Have the Devs Abandoned this game?

[Nuff Truck]

we havent had any news or updates from the devs for a quarter of a year approaching a third of a year now and feels like they have given up? is this game dead in the water?

if they havent abandoned it they really need to start being more active and giving people more news or hope. i know they released their roadmap or whatever but thats not good enough to keep people interested. if they dont want their game to die before it even begins they need to get their ♥♥♥♥ together and give more public announcements/news or any kind of interactions just anything at this point would be good.

losing hope and interest fast.

[Minotorious]

I didn't intend to respond in this thread for now but this seems to need clarification so here goes.

You can identify my moderator status by the orange name and star icon that says moderator if you hover your cursor over it. As I previously wrote I have been one here since the KS campaign, so about 3 years now.

To be perfectly clear, moderators are in most cases like this one here people who have shown increased interest in the game and helping the devs but not actually affiliated with them i.e. I don't get paid for doing it, nor have I currently signed any form of contract with Polymorph Games. (Except for a verbal agreement that I will not intentionally delete everything and mess up their forums/discord/whatever else I have access to)

Moderation here is done at our discretion and in adherence to the Steam/Valve ToS.

PS: My post from previously in this thread for reference:

引用自 Minotorious：

Just to clarify I am indeed a modder but have also been a discord/steam moderator almost since the Kickstarter campaign that funded the game. That is why I reply to most threads so that everyone can get a good response as quickly as possible and keep enjoying the game.

Being closer in contact with the devs and having met some of them personally I have full faith in them and their intention to create a great game, yes it is taking longer than expected but ♥♥♥♥ happens and there can be delays especially when coding something as complex as their own in house engine.

[Bikanel desert]

引用自 dperx：

The development team could always do better at communicating (although I think you'd never be satisfied, even if they gave you a weekly update because there'd likely be little more to say than "we're still working on whatever").

that to me feels like a cop-out used to justify lazy communication from devs. Lack of updates for months is very often a sign that a game has been abandoned so I think most people would indeed be satisfied with a monthly post even if it's just "we're still working on whatever" because it's letting us know they're still working at least.

[hotmailcompany52]

I still think a monthly newsletter would go a long way. You don't have to have any dev news in it when you don't have anything but it could be a little something like screenshots that writers liked, popular mods and other such things. Regular communications would stop a lot of these anxieties I guess lol

[dperx]

引用自 Bikanel desert：

引用自 dperx：

The development team could always do better at communicating (although I think you'd never be satisfied, even if they gave you a weekly update because there'd likely be little more to say than "we're still working on whatever").

that to me feels like a cop-out used to justify lazy communication from devs. Lack of updates for months is very often a sign that a game has been abandoned so I think most people would indeed be satisfied with a monthly post even if it's just "we're still working on whatever" because it's letting us know they're still working at least.

Did you miss the part where I said the complaints about the lack of communication are warranted?

I'm simply pointing out that if you got 6 weeks of "We're still working on XXX," there would still be complaints that they're not doing enough. It's human nature.

[Nuff Truck]

引用自 Minotorious：

Huge post incoming, I am sorry in advance.

NOT POSTING AS A MODERATOR

Just to clarify a couple of things as there seems to be some confusion around the topics:

1) Custom Engine

This game unlike most if not all other EA games being referenced is made in a custom engine one of the lead developers has designed. That engine is in no way in a level of features and ease of use that Unreal/Unity/etc. support. That means that for the devs to add new features they first have to develop the core engine part of the features to then go on and implement the actual features on the gameplay side of the engine.

It has been mentioned that a UI overhaul is usually a "side-update", yes when working with e.g. Unity you could make a basic UI in a mater of a few days but that is because Unity provides you with a robust interface ready for you to do exactly that. The devs here had to first create this interface to then actually create the UI using the interface they created.

However, that basic UI will most likely not be a great, or fully functional, or even an adequate UI for the game. Creating a good UI is a long process with multiple iterations for functionality, user experience, flow between panels/windows, etc. It is not all just pretty icons/buttons, it needs good functionality and usability on top. There is much more to a UI than meets the eye.

It has also been mentioned in a "why bother" manner for the custom engine, and the answer is pretty simple, "because they could and wanted to." They clearly disclosed the fact that this is what they are doing on the KS page that funded the game as well as on the store page here on Steam. If anyone didn't want to buy into a game created on a custom engine or didn't understand/googled what creating/updating a custom engine involves they shouldn't have bought this EA game, complaining about it after the fact is unfounded and counter productive.

2) Communication

Steam is primarily a store and as a store all updates posted here are read as well as ping all people who have bought a game. Having a weekly update saying "this week we made some new models" or "this week we implemented dropdown menus" seems silly to me as a lot of times developers don't want to actually show the new models or UI elements until the whole feature they are working on is finalised through internal QA.

