Heartshot hasn't been abandoned; but the devs need to communicate!

[harry]

Devs have revealed a whole other game (sigh) and said in the youtube description of the trailer that heartshot is still being worked on and they are making hefty changes to the game before releasing part 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m328SVwSNiU

This is good to hear; but a YEAR of silence kinda warrants a dedicated transparency update on the steam page, as any information on the game is obscured enough to the point where people are now leaving negative reviews calling the game abandonware. Please consider your other lines of communication and don't assume we will ALL join and actively read your discord server.

[didububi]

it's crazy that devs don't update their Steam pages and instead spend their time on Discord & Youtube. Steam is where the sales come from! It's frankly a little dense.

Imagine if they posted a little update on here just before the Summer Sale: "hefty update in the works!" and then partook in the Sale, say €10 instead of the current full-price €14. There'd be renewed surge in sales, for sure, which would motivate the quality of the incoming update, which would improve the overall rating, which would further increase sales.

Due to VR games often getting 'sympathy ratings' I tend to ignore anything below a 'very-positive'. There is truly a lot of jank out there. However, there'll also be some potential hidden gems stuck on 'mixed/mostly-positive' ratings, and often it's because of substandard dev-communication or insufficient post-release work. You see it a lot on the Steam community pages. It's hurting not just their own sales, but the VR-gaming industry generally.

[ikeaman]

From Rolson on discord:

Hey Everyone!

HEARTSHOT released in Early Access one year ago today. Crazy! First of all, thank you SO much for playing & supporting our game, it truly means the world.

Our plan was to release parts two and three throughout the year and have the full release by this point, but we’ve run into a number of hurdles both in development and in our personal lives. We’ve spent the last year working on Part 2 and a number of side projects, but have come to the conclusion that the game is running on 3+ year-old janky foundations made while we were learning to code, and is fundamentally unfit for the experience we want to share.

To remedy that, we have decided to use all the skills we’ve gained in the meantime and rebuild the game from the ground up. This will take far less time, and will result in a stable, immensely more performant game with deeper features and vastly improved gameplay.

HEARTSHOT will always be a VR-first game, but we're also going to take this as an opportunity to add flatscreen PC support, (for anyone who doesn't have a headset or wants to play it as a standard FPS). You will NOT need to buy a new version of the game if you have it, and the current iteration will always remain available via Beta branch on Steam.

Since December, we’ve been working on a secret side project that has grown in scope and ambition, and are getting close to release: "LIGHT UP THE TOWN". This is a 2.5D 'cozy' game where you play as Bean: a lil ferret tasked with decorating her town for the holiday season. We’re gearing for a late Spring release and will have a Demo available very soon. We'd love feedback on it from anyone interested in a private beta test!

Once LUTT is out, we’ll be back to full-time development on HEARTSHOT. We’re really excited about the new direction of the game, and will share updates as regularly as possible.

We apologize for the delays and lack of communication, and promise to use this space to keep you all involved in the development process. This has been a huge journey for both of us, and we’re incredibly grateful for all your support over the past year and beyond. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!