Hey everyone!
I've noticed that some people were upset following the previous community post in which I talked about the new game I'm working on.
They say you can't please everyone and that you shouldn't try to do so, and that is 100% correct.
However I want to clarify the situation regarding future updates for Game Dev Studio so that everyone is on the same page.
The first and most important question: does this mean the end of future content updates for Game Dev Studio? Most likely not.
As I've stated on the GDS Discord server, and in the developer commentary I am simply burned out from working on Game Dev Studio. A bit ironic, given that this is a feature in the game itself, eh? At the time of the last big update, it was already nearly 5 years of my life put into the game. Working on a single project for that much time burns you out, whether you like it or not.
The second biggest factor leading to switching my attention to working on a new game is simply due to the fact that the sales are bad. The sales always remained weak no matter how many updates I released for Game Dev Studio, no matter how much effort I put into it. Now factor in the fact that I've worked on this game for nearly 5 years in total.
I am a regular person like everyone who plays Game Dev Studio and pretty much any other game, and putting food on the table is a necessity.
It seemed pointless to keep making big content updates when the sales remained weak despite multiple updates that added a lot of new content, so I had to look for an alternative.
This left me with two choices: find a job or start working on a new game. I chose the latter. Regardless, with either choice the amount of time I would invest in GDS would be lesser.
So now that I'm working on the new game, what does it mean for Game Dev Studio? It's simple - Game Dev Studio was a passion project from the beginning, and as long as I have the ability to return to my passion projects, I always do so. I wanted to make a game dev sim that I would enjoy playing. I hope you can understand how disheartening it was to release something I put so much love, effort, and care into, continue pouring these same things into it with consequent free content updates, and in return only watch as the sales got worse, and worse over time.
Basically, if Intravenous sells well (or if the sales of Game Dev Studio suddenly get a lot better) I intend to come back to Game Dev Studio and make more content updates. If it doesn't, well, I can't promise anything. However I intend to return to GDS only after the release of Intravenous, not before.
One of the things I want to do is to release a graphical overhaul update. There are also some gameplay features I wish to add that I have in the back of my mind, too.
Keep in mind that, as always, bugfix updates will keep coming as long as people report bugs that I can reproduce with ease. However to put it bluntly, as long as I don't have a steady source of income I can't afford to invest time into a game that sells badly.
Not once did I have the idea of raising the game's price now that it has a lot more content compared to what there was in the 1.0 version of the game. All the gameplay content the updates added were always free, and will continue to be free in the future, so long as I don't have to worry about my finances.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank the community members that have volunteered to translate the game into German and Chinese for free. Westman and Mochongli, you guys rock. Thank you so much for helping me out with the game.
If you wish to check out the new game I'm working on, Intravenous, check out the Game Dev Studio Youtube channel, as I will be uploading devlogs there.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Roman Glebenkov