Hello Commanders!
Even for an underground rebellion, it's been a little too quiet around here lately.
I'd like to share a non-corporate, PR-spun update on exactly what's been going on for the last six months, where we are with the game, what's next, and our plans to launch early next year.
Business Development and Publishers
Earlier in the year I decided to double-down on finding a PC publisher to help scale Remnant Protocol's production. The game's metrics were promising: top 1000 most wishlisted game on Steam, growing press and influencer coverage, and financial security from Meta's funding. I thought we'd be able to kick the game's quality up to rival III and AA releases.
Every veteran contact in the industry I leveraged in my network told me to go for it, that the optics were beyond the typical indie dev, and it shouldn't be too difficult to find a deal.
In some sense, they weren't wrong. Most publishers I pitched (some 100+ at this point) gave the game glowing feedback. They loved the novelty of the hybrid concept, the gameplay, the visual fidelity, the team, the numbers, and the package as a whole.
But every conversation ended the same way, typically weeks and weeks later: "Money is tight and it's too much risk for us because we've never launched a game in this genre before."
The general downturn in the industry and the tightening of publisher budgets isn't something I saw with clarity until post-Gamescom, as our studio is insulated from it. Unfortunately, this strategic business blunder on my part has cost us a lot of development time. As both the lead developer and business person, I've wasted hundreds of hours of time that could have been spent working on the game with little to show for it besides the knowledge that most publishers -- besides Meta, the best one ever -- are lame.
I take full responsibility for that and sincerely apologize for letting everyone down.
We did receive a few offers, but they were extremely predatory and unreasonable for this stage of development. We've put in too much effort to give up over half the revenue when we're so close to the finish line.
So, we're going to remain independent and have full control over the PC release, which we always should have done in retrospect.
The Campaign
So what state is the game in?
The game is mechanically complete. Every feature of the experience is fully working, and it's just a matter of expanding on the content. I can create a tiny piece of data for a new research project, and it just works in the game proper. It's actually a beautiful thing.
However, the campaign itself is taking significantly longer than any of us anticipated. While the supporting systems are in-place, without a dedicated level designer, it's up to me to either spend my time putting together new content or expanding the features. Both end up suffering because of it.
Additionally, while I do think I have a bit of an eye for aesthetics, I'm technical by trade so the missions I script and the environments I create are missing that je ne sais quoi they need to make them as memorable as the trench run.
So in order to get the campaign where I want it to be, where it needs to be, I'll be bringing on new design staff and taking the necessary time to create something really special.
Which brings us to...
A (Revisited) Sandbox Roguelite Experience
We're creating a special campaign prologue as a roguelite experience where you play through the events of the Blessed Mother's assassination, and the establishment of Sanctuary.
This experience takes all the systems from the main game, strips out the narrative-heavy campaign and replaces it with a galaxy hopping adventure as you lead a flotilla of faithful, hundreds of years before the events of the main campaign's narrative.
The goal is to create an Early Access experience that feels like a complete game that can stand on its own, while we use your feedback to refine the gameplay, fix technical issues (especially in VR), and take time crafting a beautiful, engaging campaign.
Early Access? Are you *&@!$%+#* kidding me?
I know. The team knows. Everybody knows.
We have to call it Early Access because we're not allowed to claim the game is finished development on Steam without it, but I cannot reiterate enough how much it feels like a full game. All the systems you're expecting are there: intelligence, research, operational logistics, evading detection from the Usurpers, all of it, except for the main campaign's narratives.
This is actually exactly how the game played before Meta funded us, and we began expanding the content, so we view it as the best of both worlds: a huge campaign yet to be experienced, and the original vision that allows us to build on the game's lore and universe.
Over time, we plan to expand on the roguelite elements of the experience as well: mutators, new game+/prestige, meta-progression elements. Things like that.
You've trusted us this far, please continue to trust us just a bit longer. It's actually really engaging.
Launch Date
We are launching early next year. The exact release date will be announced to [HUGE QUANTITY OF REDACTED] during [REDACTED] on the [REDACTED] right before [REDACTED]. Sorry.
Unfortunately, I can't share the exact release date right now because of a huge opportunity for our fledgling studio that just came up just recently.
I know it sucks, but my first priority is keeping my amazing team fed and housed, and this opportunity is going to be colossal for our no-name studio.
I absolutely cannot say more without risking it.
Still here?
That's it. All our cards. I'm anticipating a mixed reaction of both optimism and disappointment, and in earnest, I share your sentiment. I dropped the ball as a leader and we're behind because of it. Please give me the opportunity to make it up to you.
We're spinning up our comms team, and finalizing our media strategy, to be exponentially more active across all our community socials going forward. The difference is going to be night and day compared to the last six months, that much I can promise.
Nothing is stopping us now. It's full Steam ahead to launch early next year.
Thank you to each and every wonderful member of our community for your patience. You'll be in the cockpit before you know it.
- Scott / GroZZleR
