Dear players,
I started creating a game and its own custom game engine as a side project back in 2015. In 2016, I quit my job as product manager / team leader in a software company to found my own Indie video game company and to create something big out of my game project. In September 2017 I started the Early Access campaign of Galactic Crew and I planned a campaign length of six to nine month. Now, we are in the tenth month of development.
What happened in the past months?
A lot has happened! The very first reviews were bad. Really bad. When I started the Early Access campaign I thought to have a great version and players will love it. My game is very niche, but I knew that when creating the game's concept. The problem was that I saw my game from my own perspective. I created something out of nothing - I didn't use any ready-to-use engine environment. At that time, I had the feedback from friends who played the game for weeks and 70 internet strangers who got a pre Steam copy of the game. Their feedback was great. However, the first wave of players had mixed feelings about it and the ratio of players who refunded the game in the first month was high - around 15%.
However, things changed! The game isn't finished yet and there are still a lot of things to do, but in the past 10 months, I only took one week off and I worked hard in every single week on making the game how I wanted it to be. I added a lot of features like the Story Mode, new spaceships, new weapon systems, mission system, useable items, skill system, crew inventory, new galaxy objects, new enemies like zombies and dinosaurs, item rarity, Steam Achievements, support for Steam Cloud, Tactical Pause and squad commands. This list ist not even complete. I also spent a lot of work in improving the game's graphics. The images below are from last December and last week:
When will the game be released?
The game has improved in the last months and I am very happy with its development. I get very nice e-mails on a weekly basis, the reviews on Steam got better (except for some trolls) and the ratio of players who refund the game on Steam dropped to around 2 %. However, as I said earlier, there is still a lot of work to do. The support for 4k screens is not completed, there are still some bugs, the tutorial must be improved, etc. I implemented all features that I promised in forums, Steam discussions, in the Early Access notes and elsewhere, but I want to make sure that all players who bought the game enjoy it.
I haven't set a date for the game's release, because I want to know from you what you are missing and what you expect before you think the game's ready for its Release. I still got a to do list with many tasks, but there might be some tasks I missed or I don't noticed. As a developer, you play your own game often very differently from the players who bought it.
So, please use any communication channel to let me know what you want to have in Galactic Crew before it's released! If you've read any of the Steam discussions or contacted me in the past, you know that I really want to know what you folks want to have. So please, tell me!
Second game
For Galactic Crew, I did everything by myself, except the art (animations, 3D models, music, etc.). At the moment, I am also producing a second game that hasn't been announced yet. I still focus on Galactic Crew and I want to make it as great as possible for its Release. However, in the second game are a lot of other people involved who do the main work like game design, level design, arts, etc. So when you see a second game listed under my company's name: don't worry! I will not (!) abandon Galactic Crew! The second is in production for several months now and as you can see from my updates, Twitter messages, etc. it does not affect the development of Galactic Crew in any way. I mention this, because I want you to know that I am not the type of developer who abandons a project to create something new to get some fast cash!
Thank you!
I also want to thank every player who bought the game from any store and enjoys it, writes me e-mails, writes positive reviews, etc. You really make my day. Creating video games can be very tough, but knowing that there are many thousands of players out there who bought the game motivates me!
I also want to reward you. I have to contact Valve, if my idea is possible. If it is possible, all of you will receive a 75% discount coupon for my second game, when it's published on Steam!
You might have noticed several updates in the past week. Next to the development of the next update, I am fixing all known bugs and publish these fixes on Steam on a regular basis. The next one is planned for Monday or Tuesday. I will include a complete patch list for the fixed bugs in the next content update news.