Thank you!

We have not only reached but surpassed the goal to a staggering 133% of our target, to a satisfying 20,000 exactly! We are overwhelmed by the support we have received; it has been a wild journey this past month and we are grateful to have been able to spend it with such amazing people. Rest assured that any pledges over our target will really help us move forward as we go full throttle into game development! In the last 60s, we hit our first stretch goal; as promised we can confirm that Skystead Ranch will get an additional Beach Island including a new playable area, an additional 10 Skylets, new Sandy and Deep Water floor types, as well as a sprinkling of items and plants to accompany the new content. Thank you so much to the last-minute backers, we truly didn't believe we would hit this goal!

Next Steps

So the Kickstarter is over, along with all of the crazy events we have done this month. What do we do now?

1. Rest

First off, most importantly for us here at ToastieLabs, we need some time to rest and recuperate! After the super busy month we've had this October we have certainly earned it. We are making sure all of the team have the time off they require to ease back into work. We've had 4 DLCs released for our other games this month, on top of EGX, MCM, Steam Next Fest, and the Kickstarter, so you can imagine just how busy we've been!

2. Other Games DLC and Taking Stock of Skystead Ranch

Once the team is back to full strength, we are splitting into 2 groups to get the first, real step started! The end of the year for ToastieLabs brings with it a few extra game DLCs to release, including Advent Calendar DLCs for the whole month of December - so most of the team will be working hard to get these DLCs made and released on time. We will also be getting the Backer Exclusive DLC made during this time so there will be plenty of time to Quality Test each DLC for release in early 2024!
Meanwhile, Rob will start taking stock of everything we have in Skystead Ranch so we can thoroughly plan what is needed, what can be removed, and what needs a little fixing. Larger game features like Saving and Loading, Skylet AI, and better Player Controls are first on the to-do list.

3. 2024, Full Throttle for Skystead Ranch

Come January 2024, we are hitting the ground running with Skystead development! We will be focusing primarily on the new Skylets we need for Skystead Ranch, starting with the Cat and Dog pets that are needed for you Animal Lovers who have pledged over 50, and the Game Designer custom-skylets for the 2 of you who have pledged the highest tier!
We want to ensure people who have Alpha access from the top tiers will also be able to play with the pets and custom-created Skylets, thus allowing us to get ample QA testing on the additional features the pets bring.

4. Investigate other means of Funding

As this is our largest game project to date, we want to ensure Skystead has the best chance we can give it on release. With that in mind, we are going to investigate the possibility of getting a Publisher on board for the release of Skystead Ranch. We just want to give the game every opportunity possible in terms of marketing so more people will be able to relax with the final release! A Publisher is a nice-to-have for us, but it is not a must-have for our game development, so if we are unable to find a suitable publisher for us to partner with, we will happily continue development as we are. We have done alright on our own so far, so we will only take on a publisher if they are a good fit.

5. Organise the rest of the road map and share it with you all!

This isn't everything! Come summer of 2024 we will have the rest of the development plan fully laid out, and we will continue to be as transparent as we can with you all so you know where we are going next! We will continue to drop update posts monthly here on Kickstarter to keep you updated on our progress.

Where we are Today

Since the end of the Kickstarter Campaign, we have all taken the time to recuperate and are back on track with all of our projects. Make sure you check out Coloring Pixels, hexceed and WooLoop whilst you are waiting for Skystead Ranch! We have also begun reaching out to a number of publishers, so fingers crossed on news regarding that soon. Once again, we cannot say it enough - Thank you for all of your support! You have all come together to make our dreams come true, and we are eternally grateful. We will take a nap now and get back to work very soon. Lots of love - The ToastieLabs Team.

[ 2023-11-13 14:02:12 CET ] [ Original post ]