Having said that I agree with you that a monthly or bimonthly update would be nice to see what they have actually been up to.

Personally as I and a few others are in more regular contact with members of the dev team I can't say I have missed being updated on what is going on but that is a special case so doesn't really apply to the general customer case.

3) Mods

Yes mods are a fundamental part of any city-building game and supporting them so early on in the development phase allows us to create more content as well as the devs to see what kind of content is wanted more by the community. More vanilla content is ofc required and will come in time but with a small studio it is always a matter of prioritising tasks and developing the game in the best most efficient way possible.

E.g. A wheat farm exists in the game right? So why don't the devs add 20 more farms since the mechanic is there? They could easily do, I am sure their artists could make them in a two week's time or so. Because that would be dull for the player to have 20 buildings working the exact same way both visually as well as functionally. This is the reason I developed the Cherry Tree Building Function to break from using farms for all such buildings

4) Value for Money

This is an important question and one that has also been raised here. 30 euros is indeed a big sum for an indie game, but one I personally was happy to pay (tbh I paid even more on KS to support the dev team).

What does a certain price mean though? Here is where a very helpful metric many people use to asses a game's value for money comes in play.

The metric goes: 1 euro spent = 1 hour of entertainment/gameplay.

The question then is, does this game in its current state have enough gameplay for 30 hours? Imo yes as I have 500 hours (including hours modding and not actually playing but that is the same for me in terms of entertainment) but ofc that is my personal view on this and other people's views may differ.

POSTING AS A MODERATOR

Please refrain from personal snarky remarks as they are not conducive to a healthy discussion. Keep discussion to the contents of the text without flavouring your responses with adjectives/phrases aimed at the person writing the previous comment you are responding to.

Vjray is trying to explain how he sees it from his point of view but unfortunately sometimes things are lost in translation as English is not his primary language.

Saying "stop whining" which is a generic response to any comment going against a preferred narrative in a thread doesn't help a discussion go further and is just an online debating technique used to make people give up and not respond further in that thread.

Yes this is a thread to complain about the lack of news but that doesn't mean that people are not allowed to post to the contrary or that posting to the contrary makes them "whiners." Bottom line that term is not appreciated here!

i think you and the devs are completely missing the point... there has been a huge response in this thread from the players (customers paying devs way) saying that they arent happy with the level of communication. instead of jumping on the defensive and getting your back up against players who are "whinning" how about you just listen to the customers (people paying for the game to be developed) and actually do what we are asking. it doesnt need to go any further than that. its very very simple, the computer game industry is a consumer based industry, listen to the consumers!!!!!! stop trying to get all defensive and argue with us just listen to what we are saying or there will be no customers to pay for your game.

[Ramones]

I don't mind the UI update taking forever if they come up with the best UI ever made for a video game.

[vjraymon]

引用自 Ramones：

I don't mind the UI update taking forever if they come up with the best UI ever made for a video game.

Bargain phase ? ;)

[Bruce Wayne]

引用自 vjraymon：

引用自 Ramones：

I don't mind the UI update taking forever if they come up with the best UI ever made for a video game.

Bargain phase ? ;)

HAHAHAHA!!! Noice

[vjraymon]

引用自 GrinceCringe：

引用自 Bruce Wayne：

HAHAHAHA!!! Noice

Some people seem to be stuck in the first phase, denial... ;)

I's a slow process... ;)

[Bikanel desert]

引用自 vjraymon：

引用自 GrinceCringe：

Some people seem to be stuck in the first phase, denial... ;)

I's a slow process... ;)

but it really takes no effort to make a short post every month so I don't understand why mods and devs make excuses for lazy bad communication......

[vjraymon]

They have nothing to say more?
(And the last communication was less than 1 month ago)

[Nuff Truck]

引用自 Bikanel desert：

引用自 vjraymon：

I's a slow process... ;)

but it really takes no effort to make a short post every month so I don't understand why mods and devs make excuses for lazy bad communication......

exactly!

[dperx]

Given that the preview version of the UI update was released today, can we put this topic to bed now? Yes, it took a long time. Yes, the communication was spotty at best; virtually non-existent at worst. But, given today's release, I believe we can conclusively state that the game is not abandoned.

[Bruce Wayne]

引用自 dperx：

Given that the preview version of the UI update was released today, can we put this topic to bed now? Yes, it took a long time. Yes, the communication was spotty at best; virtually non-existent at worst. But, given today's release, I believe we can conclusively state that the game is not abandoned.

What if it happens next month? We will not be silenced

[vjraymon]

Next month is next month, and you can always read the official discord channel to see the implication of the DEVs