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I've posted a Kickstarter update going over the last few years of development and my plans moving forward.
Strap yourselves in - this is going to be a long update! We've got almost 6 months of development to cover, and I think you're going to be surprised by how much has changed in that time.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UPDATE
Strap yourselves in - this is going to be a long update! We've got almost 6 months of development to cover, and I think you're going to be surprised by how much has changed in that time.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UPDATE
Howdy, everyone - if any of you have been wondering where the heck I've been for the past 6-8 weeks, this update will tell you.
Spoiler: [spoiler]I had a kid![/spoiler]
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UPDATE
So yeah. Thanks for all the messages asking if I was dead. I promise I'm alive and well. I'm just covered in spit-up.
There's undoubtedly a growing backlog of forum posts that need attention - I'm not quite brave enough to take a bite out of those tonight, but you can expect to see some replies this weekend.
Cheers,
- L
Howdy, everyone - if any of you have been wondering where the heck I've been for the past 6-8 weeks, this update will tell you.
Spoiler: [spoiler]I had a kid![/spoiler]
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UPDATE
So yeah. Thanks for all the messages asking if I was dead. I promise I'm alive and well. I'm just covered in spit-up.
There's undoubtedly a growing backlog of forum posts that need attention - I'm not quite brave enough to take a bite out of those tonight, but you can expect to see some replies this weekend.
Cheers,
- L
Welcome to FRONTIERS! It's a great honor to be part of the latest bundle and we're very pleased to have your support. Be sure to check out the forums if you have any questions or want to know more about the state of the game / development plans / etc. Enjoy the game, and we'll see you in the Uncharted!
Welcome to FRONTIERS! It's a great honor to be part of the latest bundle and we're very pleased to have your support. Be sure to check out the forums if you have any questions or want to know more about the state of the game / development plans / etc. Enjoy the game, and we'll see you in the Uncharted!
Hey everyone!
It's been a while since the last update, but today I've got a big one for you - a HUGE Kickstarter update going over the state of the game, the company, the dev streams, and more. Check it out:
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UPDATE
Hey everyone!
It's been a while since the last update, but today I've got a big one for you - a HUGE Kickstarter update going over the state of the game, the company, the dev streams, and more. Check it out:
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UPDATE
Hello everyone! First off - the YouTube copyright issue has been resolved. No more automated claims should be happening. Whew!
Did you know I've been doing regular dev streams of my progress on FRONTIERS recently? By now most Kickstarter backers are aware of this, but I still get lots of emails from Steam players asking how the game is going. Now you can see for yourself: Click here for the AAD Productions dev stream playlist.
(I've been linking those videos to my Steam profile so they should also show up under 'videos' in the community section, though you may need to browse a bit to find them.)
Hello everyone! First off - the YouTube copyright issue has been resolved. No more automated claims should be happening. Whew!
Did you know I've been doing regular dev streams of my progress on FRONTIERS recently? By now most Kickstarter backers are aware of this, but I still get lots of emails from Steam players asking how the game is going. Now you can see for yourself: Click here for the AAD Productions dev stream playlist.
(I've been linking those videos to my Steam profile so they should also show up under 'videos' in the community section, though you may need to browse a bit to find them.)
Hello, everyone - brief bit of news for anyone who has streamed FRONTIERS gameplay or is planning to stream it in the future.
I recently got two copyright claims from YouTube for the use of FRONTIERS music in one of my official game development streams. Yes, you read that right. I - the developer - was penalized for playing music from my own game on my own gamedev channel. WTF?
If YOU have been penalized I want you to know I had no idea this protection was in place - I didn't ask for it, I don't want it and I'm honestly baffled as to where / how in the hell I opted into being 'protected' like this. (It must have been some mighty fine print because I hate copyright bullsh*t.) But in any case I'm going to find a way to opt the hell out and get every outstanding claim revoked.
Many apologies, especially to anyone who wrote to me personally for permission to monetize your YouTube videos. I'm fixing it asap.
- L
Hello, everyone - brief bit of news for anyone who has streamed FRONTIERS gameplay or is planning to stream it in the future.
I recently got two copyright claims from YouTube for the use of FRONTIERS music in one of my official game development streams. Yes, you read that right. I - the developer - was penalized for playing music from my own game on my own gamedev channel. WTF?
