Hey Sarah! Developers of Townseek here (03:35). Thank you and apologies at the same time for including us in this video. 🙇 We continue to work with the game, and it's been progressing really well! Over the last months, we've realised that some aspects of the game could use a bit more time to nail down and build upon. We've almost doubled the game story-wise, and that’s lead us to dedicate and require some more time to getting the game done. We've been wanting to provide a proper update about how the release date and plans. However, unfortunately, when in a relationship with a publisher and other platforms, a lot of these things are out of our hands even as developers. We’re often advised or even requested not to share more transparent updates, even if, as developers, we’d really like to do so. Even just announcing a different release window has a huge weight in their decisions. While we keep trying to push our advice that we should provide a more clear update, it hasn’t been possible to do so, and unfortunately, no announcement or update moves forward, despite our preference. Those outdated banners are very frustrating to us too. 😓 For the time being, the best we can do is to continue posting things we're fond of the game and the occasional event we join as if everything was normal while we have to keep quiet on other things. We're very proud of what we've done with Townseek, and we're glad people are still looking forward to it. We're going to continue doing our best even behind the scenes, and hopefully, when the game is finally out, it makes the whole wait worth it! 🐳
Hi!! Thank you soo much for sharing this super insightful update with us all! I totally understand that some things can be out of your hands directly. I'm always happy to wait, as long as needed, for a complete product that I'm looking forward to - and it's exciting to hear that the scope of the project has expanded! I hope you can change those banners soon for clearer communication with those who don't/won't dig deeper to figure out if/when they can play the game! I also really don't want anyone to forget about Townseek, which is a big reason that I wanted to include it in today's video. I really believe it will be something super fun and special! Thank you so much for your hard work. Sending love to the team! 🐳
Yayy good on you for reaching out and updating us! I didn't realize that publishers would be opposed to providing updates, y'all must be banging your heads against your desks at this point. The outdated game trailer already looked excellent so now I'm really excited to see what you've done with it!
@@kayleerybolt8107 Working on it! ✨ We've just come back from gamescom, and that was a huge morale boost for us! We've also finally got the greenlight to change our banners back to "Coming Soon", so at least, we don't have the problem of having "Early 2024" in all of our banners anymore. 😅
I have faith that Haunted Choclatier is coming eventually because I think I remember reading that the whole reason he released SV 1.6 is because he felt HC was going to take longer and he wanted to give us something in the meantime
He even said he had no time frame when showing the sneak peek and it wouldn’t be any time soon because he wants it to be great and true to what he wants it to be, he still works on Stardew also🤩
@@Ellyc2929 A person he worked with before is totally cool with him and is making a similiar city game life sim or something! I forgot what it was called, but it looks great. They get alone and the prior creator is cool with it and it's similar to stardew. I think when you're a creator sometimes you have a vision and when you work with others sometimes that vision can become greater but unfortunately a lot of time it gets well...muddied...or too many people have too many ideas or it doesn't proceed well. Stardew lasted us YEARS before we got tired of it. (I'm so burnt on it even with the mods and updates though hahaha) so I'm excited. I definitely don't think he'll abandon it.
@@phoenixastra4429 that's fair. It would really help him though if he had some people to maybe help him make minor assets or some coding if he's worried about muddying his personal vision for the game- they don't necessarily need to change big stuff. Oh well, I guess he's used to solo-ing everything.
Haunted Chocolatier can take as long as Concerned Ape wants. He's not only working on it himself, he's communicating with us about it and we can look at the success of Stardew Valley (also something he did alone) and just know that once he _is_ done, it will be as game that he'll at least be proud of. I didn't know witchbrook has been going on for 10 years %,)
Witchbrook hurts the most. I wonder why some game studios run their projects as if they were some kind of black book government project. A little communication would be nice. Maybe a continuing dev blog to show some activity.
Not really an update, but my friend has been working on it for a few years now and I ask them about it occasionally. They're a small team and they ended up working on another game for 3-4 years after Witchbrook was announced, so it hasn't been fully in development for as long as those 8 years. Aside from that, the game is apparently massive so it's taking a while :)
@@elenaja_online I was in their discord for quit some time and they really didn't give anything. I think they spend a month being a little active on the witchbrook chat and that was it.
@@danifrommidsommar8653 well, that’s enough for me! I’m happy to wait for the best version of the game that can come out even if it takes a good long while. thanks for sharing that!
I’ll be honest I just assumed Witchbrook got cancelled? Also I’m not worried at all about haunted chocolatier, the guy is a mad perfectionist if you know the story behind stardew so he can take the time he needs tbh
I'm so sad about Witchbrook. Whilst I appreciate patience is a virtue, I think almost a decade is pushing it, I think it is better to wait before announcing a new game.
I don't even want to KNOW about a new game until it is a year away from releasing. At this point I don't want to buy any game that is making me wait THIS LONG. I wanted Witchbrook from the moment it announced but really developers?! It was announced in 2015?! My god that is a long time. As a future buyer of this game I want a physical copy with extra goodies (maybe a plushie?) for nintendo switch. If not I am done waiting on this game. This whole practice of announcing games years in advance is becoming toxic.
it sucks that companies dont understand they have to keep engagement SOMEHOW. Hell, anything. Contests, small snippets, even fun facts or trivia or even vague updates. Anything to keep people interested while they wait.
Just points out what a legend concerned ape is. We know Haunted Chocolatier will launch eventually. And he's basically a solo developer still touching up SV. He had the same attitude when he was programming SV valley, in that it wouldn't release till he was happy with it. Chef RPG kind of scared me but I do think it has a release date of September, we shall see. Also been waiting a while for pixelshire, and witchbrook well it looks bad.
I also just love that when he was finally happy with Stardew Valley and released it, it literally upended the cozy gaming genre and became one of the most-played farming sims for PC. Stardew Valley isn't just A cozy game, it's THE cozy game, and I have every confidence that Haunted Chocolatier will be of a similar caliber. Eric Barone (concerned ape) spent years working on Stardew by himself, and it was supposed to just be an addition to his portfolio and a love letter to Harvest Moon. I have so much respect for his work ethic and passion for game creation, music, writing, and art. The amount of things someone would have to learn to make a game like Stardew entirely by themself is insane.
@@meganmullis5386 There is no 'one of the most-played farming sims' it is the titan at the top of the mountain at this point. Part of the reason we're drowning in cosy farming sim games now is everyone is chasing being the 'next' Stardew Valley, because it set Concerned Ape up for life.
@@meganmullis5386pretty sure he tried to stop it’s release and said he felt physically ill with it being released the way it was. But yeah, guys a true genius in my mind.
Witchbrook was my most wanted game out of MANY, MANY games and now i think i might just let it go. Waiting almost 10 years for a game is WILD. To think that whole 🍑 games have been started and finished, and still nothing from the Witchbrook team is really something else.
I do think Haunted Chocolatier will release at some point. To me I compare Concerned Ape's radio silence similar to Team Cherry's (dev of Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight Silksong) radio silence. While I do appreciate hearing from devs on what is going on with the game and what to expect sometimes I wonder if the just stay quiet to not only focus on the game but also maybe they are a bit concerned/cautious. When their first game has a huge success there will be people who have high expectations and maybe devs are just a bit hesitant about meeting them which causes some pressure. Now I will say games that have been heard about for a long while like the 2015 game that one I would be a little concerned about and would not like very little to no communicaiton. Finally, I wish devs big or small would announce games when they are closer to release
I feel like by the time Witchbrook comes out, there will be another witchy-inspired cozy game. I understand why developers have the no crunch policy but almost a decade to develop a small cozy game is just way too long. I got excited about this game in 2022 with the steam page release and then immediately forgot about it.
You can play Enchanted Folk in the meantime. It‘s Animal Crossing with witchcraft and the only thing that hasn‘t turned out to be questionable in hindsight from Harry Potter: Regular lessons and a shopping alley.
