2024 roadmap and future vision?

Hi all,

so I’ve been away for a while and I’m trying to catch up on what the current plan is for SOTA. I’m on the hunt for a 2024 roadmap which lays out what to expect this year. I’m also looking for some kind of vision statement that lays out the path for the future and how the devs plan to get there. Can anyone help me out?

V

 

The last one was that:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...tate-of-the-game-and-roadmap-for-2023.173558/

 

On the last Stream, @Ravalox said, they need one more team meeting for the new roadmap.

 

I saw the 2023 roadmap, which actually is a good model, but figured I was missing something as it was a year old.

Given the maturity of SOTA, I think a roadmap would be great. But I also think it would be beneficial to have a refresh of the vision and mission statement, and some tangible objectives that are seeking to meet that mission statement. Having stuff to look forward to is great, but I really think would help is a bit more context about what the roadmap is building towards, not just what toys we’re going to get and when.

It would also be really useful to get an understanding of what the plan is to get a steer from the community in what they want. Again, SOTA’s got a few years under its belt and the community at launch chances are is going to be substantially different to the one that exists today. Also, there’s clearly a need for fresh blood to reinvigorate the community, I suspect that’s going to creativity to figure out what they want and what services needs to be in place.

SOTA has a proud pedigree, which honestly I don’t think gets talked about enough. Maybe there’s a way of celebrating all the achievements made by both the devs and players, while plotting a clear path ahead for the future.

 

I wonder the 2024 roadmap would be meaningful even if there is. There are half of the goals set in 2023 roadmap still missing without any notice about whether they will happen or not. Is Unity 2021 upgrade still a thing or another ditched plan ? When will the "In game Event" menu comes into reality ? What about Terrain Flattening Prototype ? And house "Free Placement" on lots ?
Anyone can answer me those questions ? Or is the 2023 roadmap actually a 2-year plan instead of one year ?

 

Every prior roadmap has been a millstone around the devs' necks, what's one more?

 

They're just trying to give us an idea of what they are working on. Things can change. Those additions are not guaranteed to ever make it in the game, until they're added.

They might find a reason why they can't add something at all. Or the work to get something done could be much more then they anticipated.

 

Of course I know it is not guaranteed, I'm not talking about getting it done, I'm talking about a "NOTICE" about whether they will happen or not? Or "when" will they happen? If we cannot even know answers to these questions, what would be the point for the devs to give out any more idea about what they are working on ?

 

Sometimes too much transparency can be damaging.

For example, say they announced that it was not possible to implement a specific feature to the game. Some players that really wanted that feature might quit playing when they hear that. Then down the road, things change and the developers can implement that feature after all. But they lost players, that may have kept playing if they were never told anything in the first place.

Just speculation here. I can't think of any benefit for telling the players what they can't do. I'd rather have them focus on what they are working on, instead of wasting time trying to explain why they can't implement something.

 

Transparency is always the rule of thumb. Old players do come back to Sota from time to time to check out if the game is mature enough to fit their expectation or not. If something for whatever reason is not doable for the moment, then the devs should not even put it into any roadmap at the first place. Otherwise, it would be no different from lying.

 

While not directly related to the Roadmap, I published 2023 Developed SotA Features to the sotawiki. I upload monthly Release notes from the Devs to SotAWiki. Some items may have been on the 2023 roadmap (I have not compared).

At least, at a glance, you can see major things released for the year. Take a peak, and this may help returning veterans too.

https://sotawiki.net/sota/Release_Features_2023

 

I was pondering this one yesterday. It’s true, if there’s something on a roadmap, then there’s an expectation that it’s delivered. But that’s not a bad thing, and actually I think is a crucial part of any organisation that wants to both connect with its audience, and hold itself accountable for actual change. It’s easy to be too conservative and not set any public goals, but there’s a serious risk of just not stepping up to the challenge, and your audience simply not being aware of your plans and walking away to go elsewhere.

Looking around the boards, and playing a bit in game, SOTA feels… quiet. That’s something that I think everyone probably can agree needs addressing, both in terms of luring oldies back, and in terms of bringing new folk in to the community. I don’t think the devs have the luxury of taking the safe road here, maybe it’s worth taking a risk and laying out those big plans for 2024 (and when they’re going to be delivered).

 

Publishing roadmap for the game is not a bad thing, no matter it's a conservative version or ambitious version, as long as it does not turn out to be a lie. There were many rage quitters of Sota quitted the game just because they're tired of waiting for empty hopes that the devs had given along the years.

 

The issue is that the devs have published roadmaps over the years and they've never been particularly representative of the work actually completed over the same time frame. Players complain, the devs defend themselves with the time honored "things came up" defense, and no one is left happy.

 

The Roadmap needs to be a fluid document. Something the doves implement that’s not on the road map should be added and marked as completed.

things that were on the road map that were not finished should be bumped to the next year’s roadmap.

so maybe they were going to focus on ABC and they does focus on ABT. It’s OK but then people should not get upset that a certain feature has been delayed due to a technical problem or something needs to be implemented first to get that item C to be implemented. Finally next year.

i’m good with all that. As it makes us a stronger game. It makes the game last that we can enjoy it for years to come.

 

I can't figure out what I'm going to be doing a week from now. I can't imagine trying to come up with a plan for a year

 

Some of us do tend to lurk about. I'm curious what's on the agenda for this year too. I kinda reached a point where I had collected everything to collect and done everything I could do unless I learned to play one of the pretzel-finger-meta builds. Interested to see the direction the content takes, if its going to be "monsters with more and more hp making solo play impossible" (which is what the trend was when I last played) or perhaps a re exploration of the non-combat stuffs, book systems, social systems, or achievements, or what. For me the combat has always just been a means to an end to get *stuff* and when I stopped being able to get the things without dragging a fire mage or tamer with me I lost interest quickly. Seeing a roadmap even with the possibility of adding a new crafting tree or non-combat progression or cool new deco features would certainly entice me back.

 

And they achieved 2/8 aims. Would be good to know what went wrong, why was everything not hit, those are bad stats. Help us the players understand, and then we will probably be more apprecitative when you post the 2024 vision when hopefully it is a lot more achievable.

 

I tend to agree, so long as team continues to provide updates for items that backers may have prepaid for (e.g., Episode 2).

A new 2024 roadmap would be great. It might help for them to differentiate between 'would be nice' vs 'must have' items. This might help us understand the team's top priorities more easily. As is, with the 2023 road map, I wondered why we even need some of those and why the team would focus on those over Episode 2 content.