cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/32745702

Can I be the first to say:

NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I guess the writing was on the wall considering the game has been in development hell for many years, but I still look back at the original announcement trailer and think about how cool this game could have been. It was essentially sold as Minecraft but better - with proper combat, better exploration, powerful dedicated modding tools, and more. It was to be created by the creators of probably the biggest Minecraft server ever, which meant they understood the ins and outs of the game and what it needed to improve.

What a shame. At least we got Vintage Story.

  • LostWanderer@lemmynsfw.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    16 hours ago

    I’m not surprised, the opportunity that Hytale devs were given had been squandered thoughtlessly. I believe the game’s fate would’ve been different with a playable EA version. One that generated sales while building hype with major patches. With a game that has good bones, this style of development works rather well.

    • Annoyed_🦀 @lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      9 hours ago

      If Project Zomboid or Factorio didn’t have early access, both would fail too. This really sounds like project management problem

      • LostWanderer@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 hours ago

        Yeah, I agree, this is purely due to poor project management decisions. They’re scope seemed to grow into an unmanageable thing, this is likely a first time project… So this team didn’t have the knowledge to make a solid plan of action.

        As for Project Zomboid, as a person who paid for an early access version when it first landed…That game wouldn’t be where its at without early and steady funding.

        • Annoyed_🦀 @lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          5 hours ago

          Right? And Indie Stone had the worst luck of any indie dev out there and yet, against all odd, still release such a phenomenal game.

          • LostWanderer@lemmynsfw.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 hours ago

            Indie Stone did have a rough start, but, I do feel they are doing quite well. Despite the many setbacks, they’ve created a great game. I don’t play a lot of it, due to the desire to play a 1.0…However, I appreciate the small slices that I allow myself.

      • LostWanderer@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        13 hours ago

        Yeah, its a shame that the Hytale team didn’t think to do this, instead they wasted hype by doing an engine switch mid production.

  • Vaggumon@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    16 hours ago

    I’m sorry to see this happen. I honestly thought it was dead a long time ago, but still sad to learn it didn’t make it.

  • Pika@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    18 hours ago

    I think that’s the longest way I’ve ever seen of “Our parent studio decided this game isn’t financially feasible and told us to stop”.

    This project is definitely a parent studio decided that they didn’t like the game, so they decided to cancel it. Especially after Vintage Story proved that that type of game will sell, not at the metrics that a studio like Riot would want, but it would sell.

    Judging by the graphics in it that they’ve released so far, it definitely looks like they were a good portion into development as well, which is a shame.

    • popcar2@programming.devOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      edit-2
      17 hours ago

      This project is definitely a parent studio decided that they didn’t like the game, so they decided to cancel it.

      If you’ve read the past few development updates, it’s very likely that the team leadership is at fault and not Riot. They basically spent the last ~3 years moving the game to a new engine and the most they had to show was some concept art. I hoped that they were developing in secret to have some big reveal down the line, but it seems like the game really was going nowhere.

      I’m reading it more like the longest “we blew our budget and had no game” post.

      • Pika@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        15 hours ago

        I think you might need to reread the rest of my comment, because I think we’re on the same mentality.

        I’ve read the article, and I read the last development update, which seemed to be leading in the direction that they had fully intended on making a project.

        Their previous update is actually what made me have the mentality that I currently have, not the article you posted.

        The previous update was a progress update saying that they were beginning internal testing and they released images of what looked to be a fairly progressed game. And they had seemed super hopeful for the future. That is not an update that screams this project’s on the urge of being shut down.

        I stand firm with what I said that this game would have had potential. And while they didn’t make the greatest development decisions, I don’t believe the choice to shutter the project was their choice. That’s a lot of wasted effort for a team like that, and if they lasted this long the choice to close wasn’t theirs.

        It’s just the bean counters didn’t like how much it was costing for the game. So once again, what would have been a great addition to the gaming market was squandered due to greed.

        This is also why the indie market is starting to take off as well as it is again. Because unlike big corporations and studios, if an indie game starts to show signs of maybe not making a bunch of money, they don’t give a shit and they release the product anyway. Where if a large studio game starts to falter, the parent studio just shuts it down.

  • Wawe@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    16 hours ago

    I guess the scope was too ambitious. Economy is not doing that well so AAA studios don’t like to take any risks. Both this and Blizzard’s survival game was cancelled. It is sad that so many developer hours are wasted on these projects and we get nothing out of it. It would be amazing if these games would get released as open source for someone else to finish it.