4Game

I am writing this knowing that I may offend some part of the community, but I want to spark a discussion. Thoughts. Not empty platitudes.

This game has two serious problems which I will mention here.

1. Game development.

I understand they are a small studio (I think they have about 10 people). I understand that the employment system in Sweden is different (holidays off) and I would be angry with the creators if they started crunching. Because crunch is an evil that burns out even the most ambitious creators.

I understand that hiring additional employees will not immediately speed up the release of updates, because new employees need to be implemented internally.

But development should be commensurate with earnings. This is not the case in Valheim. IG made a lot of money, plus the money MS got for the Xbox version. And what? And nothing. The creators only do the bare minimum. And I will chastise them for it whenever possible. For poor planning of the game's development, for poor management. For too slow game development. The game development is too slow.

Mistlands was something we were waiting for and we finally got it, after almost two years (in the meantime, smaller things arrived) and kudos to them for that. Kudos to them for finally releasing something we've been waiting for for so long. But was it worth it? H&H and Hildir laugh that it took so much time for something like this. These updates weren't huge or significant. These two updates could have been included in Mistlands itself. Hildir Quest in particular is a mess. What did we get? NPC with clothes and the ability to change hair/beard. Waiting 9 months for something like this?

Many people may say that Project Zomboid, Sevent Days to die and other various games are games that will be in early access forever and have slow game development, so why not Valheim?

I have a question for such people. Do you seriously want the games to never be finished? Do you want semi-finished products? Do you want to say that it's raining when someone spits in your face?

1. The huge potential of Valheim. And there will be a few sub-points here.

Valheim has as much or more potential than Minecraft, and the developers are probably blind to it.

A huge sandbox with mobs, you can build whatever you want, interesting and addictive crafting. Additionally, the game is ugly in its sweet way (just like my beloved Gothic). But there is a problem.

And the problem, of course, is water. I know that adding it as a normal "fluid" that we can influence in some way is currently very difficult to do (reworking the game engine), but if someone had thought about it from the very beginning, the game would have been much more interesting. Especially since it's a game about Vikings, where the sea is practically a second home. And some degree of control would be something.

And since it's a game about Vikings, developers have their own limitations. The creators often say that they will not add X because it will not fit the style of the game about Nordic mythology. And that is acceptable. They have their own vision of the game and none of us has the right to interfere with it. On the one hand, these are shackles to the development of the game.

On the horizon we have Enshrouded, from the creators of Portal Knights. Could it threaten Valheim? Yes. If the creators don't release Ashlands in December, it's very bad.

Can he realistically steal Valheim players? I don't know.

But I know the game is almost the same as Valheim and can mess things up.

I don't know if any Developer will read my ramblings. Maybe yes, maybe no, who knows.

Why am I writing this?

Because I can.

Because I have that right.

Because I spent 700 hours on this game and had a lot of fun, but I see its problems.

Because I want to force some players to reflect. To stop blindly defending the game and its creators and draw reasonable conclusions. Of course, I don't want to incite anyone to hate, because that is not the goal.

And please do not respond to me with similar texts that Total War Creative Assembly recently sent to Total War players, such as "The right to discuss is a privilege, not a right acquired through playing."

I've seen many posts on this reddit before, and whenever I saw someone criticizing a game for slow development, a group of minions would suddenly appear and, with maniacal persistence, try to blindly defend the creator. Some of the arguments made me laugh, the most popular of which was: "YOU HAVE THE FULL GAME FOR $20 AND YOU ARE NOT ENOUGH? HOW DARE YOU!?"

Yes, I dare. But that's because I'm concerned about the progress of this game. Warning, this may be shocking, but this is not the full game. Since the game is in EA, the game is not finished. Missing biomes are the missing part of the game. And I'm waiting for them with a flushed face. It's the developer's decision, not mine, that the game is in EA.

Defensive players would probably be able to kill anyone who offended their game. "Constructive criticism? What is it? We don't accept it! It insults our game! BURN HIM AT THE STAKE!!!"

Such comments are on par with hate. From people who cannot approach any topic substantively.

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Let's love creators. Let's love their creations, but let's criticize them when something really bad happens.

Let's respect each other. We are the creators and the creators are us.

If you've read this far, thank you for your time and please. If you want to answer me, I want specific counter-arguments that will make me think too. I don't want a crying child who will tell me "BUT THIS IS MY BELOVED GAME IN LIFE AND YOU CAN'T SPEAK BAD ABOUT HER REEEEE!".

I want specific counter arguments.

See you at Ashlands, Vikings.