I highly doubt anyone from the staff at Re-Logic will read this, but I need to get this off my chest. As a company, you've simply gotten lazy. You're resting on your laurels and, quite frankly, it's a little disheartening coming from the people who put out a 15 dollar game that I pumped more time into than most AAA titles.
Pixel Piracy was a complete flop, making well under expected sales. Not only that, but the company that you outsourced it to went under due to poor sales and someone strait out stabbing you in the back. Worst still, the game feels like every mass produced "8 bit" indie title out there, boasting absolutely no ground breaking or enthralling game mechanics at all. It's practically a flash game that people spend 15 bucks on.
Pixel Privateers is doing much better, but hasn't really broken any ground. Sure it's a decent game, but you'd be hard pressed to even find it on steam. I even remember seeing the announcement for it, watching some gameplay, and then simply passing it up as there are more enjoyable RTS out there. Add this to the fact that you outsourced this game as well to the same company that went under (Quadro Delta) and now you have two dead end go nowhere games, generating almost no cashflow for your company.
Then comes in Terraria: Otherworld. What's most astonishing is that you have the gall to take the IP that LAUNCHED your company, the one that captured hearts and minds, and then OUTSOURCE it not ONCE, but TWICE. That's pretty lazy. You'd think your brainchild, the one that brought you all your success, would be the most coveted thing you have, uninfluenced by ANY outside companies. To top it all off, you left it in the hands of people who were in charge of PORTING your games. Engine Software? Aside from completely letting you down, their plethora of games hasn't even made a dent in the market let alone a name for the company. If anything, letting them port your game to consoles effectively put them on the map. Untried, untested, and at the end, untrue, you removed them because they failed you.
Then you move on to Pipeworks. What? You managed to find an even more primordial company, whose claim to fame is a flashy online version of cards against humanity that nobody plays because there's almost no cards in the base game (dont worry, you can purchase a billion more card packs for 4.99 each), and decide that because they ported your game that they can start work on Terraria: Otherworld. You come around to see how they're doing and, surprise, they've got nothing worth
done.
So why is it that you, Re-Logic, aren't working on Terraria: Otherworld yourselves? Are you swamped with content updates for Terraria? I doubt it, as there hasn't been any real content updates added to Terraria for close to 2 years now. Hotfixes and UI updates, language support, quality of life improvements. Where's the meat? Where's the reason people play? Sure you've got a squad of people who just build all day and there's nothing wrong with that, but we both know that's not what attracted people to the game. If it was, there'd be no point in having 14 bosses (outside of events).
I've been following your company with great interest, and had some amazing experiences playing this game with my friends, even when it was difficult as all hell to actually get into a multiplayer game together. Terraria is truly a must play game on most peoples list, and yet you sit and rest on your laurels; content to let other companies abuse your name and intellectual properties.
tldr; Re-Logic is resting on their laurels, coasting off the success of one game and letting untested no-name companies use their name as a gateway to make terrible indie titles. They should have never outsourced their most valuable IP, let alone to two indie companies whose claim to fame is actually porting the aforementioned IP. If Re-Logic developed Terraria: Otherworld instead of being lazy asses, it would've launched by now.
Wow.
That was quite something.
Without getting heated or wishing to start any arguments I must first say that I actually work in the games industry and some of your statements suggest you do not.
But you make sweeping pronouncements that can only be supported by inside industry knowledge or possession of facts regarding said statements.
Firstly, at no point do you attempt to support any of your claims with even the smallest gathering of facts whatsoever.
You simply state that "Pixel Piracy was a complete flop, making well under expected sales."
Do you know what the expected sales were?
If it is a complete flop then why is it still on Steam?
Secondly, your disappointment while valid and understandable does not really justify sounding off in such a manner. It's very snarky and bitter and would probably get more credence from anyone from Re-Logic who might read it if the slurs were not so unwarranted, unsupported or personal.
How do you know that Re-Logic are "resting on their laurels"?
Do you know what happens every day in their offices?
In your following of the company, a task you say you have undertaken "with great interest", have you acquired some "MEAT" which seems to be something they have failed to provide for "close to two years now"?
Can you put some "meat" on the bones of your assertions, without getting riled or aggravated?
Can you actually back up your statements.
What were the expected sales?
How does a company that has survived for over 20 years, regardless of dropping the ball on T:OW deserve to be called a no-name company?
Equally, simply because Pipeworks, has not tucked any AAA titles under their belts prior to acquiring T:OW, how qualified are you to say their team is not competent enough to pick up where Engine dropped off?
Do you know the capabilities of every team member in both Engine and Pipeworks, so much so that you can judge them so broadly and dismiss them in a heartbeat?
Please, if you do, outline these facts so that we can then take your pronouncements more seriously and view them as something more than the outpourings of an angry child.
Not for one instant do I suggest that you are indeed angry or a child, but this is how your post came across. The tone was spiteful, malicious and vindictive. Filled with borderline juvenile name-calling and an overall tone of "entitlement", like many posts on forums such as this.
They are not unusual.
Players become precious over what they perceive as something that has become "theirs".
They have a feeling of ownership and are outraged at change or disappointment when things don't happen as they feel they should or when they feel they should.
Having worked for the last 35 years in the games industry and at one point actually working on T:OW I can actually say that pretty much everything you said was incorrect, unfair or insulting.
Calling Re-Logic "Lazy Asses" certainly didn't underline your arguments or establish yourself as someone whose opinion is to be given any real attention or seen as valid or even interesting.
If you honestly think the three companies involved have not seen posts like this before you must be delusional.
If you think posts like this worry them or give them an atom of concern, again your grip on reality must be tenuous at best.
If you wanted to make these points, you could have gone about it in a far better manner. With carefully thought out points, supported with facts, figures or at least a lot less name-calling and supposition.
Like I said.
I have not answered to start an argument, I've probably got socks older than you and have better things to do with my time.
I have not answered out of any loyalty to any company involved in this project, because I have none.
I answered because I found your passion admirable, your vexation natural, but your baseless and venomous attacks both childish and self-defeating.
My main reason for this reply was that I find attacks on the games industry by obvious outsiders to be irksome.
People who can, do.
People who can't, criticise on forums.
If you feel you can do any better than the three companies you have taken such lengths to disparage, I encourage you to do so.
I will follow your progress "with great interest."
If, as you say "there are more enjoyable RTS out there", you would probably be best diverting your energies in that direction.