Hello Scribes,
A few of you have been wondering about our release schedule. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to release Inkulinait in the timeframe that we originally planned. In this update we want to explain to you why we needed to push back Inkulinati’s release date. It wasn’t an easy situation to be in and many factors contributed to this delay. Let us explain step by step why the delay occurred.
No matter the place on earth, this year wasn’t easy. The coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone to a greater or lesser extent. As a small indie studio located in Poland, we experienced this new reality in a very hard way. The incessant lockdowns, movement bans, quarantines, closed offices, and much more - surely none of these things are strange to you too... Forced to stop working in our office, we had to learn all over again how to carry out our planned activities effectively, each in the comfort of our own home. After a while, getting used to the new reality, we caught the wind in our sails again. But that took some time to adapt. The pandemic has had a massive impact on us, both professionally and unfortunately, also personally. It is a huge reason why our game is delayed.
Secondly, we also decided to push back the release based on the feedback from you - our community. As you may know, a while back we released our Inkulinati demo. This demo was also delivered to both streamers and players. We received a lot of good feedback from people that played it. We received a lot of suggestions on how to make the game clearer, easier to understand, more fun, etc etc. We took all of the comments and opinions seriously. We want to implement a lot of what you suggested, but unfortunately, we also need a bit more time to do so. We feel that having a better game released a little bit later is worth the wait. So thank you once again for your feedback!
This also brings us to the next point. We are really, really, really obsessed with quality. After all, we take our cue from medieval scribes, who spent whole days with sweat dripping from their brows transcribing voluminous books... To put it simply, we do not want to release a game that’s half-baked. We want it to be a perfectly moist cake. It is our first game from our little studio, and we want our debut title to be the best game it possibly can be. We can’t afford to deliver something subpar. Since we are new to the industry, we need that gap of time so that we can implement new solutions, try alternatives, etc. It is our first game, so it can take a bit longer for us to develop compared with other more experienced devs. But we do seek external opinions to see that we are on the right track and that our mechanics, design choices, etc are as good as they can be. After all, we can’t disappoint 700-year-old scribes ;).
More tasks also means more work. To deliver Inkulinati in all its glory, our small team had to expand with new crew members. It takes time to bring up new Yaza Games members to speed and show the ropes, but it is definitely worth it.
However, we also have some good news - we are coming back to the office!!!! Most of us are now vaccinated and our Warsaw members will be able to come back to the office, meet in person, and work like it was before the pandemic. On that side, it feels like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel...
We hope that these few paragraphs alleviated some of your disappointment with the delay of the game. We are trying our best to bring you Inkulinati as quickly as possible, but we also want you to receive a version of Inkulinati that’s fun, memorable, and as bug-free as it can be.
We will be giving you more updates on how the game is progressing throughout the year. We will be keeping you in the loop. And here’s a little taste of what we’ve been working on in the last few months. We hope you’ll like what you’ll see :)
Ok, that’s it from us. Do let us know if you have any questions or comments - just write them below.
Take care and until next time,
Yaza Games Team