An Open Letter To Coffee Stain Studios and the Sanctum 2 Team

[Furlock O'Donnell]

This forum posting is made in the hopes that Coffee Stain Studios and the Sanctum 2 team will realize that those of us who are dissatisfied with the game are not hating on the game, nor the studio, but are voicing our concerns in such a way that we hope the game will be changed and, for us, improve to such a point that we consider it a valid sequel to the original Sanctum. Please be polite and respectful when responding to this, regardless of whether or not you agree or disagree on the subject at hand.



Dear Coffee Stain Studios and Sanctum 2 team,

It is with deep sorrow that I find myself writing this message not in ecstasy, but in disappointment. Sanctum 1 was, and still to this day, one of my favorite games, simply because of how well every piece of the game worked. There was a wonderful balance between the need for the player to intervene through FPS mechanics, and the ability of the towers to handle the enemies to such a degree that the player, if playing properly, never felt overwhelmed.

With Sanctum 2, I have not gotten that feeling at all, and this both worries and saddens me. The game that you advertised was of a true successor to Sanctum 1, and that is not what you have delivered. It feels to me as though you lost your way with what made the first Sanctum truly great, and what so many people such as myself fell in love with.

I am by no means saying that an entire studio and team has to listen to my desires alone. To do so would be foolish and blatantly disrespectful to those involved. What I am saying is that I honestly believe I am not the only one who is severely disappointed with how Sanctum 2 has turned out. I feel as though I was lead on, and falsely brought to believe that Sanctum 2 would be an upgraded, all-around better version of Sanctum 1, and no customer or fan should ever be made to feel that way about that which they love.

I write this message to you all in the hopes that you all, as an indie studio, will listen to those of us who truly love you and the game you made those years ago. We gave you our money in the hopes that we would be getting more of the same, as we were lead to believe, but now we find ourselves with something that we consider a downgrade from the original. Again, I can only speak for myself, but from the responses I have seen both on this Facebook page, and on the Steam forums, I am not the only one who feels this way.

Furthermore, for your representatives to openly mock and disregard the opinions of customers such as myself in public forums is just in bad taste, and has greatly lowered my respect for you as an indie studio. The following post, taken from http://steamcommunity.com/app/210770/discussions/0/828939163649833813/ is unacceptable and inflammatory, clearly showing that you do not care about the opinions of the people who play your games, unless they are saying good things. There is such a difference between trolling and criticism, and I assure you, this is most definitely a case of the latter.


Originally posted by mackyman:
The game isn't sanctum 1. We wanted to make something that just wanted to be a reskinned Sanctum 1, so everyone won't like the game.

Glad to see some players like Zlackey and Max enjoying the game =)

To the others, I hope you give Sanctum 2 enough of a spin to like/dislike it. Otherwise, enjoy Sanctum 1 =)


In closing, I wish to again state how very disappointed I am with Sanctum 2, and that I hope you will change your tone on matters described above. I believe Sanctum 2 has every opportunity to become an even greater game than Sanctum 1, but you all are the only ones who can change that. I hope that this message finds you all well, and I wish you all success in the future. I can only hope that success is not built off of the crushed remains of the once-faithful fans such as myself.

Sincerely,

A fan of the Sanctum series.

[Üb3r]

Well put. I hope that they see what you have written here.

[Furlock O'Donnell]

Thank you. I sent this same letter to the Facebook page, so it's likely they will. I don't expect a reply, but I at least hope that they will read what I wrote.

[PerfectLife]

TL;DR You got too much FPS in my TD game, make it change now.
^^^^^^^^
not my opinion, just my insultingly brief synopsis of the OP's emo rant.

[Teran]

Quit being so dramatic. Also, quit misrepresenting what the developers were saying. They did not mock anyone, they responded to players comments. No rational person who reads the developer comments could come to the same conclusion you have regarding the tone.

[Furlock O'Donnell]

Escrito originalmente por PerfectLife:

TL;DR You got too much FPS in my TD game, make it change now.
^^^^^^^^
not my opinion, just my insultingly brief synopsis of the OP's emo rant.

Oh no, that is the basics of what I wrote. That being said, just saying "I don't like this game the way it is" isn't going to garner much attention or respect. I felt that tactfully choosing words that expressed my dissatisfaction with the game, while still remaining respectful and polite was much more important than being succinct. It's fine if you don't share my opinion, I just ask that you respect it, as I will you and yours.

