I Want More Eastshade!

[marlowe221]

Make an expansion/DLC or a sequel!

This game is fantastic!

[Ștefan]

I haven't even finished yet but me too!

[marlowe221]

Originally posted by nepenthe:

marlowe221 -

Eastshade has been in development for 5 years, the brainchild of Danny Weinbaum:

https://checkpointgaming.net/features/2019/03/eastshades-danny-weinbaum-talks-imaginative-concepts-homogeneity-turning-visual-masterpieces-games/

A very small cadre of inspired non-conformists have attempted what perhaps no other Indie studio has done: art, poetry, music, cheerful dialogue (mostly), and superb craftsmanship appealing to elevated tastes.

Alas, sales appear dismal, and there are innumerable technical issues that suggest the game was released a year too soon. Undercapitalized and understaffed, without a realistic assessment of the market, these gifted individuals labored night and day to create something original that promised enduring appeal.

If Eastshade cannot return a handsome profit from its Windows launch, it seems unlikely that porting to other platforms will fare better. Alas, too few of us want more Eastshade, and that's the Achilles heel of this wonderful project.

Originally posted by marlowe221:

This game is fantastic!

Yes, it is.

Cili's song

Oh, the sunlight glitters brightly, off the golden sandy shore,
And the moonlight twinkles 'pon the waves 'til the sun come out once more.

I really hate to hear that sales have been so poor. To me, this game fills a gap that has existed in the video game market for a long time. Sure, there are "walking simulators" but nothing I've seen has quite the same combination of exploration, adventure, questing, and NPC interaction that Eastshade has.

As soon as I finished it, I came to Steam to find other games like Eastshade to find that there aren't really any... There are the Myst-clones, which I like, but they aren't quite the same.

Well, I wish the developers all the best and certainly understand if they have to move on to other projects to pay the bills. But if so it's a real shame. This game scratched a certain itch I've had for a long time.

[marlowe221]

Originally posted by nepenthe:

Don't forget Phoenix Glendinning's delightful original music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2ROZKZ8u_0&list=OLAK5uy_kwNAg1cFLyEfSYggoJQnOZ2WuZ8fJIQl0&index=4&t=0s

Absolutely. The music in this game is wonderful and really helps set the tone.

[Eastshade Studios]

Originally posted by marlowe221:

Make an expansion/DLC or a sequel!

This game is fantastic!

We appreciate the kind words!

At the moment we're still dedicated to polishing/porting the game we already released. And to be honest probably after that we'll move on to the next thing. We have no plans to make a sequel.

Originally posted by nepenthe:

Alas, sales appear dismal, and there are innumerable technical issues that suggest the game was released a year too soon. Undercapitalized and understaffed, without a realistic assessment of the market, these gifted individuals labored night and day to create something original that promised enduring appeal.

Uh, what? From my perspective that is all just way off!

I don't know what data you're going off, or what your comparing to as a benchmark (mega hits I guess?), but we are very happy with our sales, and the title is perfectly profitable for us. Regarding a "realist assessment of the market"⁠—We did a lot of research going in, and ended up being pretty accurate in how much we could expect to make, and thereby how much we could afford to spend. Everything went really well. We were in the Steam top sellers list for an entire week after all!

I think if we had spent more time/money on production, indeed, that could have been dangerous, as we might not have made it back. But I feel we were extremely efficient, and actually came up with much more content than I thought we'd be able to pull off. I'm even happy with the stability and polish believe it or not. There are issues I wish we could fix, or things I wish could have been more polished, but if I could do it all over I wouldn't really change much.

[marlowe221]

Originally posted by Eastshade Studios:

Originally posted by marlowe221:

Make an expansion/DLC or a sequel!

This game is fantastic!

We appreciate the kind words!

At the moment we're still dedicated to polishing/porting the game we already released. And to be honest probably after that we'll move on to the next thing. We have no plans to make a sequel.

Originally posted by nepenthe:

Alas, sales appear dismal, and there are innumerable technical issues that suggest the game was released a year too soon. Undercapitalized and understaffed, without a realistic assessment of the market, these gifted individuals labored night and day to create something original that promised enduring appeal.

Uh, what? From my perspective that is all just way off!

I don't know what data you're going off, or what your comparing to as a benchmark (mega hits I guess?), but we are very happy with our sales, and the title is perfectly profitable for us. Regarding a "realist assessment of the market"⁠—We did a lot of research going in, and ended up being pretty accurate in how much we could expect to make, and thereby how much we could afford to spend. Everything went really well. We were in the Steam top sellers list for an entire week after all!

I think if we had spent more time/money on production, indeed, that could have been dangerous, as we might not have made it back. But I feel we were extremely efficient, and actually came up with much more content than I thought we'd be able to pull off. I'm even happy with the stability and polish believe it or not. There are issues I wish we could fix, or things I wish could have been more polished, but if I could do it all over I wouldn't really change much.

I'm glad you all are happy with how Eastshade turned out and it's financial return.

Even if there is no DLC/sequel, I hope that whatever your next project is, it will be in the same spirit as this game - filling a gap in the gaming market and presenting interesting alternatives to the status quo.

[Eastshade Studios]

Originally posted by nepenthe:

Originally posted by Eastshade Studios:

...we are very happy with our sales, and the title is perfectly profitable for us.

I was looking at SteamSpy:

https://steamspy.com/app/715560

According to this website, Eastshade has 33,788 followers (I don't know what this term means), game priced at $18.74, with a mere 67 players on 8 July 2019. If the followers are game owners, the total paid comes to $633K. Steam takes a third of that, leaving Eastshade Studios with $424K. Over a development period of 5 years, that nets $85K/yr. Washington State has no income tax, but Eastshade would owe federal tax. The meagre leavings could hardly support Danny, much less the studio team that brought us this wonderful game.

If you're curious, here is a better way to approximate net revenue of a game on Steam. Eastshade was around 8.5 person-years all in between myself and team. We're only five months into our sales curve, and we're porting to consoles as well. Indie games is a hard business. Most in this industry call Eastshade a success. And for the record, 85k/yr pretax sounds peachy keen to me.

[marlowe221]

Originally posted by nepenthe:

Originally posted by marlowe221:

As soon as I finished it, I came to Steam to find other games like Eastshade to find that there aren't really any... There are the Myst-clones, which I like, but they aren't quite the same.

Check out Nephise: Ascension

https://store.steampowered.com/app/803150?snr=2_9_100000_

The landscapes are quite beautiful, the narration is good, and the puzzles are fun. It's not Eastshade, but I think you'll enjoy it. No stuttering, no crashes. The developer, Tonguç Bodur, resides in Istanbul, Turkey. His talent is definitely on the ascension.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out!