If YOU have been penalized I want you to know I had no idea this protection was in place - I didn't ask for it, I don't want it and I'm honestly baffled as to where / how in the hell I opted into being 'protected' like this. (It must have been some mighty fine print because I hate copyright bullsh*t.) But in any case I'm going to find a way to opt the hell out and get every outstanding claim revoked.
Many apologies, especially to anyone who wrote to me personally for permission to monetize your YouTube videos. I'm fixing it asap.
- L
Hey all - here's a Kickstarter update I posted recently where I go over the state of the game and what the future holds. It starts out on a down note, but picks up by the end. Make sure to watch all five videos! (You've got nothing better to do, right?) CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL UPDATE And here are the videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlkOuhmSqr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE3TTG-LCDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp7NfwpCPBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XAJco5z7Us https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WHY7JlTqjg
Hey all - here's a Kickstarter update I posted recently where I go over the state of the game and what the future holds. It starts out on a down note, but picks up by the end. Make sure to watch all five videos! (You've got nothing better to do, right?) CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL UPDATE And here are the videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlkOuhmSqr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE3TTG-LCDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp7NfwpCPBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XAJco5z7Us https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WHY7JlTqjg
Thanks for your patience during PAX, I'm back and hitting the bugs again. Here's a recent Kickstarter update for you: It's been a while since an update! There's a reason for that - I'm finally working on Act III. At this point about 50% of my development time is going towards finishing the final parts of the game and that means we're in major spoiler territory. I find the issue of spoilers fascinating. Through years of lurking on Game of Thrones boards I've concluded that there's no happy medium - you either stay completely unspoiled, or you just give in and say screw it, I won't even try to avoid them. This is especially true if you're hearing something weeks / months / years before you see the final work, because our brains are storytelling machines - if stories were skeletons then brains could reconstruct all 206 bones from a pinky toe and a chipped tooth. Often all you need is the premise and the general tone of a story to guess the end game. There's also no point in the here's a tiny bit of info that won't spoil anything approach, because even though we're great at reconstructing stories, we stink at consciously spotting the connections between bits of information in a story we already know. Someone might relay a throwaway joke from season 2 of a show you're watching - oh don't worry, they assure you, it's a scene that contributes nothing to the overall plot so it won't spoil anything - but of course they don't realize they've just spoiled the fact that the character telling the joke doesn't die in season 1. If that was supposed to be a source of tension in season 1... oops. So these days if I don't want to know about a movie or a game, I don't read / watch / listen to anything related to it. And if you want to stay unspoiled for FRONTIERS, I recommend you don't read the rest of this update, because you'll have little trouble figuring out what's coming.
Thanks for your patience during PAX, I'm back and hitting the bugs again. Here's a recent Kickstarter update for you: It's been a while since an update! There's a reason for that - I'm finally working on Act III. At this point about 50% of my development time is going towards finishing the final parts of the game and that means we're in major spoiler territory. I find the issue of spoilers fascinating. Through years of lurking on Game of Thrones boards I've concluded that there's no happy medium - you either stay completely unspoiled, or you just give in and say screw it, I won't even try to avoid them. This is especially true if you're hearing something weeks / months / years before you see the final work, because our brains are storytelling machines - if stories were skeletons then brains could reconstruct all 206 bones from a pinky toe and a chipped tooth. Often all you need is the premise and the general tone of a story to guess the end game. There's also no point in the here's a tiny bit of info that won't spoil anything approach, because even though we're great at reconstructing stories, we stink at consciously spotting the connections between bits of information in a story we already know. Someone might relay a throwaway joke from season 2 of a show you're watching - oh don't worry, they assure you, it's a scene that contributes nothing to the overall plot so it won't spoil anything - but of course they don't realize they've just spoiled the fact that the character telling the joke doesn't die in season 1. If that was supposed to be a source of tension in season 1... oops. So these days if I don't want to know about a movie or a game, I don't read / watch / listen to anything related to it. And if you want to stay unspoiled for FRONTIERS, I recommend you don't read the rest of this update, because you'll have little trouble figuring out what's coming.
Hi everyone! I just posted a Kickstarter announcement, and since it's related to FRONTIERS' development I figured I'd post it for you as well. I've had to cut some sections for space so if you want to read the complete update CLICK HERE.
Time for a big announcement. Before you get excited: No, the game isn't finished. That's actually what I want to talk about.