Yeah I added it to my wishlist a couple years back but honestly completely forgot about it. I didn't know it'd been in development for almost a decade. A month ago I did find a cool cozy game that's currently early access but gets updates frequently. It's Moonlight in Garland, it's like 7 euro on Steam and the dev (a solo dev) is very active in the discord and posts frequently. Bugs are always fixed in the next update. It's a great little game and I definitely recommend checking it out if you like cozy life sims :)
They actually had a controversy over that when it came to Starbound. A lot of people came forward saying they were pressured to remain as unpaid volunteers even though they were being given more and more work.
goddamit, how to turn something tha should be good in something bad. i hate this. thank you for open my eyes to this possibility, i never thought about it
I feel a lot of people forget truly how long fully complete and polished games take to make. Even the big publishers can take 5+ years to make a game and that is with multiple studios often working on them. It just sometimes doesn't feel like it because since big publishers have a lot of different studios under them they also tend to have a lot of different teams working on a lot of different projects and it looks like they are just releasing new games every year. A lot of these are by small indie dev studios or even solo single devs so it is going to take a lot longer to get things done and that is if they are the only one working on it and can do every aspect of it. If they can't they have to find help and that costs money they might not have being indie/solo.
Exactly. If Rockstar, a massive massive team, are taking a long time to develop GTA 6, so it's even longer for those much smaller teams, or solo like Concerned Ape. I have complete faith that Haunted Chocolatier will come out when it's ready and I'm willing to wait because Stardew is so good so CA definitely know what he's doing.
@@girlytomboyx the scope of the game matters. a massive open world game like GTA 6 will require far more work than something like Stardew Valley. a smaller dev team making a smaller game will not necessarily take longer to finish than a massive dev team making a massive game.
@@girlytomboyx I don't think it is about the time it takes to make a game but about the communication process. Radio silence doesn't impress those who backed a Kickstarter. Plus, so many good games out there that if the hype is gone, many may move on! She's putting these games back on our radar!
Yeah, honestly. I'm scrolling through the comments wondering why everyone is saying stuff like,"This game got announced a year ago, but I have faith it'll come out one day," like they just snap their fingers and make a fully polished game in a couple months 💀
i personally don’t care if a game takes 10 years to make, but i don’t know why they announce them so far in advance lol. when a game gets announced and then there’s radio silence for the next 10 years, all the hype for the game dies.
Witchbrook is the only one that frustrates me sometimes. The development of that game seems to have been very inconsistent. I think concerned ape will talk more about haunted chocolatier when he’s good and ready. But it doesn’t seem like it’ll be out for 3 or more years. I’m willing to be patient, there are always other games, new and old to play right now.
The thing with ConcernedApe is that it seems to be normal for him to just vanish and work on the game and pop up months, or even a year, later with updates he's confident in. At least that's how it felt with Stardew when it came to updates. Silence for a year then "Whoop 1.6 is coming!"
It's important to remember that Stardew Valley took over four years of him working on it 7 days a week more than 8 hours a day. And that was when he wasn't working on updates for a previously published game, so I think it's fair to look at the fact it's only been four years since the Haunted Chocolatier announcement and not expect it to be released yet. Plus, as someone who loves Stardew Valley, and wants to see more games from him, and knows how dangerous burnout is to the sustainability of an indie artist's creative output, I really hope he takes his time on this new game instead of pushing himself every waking hour of the day for four years straight just to release a game faster. I can wait 8 years if I have to if it means he has energy to keep making games at the end of it
They never should have announced Witchbrook so early. It's been what.. 7 or 8 years since the announcement? And there hasn't been really any updates. So a lot of people have lost interest while waiting this long with no new information. Part of me doubts it'll ever release.
So sad about Witchbrook, I was so excited about it, luckily there are still so many games to play but I do hope it will release one day. I trust ConcernedApe with the Haunted Chocolatier, he always keeps his promises even if it takes a few years, I have no doubt that it will be a great game !
Concerned Ape always delivers, so I'm not worried that Haunted Chocolatier will never be released. It might take a very long time, but when he does release it, it will be good. Too many Indie games have been releasing as full releases when they are super buggy and far from what was promised. I'd rather wait.
Something i have learned the hard way is that early trailers are sometimes used for 2 things that have little to do with exciting players for them: 1) find out if there is enough interest in a title to keep developing (amd then adjusting resource investment by the publisher based on the outcome) 2) to showcase it to devs who might want to work on the project. The latter especially is a reason why games might be shown years and years in advance to an actual release. Obviously not the answer with all games on here, but a helpful insight into the gaming industries workings.
I think the game was annonce as a kickstarter, meaning they probebly did not started developing it before 10 year ago. For a game, a decade is long but not as long as it seam like after all, it is why kickstarter are here, to lauch the developement. (for somme of them at least) Of course, it is normal to feel fustrated of the wait since 10 year is much more than what we are use to withe the big games that are developed beafor anoncement. Apologies for any grammaticales errors, it is not my first language. Have a nice day.
@@tatianabenitez2835 UnReal World has been stuck in development from the year 1992 and it is still in development so any other game that gets finished in less than 30 years is a win.
Dungeon Master players be like Sometimes games do take that long, sadly happens with smaller teams and on the cusp of so many hardware and technical changes through the years, they work on an engine, which new hardware arrives 2 years in, so they rebuild it and something else arrives, so they change it again. Last thing they want to do is release a game on the last gen of tech, and this happened A LOT in the 00s and 10s. These days with GPUs and CPUs there is no massive difference between generations and you can be fine releasing games designed on previous gens.
Sighs in, it'll be 10 years soon enough for Witchbrook. I've been waiting for SUCH a long time for this game. I had seen a google doc with some screenshots and updates, however.. I honestly am losing hope. I've wanted this game so badly, and I know so many others want it- I wish they did a kickstarter or SOMETHING, to help them be able to keep developing. I support no-crunch, but honestly a pixel game taking almost 10 years blows my mind, if you compare it to the 2-5 people teams who manage in 4-5 years. I still hope this game will release though. Or that we'll hear a bit more about it, and not from a google doc with screenshots.
I'd also like to say, I'm 27. I heard about it when I was still a young gal, BARELY into her adulthood. I hope that when it does come out, I'll still *want* to play it. As my focus and patience with games has definitely sadly dwindled with time.
Hi, I’m new to this channel, here are some facts I do know about game development from having friends in that line of work. Usually, this sort of thing is done by the publishers and producers, not necessarily the individual people actually making the game. Think of it a bit like how a Hollywood movie isn’t just made by the director or the actors, but also the producer who funds the movie, decides on marketing, etc. A LOT of game development is done in ways that are both boring, perhaps hard to explain to anyone not familiar with that specific type of work, and also really hard to showcase in a video. How do you make “I spent an entire week trying to get the grass to stop flickering when it’s afternoon in the game” sound interesting? How do you showcase very “dry” programming work that’s very important but really doesn’t look exciting? And how can you convince both the general public and your publisher that these boring things are just as important as getting something that’ll look nice in a trailer?
While everything you say is true, if you're approaching 6 months to a year after the point you felt ready to announce the game and can't even write a blog post/post some new screenshots or even just share some new concept art, you probably weren't actually ready to announce it and should have waited. Once you announce the game, whether you're a AAA titan or a solo dev, you want to keep that interest in your game bubbling all the way to launch. Plenty of studios manage quarterly developer updates, some do monthly and some crazy people do weekly - I'd never expect the latter from any game studio, a game's development just has too many 'what do we even talk about' weeks, but if you're not at the point where you'll have something new you can show off every 1-2 months (even if it's just a screenshot of something you haven't QUITE finish yet, but they'll never know) then, yeah, the game should really still be unannounced.
@@aduboo29 Exactly. So many people are missing the point that the issue isn’t games taking time to make, but rather that announcing something and then never giving updates isn’t a great way to handle things.
I forgot about so many of these games! I have the least amount of faith in witchbrook coming which is sad because it's my most anticipated on this list 😢
CA wasn't even planning to announce Haunted Chocolatier so early, but wanted everyone to know why he hadn't been updating Stardew as frequently. Right now he's working on getting the latest Stardew update to all platforms, but said he's going back to the project once that's complete. Some of the stuff in that Stardew update is from his recent work on Haunted Chocolatier that he thought would be a good addition to Stardew as well (like fixing the combat). He just needed a break from the project.
the issue is i know games take time, but i wish developers would stop announcing things WAY before they're even close to releasing. so then people are anticipating something that takes an extra 5-10 years to release, or never releases, and then everyone is met with nothing but disappointment
They announce stuff early because it reduces petty copying accusations when the developer already got super far in development. Because if petty copying accusations happen, and the developer doesn't have an online post with a date, then the developer has to go back and rework all the graphics and take even more time.
