PeaceIsland
patreon
Good news, and bad news.
🕑 Added 2021-11-26 23:35:24 +0000 UTCFor a change, I’ll start with the good news.
For all of those patrons who have repeatedly assured us that they know game development tends to hit snags, and are perfectly willing to wait a bit longer for us to “get it right:” We appreciate your understanding, because we will unfortunately need that time - not a lot of it - just some. You needn’t read any further - here’s a picture of Laura with an Island cat!
Now, for those who remain, here is the bad news.
We will require at least two more months to reach the point at which we can release an MVP. Here is why:
(Apologies in advance for the TL;DR, but we believe we owe our contributors the whole story, and the real deal.)
The initial purpose of any indie game project is to reach what is called “Minimum Viable Product.” This is a version of the software that contains the basic systems of the game, in a manner that is both functional, and simple enough that someone can get a quick, general idea of what the game is about, and how it is played.
Now - for a game like, say - the original Mario, all you need is this screen:
It displays every system that the player will really need to know: Movement/jumping, an enemy, a booster, timer/scoring, and the “mystery boxes.” Yes- there’s a LOT MORE to Mario, but within this single frame, you see all of the essential elements.
The reason why this is set as the essential goal is because an MVP is something that can be presented both to publishers, as well as the public at large, as the official precursor to an eventual demo.
In the case of Peace Island, we’re dealing with a MUCH more complex set of systems than the developers of Super Mario did, even if you exclude the differentiations between 3d and 2d.
Over the past two years, we have refactored a majority of the systems within the game, and as a result, Peace Island runs faster, loads faster, and boasts a dozen new systems. Overall- GREAT progress. However: behind the scenes, there remained one glaring issue:
The Core.
A great deal of the core of the game is still a holdover from when it was just Laura & myself working on the game by ourselves, as best as our budget & knowledge would allow. In some cases, we used brute-force methods that might have been less than efficient, but at least provided results.
When we brought on new talent, it was generally hoped that we could get the majority of the systems working within that rather fragile core.
Unfortunately, as time wore on, it became more and more obvious that we were approaching a situation where the law of diminishing returns was kicking in. Each new feature or system was taking just a bit longer to integrate.
To cut to the chase, here is where we are, as of today: There are four outstanding systems within the alpha that are currently not functioning as they should. Judging from the current rate of integration, we can expect that we can perhaps get the first of these functioning at 100% within another week.
All well and good - however, due to these core issues, each subsequent system will take, on average, twice as long to integrate within our current structure.
1 + 2 + 4 + 8 = 15 weeks
That’s almost four months, provided all things go well. Another disadvantage to this path, is that addressing the core issue at the end of those four months will be FAR more difficult, than it is now.
We are currently in a position where we simply must change our approach.
Over the next few days, we will be acquiring a new computer for our lead coder. Due to various issues, he has been stuck working with the original ASUS that we used to build the first, primitive version of the game four years ago. We need a machine at least twice as powerful as that to do what is required next, within a practical schedule:
Extracting currently everything good and functional within the existing peace island project, and re-assembling it all within a new, clean, streamlined core. This will take approximately two months.
Afterwards, we will be able to integrate the remaining systems, and produce the “Final Alpha '' that will contain everything that we wanted to give ya’ll. What is more, the sprints towards MVP and Public Beta will be FAR faster, because there will be far fewer issues, going forward.
Now- for those Patrons who might have signed up over the last two months, just to check out the now-delayed Final Alpha, and might feel cheated:
DON’T. Remember: Everyone who contributes over $2.00 to the project gets links to EVERY ALPHA - even if they later cancel their subscriptions. That also goes for EVERY OTHER premium tier - if you contributed 25$ to the project, you get your post cards, early access to the public demo, and the full game upon release, even if you feel like cancelling AT ANY TIME
We still send links to people who cancelled their support two years ago - some people think I’m crazy to do that, but I don’t think so.
You see, when Laura & I first started on Peace Island, we were still working at 45-hour-per-week jobs that, at the time, didn’t even pay what is now considered to be minimum wage. As a result, we KNOW how hard some of our Patrons work to earn those two dollars, and we will ALWAYS honor our obligations to our fellow travellers.
BTW: While this new core takes shape, work will continue on every other aspect of Peace Island. We will continue to post updates, and ship out premiums - speaking of which…
It has recently come to our attention that until recently, 1-2% of mailed premiums were coming back stamped “Return to sender” due to one issue or another. This stopped, around October of 2020, when Louis DeJoy - the individual appointed postmaster general by the previous head of state here in the USA - started radical “Reforms” of the postal service that led to increased costs, and slower delivery. I have a feeling one of this guy’s “reforms” was sending all undeliverable mail immediately to the dead letter office, which means that there are quite a few people out there whose premiums might have been thusly disposed of.
If you are due for postcard or print premiums, please get in touch with us- we will respond ASAP!
We will have another update, next week, after everyone has returned from their Thanksgivings, and we have a clearer schedule.
We sincerely apologize for this delay.
Comments
Looking forward to the final product, no matter how long it takes. Ive played plenty of games that started out bare bones (helloooo H1Z1, I miss you lol) and its fun to watch it develop. That said, I've messaged y'all a couple times about never having gotten my prints or postcards and you've said they'll go out ASAP but I seem to keep getting overlooked.
I am a recent Patreon supporter but that is to my embarrassment just because I was really slow getting around to it, after finding out about Peace Island (then getting lost in work eat sleep fall down work), then finding out more about Peace Island (repeat getting lost). Don't know if i can speak for other recent supporters but I did not join because it looked like getting done soon, I joined because it was about time I finally got around to it. Keep on what you are doing - it will be beautiful, whatever it is and whenever that occurs. Love seeing the partial glimpses even if not developed as you intend yet, but also respect and trust your integrity in developing the product you envision (or a version of your vision that is humanly possible at this time - expect you can imagine more than can be done, yet!)
