Remove Excalibur Games' from Steam

[OG Jobby Bobbson]

Ranch Simulator, Flashing Lights, Enforcer PCA, all these games are published and paid for by Excalibur. Similarly, all these games are dead or next to dead. They've all been halfway finished and spammed with meaningless DLC's that are SUPER EASY to make. Like It's a unity game I, myself, could very easily recreate the DLC's they make given the circumstances. It's an embarrassment as a consumer and as a high profile company like valve, allowing this to happen. The general gaming audience of this platform need to spread the word that Excalibur Studios is NOT to be bought from and they scam their playerbase. They don't finish games and they incite small hype with small youtubers and creators to get niche gamers to throw their money at them, only to be dissapointed with the results.

Numerous other studios have learned their lesson doing this to consumers. Boycott the hopeless achievements this company wishes to achieve and STOP BUYING THEIR GAME, LEAVE A REVIEW, VOICE YOUR FRUSTRATION.

[TheIronWolf]

Excalibur is a publisher, they have nothing to do with the development of the games they publish.

[sgt silver]

You do realise they announced they'd be working on bug fixes and slowing down their content production until they'd pushed bug fixes for a few months,
As shown here https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/605740/view/739253566204543159?l=english
Give them time they're slowly adding the fundamentals it is a small dev team, while yes there are those who are capable of replication of the dlcs and content they produce at the end of the day, this project was started because the dev chose to take the risk on an emergency service simulator, a genre of which most studios wont touch because its such a specific market and so small if they need additional support in the form of a couple of micro transactions so be it you don't have to buy them and the ones that are out are pretty cheap compared to the skins other games would charge for similar content.
Give them chance they may just surprise you

[OG Jobby Bobbson]

Originally posted by TheIronWolf:

Excalibur is a publisher, they have nothing to do with the development of the games they publish.

The publisher quite literally pumps money into the advertising and development team on the game. The publisher is also there to closely listen to the playerbase and relay to the devs what they, the publisher, would like to see done in the game. Typically to make profit from it, but not always a bad thing.

Originally posted by sgt silver:

Give them chance they may just surprise you

I've given them multiple chances. Like genuinely, goto the storepage for Excalibur games, look through the 5 or 6 titles they have released (Jalopy, FL, Ranch Sim), and try and look for a negative review that isn't stressing about the buggy state of the game and how it's unfinished. The dev team aren't "bad" people nor do I think they're lazy. They're underfunded and hounded by Excalibur to make as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time. The only surprise I will be genuinely happy about, is another publisher or dev team getting ahold of their titles, or even better, one of the dev teams make a REAL roadmap they ACTUALLY follow through with. Sad, it truly is. Nothing but the best and respect for the development teams they choose to manipulate.

[Buzzed L1ghtyear]

Originally posted by sgt silver:

You do realise they announced they'd be working on bug fixes and slowing down their content production until they'd pushed bug fixes for a few months,
As shown here https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/605740/view/739253566204543159?l=english
Give them time they're slowly adding the fundamentals it is a small dev team, while yes there are those who are capable of replication of the dlcs and content they produce at the end of the day, this project was started because the dev chose to take the risk on an emergency service simulator, a genre of which most studios wont touch because its such a specific market and so small if they need additional support in the form of a couple of micro transactions so be it you don't have to buy them and the ones that are out are pretty cheap compared to the skins other games would charge for similar content.
Give them chance they may just surprise you

how much time cause its been years at this point lmao

[Farmer Shane_YT]

Actually they just released a massive bug fix for FL last month

[OG Jobby Bobbson]

Originally posted by East Coast Radar:

Actually they just released a massive bug fix for FL last month

I'm unsure how long you've been following this game, but I've been since day of release. I was highly, HIGHLY, skeptical. They were pushing updates maybe twice, three times a month. Then it progressively slowed down to once a month. Then they added a TOW TRUCK DLC LOL. Most people lost hope, the few that didn't, still support this dumpster unity asset flip fire. I unfortunately bought the game, mainly because I had a coupon (they gave it to me because they felt bad for their last police game that FLOPPED HARD) and I was still disappointed in this one... Just blows my mind how they can still sell this game and all it's DLC's and still profit somehow while doing almost nothing...