I wouldn't hold my breath for anything from Chucklefish, given what happened with Starbound (got that back when it launched) I feel like they put 80% into their games, then let it stagnate, and if it does eventually release, they won't do updates due to moving on to their next project. Also, the controversy they had hasn't helped their reputation all that much. They have also developed several other games (Wargroove, Wargroove 2) in the timeframe of Witchbrook, and been publishers to many others (Timespinner, Pathway, Inmost, Starmancer, Eastward, Wildfrost) ..If they haven't released it by this time, then i doubt they are going to
Ngl, I just heard about Witchbrook a few months ago and I'm not even gonna hold my breath. Almost 10 years of literally nothing??? I can't imagine waiting that long for something from teenhood to adulthood. What a damn shame, it looked nice too.
Omfg I’ve never heard of little devil inside but it looks AMAZING. Now I’m so sad!! Why did I watch this list when I knew it was about games that disappeared? No one to blame but myself.
I am looking forward to Naiad & Kibu. I realize many of these games may have solo developers and are taking on a huge amount of work but, I think they are doing themselves a disservice by not keeping people updated. Appreciate your detective skills on these along with your speculations!
The fact that Witchbrook is being developed by Chucklefish worries me... Starbound was made by people that got pressured by Chucklefish to keep working on it as unpaid volunteers, there was a big controversy about it 😥 Also right when the controversy came out, ConcernedApe basically asked for Stardew Valley to not be under Chucklefish anymore (he was and still is the sole dev of it, but he published it under Chucklefish), and he eventually managed to obtain all the rights/permissions luckily. But yeah. Witchwood being under chucklefish sounds... concerning. Hopefully people are getting properly paid this time. 😥 Also i have 200% faith in ConcernedApe about Haunted Chocolatier. He delivered a majestic game with Stardew, and i trust him enough to calmly wait for as long as he needs/wants to. He's a perfectionist and wants to deliver us the best he can, + he also gave us a massive Stardew update recently. I have utter faith in him. 💜
So far 100% of the games I've backed on Kickstarter have failed to deliver, Ranchers included. Coral Island was the one I chose not to back and it turned out to be the best one. >_
Eh, I'm still salty about the 1.0 release for Coral Island. The story wasn't even complete. And to hear they had over 100 devs. Just a bit annoyed. Still play it though.
@@sycronice Agreed! I was so excited to play ‘full release’ to find the game half finished. At this point I may just wait until the kid update drops to do another playthrough.
Although this will be controversial - just imagine how many absolutely wonderful games could be made with actual studios. I know the major issue here is money, but I just miss the times where there were legit game studios and teams of 50+ people working on a single project. This not only was more stable to the devs, permitting long-term employment and such, but also pretty much guaranteed making of a game in approx. 3 years or less. I cant help but wonder how many resources, money and time is lost due to small teams just not knowing how to launch a proper studio and throwing years of work away. Why do they not start with something small, simple but memorable, release it, make some money and go onto bigger projects?
Definitely has cozy elements. Some TH-camrs have playthroughs where all they have their character do is farm, hunt, fish, craft, etc. One is roleplaying as a courier, even.
I love the concept of out and about and townseek, because I love that stuff, but sometimes you can't do it irl, not the biggest fan of the style for out and about, but like townseeks style, but out and abouts its concept and gameplay look comfy and adorable.
Hi Sarah, awesome video as always! You continue to be one of the best content creators on all of YT. I love how kind and respectful you are even of the more negative things like this. Unfortunately the lack of communication between developers and players continues to be the standard in nearly the entire industry from smaller developers like most of these all the way to huge ones like Epic or EA. It just leads to so much frustration for the players who support these devs and I really hope it is something that will change going forward. Have a blessed day y'all!
Thank you for the video Sarah! This was super interesting, it can definitely be frustrating as fans of games when the team of a title you are looking forward to don't provide information on their game on a regular basis. Nearing a decade of development and coming out every couple of years to say that you are 'still working on the game' with little to no further info makes it difficult to stay excited for the game or to even have faith that this is a viable project, especially when you have had a kickstarter and are using people's money to fund development, I think it should be expected that backers are kept in the loop. I hope some of the teams behind these games find this video and hear our voices and are able to improve the way they communicate with us players
I've been waiting for Yokai Inn and Witchbrook for so long and haven't heard anyone discuss it in a LONG time. Whenever they come out I will be so excited. Nice to hear Yokai Inn wants to launch as 1.0 and avoid early access. While I like getting games and feeling like a little part of the dev process (I was an alpha tester for Coral Island) I also feel the early access route causes some conflicts where the game is still unpolished and gets a lot of criticism on early access launch, and then once a 1.0 does come out the hype is gone for the game because most of it's player base has already played through it in early access.
The one I had been anticipating for a long time was Farm Folks. It looked like it was gonna be like an updated N64 Harvest Moon, like what SDV was for the SNES Harvest Moon, but it's been so long and the art and features have changed so much I'm not so enthusiastic about it anymore.
honestly i don't think the very clear plagiarism in the campaign for the ranchers is forgivable, like even if they edit things to the point where you can't tell any more the fact that they did it in the first place shouldn't be overlooked, please no one support devs like this!!
You hadn't even mentioned Coral Island yet and when the footage for The Ranchers appeared my instinctive thought was "wait why is Coral Island on this list?" It's not just the kickstarter imagery, the whole game looks like Coral Island. I would assume same devs or a sister company but based on what you've said, doesn't sound like it
I don't know who you are I don't know how your video ended up on my feed but I drive for work and I clicked it and immediately noticed how calming and soothing your voice is
Owlboy took a decade to make too. Clear communication would be nice and if we don't want artistic burnouts, a game takes as long as it takes ❤ *cries in Silksong*
I believe good things are worth waiting for. But a decade! I agree with developers announcing the game much closer to the launch if they dont want to be transparent and keep people updated. Then, there is less pressure on a solo developer and publisher regarding commitments. Even then, there could be a setback, but the timeline would be more manageable and keep people from disappointment.
Ages of Cataria should definitely have been on this list! We've been getting the bare minimum from the devs, and they're claiming they're looking for more funding now despite earning 10x what they were asking for in their kickstarter. Apparently they used the kickstarter to backpay themselves for all the volunteer hours they'd put into the game instead of actually putting it into the continued development.
I want to hear your take on Songs of Glimmerwick. It looks promising but there haven't been any updates in two years and the devs haven't given a release date yet.
I feel torn when I hear about games in development with little communication on updates. As someone who wants to play these games, it's disappointing not to hear any or little news and can make me feel like they've forgotten about it. But as someone who is a creative, I can understand the lack of updates as sometimes there's not much to say other than, "Still here and working hard!" which can feel pointless as it's nothing new and daunting as it will be followed by questions you may not have answers to, which can take you away from work and possibly feel discouraging. So, I hope that all the devs are working hard and not to worry about constant updates if it means more focus on game development and helps keep them mentally healthy.
What a great episode! Thank you for all the great research into these games. A couple of these have been on my radar for a looooong time. I hope by the time I end up in a nursing home I'll still have a computer that can run Witchbrook for its 2060 debut 😂
Nothing happened to haunted chocolatier. It's just not done yet. Considering how much time it took him to make SDV the game it was at launch, I don't know why anyone's expecting much of anything from it yet? It was only announced a few years ago and the guy isn't getting any help on the game, as per usual. He's also putting out updates for SDV at the same time (which then have to be moved over to mobile, an extremely time consuming task)
One thing i get over the years of patience is that people grow up & lose interest Not everybody will keep the same enthusiasm than when they announced the Game. My advice to Dev is to keep things simple. Also if you gonna make people wait 10+ years, communication is the least you can do.
I'm also really curious about PuffPals! I bought the game without early access in early 2023 and haven't heard *anything* about it since? I saw there are some conversations about an alpha on Steam, but not a ton more. I used to see so many ads about it, now barely anything at all. I truly hope it's still in development!
