Towns development

[supermalparit]

Hello everybody,

I can say that Towns v9 development has started, unfortunatelly not at a full rate of development, yet.

A lot of things happened to us since the Steam release, good and bad things, some ones releated to the game and others related to our personal lives. Those things affected me in a bad way, near to the point of give up the game. Fortunatelly I didn't give up but, in the other hand, I neglected the community.

I know that this is completely my fault and the most of you doesn't care about it (it's perfectly understandable), the only thing I can say is that I sorry what happened, really sorry. Now we are back, the Towns development will continue and we will try to post and reply more often in the forums.

As said in the first phrase, the rate of development isn't at 100% but I hope that in january we will be back on track at full. In the meanwhile you can check the patch notes post, I will post there our progress:
http://www.townsgame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1420

Also, let me use this post to thank our forum moderators and the users that, in some way, helped us replying and solving issues to the newcomers.

[Shadow131191]

You don't need to apoligize... your personal life is way more important than a game but I'm glad you explain why the development has been a little slow.
I'm glad you didn't give up on the game and I'm looking forward towards future updates !

[City Builder]

It's good to hear that you are getting back on track and continuing to update the game, to be totally honest I was starting to believe that you had indeed given up on updating the game, taken the money and run as they say what with the release on Steam.

I'm very pleased to know that my faith in your development firm was not misplaced and that you do indeed have sight of your responsibilities to the community that has backed you, sometimes fervently.

Best wishes for continued success and many future updates to come until this game is what you have been telling us it will be since at least when I signed up on this forum back in March or so.

[Duvel]

Great to hear from you! I hope your personal issues are or will soon be, resolved. I look forward to your updates and yes, I am too, very glad you didn't give up.

In the meantime, best wishes and happy holidays!

greetz,

Duvel

[JackPS9]

Ya word from Xavi, also posted this up over on steam seeing how it wasn't posted over there yet.
Love your work on Towns so far though, and can not wait for future updates.

Keep up the good work Xavi, and Ben.

[muzzy]

Good to see you posting!

Fortunatelly I didn't give up but, in the other hand, I neglected the community.

I know that this is completely my fault and the most of you doesn't care about it (it's perfectly understandable), the only thing I can say is that I sorry what happened, really sorry. Now we are back, the Towns development will continue and we will try to post and reply more often in the forums.

At least you're admitting it, that goes a long way.

Neglecting the community right after a launch was a big mistake though, it made a lot of people angry. I'm normally rather calm and it pushed me this far: my email to Steam Support on 14th December. I imagine you received a lot of feelings similar to mine from other disappointed people. I cannot possibly know how hectic the situation must've been for you, but please don't ever let things go like this if anything bad happens again. Your voice is needed here!

Now that we're moving forwards, cleaning up the store page is a thing even more important than the v9 patch. This needs to be done ASAP, and the fastest way to start is to get some real screenshots there. Those screenshots aren't supposed to be background images for game library, they're supposed to be things people use to make purchasing decisions. They need to show the game. You're also going to want a video there eventually. If you don't have time to make video, ask the community to make a video to showcase basic Towns gameplay. Maybe someone here on the forums could draft a new description to put on the Store page too, one that is clearer about the game being a work in progress.

You have a lot of fans here ready to help you, never forget that. This past week I've been going through your old blogspot, the old nabble forums, the old wiki, your bay12 posts, etc etc. The game didn't get this far because of you alone, it was because you worked with the community and embraced their enthusiasm. I believe continuing like that is the only way you can get through this mess now, so don't try to do everything on your own yourself. There's a lot of work ahead!

[The Blight]

Hurray!

[Kletian999]

Simple ask any of the dozen or so Town's Let's Players to use their videos, two in the beginning, and one later game video.

[YetiChow]

Congratulations on not giving up, and keep taking all the time you need - it's just a game after all, we can live without updates for a while (although not too long... there are already withdrawl symptoms showing )

I think one way to keep the community interested is to start up the build contests again - nothing quite so elaborate as the Mega Contest, but even goign back to the weekly contests with a simple theme might boost the interest in creative building.

Best wishes, and keep up the amazing work

[Kuro]

Stay strong, and take your time. But remind us from time to time that Towns is still alive. Without your input and/or presence hopes begin to fade, and the community can only withstand so much neglect.

Looking forward to further developments, and even further functionality exposure to the mod capabilities.

Best regards.