An Armello Update, from Woody.
Hey y’all,
For those that don't know me, I'm Woody, executive producer on Armello.
First off, we recognise that v2.0 and its immediate support has been a little rough, and made worse by our lack of communication, especially towards future plans for Armello. I’m here today to fill you in on some of the whys for that, and to update you all on where Armello is heading for the year, and beyond. This’ll be a lengthy post, because I want to address as much as I can.
Growing Pains
Working in production at LoG, I’ve seen our ability to operate as a games-as-a-service studio grow and evolve all the way from early access to v2.0. I’m truly proud of what we’ve achieved and stand behind our GaaS development cycles and methodology. That said, recently we haven’t met the high standards we hold ourselves to.
As you may know, we've had a second project in the building for quite some time now and we are hiring and expanding. Going from a single project to a multi-project studio is one of the toughest challenges you can undertake in videogame development. Your production methodology, your company structure, even your project accounting, needs to change. However, for all our successes in scaling the studio, actually finding and hiring the right people for this exciting next phase of LoG’s history has proven the single most difficult challenge.
(In case you're interested, https://careers.leagueofgeeks.com/ )
This has left us in a situation where for the last 6-9 months we have been under-resourced across both projects. For the new project, that’s not as critical as it’s still years away from release. However for Armello, that’s a live game requiring ongoing support, so when we feel the strain of a lack of resources, unfortunately you feel it too.
Compounding that for Armello, we’ve also had a couple of critical Armello team members leave to pursue personal projects - they're gonna do great things!
So if you’re wondering why we’ve been slower than our usual selves to fix particular issues or provide more context as to what’s happening here in the studio; that’s why.
The upside to all this is that we do have a very dedicated team here at the studio making Armello the best it can be, and we have a bunch of rad stuff in the pipeline. Our goal is and has always been for us to deliver the best content we can, in a healthy and sustainable way for our developers. GaaS production is a marathon, not a sprint, so when the options are crunch our team and work longer hours or delay releases and support - we’ll always choose the latter. It’s always proven better in the long term, for our studio, our team, our games, and of course, for you, our players.
Hiring the right talent for our studio is always our highest priority, because it’s the team at LoG that makes amazing things for you. We really do appreciate you bearing with us whilst we weather the growing pains.
So what do we have in the pipeline…?
After the immediate release support for v2.0, due to resourcing issues mentioned the team moved onto our next (and really exciting if I may say so) major DLC. However, we hear you loud and clear; currently Armello is not at the standard you expect from us or the high standards we set ourselves, so we’ve pivoted from the new DLC (now due for release later this year) and instead will be dedicating the next few months towards addressing the bug fixes and significant Quality of Life (QoL) improvements you’re all asking for. We’ve also got a balance patch that primarily attends to the Trickery Deck. The first of these patches is coming within the next 2 weeks.
Here are just some of the things we plan on hitting over the next weeks and months:
Mobile
As many of you know, we launched Armello on iOS in early 2018 and Android a little later. The decision to come to mobile was one made very early on in the Kickstarter phase, before it had even been released on Steam. As we moved through development we became skeptical that a game like Armello was the right fit for the platform (without severely compromising the game’s direction and integrity). Regardless, we honoured our Kickstarter promise and released the iOS and Android versions.
We’re proud of the iOS and Android version of Armello, but unfortunately it wasn’t as commercially successful as we had hoped. Due to this, and also the unavoidable fact that Mobile versions require a large amount of custom UI and content adaptation, a bittersweet announcement we’re making today is that mobile versions of Armello will not receive any major updates. This means v2.0 and any future content we develop will not be coming to mobile. That said, Armello and its mobile multiplayer services are here to stay. It’s free and always there if you ever find yourself looking to play some Armello while you’re out and about (or even introduce a friend to the game). Also content that exists already, such as dice collections, will continue to cycle as planned.
