Our 2021 Roadmap

We did it though, and we launched it into Early Access on April Fool’s Day in the midst of the pandemic and the restrictions they put here in place in Finland. For us that meant no movement outside of the capital region, closing of schools, and other limits. It sucked, but we did got through it alive and with a game going out.

That said, we probably launched A Giant Problem too early, even for something called Early Access. There have been numerous things that just weren’t in the game and/or needed such great improvement that the game simply wasn’t fun. All the same we’ve been dedicated to improving what we’ve made and adding to it to the point we’ve put out 8 patches of various sizes.

Those patches have steadily improved the game, added content and increased the features that make you feel like a giant. So overall the team is quite happy with the progress we’ve made on A Giant Problem. That is of course because we know what’s coming. And we’re happy to finally tell you all about it.

[h2]The New Roadmap[/h2]
As you can see from the updated map what we’re planning on delivering has changed. Most notably, there will be a campaign! And we’re excited about that, cause who doesn’t love a good story and want some reasoning behind what’s happening. We’re still delivering eight maps, more magic, more enemies and varieties, allies, upgrades, and the repair hammer.

To date the game has been more of a rogue-lite, in that each play session is a run and upon losing you have to start all over. The addition of a campaign changes this. Namely the game no longer becomes about staving off loss, rather you’re trying to achieve goals which generally feels a lot better. At the same time we will be refining the rogue-lite aspects and putting them out as a new Endless Mode.

Together the campaign and endless mode will offer a lot, and to players with different likes. And we want this game to be both appealing and fun. Fun is different for different people, which is why both modes will be available from the start once we reach 1.0. Our major focus in this updated roadmap and for version 1.0 is about making a fun and playable game. That’s why certain features are currently out of scope - they’re nice, but not necessities to achieving the goal a fun and playable game.

[h2]Change of Scope[/h2]
If you compare our roadmap for 2020 with that for 2021 you’ll see some features or plans have changed. That’s an inevitable part of game development, but it also reflects what we as a company have been through. We’ve had to reevaluate based upon a combination of our ability to deliver, priorities, and our need to stay afloat. The latter has meant that we’ve had to diversify as a company and take on contract work.

This has been a net positive for us as a company because it’s given us more experienced and honed our skills both as a team and game developers. The one downside is how its affected how much time we can dedicate to A Giant Problem. Rather than shelving the project entirely, we’ve rescoped it. This has resulted in certain things becoming more limited or removed all together for the time being.

We want to make it clear we want to deliver all of this and more. But right now we simply can’t. That doesn’t mean we won’t in the future. But for the sake of early access and seeing an end to the game shipped we’ve determined there is a line we’re drawing. And this is it, and we think it offers a lot to players.

That’s not to say these features and content won’t ever come to the game. Our aim is to bring it all. That’ll happen in one of two ways. 1) Post-launch content that we put out when possible as we continue to create games, and/or 2) We get a publisher for A Giant Problem that’ll enable us to do all this and expand the game further. We’re hoping for the latter. It would enable us to bring all of this and more.

They say art is never finished, it’s only abandoned. Not in this case. We aren’t abandoning A Giant Problem, we’re more committed to it than ever. We’re just being realistic about what we can accomplish, and honest with you in turn. So thank you for your support so far and we hope you’re with us for the rest of the journey.