Ahoy!
It's been a month since the release - time to count the loot and make some tough calls. What's it gonna be - 5, 10, 15, or 25?
Past
Let's rewind the clock back a month. The game's release was marked by three rather unpleasant factors.
A ton of content and features missing in the release version.
- Three new side quests were never delivered, namely "Unforgiven", "Pirates Don’t Need Heavens", and "Old Sea Dog’s Tales". I only discovered this a couple of days ago. Now, that's some quality project management. ːrofl_pirateː Those responsible for this monumental screw-up will leave our ranks very soon unless they rectify it promptly.
- The Exploration, aka No-Timers mode, was underdeveloped. The issue lies in underestimating the complexity of the task - all quest timers need to be manually deactivated in each quest to avoid conflicts. Delving into old code is a rather unrewarding task, but this is the way, and the mode will be set right in patch 1.1.
- Balancing amounted to only 60% of the estimated target - new weapons were poorly integrated, new features like stealth remained largely untested, and numerous adjustments of the difficulty curve and side quests remained on paper.
- English localization is still a mess - despite the entire game's text being proofread, thanks to the heroic efforts of Goddart and Co., only a portion of it was integrated by the time of release. Same as with the quest timers - lots of manual labor and no technical way to merge new texts fast. Furthermore, due to the lack of my time to proofread the interface, nearly half of the players are still unaware that the Iron Will perk can save characters from mortal wounds once in several minutes. And that's just one example of the issue.
These questionable results are primarily attributed to the small team size and its part-time involvement, the outdated engine, and the colossal workload: Sandbox, Demo, and a 200-hour game with tons of legacy code.
In other words: not in the office and not on the payroll. Of course, that's our problem, not yours. You've paid real money for the product, expecting a certain quality bar. However, I believe that without such details, our today's summary would be incomplete.
Steam doesn't count pre-order reviews
That's almost 5% subtracted from the final rating. Nevertheless, even this cost is justifiable - without pre-release testing and the financial support from our community, the game might never have seen the light of day. To be honest, that was projected beforehand, and these 5% of user score should not have played a significant role if not for the following point.
An organized review bombing
Crafted almost like a coordinated attack, a mass of negative reviews was deployed and then pushed up in the list for everyone to see. Undoubtedly, the game is not perfect and it totally deserves being criticized, but the concerted effort against the game costed us another 4% of the user rating. It nearly dealt a fatal blow to the full version and most likely killed Sandbox for good. In a perfect world, the game would boast a score of ~75%. In reality, everything Caribbean Legend aimed for has taken a hit.
Present
We deliberately took a month to gather all the metrics before making difficult decisions. Plans may be futile, but planning is always essential. Last summer, I outlined four scenarios for our trajectory.
Scenarios:
- Pessimistic: 5,000 copies sold in the first month, averaging 10 copies/day without discounts. In this scenario, we release patch 1.1, fulfill everything we originally promised, and close shop. Game Over. You Died.
- Realistic: 10,000 copies in the first month, averaging 20 copies/day without discounts. We can continue working for another six months or so, bring the game to version 1.3-1.5, release one medium-sized DLC, and bid farewell. You know what I mean.
- Realistically Optimistic: 15,000 copies, averaging 30 copies/day without discounts. At this level, we can establish a sustainable enterprise for the long term. We develop version 2.0, release several exciting DLCs, and carefully commence pre-production of the sequel on Unreal Engine.
- Optimistic: 25,000 copies, averaging 60 copies/day without discounts. With such resources, we can establish a large studio, not only completing the aforementioned plans rapidly but also focusing on significant expansions featuring the other two heroes - Diego and Patterson.
5, 10, 15, or 25? I've spent the past few months pondering which option we'd land on. The release of any indie game is inherently unpredictable. Guessing is futile; one can only consume craft brews in quantities sufficient to fuel a ballistic missile.
And so I did. And, perhaps for the first time in my career, everything went according to plan. ːcharles_happyː
- Caribbean Legend surpassed TEHO's first-month sales in just one day.
- Within a week, it matched TEHO's entire first-year sales.
- In a month, Caribbean Legend earned more revenue than TEHO did in 12 years.
We've landed in the optimistic-realistic territory. ːrespect_soldierː And for the first time in memory, mixed reviews haven't significantly impacted sales dynamics. The game continues to sell, even now, at a solid $20-30 on the cusp of Steam Spring Sale.
We've won. You've won. ːauthorityː
For the first time in BlackMark Studio's history, we're turning a profit and truly becoming a studio, a company. The core team now receives stable royalties, and we've brought on board several more exceptionally talented people for full-time and part-time roles. Payments are scheduled, and we're operating in a professional manner.