I kickstarted Puffpals along with a couple other games that seem to have just fallen off the radar. I think perhaps there won't be a Puffpals and its just a Plush shop now
I checked the Kickstarter and its saying the following (updates still not that consistent) Alpha Access was released on October 31st 2023. Early Access will be available this year 2024 (although we still don't have a specific date yet) and the Final Release will be available 2025!
Chucklefish has been mired in controversies concerning its environment, with a lot of exploitation happening and other less savoury happenings that have been talked about by people who worked there, this probably impacted the project pretty heavily.
Thanks for all the information on these games. Most of us don't mind waiting for a fully functional, bug-free gaming experience, but communication always helps with the wait!
If you know how CA’s journey to make SV, you wouldn’t be worried at all about HC. It may take a while but CA will definitely make the game he peomise to make
I'm surprised the puffpals island skies didn't make the list. With how much the Kickstarter raised (a few million, and that was not including all the merch), and the alpha testing being super short game play and heavy in NDA's, kinda feels like it was a scam at this point
@@Sigrun5126 I spent almost 300$ to back them when it was announced. I had already been buying their plushies regularly so I was very excited. they didn't update very often the main creator and designer lily posted a super cryptic tweet then went radio silent. it was like a week before there another update and I immediately requested a refund. I was also very active in thd discord and anyone voicing any concern about their money being stuck in limbo was dismissed and not taken seriously. it really rubbed me the wrong way and fortunately I got a refund.
I am really looking forward to Witchbrook because it reminds me of a DS game I played a lot when I was younger. It was called "Enchanted Folk and The School of Wizardry". I really like the artstyle of Witchbrook as well
*Chucklefish* They couldn't even do Starbound without a scandal and I'm quite certain they only managed to release it because of the scandal. And they didn't even release the "full" game, they cut a lot of content out before 1.0 release either because they couldn't include it due to the lawsuits or because they couldn't finish it after the whistle got blown. If it's been ten years don't hold your breath, who makes the game and how they are as a company is kind of important.
It's wild that games can be in development for almost a decade and the developers are radio silent on an expected release date or even any progress made. There was a game I played as a kid, and they announced a sequel, released a trailer, and launched the Steam page in 2016 with it coming soon. I was hyped, but then there have been 0 updates from the dev since 2017...
This has actually made me a bit more hopeful about witchbrook! I didn't know that they were hiring in 2023. That tells me that while progress is extremely slow, they haven't run out of funding even after 7 years of development without any publicity. The art style is very complex for a team of 18 (probably at least half of which are not working on the art) so I get it. I really do hope that it gets released and that it lives up to the hype. It must suck to see 10 years of work get demolished by reviewers. Maybe they could hire a socials person to help with updates tho...just sayin
Like many others I'm waiting for Witchbrook and like many I'm disappointed with the long wait (whether they like crunch or not, we're not seeing any progress). It was a big mistake on the part of the developers to announce the game at a time when they had nothing more than a piece of paper with vague ideas and a couple of fake concept art “game screens”. It was these “screenshots” that created the false impression that the game was already in active development, when obviously it had not even been started. The subsequent years of silence did nothing to improve the situation.
I fully trust Concerned Ape. Haunted Chocolatier WILL come. It may take a while and that's fine, but anyone who follows Ape knows that it's definitely in the works.
maybe steam should have some kind of system where a store page is removed if the game doesn't release in a certain amount of time. I know delays happen and I don't want devs to rush just to hit an arbitrary deadline but I've lost interest in a lot of games simply because they started the hype too soon. like I get excited from a game announcement and lose interest over time, then by the time it's actually out I just don't care enough to play it. I just think they should be more mindful of when they start the hypetrain.
A game I pledged to on Kickstarter and have been patiently awaiting is Puff Pals: Island Skies. Their updates have been few and far between with the last being in February. They’re saying the game will still release next year but it’s just a bit annoying that they’re not really giving people updates or ignoring them when they ask.
jmw327(frontier story) and shiba(yokai inn) are both my favorite pixel artist... exactly because of their similar style of pixel art especially their calm warm palette. if you are a pixel artist or enthusiast or even game dev you'd be liying if you never came across their arts in pinterest and not fall in love.
Yay, another great video, I can't believe there is so many games we've not heard anything from. Also I couldn't believe it when you said about witchbrooke not having a news for a decade. I was like what, no!
As someone working in the field of online marketing, I think there are several scenarios possible for The Ranchers. The first impression is, of course, that they copy and pasted the Coral Island Kickstarter and took all those ideas... But it is equally possible that they gave a coherent list of game elements to a marketing agency/web design freelancer, which simply happen to be rather similar due to the nature of farming sim games. And then those people "took inspiration" from a similar Kickstarter. In this case the people behind the game would simply fail at their due diligence to check what they got for their money against infringements. But the third scenario would be that they didn’t give a proper list to an agency/freelancer, those people came up with that as a mock up, and instead of replacing everything copied the people behind the game simply said "that's good enough". Had all of these happen before on both sides of the table.
But them working on their game assets make it seem like they simply pushed the game without properly flashing out what to sell beforehand. The art style of a game should not be tacked on. It is not exactly a unique selling point of every game but it definitely is one of the core attributes that drive customers' interest in the product. So you can win or lose that if you change it afterward.
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey Sarah! Developers of Townseek here (03:35). Thank you and apologies at the same time for including us in this video. 🙇 We continue to work with the game, and it's been progressing really well! Over the last months, we've realised that some aspects of the game could use a bit more time to nail down and build upon. We've almost doubled the game story-wise, and that’s lead us to dedicate and require some more time to getting the game done.
We've been wanting to provide a proper update about how the release date and plans. However, unfortunately, when in a relationship with a publisher and other platforms, a lot of these things are out of our hands even as developers. We’re often advised or even requested not to share more transparent updates, even if, as developers, we’d really like to do so. Even just announcing a different release window has a huge weight in their decisions. While we keep trying to push our advice that we should provide a more clear update, it hasn’t been possible to do so, and unfortunately, no announcement or update moves forward, despite our preference. Those outdated banners are very frustrating to us too. 😓
For the time being, the best we can do is to continue posting things we're fond of the game and the occasional event we join as if everything was normal while we have to keep quiet on other things. We're very proud of what we've done with Townseek, and we're glad people are still looking forward to it. We're going to continue doing our best even behind the scenes, and hopefully, when the game is finally out, it makes the whole wait worth it! 🐳
Hi!! Thank you soo much for sharing this super insightful update with us all! I totally understand that some things can be out of your hands directly. I'm always happy to wait, as long as needed, for a complete product that I'm looking forward to - and it's exciting to hear that the scope of the project has expanded!
I hope you can change those banners soon for clearer communication with those who don't/won't dig deeper to figure out if/when they can play the game! I also really don't want anyone to forget about Townseek, which is a big reason that I wanted to include it in today's video. I really believe it will be something super fun and special!
Thank you so much for your hard work. Sending love to the team! 🐳
Yayy good on you for reaching out and updating us! I didn't realize that publishers would be opposed to providing updates, y'all must be banging your heads against your desks at this point. The outdated game trailer already looked excellent so now I'm really excited to see what you've done with it!
take your time, i'm super excited to see the finished product! it looks fantastic!
We need townseek please!!🙏
@@kayleerybolt8107 Working on it! ✨ We've just come back from gamescom, and that was a huge morale boost for us! We've also finally got the greenlight to change our banners back to "Coming Soon", so at least, we don't have the problem of having "Early 2024" in all of our banners anymore. 😅
I have faith that Haunted Choclatier is coming eventually because I think I remember reading that the whole reason he released SV 1.6 is because he felt HC was going to take longer and he wanted to give us something in the meantime
Yea I’d say it’s definitely coming. He just takes his time and he’s one person.
