Next Fest Aftermath, changing things up (Patreon)

A disappointing fest

This installment of our weekly updates is going to be a bit different. Last week we participated in Steam's Next Fest, which was a major milestone for us and also a pulse check moment to see how Songs of Everjade has been doing. 

We had gone in with high hopes, as Forge Industry gained 1250 WLs during Next Fest, and we believed that Forge Industry was in a much worse state compared to Songs of Everjade, both in terms of store page, as well as the actual playable demo. 

With those previous numbers in mind however, it's been a soulcrushing experience to see Songs of Everjade get about 12% of what Forge Industry did wishlist wise. We went from 435 WLs when the even started, to sitting at 600WLs now, which is way below what we needed if we were planning on releasing in the coming months. 

This was also coupled with a lot of feedback that Songs of Everjade still needs quite some time in the oven, which means completely blowing past our original launch plans. Certain aspects such as lacking in art variety we knew, but the core combat of the game is still much too lacking as well, and this isn't just something we can fix by throwing money at an artist, but requires a near ground-up rework of movement & combat. 

Since the team was also pretty burnt out after the various last minute fixes we had to do the first few days of the Next Fest, we also ended up taking a break from implementing new features/improvements. 

Guild Architect

With Songs of Everjade taking a bit of a step back now, it also means that something else needs to take the spotlight, which is Guild Architect in this case. This week we've had 2 interns start, who will be joining us for the next 4 months.

Because their skills lie at 3D and not pixel art, we knew we would have to start a new project once they started, so we settled on Guild Architect, a game where you manage an adventurers guild in a fantasy setting, with a focus on improving parties, earning a profit, and decorating your guild to your liking. 

Songs of Everjade taught us that our skills do lie more at mechanically based games, but we were being held back too much by lacking in the art department. Now that we have 2 artists as a part of the team as well, we believe this is going to allow us to make a game that is both visually as well as mechanically a success. 

As for actual on the progress of the game, so far we have the basics of the grid system nailed down, with the ability to place decorative objects, along with some logic regarding those placements (flags only on walls, candles only on tables vs. directly on the ground,...) 

A big thing we've been focusing on as well is trying to nail more of a distinct anime style, which we are currently trying to get through the use of some stylized shaders, although our artists will most likely completely rework/overhaul these. 

What's Next

Songs of Everjade is very much still up in the air about what exactly we will be doing with it. We do know for certain we want to release it, but we still need to have some more discussions internally in regards to what state we would deem as "finished". 

For Guild Architect, we'll be working full steam the next week on some of the game's core (currently, there's a big issue with our grid system not being able to rotate , meaning angled/perpendicular walls aren't possible). In the meantime, our interns will start working on an Art Bible. This comes down to being a very big document that lists all the style requirements, color palettes, reference art, polycount,... which will then be used to reference the next months of working on models for this game. 

In regards to these updates, I will be doing them alternating for the 2 games we're working on. Next week will be about Guild Architect alone, in the old format similar to SoE, and the week after that it will be back about the updates on Songs of Everjade. Then the cycle repeats, one week of Guild Architect, another week of Songs of Everjade.

I will be honest, it's currently a bit of a rough time here in our studio, with these various projects, lots of shiny objects and a few hard faceplants. But I'd like to once again really express my gratitude for everyone who's on this Patreon, helping us out with feedback, supportive comments or (of course) some extra monetary validation. We never wanted to shy away from showing the raw reality of running a studio, and that's not going to change anytime soon.