Greetings from the ATO development team!
We would like to talk with you about some things regarding the new patch.
As you probably already know, we started working on ATO several years ago with only 2 developers (Adam and Javier) and shortly after we added an artist to the team (Juanjo). We released the game at EA without knowing very well what to expect and how the game would be received. Luckily for us, the reception was very good and shortly before leaving the early access to release the 1.0 version of the game we had the opportunity to begin working with a publisher, Paradox Arc.
We put a lot of thought in this decision and concluded that having a publisher would benefit the game a lot. For example, we could reach a lot more people while dedicating our time more to what we do, which is making the game.
The game has grown a lot since then and as we announced this August, the game has gone from being part of Paradox Arc to move up a level and become a main branch game of Paradox Interactive, something that we are very proud of.
What does this mean for the game and for us?
Well, basically it means that ATO has gained a lot of recognition and even though it is still an indie game and we still have the full control on its gameplay and game content, now it will have much more resources in several aspects, such as more manpower for the ATO team (we are working with a new designer that will help us create more content faster), the possibility of adapting the game to more languages (in this patch we now have Japanese, Korean and Traditional Chinese... somebody asked for German?), and other big news to come... In general more resources in all areas.
Why was the Paradox Interactive launcher and SDK implemented?
All these new resources are available thanks to belonging to Paradox Interactive. But of course this involves other things and one of them is the implementation of the Paradox launcher. Some people said that we should have included some notes about it in the patch, which we agree on. We apologize for the lack of communication both before and after the update. The launcher implementation is a regular procedure and all major Paradox titles have it and honestly we didn't expect the reaction to it, so we were a bit unprepared for what happened afterwards.
Although the launcher may be a bit more cumbersome at first, this may have more benefits in the short term, whether it be better communication about patches or DLCs with all ATO players, the possibility to highlight creators or tutorials that we think are valuable for the community or the possible integration of mods in the future through the launcher.
You don't need to create a Paradox account to play ATO, you can just skip that part.The Paradox account helps enhance user experience, enable communication with players, and helps to ensure the safety of services for all. Players data is not sold and is managed in full compliance with privacy laws and regulation, for example the GDPR. Paradox Privacy Policy contains information on what data is being processed and how it is used.
Since the beginning a lot of people asked us about game stats like, what characters were played the most, what combats were the hardest ones, etc... we are a really really small team and working on something like that would have delayed the work with bugs, new contents, etc. but with the inclusion of Paradox SDK (Software development kit) we get in-game data that will allow us to make a much better balance work, adjust some cards and much more things that without it would be impossible for us. It will help us improve the game and future content and also share learnings with our players. One of the things we wanted to do for a long time was to write a dev diary sharing infographic data about the game which will be possible with the SDK.
Savegame incompatibility after update
About the savegame incompatibility that some people have reported, this has nothing to do with the inclusion of the launcher. Those who are with us since the beginning know that when we include a medium/big patch we have to make savegames incompatible, because even if almost everything will work, there are some things that will not, leading to some nasty bugs that would break your save. We always generate a new branch with the latest stable version, so you could finish your saves with it, and is announced in the patch notes. Thanks to your feedback, for the future we will include this information also in the launcher when we update the game so it reaches everyone
What does the future hold for ATO?
Talking about the future, in a more concrete and immediate example of what awaits for ATO, we can say that the ATO development team is growing, and with it we are already planning more and better content for next year. Preparing another new hero (yes this time it's a Scout!). We have also learned from Wolf Wars, and are working on something more replayable, more challenging, rewarding, etc... more in line with the rest of the game. But we will have more to share about this and other upcoming things soon!
We will continue updating the game with free things here and there as always and continue to listen to community feedback. Since we released the game we have added a lot of things that have been requested and will continue doing so in the future as well.
The future holds a lot for ATO. While working on new content we also want to focus on communication and transparency. With our growing team and the work with Paradox we will be able to give you more updates and more active presence in the community. As a part of this, the dev diaries will be back starting next year!
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So from our point of view, the fact that we now belong to the great Paradox Interactive family not only gives us recognition but also ensures ATO a great future ahead. We want to reiterate our apologies for the lack of communication. We are learning and are working on better transparency in the future. We are very grateful to see that you care about the project and freely share your feedback — it means a lot. Thank you for spending this year with us!
Adam & Javier
Happy Christmas!