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![]() It's possible the Steam post will prompt a wave of curiosity and sympathy, and sales will pick up enough to buy the series a future. Now, "the future of the series is now in question, as the feedback, user reviews and poor media attention has caught us by surprise." DLC's not on the cards, say Frozenbyte in response to claims that Trine 3 was deliberately short in order to then sell add-ons. The cliffhanger ending is upsetting some players too, even more so now that it seems there are no plans in place to provide a proper ending. ![]() Some players are claiming to have completed the game even more quickly than Frozenbyte's projections, and so are grumbling about value for money. The trouble, it seems, is how unfavourably it compares to the larger Trine 2, with many feeling that the move to full 3D is not a worthwhile enough substitute. 6 or 7 hours for a £15 game is scarcely unusual, and it's a very pretty thing to look at. In any case, it doesn't sound as though Trine 3 is a disaster by any stretch of the imagination (I haven't played it yet, but have been watching its reception). It remains to be seen whether going public with their woes helps or harms Trine 3's sales. It is perfectly understandable that they'd then want to get something out, in order to get at least some return from their years of work and millions of dollars in expenditure. We initially had a much longer story written and more levels planned, but to create what we envisioned, it would have taken at least triple the money, probably up to 15 million USD, which we didn't realize until too late, and which we didn't have." Trine 3's development cost $5.4 million - three times what Trine 2 cost. We have always been ambitious and this time our ambition may have gotten the better of us." ![]() We took a big risk with the 3D gameplay implementation - it was to be a massive improvement over the previous games in several areas. Writes Frozenbyte vice-president Joel Kinnunen, "Back in late 2012, we set out to do Trine 3 in full 3D - bigger, badder, better. Or perhaps it just takes panic.Īs for the why, the answer is, basically, money. It takes serious chutzpah to have done this so soon. Even though Frozenbyte's post opens with - and often repeats - a claim that they're proud of Trine 3, it's almost impossible not to interpret it as 'our game is wonky, say developers.' They acknowledge weaknesses and give explanations as to why that's the case, which is hugely admirable. I guess I understand why game companies don't often cop to failure. This is probably the key line: "We still think the game is good but the cliffhanger story and the relative shortness of the game are valid criticisms but ones which we didn't realize would cause a disappointment in this scale. In a fairly unusual step for This Sort Of Thing, devs Frozenbyte posted an announcement on Steam in response to assorted griping from the newly-released puzzle-platformer sequel's players. Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power is the game in question, and its shortness and unresolved story are the cause of the drama. Today, we get to see what it looks like when a successful but small developer puts their hands up, admits there's a problem and explains why. I often lament that game companies don't tend to admit when they've ballsed something up - paralysed by fear that it'll affect marketshare or boardmember confidence.
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