Growing as a studio means leaning into our strengths and focusing on where we want to leave our mark on this medium, and as such, larger scale experiences (likely on computers and consoles) is where our efforts will be placed for the foreseeable future.
Nintendo Switch
The Switch build has been… troublesome for us. Armello is such a great fit for the platform but there are severe low-level crash issues that are impacting our players in a serious way that we haven’t been able to crack. This issue seems to evade Nintendo’s crash reporting system and certification process, many of our internal QA processes and procedures, including automation.
In no way does this mean we’re not doing everything we can to fix this. We’re in discussions with several different Switch experts as well as Nintendo, and are using all relevant resources to get this solved ASAP.
We’re going to bring the DLC pack and wrap up all of Armello’s improvements including v2.0 into a hefty console update for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. These take a lot of time, and it’s entirely possible that these might be our final console updates.
Beyond the slated improvements to Armello and planned DLC, we're looking to really engage and continue our conversation with you, the community.
Thank you!
The videogame industry is a rapidly changing beast, the way we play, make and exist around games has changed so much even in the four years since our little indie studio launched a game called Armello. "Games as a service" barely existed as a concept back then for indie games, and now it's almost an expected part of a game’s life cycle.
We'll continue to be a studio that cares about our team and our community alike.
We will continue to be a studio that listens to you, and learns from our mistakes - we know we've made them - as we realise acknowledging and growing from them is what matters most.
We will also continue to develop games in a healthy and sustainable way. This will mean we can't deliver on your every wish and things will take longer than expected from time to time. However, what we can do is communicate more with you when these times arise - and we will.
We love Armello just as much as you do, and we want to see it remain as glorious, as beautiful and as magical as it can be. We wouldn’t have been able to get Armello to where it is now without your support, so on behalf of everyone here at LoG, I want to thank you, our community, for all your ongoing support.
Cheers,
For those that don't know me, I'm Woody, executive producer on Armello.
First off, we recognise that v2.0 and its immediate support has been a little rough, and made worse by our lack of communication, especially towards future plans for Armello. I’m here today to fill you in on some of the whys for that, and to update you all on where Armello is heading for the year, and beyond. This’ll be a lengthy post, because I want to address as much as I can.
Growing Pains
Working in production at LoG, I’ve seen our ability to operate as a games-as-a-service studio grow and evolve all the way from early access to v2.0. I’m truly proud of what we’ve achieved and stand behind our GaaS development cycles and methodology. That said, recently we haven’t met the high standards we hold ourselves to.
As you may know, we've had a second project in the building for quite some time now and we are hiring and expanding. Going from a single project to a multi-project studio is one of the toughest challenges you can undertake in videogame development. Your production methodology, your company structure, even your project accounting, needs to change. However, for all our successes in scaling the studio, actually finding and hiring the right people for this exciting next phase of LoG’s history has proven the single most difficult challenge.
(In case you're interested, https://careers.leagueofgeeks.com/ )
This has left us in a situation where for the last 6-9 months we have been under-resourced across both projects. For the new project, that’s not as critical as it’s still years away from release. However for Armello, that’s a live game requiring ongoing support, so when we feel the strain of a lack of resources, unfortunately you feel it too.
Compounding that for Armello, we’ve also had a couple of critical Armello team members leave to pursue personal projects - they're gonna do great things!
So if you’re wondering why we’ve been slower than our usual selves to fix particular issues or provide more context as to what’s happening here in the studio; that’s why.
The upside to all this is that we do have a very dedicated team here at the studio making Armello the best it can be, and we have a bunch of rad stuff in the pipeline. Our goal is and has always been for us to deliver the best content we can, in a healthy and sustainable way for our developers. GaaS production is a marathon, not a sprint, so when the options are crunch our team and work longer hours or delay releases and support - we’ll always choose the latter. It’s always proven better in the long term, for our studio, our team, our games, and of course, for you, our players.
Hiring the right talent for our studio is always our highest priority, because it’s the team at LoG that makes amazing things for you. We really do appreciate you bearing with us whilst we weather the growing pains.
