Shattered Haven 1.005 "Stantonsburg's Revenge" Released!

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2013/03/shattered-haven-1005-stantonsburgs.html

This one doesn't really contain anything individually notable, but rather a laundry list of small fixes and tweaks.  A lot of them have been centered around Stantonsburg, hence the name of the release.  That town has a mind of its own, and I don't just mean when it's going all scary on you, the player.  It clearly likes to play mind games with us developers, too. ;)

Shattered Haven is something that people who are playing it really seem to love, but we're really having trouble getting the word out.  If you play it and love it, please spread the word!  We can use all the help we can get.  A huge thanks to all of you who have already done so.

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the  in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game.  When you  launch the game, hit the big "Play" button and then you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.

[mrhanman]

There is a new post-release demo adventure that we use at tradeshows, and that you can use if you just want a quick taste of the game or to show a friend a quick taste.

There's a demo now?  Where can we find it?  Or is it a second adventure accessible from the New Game menu?

[x4000]

It's just another adventure in the game itself.  You have to have the game to get at the demo, it's just for showing around a sampler of levels rather than being a demo that you can get at if you don't have the game.  It's really mainly for trade show purposes for us, but we thought we'd also include it in the game.

[Winge]

Just added a note to Mantis:  other NPCs can also trigger frozen grays.  It's like they want to get me killed 

[Misery]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2013/03/shattered-haven-1005-stantonsburgs.html

<a href=\"http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Shattered_Haven_-_Beta_Release_Notes#Official_1.005_Stantonsburg.27s_Revenge\">This one[/url] doesn't really contain anything individually notable, but rather a laundry list of small fixes and tweaks.  A lot of them have been centered around Stantonsburg, hence the name of the release.  That town has a mind of its own, and I don't just mean when it's going all scary on you, the player.  It clearly likes to play mind games with us developers, too.





Shattered Haven is something that people who are playing it really seem to love, but we're really having trouble getting the word out.  If you play it and love it, please spread the word!  We can use all the help we can get.  A huge thanks to all of you who have already done so.





Enjoy!





This is a standard update that you can download through the  in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game.  When you  launch the game, hit the big \"Play\" button and then you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.

I always wonder just HOW indie devs are really supposed to get the word out on their games sometimes.   I've seen this one appear on a couple of indie-related sites, and when it did, the responses from people were quite positive indeed, but there simply werent all that many responses yet in total.   There needs to be like, I dunno, more videos of this and such, but.... even if people make those, the question becomes how to get them noticed.

It seems like a fairly frustrating thing for many developers.    Heck, even on Steam, it showed up.... and then suddenly Steam, which had been REALLY slow with releases lately, suddenly farts out enough random new game listings that it's already not on the front page anymore.   I thought that seemed just a bit irritating...

[x4000]

Well, we are still a featured PC game, but the spring indie sale is causing Shattered Haven to get more than a bit squashed.  Good for our other games, though, particularly Valley 2.  Mainly sites take time to do reviews and such, and we didn't have time to get a suitable version to the press prior to launch, which puts us at a disadvantage.  So it's kind of a grassroots thing at this point, and waiting for press and big youtubers and so on to write about it or do videos.

[TechSY730]

I have actually had this game for a while, but I am sorry to say that I didn't really play it during the beta period like I said I would. 

However, I fired it up yesterday, and I liked it. Spent several hours on it. (Also glad to see a level editor, highly "tile based" games seem like natural fits for those).

And voice acting; wow that's a first for you guys (not counting the incoherent, "Midna from Twilight Princess" style mumbling in Tidalis). And as usual, Pablo delevered on great, atmospheric music

The only thing bad I can say so far is that it seems to focus on "mandatory side-quests" a bit too much for my tastes.

However, that is a small complaint over the joy I felt over finally having a good top-down, action adventure game with an inventory. I haven't been able to experience that for years. Thanks

[x4000]

Cheers, thanks for the kind words.

[Aklyon]

Well, we are still a featured PC game, but the spring indie sale is causing Shattered Haven to get more than a bit squashed.  Good for our other games, though, particularly Valley 2.  Mainly sites take time to do reviews and such, and we didn't have time to get a suitable version to the press prior to launch, which puts us at a disadvantage.  So it's kind of a grassroots thing at this point, and waiting for press and big youtubers and so on to write about it or do videos.

And you also had the 'lots of people distracted/busy with PAX' the last couple days, too.

[x4000]

Yep, though that's like 70k people out of 5m, but still.

[Professor Paul1290]

I always wonder just HOW indie devs are really supposed to get the word out on their games sometimes.   I've seen this one appear on a couple of indie-related sites, and when it did, the responses from people were quite positive indeed, but there simply werent all that many responses yet in total.

I hate to play pessimist again, but while I see that there aren't many responses so far what I've seen so far has been isn't exactly positive, at least not yet.

I've only seen four reviews from a few sites so far. Only one was "positive", two were middling, and one assumed it was a "RPG Maker" game (and hinted that it would be bad if it wasn't).
It has only been looked at by one semi-known youtuber, but unfortunately they didn't like the game at all.

Regardless of whether these impressions are informed or not, that's what the response looks like at the moment.


That being said, there hasn't been much of a "response" in general and so the situation has plenty of room to improve, and hopefully it does.

However, unless I'm missing something (maybe I am) the tiny response the game has gotten so far isn't exactly positive (at least not yet) and I don't think it would be helpful to assume it is until it turns around somehow.

[x4000]

In terms of players who have the game, the response has been pretty darn positive in general.  In terms of most of the reviews, same.  Gog.com's review staff really liked it, as did Steam's.  Other indies we showed it to were impressed and really liked it.  The bulk of the press we've not heard from yet, so it's hard to gauge anything from that.

With any game there is always some noise from people who don't like it, particularly from people who haven't played it and wouldn't anyhow, but this one has had a lot less of that than, say, the Valley games.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I actually did spread the word in public speaking last semester. I doubt you exactly saw a sales spike, since the word got to like 30 people tops including several that weren't gamers, but for what it's worth, that's there. I can't really do anything beyond that because I haven't been able to play the game. I'd like to be buying it asap, but 'asap' has a very loose definition when other expenses come into play.
Just to be clear, the feedback that you've gotten from review staff, that's stuff that isn't publicly available right?

[x4000]

I really appreciate the word-spreading!

In terms of feedback from reviewers, most of that was first impressions either when we reached out to them via email, or based on a few seeing it at tradeshows or other things like that.  What their longer-term impression would be is still an unknown to me as well, except for the few places like Game Wisdom and so forth that have reviewed it favorably already.  So how they feel about it when they write their reviews could be very different of course, but in the main the players have been responding so well that doesn't seem like it would be a Valley 1 situation with the reviewers.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I'd also like to point out that PAX most likely kept the press busy.

I personally haven't heard much of a response to Shattered Haven but my overall impression is that everyone is busy wrapping up PAX coverage. After that, we'll see.

Also, quick question, how old are the two kids in this game?