Status Report - Getting To Release

[SephiRok]

Hey guys,

We have been extremely busy preparing for release these last two weeks, so I apologize if we haven't been able to communicate as much as we might have liked.

One of the things we've been working on is getting voice overs ready and integrated, we now have the intro cinematic along with over three dozen quotes spoken both in English and German. We've also been localizing all the writing to German, getting a manual together as well as just polishing the writing as much as we can, in big part thanks to your feedback. We have new sound effects ready (did no one notice Xenomorph Spitters sounding like lasers?) and some minor graphical tweaks. We have also been fixing as many bugs and crashes we could get our hands on as well as working with Slitherine/Matrix Games as closely as we can to make sure their installer and launcher integrate well with Pandora and deliver a good experience.

On Monday we invited a large batch of testers and we hope to bring a beta update out over the weekend to patch the crashes and a few other pressing issues as well as bring in all the goodies described above. Sometime next week we'll be discontinuing this beta version and invalidating multiplayer serials to get ready for release on Thursday 14. We, however, still need your help with testing up to release and these beta builds will still work. With the release version of Pandora you will be able to swap between Release and new Beta versions so we can iterate quickly and you guys can give us feedback just as fast as now if you so choose.

We still have a ton of ideas for Pandora. From the start we had planned an alien invasion to tie in with the ruins and lore, but we have forgone it in favor of more polish on the core features. You might have noticed that we tried to rethink every core mechanic to fit Pandora, even if minimally, from production and global resources to growth and operations. We believe solid core mechanics are extremely important. A lot of fascinating directions exist for the future, many which have been mentioned here and we want to explore as many as we can. A 4X strategy game is an amazing genre where we can do so many interesting things. Things like water improvements and water cities, ground height modifications, enhanced interaction with the natives, more, stronger and more interesting species, espionage, social engineering, a market, and many more are all interesting and awesome. But we also read and understand your concerns about the mid and late game and definitely want to address those and improve on diplomacy, flavour and UI.

We love all your feedback and it makes our days, I hope you've enjoyed the experience thus far, continue letting us know what you think and I hope you join us for the release!

Cheers,
Rok Breulj
Proxy Studios

[jdmillard]

Awesome Post. Plans for more factions to choose from?

[SephiRok]

Definitely!

[MayhemMike]

If you guys need help with the german version, let me know, it's my native language

[MizzouRah]

Thanks for the update, really excited for the release!

[Evrett]

Releasing the game with 2/3 of the content missing is just as bad as releasing the game with said content inaccessible due to bugs. When can we expect mid/late game content and will it be DLC that we need to pay for?

[lgeorge53]

Excellent. Very good to see your hopes and plans for Pandora.
And also, for addressing all these major issues.
Can't wait to see the alien invasion when time allows.

Cheers

[gfurst]

Releasing the game with 2/3 of the content missing is just as bad as releasing the game with said content inaccessible due to bugs. When can we expect mid/late game content and will it be DLC that we need to pay for?

The game doesn't have content missing. He said they decided to leave some stuff to add later so they can work on the main core features. So the game it self is polished and complete, but without badly implemented features.

In my opinion the game IS complete and wonderfully balanced and streamlined, with a lot of space for new content and mod-able stuff.
Right now mid to late game is a bit boring, but we can expect that to change if they improve the AI or turn native life up a notch. But it definitely won't be boring in multi-player with challenging opponents.

[Evrett]

In my opinion the game IS complete and wonderfully balanced and streamlined, with a lot of space for new content and mod-able stuff.

Right now mid to late game is a bit boring

Of course its going to be balanced if the only content is so basic.. All the human players are the same and the natives are suppose to lose so why are we giving props for "balancing" when the devs have left out the 2/3 of the content that difficult to balance ? Give'm credit for the pretty world visual and interface but there isnt a game there yet (at least for those of us expecting more than just a Command and Conquer clone)

[dalves]

(at least for those of us expecting more than just a Command and Conquer clone)

Seriously?

[SephiRok]

Downloads and updater will no longer work after today.

Thank you again everyone!