Hi everyone!
This post is being made to provide clarification on a few things regarding Polyion. As you know I made a post about a month ago stating that release of the game was going to be in December, unfortunately this could not be met for a variety of reasons and I'm going to go into detail about that now as well as talk about my own feelings towards the game and my motivation as of late.
Firstly, I ended up being sick just a day or two after I made my last announcement post on here which resulted in me being out of energy and having a lack of motivation to work on Polyion for a week or two. With still so much to do I believe I misjudged how long it would take to finish all the final assets and code clean up. With this in mind I ultimately came to the decision to stop working on Polyion for the Christmas period to take a break and get my thoughts together, after Christmas and leading into the new year I had to ask myself whether going into full release and the pressure of meeting a specific standard or rushing to get things done was the best way to bring the game into full release...
I decided it was not the best way to do things, and this is why Polyion will stay in early access for the foreseeable future. The plan is to update the game on Steam to the latest build on the 14th of January, giving me the next few days to finish up what is left on the priority list and push the update out some time on that date. This is to ensure that if there are any problems I will be able to deal with them on the day after people play the game.
Before I answer a few questions I also want to say that Polyion has been on Steam in early access for the best part of 3-4 years now and as a developer it's a project I would like to finally move on from and take the lessons learned from it into my next project. While this doesn't mean complete abandonment of the game itself, I want to move on as my motivation and desire to work on Polyion has slowly decreased as time has gone on, since graduating from University and looking for work I have become less and less attached to the game that was once a big passion project of mine. I hope one day I can bring into full release, but for now keeping it in early access and releasing a major update is the best way to do things at the moment.
Now I will answer a few questions you might have:
Will there be any new content or updates after the 14th?
- Yes, the plan is to continue updating and working on the game after the 14th. However, I will be taking a small hiatus from development while I begin moving from planning to development for my next game.
Does this mean Polyion will be supported long-term?
- I cannot guarantee long-term support for Polyion, as stated before I will continue to update the game over time but there is no guarantee that the game will continue to receive updates past a certain point.
Will Polyion ever go into full release?
- If in the future Polyion ever gets to a point where I believe I can stop working on the game and it's in a state that I believe warrants a full release, then yes. Right now there are NO plans to push the game into full release and this will stay true for the foreseeable future.
Why an update and not a full release?
- As stated in this post, I lost motivation during and after being sick and ultimately believe there's still so much to do to warrant a full release. With how unstable the future looks for the game, I would rather push out updates every so often rather than bring the game into full release and under-deliver.
What is the next game?
- I can't say much right now as it's still in the planning and preparation stages, but once I feel ready to showcase it I will.
Will you provide more open and constant communication about future games and updates?
- Yes, going forward I plan to post more information about games I'm working on and engage in conversation about the games I make and release. I will attempt to branch out into making youtube content and possibly streaming and posting about my development process on multiple social media sites. This will give me a way to openly discuss projects I am working on and talk to my community.
Thank you to everyone who has stuck around and thank you for your patience and understanding,
Luke