Any reliable roadmap for the game?

[Manwich]

On the fence about buying, not because the price is a deal breaker (all games are severely underpriced in today's world), but because I don't like throwing any amount of money at a lie.

The "Upcoming Features & Changes" is 3+ years old, and has a link to a page that no longer exists.

I see the post about the layoffs. This doesn't really concern me as I imagine a large number of contingent staff may be dedicated to laying a foundation that a smaller team can then build from. However, I see no affirmation about the planned features or target dates for deliverables. I don't see that here or on the website.

Is anyone aware of any form of active roadmap for the planned features?

[Kaya]

No, and I would strongly recommend against buying it atm, until there is an update about its future from the devs. There used to be monthly (or so) patches and notes about it here, but since an update in the summer that was´nt revieved well by the playerbase and the following alledged layoffs, not a word, neither here nor on their discord.

[ekurisona]

Originally posted by Mister Wekonu:

BoT has definitely been an extremely ambitious project: cooking and meaningful combat is one thing, but player aging, children, and ancestry in a survival RPG? Making impactful effects from player choices, names, eye colours, heck even star signs? Community instrument playing, in-game journaling editable via an official lore website? All quite rare or niche and tricky to perfect, but a glorious ambition I too would love see get fruition.

There should be an announcement on the state of BoT, Meadow, and the studio after the recent layoff Soon(TM)

[4D]

What Kaya said. If they do return and continue with the game, I would absolutely recommend it if the style appeals to you.

[Griflo]

I just came back to this game after 2 years ... still lots of things are missing ,but it's good to rediscover braided shores after a few updates and bug fixes.

graphics are now running better on my same old PC , and connexion to the servers is now stable. I havent experienced any lag or trouble, which makes the time playing quite enjoyable.

Even if only a portion of the map is available for now, there is still so much to do in the game ! I was surprised to find a few more secret passages to explore ... and a way to enter Kaza ! Also met a bunch of other travelers on the road( it feels more lively than 2 years ago) .

If you like this kind of exploration game, I'd still recommend to buy the game for the experience ( especially now with the discounts) . It should keep you busy for awhile . And hopefully, we can get some fresh update soon. The lifespan of the game could be easily extended with a few additional quests , especially for the players who prefer gaming with some guidance

[Mazurka]

Has there been any update on the state of the game? i've been wanting to purchase this game for a couple of years now, but the perma-death mechanic keeps throwing me off - mainly due to some comments on accidental negligence with flowers or whatever they are, and / or glitches, which i'd guess are mostly rare.

Regardless, i was really leaning towards just purchasing it for enjoyment, but the recent lack of communication and uncertainty of BoT's future caused me to not.
i have a library full of abandoned games, as well as 'no we're really working on it'[s] that still have no progress. And, this being internet necessary (no offline?), it had steam's history of EA nonsense stacked against it.

And, i'm sure its still worth it, which is why i really want to play. But, again, how long is that going to last? without communication it seems sooner than if there were updates.

Thank you!

[Chex]

Hi,

I recently purchased the game not reading up on its current state.

I can tell you its a bitter-sweet experience. I have not had any lag issues and so far in the 7 days playing maybe once have had a D/C.

The game is ecstatically beautiful and filled with life in it.

The bitter part is not knowing if the game will continue to be development and grow over time.

If not would be nice to give tools to the community to allow them to grow the game or (private server) for those who want to keep the game alive and maybe keep working on it if the DEVS to choose to give up.

On a side note:

I did not play before the backpack update but i have no issues and it took <1 day to get myself to 150 bag space. I have no issues with the new updates and adapted quickly as i did not know a time before.

I can only imagine how difficult it is to make a game and making changes and hearing the outcries must also put a damper on devs spirit and development on top of the other changes.

However i am looking at the update optimistically as they wanted to make a CHANGE hopefully for the larger changes down the line that would fit with their vision. (staying positive)

[Kaya]

Originally posted by Mazurka:

Has there been any update on the state of the game? i've been wanting to purchase this game for a couple of years now, but the perma-death mechanic keeps throwing me off - mainly due to some comments on accidental negligence with flowers or whatever they are, and / or glitches, which i'd guess are mostly rare.

There is no perma death, you can become a ghost when you lose all your live petals, but there´s still a way you can be revived.

[Genghis Pawn]

You seem to be asking for both a Roadmap (a sequential list of planned developmental milestones) and a Timeline (a specification, however fuzzy, of when those milestones might be reached).

The studio has never provided a very precise timeline for EA. They did initially suggest that it would take 2 years to complete the original Roadmap they launched into EA with[imgur.com] in October 2021. For about a year they would occasionally update this Roadmap adding checkmarks to indicate what was complete, but they never made it through the entire #1 "The Journey Begins" block. This entire Roadmap was the original plan for EA.

In August 2022 that roadmap was replaced with a Revised Roadmap that added steps for "Prologue" and dropped details for the rest. No timeline was provided for the revised roadmap.

This graphic sat on the Store page until around the start of 2024. It was then replaced with the list of Core Features that is still currently on the store page. No timeline was provided to accompany this image.

Comparing these iterations, the apparent trend is decreasing specificity of the public plan, and not increasing completion of the plan. The latest image is a broad list, not even a functional roadmap.

One occasionally hears about additional developmental goals or milestones that have apparently been discussed on the discord but were not ever posted to the Store Page, e.g.:

Originally posted by ekurisona:

Originally posted by Mister Wekonu:

BoT has definitely been an extremely ambitious project: cooking and meaningful combat is one thing, but player aging, children, and ancestry in a survival RPG? Making impactful effects from player choices, names, eye colours, heck even star signs? Community instrument playing, in-game journaling editable via an official lore website? [...]

Aging, Children, Ancestry, Star Signs, some interface between the Journal and the Website -- to my knowledge, none of this was ever discussed in the Kickstarter, has not ever appeared on a public roadmap, and has never been set out as a target in any public announcement.

[WeaponsGradeHumanity]

Star Signs are technically in the game. If I remember correctly, they used to be something you could select during character creation and they can still be viewed via certain skills. Their significance, of course, has not been built out. The same goes for stuff like children, eye colour and so on - some building blocks are there but mostly hidden because none of it is anywhere near complete.