You all know that the original pre-Kickstarter release date was January 2014 (LOL). Once we hit all the stretch goals this was immediately pushed to Q2 2014, but it became clear that was a farce and I decided that Early Access plus a 'when it's done' approach was the best way to move forward. I've been plugging away ever since & stretch goals have been getting implemented one by one. But here's the thing: development is still taking TOO DAMN LONG.
Why? Because I'm still the ONLY PROGRAMMER WORKING ON IT. I'm stuck in a cycle of slow development, which I've conveniently illustrated for you:
The main problem is the sheer size of the project. There was a time early on when any helpful programmer with a dash of Unity experience could say, 'Why don't I hop onto the project and fix some bits & bobs until it's tickety-boo? Tally ho!' There was at least a chance of that person accomplishing something in a few days or weeks (despite being inexplicably British) but those days are long gone. Nowadays help requires nothing less than a full-time commitment for at least two months, not to mention advanced Unity know-how. That all adds up to $$$, which means - well, you saw the graphic.
After months of being stuck in this loop I started thinking: This is nutbar. I need to do something different and break the cycle. But what? I have moral problems with the two most obvious solutions - there's no way I'm running another Kickstarter because that would just be gross, and I can't justify aggressively advertising FRONTIERS yet because it's simply not finished.
I briefly looked into taking on a few VFX jobs for some quick cash, but one glance at that shell-blasted no man's land of an industry had me backing away slowly - believe it or not, the hours and the pay has gotten even worse since I left.
ALL WAS LOST. But as I was polishing my seppuku blade I had an idea. A good idea.
Who says I have to do this myself? Right now I'm sitting on a mountain of game assets, half of which are unused / not used to their fullest potential. My rolodex is stuffed to bursting with programmers, artists & writers. Why not assemble a team and let them develop some tiny ultra-low-budget, super-inventive games while I continue to focus on FRONTIERS? Tiny games which require little to no time from ME, but which also won't require endless months of time from THEM? Games which (if even modestly successful) could help FRONTIERS break free of this cycle of slow development?
I've illustrated this brilliant concept with perfect objectivity:
Wow! I mean really, is there even a choice here? QUICKLY all the way, please!
The next questions are obvious: Who's going to make these games? (Cause I'm a little busy, remember) Who's going to want these games? And what will these games be like?
Hey everyone - here's a somewhat dry (but informative!) update to tide you over while I work on the next Focus Update. Recent goings-on of note:
Hello, everyone! Time for another Focus Update. Previous Focus Update: Trapping & Fishing
Getting the DK2 support to behave is my immediate focus, but gameplay-wise I've decided to work on Bartering for the next week or two. It was a close call between that & Plants, which will lkely be next.
As always I'll continue to fix major bugs & improve overall performance, but otherwise my time will be spent whipping Bartering into shape. What does that cover? The Barter skill itself, the prices of items, how skill / reputation affects prices, the bartering interface, the currency interface - all that good stuff. Should keep me pretty busy. So if you find yourself wondering what I'm working on at the moment, well, now you know! (Hint: it's Bartering.)
Got suggestions / requests / questions about Bartering? Post 'em here.
PS: Bartering doesn't sound like a real word anymore.
Fire up your DKs because it's about to get VR up in here:
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO PLAYING FRONTIERS WITH THE RIFT
Hello, everyone - time for another update! A new build is on its way, look for it soon. (Changelog)
First off: Is it dead, you ask? Is the Big Bad Bug dead? I'm pretty sure it is... but I'm waiting for its corpse to stop twitching before I make it official. So until then here's balance update #2:
A lot of you have been playing this game for 2, 5, 10, or even 50+ (!) hours. The prologue can be a fun bit of orientation the 1st, 2nd, maybe even 3rd time... but for grizzled veterans it must feel like that un-skippable skyrim cart intro (aka the 'on second thought maybe I don't want to start a new game after all' sequence).
But never fear! I've revamped the New Game dialog to let you skip the bits you've memorized by heart. And you can customize your game along the way!
I'm sorry to announce that Dustin has left the team. It wasn't anything major, he just had time constraints put on him by prior commitments and he didn't want to hold up the flow. I've been there before so I can appreciate his quick decision. Best of luck Dustin, sorry to see you go so soon!*
This turn of events really sucks but it's not the first time the project has lost someone to prior commitments mere moments after they joined. Remember our first lead writer Adi having to bail before the Kickstarter? That was pretty rough too. Of course the silver lining was that it led to Ryan joining the team, and he's responsible for some of the best parts of the game, so you never know how these things will turn out.
