devtrackers.gg
Starting to think they took the money and ran. Idk but I've been reading up on Ashes Of Creation alot and one thing I really like is how vocal and receptive the developers are with the community. Seems like these guys cashed out and shut the drapes. Fun game but wouldn't be shocked if they mean for it to die.
I can guarantee that is not the case. If we meant for it to ultimately die, we'd just pull the plug—running a live game is far too expensive to just let it fade away over time. We're currently working on the next chapter and very significant things beyond that that are taking the lessons and feedback since launch into account across all aspects of the game and its audience development.
Thanks for the comms and your continued hard work. I can’t imagine reading through posts/comments like this are ever easy. There’s a lot of dedicated fans out there who know and appreciate the work you all do. We’re with you for the long haul just like you’re with us. Given your current trajectory with updates chapter 4 seems like where the game will really gain footing. Keep up the hard work!
Thanks! Certainly no sympathy needed—just part of making games that there will be feedback of all types especially with the challenges of developing a title of this nature as a smaller independent studio. Appreciate the encouragement, regardless :)
I feel for you guys but maybe you can see where he is coming from to? If you don't mind me asking, do you guys know why or have any sort of statement you would like to make as to why player retention is drastically down? I appreciate that you guys are confident in what's to come and excited to make "significant" changes but I don't think it would hurt to give the players some insight on Spellbreaks current short coming. Whether due to internal or external factors. Its nice to hear hey we have great things coming and we are fixing things and we are making this game better but shit look at Titanfall 2. AAA Studio game with a stellar story but the marketing campaign failed and the game is almost a hidden gem nowadays. Don't be that hidden gem please.
Can absolutely see where they're coming from; was just making it clear that we are still 100% dedicated to Spellbreak being a successful title (which is going to take continued work, not going to pretend that's not the case!).
Solving retention is a constant for all live games to be challenged with (regardless of relative success at any given time). We've been consistently making adjustments and developing features to get Spellbreak's retention closer to where we want it. We're certainly not there yet, but all of this informs our grander planning for driving toward those goals. There are myriad internal and external factors that play into whether a game retains at various junctures in a player's journey with it and given our team's size and our resources we have to be both conservative in ways and also very experimental in others in order to find the right recipe for longterm success. In the end, marketing only has value if you're pushing people toward a game they'll stick with and development toward specific outcome goals is only valuable if marketing can deliver the right players at the right volume at the right time for those outcomes to be meaningful. It's a super tenuous balance and requires a lot of patience sometimes—which I know can be a pain for both players and developers who just want things to be firing on all cylinders.
I don't want us to be a hidden gem, that's for sure :)
I do hope that my post did not come across as either trolling or purposely being negative towards Proletariat and/or staff working on this game. If it did then please note that the entire reason why the low numbers bother me as much as they do lies in the fact that I, and I know that I am not alone on this one, really like this game and badly want it to succeed haha!
I sometimes do feel that priorities could be set in a more favorable way, but then again I am not a game developer or anything of the kind. I am just voicing my concerns I guess, in the hopes that awareness of these trends will somehow turn into ideas to change them.
So if that was not clear from my earlier messages I do apologize for that. I'd like to get an update in some way or shape where you discuss the issues around the playerbase though, as some other Redditor suggested here! Who knows, might result in some good ideas to turn things around :)
No worries! I didn't take them as trolling; I just wanted to make sure people understand that we're acutely aware of those factors and there's a lot that goes into resolving all of this. Wish it were simple as just "dump X dollars into Y bucket"…but it's not, especially when you independently published. We have to be super strategic with how and when we utilize our various resources, so sometimes it may seem like we're not doing much, when in fact we're doing substantial work behind the scenes in preparation for utilizing what we have in more powerful ways.