Suspending development of networked multiplayer

Discussion in 'Clockwork Empires General' started by dbaumgart, Jan 27, 2016.

  1. dbaumgart

    dbaumgart Art Director Staff Member

    I'll repost here the statement from today's blog post:
    "We have decided to suspend development of simultaneous networked multiplayer for Clockwork Empires indefinitely. There are, simply put, technology issues and design issues that we don't feel we can satisfactorily solve in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, we don't want to devote time to addressing those issues if that time will detract from the single player experience, which people are currently enjoying and which is the major thrust of the game. Support will exist in engine for round robin "let's play" games, and we will continue to build that out as we work our way out of Early Access and into a new stage of development, which we are tentatively calling, uh, "Access." As always, we thank you for your patience and understanding of the harsh realities of game development."

    If you like, feel free to share your thoughts with us by emailing contact@gaslampgames.com or, of course, by chatting with us here in the forums.
     
    Kaidelong likes this.
  2. Unforked

    Unforked Member

    Honestly, I always forget networked multiplayer was even coming. I remember once in awhile and think *neat*, but it isn't a major interest of mine.
     
    STGGrant likes this.
  3. Samut

    Samut Member

    Between this and the Hat Pack blog post from a couple of weeks back, it would suggest that Gaslamp is looking to wrap up Early Access. Is there a date in mind for this, even if you can't tell us what it is?
     
  4. dbaumgart

    dbaumgart Art Director Staff Member

    Uh, no comment?

    But, honestly, what we're doing is thinking concretely about what the shipped game looks like and conducting development accordingly. It's probably an attitude that comes around to all of us with the new year and all that, reflecting upon goals etc, you know?
     
  5. Samut

    Samut Member

    Fair enough.

    I'm not raising objections to dropping/delaying features in general; knowing what to take away can be as important as knowing what to add. I would just hope that enough features get kept and made to work properly before CE is released.
     
  6. Rentahamster

    Rentahamster Member

    To be honest, I didn't even know that was a planned feature to begin with.
     
  7. dbaumgart

    dbaumgart Art Director Staff Member

    Oh, certainly! And that's quite the point, as per the bit that's like "we don't want to devote time to addressing those [multiplayer] issues if that time will detract from the single player experience, which people are currently enjoying and which is the major thrust of the game".

    *thumbs up*
     
  8. Mikel

    Mikel Waiting On Paperwork From The Ministry. Forever.

    Given that I was not sure what multiplayer would actually look like, this is not too sad a thing. I was also having some concerns about the exploitation of some systems being a potential problem with multiplayer.
     
  9. Rentahamster

    Rentahamster Member

    I also had no idea that this game started out on Kickstarter, too :p

    There's a lot of things I don't know.
     
  10. I'd much rather have a robust single-player experience than a jumbled mess with multiplayer. It kind of makes me think of Tropico 5's multiplayer. It sounded cool, but I don't think anyone actually played it.
     
  11. Tikigod

    Tikigod Member

    No real biggy in my book.

    Though like Samut pointed out, seems rather clear that Gaslamp are hoping to wrap up early access in the next couple of months and then continue some things post-release, what with this news and Nicholas mentioning the blueprint/module effort to get in place a system that would be usable for release conditions.

    If anyone starts a pool on guesstimates, put me down for between late-April and mid-May at the latest. ;)
     
  12. Unforked

    Unforked Member

    https://community.gaslampgames.com/threads/guess-the-final-revision-number-launch.16184/

    :)
     
  13. Tikigod

    Tikigod Member

  14. Unforked

    Unforked Member

    My guess was very arbitrary and mostly wishful thinking. But if I turn out to be right... I'll use my powers of weird luck for good in the world.
     
  15. Nicholas

    Nicholas Technology Director Staff Member


    Wait, we didn't do a kickstarter. Who did a kickstarter?
     
  16. Rentahamster

    Rentahamster Member

  17. Nicholas

    Nicholas Technology Director Staff Member

    Well, I guess they beat us to shipping.
     
  18. mrclint

    mrclint Member

    Neither did I =)
     
  19. Wolg

    Wolg Member

    For those of us with the Trait: Morbid Technical Curiosity, might there be a rundown at some point of the issues in question?
     
  20. STGGrant

    STGGrant Member

    100% fine. At a theoretical level, I like the fantasy of "work with friends to build things". Turns out, though, that I often don't have enough to do while I wait for buildings or modules to build, resources to accumulate, and new overseers and workers to arrive. Simultaneous multiplayer seems like "more people doing less work and waiting around more", and that's not a very exciting game. Now in fairness, I haven't played since the very first iteration of the Foreign Office, so there might be more micro-management to do. (Silly Steam gift cards. Silly Fez... and Civ 5.) But I don't think I'm wrong.

    Meanwhile, I love the idea of round-robin multiplayer. I've got everything just the way I want it; but I have to hit that "send to next player" button, no matter how much trepidation there is about what'll happen. And getting the colony back, loading it up, and screaming "What happened?!" at my friends promises all sorts of fun.

    Two small enhancement requests for round-robin, by the way:

    1) Multiple options for player order in game (assuming that's managed in-game at all.) Some people might want a predictable round-robin order; but some might want a random order each round.

    2) A summary of major events since you last played that particular colony. I'm sure that's pretty obvious, but I wanted to call it out specifically.