Hello everyone,
This is a post I have not been looking forward to write. I’m going to keep it simple and short. Tornado Alley Ultimate will unfortunately not be able to reach its July deadline. I know a large majority of you are very upset with this news, so I will explain the reasoning(s) behind the delay.
Reasoning(s) behind Delay:
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Development staff was cut short too early in development, causing just myself to take all the work-load. The July release date was decided when there was an entire staff working on the game. However, because staff was cut short back in March, there’s no way to accomplish this deadline with just myself working on the game at this point.
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The game still lacks a lot of content promised at this stage in development. With almost a year of hard development, it would be a total waste to end up releasing the game still without all the content promised.
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This proposed ‘July’ release was forcing me into ‘crunch-time’. What that means in the game development industry, is that the developers are forced into working too many hours a week, and also forces them to rush a lot of features, making them very susceptible to bugs. I don’t want to rush Tornado Alley Ultimate, as I want it to be the best experience possible. This release month was forcing me to work way too fast which proved to be a bad idea with how poorly the closed Alpha test went.
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The game is simply not at the quality standard I want it to be at during this stage of development. Still too many missing features, not enough content. This is supposed to be the ‘Ultimate’ game. It still doesn’t feel quite like the ultimate game.
I really hate having to make you guys wait longer, but I truly feel that you would all very underwhelmed with the game if it was released at this point. I really believe there is not enough content for the game to be considered ‘Ultimate’ at this point. Not yet, at least.
So these reasons listed takes us to where we are now, the delay. The July deadline was still never completely set in stone, but more so as a ‘potential’ release.
I really do not like giving this news, but I’d prefer to give you guys the news now instead of leaving you all in the dark while I continue to work on the game.
As quoted by legendary game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario): “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”
I don’t want the beta release to lack any content promised, so I’m not going to release the beta until everything I want in the game is, in fact, in the game. That means the beta will not be out until every map, every gamemode, every accessory, effect, etc. is in the game.
So what does that mean for the new release date/time? I don’t know. I feel like if I announce a release date, it will cause me to, again, rush the game, which I don’t want to do.
So instead, I will not be announcing a new release date, or even a release month. I can promise that it will be a 2019 release, and I really don’t believe you guys need to wait too much longer.
To help compensate for this delay, I will be re-opening Tornado Alley 2 once again, but this time keeping it open until the Ultimate beta is released.
I greatly apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, but I promise that I will continue to keep you guys updated on Ultimate’s status frequently. The new release date of the beta can be at ANYTIME. It could be in a few days, a few weeks, a few months, who knows. It depends on how fast I can finish the game up, but also keep it at the quality I want it to be at.
I apologize again, but I promise Ultimate will soon be here, and it will definitely be worth it.
Thank you,
~1billybob1
(Tornado Alley 2, to compensate for Ultimate’s delay, will open on July 30th, and stay open until Ultimate’s Beta releases.)