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New StarCraft style RTS Stormgate plans changes after mixed feedback

The public launch of Stormgate has been a long time coming, but the initial response to its first round of paid-for early access has been divided. While some players are enthusiastic about its gameplay and the inspirations drawn from some of the best RTS games ever such as StarCraft Brood War, Warcraft 3, and Command and Conquer, others are unhappy with the early state of the campaign and the game's paid hero model. In response, Frost Giant CEO Tim Morten outlines the team's post-launch priorities.


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Early Access Preview: Learnings and Feedback

Hi, everyone, Tim Morten here.

Two days ago, Stormgate was released publicly into Early Access. This was a huge milestone for us. Early Access is a new experience for the team, but I genuinely believe in the benefits of using feedback to drive development.

[h3]We want to thank all of you who have been supportive of our team and of Stormgate. [/h3]

Remember: this is only the beginning of our journey. Our Early Access launch formally begins on August 13 when we open up the game for free to all players and we still have a long road ahead. We expect to be in Early Access for at least a year of active development before we believe we’ll be ready for 1.0. That won’t be the end, either, as we plan to release new stories and more content for years to come.

[h3]Here are a few highlights we’d like to share after our preview release:[/h3]
  • Stable launch: We were able to bring together players from all around the world and, despite a few initial hiccups, achieved 98.6% uptime for our servers.
  • Campaign is the most-played mode: Of the many thousands of total games played, campaign made up about half, followed by custom games. We are excited for the future of our ever-evolving campaign and will be dedicating a lot of time to improving them in the future. More on that below.
  • More playtime = more fun: We found this interesting–though it may seem obvious–but Steam reviewer data indicates that the more players take the time to sink their teeth into the game and explore the various modes in Stormgate, the more they tend to enjoy it. You’ll find Reddit posts to this effect too, where players’ opinions improved after actually spending some time with the game.

[h3]Our Ultimate Thanks[/h3]
Some of our most dedicated supporters expressed disappointment when they saw that we had a Hero available for sale on day one. We tried to make the content in our Kickstarter bundles clear during the campaign, but we understand that many players looked at our “Ultimate” bundles on Kickstarter (and Indiegogo) as the path towards purchasing all of the gameplay content we’d have available for our Early Access release.

We want our backers to feel rewarded, so as a thank you, will be granting the next* paid Hero we release to everyone who backed Stormgate on Kickstarter or Indiegogo at the Ultimate Founder’s Pack tier and above, for free.

We also aim to grant that next paid Hero for free to everyone who purchased or purchases the Ultimate Early Access pack on Steam. Please note that this process will require additional engineering work and may be something we will have to fulfill after the release of that Hero.

*(Why not Warz? We need to grant the next paid Hero for free because players have already purchased Warz and we are unable to make him free retroactively.)

[h3]We’re Acting on Feedback [/h3]
Early Access provides us with critical feedback that will help us continue iterating and improving the game. Here are some of the issues we’re already taking steps to address in the months to come:

Audio and Visual Feedback
  • We saw negative reaction to character models in the cut-scenes, particularly Amara, and to real-time segments not having animated mouths. We have changes planned based on this feedback, which will take time to implement. The current implementation was definitely something we considered “Early Access” and not “final.”
  • We heard feedback about inconsistent audio levels, repetitive announcer lines, and spammy unit response lines. These will be improved.
  • Some players dislike our stylized art direction and, as I noted in our last AMA, we’re going to continue to refine our look, but we’re committed to a stylized direction. We think it’s the right creative choice for Stormgate.
Customizable Hotkeys
  • These are coming, though implementation in Unreal takes time. This will include fully re-bindable hotkeys, including adding support for modifiers.
Campaign Improvements
  • We'll be adding a pause function to the campaign. We’re also beginning planning for a save/load system that will work in tandem with our existing checkpoint save system.
  • The models you see in our cutscenes are the game models that were designed to be seen from top-down gameplay perspective. We’re going to look at our production timelines and schedule production on animated faces and other improvements for our models sooner than originally planned. This is significant work for our team, but we understand that many players feel the characters in our cutscenes are a critical part of the campaign experience.

[h3]Financial Projections[/h3]
I read the thread where someone tried to project Frost Giant's possible financial outcomes. Those projections were wildly inaccurate. Like any business, Frost Giant needs to make products that people decide to purchase in order to succeed. We're trying very hard to do that, and we're grateful to be well-funded relative to most start-ups, including many who never get to see their game in players’ hands.

[h3]We’re Just Getting Started[/h3]
We’re encouraged by how the game is performing during this limited preview period. The feedback we’re getting, positive and negative, will help us make the next great RTS. We look forward to opening Stormgate to a wider audience, and getting more valuable feedback, when we open up the game for free to everyone on August 13.

Everyone at Frost Giant is deeply grateful to the community who support Stormgate. This game is our passion project, and we're continuing to work hard to make it shine. Your feedback is tremendously valuable--we are listening. Please keep the suggestions coming, bear with us, stay respectful, and GLHF!

Ex StarCraft devs' new RTS Stormgate lands to mixed response on Steam

As a big StarCraft aficionado, Stormgate is a game I've had my eyes on for quite some time. The team behind the free-to-play RTS boasts several big names formerly known for their work at Blizzard on Warcraft 3 and StarCraft 2 in particular, and developer Frost Giant Studios has been very up-front about wearing its influences from those games, as well as other classics such as Command and Conquer. As it arrives via Steam Early Access, however, early opinion on Stormgate is divided.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

Free to play RTS Stormgate out now for backers and beta testers

StarCraft successor Stormgate unveils its third faction, sets date

Ex Blizzard devs' huge new RTS game gets first open beta

Stormgate Early Access is Here

Early Access is here, and we're excited to feature the community playing Stormgate.

Stormgate is FREE and launches into Early Access August 13, 2024!

Want to get into the game even earlier?
Visit the Stormgate page on Steam and pre-purchase any Early Access Pack to get in on July 30!:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2012510/Stormgate/

Stormgate is Frost Giant Studios' love letter to classic RTS games and a work of passion and dedication from our team. Early Access is an essential milestone in our journey, but far from the final destination. This initial release, which features competitive 1v1, the start of our ever-evolving campaign, 3P co-op missions, and custom games, is only the beginning. We plan on telling more stories, introducing new game modes, and sharing the tools we've been using to build our game with the community.

Check out the Stormgate Roadmap to see what's on the horizon:
https://playstormgate.com/news/the-stormgate-roadmap

Questions? Refer to the FAQ:
https://playstormgate.com/faq

Free to play RTS Stormgate out now for backers and beta testers

Out of all the genres to fade away thanks to the cruel grinding of the wheel of time, the RTS was the most unlikely. During the late '90s and early 2000s, the RTS genre was ascendant with games like Command & Conquer, Homeworld, Warcraft 3, and StarCraft taking PC gaming to the big time. Then it all sort of went away, with games like StarCraft 2 failing to reignite a new interest in the genre. Finally that might be all about to change as new RTS Stormgate has just launched as an early access preview version, and its developer has a long track record of working on some big strategy names.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

Ex StarCraft devs' new RTS Stormgate lands to mixed response on Steam

StarCraft successor Stormgate unveils its third faction, sets date

Ex Blizzard devs' huge new RTS game gets first open beta