The Manor Lords Developer Is Rightly Worried...

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"The majority of gameplay is focused on city building and management." Yeah, that's exactly what I want.

A developer that WANTS to manage expectations? For that allone that guy should win some sort of a Steam award imo.

the fact a single Dev project is the most wishlisted game on steam is speaking louder than we ever could ^^

Kudos to Slavic Magic for taking the bull by the horns and being up front with the players. This may also stem off Steam refunds by setting player's expectations before they buy which is also a positive both for the developer and the player.

under promise, over deliver

Something that goes unmentioned is that the developer is very focused on historical accuracy, it isn't just another city builder like Anno where its more fantasy than fact. Slavic/Greg actually made trips to visit real buildings and towns from that period just to make his game. It has been a historical passion project since 2017 and I can't wait for its early access release!

"Overhype" and "Overhate"... that's gaming in 2020's. Video games are either 100% hated or 100% loved. Nothing in between.

Manor Lords again is a huge slap in the face to all AAA Studios. It baffels me every time when i see how small/solo-dev studios manage to produce a game that is more fluent, beautiful, fun and less bugs then anything AAA produced the last years.

It's because you had 100 youtubers claiming that this "could be the total war killer we've all been waiting for." They over-hyped it and made it seem like something it's not. It is a very pretty city builder with a small battle mechanic.

These solo devs are so damn inspirational.

Something I would like from ML later on in the game's development is a much bigger map, and the ability to expand your town across multiple regions rather than having to start a new town there. One of the things I like most about this game is the resource production and artisan elements, and that you don't have everything available to you in every region.

Love how he tries to manage expectations and people are basically like "oh good, yeah, thats what I wanted"

Every “this game is not” he lists is a selling point for me. Can’t wait.

"Nobody panics when they see grids and districts, because its all 'part of the plan'. But then you put a camera behind a character model in your citybuilder and allow control of them, well then everybody just loses their minds"

That explanation from the dev sounds absolutely delightful to me. It seems to me to be a stronghold-esque game, with more in-depth (i.e. up to date) village / society building with some combat sprinkled in between as opposed to some village building and constant grinding warfare. Sounds like a delight for some casual gaming while still being able to deliver a gratifying feeling

I've been a single dev on a few games and part of larger teams. I stopped making games because I work best alone and the stress was too much and juggling all the different aspects of working alone is mind-destroying- it's not just the game, it's the web site bulding, the videos/editing, the advertising, setting up the stores and so much more little things that add up- the coding and art, I can do that, I can make the games but it's all the other junk that I can't do and I never found someone to help me with that side of things. My games were pretty simple compared to this. I know he's got to be stressed AF, even if it's a great game. Even if he's got a banger, I'll bet he'll never be more stressed in his life as he is right now. Release Days are nerve wracking. It's different when you're part of a team, it's not all on you- but doing it alone- ugh, never again for me! I would never want to make a game like this on my own, even if it was the greatest thing ever made- with the attention this game is getting I'd probably have a heart attack when I hit that official release button. Even if it's not what it's cracking up to be he's got major respect from me, this stuff is not easy!

All these "What it's not"s just make me more excited. I want a simple, high quality, beautiful city builder on a smaller scale. Also, almost every other city builder is grid based and that's so boring for aesthetics. I'm so excited for the curved roads and land plots that actually fit into weird non-rectangle shapes. Friday can't come fast enough. :D

As long as he continues developing the game, and I can eventually make a real castle, castle town, and a beautiful church on the hill, I am all set.

To me, it's still a Total War competitor in the sense that I'll gladly play it over anything historical that CA has released within the last decade.