I am sad

[ronardo]

Let me start by saying this is the most unique game I have ever played. The combat system is 11/10. Its the best I have come across in my life. It takes a while to master but when you do master it, its amazing. The level design is ok and the dungeon is fine but it gets boring after the second playthrough.
I am extremely frustrated by the developer team because It feels like for the past 4 years the game has been practically the same, from an outsider's perspective. I know they roll an update here or there but they are minor improvements.
I absolutely love this game but I think it will just fade because of a lack of vision and efficiency by the developers. In 2015 this would have been a revolutionary game if it came out. In 2020 still would have had massive success if it was released properly (proved by millions of views on youtube).
But with every year that passes this game loses its relevance and its uniqueness. I am just extremely sad that developers dont realize this. I am not sure where is the problem: a lack of leadership, lack of vision, lack of developers, lack of funding... But all these problems can be solved.
I guess in the year 2030 when this game is finished I will still play it but I will probably be one of the few people who stuck with it for all these years and then it will fade to obscurity.

 

[Parco]

Welcome to the forums. The combat is indeed great, it was the first thing that caught my eye back early in 2013 when i first started following this project and been in love with it since. I do wonder what you mean its loosing its relevance and uniqueness? Is there other games doing things that Baremettle is doing?
As you said, from the outsiders perspective it probably looks very minor what has been added considering how long it has gone, a few levels here, some animation improvements there, some spells, skills etc. But there is a lot of "behind the scenes" development going on and you can read about some of them in the "coffee diary" section here that Zetheros writes weekly. There a lot of features they have made and are gonna make and since their engine being entirely custom made with no third party programs then programming every "infrastructure" takes a lot of time and dedication, just the role system took a very long time to finish and now they have been working on dynamically generated weapons and updating how lights work so it can support way more light sources, etc. Sure their team is small and they don't have much funding, but they are each all hard at work doing long hours each day with what they each need to do and they are barely paying themselves a salary, their vision of the game is not only the same as it used to be, it has grown in scope. And considering the complexity of what they want to achieve which is a lot to program for a single programmer then calling it a lack of efficiency from the developers couldn't be further from the truth atm imo. Also remember that the systems and features/the whole engine itself that they are developing now is meant for Sui Generis, not Exanima and thus is a overkill for Exanimas alone, had they only wanted to focus on pushing out Exanima and cash in on that to get bigger funding then they would have been done long time ago as things didnt need to be as complex(no need for procedural armor and weapons, no need to support multiple light sources, AI could be way simpler, etc etc)
I highly doubt it will take as long as 10 more years for Exanima to finish, considering what there was in the game 6 years ago (or even 5 when it was released on steam) and what features and systems there is left to develop now then would think its relatively close to being done, what has stopped them from putting out newer levels is because things in those levels need features/systems that isn't done yet and they want to avoid putting out levels that are too incomplete. Ranged skills, some more thaumaturgy abilities, proper integration and usage of the role system and dialogue, multiplayer, the last few levels and probably some more system updates for things that needs that and it might be enough for a v1 release of Exanima, but one never knows because suddenly things take longer time than initially thought or they realize they need to update or even remake other things to work properly, programming is a lengthy process, especially when one wants things to work best as possible.

 

[ronardo]

As you pointed out. They are working on procedural weapons for another game + they are fixing the lighting. Two things that will have minimal impact on exanima. What if instead of that they worked on multiplayer for the arena mode? Maybe even for the story. That would make the game competitive and worth learning the combat system for new people.
Maybe they should just enable mods and let the modding community wild. Then maybe incorporate some mods to the game itself if they are good = free development

 

[Jimmini]

I can see why it might look like that on the surface, and in a way it's true. Aside from mind thaumaturgy and one companion, there hasn't been added much in terms of core gameplay features. That's all I could potentially agree with you though. The updates are far from minor; while the mentioned core gameplay usually doesn't change much, the things that have been added especially in the last few updates have been massive and absolutely fundamental to further the game in a much larger and more meaningful way than some mechanics that are immediately obvious to players. Perhaps all you care about is the combat, and that's why you think the game isn't going anywhere, but in that case you're just missing out on the even better stuff. In that case I'm also confused why you would think procedural weapons will have minimal impact, since weapons are the core of combat, and will also improve it in other ways than just selection. Improving the rendering has implications on what content they can add and has a big impact on immersion, so that's hardly a minimal addition either.

The developers are extremely ambitious, the complete opposite of lacking a vision or efficiency. Players almost always equate progress with changes that are directly visible in game, and for most other games that would indeed mostly be the case as they are more often than not just barely interactive movies, but it's simply a wrong assumption in this case. The entire premise of the game is having a dynamic, functional world that is simulated in great detail and the player can interact with however they see fit. Simply producing more content or adding shallow isolated game mechanics just doesn't cut it to get closer to that goal. Achieving it requires things like completely novel, complex and efficient technology, countless developer tools, and a whole new (or forgotten) approach to game design. That's not something developers would engage in if they were lacking a vision, and not something a player would always gain much benefit from in the short-term.

If you take a good look at the announcements of various game updates and the weekly status updates, you'll find mentions of such things, like the core AI system, the role system, the dialogue system, or core thaumaturgy systems, and their related tools. Things like these take a lot (sometimes a mind-boggling amount) of work, and the team always only has one programmer, who also does many things besides.

But regardless of the reasons why it takes so long, these aren't things that simply lose their appeal in a few months like the latest fads other games run after. There are also no other companies that try anything even remotely similar. In fact, the game goes against any and all modern design principles that have been established over the last decades. If anything, games will only go further and further in the opposite direction of this one.

No offense, but you seem to have a very short-sighted expectation on what they should work on. Also, if you think random mods would meaningfully complement the game according to it's design or save the developers any sort of work, you must have a very low view on the game.

The game's community never stopped growing, and upcoming additions will only accelerate it, as will the eventual release.

 

[ronardo]

I understand that I won't change any minds of the people here, let alone the developers. I just wanted to express my frustration. I adore this game and can't wait to play it when it's finished, I just think that the developers' approach of what is a priority for this game is flawed. I look forward to the day they prove me wrong with a finished game.
By the way was there any announcements of when the multiplayer might come out? Is it even planned?

 

[Jimmini]

Well, their priority is to make the game they've been dreaming about since they were childhood friends, and not to sell the most copies by making what the widest possible audience demands, hence why I think "flawed" is a terrible word to describe their approach.

And yes, PvP and co-op multiplayer over low-latency networks is planned. They have a plan on its implementation already, but no date yet.