Hi everyone,
Today, I’m going to talk about the release of the game and the future of Ghostland Yard. The game was originally scheduled to be released in February 2023, which was later postponed to the end of March 2023.
At Obelisk Studio, we have certain values that are very important to us, one of which is none other than transparency. So let’s be transparent:
We cannot release Ghostland Yard in v.1.0 at the end of March 2023 with the level of quality we want to get.
The hazards of video game production - and life in general - force us to change our plans, and we are sincerely sorry that we have failed to stick to the planned schedule.
We seriously looked at our various options and those were the three major possibilities that emerged:
- Maintain release in Q1 2023, but release with pain an unfinished product, with lack of polish and try to correct and fix the flaws afterwards
- Postpone the release for several weeks/months, but this implies a big reorganisation of our plans and puts the future of Obelisk Studio in danger
- Release the game very soon in early access and assume that the game is not finished, and finish it with the help and support of the community
The early access option turns out to be the best decision for us to make at the moment. It was not planned - we had already studied this opportunity a year ago and decided not to go out in early access - but we have no better option to propose.
We therefore announce that Ghostland Yard will be released in early access on March 28, 2023 on Steam! You will have in this early access version:
- World 1 with his race and boss (22 levels in total)
- World 2 with his race and boss (22 levels in total)
- World 3 with his race and boss (22 levels in total)
- World 4 with his race and boss (22 levels in total)
- The friend leaderboard
- Replay mode
- Speedrun mode
- The introduction cinematic of the game
Early access on PC will help us deliver a quality 1.0 version - both on PC and consoles - while thanking PC buyers for their help and participation in this early access.
Here is the roadmap for this early access:
Early access involves several things:
- A reduced early access price compared to the release price: if you buy a product that is not finished, you do not have to pay full price, it seems to us the least of things. In order to thank buyers for early access, we think we will reduce the game by about 30% compared to its final price (we had envisaged a price between €11.99 and €14.99, if we release in early access, the game would be around €9 to €10).
- A roadmap with predefined updates: we have proven through the various updates of the demo that we are able to propose improvements and additional content regularly. I must specify that we will not increase the scope of the project during early access but we will take advantage of it to refine and finish the content originally planned.
- Special listening to community feedback: in addition to transparency, we believe in design through iteration. Feedback have always had a central place in the development of Ghostland Yard, and with a early access, we will take as many returns as possible into account to improve the quality of our game. We must not forget that we make this game for you, the players.
So compared to what we still have to produce on the game:
- The world 5: is realized in terms of level design as well as visuals, it lacks a little visual and sound polish, it will be implemented 4 weeks after the start of the early access
- World Boss 5: playable, need some more work on the visual aspect
- The world 6: is realized in terms of level design, need some more level art work, it will be added 8 weeks after the early access start
- The Boss of the World 6: is being developed
- Cinematics: we are on it, each of them require several days of work
- The apocalypse world: work has begun! As these are the classic levels revisited, we do not start from scratch, but several weeks of work are still needed.
- Race mode: is about 50% complete
In addition to the tasks we still have to do, early access will allow us to correct and modify certain elements of the game that do not seem qualitative enough (while respecting the initial vision of the game).
For those who are not familiar with early access, know that the game will come out while it is still in development. If you want to play the fully finished version of the game, it is wiser to wait for its final release in a few months before buying it.
We are aware that some of you may be disappointed to see the 1.0 release postponed for several months, know that we do not take this decision lightly.
Know that no matter what the future holds, Ghostland Yard will be released in v.1.0 on PC and Nintendo Switch. We just can’t guarantee the final release date accurately, but we are doing our best.
If you want to play early, you will be able to play the game in early access at the end of the month, March 28 2023 to be precise!
Talk to you soon,
Thibault