[Project153]

Originally posted by Buzzed L1ghtyear:

how much time cause its been years at this point lmao

Oh but haven't you heard? Indie devs aren't held to the same standards as AAA so they can take as long as they want and do other things that AAA devs couldn't get away with solely because they're indie devs/solo devs. Just ignore all the abadonware/shovelware slop that is floating around on Steam tho. Now repeat after me, indie devs can do no wrong, indie devs can do no wrong. Welcome to the cult.

[OG Jobby Bobbson]

Originally posted by Project153:

Originally posted by Buzzed L1ghtyear:

how much time cause its been years at this point lmao

Oh but haven't you heard? Indie devs aren't held to the same standards as AAA so they can take as long as they want and do other things that AAA devs couldn't get away with solely because they're indie devs/solo devs. Just ignore all the abadonware/shovelware slop that is floating around on Steam tho. Now repeat after me, indie devs can do no wrong, indie devs can do no wrong. Welcome to the cult.

The kool-aid is quite delicious to those who drink it regularly haha

[Project153]

Originally posted by OG Jobby Bobbson:

The kool-aid is quite delicious to those who drink it regularly haha

I want to be clear, I'm not directing my "hate" (as some would say) specifically towards FL devs. I just feel like (and maybe you agree, now join my cult lol) there's been a growing trend in the gaming industry where everyone is trying to be a game dev all because of a handful of successful examples of indie titles made by solo devs, making game development seem like its easy to do, especially with how easily accessible it is nowadays, leading to everyone and their mothers into thinking "oh, I can make a game too" by simply buying assets and calling it a "game" (look at ALL the abandoned shovelware garbage that floods Steam on a daily basis) or dropping some hot optimized steaming pile of doodoo and charging it for a "mere $30. Sorry, but not everyone is cut out to be a game dev despite the wealth of resources available and how accessible it is nowadays. Whatever you're trying to sell, can hardly be called a game. Your "game" is ♥♥♥♥, and honestly, you should feel bad for charging money for it.

Look at all the "tactical" shooters that get dumped onto Steam. How many of them are released vs how many are damned to Early Access hell for an eternity and eventually abandoned? The amount of slop I've seen BigFryTV (youtuber who is very critical of tactical shooter devs) is insane.

With this trend, there seems to be a lot more people who are willing to excuse said indie/solo devs of various things (that really aren't okay) solely because "well, its just one guy" (plenty of examples in this thread already, nevermind the rest of the forums for this game) and quite frankly its tiring seeing the same song and dance. Its almost like a cult at this point. These people who come to the defense of indie devs and shield them from valid criticism is almost as braindead as the haters who have no valid criticism other than "game bad".

I could go on and on about the topic of indie devs and being excused from every form of criticism and releasing subpar products and how the cult is out to defend them, but who am I to talk. I'm just the cranky old guy in the village at this point.

[Nils]

Hi,

We are not forced to work on the game or specific features for it. We work on Flashing Lights because it is our passion and DLC releases helped us to keep the development on going. All DLC are optional cosmetic and artist worked hard to make them for the game. FL is not an asset flip, it is so easy to come at us just spilling names, same with personal attacks.
Please don't spread mis-information, we don't have Tow DLC or being forced to work for things we hate.
Publisher helps to push the game out there and we as developers get % from sales and it's not like here mentioned that we do asked jobs without feelings.

FL is not abondoned or showelware, this is my first game and I fight bugs where I can and with help from other scripters we try to make the game more stable. These discussions are going in cicles and Im happy to chat or direct to previous ones on Discord if anyone wish, tag me on Discord @600

In theory we can talk around all day, but reality is that years ago I made a game concept I dreamed of for long time and had the opportunity to work with the awesome publisher that is Excalibur Games and how the project evolved over the years is just amazing and thanks to all supportive players it became a reality for me to be full time game developer.

Im not sure what cult are here mentioned. Indie or not, we do our things with best intentions and are here to address any concerns, we are not ignorant indie devs that excuse for bad practices or bugs. Bug happens and Im am still a human with my own errors, health, life and so going on and affected by world events, like any bussiness essentially.

I can't tag/reply each line of above discussion, but I think it is important to not mislead any information by talking about Steam in general or mix in other titles under same publisher as each game is made by own developer/team with their own geographic/finacial/mental abilities.

I am here, we are here, since day one, please let us know, talk to us, but please leave it civilized on topic.
Wish you all great day!

