Game's Finally Done!; Good/Bad News + Release Info (On & Off Site)
Hey guys,
Finally, finally the saga that has been the tumultuous (to say the least) development of the project is about done. With this, however, comes good and bad news.
A lot of people were wondering why the game hasn't been approved yet - this is partially our fault, so we'll explain. So bad news first, then good news.
Basically, first off as a precursor, you'll notice the screenshots we've uploaded to the store page are almost entirely new. You might be wondering why.
The above is an excerpt from the last Steam review we did. Basically, there was an oversight on our part and that was, from what we can assume, leaving screenshots up from pre-alpha builds of the game with nuances from the final build (i.e. there was a different font, and certain events were worded slightly different). We've replaced the screenshots, and along with this new submission to Steam, we've also included details on how to jump to each scene within each screenshot. We were confused about why builds were rejected so we submitted again, and this time it was made more clear to us in the above except.
Secondly, we were confused about being rejected for our trailer - since it was approved to begin with with the original store page. That said, we realized part of the trailer was not in the build we were submitting to steam, so we've cut that part out as well. Valve has requested we add some gameplay to our trailer (either in our current one or in a new one) so we're working on that, and will have it done and uploaded by tomorrow.
Other than that, we're happy to say the game is done. For real this time - it's completely done. Finally. This'll be our last submission - hopefully (knock on wood).
This is where we want to ask a question - we can currently upload the game on Itch now, but we want to know if there's enough interest in uploading the game off-site prior to a Steam release. We can guarantee Steam keys, but since Valve has to approve keys and the game needs to be approved by them first, we basically would need to wait for approval anyway. If you just want to play though then that's fine, but we figured we'd do a poll.
That all said, we're really hoping Valve is speedy with the review this time. We would love nothing more than to release this week. We're going to be launching with a 15% off discount. As far as other platforms (i.e. Nutaku), we're sending the builds off for review by them today as well, so we would probably expect them to get done with review this week too. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask. Thank you all so much for staying with us through the admitted disaster of development. We're incredibly proud of the final product. Onward to release!
Quick Update While We Wait For Approval
Hello everyone!
Just dropping in for a quick update. We are still waiting for build approval right now, however we have good news! The mature/adult patch for the game has been approved, and will launch free alongside the game. While we're waiting for Valve's approval, we're just doing some QA/balancing and editing. Hopefully Valve will get done soon. Honestly, we have no idea how the mature patch was approved before the main game, but we're glad that we won't have any content issues there. Anyway, we expect Valve's review to probably be done before the end of the week or so, so we'll keep everyone updated. If they get it done by Friday we can maybe even launch before the end of the week. We're really just waiting for them at the moment, so it's a bit out of our control.
Anyway, here's a link to the page for the Mature Patch DLC, just for future reference ;)
Just a quick update to let everyone know that we're submitting the game (and the free Mature Patch DLC) for review on Steam this week. We probably expect the review time to take about 5-8 days on Valve's end (unless, there's issues with the review, knock on wood). Once the review period is over we'll be able to release right away. Thank you for your patience and onward to the release!
Issues With Release Date - April Release Date Still Likely
Hello everyone,
As we said in our last post, we originally wanted to put out An Adventurer's Tale on April 15th, and we were progressing well toward that goal. However, a very unexpected adversity has come up in one of the developer's families, which has interrupted our development schedule with the additional content we wanted to implement in the game. This adversity has essentially come out of nowhere, and for the time being has essentially disrupted the life of the developer involved. While the developer himself is fine, the situation requires some attention and figuring out on their end. He is not taking a break from development or putting the project on hiatus, but the amount of time he can put into the project is going to be severely limited for at least the next week or so.
While we could attempt to go for an Early Access release with what we have now, we don't think Early Access is the best way to take the game, especially because of the short time-span in which it would be in Early Access. Given the length of a typical Steam review compounding this issue with our Developer's family, we're going to have to delay the release a bit. That said, we promise we will have the game out in April still, assuming the build check on Steam's end goes alright.
We're sorry again that something like this has come up; we know these continual delays are not up to par with our studio's work ethic and typical behavior, but we thank everyone for understanding and hope you all will stick with us for the upcoming release of the project.
If you need to contact us or have any questions,
Our Twitter is: https://twitter.com/TopHatStudiosEN
and our Discord is: https://discord.gg/yy7javF
Slight Delay for Release
Hi everyone,
Just letting everyone know we're pushing back the release slightly to April 15th, which is our new tentative release date. We had originally planned to release the game in march, but we feel that the game in its current state could use a bit more work; we're going to work on balancing, QA, and adding a bit more content in the meantime. Feel free to let us know if you have any questions!
Our twitter is: https://twitter.com/TopHatStudiosEN
and our discord is: https://discord.gg/yy7javF
