In December, we had the Live Stream, that announced the Steam Release for the first half (quarter?) of this year.
On the special discord channel for supporters, molp said he wants to push a maintenance release before CX challenge is concluded.
In the recent dev blog, Martin said he will be cutting some Steam features (achievements, for example) to push the Steam “version” out the door earlier.
We also know that Airline Sim will get some much deserved love.
But I do wonder what direction PrUn will be going in this year?
Yes we got the Roadmap, but I am looking more detail/information on what’s next. I am not asking for dates (release dates are always bad), I am asking for a more general outline.
For example, the last two years were all about pushing features out.
What’s in the immediate future for PrUn?
More features, fleshing out/fixing existing features, “just” bug fixes and QoL improvements, these kind of things.
Maybe @molp, @martin and @Counterpoint can give us an outlook. I am sure it would help with player retention and easing some of the frustration players are experiencing. It might also help with Pro license retention.
I would also like to know about this. I understand that the development team is small in number but large in heart; however, forward progress is always good to know about / hear about.
The Steam port will hopefully bring in revenue to alleviate concerns about cash flow so that depth can be added to the game.
Hey Gladi, thanks for asking this important question
Before going into what we will do next, it might make sense to discuss who is doing what!
Martin is working pretty much full time on the new AirlineSim Technology Demonstrator for the forseeable future. He will be available for consulting in technical and game design questions though.
Fabian is also working on the ASTD, but not full time. He will do PrUn game design and also help out developing features.
Nick and Lena are also working on both projects, in marketing and communication.
I will be focusing on the PrUn development.
Here is what we decided to work on in the next months. Please take it with a grain of salt, as we (as usual) might change plans if necessary:
Maintenance (maybe named) release
The next release will bring a lot of bug fixes for both the mobile and desktop version of the game. Feature-wise it will incorporate the new maps (done) and a change in taxation (currently working on) and governor programs (scheduled for next week).
Faction Expansion Challenge
After the release we want to resolve the Faction Expansion Challenge.
Steam Release
The Steam release is the most important project in the first half of this year. Besides implementing the actual Steam client and integrate with the Steam platform we also have to implement a few features in the game to be able to handle a potential large influx of new players. We also need to adjust a few things in our accounting backend for Steam to work. A rough estimate done by Martin an me shows that this will keep us busy for quite a while and we want to evaluate whether or not Steam brings in new revenue rather sooner than later. This is why Martin referred to “cutting features”. If we have to release the first version of the Steam client without achievements and Steam works for us, then we will add it at a later point in time.
Beyond Steam
Now we are in territory that is usually marked as “Here be dragons” on a map. We do have the governance and infrastructure updates designed and “only” need to implement them. We can’t foresee what will happen after a steam release though and this is why we didn’t make any concrete plans for the time afterwards!
I hope that it is a bit clearer now where we are headed!