[OG Jobby Bobbson]

Originally posted by Nils:

Hi,

We are not forced to work on the game or specific features for it. We work on Flashing Lights because it is our passion and DLC releases helped us to keep the development on going. All DLC are optional cosmetic and artist worked hard to make them for the game. FL is not an asset flip, it is so easy to come at us just spilling names, same with personal attacks.
Please don't spread mis-information, we don't have Tow DLC or being forced to work for things we hate.
Publisher helps to push the game out there and we as developers get % from sales and it's not like here mentioned that we do asked jobs without feelings.

FL is not abondoned or showelware, this is my first game and I fight bugs where I can and with help from other scripters we try to make the game more stable. These discussions are going in cicles and Im happy to chat or direct to previous ones on Discord if anyone wish, tag me on Discord @600

In theory we can talk around all day, but reality is that years ago I made a game concept I dreamed of for long time and had the opportunity to work with the awesome publisher that is Excalibur Games and how the project evolved over the years is just amazing and thanks to all supportive players it became a reality for me to be full time game developer.

Im not sure what cult are here mentioned. Indie or not, we do our things with best intentions and are here to address any concerns, we are not ignorant indie devs that excuse for bad practices or bugs. Bug happens and Im am still a human with my own errors, health, life and so going on and affected by world events, like any bussiness essentially.

I can't tag/reply each line of above discussion, but I think it is important to not mislead any information by talking about Steam in general or mix in other titles under same publisher as each game is made by own developer/team with their own geographic/finacial/mental abilities.

I am here, we are here, since day one, please let us know, talk to us, but please leave it civilized on topic.
Wish you all great day!

I'm sorry we are misunderstood on some fronts. Flashing Lights does not have the financial and workplace capacity to fulfill it's true intentions. Flashing Lights goal was to be a plus one to that of LCPDFR and Police Simulator, outdoing the others with modding capability and multiplayer. I understand this game is your passion, as do most indie devs and their teams, but the way things are shaped I think it's the time to throw in the towel. Your dev team is gone, Excalibur is breathing down your back begging for more income, and the playerbase (including me) is begging for an ACTUAL game. I understand your frustration completely and it is NOT THE DEVS fault. Merely the funding from publishers and profits from sales they've received. Doesn't look good.

Whenever you develop a game and make promises, that sticks with players and especially those who buy the game before others. I personally consider it "abandonware" when the development and funding has very clearly come to a screeching halt and nothing is being done. I see it with Excalibur, I see it with multiple other titles besides Flashing Lights. Congrats, you AND the world are running out of income. No surprise Flashing Lights would cease development for a period of time, but it has been years, I mean, YEARS since a truly positive update has happened. The last thing I remember is a map update and ever since, it's been DLC's and random bug fixes that have been an issue forever? Players and especially early access ones, need more content. They PAID for the content to be released later on. Not in 5 years.

I'm merely not spreading disinformation, but rather the truth of what your publisher has "published". Jalopy, Enforcer, Ranch Simulator, Flashing Lights, those are 4 major titles published by Excalibur through Valve as a platform. Any steam user is welcome to go look at that titles reviews and see "why" users choose to hate Excalibur. Their games don't get finished, they leave the recipient with a sense of "I paid for this and there is still bugs and poor optimization", they have poor quality ie the games are made with previously existing mechanics easily replicated or models seen before in unity.

I have no issue with Flashing Lights and their dev team. I just encourage all new buyers and previous players to not purchase their DLC or products on Steam. Let them sit and think about their actions before pushing low-budget crap on our DLC store. If a company wants to fund a dev team, they should do it and meet the expectations of BOTH the player and dev. If you expect me to believe the ORIGINAL creator of Flashing Lights wanted this kind of DLC and productivity this early into the game's state, you must be a fraud or my ignorance might be showing...

Regardless, I follow multiple game studios and Excalibur is definitely under my radar. The amount of titles, similar reviews, and my OWN personal experience(s), Excalibur shouldn't see another dime. I hope you as a developer or team of devs can find bigger and better opportunity especially in this nice topic and community. The gaming and simulator world needs you as fun and as a reference, don't let Excalibur blur your true motive or intentions. The community here, alone, will fund the development of a TRUE EMS sim. We just need a true and honest promise outside of the shady advertising.

(Devs are so easy to protect the publishers but won't ever say anything the publishers are actively trying to accomplish??)

[Nils]

Locked this topic.