Hello everyone,
We've had a pretty rocky launch, our server has been having issues and we are pretty stressed out! We had anticipated issues during launch week as early as four months ago, and we have a development timeline in the main description of the game. Long story short, the first two weeks are our stabilization period, which we will use to maximize coverage on low-mid-high range gaming rigs and ensure both the server and game services are kept operational on a 24/7/365 basis.
Although it has been rough, we are very close to the solution and we will be bringing on 2-3 additional programmers as new hires to help us ensure that nothing will go wrong! Also, these new programmers are in the West-EU, East-EU, and Asian Peninsula so we will have round the clock improvements being made to the code. What does that mean? We are taking a highly aggressive approach to solving our launch woes, and once those woes are gone, we'll be swimming in the most bug-free gaming environment possible. Instead of having 25-30 hours programming per week being done, we will have 80-120 hours per week of improvements being made at every major timezone on Earth. Thats right, we're moving into a global job provider.
Fan Swag:
Alright, everyone here has been absolutely amazing. So understanding, so helpful, and we've even gotten some epic user created content! In lieu of everyone's patience, we will be offering our current players (AND future players, up to the 30th of August) the ABD: Legacy Edition when we can get that pushed out on the 29th of August 2015.
What is the ABD: Legacy Edition?
-Free Expansions for life.
-Free DLC for life.
-Free Clothing Accessories & Aesthetic/Cosmetic DLC for life.
-Access to exclusive content / features.
-Special ingame items.
-Special Legacy Edition Holiday Content.
-Your name *Ingame, real name, or otherwise specified* on the upcoming monument, "Wall of Heroes".
Q.) How much will it cost to people past the 29th?
A.) $60
Q.) That's a lot for an Early Access title!
A.) You will be backing (without gaining advantage in a Pay-To-Win format) the development team and the game in our early stages, getting access to additional content, and having the ability to gloat to your friends when you see what we've really got in store.
Q.) Why?
A.) The Legacy Edition of ABD: A Beautiful Day supports the dev team, and will give you access to our upcoming expansions. Each expansion is geared past Tier 12, or roughly 245 B.C.E. when the Ancient Roman Empire was in its initial stages of forming into the incredible European powerhouse in later years.
Here are the following expansions planned for the ABD: Legacy Edition:
Future expansions include, are not limited to, and may change or increase:
ABD: The Mesopotamian Expansion
ABD: The African Expansion
ABD: The Asian Expansion
ABD: The European Expansion
ABD: The Dark Age
ABD: The Iron Age
ABD: The Middle Age
ABD: The Renaissance
ABD: The Age of Enlightenment
ABD: Western Civilization
ABD: The Industrial Revolution
ABD: The Wild West
ABD: The Great Wars
ABD: The Death of a Star
Future DLC includes:
(Most will be free.)
(Will be updated and added upon over time.)
-Aesthetic/Cosmetic clothing.
-Backpacks, Bags, and Custom Gear.
-Artists Commitment (top secret).
-Names, Places, and Things: All Things Noun.
-Many more, (you decide where we go!)
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We are aware of the Pay-2-Win model, but I can assure you as a Bachelor level Game Designer and Veteran, this is not going to happen. I take great pride in my work, both on the design side and on the business ethics end of things. I spend a lot of time looking through and analyzing game mechanics, specializing in logic based fixes and improvements to ensure the most rock steady solution possible. A great number of items are planned for the game, most of which will be inclusive with the base version of the game. I would like to open up as many possibilities as I can for ABD, and stretch our sales as far as possible without considering things like MMO Subscriptions, the Dark Side to Game Design (Pay-2-Win, Addiction Based Gameplay "ABG Algorithms") and other cheap tactics.
There is a point where we, unless we just make mad sales and can fully operate on everything above, have to consider the distant future of the game. By going with expansions and cosmetic DLC, we will be keeping in mind that they will be non-intrusive, non-required-to-continue, and ethical to the standard practices of a responsible game developer. So no, you won't see DOTA2 looking marketplaces spammed all over the game in a few months time, or even ten years. Will you be able to buy furry pink backpacks and items requested by our users? Very possible, we have to see where you guys and gals take us with ABD: A Beautiful Day.
Thank you for your time, your energy, your understanding, and I am absolutely beside myself with excitement from all the chatter going on! I will be in the Group Chat Room for the game if you have any questions, as I usually am, and Boris is also there during waking hours, so see you soon!
-Robert Bonner
Creative Producer - ABD
G.A.M. Entertainment, LLC.
www.GagAMaggotEnt.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtewSF1jqHRmdrP-uEDQ76Q/about?view_as=public
IndieDB: http://www.indiedb.com/games/a-beautiful-day
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gagamaggotentertainment
Twitter: www.twitter.com/gam_ent
PS: Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
PPS: Check out the community hub for our fan artwork and videos! We've got some of our first fan art coming in, and it is very impressive!