Great work on Starward Rogue, team! Now you’re all laid off...?

[Darloth]

Aww, that's a shame to hear!

I can only give you my experience - I heard about this game via Arcen's website, and only via that until today (where there's an RPS article about this article). 

Originally watching the videos and things I wasn't particularly impressed, but I also got the impression there'd be somewhat of a long testing phase for this one too, so I just left it for a while.

It's since released, and as it has such excellent reviews from everyone who's actually played it, and because I liked similar games, I've gone ahead and bought it and I'll give it a go (so there is one more drop in the bucket for you at least), but I can certainly second the lack of marketing and information - I thought it was still in the pipeline until I find out it's released (and did terribly) without me even noticing, and I had even seen it before.  If I like it I'll be sure you write you a steam review.

Hope things improve somehow though!

Edit: First impressions, it feels a lot better to play than the videos for it look.  The guns and explosions and things have a properly shooty feel rather than the slightly unreal floatiness in TLF.

[crazyroosterman]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/01/28/ai-war-devs-arcen-layoffs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rockpapershotgun%2Fsteam+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%3A+Steam+RSS%29

http://www.pcgamer.com/arcen-lays-off-nearly-all-staff-despite-successful-starward-rogue-launch/?ns_campaign=article-feed&ns_mchannel=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

This post is getting some pretty heavy media attention now.

hu that's interesting I wonder if this will boost sales? would be a bit weird if it did but I could why.

[Bluddy]

I know, Chris, that you're worried people won't like SBR, but I think you've got enough of a loyal fanbase that a kickstarter for SBR might make a lot of sense.

Kickstarter is very expensive to run. I do think though, that Early Access would really work for Arcen. They're some of the most dedicated devs, and Chris constantly says how he wants to put more into the games he released. This is exactly what Early Access buyers want. With the right base game, I think Early Access would be perfect.

Here's a completely wild idea. The fear with going Early Access is that it would weaken the actual launch, right? Well, SR had a launch, and it was pretty weak. How about, in a month or so, starting Starward Rogue Forever in Early Access -- an expanded version of SR. Chris said he had a bunch of ideas he couldn't implement in time. Buyers of SRF would get SR for 'free', as well as the expanded game. That inflow of cash would really help with development, reducing the risk, and hopefully allowing Arcen to maintain some staff. In the meantime, people out there would be trying out SR, and hopefully increasing word of mouth. Finally, you'll hopefully have another attempt at a full launch.

In the worst case, SRF wouldn't be finished, but buyers would still have SR + some updates.

I think this business model could really work for Arcen. It's sort of a cushion against releases going bad. So long as the base game is good enough, it could be sustainable.

What say you, Chris?

[Soupinator]

That is terrible news.  Starward Rogue grabbed me immediately and I've been having a blast.  I can't believe it's not selling better than it is.  I hope things look up in the future, nobody else makes games quite like you do.

[Vacuity]

authentic pocket lint,

OHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOYOHBOY!
Take my money now!

*Throws wallet at screen*

Edit: As an aside, if there's a question of simply getting some money in the bank asap, would a mini-expansion to AI War not be the best combination of time investment/risk?

[TheVampire100]

Its sad to hear this because I really love this development studio.
I think what happened was a mix of really bad timing and not well marketing.
Arcen Games is not well known. It is more like a secret society for secret players that like secret games that are not from this world. Of course it has some popularity but the problem is, it keeps this popularity in a rather small range.
Arcen games needs a lot more marketing (I know this does not come cheap but marketing is evry important about a game), so everyone knows already the game before it's out. Know Darkest Dungeon? Really EVERYONE knows this game because it was in all popular gamin news and prominent youtubers talked about it. Staward Rogue never had this much attention. While you guys work really eagerly on the project itself, you guys forget to show what you did the whole time.
The other thing you hit was the timing. You know what happened? Holidays happened. CHRISTMAS happened. And that all before your release. The majority of players has spent their money during this time and currently are burnt out to buy another games, even cheap ones.
Not to mention that people now don't have much time at their hand anyway to play something. Only people that are really interested int he product or are true fans of the company will buy it. Hoever, the fact of the bad marketing strikes again and no one new about the game until it launched. And the launch was rather "quiet", no one noticed that it even happened.

A long time the game wasn't even shown on Steams Storefront under"2newly released" titles (I think for an entire day it didn't show up).
I hope sales will go up but to be honest, you guys REALLY need to change your marketing politics right now.
Starward Rogue deserves the attention it needs right now because it is probably the best game you have done so far. Unlike AI War, which is your most successful game, this game is also intuitive and aviable to a bigger playerbase because you don't have to spent hours only for learning the game itself.

[Ventifer]

Two more youtubers I would recommend if you  haven't talked to them are Northernlion and RocklesSmile. Northernlion is rather funny and plays mainly binding of isaac and some nuclear throne. RockleeSmile is also rather entertaining and tends to look at indie games that are lesser known but he also enjoys binding of isaac quite a lot too. Both have a decent following too.

[cupogoodness]

And since we're tossing around names of youtube types, let me offer AngryCentaurGaming which I haven't seen mentioned in the thread yet.

