Because we were not clear enough about the "16+" content rating of Mirror 2: Project X when we released it in Early Access, some gamers may have been misled into purchasing the game. This is our fault, and we sincerely apologize for that: we are sorry!
Therefore, we have decided to:
- All gamers who purchased the game and DLC before the announcement today can request a full refund with no strings attached by following the link below. The keys obtained from the promotions will not be revoked. ※Application deadline: 24:00 (UTC) on October 31, 2022
https://refund-plan.mirror-2.com/refund_plan
- The game will be updated to include 12 chapters instead of 8, i.e., 4 more free stories.
- Gamers with Mirror 2: Project X in their Library will get an extra discount when purchasing Mirror 2: Project Z.
There has been a lot of speculation and some gamers have emailed us about what we are trying to do and why we are doing it. If you have the same questions, we are also willing to talk about what we are thinking:
As almost every indie developer, we chose to make indie games and publish them on Steam because we love pure games without microtransactions and paid gacha. Although Mirror 2: Project X is a casual puzzle game, our team members are almost all "hardcore" gamers who like all kinds of games: The Legend of Zelda, Celeste, Assetto Corsa, Hollow Knight, the Monster Hunter series, Rainbow Six Seige, the Devil May Cry series, Elden Ring, DOTA2, etc. There are many games we like, and many genres of games we want to make, but it was CDPR's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that gave us a clear and definite goal: to make affordable games with all our hearts and to put the gamers' experience and interests first at all times.
But obviously, we don't have the ability to make The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, so after figuring out what was needed to make a game like The Witcher 3, we set ourselves a plan of learning and growing: to learn and work as a team for 6 years from scratch to obtain the ability to make high-quality games. Mirror Party, Mirror 2: Project X, and the upcoming Mirror 2: Project Z, Mirror 2: Project Y that you have seen recently are the "homework" we have submitted during our learning and exploration. Now we are probably like a student who has just graduated from elementary school and is about to enter junior high school: we're still in the amateur phase and in dire need of expanding our knowledge. But we will keep going until we graduate and are eventually capable of making a game as mature as The Witcher 3.
2019 - 2022 The evolution of Mirror 2 characters
Although, it's not enough to just make high-quality games. In the future, we want to make games that are both high-quality and affordable so that gamers can buy AAA games as easily as they buy a cup of coffee or a bag of snacks. To achieve this, we will adhere to the following principles:
- We will not invest in commercial advertising. We will only invest in limited promotional activities, such as giving away game consoles, game keys, and merchandise just to reward gamers. We will try to use every penny of our funds for the actual development of games to improve the visual performance, expand the gameplay, and increase the volume while maintaining a low price without going out of business.
- The key to reducing costs is to keep on researching. While ensuring the quality of the game, we are also trying to research how to keep the same quality, simplify the production process, and reduce the production cost while maintaining a reasonably low price. Although the results are not obvious at the moment, we are still sticking to the principl and trying to achieve our vision.
We expect to wake up to the sunlight in the morning, and to be able to continue working with our friends on the game we love.
We expect to see that in a clean and bright office, a white-bearded senior animator and a recent graduate are sharing their animation creation experiences. Although there is a huge age gap between them, they are very close to each other.
We expect to see that in a spacious conference room, several designers are arguing over how to design a module, but this academic discussion's sole purpose is about how to bring a better experience to the games, because no one here is asking them to think about the gamers' wallets.
We've seen that at the corner of the coffee shop, a depressed colleague is crying with tears in his eyes, and his senior is trying to comfort him. It turns out that he was dumped, and he was very depressed. His senior told him about his experience of being dumped 10 years ago and how he got over it.
We've seen that after 4:30 pm, the office becomes empty quickly. The colleagues have enough time to pick up their children, be with their loved ones; and of course, they will have time for their hobbies: watching anime, watching Vtubers, cosplay, basketball, board games, baseball, reading, watching dramas, and of course, playing games...
And we've seen that when the night falls, they are relaxed and lying on the bed, smiling and falling asleep, expecting the sun to rise...
These are our final goals, we've realized some of them, but we know that it can be just a bubble that will burst at any time. We could easily run out of funds before any else of those happen. But we will keep trying anyway - it's always better to just run than curse the road.
Oh, and by the way, the colleague who was dumped has already got out of the depression, and not only is he cheerful and optimistic again, he also proposed to his girlfriend and she said yes!
