So I thought I would post a little bit about the before and after of the current game's development for those who are interested!
Year End Wrap-up:
After many years of personal development of the game I finally released Vantage on May 22nd. I was amazed at the great positive feedback I received immediately after launching it! Thanks to the players for helping to play and test the game, I was able to create and refine many game systems and elements to make the game even more enjoyable and fun to play! I do want to say that your feedback was, and still is extremely valuable to me!
It was stressful at times of course! Especially launching a game with a client/server architecture that needs to be maintained. However the server remained stable even under heavy loads (it wasn't perfect of course), and needing to do large framework overhauls in order to optimize game mechanics. But in the end it was all fun and worth it to continue having people enjoy playing the game!
Road Map for Next Year:
For next year I plan to continue by hitting the ground running on development, with the main focus being on more content focused on professions and skills. This year I had to be focused a little more on game performance, stability and optimization. I was able to add a bit of new content of course, even though that was focused on implementing new game play elements, which of course will add to the playability and enjoyability of all future content.
So I hope to continue the cycle of content research and development, then implementing the content. I plan to develop content as both small batches of content that I can release quickly, as well as researching entire profession chains and releasing those as its own update.
For now:
I am testing the game for final stability as I want the game to be working at peak efficiency for the Christmas Steam sale! I will of course be monitoring the game and server closely.
I am truly excited for what I hope to accomplish as I move forward, and hopefully your enjoyment of the game too!