Colony Ship update #50: the first chapter is playable

[guestposting]

Some of you guys may not remember the degree of buzz around AoD. This thing was getting mainstream coverage like a decade before release—IGN interview in 2006! If you were a games journo who liked real RPGs, there wasn’t much to write about during that period.

For most of that time, it was the only Fallout style CRPG that anyone was working on. Colony Ship doesn’t have that advantage.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

That's true.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

The question is how much a serious cRPG patreon(or whatever) would generate. I'd gladly pay a monthly fee knowing that competent people are making good cRPGs with a pay-off every ~3 years.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

@CappenVarra
Wouldn't you? Tax money well spent.

 

[CappenVarra]

@CappenVarra
Wouldn't you? Tax money well spent.

one of the only developer studios i would consider for that, in fact - as they've proven themselves to be my kind of devs over the years, and of course i'd be a Patron of the Motherfucking Arts

whether they would consider it, well we'll see

 

[agris]

Well, we're looking at the end of 2022 already and any delay can push it into 2023. We can do two locations a month, so that's 18 months right there (the Habitat's bigger so it will take 4 months).

Jun - Factory
Aug - Mission Control
Oct - Shuttle Bay
Feb - Habitat and the end of chapter 2
Apr - ECLSS (monks)
Jun - Heart (mutant town)
Aug - Bridge and the end of chapter 3, all locations are done.
Nov - Endgame (chapter 4)

I know I’m replying with 2 pages of unread posts BUT - are you at all concerned with the problem of your pipeline getting better with time, such that the latter portion of the game (which, heretical as it is, will likely be played by fewer people) will be the highest quality while the beginning, which the most people will play, will be of the lowest quality?

 

[Ismaul]

I know I’m replying with 2 pages of unread posts BUT - are you at all concerned with the problem of your pipeline getting better with time, such that the latter portion of the game (which, heretical as it is, will likely be played by fewer people) will be the highest quality while the beginning, which the most people will play, will be of the lowest quality?

VD's well aware of this. In fact, by having the first chapter playable first, it will have the most feedback, and will be the most iterated on. They'll likely make a polish pass on everything once all the locations are in.

 

[MRY]

What you think is the cause of there being less interest?

No idea. Could be the effect of 'indiepocalypse', could be that the game is just not exciting enough (no magic, no mystery, no over the top wacky stuff wasteland style), could be that people looked at the screens and thought it takes place in a warehouse. Anyway, we'll know soon enough.

Your approach has always been a slow burn, word of mouth, etc. My sense is that the role of press is smaller these days, in any event. You're probably right that the visuals for the Pit, though technically better, are less intriguing than what we saw of AOD's first areas. I'm not sure how serious a problem that is for the long-term success of the game, though. Early adopters will probably be grognards who will judge the game on its substance rather than its first visual impression. For late adopters, you can put together a trailer with more visually interesting areas.

 

[MRY]

I know I’m replying with 2 pages of unread posts BUT - are you at all concerned with the problem of your pipeline getting better with time, such that the latter portion of the game (which, heretical as it is, will likely be played by fewer people) will be the highest quality while the beginning, which the most people will play, will be of the lowest quality?

VD's well aware of this. In fact, by having the first chapter playable first, it will have the most feedback, and will be the most iterated on. They'll likely make a polish pass on everything once all the locations are in.

Yeah, I liked Teron more than any other area in AOD. Later ones might've had been produced by a better pipeline, but Teron had a long time for every possible scenario to be iterated and fleshed out.

 

[Jenkem]

just release it on early access already, why are you worried about fixing all bugs? isn't that what EA is for?

protip: even if you spend the next 30 days fixing bugs there will still be bugs found by the playerbase.

 

[lukaszek]

look at loop hero. Hidden gem of demo festival, 500k gaymers on 1st week of release even though infi was trying to hide it on this forum

 

[Vault Dweller]

just release it on early access already, why are you worried about fixing all bugs? isn't that what EA is for?

Right now improving the game takes 90% of the time, bug fixing 10% (since the combat system was thoroughly tested, bugs aren't really an issue). Yes, EA is work in progress by definition, which doesn't mean that we should release the very first playable build and call it a day. First impression and all that.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

which doesn't mean that we should release the very first playable build and call it a day.

You'll never become a AAA developer with that attitude.