Hey there fellow slashers! ːcozyrealmroyaleː
Life is very harsh, specially as a solo indie developer. But I have good news, Slashvival is resurrecting from its ashes and will get a Christmas update!
WHAT HAPPENED WITH SLASHVIVAL? ːcellː
Well, for starters, to big of a game for 1 person (aka me). The good part? All the core mechanics are done, so its just about adding content to the game.
So, what really happened, is that Square Enix banned the game from the store for 8 full straight months. This was because the main character's sword was similar to Cloud's bustersword... ːcozycastondeathː I couldn't do anything against it, just fight to get my game back after removing all "similar content". But the point is, after getting banned I thought I was never gonna get it back so stopped it's development. Then, after the unbannedment, the game had completely lost its popularity and I needed to pay my morgage, so yeah...
Development was put on hold and survival in real life was put as priority. The funniest thing is the game was about a worldwide virus and just after publishing the game the COVID-19 appeared... I am scared about this coincidences... ːlunar2019laughingpigː
WHAT NEXT? ːcsdmehː
Now, my economic situation is stable as you say. The problem with Slashvival is that finishing it would take me a lot of time and money and maybe nobody buys the game... XD I was thinking about maybe putting the game on Kickstarter, I really need some backup to make a good product: pay for my working hours, hire artists, hire voice actors, pay composers, buy assets, etc. The whole point of going Early Access was to earn enough money to finish the game, but the ban came in between. Had some problems with the final build and apart from all this only negative reviews came in with most people saying the game is complete trash, the same people that are kids with no responsibilities, but Steam gives them a voice, oh well...
So, I'm currently working on a side project a 3-5 month project which I plan on releasing on Steam and if it's successful enough I'll keep working on Slashvival! For now, expect updates from time to time (no promises). But what is assured is this Winter update! (And a Summer one incoming)
WHAT'S IN THE UPDATE? ːcozydarkseerː
Well, you'll get to play it. But for starters, it fixes game-breaking bugs and optimizes performance by over 9,000. So your grandma will be able to play it on that rusty Windows XP machine, yeah, that one without the leds turning on.
That's it for today slashers, the conclusion is that life is harsh and nevertheless Slashvival will continue, specially if a lot of people buy it or my next game goes well! See yah! ːcozybrawlhalla1ː