So what do we have in the pipeline…?
Armello in 2019
After the immediate release support for v2.0, due to resourcing issues mentioned the team moved onto our next (and really exciting if I may say so) major DLC. However, we hear you loud and clear; currently Armello is not at the standard you expect from us or the high standards we set ourselves, so we’ve pivoted from the new DLC (now due for release later this year) and instead will be dedicating the next few months towards addressing the bug fixes and significant Quality of Life (QoL) improvements you’re all asking for. We’ve also got a balance patch that primarily attends to the Trickery Deck. The first of these patches is coming within the next 2 weeks.
Here are just some of the things we plan on hitting over the next weeks and months:
- Ensure AI takeover is working as intended, and make it feel less invasive for remaining players.
- Ensure Quest outcomes function correctly and speed up the process a little bit.
- Clarify the implications of “Offline Mode”, better communicating that Hero XP and chest drops become unavailable in this mode.
- Party Widget improvements designed to make the flow of entering a multiplayer game and grouping with friends more seamless and intuitive.
- Fix up an issue preventing players from progressing from a private lobby to a game.
Mobile
As many of you know, we launched Armello on iOS in early 2018 and Android a little later. The decision to come to mobile was one made very early on in the Kickstarter phase, before it had even been released on Steam. As we moved through development we became skeptical that a game like Armello was the right fit for the platform (without severely compromising the game’s direction and integrity). Regardless, we honoured our Kickstarter promise and released the iOS and Android versions.
We’re proud of the iOS and Android version of Armello, but unfortunately it wasn’t as commercially successful as we had hoped. Due to this, and also the unavoidable fact that Mobile versions require a large amount of custom UI and content adaptation, a bittersweet announcement we’re making today is that mobile versions of Armello will not receive any major updates. This means v2.0 and any future content we develop will not be coming to mobile. That said, Armello and its mobile multiplayer services are here to stay. It’s free and always there if you ever find yourself looking to play some Armello while you’re out and about (or even introduce a friend to the game). Also content that exists already, such as dice collections, will continue to cycle as planned.
Growing as a studio means leaning into our strengths and focusing on where we want to leave our mark on this medium, and as such, larger scale experiences (likely on computers and consoles) is where our efforts will be placed for the foreseeable future.
Nintendo Switch
The Switch build has been… troublesome for us. Armello is such a great fit for the platform but there are severe low-level crash issues that are impacting our players in a serious way that we haven’t been able to crack. This issue seems to evade Nintendo’s crash reporting system and certification process, many of our internal QA processes and procedures, including automation.
In no way does this mean we’re not doing everything we can to fix this. We’re in discussions with several different Switch experts as well as Nintendo, and are using all relevant resources to get this solved ASAP.
Armello in 2020
We’re going to bring the DLC pack and wrap up all of Armello’s improvements including v2.0 into a hefty console update for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. These take a lot of time, and it’s entirely possible that these might be our final console updates.
Beyond the slated improvements to Armello and planned DLC, we're looking to really engage and continue our conversation with you, the community.
Thank you!
The videogame industry is a rapidly changing beast, the way we play, make and exist around games has changed so much even in the four years since our little indie studio launched a game called Armello. "Games as a service" barely existed as a concept back then for indie games, and now it's almost an expected part of a game’s life cycle.
We'll continue to be a studio that cares about our team and our community alike.
We will continue to be a studio that listens to you, and learns from our mistakes - we know we've made them - as we realise acknowledging and growing from them is what matters most.
We will also continue to develop games in a healthy and sustainable way. This will mean we can't deliver on your every wish and things will take longer than expected from time to time. However, what we can do is communicate more with you when these times arise - and we will.
We love Armello just as much as you do, and we want to see it remain as glorious, as beautiful and as magical as it can be. We wouldn’t have been able to get Armello to where it is now without your support, so on behalf of everyone here at LoG, I want to thank you, our community, for all your ongoing support.
Cheers,
- Woody