He even said he had no time frame when showing the sneak peek and it wouldn’t be any time soon because he wants it to be great and true to what he wants it to be, he still works on Stardew also🤩
@cuteandspookycritters8691 I wish he would just let someone else help him ffs 😭 dude sounds like a control freak lol
@@Ellyc2929 A person he worked with before is totally cool with him and is making a similiar city game life sim or something! I forgot what it was called, but it looks great. They get alone and the prior creator is cool with it and it's similar to stardew. I think when you're a creator sometimes you have a vision and when you work with others sometimes that vision can become greater but unfortunately a lot of time it gets well...muddied...or too many people have too many ideas or it doesn't proceed well. Stardew lasted us YEARS before we got tired of it. (I'm so burnt on it even with the mods and updates though hahaha) so I'm excited. I definitely don't think he'll abandon it.
@@phoenixastra4429 that's fair. It would really help him though if he had some people to maybe help him make minor assets or some coding if he's worried about muddying his personal vision for the game- they don't necessarily need to change big stuff.
Oh well, I guess he's used to solo-ing everything.
Haunted Chocolatier can take as long as Concerned Ape wants. He's not only working on it himself, he's communicating with us about it and we can look at the success of Stardew Valley (also something he did alone) and just know that once he _is_ done, it will be as game that he'll at least be proud of.
I didn't know witchbrook has been going on for 10 years %,)
@@helpfulDeathgod he has help with HC
Witchbrook hurts the most. I wonder why some game studios run their projects as if they were some kind of black book government project. A little communication would be nice. Maybe a continuing dev blog to show some activity.
I have heard they are more active on their discord and share information there. However I haven't checked it out myself
Not really an update, but my friend has been working on it for a few years now and I ask them about it occasionally. They're a small team and they ended up working on another game for 3-4 years after Witchbrook was announced, so it hasn't been fully in development for as long as those 8 years. Aside from that, the game is apparently massive so it's taking a while :)
@@elenaja_online I was in their discord for quit some time and they really didn't give anything. I think they spend a month being a little active on the witchbrook chat and that was it.
@@danifrommidsommar8653 well, that’s enough for me! I’m happy to wait for the best version of the game that can come out even if it takes a good long while. thanks for sharing that!
@@danifrommidsommar8653 thanks for the info!
I’ll be honest I just assumed Witchbrook got cancelled?
Also I’m not worried at all about haunted chocolatier, the guy is a mad perfectionist if you know the story behind stardew so he can take the time he needs tbh
This exactly how I feel! I think Concerned Ape has more than earned our trust.
@@PanicLedisko seriously! the guy is probably the developer i have the most just natural trust in
I'm so sad about Witchbrook. Whilst I appreciate patience is a virtue, I think almost a decade is pushing it, I think it is better to wait before announcing a new game.
I don't even want to KNOW about a new game until it is a year away from releasing. At this point I don't want to buy any game that is making me wait THIS LONG. I wanted Witchbrook from the moment it announced but really developers?! It was announced in 2015?! My god that is a long time. As a future buyer of this game I want a physical copy with extra goodies (maybe a plushie?) for nintendo switch. If not I am done waiting on this game. This whole practice of announcing games years in advance is becoming toxic.
For real, that's like me announcing a game cos I just had an idea for one right now 😂
@@GamerofOld Two... 2015... has... It been that long? 🙃😭
@@lilblkrose that's what the above video said...😢
a decade is just crazy. imagine being a baby and waiting to play this game but you're already ten and still waiting LMAO
Even if some of these hopped on twitter and said "it'll be 10 more years" it would be better than nothing.
For real!
it sucks that companies dont understand they have to keep engagement SOMEHOW. Hell, anything. Contests, small snippets, even fun facts or trivia or even vague updates. Anything to keep people interested while they wait.
Just points out what a legend concerned ape is. We know Haunted Chocolatier will launch eventually. And he's basically a solo developer still touching up SV. He had the same attitude when he was programming SV valley, in that it wouldn't release till he was happy with it.
Chef RPG kind of scared me but I do think it has a release date of September, we shall see. Also been waiting a while for pixelshire, and witchbrook well it looks bad.
I also just love that when he was finally happy with Stardew Valley and released it, it literally upended the cozy gaming genre and became one of the most-played farming sims for PC. Stardew Valley isn't just A cozy game, it's THE cozy game, and I have every confidence that Haunted Chocolatier will be of a similar caliber. Eric Barone (concerned ape) spent years working on Stardew by himself, and it was supposed to just be an addition to his portfolio and a love letter to Harvest Moon. I have so much respect for his work ethic and passion for game creation, music, writing, and art. The amount of things someone would have to learn to make a game like Stardew entirely by themself is insane.
@@meganmullis5386 There is no 'one of the most-played farming sims' it is the titan at the top of the mountain at this point. Part of the reason we're drowning in cosy farming sim games now is everyone is chasing being the 'next' Stardew Valley, because it set Concerned Ape up for life.
@@meganmullis5386pretty sure he tried to stop it’s release and said he felt physically ill with it being released the way it was. But yeah, guys a true genius in my mind.
Witchbrook was my most wanted game out of MANY, MANY games and now i think i might just let it go. Waiting almost 10 years for a game is WILD. To think that whole 🍑 games have been started and finished, and still nothing from the Witchbrook team is really something else.
@@JuiceboxSnail Thanks for the suggestion! Saw that game mentioned a few times, I’ll have to check it out on release 😊
@InternetIsWild Annnnd circle back to my original comment.
I do think Haunted Chocolatier will release at some point. To me I compare Concerned Ape's radio silence similar to Team Cherry's (dev of Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight Silksong) radio silence. While I do appreciate hearing from devs on what is going on with the game and what to expect sometimes I wonder if the just stay quiet to not only focus on the game but also maybe they are a bit concerned/cautious. When their first game has a huge success there will be people who have high expectations and maybe devs are just a bit hesitant about meeting them which causes some pressure. Now I will say games that have been heard about for a long while like the 2015 game that one I would be a little concerned about and would not like very little to no communicaiton. Finally, I wish devs big or small would announce games when they are closer to release
I feel like by the time Witchbrook comes out, there will be another witchy-inspired cozy game. I understand why developers have the no crunch policy but almost a decade to develop a small cozy game is just way too long. I got excited about this game in 2022 with the steam page release and then immediately forgot about it.
I mean Wylde Flowers currently exists 🤷🏻♀️
@@sydneyaylward9773 I think there was one called moonlight peaks that was announced at the same time as some story of season and rune factory games
There's Little Witch in the Woods in early access currently
You can play Enchanted Folk in the meantime. It‘s Animal Crossing with witchcraft and the only thing that hasn‘t turned out to be questionable in hindsight from Harry Potter: Regular lessons and a shopping alley.
Yeah I added it to my wishlist a couple years back but honestly completely forgot about it. I didn't know it'd been in development for almost a decade. A month ago I did find a cool cozy game that's currently early access but gets updates frequently. It's Moonlight in Garland, it's like 7 euro on Steam and the dev (a solo dev) is very active in the discord and posts frequently. Bugs are always fixed in the next update. It's a great little game and I definitely recommend checking it out if you like cozy life sims :)
'10 years of development'
'Chucklefish'
'no crunch studio'
Oh no ... this sounds like another 'studio' thats living of volunteer work.
They actually had a controversy over that when it came to Starbound. A lot of people came forward saying they were pressured to remain as unpaid volunteers even though they were being given more and more work.
goddamit, how to turn something tha should be good in something bad. i hate this. thank you for open my eyes to this possibility, i never thought about it
Well Haunted Chocolatier is stil one person. Took years before he finished Stardew Valley..
and it also wasn't the only thing he worked on, so naturally it's just an insane amount of work
I feel a lot of people forget truly how long fully complete and polished games take to make. Even the big publishers can take 5+ years to make a game and that is with multiple studios often working on them. It just sometimes doesn't feel like it because since big publishers have a lot of different studios under them they also tend to have a lot of different teams working on a lot of different projects and it looks like they are just releasing new games every year. A lot of these are by small indie dev studios or even solo single devs so it is going to take a lot longer to get things done and that is if they are the only one working on it and can do every aspect of it. If they can't they have to find help and that costs money they might not have being indie/solo.
Exactly. If Rockstar, a massive massive team, are taking a long time to develop GTA 6, so it's even longer for those much smaller teams, or solo like Concerned Ape. I have complete faith that Haunted Chocolatier will come out when it's ready and I'm willing to wait because Stardew is so good so CA definitely know what he's doing.
