Game Development: Haven & Hearth on Steam

[Procne]

What will happen if Steam version of the game turns out to be a disaster and devs decide to pull out of it, because it's not worth it anymore, but there would already be some "verified" steam accounts? Without account linking those accounts would surely demand a refund. Doesn't account linking give devs more flexibility in such scenarios?

[NoBizd]

Will we be able to have private worlds where we can play peacefully with friends at our own speed?

No, sadly there will be no private servers. That was one of first questions on stream and J&L are against those.

I feel like the devs were kinda mislead into thinking steam is some sort of free huge exposure while right now you cannot even search for it in the app (At least i can't).

Well, becasue Steam IS free and huge exposure if you have know-how. That's basically one of bigger part for what good publishers are taking their cut for. There is few tricks that can help even niche and free games from small studios. But J&L sadly are like babe in the woods, clearly having no idea about what they are doing. No offence, but that was clear on stream - 0 knowledge about reviews, wishlists, early access and so on.

[Granny]

dont understand a thing about steam but, games like albion and osrs that let you play within steam and nosteam in the same server with different launchers is not a reality for hnh?

No, in theory it could be, but if we also want to do the shorter world experiment along with keeping W15 around for longer, that would mean having to choose between them at some point, and I had been hoping to be able to keep a clean separation between them.

Yes please.

I think splitting up the playerbase IS a good idea, since we are really hard pressed to co-exist in the same world. I am not at all interested in the shorter worlds, nor in pvp. I would really love a version of the game to exist for a very, very, very long time.

[widelec_szatana]

THIS MAY LOOOK LIKE A CHEAP CASHGRAB BUT IT TOTALLY ISNT GUYYS!!!

t. jorb

[Acidinmyfridge]

A week ago i read in another topic that servers had been expanded to include single player and private servers.

I have been thrilled about this ever since and hearing about a steam release i was more than stoked, because i was hoping we would get private server options with that.
Just like Wurm Unlimited: buy the game, play single player or with friends on private servers.

How will the inclusion of single player / private servers apply in both, steam-version and non-steam version? Can you please elaborate on this?


Besides what everyone else is pointing out about the shorter world cycles and allowing ppl to connect to steam servers using own/custom clients and seatribe accounts,
it sounds to me as well, that the steam-version would be seasonal and aimed at active pvp-players whereas the non-steam version will result in (hopefully) permanent world with continuing slow pace.
Which would certainly appeal to me (since i prefer pve) and i'd assume the pve-playercommunity in general.

It will be interesting to see how this will continue once it launched on Steam and what kind of players it will attract.
This game is niche, and i do enjoy that there is no hand-holding and one has to figure stuff out and the learning curve is steep and things take time.


I do wish for everyone who has supported you for many years, that you provide a proper solution to transfer verifications, hats and such to the steam-version.
And i do hope that everyone, no matter what way they play the game (be it hardcore open-pvp or hermit pve or whatever way they prefer) will still be able to
continue to do so. As you said yourself, there is more than one way to play this game.

[Acidinmyfridge]

dont understand a thing about steam but, games like albion and osrs that let you play within steam and nosteam in the same server with different launchers is not a reality for hnh?

No, in theory it could be, but if we also want to do the shorter world experiment along with keeping W15 around for longer, that would mean having to choose between them at some point, and I had been hoping to be able to keep a clean separation between them.

Yes please.

I think splitting up the playerbase IS a good idea, since we are really hard pressed to co-exist in the same world. I am not at all interested in the shorter worlds, nor in pvp. I would really love a version of the game to exist for a very, very, very long time.

+1

[Robben_DuMarsch]

I feel like the devs were kinda mislead into thinking steam is some sort of free huge exposure while right now you cannot even search for it in the app (At least i can't).

Well, becasue Steam IS free and huge exposure if you have know-how. That's basically one of bigger part for what good publishers are taking their cut for. There is few tricks that can help even niche and free games from small studios. But J&L sadly are like babe in the woods, clearly having no idea about what they are doing. No offence, but that was clear on stream - 0 knowledge about reviews, wishlists, early access and so on.

Unfortunately, I need to agree with this assessment. Jorb and Loftar, if you are reading this, Steam is a one time opportunity. You're sitting on 15 years of work and you *can* harness the goodwill and existing community to make this huge. But you aren't there yet, you *should consider* pausing this, educating yourselves on steam, and publish this with the weight of the community behind you.

Short list of things you need to do:

1. Accumulate wishlists prior to launching.
2. Get community unequivocally behind you so that they will review positively and spend money on launch.
3. Use the opening paragraph of your steam store page to include the important disclaimers on the genre of game discussed here. You did include most of the relevant information, but it's very far down. Unfortunately, most players will probably only watch the first video and read the first paragraph. Also, many will get angry if they play and later realize that there was monetization that wasn't *visible* on the store page.
4. Consider running an early access "Season 0" on steam where all subs and verification are given for free, only introducing monetization at S1 when you leave early access. This is because you want the game to leave early access when you monetize to maximize visibility on steam. The "Season 0" will give you time to get your adjustments made for shorter wipes, and to work out kinks with steam integration and hopefully give you the time you need to get all hats/verifications from the W15 branch transferred over.

tl;dr
To maximize visibility you need 80% or higher positive reviews, wishlists for a period of visibility leading up to launch day, and some amount of money spent by players through steam on launch day (early access doesn't matter for monetization.) To not have the game review bombed by your existing playerbase, you need to fully address to their satisfaction their complaints about being double charged.

[pagsiu]

Will you update and patch non-steam server(s) as well? Or is W15 considered a "legacy" server from now on?

[송태권]

Did you forget that this world is a 'water-bugged' world?
I really don't understand why you're rushing the Steam release, even though you haven't prepared enough for Steam release, while neglecting the 'water-bugged' world.

[Robertzon]

I feel like the devs were kinda mislead into thinking steam is some sort of free huge exposure while right now you cannot even search for it in the app (At least i can't).

Well, becasue Steam IS free and huge exposure if you have know-how. That's basically one of bigger part for what good publishers are taking their cut for. There is few tricks that can help even niche and free games from small studios. But J&L sadly are like babe in the woods, clearly having no idea about what they are doing. No offence, but that was clear on stream - 0 knowledge about reviews, wishlists, early access and so on.

To not have the game review bombed by your existing playerbase, you need to fully address to their satisfaction their complaints about being double charged.

This will happen anyways considering the brainlets playing this game, they will never be satisfied and troll til the end, just check how the forums are now thanks to them.