Like this new fire dragon Spell...
Want to know more about the game design and development side of Spellbrook? Consider becoming a member of the Spellcasters Society for behind-the-scenes content!
Magic-based Player Combat
In taking a step back and deciding we'd need to plan bigger - we knew that magic-based combat would have to be a priority for Spellbrook and that we'd need to have some form of it on day one. The Combat Arena is a new feature we're planning for that will allow players to face off against their fellow students for exclusive rewards. This feature, while concepted to be simple - is our way of planning for more magic-based combat minigames and PvP gamemodes later down the line. While Spellbrook is largely a PvE experience, we want to be developing our Spells with PvP in mind going forward - hence, The Combat Arena.
Creatures & Enemies
Offensive and defensive Spells are going to be critical when exploring Spellbrook and the Survival Realms as they will both contain passive and aggressive magical creatures.
Explore Spellbrook to encounter challenging boss fights that call for teaming up with other players in large groups. Creatures & bosses will drop unique items for Wand and Staff upgrading, Assignment objectives and Companion care. The player with the most damage dealt to a boss receives the best rewards!
Creature Eggs to Magical Creatures
Creature Eggs are a new item you may come across while studying at Spellbrook or while in the Survival Realms. Bringing those Creature Eggs to The Hatchery at the academy will allow you to incubate and hatch them into Companions!
Every wild magical creature or enemy (yes, including bosses) can be hatched and raised as a Companion. There are different breeds to Companions, some less common than others (shiny breeds) and the size of your Companion varies from egg to egg.
You will be able to pet your Companions, keep them at home, have them follow you and name them. We really want Companions to be an adorable and highly-customizable part of Spellbrook so it's important for us to go the extra mile!
From a Creature Egg, you will be able to hatch a baby Companion which can be evolved into a teenager. Adult evolutions of Companions can be ridden and will have increased damage stats. You will also be able to equip hats to certain Companions - it's even cuter than it sounds.
Companions will unlock unique abilities as they evolve but will take a lot of care before they reach their final evolution. Watch as Companions fight alongside you, collect rare items for you and grow in size as they evolve. Seeing a Caster with a fully-evolved Companion is a sign of their commitment to raising magical creatures and is the ultimate show of dedication. Also - companions can’t die!
Take to the Skies
Broomsticks are a personal and customizable means of transportation bound to you! We're designing a lot of the gameplay around Broomsticks and we want them to be a part of Spellbrook from day one of public release.
Completing beginner Assignments will unlock your own personal Broomstick, opening up new locations and hidden areas. Broomstick-specific Assignments such as time trials, deliveries and aerial defense objectives will require players to hone their flying skills to turn-in on-time!
Players can customize the look, handling and speed of their Broomstick at The Broom Closet near the academy! We're also designing Broomsticks to be practical and complementary to the Survival aspect of Spellbrook - specifically for building and traversing terrain. You can still cast Spells while riding your Broomstick too!
We want Broomsticks to be a primary means of transportation to players - we also want them to be a personalized extension of the player. We're treating them like motorbikes - customizable, practical and cool.
Players can collect unique Broomstick Finishes, Exhausts & Core Crystals and customize their Broomstick look, trail and sounds to suit their personality!
Discover the History
We're putting more focus into world-building and lore! From original characters with their own backstories, history and relationships to books you can find around Spellbrook that give insight into the world and its history - we're exploring all the different ways we can tell new stories and convey the history of the different realms to players in-game. This is something we plan to focus on more when we're sure the gameplay is compelling enough to stand on its own.
Long-term, we're wanting to develop on the lore of Spellbrook through a scripted roleplay series, animations, comics & short stories. This is something a lot of us are really excited about - we're even well into the planning of it!
Explore New Lands
Spellbrook is changing and growing to accommodate new gameplay experiences. In overhauling everything, we thought the map deserved some re-thinking too! We want Spellbrook to feel expansive and surrounded by locations that are worth exploring. This is all in favor of bringing an RPG style of gameplay to Spellbrook.
We’re opening up new locations, expanding the island and bringing more "discoverable value" to all areas of Spellbrook.
Magical creatures will populate each area with multiple biomes to discover and explore such as the Meadows & Dark Forest. There are new gameplay-oriented locations such as The Hatchery, Combat Arena and a designated player Marketplace. There will also be boss fight areas to stumble upon and discoverable secret locations that require spellcasting or solving magical puzzles to access.
There will also be new Survival & miscellaneous Realms to explore, but more on those another time.
Focuses & Goals
Going forward, the priorities are clear to us. We're going to...
- Create a unique Survival RPG server that focuses on iterative, community-driven game design
- Establish an inclusive and strong community (through co-operative gameplay, regular community events, player-hosted classes & social features)
- Tell unique stories through different mediums in and outside of Minecraft, and develop the lore of Spellbrook alongside its players
- Build a dedicated team of creatives who enjoy what they do and feel empowered to bring their best ideas to life, fostering an environment of collaboration and innovation
So join us! Now is the perfect time to get involved and become an early member of the Spellbrook community. Things are about to get magical.
If you want to support us directly, consider becoming a member of the Spellcasters Society on our Patreon! 🔮
Join the Spellbrook Discord Server for the latest news & updates (check out our new FAQ channel if you have any questions we may have not already covered).