@@girlytomboyx the scope of the game matters. a massive open world game like GTA 6 will require far more work than something like Stardew Valley. a smaller dev team making a smaller game will not necessarily take longer to finish than a massive dev team making a massive game.
@@girlytomboyx I don't think it is about the time it takes to make a game but about the communication process. Radio silence doesn't impress those who backed a Kickstarter. Plus, so many good games out there that if the hype is gone, many may move on! She's putting these games back on our radar!
Yeah, honestly. I'm scrolling through the comments wondering why everyone is saying stuff like,"This game got announced a year ago, but I have faith it'll come out one day," like they just snap their fingers and make a fully polished game in a couple months 💀
i personally don’t care if a game takes 10 years to make, but i don’t know why they announce them so far in advance lol. when a game gets announced and then there’s radio silence for the next 10 years, all the hype for the game dies.
Witchbrook is the only one that frustrates me sometimes. The development of that game seems to have been very inconsistent.
I think concerned ape will talk more about haunted chocolatier when he’s good and ready. But it doesn’t seem like it’ll be out for 3 or more years.
I’m willing to be patient, there are always other games, new and old to play right now.
The thing with ConcernedApe is that it seems to be normal for him to just vanish and work on the game and pop up months, or even a year, later with updates he's confident in.
At least that's how it felt with Stardew when it came to updates. Silence for a year then "Whoop 1.6 is coming!"
It's important to remember that Stardew Valley took over four years of him working on it 7 days a week more than 8 hours a day. And that was when he wasn't working on updates for a previously published game, so I think it's fair to look at the fact it's only been four years since the Haunted Chocolatier announcement and not expect it to be released yet. Plus, as someone who loves Stardew Valley, and wants to see more games from him, and knows how dangerous burnout is to the sustainability of an indie artist's creative output, I really hope he takes his time on this new game instead of pushing himself every waking hour of the day for four years straight just to release a game faster. I can wait 8 years if I have to if it means he has energy to keep making games at the end of it
They never should have announced Witchbrook so early. It's been what.. 7 or 8 years since the announcement? And there hasn't been really any updates. So a lot of people have lost interest while waiting this long with no new information. Part of me doubts it'll ever release.
So sad about Witchbrook, I was so excited about it, luckily there are still so many games to play but I do hope it will release one day. I trust ConcernedApe with the Haunted Chocolatier, he always keeps his promises even if it takes a few years, I have no doubt that it will be a great game !
Concerned Ape always delivers, so I'm not worried that Haunted Chocolatier will never be released. It might take a very long time, but when he does release it, it will be good. Too many Indie games have been releasing as full releases when they are super buggy and far from what was promised. I'd rather wait.
Something i have learned the hard way is that early trailers are sometimes used for 2 things that have little to do with exciting players for them: 1) find out if there is enough interest in a title to keep developing (amd then adjusting resource investment by the publisher based on the outcome) 2) to showcase it to devs who might want to work on the project. The latter especially is a reason why games might be shown years and years in advance to an actual release.
Obviously not the answer with all games on here, but a helpful insight into the gaming industries workings.
ALMOST A DECADE ?!? That’s not right …. I get asking players to be patient and wait for its release but 10 years of waiting is wild
@@tatianabenitez2835 Dragon Age players be like
I think the game was annonce as a kickstarter, meaning they probebly did not started developing it before 10 year ago. For a game, a decade is long but not as long as it seam like after all, it is why kickstarter are here, to lauch the developement. (for somme of them at least) Of course, it is normal to feel fustrated of the wait since 10 year is much more than what we are use to withe the big games that are developed beafor anoncement.
Apologies for any grammaticales errors, it is not my first language. Have a nice day.
@@tatianabenitez2835 UnReal World has been stuck in development from the year 1992 and it is still in development so any other game that gets finished in less than 30 years is a win.
Elder Scrolls fans be like xD
Dungeon Master players be like
Sometimes games do take that long, sadly happens with smaller teams and on the cusp of so many hardware and technical changes through the years, they work on an engine, which new hardware arrives 2 years in, so they rebuild it and something else arrives, so they change it again. Last thing they want to do is release a game on the last gen of tech, and this happened A LOT in the 00s and 10s.
These days with GPUs and CPUs there is no massive difference between generations and you can be fine releasing games designed on previous gens.
Sighs in, it'll be 10 years soon enough for Witchbrook. I've been waiting for SUCH a long time for this game. I had seen a google doc with some screenshots and updates, however.. I honestly am losing hope. I've wanted this game so badly, and I know so many others want it- I wish they did a kickstarter or SOMETHING, to help them be able to keep developing. I support no-crunch, but honestly a pixel game taking almost 10 years blows my mind, if you compare it to the 2-5 people teams who manage in 4-5 years.
I still hope this game will release though. Or that we'll hear a bit more about it, and not from a google doc with screenshots.
I'd also like to say, I'm 27. I heard about it when I was still a young gal, BARELY into her adulthood. I hope that when it does come out, I'll still *want* to play it. As my focus and patience with games has definitely sadly dwindled with time.
Hi, I’m new to this channel, here are some facts I do know about game development from having friends in that line of work. Usually, this sort of thing is done by the publishers and producers, not necessarily the individual people actually making the game. Think of it a bit like how a Hollywood movie isn’t just made by the director or the actors, but also the producer who funds the movie, decides on marketing, etc.
A LOT of game development is done in ways that are both boring, perhaps hard to explain to anyone not familiar with that specific type of work, and also really hard to showcase in a video. How do you make “I spent an entire week trying to get the grass to stop flickering when it’s afternoon in the game” sound interesting? How do you showcase very “dry” programming work that’s very important but really doesn’t look exciting? And how can you convince both the general public and your publisher that these boring things are just as important as getting something that’ll look nice in a trailer?
While everything you say is true, if you're approaching 6 months to a year after the point you felt ready to announce the game and can't even write a blog post/post some new screenshots or even just share some new concept art, you probably weren't actually ready to announce it and should have waited. Once you announce the game, whether you're a AAA titan or a solo dev, you want to keep that interest in your game bubbling all the way to launch.
Plenty of studios manage quarterly developer updates, some do monthly and some crazy people do weekly - I'd never expect the latter from any game studio, a game's development just has too many 'what do we even talk about' weeks, but if you're not at the point where you'll have something new you can show off every 1-2 months (even if it's just a screenshot of something you haven't QUITE finish yet, but they'll never know) then, yeah, the game should really still be unannounced.
@@aduboo29 Exactly. So many people are missing the point that the issue isn’t games taking time to make, but rather that announcing something and then never giving updates isn’t a great way to handle things.
@@Logandroidthey’re saying though that’s the publishers and producers making these announcements and what not
I forgot about so many of these games! I have the least amount of faith in witchbrook coming which is sad because it's my most anticipated on this list 😢
CA wasn't even planning to announce Haunted Chocolatier so early, but wanted everyone to know why he hadn't been updating Stardew as frequently.
Right now he's working on getting the latest Stardew update to all platforms, but said he's going back to the project once that's complete. Some of the stuff in that Stardew update is from his recent work on Haunted Chocolatier that he thought would be a good addition to Stardew as well (like fixing the combat). He just needed a break from the project.
I forgot Witchbrook even existed! Like, I was really hyped because it's a magic cozy game, but then it just... disappeared (like magic).
May i recommend Enchanted Folk for the Nintendo DS?
@@juliawolf156 Oh, played it already! A fun game, haha!
the issue is i know games take time, but i wish developers would stop announcing things WAY before they're even close to releasing. so then people are anticipating something that takes an extra 5-10 years to release, or never releases, and then everyone is met with nothing but disappointment
They announce stuff early because it reduces petty copying accusations when the developer already got super far in development. Because if petty copying accusations happen, and the developer doesn't have an online post with a date, then the developer has to go back and rework all the graphics and take even more time.