Escrito originalmente por Teran:

Quit being so dramatic. Also, quit misrepresenting what the developers were saying. They did not mock anyone, they responded to players comments. No rational person who reads the developer comments could come to the same conclusion you have regarding the tone.

Quite a few people are upset over the disregard given to people who are unsatisfied with the game, actually. A company that cares about its customers takes the time to listen to ALL points of view, not just ones that agree with the company's decisions. Also, I'm not "misrepresenting" anything, as I have no one to represent other than myself. I may be misunderstanding something, however.

[PerfectLife]

Escrito originalmente por Furlock O'Donnell:

Oh no, that is the basics of what I wrote. That being said, just saying "I don't like this game the way it is" isn't going to garner much attention or respect. I felt that tactfully choosing words that expressed my dissatisfaction with the game, while still remaining respectful and polite was much more important than being succinct. It's fine if you don't share my opinion, I just ask that you respect it, as I will you and yours.

Actually it will get you more respect than some ranty self-indulgent rant. K, there's too much FPS in Sanctum 2. We all knew this was how it was for months and months, no surprise there, but you still bought it and are complaining? Okay.

[Furlock O'Donnell]

Escrito originalmente por PerfectLife:

Actually it will get you more respect than some ranty self-indulgent rant. K, there's too much FPS in Sanctum 2. We all knew this was how it was for months and months, no surprise there, but you still bought it and are complaining? Okay.

No, it would seem that "we all" did NOT know this is how it was going to be. If that was the case, this clearly would not have happened, would it? Can you please show me where the devs talked about tower limits prior to the game being released? Can you please show me where the devs talked about removing weapon upgrading?

[Teran]

Escrito originalmente por Furlock O'Donnell:

Quite a few people are upset over the disregard given to people who are unsatisfied with the game, actually. A company that cares about its customers takes the time to listen to ALL points of view, not just ones that agree with the company's decisions. Also, I'm not "misrepresenting" anything, as I have no one to represent other than myself. I may be misunderstanding something, however.

Quite a few people need to brush up on their reading comprehension and human interaction skills if that is the case.

You are misrepresenting something... specifically you are misrepresenting the developers claiming they don't care about their fans because you completely misunderstood a response from one of the developers.

A company that cares about its customers builds a good product. In this case Coffee Stain has done a great job taking care of their customers because they aren't insulting their customers by selling them the same game twice. They put thought into the sequel and improved on the first one's weaknesses and made some bold design decisions. Some are good, some are not so good but over all it was a step in the right direction.

[Furlock O'Donnell]

Escrito originalmente por PerfectLife:

If using youtube to check for videos of a game is too difficult for you, you need to be VAC banned and then sent to guantanamo for forced education. [/quote]

I asked for all thread contributors to be polite and respectul in posting, and I've endeavored to act in such a manner towards you. I would appreciate it if you would reciprocate that.

Regarding your point, I did watch several youtube videos on Sanctum 2, and neither of them mentioned anything about tower limits or no weapon upgrading. I think you would agree that it is a touch ridiculous to expect a person to scour the internet for every last possible scrap of information regarding a game, especially when multiple sources repeat the same information.

[[GS]Gregory]

Escrito originalmente por Teran:

Escrito originalmente por Furlock O'Donnell:

Quite a few people are upset over the disregard given to people who are unsatisfied with the game, actually. A company that cares about its customers takes the time to listen to ALL points of view, not just ones that agree with the company's decisions. Also, I'm not "misrepresenting" anything, as I have no one to represent other than myself. I may be misunderstanding something, however.

Quite a few people need to brush up on their reading comprehension and human interaction skills if that is the case.

You are misrepresenting something... specifically you are misrepresenting the developers claiming they don't care about their fans because you completely misunderstood a response from one of the developers.

A company that cares about its customers builds a good product. In this case Coffee Stain has done a great job taking care of their customers because they aren't insulting their customers by selling them the same game twice. They put thought into the sequel and improved on the first one's weaknesses and made some bold design decisions. Some are good, some are not so good but over all it was a step in the right direction.

I would agree if this game was polished, but it is not. I say this because I am playing the grim dawn alpha atm and that is a game from a studio that does actually care.

[Teran]

Escrito originalmente por {SSCoG}GSGregory:

I would agree if this game was polished, but it is not. I say this because I am playing the grim dawn alpha atm and that is a game from a studio that does actually care.

Oh yeah? Well I'm playing some other game and it's by a developer that likes its customers and even though it has absolutely no relevance to Grim Dawn, I can say Grim Dawn sucks because of it, and the Grim Dawn developers are a bunch of satan worshiping KGB agents.

