Keep in mind Temtem? 4 years earlier than ‘Pokémon with weapons’ recreation Palworld exploded onto the scene, massively multiplayer creature-collection journey Temtem got here out alongside related comparisons. Now, its developer has issued an open letter to gamers signaling the tip of help and teased what’s subsequent.
Within the message, posted to the Temtem Steam web page, developer Crema addressed what it mentioned was an “uptick” in group concern about Temtem following the announcement of Temtem: Swarm, a “survivor-like bullet heaven” spin-off due out later this 12 months.
Crema began its message by discussing the mismanaged expectations that got here from Temtem being tagged as an MMO on Steam when the plan was for it to be an MMO-lite. Making an attempt to make Temtem extra like a conventional MMO to satisfy these expectations induced Temtem to “develop far past our unique intentions, and even past our grasp,” the developer admitted. “We perceive now that seeing the sport being known as an MMO in every single place led to expectations that we have now failed to satisfy.”
Crema went on to clarify why it’s not including new islands and Tems, pointing to the restricted growth functionality of a studio of its dimension. It’s the identical rationalization, in essence, for the shortage of extra multiplayer content material. Crema then apologized for options that have been promised however won’t be launched, together with PvP Draft and the Temtem API. “For our shortcomings and failure to ship these to you, we’re really sorry,” Crema mentioned.
However the massive announcement is that patch 1.7, due out early June, will take away all the sport’s microtransactions after a group backlash. This implies Temtem’s complete monetisation system might be stripped out. Then, with patch 1.8, Crema mentioned it is going to “alleviate FOMO” (the concern of lacking out) by letting gamers choose any battle move from the previous and full it. “Whereas it’s nonetheless very early to speak about monetization for future initiatives, we have now discovered from this example and the lesson is obvious, and can maintain these learnings in thoughts for the longer term,” Crema mentioned,
Patch 1.8, then, is the final feature-filled patch of the standard dimension, Crema warned. “1.8 won’t have a Tamer Cross, nor a Season, and there received’t be extra Seasons going ahead,” it confirmed. “This doesn’t imply there received’t be new patches sooner or later: we’ll proceed sharpening, fixing bugs, and balancing Temtem for so long as it wants it.
“Past the economic system, all these adjustments have been made contemplating the group’s suggestions and the sport’s wellbeing, as our mission for 1.8 onwards is to make the sport extra enjoyable, pleasing, rewarding and self-sustained, even within the absence of massive updates. Small updates will maintain showing within the type of bug-fixing and stability tweaks, as we don’t intend to shut the sport nor its server.”
Crema defined that it’s capable of maintain Temtem working as a result of server prices are “slim”, which in flip means the developer can cowl prices “for a extremely, actually very long time.” However don’t maintain your breath for an offline mode. “With the sport servers perpetually on-line, we’re not considering an offline mode,” Crema mentioned. And what occurs if participant numbers dwindle to subsequent to nothing? Concern not, Crema reassured: “Temtem received’t die if 1000’s of individuals don’t play it each day, and its give attention to a basic journey marketing campaign ensures that anybody becoming a member of Temtem at any given time will benefit from the recreation, be capable to discover each nook and cranny of the Archipelago, uncover its story, and acquire every Temtem, even when alongside a small crew of gamers.”
And at last, to the longer term. It doesn’t sound like Temtem 2 is a chance, not less than within the short-term. “If we ever have been to do that, we’d want to have the ability to produce a product and circulation of content material that each one of you can get pleasure from and like to the utmost,” Crema mentioned. “Such a product continues to be out of our grasp and attain: we’re merely not prepared. We’re, as a studio, too small to embark on the feat we’d like Temtem 2 to be; we don’t presently have the technical data, the time nor the flexibility to deliver these concepts to life.”
Nonetheless, there’s an unannounced new recreation set inside the Temtem universe within the works, codenamed Undertaking Downbelow. Crema mentioned it’s engaged on this thriller recreation with a brand new engine. “Our intentions for Undertaking Downbelow are to construct new foundations and check out new issues we might like to see in a hypothetical Temtem 2,” Crema mentioned. “By exploring a brand new fight system, a stronger engine and extra issues we are able to’t unveil but, we hope to be taught the correct bases, and have sufficient preparation and expertise to place us nearer to the materialization of one thing as valuable to us – and also you – as Temtem 2 could be.”
We perceive many gamers really feel like Temtem has much more potential to unlock, and that it isn’t all it could possibly be, however for us that does not take away from the truth that we’re truly very proud of the ultimate product.
As for Temtem: Swarm, co-developed with GGTech Studio, Crema insisted “in no case have we eliminated any assets nor staff members from Temtem’s growth to make use of on Temtem: Swarm, nor can we plan to.” In the meantime, there’s a Temtem animated collection within the works.
“We perceive many gamers really feel like Temtem has much more potential to unlock, and that it isn’t all it could possibly be, however for us that doesn’t take away from the truth that we’re truly very proud of the ultimate product,” Crema concluded.
“We’re so excited to see how a lot Temtem has grown, and really feel like the ultimate product is an entire expertise, and a really pleasing one at that. Once we set out on this journey we couldn’t even dream of reaching this level, of getting created a recreation with a lot content material, that gives lots of of hours of pleasure and enjoyable, and we’re pleased with all the pieces we’ve achieved and created. Whereas it’s not an ideal recreation, and we’ve discovered so, a lot from it, we cherish this not-so-little recreation of ours.”
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.