2021 - Year End Review
Osiris: New Dawn is Back!
2021 was a great year for Osiris: New Dawn. We completely cleaned the code base and got the project the healthiest it’s been since launch. We also streamlined the build process, commit system, and quality control protocols to allow for more developers to safely work on the projectsimultaneously without stamping out each other’s work or introducing collateral bugs. We can now safely have 10-20 developers contributing to the project with virtually no loss of productivity or conflicts, a huge improvement over years past.
Games As A Service - Lessons Learned
Steam “Early Access” is viewed as a service model so we learned how to do Games-As-A-Service, which was something completely new to us prior to launch. Instead of relying on a 3rd party for communication, such as a publisher or PR/Marketing firm, we transitioned this all internal late last year. This has proven to have numerous benefits, such as saving lots of time, getting announcement details correct and accurate, with far less PR mistakes or disasters. It also has allowed us to build a relationship directly with the players in a way we haven’t been able to previously.
We found this has been working for us and consider this best practices:
High quality website demonstrating features, progress, and support.
Frequent updates to the game, we went with WEEKLY updates to make up for some lost time.
A detailed Update Post with video demonstrating all the new material.
Update Posts are the key driver of all analogous content across all the channels: social, Discord, website, etc.
Social channels get these update posts at a minimum, keeping these channels relevant.
In game feedback channel with accompanying website displaying the feedback and screenshot.
“Ask The Devs” channel on Discord, with weekly meet ups.
Monthly Change List showing all the various Additions, Changes, Fixes and Removals.
Tello Board Roadmap with voting showcasing what has been complete and what is coming next.
Email support with 2 day maximum return time.
Experimental Branch - allowing us to push relatively untested builds quickly and easily.
These are the activities that we learned DO NOT work, and typically backfire with the community:
Avoid giving release dates. If we have to, we’ll give a range or time frame to allow for the inevitable extra time we’ll need.
Strive to state what we did, not what we want to do. Even though we’re just being hopeful and sharing our thoughts, players typically see posts as promises.
Screenshots of work in progress. If not in the game soon enough this can backfire.
Concept art - we now avoid showing this since there are a million features that can be interpreted in one piece, and fulfilling those expectations can be near impossible.
Closed Beta - this just doesn’t work in today’s market. Instead, use a side branch.
Don’t use too many branches. Having one main and one side branch has worked for us, with a “staging” branch for internal live testing.
We also worked on getting OND ready for more platforms and leaving Early Access in stride. Going into 2022, we look forward to how OND is received and to the next chapters in the Osiris universe.
Prototyping to Keep Fresh
Sometimes, a creative break is needed to keep you fresh. During the year we found it necessary to build prototypes of new projects, each in a different genre. Each time we did this, whether it be a design discussion or a full on playable, we found that this only advanced our knowledge of game design and how to craft fun, engaging experiences.