Hello friends, curious people, and those that fall between,
We've been quiet lately, far too quiet for my tastes, and for that I apologize. I'd like to take a brief moment to explain why, and for once, I promise to be brief.
About three months ago, perhaps a bit less, we were approached by a small, indie publisher about funding. We had a brief chat with them, had a lengthy chat amongst ourselves, and then had a second chat with them. We sent them information, and two months ago (thereabouts), we sent them our demo.
That's when the waiting and the silence began. With such a big decision hanging over us, I just didn't feel like it would be appropriate to continue on as if everything where normal.
So we waited and waited, and after a few months, we were declined. It is possible we'll work something out in the future--no doors have been closed--when the game is further along and that small, indie company is ready for a project of Vitrerran's type, size, and scope.
For the record, they did enjoy the game.
We haven't lost anything, and during this waiting period, we continued to work on Vitrerran. Progress is advancing as usual. The demo is done--and has been for quite some time--and after one more round of testing on our parts, it'll be ready to go out into the world. When I say "coming soon" I mean you'll be able to play it by next week. Perhaps sooner.
This whole experience has been a positive one, decline and all. We learned that Vitrerran, based on our alpha trailer of all things (almost everything in that trailer now looks better in some way or another), is worth important consideration. When strangers go, "Hey, we think we want to fund this project," well, that's huge.
We also learned that Steam Early Access might be a nice idea, all things considered. I'm a big fan of Jim Sterling and his work on the Jimquisition, and he's spent a few episodes criticizing Steam's lack of quality control and Early Access in general. Nothing he's said so far has been wrong.
Yet, it is possible to do Early Access right, and the possibilities of a successful campaign are quite numerous. If we were to go this route, we'd make sure to deliver a product worthy of whatever Early Access amount we were charging. So many devs only post a half-baked demo and the promise of more, and that is unacceptable.
If you're charging ten dollars for a thing, you best deliver something worth ten dollars.
But this is all speculation as of now. The current path is to simply continue building Vitrerran, get the demo out there, and see what happens. It isn't the best path perhaps, being a little shaky, and certainly other paths have greener grass, but it's our path nonetheless. I'll follow it to wherever it takes me.
I hope you'll follow it with us.
~Chad