So... How are sales going?

[nas1m]

I noticed that bionic at least stayed in the Top 100 on steam until sometime today? Was it enough to pay for itself or at least to be a on track to do so?

Just being curious... and *really* itching to see this game idea of yours expanded .

I really hope this one goes stellar for you over time - it definitely has the legs, press and appeal (at least to those that played it) to do so!

*crosses fingers*

[keith.lamothe]

It's not been a "flew like a barrel of bricks" situation like Tidalis or Shattered Haven but it's barely beating what AIW did during the VotM launch, and is nowhere near Skyward or AVWW's launch.  It's beating Valley2's launch, though that's more an indicator of how Valley2 did

Overall I'm ok with it, but in the larger picture of what Arcen needs to continue as it has Bionic isn't doing what we need it to.

But it's not so low that expansions are necessarily out of the question.  More a question of when, there.

I definitely want to keep expanding it too

[nas1m]

Will there be a post release support time for bionic 1.0 at all (given all the other projects mentioned by the sidebar) then? I am just asking to know whether it makes sense to continue to report issues and suggestions for bionic at the moment? There are certain things i have in mind ...

Also, how is Chris? I noticed he has made himself unusually sparse the last few days (and the launch seemed like quite the blow to him). He okay?

[keith.lamothe]

We've done some post-release changes already but in general we usually let a release sit for a week or so to make sure any critical bugs are caught before we start shaking things up again.

In this case I don't think there'll be a huge amount of post-release work in the near future partly because the launch version has so much more polish and such than our releases normally do.

That said, I have put in several hours into a more-or-less complete rework of the Customization/inventory/part-picking thing because that's the #1 complaint area.  It just didn't get to the level of polish that the rest of the game got, so I'm trying to fix that

That said, we're definitely in full production on Starport 28 now, so that's taking most of my programming time.

And Chris is doing ok from what I can tell.  Releases are always a challenge for someone in the project-leader role (especially when they're also CEO), and it's always harder when revenue isn't where it needs to be, etc.  So a person in that kind of situation needs to limit their stressors for a while, etc.

There's also the matter that he's on calls with one or more of us pretty much _all the time_ during the prototyping phase of Starport 28, currently

[tigersfan]

Will there be a post release support time for bionic 1.0 at all (given all the other projects mentioned by the sidebar) then? I am just asking to know whether it makes sense to continue to report issues and suggestions for bionic at the moment? There are certain things i have in mind ...

Also, how is Chris? I noticed he has made himself unusually sparse the last few days (and the launch seemed like quite the blow to him). He okay?

Always feel free to report issues you find. We're not done supporting this one.

I don't like speaking for Chris, but, he's ok. He's spent almost literally all day on Skype with various folks on the team working on the next game, so he's active, just not so much on the forums at the moment.

[nas1m]

That's good to hear. Please give him my best wishes then!

Also looking forward to whatever you are able to put into bionic and also to starport (although I am not sure yet whether this one will be my thing - maybe i will be the one giving the sceptic during that alpha ...).

Keep it up folks! There is no crew i wish to be successful more.

[keith.lamothe]

and also to starport (although I am not sure yet whether this one will be my thing - maybe i will be the one giving the sceptic during that alpha ...).

We always need a wide range of testers!   Obviously we couldn't design Bionic around a crowd of people who don't like roguelikes, and we can't design Starport around a crowd of people who don't like sim games, but in either case it's not a good idea to only have people who love every single game in the same genre, etc.

[Breach]

I hope the latest "Wot I Think" opinion piece by RPS will raise awareness somewhat.

[nas1m]

I hope the latest "Wot I Think" opinion piece by RPS will raise awareness somewhat.

They reviewed it? Fondly?! Sweet !

[Kingpin23]

I am suprised not any of the youtube channels that I watch like TB and Northernlion didn't cover this game.
Its a great game and I think not many people now about it. If  i didn't play AI war I wouldnt knew about it
either

[keith.lamothe]

I hope the latest "Wot I Think" opinion piece by RPS will raise awareness somewhat.

They reviewed it? Fondly?! Sweet !

About as fondly as I ever see from them, yes

I think it will help down the road, in terms of getting promotions.

In case you're curious, even super-big-name glowing-reviews generally only affect the sales graph for a few hours, if at all, and generally by at most 2x during that time.

But this will help overall

[x4000]

Some big youtubers have expressed great interest and have a copy of the game... so I'm not sure what's up.  Scheduling, I guess.  Hopefully stuff will be popping up over the next weeks.

Keith and Josh are kind to spare my personal melodrama, but I am much better now.   And yeah, I have been just constantly on skype these days with staff.  Which is not a bad thing, it's all been design-related stuff on Starport for the most part, and a bit on the game after that and the game after that.

[Misery]

Hmm, did RPS even DO a "Wot I Think" or review for Skyward Collapse?  I dont recall seeing one from them. 

Still, while I quite enjoyed the Valley games (and would like to see more at some point) and Shattered Haven, I think this and other reviews do show that you guys really are at your best when you're making things of a strategic nature, which is a thought I share as well.  I played the heck outta the Valley games in particular, but Skyward and BD are the best ones yet to me, and already a couple of my favorite strategic titles, period.  And I play alot of these sorts of games.

The lower sales definitely bug me though.  Like Skyward this is pretty much getting all praise, but.... feeehhh.  The lower sales just dont make sense to me.  Granted, I'm not exactly a publishing scientist, so I dont really know how all that works, but still. 

Definitely hoping for an expansion for this one.  Even more enemy types in particular would be pretty great, they are to me the standout feature of this game and a big part of what makes the strategic bits all click together so nicely.  Even if the damn GaffeBots wont just hold the hell still already.


I'm curious though, what's next for you guys?  An expansion for something?  Or is it all working on Starport for now?   .....not that the holiday seasons are really a good time to release anything ANYWAY though. 

[keith.lamothe]

I'm curious though, what's next for you guys?  An expansion for something?  Or is it all working on Starport for now?   .....not that the holiday seasons are really a good time to release anything ANYWAY though.

Starport   Though the actual release timing on that one depends on more than just getting it done.  As you say, November/December isn't a great time to release new products (for us, anyhow).

Both an AIW expansion and a BD expansion are on the table; it's mainly a question of timing, etc.

But for now, Starport.

[Misery]

That's what I'd figured.   I'll be interested to see what that game is like;  it sure sounds neat, at least.

The holiday season though.... ehhhh.  It's not just you guys, I think it's a bad time for most developers to release anything, period.  Ugh, particularly with the upcoming consoles..... 

Bah.  That'll be a really boring season, more so than usual, this year as far as releases go, wont it.... at least there'll be Steam sales.   .....of games I likely already have.  Joy.