Fatshark response to the Roadmap

Fatshark Lounge
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Remember the roadmap that they showed, only to take down, then never update. Effectively leaving all of us in the dark, regarding the games development?

Well one of the devs managed to address this:

Fatshark Robin:

a few small notes: So that was shown after launch, not before (as you can read in the image itself)

We have delivered mod support, we have made technical improvements, we have tweaked gameplay, we have done a lot of rebalancing.

The map dlc and the servers definitely are behind schedule and we just simply have to own that, but I think and hope that everybody agrees that it’s better to release them when they’re done and good rather than try to prematurely rush them out to meet a previously stated release date. When we have release dates for these, you’ll know.

We ourselves are probably more disappointed than you are about the amount of time that we had to spend on just pure bug fixing after release and the consequences this has had to our release schedule, but the only thing we really can do is just keep at it and try to get things done as quickly as possible.

For those conspiracy theorists out there, why would anybody ever announce release dates they know they can’t hold? It doesn’t make any sense as the backlash and drama every time a release date isn’t met is no way worth any hypothetical extra sales that would be generated by saying something is going to be released a couple of months earlier. If anything we should go back to saying whenitsdone™ and not give estimates for things that aren’t done since it’s always a higher priority for us to release something good than on time.

Also regarding map dlc vs xb1: Level Artists and Level Designers aren’t really good at porting games to other platforms and they’re usually not great coders, so I can just debunk that myth right of the bat. The delay is not related to the console release, it’s just simply different people. Also, if you think we can port the game to xb1 in just the few months since release, well… it’s a bit more work than that :slight_smile:

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vermintide/comments/8u5h3i/reminder_that_the_roadmap_shown_before_launch_as/e1djzj7/

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Wow that post copped some flack…

I can’t imagine we’ll see too many posts like that, I read it as a fairly honest mea culpa, the replies are fairly toxic, which seems inappropriate to me.

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Steam community is far more toxic. In general, everyone is upset at the dev.

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I have been saying that the xbox version was probably in the works since before the PC version was even released. These things take a lot of time.

I can understand that they fell behind schedule, things popped up, shít happens. I’d be happy with a simple sneak peak of the new maps. Give us some Screen shots or something.

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Imagine what it would be like if one of the screen shots did not appear in the game… lol…

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lol xD

But yea, I think they kinda deserve all the criticism they’re getting. You can’t put out a road map with the release of the game and then half ass it and months later we’re still waiting. Not to mention, why haven’t they given an official response here, on their own forums? Are they more active on reddit than here?

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It’s starting to seem that way :confused:

Usually someone cross posts stuff to here, but it’s almost always second scoop here while reddit gets a lot more interaction.

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Well, I think it was a mistake to call fans disgruntled by fatshark not delivering upon the roadmap nor pre order bonuses the game was advertised with since before launch to this day, conspiratorial. It seems to shrug off a lot of the problems people have with the way the game has been handled and advertised, as non existent, by a fatshark representative who in the same stroke of breath managed to pretty much insult people.

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Robin added an edit, which didn’t make it into the OP’s post here, that directly addresses the perceived insult:

I’m not saying everybody who criticises us are conspiracy theorists. I’m saying that if you say we’ve had some elaborate plan to trick people by knowingly and intentionally not delivering the things in the road map on time, you are making up conspiracies that simply don’t have any basis in reality nor make any sense sales wise. Not keeping release dates is probably the worst thing you can do for sales after releasing something of poor quality, there’s no way it would make up for any potential extra sales that the road map might have given. The road map as a mistake and a failure, there’s not doubt about it. We wanted to tell you guys about all the cool stuff coming (that’s still coming), but it was quite clearly premature and we definitely grossly underestimated the amount of time and patching we would have to put in the month or two following the release.

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Edited in after the fact, for sure.

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Sure, because communication is hard. Especially with a hostile audience who refuse to give the benefit of the doubt for anything.

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Exactly, there should be standards that developers uphold. It’s a slap in the face to create a roadmap of all these core components and solid dates they are aiming to achieve, only to ghost the community and leave a game plagued with issues while they slap out console ports.

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Benefit of the doubt has been given for a long time, in my case anyway.

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Xbox porting?
Not enough coders?
Skaven attacked the Fat Shark offices and abducted majority of coders?
– Enter your theory here –

But at the end, it doesn’t matter, it’s end of the June and this is still happening. The price of this game crossed my mind as one of the reasons why we should maybe back off a little… but then, FS never told us: Gee guys, we didn’t charge you $50 for this, so give us some breathing room. So i’m just gonna drop that thought, it was a stupid thought.

This smells of bad planning/leadership and lack of communication inside FS.

But as I already said, I will give them time until September 8th to iron this game out.

Well why haven’t you postponed the launch then? Was it the budget/outside investors problem, were you forced to release it in march? Why didn’t you release in July or September? Why don’t you give us an approximate timetable? Yes, you might’ve fuc*ked it up but I believe that you will manage to handle it, but give us some tentative ETA; For instance, my assessment was that you guys needed 4-6 additional months to iron everything out. Am I close to truth?
@BrokenClock I’m aware you’ve just quoted Robin, I’m not directing this post at you :wink:

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I was asleep when he made the edit, thanks though.

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Why does Robin’s post sound so toxic? Is it just me or did he need to vent out some stress?

Anyway I think he does not realise that all these complains and “conspiration theories” are mere consequence of FS bad communication with the community. For months they don’t bother making any kind of official statement about the development of the game, and now we got this random response full of between-the-lines (which tbh basically says “f*k you we are trying, leave us alone”) ?

Wow… impressive PR Fatshark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW68goC4_es

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It does come off as hostile.

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To me, it comes off like a human being defending himself, his coworkers and his work while also apologizing for delays to a community that seems to act like they’re battling against an evil mega-corporation intent on cheating them.

But I guess it’s open to interpretation!

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Idk, I wouldn’t look too much into it. I’m just here to post relevant news, since no one in fatshark HQ wants to centralize information.

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The fact it was even mentioned as that just shows as a childish attitude.

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