He's quite good with his reviews and makes an entertaining listen. Also, not as angry as the name suggests.

Thanks! I've sent him a key.

Two more youtubers I would recommend if you  haven't talked to them are Northernlion and RocklesSmile. Northernlion is rather funny and plays mainly binding of isaac and some nuclear throne. RockleeSmile is also rather entertaining and tends to look at indie games that are lesser known but he also enjoys binding of isaac quite a lot too. Both have a decent following too.

Chris contacted Northernlion, so he'll need to follow-up with him tomorrow or Monday. Already contacted Nick (RockLeeSmile), but haven't heard back. Just sent a follow-up.

[Joubarbe]

Bought Starward Rogue after reading this post. Very good game, as always

[nas1m]

I know, Chris, that you're worried people won't like SBR, but I think you've got enough of a loyal fanbase that a kickstarter for SBR might make a lot of sense.

Kickstarter is very expensive to run. I do think though, that Early Access would really work for Arcen. They're some of the most dedicated devs, and Chris constantly says how he wants to put more into the games he released. This is exactly what Early Access buyers want. With the right base game, I think Early Access would be perfect.

Here's a completely wild idea. The fear with going Early Access is that it would weaken the actual launch, right? Well, SR had a launch, and it was pretty weak. How about, in a month or so, starting Starward Rogue Forever in Early Access -- an expanded version of SR. Chris said he had a bunch of ideas he couldn't implement in time. Buyers of SRF would get SR for 'free', as well as the expanded game. That inflow of cash would really help with development, reducing the risk, and hopefully allowing Arcen to maintain some staff. In the meantime, people out there would be trying out SR, and hopefully increasing word of mouth. Finally, you'll hopefully have another attempt at a full launch.

In the worst case, SRF wouldn't be finished, but buyers would still have SR + some updates.

I think this business model could really work for Arcen. It's sort of a cushion against releases going bad. So long as the base game is good enough, it could be sustainable.

What say you, Chris?

This idea actually does sound very intriguing to me.

[Cinth]

I know, Chris, that you're worried people won't like SBR, but I think you've got enough of a loyal fanbase that a kickstarter for SBR might make a lot of sense.

Kickstarter is very expensive to run. I do think though, that Early Access would really work for Arcen. They're some of the most dedicated devs, and Chris constantly says how he wants to put more into the games he released. This is exactly what Early Access buyers want. With the right base game, I think Early Access would be perfect.

Here's a completely wild idea. The fear with going Early Access is that it would weaken the actual launch, right? Well, SR had a launch, and it was pretty weak. How about, in a month or so, starting Starward Rogue Forever in Early Access -- an expanded version of SR. Chris said he had a bunch of ideas he couldn't implement in time. Buyers of SRF would get SR for 'free', as well as the expanded game. That inflow of cash would really help with development, reducing the risk, and hopefully allowing Arcen to maintain some staff. In the meantime, people out there would be trying out SR, and hopefully increasing word of mouth. Finally, you'll hopefully have another attempt at a full launch.

In the worst case, SRF wouldn't be finished, but buyers would still have SR + some updates.

I think this business model could really work for Arcen. It's sort of a cushion against releases going bad. So long as the base game is good enough, it could be sustainable.

What say you, Chris?

This idea actually does sound very intriguing to me.

Sounds to much like AVVW 1/2 to me.

[nas1m]

Sounds to much like AVVW 1/2 to me.

In what sense? I don't understand tbh.
How was Valley 2 in Early Access?
Or AVWW for that matter?
(aside from the long Beta period - I"m not sure here actually, that's when I got on the Arcen bandwagon)

I think trying a "real", Steam-style Early Access might actually be a good idea since it seems to play toward Arcen's strengths (community involvement, rapid release cycles,...) and the "you only got one launch" point really seems to loose a lot of merit with regard to SR.

Bluddy makes a fairly convincing case in my book.

[Cinth]

IIRC, AVVW had an EA/ paid beta that went on forever.  Then AVVW 2 that offered AVVW 1 free to those who bought it.

[Matruchus]

I think it would be better for Arcen to think about early access on Steam and the new early access on gog.com for Stars Beyond Reach since that game was the most expected (not far from completion) by the players and is already widely known with countless posts about it. The development system today works in such a way that those who present more and more of their game content on youtube and elsewhere before official release get rewarded. Most indie games that go DMCA + don't do much marketing inadvertently fail. I know early access is always a risk but it would help to spread more awareness at least about your next game.

As for Starward Rogue I don't know. I certainly am doing what I can for people to get to know the game while its not helping that the drm-free release is not yet up on Humble. Maybe you could try resubmitting it to gog now that we got the votes up - since its in the top of most voted for games of the week there?

[crazyroosterman]

wait a sec does anybody else remember that in till a point star ward was going to be early access expect in the pre order format?(I know its not officially early access but its pretty much the same thing in reality) I don't remember why it was changed what it came to be but does anybody that might have actually been better to go along with that original idea? I'm not sure my self I'm just curious?.