Hi folks,
I feel I have to start every one of these with 'thanks for playing' but at some point that's going to seem a little odd. But I can't stop. Not yet.
I'm writing this because I've seen some trepidation around a couple of the peripheral aspects of this game, so I thought I'd take a moment to address them.
1) Why the EULA? Honestly, this is my first time making a STEAM game and the process was pretty *specific* about what it wanted. When I got the 'Please fill in a EULA' bit I just went... 'Uh... okay, where can I find a boilerplate EULA? I guess I need one!' I've never made one before, so just take it as a sign of my naiveté on this platform. It's nothing more odious. That said, there are a lot of people in the world who will be convinced that Moonring caused them to lick their dog or something, so... HA! YOU CAN'T TOUCH ME, DOG-LICKER! That's what the EULA means, right? Right?!
2) Why free? Are you secret malware? I've been making this game for 4.5 years. When my little community began on Discord I announced the game was going to be free. Right from the outset. I never planned to sell this. I didn't think there was a market for it, and as time went on that did not change. The game has been up on itch.io FOR YEARS (in a far worse state, of course). I'd occasionally wonder if I *should* charge, but swiftly reminded myself that the friends who contributed their time or art or music would probably not appreciate me saying: 'Surprise, suckers! I'm going full-capitalist! See you!' With the pandemic, began the Great Sucking, and that just reinforced my decision.
Please enjoy the game for free knowing that was how it was always intended. And now, you are making the game better by finding (so many) bugs and ruining my life. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
3) What next? Good question. With an easy answer. I'm going to be fixing Moonring. For a while, apparently. I'm not abandoning it, charging for it or anything else. At some point folks will get bored or indifferent to the game. Or die. Or fall down big holes. Or be abducted by aliens. I hear these things happen, and then folks stop playing, or at least caring about Caldera. At that point, I'll probably be only halfway through the bug list... but I'll keep going while the game breaks. After? I'd like to make it play better on Steam Deck, and ensure the bits that are still a little sucky suck less.
Oh, and a cloth map, damnit. I have the design. And maybe a Caldera World Tour T-shirt. I just need to find a printer in the in-between-seconds that sit between the seconds where I'm debugging. Those are a thing, right?
As a final note on this subject, I've been encouraged to make a Switch version, which means I get to develop with someone I'm very keen to develop with again... but that's another story.
I hope that addresses any fears you may have had. And if not... cut down on the coffee, damnit. You know why you poop so much? PUT THE MUG DOWN.
- Dene
Please: all thank my lovely wife, Kara, for putting up with me spending so much time doing this for zero income. Without her bringing in an income I'd probably not have made this game.