Why is this significant? We've often been criticized for appearing greedy, supposedly trying to milk fans for a second time. Money grab - that's another word that comes up often in reviews. Welp, personally I earned around 3000 - 5000 USD over 12 years from TEHO. Furthermore, for the rest of us, who will now receive a share of Caribbean Legend's sales monthly, this marks our first earnings from the project ever.
There's nothing wrong with that; no one was coerced into working so hard, for free and for so many years. It just feels right when talented individuals can finally do what they love without distraction.
Future
Patches 1.1 - 1.3
Conceptually, these three patches aim to bring the release version of the game up to speed and serve as a testing ground for our new production processes. Patch 1.3 will deliver a version of Caribbean Legend that, in a perfect world, should have debuted in February.
Fulfillment of Promises
Firstly, numerous long-promised features have yet to be implemented in the game:
- Quests, including the Epilogue, extra romance scenes with Mary, and the aforementioned three side quests.
- Full-fledged Exploration mode, where deadlines should be properly disabled with appropriate notifications.
- Enhanced system of quest markers with improved context and organization.
- Improvements of all new quests, addressing gameplay, balance and proofreading.
- Balance adjustments to address existing critical issues. The complete overhaul will come later.
- A plethora of edits, improvements, and features born from community feedback. And everything that was already described in our original GDDs but wasn't delivered yet.
R&D
Secondly, we've onboarded several new team members in just over a month, filling gaps in texturing, modeling, and animation - areas where we previously had nothing but a gaping black hole.
This presents exciting opportunities for creating new assets. For instance:
- New locations, from uplifted island models to cities and jungles.
- Ships - we will start improving existing models and see if we can make completely new ones.
- Higher-quality character models with increased detail.
- 3D models of equipment, accesories, and armor. Hats and helmets.
- Global texture refinement. We have inproved over 200 textures so far, over a thousand still remains.
- New combat and civil animations to enhance immersion. Critical hits, diffrent moves for different weapon types, street musicians, gambers, beggars etc.
We're still gauging our capabilities, costs, and production pipelines for each asset category. Without this, planning remains uncertain, so we aim to explore a variety of avenues before setting goals for the upcoming year.
Patches 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 should introduce 1-5 new assets from each category, significantly refreshing the game and refining our internal processes.
Following the release of patch 1.3, we'll reevaluate the game metrics and make a final decision regarding the roadmap towards version 2.0.
Patches 1.4 - 1.5
30% of New Assets delivered
By this stage, we anticipate having a clearer understanding of which assets we can produce efficiently. These patches may include a third of the planned new assets such as: ships, locations, new animations or significant updates to main character and story characters models.
Companions Quests
Tichingitu, Longway, and Charlie Knippel will each receive their own storylines. At this point Charles de Maure's main storyline can be considered concluded.
Patch 2.0
100% of New Assets delivered
We'll execute whatever goals we set for ourselves. Whether it's introducing 20 new locations, enhancing city life, diversifying combat, expanding the ship fleet, or offering more customization options, we'll adapt based on feedback and observations from patch 1.3. Regardless, significant changes are on the horizon and the game will get a massive visual update.
New Balance
With content finalized, including items, ships, and game mechanics, it's an ideal time to adjust the balance to reflect these new realities. Initial changes will undergo extensive beta testing to ensure a balanced gameplay experience.
Tutorial System
We'll revamp the tutorial system to better educate players on game mechanics, from combat tactics to ship navigation. This will involve substantial interface adjustments to lower the entry barrier for new players. Besides new players, this system should also stand as a massive and useful QoL update even for the series veterans.
Redesigning Story Quests
Currently, players tend to choose only the most optimal and profitable paths in quests. There is no real choices in the story and there is always a golden path. Several story quests will be reworked to emphasize player choices and increase their impact on the game world. We aim to restore the value of "To Each His Own" narrative principle.
DLC
Our DLC plans include:
- Cosmetic additions with new items and assets, offering players the chance to support developers while receiving extra content like items and ships.
- Medium-sized quest DLC.
- Large quest DLC.
- An open release of updated and finalized Vile Little God quest, tailored to the 2.0 balance.
We face a dilemma regarding quest DLC. While we've received numerous requests for more quests, we worry about overwhelming the game with such content. We're eager to hear your thoughts on this matter in the comments section. Do we add more quests to the game or should we focus on other types of extra content?
Patch 1.1
Still scheduled for this month, but we may postpone it to ensure we incorporate as many planned features as possible, including new assets. We want each numbered patch to be an event, not just a mundane list of changes.
That wraps it up for today. Remember to share your thoughts in the comments; your feedback is crucial to us, escpecially when we are only about to start executing this roadmap.
See y'all on the high seas!
ːjollyrː