While that is going on we're getting closer to the next big update. We hope it will be ready sometime in August. We will probably release a public preview branch a few days before we release it to the public giving those curious about the update a chance to preview and test it before the public gets it - in case we have missed something.
We're also noticing a rumour that claims we are about to abandon the game. That's not true. It wouldn't make sense for us to build a game over 6+ years just to abandon it less than a year after release. We will continue to release smaller updates and bug fixes now and then but we have no more big updates planned. Here's the original topic with our reply https://www.mythologicinteractiveforums ... f=8&t=3733 :
Hjarpe wrote: It's true that we haven't made enough money to quit our dayjobs yet. Lack of time has always been the main problem facing the game. We obviously don't have the sort of momentum and energy we would have if we could work on it full-time.
It's also true we aren't as hands-on with our community as some other devs are, mainly due to said lack of time and partly due to my introverted (Swedish) personality. We're more comfortable focusing our attention on the game itself and using the forum to respond to your questions and broadcast information. Juggling other platforms like Discord I feel would add stress to our lives.
As for the player count, we're not ignoring the problem. We obviously won't let the game die. But we're not interested in doing microtransactions, so free-to-play is our very last resort. We have other cards to play before it comes to that. Our priority after the next update is expanding to as many other PC platforms as possible besides Steam. This will increase our exposure and hopefully inject some fresh blood into the playerbase.
The current situation for me personally is that working on the next campaign is swallowing pretty much all my time and mental energy. It's almost done, and it's gonna be great (I think!) but it's becoming clear that the "investment return" on campaigns isn't great. Instead of spending months on something most players will experience only once or twice, the same amount of time could have been spent on smaller pieces of content with more value to players.
With this in mind, it looks as though this next update will be the last big update we release for SFD. Partly because 7+ years working on anything seems long enough, and 3 campaigns seems like a respectable number. In short, we want to move on and focus our attention on our next game pretty soon. BUT...
Even though SFD won't be our main project, we'll try to inject life into it with small updates now and then. As we get a bit of distance from it, we may be able to see more clearly what needs to be tweaked for balance and what small things can be added that will have the biggest effect on the game. Quality over quantity, in other words. And if we get the funding we need to work full-time, we'll be able to do a lot more in this regard - new maps, challenges, weapons, customization items, etc. We'll see!
Sorry if this was a rather rambly response. There are a lot of factors to this, and we're still very much in the thick of it. We'll know more after we release the next update and have a nice, much-needed vacation.
