Hey folks,
TLDR
Server Slam helped us identify critical issues that weren't visible at low online tests, essentially saving us from a disaster of a launch
We can solve these critical issues and need a bit more time
June 22 is the new launch date
We will continue deeply involving the community in the development of SAND: Raiders of Sophie
The longer version:
It’s been a crazy few days, with SAND featuring at Summer Games Fest and the Server Slam exceeding our expectations on the number of players. We’ve welcomed tens of thousands of new smugglers into the world of SAND and it’s shown us just how special what we have on our hands really is.
The community has also been extremely vocal and critical. Both are great things. We’ve spent many hours on our chats and in forums digesting the feedback and evaluating ideas on features, balancing, and the general game direction. It’s clear we need to more closely involve the community in our development, and so we’ve decided to release into Early Access to work towards the best possible version of SAND: Raiders of Sophie.
What’s also clear is we can’t reliably serve enough players with our current server structure. We’ve already solved many critical issues that were impossible to diagnose without an influx of players, and there are a few more that need to be addressed. While there is a chance that within the next 48h we will fix most of the issues, it’s not a risk we want to take. The game and all of you deserves a proper launch.
So, here’s the plan:
We will dive deeper into all logs collected over the Server Slam. We will optimize as much as we can server side, and also address the bugs players have witnessed client (game)-side all based on player feedback.
We will launch the game on June 22 as an Early Access release, with another Server Slam on June 15 (Monday, a week before launch) to make sure things are smooth.
On June 22nd, we’ll launch with a comprehensive roadmap, built around your feedback and suggestions from the Server Slams, which we’ll continue to update and iterate on as we develop SAND alongside all of you.
The community is the core of this game, and seeing the passion and hundreds of hours put in from players during playtests, we believe it’s important to listen to you. You said it loud and clear: fix the issues, and listen to us. Roger. Let’s launch the best game possible, and continue developing it together.
We will see you in just a few days on Sophie!