sour escarp
I think modding is absolutely vital for the game's long term life. The issue I see is releasing mod support in December. Which is basically a year away (8 Months exactly), That pushes mods into the year 2026 realistically. Then we have to wait a good year to give modders the time to get into the game, as well as the time to make mods, and now we're looking into 2027 before we get a good list of mods to use.
But here's the main issue. This isn't exactly a high popularity game, and won't be anywhere near the needed popularity to get a good variety of mods like Skyrim, Rimworld, Fallout 4, etc (just using highly modded game examples). Skyrim Special: 33k players, Rimworld: 23k players, Fallout 4: 15k players. And then Shadows of Doubt: 303 right now (3k max lifetime). Now maybe this isn't the goal, and player numbers isn't a major concern.
Where do we think player numbers will be in 2026 or 2027, when it's in a downwards trend?
The answer to the issue I see is release modding support here in the next month or so, June or July at the latest.
So, here's a my improved plan to address the issue above: release the April 29th "Off Duty" update as expected. Then immediately start working on mod support and bug fixes/QOL Improvements, with an aim to release that "Workshop Update" in June or July at the latest, with an absolute worst case scenario release in august. Then after that release the "Modifiers Update" whenever is best.
I saw the negative comments on the 2025 update post on steam, and needed to say something.
The biggest complaints I see on steam are: Performance Issues, Bugs, Lack of QOL.
Now the game is already somewhat customizable with city sizes. But the modding is what gives a game a long life. But it needs to be there before there's no one to play.
Now I love this game 🥺, and don't mean to come off as rude or offensive. I just think focus needs to be on fixing what issues are already in the game, vs adding new or not fixing until later.
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stone rapids