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The Stomping Land was a project that we've been quietly excited about for some time. It features an open world survival system where you tame and fight with dinosaurs. You can even ride them if you survive for long enough. It also recently released on Steam, so some of you have dived in to see what all the fuss is about and how the game is shaping up. Unfortunately, some of you have now gotten in touch to say that the game looks like it might be dead. One of you even suggested it might be an early access scam.
The developers involved with The Stomping Land have always been a quiet bunch. Since the original Kickstarter just over a year ago, the updates have been weeks and occasionally months apart. They've been there though, until recently, when things got eerily quiet. None of the social network accounts have been posted on since May and the official forum is filled with people raging about the lack of updates. All of this came to a head today however, when the PR manager for the game announced that his contract had actually ended when the Early Access version of the game hit Steam at the end of May.
“I should have elaborated more in my Monday post on why I am discontinuing the weekly updates,” said GovernorOstritch on the official forums, referencing his announcement that going forward, he wouldn't be updating the community on what's going on. His most recent posts boiled down to saying that the game was being worked on but he couldn't talk about it.
“I will no longer be handling the PR for The Stomping Land. I work as a contractor/freelancer and I have been under no obligation to do work for The Stomping Land since May 31 when my contract expired. It has been my desire to see this game succeed and so I've continued acting in this capacity while I pursue other ventures when time permits. ”
Ultimately, he said that he didn't want to “string the community along,” when he had nothing to report on the game's status.
Did somebody hit the developers with their bolas? You know they can't get out yet, right? That feature hasn't been added yet.
The problem with the community as it stands, is no one knows what's going on. Early access reviews of the game haven't been favourable, as there's a lot of missing content at the moment, with a lot still to do. Even the game is being updated, it's not clear when it will happen or what's going on as communication with the community has completely halted.
The worry from those that remain fans of it, is that by the time the next update rolls around or dare I say it, the game is actually released, no-one will care anymore.
The only notification that something is being done with the game, is that the sound development is still ongoing, as this was posted on Youtube a couple of days ago.
KitGuru Says: Have any of you been playing around with the early access version? Considering it's £19 in such an early stage, it seems like many people simply feel ripped off.
“Considering it’s £19 in such an early stage, it seems like many people simply feel ripped off. ”
Its early access for a reason theres no guarantee of a finished game or that the game will stay the same its why people should stop buying into early access
This is why you should NOT support developers on steam Early access, I know its illegal but you should actually Pirate there games and see for yourself what it looks like before you pay $30 for an unfinished piece of the pie.
RUST – $30 Early Access game..no great update for months, devs redoing the entire game…Basically to put it bluntly there where 5 full servers (100 players per server) in my country..now there are 9 servers with only 13 players between them…that says it all.
DayZ – paid what $30-40 for an unoptimised version of Arma 3 with zombie skins instead of AI….There is a mod in Arma 3 which does a better version of DayZ and that was created by some dude on his own with no $30,000,000 to 50,000,000 budget…
The list literally goes on and on…don’t give them money until they actually make the games “fun” and playable, we even gave WatchDogs our money…we shouldn’t have
I agree with the DayZ thing but you’re not entirely correct in your thoughts. Rust was shaping up to be something that the devs couldn’t continue to work with due to a sloppy base that required too much work change, so they’re restarting and it should make it easier on them to push updates and fixes easier, you can even play the new version of it and everyone that’s already paid will get that version as well. Early access isn’t about just paying for a game early, for a lot of devs, it’s a way to get funding as they go; my favorite example would be Planetary Annihilation. The game is already in a state that’s very playable and very fun, but they’re adding more to it, and buying EA to it gets you a chance to watch it as they mould and change the game. It’s also a way for players to essentially become part of the creative process, if the players don’t like a change the developers make as they go, the players can say so.
Of course it’s a two way street, and there will be those that try to cash out early on and never fulfill their promises, but for some games it’s a useful tool and fun for people that enjoy watching a game evolve.
Gareth, you should just not buy early access games because you’re in impatient simpleton who can’t read the bold warnings before you buy.
Rust, sure they didnt update for a bit but they did keep you in the loop as to what they were doing. Dayz, same thing they talk to the community let you know whats happening. These are what devs in early access are supposed to do, early access/alpha is not about adding every feature as quickly as possible, quite the opposite actually. Maybe you should look up what alpha testing etc is actually about, and stop crying about others when its you who are incompetent with your own money.
Stompingland is the only steam early access example (that I have personal experience with) of why you should do your homework before buying an early access game, the game devs completely disappeared and gave little to no communication with the game community which is exactly what you’re not supposed to do at any point in a games development/release.
If anyone wants to try a solid Early Access title, try 7 Days To Die. They have updates or hotbox every 3 or 4 weeks, and their website is constantly being updated. It’s much better (but not as pretty as) than Arma 3, and it’s really shaping up to be something pretty great.
interesting look on Early access and Thanks for the update on Rust, Rust just seemed to have been a rushed process to get “something” out to the consumers so they would pay for a Pipe Dream, They could of easily taken the money and kept rust the way it was…Build a house, PVP and wake up to all doors missing, all items gone and all people living in your house dead! Its risky…I am glad they aren’t those types of developers..since I posted I have learnt that they are also learning new coding techniques as they go along..I am once again happy to support them.