A long and very hard to make decision has been made to scratch my plans on adding local multiplayer to Rock 'N Roll and to take this game out of early access and declare it as a 'final product'.
It pains me and is a tough lesson in game development to watch my first published game on Steam, a game I only dreamt of making as a kid, have almost zero appeal in todays world. Molding a child hood dream into a reality and actually getting it published on Steam only to see single digit sales in the six weeks after your games launch week is a tough pill to swallow.
The reasons why local multiplayer work was stopped also comes with seeing it just not working well when implemented and tested. Frame rates suffer at times and the game would need to be redesigned almost completely to make local multiplayer work well and not just make a confusing mess of a game. While my idea of adding local multiplayer sounded good initially while only creating a single player experience, it just doesn't seem worth completely redesigned and coding this game to support the idea.
I firmly believe that this game in it's current state is very solid and a great value at the early access price point of $2.99 USD. The reviews of those who played the game and wrote a review also seem to agree. But to hopefully increase the very low demand currently on Rock 'N Roll, I have decided to move it from early access as it is now to a "ready" and "final" state and REDUCE the price by 33% from $2.99 USD to just $1.99 USD. I hope that this decision increases the demand and exposure of my first published game on Steam while also giving this game a final declaration at it's most stable and best point of development.
This certainly doesn't mean that I will stop supporting my game. As bugs are found by players and reported, I will work quickly to fix them, and I will continue to take any ideas, suggestions and feedback to heart.
If this game unexpectedly starts to show some kind of demand here on Steam, I will also more than likely continue to add features, enemies, and trading cards to this game. Trading cards have always been intended, but this game needs to see a LOT more demand on Steam before Steam will authorize me to add them. I hope that the reduction in price and stating that I am very happy with Rock 'N Roll as a single player experience as it is right now will help spur some level of interest here on Steam.
I sincerely appoligize to the few fans of this game currently who may have been anticipating the local multiplayer I had planned. I truly did try to implement this feature before realizing it just wasn't going to work well without completely re-working the game. With such low (almost zero) demand in the past several weeks for my game, changing it completely in hopes to add this feature didn't seem like the best path to take with Rock 'N Roll.
One tough lesson as been learned with game development on my first ever published game Rock 'N Roll. I thought that making my dream game since I was a child would make a nice and refreshing addition to the current onslaught of zombie shooters, survival games, and asset flips. Sometimes your dreams aren't the same as other people however, and perhaps I really need to study what people want rather than what I personally want to play if and when I ever publish another game in my future.
I am still very proud to say that I am VERY HAPPY with Rock 'N Roll as it is right now. I believe that it is addicting to play, offers clutch moments of adrenaline inducing chaotic game play, and is a great value at the new lowered price of just $1.99 USD. I guess my only disappointment is that more people don't seem to see or feel my passion for this type of a game.
Be well, enjoy whatever game or games you play out there, and please feel free to post your thoughts below!
- Zax