Hello, everyone. Outstanding news - we have a new programmer on the bug squad! His name is Dustin Sims and he's going to help me whip this game into shape.
So in the coming weeks if you see a bug get fixed: that's all me. If you see a bug not getting fixed, blame Dustin. Thanks Dustin!
Seriously, though - it's a relief to have him on board. His first order of business is sorting out those pesky disappearing buildings. Wish him luck!
What's that? Quests are breaking? Refining doesn't work? Well you're in luck - now you can experience those and many more bugs with a wide array of game controllers! Here are the controllers that are officially supported:
When your wife warns you that you'll be spending the better part of Christmas in a house with four sick family members, you take some precautions. You wash your hands. You avoid doorknobs. You pray to the gaming gods for protecton so this crucial phase of your game's development doesn't get interrupted by a bad head cold.
I thought my prayers had been answered when I escaped apparently uninfected by the holiday cheer, but really, the moment I stepped into that house it was too late. It was always too late.
So. Until this blows over you won't see me in the forums & you won't see any daily updates. Sorry. Blame the holidays. I know I do.
Hello, everyone! I've been watching your lets plays, reading your bug reports, listening to your suggestions [strike]and reading your personal mail[/strike] - erm, I mean: here's a collection of balance-related tweaks made in response to your feedback:
[quote]NOTE: Many of these changes may not show up for you until you start a new game.[/quote]
I've been mulling over this one for a while. Another couple of bug reports convinced me to bring it up. Saving inside of structures is dicey and often ruins save games. The safest place to save is on top of solid empty terrain. It will get better in time, but it's going to be a while before we iron out the kinks. One way to prevent ruined save games is to limit saving to campsites. Campsites can only be created on solid empty terrain, and they can't be created inside, so if you had to be in a campsite to save, boom problem solved. (The requirement for a nearby water source would be turned off.) In the future when saving inside of structures becomes more stable this can become a global setting like 'SaveOnlyInCampsites,' which can then be toggled using difficulty settings. Pros: This would 'fix' the save game problem. Wouldn't take long to implement. Cons: Losing the ability to save anywhere might cause some rage due to general instability. People are already clamoring for a quicksave options so I can't imagine they would love this. Thoughts? This is a rare case where I don't feel strongly one way or the other, so be free with your opinions. [edit: Alright, I've seen enough strong negative reactions here and in chats to say this would probably ruin more good times than it would create. So I'm going to skip it and just focus my energy on the root of the problem. Thanks for the feedback, everyone.]
Hello, everyone - Lars here with a friendly developer PSA.
A lot of folks have told me: I'm buying this game for my kid/friend/spouse for Christmas, they love exploration games! And I say the same thing every time: DON'T!*
The only people who will love it are players who seek it out for themselves, because it's NOT FINISHED. Your kid/friend/spouse will just be annoyed with you. I'm proud of this game, and with everyone's help I believe it's going to be great - but it's not great yet, so in the meantime get your kid/friend/spouse Dragon Age or The Binding of Isaac or something, trust me.
The December release date unavoidably puts Christmas gift in people's minds. That's why I'm only releasing a trickle of press copies till after the new year. People are prone to impulse buy right now, and you don't want people impulse buying an Early Access game, especially not for others.
On the other hand, there is one situation where it's an appropriate gift: for yourself! If you love exploration and don't mind bugs, by all means treat yourself. (Just make sure to stop by the forums first so you know what to expect.)
Cheers,
- L
*(After I say 'thank you' of course. What am I a savage?)
Hello, beta players! It's been a week of squashing bugs and reading posts. Here are a couple of things I've learned from watching everyone play. From roughly MOST to least important:
Hello, everyone! First off thank you all for the amazing bug reporting you've done so far. In just three days we've found and fixed (and found) dozens of bugs - your descriptions & logs are helping me squash them one by one.
Today I'm taking a break from the customary 'fix / push build / test / fix / push build / test' rapid-fire approach & and focusing on the single task reducing memory footprint. A lot of beta players are reporting crashes on transitions between areas and their logs point to texture memory as a culprit. This is an art-focused task so you won't see me in the forums much till it's done.
Keep doing what you're doing every report helps! Cheers
- L
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