Progress update
Hello all!
The summary:
- The game is fine and is approaching the finish line.
- In spring, we will have the beta and showcase the gameplay, then
- A demo during Steam Next Fest, and then,
- Almost immediately after, an Early access release
Now, in more detail.
All in all, we could have gotten a release out in March as planned. The game will be practically finished, but it will be a raw game with errors, optimization issues, and balance issues. Probably that is the definition of early access, but in my case, I have many times bought insufficiently polished games during early access, I was often disappointed and did not return to those games again. We decided that we were not ready to charge money for an insufficiently polished product.
It's not that important what the launch of the game is called, early access or late access; we want it to be a complete, full-fledged experience that makes you lose track of time. OK, maybe it will lack a few systems (I am not sure that we will make it in time to implement the change of seasons, for example), but you will be able to finish the game and spend dozens of hours on it.
Why it happened like that with the deadlines? Well, this is gamedev, and the game is largely experimental. Experimenting with the gameplay leads to modifications and lost time. But in the end we did not have to say no to almost anything, and even developed many things further than we anticipated. The amount of new and complex systems that are currently part of Norland would be enough for several games, and we are happy as we seemingly managed to make them all run in a natural symphony.
For similar reasons (experiments!), we spent a long time enforcing radio silence. If at the start of the development we could talk about what we were _planning_ to do with the game, closer to the end we would have wanted to write only about the things the game _already_ had and that wouldn't be changed. Besides, as we focused on game logic, we fell behind in implementing graphics, animation, and all that polish. That just has no point until the gameplay has been stabilized. And the diaries would look weird without screenshots.
Now we have come to the point when the systems are stable and can be shown, so at the same time with this news we are posting a new devlog, in which I will tell you how the world map functions. As we implement the graphics, I will be writing more, and when we implement all of these, we will make a game video with a detailed gameplay showcase.
Before this, we will sign anyone willing for open beta testing, and, as many people have been here and in our Discord for a long time, you will have an edge on the people who come here after the promotional campaign begins.
We will also continue recruiting testers in a bit, as soon as we finish the development of the tutorial system.
Thank you for your support and patience, and a special thank you to our testers!
And for now, we will set the release date on the page to the 3rd quarter of this year, to avoid creating unnecessary suspense and pressure on the team. May the release become a pleasant surprise for you. :)