I wouldn't hold my breath for anything from Chucklefish, given what happened with Starbound (got that back when it launched) I feel like they put 80% into their games, then let it stagnate, and if it does eventually release, they won't do updates due to moving on to their next project. Also, the controversy they had hasn't helped their reputation all that much. They have also developed several other games (Wargroove, Wargroove 2) in the timeframe of Witchbrook, and been publishers to many others (Timespinner, Pathway, Inmost, Starmancer, Eastward, Wildfrost) ..If they haven't released it by this time, then i doubt they are going to
Ngl, I just heard about Witchbrook a few months ago and I'm not even gonna hold my breath. Almost 10 years of literally nothing??? I can't imagine waiting that long for something from teenhood to adulthood. What a damn shame, it looked nice too.
@@baconeggandcheese8402 I already made that mistake with cubeworld :((
What a fabulous episode!! I forgot about many of these titles. Definitely radio silence on some of them!!Trust our to keep us in the loop!
Omfg I’ve never heard of little devil inside but it looks AMAZING. Now I’m so sad!! Why did I watch this list when I knew it was about games that disappeared? No one to blame but myself.
Number of devs doesn't equal to quality or time spent in development - it depends on what is actually being built and the skills of the devs.
I am looking forward to Naiad & Kibu. I realize many of these games may have solo developers and are taking on a huge amount of work but, I think they are doing themselves a disservice by not keeping people updated. Appreciate your detective skills on these along with your speculations!
I’ve been wondering about a lot of these titles - thank you Sarah! 💗
The fact that Witchbrook is being developed by Chucklefish worries me... Starbound was made by people that got pressured by Chucklefish to keep working on it as unpaid volunteers, there was a big controversy about it 😥
Also right when the controversy came out, ConcernedApe basically asked for Stardew Valley to not be under Chucklefish anymore (he was and still is the sole dev of it, but he published it under Chucklefish), and he eventually managed to obtain all the rights/permissions luckily.
But yeah. Witchwood being under chucklefish sounds... concerning. Hopefully people are getting properly paid this time. 😥
Also i have 200% faith in ConcernedApe about Haunted Chocolatier. He delivered a majestic game with Stardew, and i trust him enough to calmly wait for as long as he needs/wants to. He's a perfectionist and wants to deliver us the best he can, + he also gave us a massive Stardew update recently.
I have utter faith in him. 💜
So far 100% of the games I've backed on Kickstarter have failed to deliver, Ranchers included. Coral Island was the one I chose not to back and it turned out to be the best one. >_
I donated towards Farm Folks like 6 years ago now and still nothing 😆 I think they got a whole new team and everything but still barely any info.
Eh, I'm still salty about the 1.0 release for Coral Island. The story wasn't even complete. And to hear they had over 100 devs. Just a bit annoyed. Still play it though.
@@sycronice Agreed! I was so excited to play ‘full release’ to find the game half finished. At this point I may just wait until the kid update drops to do another playthrough.
Same same. I stopped backing on Kickstarter for five years, until Nookazon’s Galactic Getaway (which has gone silent).
Out and About is even more difficult to search for in Canada. Oot and Aboot... I'll see myself out (oot)
Although this will be controversial - just imagine how many absolutely wonderful games could be made with actual studios. I know the major issue here is money, but I just miss the times where there were legit game studios and teams of 50+ people working on a single project. This not only was more stable to the devs, permitting long-term employment and such, but also pretty much guaranteed making of a game in approx. 3 years or less. I cant help but wonder how many resources, money and time is lost due to small teams just not knowing how to launch a proper studio and throwing years of work away. Why do they not start with something small, simple but memorable, release it, make some money and go onto bigger projects?
My personal “cherry ontop” of this list is elder scrolls 6… I weirdly consider Skyrim a cozy game LOL 😅
Definitely has cozy elements. Some TH-camrs have playthroughs where all they have their character do is farm, hunt, fish, craft, etc. One is roleplaying as a courier, even.
About "The Ranchers", we can see "dev-leaks" in their official discord, and the last one was 08/05/2024, where we can see the map update
Honestly given what I’ve heard of chuckle fish, witchbrook may just be abandoned and never released
Most looking forward to haunted chocolatier.
I love the concept of out and about and townseek, because I love that stuff, but sometimes you can't do it irl, not the biggest fan of the style for out and about, but like townseeks style, but out and abouts its concept and gameplay look comfy and adorable.
Hi Sarah, awesome video as always! You continue to be one of the best content creators on all of YT. I love how kind and respectful you are even of the more negative things like this. Unfortunately the lack of communication between developers and players continues to be the standard in nearly the entire industry from smaller developers like most of these all the way to huge ones like Epic or EA. It just leads to so much frustration for the players who support these devs and I really hope it is something that will change going forward. Have a blessed day y'all!
Thank you for the video Sarah! This was super interesting, it can definitely be frustrating as fans of games when the team of a title you are looking forward to don't provide information on their game on a regular basis. Nearing a decade of development and coming out every couple of years to say that you are 'still working on the game' with little to no further info makes it difficult to stay excited for the game or to even have faith that this is a viable project, especially when you have had a kickstarter and are using people's money to fund development, I think it should be expected that backers are kept in the loop. I hope some of the teams behind these games find this video and hear our voices and are able to improve the way they communicate with us players
I can’t wait for Out and About to release 🥰 I played their demo on stream last weekend and loved it 🌱 ❤️
Haunted Chocolatier I have 100% faith in!! CA is a VERY busy man but he has been nothing but trustworthy im not worried
This video was so informative and provides so much insight! Thanks so this excellent episode!
The developer of Kibu actually has a discord where they share a lot of small clips of development and gameplay, as well as sharing other details
I've been waiting for Yokai Inn and Witchbrook for so long and haven't heard anyone discuss it in a LONG time. Whenever they come out I will be so excited. Nice to hear Yokai Inn wants to launch as 1.0 and avoid early access. While I like getting games and feeling like a little part of the dev process (I was an alpha tester for Coral Island) I also feel the early access route causes some conflicts where the game is still unpolished and gets a lot of criticism on early access launch, and then once a 1.0 does come out the hype is gone for the game because most of it's player base has already played through it in early access.
The one I had been anticipating for a long time was Farm Folks. It looked like it was gonna be like an updated N64 Harvest Moon, like what SDV was for the SNES Harvest Moon, but it's been so long and the art and features have changed so much I'm not so enthusiastic about it anymore.
honestly i don't think the very clear plagiarism in the campaign for the ranchers is forgivable, like even if they edit things to the point where you can't tell any more the fact that they did it in the first place shouldn't be overlooked, please no one support devs like this!!
You hadn't even mentioned Coral Island yet and when the footage for The Ranchers appeared my instinctive thought was "wait why is Coral Island on this list?"
It's not just the kickstarter imagery, the whole game looks like Coral Island. I would assume same devs or a sister company but based on what you've said, doesn't sound like it
Haunted Chocolatier will get here when it gets here. I'm not worried.
I don't know who you are I don't know how your video ended up on my feed but I drive for work and I clicked it and immediately noticed how calming and soothing your voice is
I would say that concerned ape is 1 guy and there’s stardew valley 1.6 update which is a massive update. They also update about it
I'm just sad about Witchbrook, there is no way it is still happening in my opinion :s
Owlboy took a decade to make too. Clear communication would be nice and if we don't want artistic burnouts, a game takes as long as it takes ❤ *cries in Silksong*
I believe good things are worth waiting for. But a decade! I agree with developers announcing the game much closer to the launch if they dont want to be transparent and keep people updated. Then, there is less pressure on a solo developer and publisher regarding commitments. Even then, there could be a setback, but the timeline would be more manageable and keep people from disappointment.
Ages of Cataria should definitely have been on this list! We've been getting the bare minimum from the devs, and they're claiming they're looking for more funding now despite earning 10x what they were asking for in their kickstarter. Apparently they used the kickstarter to backpay themselves for all the volunteer hours they'd put into the game instead of actually putting it into the continued development.
I want to hear your take on Songs of Glimmerwick. It looks promising but there haven't been any updates in two years and the devs haven't given a release date yet.
I feel torn when I hear about games in development with little communication on updates. As someone who wants to play these games, it's disappointing not to hear any or little news and can make me feel like they've forgotten about it. But as someone who is a creative, I can understand the lack of updates as sometimes there's not much to say other than, "Still here and working hard!" which can feel pointless as it's nothing new and daunting as it will be followed by questions you may not have answers to, which can take you away from work and possibly feel discouraging.
