Today, we have some news for you, but we want to provide you with a bit of context before we dive in.
We’ve been working on Greenhearth Necromancer for the past two+ years. It started as a game jam, with everyone collaborating to develop the concept, and it quickly grew from there. Over time, our team would expand as people came on to help develop every aspect of it. The final game you can play today is a project passionately created by a talented team that poured their hearts and wisdom into it.
Developing and then launching a game of any size is a massive undertaking, a ton of work, and reaching that point always feels like a minor miracle. Since launch, we’ve spent the last few weeks addressing a host of small issues, requests, and bugs, and have released three patches to continue improving the game. We have one more minor patch in the works, due to arrive next Tuesday, June 2nd. Thank you so very much to our passionate, dedicated, and patient players who have helped us find those bugs!
Because of our incredible community and also the intense focus of our very talented programmer, we’ve gotten Greenhearth Necromancer to a place we’re really proud of. There are no further major patches or expansions planned for the game in the immediate future.
However, we will continue to support the game by addressing any critical bugs, such as crashes or progression blockers. Meanwhile, any minor bugs, community feedback, and feature suggestions will be tracked, but we will not be able to implement further changes to address them at this time. In today’s Steam market, games are often pushed to be a never-ending live service experience, but the truth is that just isn’t possible for every game.
There may be a day down the road when the success of Greenhearth Necromancer allows us to dream a bit bigger, with maybe a DLC or more major content patches, and if that happens, we will absolutely be looking at the suggestions our community has left for us. We are not closing the door on the game's development, but for now, we are proud of where the game stands and believe it is well worth the price. We remain hopeful that we might return to this lovely game in the future. If you want to help us make that day a reality, please continue to share the game with anyone you think would appreciate it; every little bit helps.
Our community manager will continue shepherding the community that has grown around the game, so you will keep seeing the occasional social post here and there, and he will be keeping an eye on our community Discord and other spaces. You may also occasionally see some of our other devs in the Discord from time to time; we all still care a lot about this project and the people who are playing it!
It is also worth noting that the game was primarily funded by incredible programs here in Canada, such as the Canada Media Fund. These funds give small studios like ours the chance to break free from market constraints and support ourselves through the game’s production without worrying about finding outside funding. It is because of the CMF that we were free to design an idle game that is so different from others in the genre. Greenhearth Necromancer would not exist without their support, but that funding still runs out eventually.
Throughout development, we’ve tried to take care of ourselves, though it’s still been a tiring and transformative process. So, we are taking a much-needed break. At the time of this writing, we’re down to just a handful of us, and while the game’s reception has been great, we all need to decompress, take some time off, work on other projects, and think about what’s next for Greenhearth Necromancer and Silverstring Media.
Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who has bought the game and to anyone who picks up our small but mighty magical gardening sim down the road. It is a complete experience, and it is yours to explore now.
Thank you again for believing in us and in our game. <3
The Greenhearth Necromancer Development Team
(Lucas, Claris, Audrey, Anu, Lindsay, Devin, Bill, Colin, Becks, and Michelle)