HYPELETTER - 01/12/2023
We’ve made some drastic changes…
‘Tis The Season
Just before you get into the meat of this newsletter, we would just like to say that this is going to be the last Hypeletter for the year. Most of the team will be taking some time off during the Christmas season, and will be back with a bang in January. As 2023 sets and 2024 dawns upon us, we want to thank everyone who has been reading thus far. This journey continues to surprise, and we want you along for the ride.
TL;DR
We’ve started uploading weekly devlogs on YouTube. While we acknowledge the current quality might not be stellar, well be refining and improving with each subsequent devlog. Additionally, our demo is now in the playtesting phase, marking a crucial step towards the demo’s release. We’re gearing up to assemble a dedicated team of playtesters, so keep a close eye on our socials for updates on how you can get involved. As we push the boundaries, we find ourselves close to the edge. Hence, we’ve decided to take a step back for a moment of reflection…
Project Eris Highlights
Finally, Devlogs…
We’ve officially kicked off our devlogs over on YouTube! This one was a long time coming, but we’ve finally gotten around to it. We’ve posted a couple devlogs so far on the channel and we’re eager to continue to share the behind-the-scenes magic of Project Eris with you every week.
While we must confess that our initial devlogs might not boast Hollywood-level production quality, we’ve taken this leap with the aim of cultivating a community around our project. Right now, we’ve bootstrapped this together, so that followers of the project can get a weekly dose of our development progress in video format. If you prefer to watch instead of read these newsletters, then the devlogs are perfect for you!
Viewer engagement is important for these devlogs. Even though they might be a bit rough around the edges currently, your thoughts and suggestions down in the comments section will enable us to incrementally improve the quality of our devlogs as time unfolds. We hope that with each video provides a captivating window into the evolution of Project Eris.
As usual, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, hit that notification bell, and enjoy the show.
The Playtesting Journey
The first playtest for the demo is officially underway! Check out some of the footage from the latest playtest below. This crucial phase is where the rubber meets the road, as our team identifies potential issues and collects feedback from the playtests.
Looking ahead, we have plans to assemble a dedicated team of playtesters in the upcoming month. This group will act as an extension to the core team and play a pivotal role in the development process. Among other things, their sole responsibility will be to identify issues with playtests and make sure they are being communicated back to the core team. The insights from playtesters during this phase will be important in shaping the final iterations of the demo.
To make this workflow even more engaging for our playtesters, we’ve been brainstorming a potential incentive program. We want to ensure that those who commit to this phase and contribute significantly are recognized and rewarded for their invaluable input. Be sure to stay tuned on our socials for more updates regarding playtests.
So, what’s the timeline for all this? The playtesting phase is planned to continue through the coming month and into January of 2024. By then we should hopefully announce a release date for the demo. This extended timeline reflects our commitment to thorough testing and refinement, ensuring that the demo delivers that exceptional experience we are aiming for before it reaches the hands of players.
Reaching The Edge
Our goals for Project Eris have always been high. The team is starting to formulate a long-term vision for this project, we love imagining and working towards what it could be even after the demo’s release. However, we need to share a crucial update about the trajectory of this project moving forward.
The past few months have been a whirlwind of momentum, and we currently stand at the crossroads of ambition and reality. When it comes to ideas like this, we love to think BIG. The vision, while inspiring, is starting to tread the fine line between audacity and pragmatism. Over the past week, we finally realised that Project Eris, in its current scope, was pushing the boundaries of feasibility. As creators, we constantly reach for the edge, and as project leader I can say that we are close to reaching that edge. We want to make sure that we don’t fall off. There is a grim truth that must be faced in recognizing that maybe we’re biting off more than we can chew.
So, we’ve taken a deliberate step back to reassess our path forward. Project Eris, in its current form, boasts a massive scope, with resources rapidly burning. I mean, we’re funding this whole project from our own pockets. We were recently planning for the project’s life beyond the demo, but this has to be put on hold for now. After some hard conversations and extensive research, it became evident that the financial demands for this project were going to be monumental.
To navigate this challenge, we’ve made significant cuts across the board, streamlining the demo’s content and simplifying features. We have tried to do this in such a way that it still reserves the exceptional player experience that we envision. This decision, while painful, is a short-term strategy to ensure the project’s sustainability. The team has poured a lot of heart and soul into planning, designing and implementing features that, regrettably, must be trimmed for now.
This is not a farewell but a recalibration. We remain committed to Project Eris for the long run. This short-term strategy allows us to bring the demo to fruition while affording us the time to carefully re-formulate a long-term plan that aligns with both our vision and the practicalities of development.
“This is Hyper, signing out.”
Hyper