102 hours later - a rambling retrospective thing

So as of tonight, I just noticed i've clocked in over 100 hours into this game.
100 hours of watching my little colonists plant things and build things and starving to death and dying in all other sorts of terrible ways.

100 hours of bug and crash reports and screenshots and drinking numerous cups of coffee until 5am because I just want to see what will happen to my colony the next day.
Starting over fresh with every patch, just to see what new goodies have been implemented.

I just don't know what it is about this game that clicks with me so well.
I could be playing Fallout or something right now, but instead i'm waiting for my colonists to build this freaking chapel so I can see it working again.
I guess it just scratches that 'city building' itch I always have, as well as having that addictive 'dwarf fortress-y' flavor of randomness that makes me keep coming back, just to see what happens.

It also helps that the community is friendly as heck, and that the devs actually 'listen' to the feedback they get, and that bug you reported is magically fixed in the next patch.
I think this is the first early access game i've ever been a part of where I honestly feel like i've made a difference in the game in a small way, and it makes me feel eager to keep playing and reporting all the little weird things I find.
This game is amazing so far, and I can't wait to see whats in store for the future.

Anyway, keep up the good work guys, and heres to another 100 hours.

 

I dare not think of how much time I have spent on Clockwork Empires and CE-adjacent things like videography and guides and posting here and such. Suffice it to say it has satisfied my usual purchase price : hours calculation by one or two orders of magnitude.

 

I'm afraid to look at my CE hours. It's easily taken over the vast majority of my gaming time.

I'll echo everything you said. It's been years since I'veI even felt compelled to sign up for a gaming forum at all, much less participate so much in one. This is also the first game in years I haven't burned out on after a few hours/days/weeks depending on the game. The fact that the developers and community are so amazing just makes it all the better.

Cheers!

 

Exactly this.

Whilst I am more drawn to engage via forums if I get drawn in sufficiently to a game, it's very rare that I'm as active as I've found myself with CWE especially for so long, though admittedly I didn't make the transition to these forums from the Steam forums for quite some time.

And I think the reason this game is such a special case is a reflection of the fantastic work Gaslamp do engaging with the community, the reason there is so much draw because there's a real sense that even long rambling whines are taken onboard even if in a some of cases as more:

"Well this person is clearly getting the wrong idea and their direct suggestions are ramblings that can't really be applied... but WHY are they getting that impression? Maybe something needs to be clearer and then see the reaction".

But that in itself is a great thing to see as I don't think any suggestion or impression should really be seen as absolute and accurate as it stands, but at the same time there can still be something that can be taken from such opinions even if it's not the direct target of the feedback. Yet it's all to common to see developers going:

"Yeah, well I know it's not like that so I'm just going to immediately decide you don't have anything to provide in your feedback"

But feeling that it's possible relay how something comes across personally and have it weighed up against other impressions as still tangible feedback in some capacity rather than just being outright dismissed because "It's outside the scope of the average findings" is extremely awesome.

On several occasions I've felt Gaslamp have taken feedback and actually put in the time to explain the rationale behind it, the next steps in the logic behind the immediate changes and pushed for further clarification on things even if it was something that it seemed clear they felt wasn't the case... just to make sure there wasn't something overlooked or some play behaviour they hadn't anticipated that does bring about what was being fed back to them... and that's damn rare to see with a project.


I hope at some point once Clockwork Empires has gone gold (and after a nice rest), that Gaslamp actually take the time to do some write-ups in areas like Gamasutra about how they handled community engagement, taking on-board feedback, how they structured things and how that fed back into approaching development. Because I think there are A LOT of developers (and project managers) out there that could learn a lot from this game based on how it has gone so far.

As for playtime:



But as others have pointed out, that's just time in-game. Not counting other time spent in other areas related to the game.

 

Also echoing what others (@Unforked , @Tikigod, @Samut , @razrien, @Alephred , etc. ) have said. Many Early Access backers have had similar experiences of being hurt recently when they feel they have been let down by feelings of disappointment. I knew that Clockwork Empires was a special game, but I did not expect the extent of how special the game is as well as the people (@dbaumgart , @MOOMANiBE , etc.) behind developing it, and including the community of players that take part in the process. We are comforted by the sight of the brave game developers keeping the future of Clockwork Empires safe. It is a rare quality to have a game where you actually care for the feelings of your game characters, not just their survival in game. Also, very few games inspire desire their players to devote time spent in areas other than playing (forum and wiki for me).

Sadly, I will have to start to take up more responsibilities in my real life that will detract me from enjoying playing this gem we call Clockwork Empires.

 

Just sleep less. A good three hours is all we need, really.

 

Yeah my Overseer is less happy when I show up one shift late at the Workshop because i've been performing Occult Rituals in front of an Eldricht Appartatus at night.

 

Oh thank god, I'm so glad there are people that have more hours in this than me. Although I've always had to abandon games when it inevitably bugs out, I'm just start again asap.

 

Ah .. more of the same. But I have left it a good while now to wait for things to stabilise a bit. At one point, I was starting a new game every few hours due to issues - can get demoralising ... but then I start again

 

I tend to find that I can't get super far into a game before disaster, in one form or another, strikes. Sometimes it's a bug and I just decide it's better to start over, other times a horde of enemies come and wipe out my little corner of happiness.

 

I'm only at 94 hours. Feel like a newbie now.

 

434 hours - I must get out more

 

Should we add to your tally like 1000 hours of coding related to the game?

 

Lets not give Nicholas an unfair advantage, playing is playing, coding is coding!

 

Welp



To be fair, some of that is me leaving the game running overnight to see what would happen. It's one of the ways to get more than 100 people in your colony.

 

So, what did happen?

 

I got 100 people by just playing the game and I can tell you that framerate got cut in half, I feel like the simulation is noticeably jerkier too. Still seems to work ok so far...