Would you like to try again, or was that honestly the best evidence you could come up with proving Sanctum 2 sucks?

[Hyper Sykoe]

I also think this is well written. Honestly there are only a few things that bother me about Sanctum 2- namely resource distribution limiting co-operative functionality as I went in on a 4-pack with 3 friends. What really upset me was the original post by mackyman. It felt very disrespectful and arrogant; I understand it wasn’t THAT bad, but it made me feel like the developers were saying “Thanks for your money, we’re only gunna respond to positive feedback from here on out! If you don't like it go back to number 1! *passive-aggressive smile*” I sincerely hope they listen to the concerns that are being brought up. I’m getting so tired of the immature/passive-aggressive comments that may very well result in the issues not being taken as seriously. (mostly by the community)

This is my first reply after reading numerous posts, being discouraged along the way because I don’t want to have to deal with people’s ignorant, know-it-all and/or disrespectful statements. Yes, some people pre-ordered without watching videos of game-play (I hate doing that because I like to experience it first hand, I’m well aware of the “risks” I’m taking); no, not every single detail is touched on in said videos; yes, it’s only 11-15 dollars depending on how you went about purchasing the game but money is money; the list goes on and on. Regardless, I do sort of feel bad for what the developers have to put up with in sorting through what to pay attention to and what to disregard. Your letter is well thought out, considerate and respectful if not a bit melodramatic (no offense intended). I feel the game is a beautiful piece of work that they surely put a lot of time and effort into. They will most likely continue to be told that, I just hope they won’t be afraid to tackle the negatives that SO many people are bringing up, as well as help rectify their fault in the eyes of great fans like you and others.

[Üb3r]

Well put Hyper, I agree with your points.

[Majeflyer]

Escrito originalmente por Furlock O'Donnell:

Escrito originalmente por PerfectLife:

Actually it will get you more respect than some ranty self-indulgent rant. K, there's too much FPS in Sanctum 2. We all knew this was how it was for months and months, no surprise there, but you still bought it and are complaining? Okay.

No, it would seem that "we all" did NOT know this is how it was going to be. If that was the case, this clearly would not have happened, would it? Can you please show me where the devs talked about tower limits prior to the game being released? Can you please show me where the devs talked about removing weapon upgrading?

http://www.incgamers.com/2013/05/sanctum-2-interview/

ALL the videos that were released to the press show no upgrading of weapons, many of the press release time videos before launch show it.

[Malum In Se]

Well written letter, very considerate and polite.

Here's my 2 cents, so to speak (I've only played 45 minutes of the game in single player, so my post isn't in regard to multi-player, though I have read a lot on the matter);

Graphically, Sanctum 2 is much nicer.
The 'feel' of the game is heavier; by this I mean the way you move, how your guns shoot and the overall feeling. I don't mean this heaviness as a bad thing, I think it's an improvement on the original Sanctum.
I like that you have classes now, and from what I see, maybe skill slots?
I like how the weapons have 'special' abilities, such as storing all your shotgun bullets before you fire at an enemy, dealing maximum damage.
The story, from what I've played, is thought out a bit more.

I dislike;
Tower limit.
Non-upgradeable weapons.

Other than those two dislikes, the game to me is very nice, but I do believe, as a primarily TD game, the option to limit towers was a bit, silly, in all honestly. From what I have played, I can see the reasoning to it, but now it's more of an FPS rather than a TD game, which is a shame as your core market audience were (still are) players interested in TD, but liked the unique mix of FPS. In Sanctum 2, I feel that they've taken the FPS first on the priority list, and moved TD down.
Let's remember though, when Sanctum first came out, people complained about now having 4 player multi-player, and the team did listen. They updated the game to include 4 player, and have upgraded/ patched the game in the course of it's life to include more maps and towers, as well as Easter Eggs and a few more achievements.

There is hope for Sanctum 2. The game was only released 2 days ago (15.05.2013) so there is room for improvement yet. Let us be positive that Coffee Stain and the Sanctum 2 team will listen to the majority views/ concerns of those who have paid their money for the game, and that future updates/ patches will bring what we love about Sanctum 1, into Sanctum 2.
There is obviously a lot planned for this game, as there is a season pass available, so I imagine in due course, the game will be what players loved about the first Sanctum, while improving/ bettering the mark with Sanctum 2.

Once again, good letter and thank you for writing it. I hope that they read and respond.