New Feature Coming in 0.21.5: Event Currency

Hey everyone! The studio’s been bustling along getting our next update ready and squashing bugs along the way. Today we wanted to introduce a new feature coming in 0.21.5 that we hope will make it easier for players to get new in-game currency cosmetics that come with events, without having to stock up on extra candles. Introducing: event currency.

Why Event Currency?

In our Economy Q&A blog post in March, we mentioned that we were looking at ways to make changes to address some of the feedback the community has given us about Sky’s economy, while still keeping the overall in-game economy balanced.

One point in particular we’ve heard is the pressure players can feel—no matter how long they’ve played the game—when it comes to choosing where to use Candles. Between things like friends, events, and Traveling Spirits, folks shared that they often felt they had to prioritize saving their Candles for events. With the new event currency feature, we’re aiming to change that.

Starting in 0.21.5, event currencies will be available during each event that can be used specifically to unlock the new in-game currency (IGC) items being introduced this year. The goal is that any player will be able to unlock new IGC event items simply by playing the event—no extra candle runs in advance, no careful Candle budgeting if there’s a Traveling Spirit, no need to go out of your way to add this currency to your inventory.

How It Will Work

During an event, its specific currency will be in the main area where the event is played, or in some cases, it can be collected alongside the event’s themed daily quests. Out in the levels, event currencies vary in appearance to fit the theme of their event (check our blog announcements for previews of the before events begin—see an example below). Once in your inventory, they'll appear as a ticket with a symbol on it that will be related to its specific event.

When you’ve collected enough event currency for this year’s new event items, you can exchange them with a Spirit or in a spell shop to unlock the cosmetic or receive the event-related spell you want. There will be more event currency available during the event than what you’ll need to unlock a new cosmetic, too, so if you miss some spots or can’t play every single day, you’ll still have a chance to get that new item.

Event currencies have some similarities to Seasonal Candles. For example:

• Currencies won’t carry over from one event to another, but enough are available during an event to unlock this year’s new IGC cosmetics.

• You won’t need to get all the event currency available every single day to unlock new event items.

• Currencies are in set locations each day, and their location in an event will rotate.

• Everyone starts on the same page when an event begins, no matter how recently (or long ago) they joined Sky.

However, there are also some key differences between event currencies and Seasonal Candles. For example:

• At the end of an event, unused event currencies do not convert to Candles or anything else.

• From one event to another, there may be a different total number of event currency available each day.

Read on for answers to some of the questions you might have!

Event Currency FAQ

1. What exactly can I use event currencies for?

Mainly, these will be for the year’s new event cosmetics such as IGC capes, accessories, and props, but they can also be used for spells that are available only during the event. There’s a limited amount of event currency available for each event, though, so if there’s a new IGC cosmetic you want, take note of what you’ll need to unlock it before deciding whether to spend a lot of that currency on event spells.

2. Where will I find event currency?

In general, you can find them around the area where an event is being held, or alongside a daily quest that is themed for an event. Specifically—well, as a hint: look around as you play, explore the event space, rummage in shelves, take part in the different activities and event offers, that kind of thing.

3. How much event currency can I find each day? How much event currency will be available total during an event?

The amount available each day will be different from event to event—keep an eye on our blog and patch notes for specifics when updates arrive! The total amount available during an event can also change, especially since some events are longer than others. Note that on weekends, you may also find some extras if you look around a bit more.

4. Will I need to play every day?

Nope! To get the amount of event currency needed to unlock new IGC event cosmetics, you’ll need to play the majority of the event, but you’ll still have leeway to miss currency. Roughly speaking, you’ll need to play about the same proportion of an event as the proportion of a Season you would need to play to get everything that can be unlocked with a Season pass.

5. Can I buy event currency IAP bundles?

These aren’t planned to be available as IAP. We want to set the most level playing field we can for new IGC event items, so that no matter what country a player is in or what their budget is, the way to access event currency is the same: simply playing the event and finding that event’s currency as they go.

6. What happens if I don’t start playing an event until it’s almost over?

With event currency, we want to try an approach where the only requirement is just to play most of an event. Unfortunately this does mean that if a player joins closer to the end of an event, a new IGC cosmetic may no longer be available to them based on the total remaining event currency they can collect. However, IGC items will still return the following year, so the opportunity to unlock it won’t be lost forever!

7. Won’t this mean my Candles aren’t useful anymore?

If you’ve been building up your Candle inventory, there will still be other ways to use them—friends, helping out moths, Traveling Spirits, constellations, spells, perhaps a returning item or two from an event that you missed last year, etc. Event currency will simply free up some of that inventory for parts of the game other than new event cosmetics.

8. Will leftover currency from an event convert to candles?

No, it will not. By making this system separate from Candles, it avoids impacting the Candle economy and the risk of pushing it out of balance.

9. Can I exchange something like Candles or Hearts for event currency?

We understand wanting a large-scale exchange of one currency for another, but making event currency tightly bound to Candles and Hearts could create other unwelcome economic pressures, and would feed back into the pressures players have been feeling with Candles that we wanted to reduce in the first place.

That said, while beta testing this feature, we also heard from testers asking for a bit more wiggle room when collecting these. So, for the first event with event currency, spells will be offered on certain days to convert one of the other currencies for a limited number of event currency.

But, to be candid about this, the conversion is not meant to be a bargain or a quick shortcut. Like we said above, our biggest aim is for playing the event being the only requirement to unlock new IGC cosmetics, so while these conversion options won’t be a shortcut, we do hope they can be a helpful buffer.

10. Will returning IGC items from other years still cost Candles or Hearts?

Yes! Event currencies are only used to unlock new IGC cosmetics being offered this year. Items from 2022 and earlier years will remain available for Candles or Hearts.

11. Can I save up event currency before an event?

Since event currency does not roll over from one event to the next, saving up in advance won’t be possible. While we get that some folks might wish for the option, it would eventually lead to similar pressures players have told us they feel about stocking up Candles, which would bring us back to the situation we’re trying to avoid!

12. Do I need to buy an event pass or anything to get event currency?

Nope! Event currency is entirely free, and no extra purchase will be needed to collect them or unlock new IGC event items.

A New Experience for Events

Event currency is a feature meant to be played more than it’s meant to be read about, so this might feel like a lot of information all at once. You’ll soon be able to try it for yourself when our next event begins later this month, though! Once you’ve had a chance to try these event currencies in the live version of the game, we’d be interested to hear about your experience of them as we work to further refine the feature in later updates.

In the meantime, stay tuned to Discord and our social media channels, and we’ll see you in the skies!