So, I hope that all the devs are working hard and not to worry about constant updates if it means more focus on game development and helps keep them mentally healthy.
Naiad seems really cool. I love to hear about games made by just one person i think thats so incredible
This was a very necessary video! Thank you for bringing attention to this topic!
Knowing that ConcernedApe creates everything from scratch in his games, i am not surprised at all that it's taking this long to develop and release.
Thanks for the video! Haunted Chocolatier and Witchbrook were the only two I've really known about.. But we'll see what happens to them! :)
What a great episode! Thank you for all the great research into these games. A couple of these have been on my radar for a looooong time. I hope by the time I end up in a nursing home I'll still have a computer that can run Witchbrook for its 2060 debut 😂
I think they def owe us official updates - especially when you have backed it on kickstarter.
All of these games are amazing and beautiful ideas!
Steam has a demo of Out & About and I loved it...cannot wait until it comes out.
Nothing happened to haunted chocolatier. It's just not done yet. Considering how much time it took him to make SDV the game it was at launch, I don't know why anyone's expecting much of anything from it yet? It was only announced a few years ago and the guy isn't getting any help on the game, as per usual.
He's also putting out updates for SDV at the same time (which then have to be moved over to mobile, an extremely time consuming task)
One thing i get over the years of patience is that people grow up & lose interest
Not everybody will keep the same enthusiasm than when they announced the Game.
My advice to Dev is to keep things simple.
Also if you gonna make people wait 10+ years, communication is the least you can do.
Haunted Chocolatier could take 5 years the difference is we know Concerned will produce the good good
I am obsessed with each and every aesthetics in these games
I'm also really curious about PuffPals! I bought the game without early access in early 2023 and haven't heard *anything* about it since? I saw there are some conversations about an alpha on Steam, but not a ton more. I used to see so many ads about it, now barely anything at all. I truly hope it's still in development!
I kickstarted Puffpals along with a couple other games that seem to have just fallen off the radar. I think perhaps there won't be a Puffpals and its just a Plush shop now
I checked the Kickstarter and its saying the following (updates still not that consistent)
Alpha Access was released on October 31st 2023.
Early Access will be available this year 2024 (although we still don't have a specific date yet) and the Final Release will be available 2025!
Chucklefish has been mired in controversies concerning its environment, with a lot of exploitation happening and other less savoury happenings that have been talked about by people who worked there, this probably impacted the project pretty heavily.
Thanks for all the information on these games. Most of us don't mind waiting for a fully functional, bug-free gaming experience, but communication always helps with the wait!
I knew we had been waiting a long time for Witchbrook, but EIGHT YEARS?!?!?!
I loooved the demo for Out and About, ultra excited about it whenever it comes, so cosy :)
If you know how CA’s journey to make SV, you wouldn’t be worried at all about HC. It may take a while but CA will definitely make the game he peomise to make
First time here and I gotta say, this video was cozy in itself ☺️
I'm surprised the puffpals island skies didn't make the list. With how much the Kickstarter raised (a few million, and that was not including all the merch), and the alpha testing being super short game play and heavy in NDA's, kinda feels like it was a scam at this point
@@Sigrun5126 I spent almost 300$ to back them when it was announced. I had already been buying their plushies regularly so I was very excited. they didn't update very often the main creator and designer lily posted a super cryptic tweet then went radio silent. it was like a week before there another update and I immediately requested a refund. I was also very active in thd discord and anyone voicing any concern about their money being stuck in limbo was dismissed and not taken seriously. it really rubbed me the wrong way and fortunately I got a refund.
I am really looking forward to Witchbrook because it reminds me of a DS game I played a lot when I was younger. It was called "Enchanted Folk and The School of Wizardry". I really like the artstyle of Witchbrook as well
holy cow, ten years so long! i am rooting for Witchbrook sm. Come on, Chucklefish, you got this.
*Chucklefish*
They couldn't even do Starbound without a scandal and I'm quite certain they only managed to release it because of the scandal. And they didn't even release the "full" game, they cut a lot of content out before 1.0 release either because they couldn't include it due to the lawsuits or because they couldn't finish it after the whistle got blown. If it's been ten years don't hold your breath, who makes the game and how they are as a company is kind of important.
It's wild that games can be in development for almost a decade and the developers are radio silent on an expected release date or even any progress made. There was a game I played as a kid, and they announced a sequel, released a trailer, and launched the Steam page in 2016 with it coming soon. I was hyped, but then there have been 0 updates from the dev since 2017...
This has actually made me a bit more hopeful about witchbrook! I didn't know that they were hiring in 2023. That tells me that while progress is extremely slow, they haven't run out of funding even after 7 years of development without any publicity. The art style is very complex for a team of 18 (probably at least half of which are not working on the art) so I get it. I really do hope that it gets released and that it lives up to the hype. It must suck to see 10 years of work get demolished by reviewers. Maybe they could hire a socials person to help with updates tho...just sayin
I wonder which one will happen first, release of Yokai Inn or proposal of my boyfriend 🤣 I hope it gets released soon 😭🧡
I would want to know more about Way to the Woods. Been waiting since 2019. I hope to hear about it soon!
Like many others I'm waiting for Witchbrook and like many I'm disappointed with the long wait (whether they like crunch or not, we're not seeing any progress). It was a big mistake on the part of the developers to announce the game at a time when they had nothing more than a piece of paper with vague ideas and a couple of fake concept art “game screens”. It was these “screenshots” that created the false impression that the game was already in active development, when obviously it had not even been started.
The subsequent years of silence did nothing to improve the situation.
I fully trust Concerned Ape. Haunted Chocolatier WILL come. It may take a while and that's fine, but anyone who follows Ape knows that it's definitely in the works.
I am really looking forward to Haunted Chocolatier
Finally, youtube is recommending me some good stuff! Cozy games ftw
maybe steam should have some kind of system where a store page is removed if the game doesn't release in a certain amount of time. I know delays happen and I don't want devs to rush just to hit an arbitrary deadline but I've lost interest in a lot of games simply because they started the hype too soon. like I get excited from a game announcement and lose interest over time, then by the time it's actually out I just don't care enough to play it. I just think they should be more mindful of when they start the hypetrain.
A game I pledged to on Kickstarter and have been patiently awaiting is Puff Pals: Island Skies. Their updates have been few and far between with the last being in February. They’re saying the game will still release next year but it’s just a bit annoying that they’re not really giving people updates or ignoring them when they ask.
No crunch should be standard, but unfortunately Chucklefish also missed the don't exploit people memo.
Isometric pixel art is hard and I admire every single game that pulls it off
jmw327(frontier story) and shiba(yokai inn) are both my favorite pixel artist... exactly because of their similar style of pixel art especially their calm warm palette. if you are a pixel artist or enthusiast or even game dev you'd be liying if you never came across their arts in pinterest and not fall in love.
your voice reminds me of marcille from delicious in dungeon i love her so much!!! love the video 🌻🌺
Yay, another great video, I can't believe there is so many games we've not heard anything from. Also I couldn't believe it when you said about witchbrooke not having a news for a decade. I was like what, no!
As someone working in the field of online marketing, I think there are several scenarios possible for The Ranchers.
The first impression is, of course, that they copy and pasted the Coral Island Kickstarter and took all those ideas...
But it is equally possible that they gave a coherent list of game elements to a marketing agency/web design freelancer, which simply happen to be rather similar due to the nature of farming sim games.
And then those people "took inspiration" from a similar Kickstarter. In this case the people behind the game would simply fail at their due diligence to check what they got for their money against infringements.
But the third scenario would be that they didn’t give a proper list to an agency/freelancer, those people came up with that as a mock up, and instead of replacing everything copied the people behind the game simply said "that's good enough".
Had all of these happen before on both sides of the table.
But them working on their game assets make it seem like they simply pushed the game without properly flashing out what to sell beforehand.
The art style of a game should not be tacked on. It is not exactly a unique selling point of every game but it definitely is one of the core attributes that drive customers' interest in the product. So you can win or lose that if you change it afterward.