Building a video game is a team building experience. You cannot do it alone. It requires a group of people with various skills to come together behind a shared vision and work some very long hours. But, sometimes, it really comes together and in the end you’re left with something you can be very proud of.
Some games also have a longer lifespan than others. This gives you the opportunity to experience this synergy more than once. We’ve seen it a few times with Star Pirates, Spy Battle and Gates of Camelot. It’s now my great pleasure to be heading up a team to reinvigorate the games that have been the backbone of our game library for many years.
Thanks to continued community support in the games, I was able to make the case as product manager to devote extra resources to uplifting some of our starcrash games. The only problem was, we currently have a very heavy pipeline for new game development. So the decision was to bring in some new talent. Mark, who began interning with us in October has come on board as staff for some of our content and coding needs. Others will follow.
Star Pirates has received a notable amount of new content in the last six months. The new Ascension, Goals system, Exclusive Commissions and UI touch ups have certainly had an impact in terms of extending the player experience and encouraging new players to stick around. Gates of Camelot is the game I see with some of the largest potential as it has less established game canon than Spy Battle or Star Pirates, but that is likely why it has the smaller community these last few months. Spy Battle is a comfortable middle ground of a strong community with some established content but lots of room to grow.
So now the work begins. We have already created concepts for improving the visuals of Spy Battle and creating some content to go with the new look. We are still a small team, so it may take some time to deliver on the new look, but we’re eager to do it right and then drive some new players into the game. The community has many established players but new blood is vital to avoid community stagnation from setting in. We expect all of this to bear fruit early in the new year. For now, here are some visual teasers to stoke everyone’s imagination.
Happy Holidays everyone!
