Golf Club Architect Dev Diary July 2023
Greetings, golf fans!
It's been a hectic couple of months here developing Golf Club Architect. This is the first time we have taken a game to Early Access on Steam, and to say we had no idea what to expect is an understatement. It's been an emotional rollercoaster as we had no idea what sort of sales numbers we would get and how it would be received by those who bought it.
Overall, I would say the first three weeks have been a success. We have received more sales than anticipated and only a handful of refunds. We'd like to thank everyone who has bought the game and joined the community. You're directly funding the development of the game, and we couldn't be more grateful.
Some lessons have already been learned from entering Early Access, so I want to highlight the two main things we're going to address in the first few updates.
Accessibility - Although fans of golf and sandbox/simulation games can probably dive into Golf Club Architect and play, we need to do better at introducing the game and providing feedback to those who are less familiar.
We intend to address this on two fronts:
We've added a tutorial that will guide new players through the early phase of the game. This will be expanded to cover more areas of the game in future updates.
Milestones will guide you through building a course from scratch. These milestones will provide financial benefits and unlock aspects of the game as you progress.
Earning money - Currently, there are not enough ways to earn money in the game. In the short term, the aforementioned objectives will provide an alternative income. In the medium term, we'd like to implement the following concepts:
VIPs visiting the course will reward a well-constructed course with prizes ranging from cash injections to monuments.
Hosting and playing in tournaments, as well as one-on-one strokeplay or matchplay matches against golfers.
A loan system that allows funds to be taken now and paid back later.
The first update also included plenty of bug fixes for key issues raised by the community and numerous new features for you to enjoy.
Thanks for reading, and see you on the first tee!
The Golf Club Architect development team