Colony Ship - Status of Early Access

Vince looks back to the last few weeks after Colony Ship went into Early Access and presents some findings and numbers and why they don't have publisher.

The game is well-received (86% based on 321 reviews) - thank you very much to everyone who decided to support us. The Age of Decadence did well for a hardcore indie but Roman fantasy with ancient mysteries and Lovecraftian elements is one thing, a colony ship with well-familiar political themes, without any overt space opera or over-the-top futuristic elements a la Mass Effect, is another.

In the first month we sold 14,271 copies. In comparison AoD sold ~3,300 copies during the same period in Early Access, so we can consider it a very promising start. I never hype our games but if the players liked the first, fairly low-key chapter, they're going to love what comes next.

Regional data: I don't think anyone will be surprised to learn that the United States reigns supreme - 54% of all units are sold in the land of the free. Russia is the second biggest market with 7%, UK 6%, and so on and so forth.

Wishlists: we were sitting on 30k wishlists (courtesy of releasing the combat demo last year), it went up to 50k in the final week (after the first videos), then quickly jumped to 100k a week after release. Promising on this front as well.

Demo downloads jumped up by 2,265% so demos certainly remain an important tool that shouldn't be underestimated.

AoD's sales went up 3,400% in the last month, which is an unexpected but very welcome bonus. Our development budgets are generated by our sales (which allows us to stay independent), so the stronger the sales, the more we'd be able to do to bring our worlds to life.

Thanks Pladio!

More information.

Good news, well deserved, I wish Iron Tower continued success.
I always enjoy Vince's write ups about how the company is doing sales wise; a nice insight into indie operations.

Just picked it up having read their road-map, Looking forward to playing it, but it won't be anytime soon.

I love these kinds of articles. The insights are quite precious in my opinion and most companies don't like sharing them…

Really good to hear. Well done to Iron Tower studios and all the best. I have not purchased the EA release yet but I am definitely getting this as soon as possible.

Colony Ship breaks some ground in RPG by using new dialog box formats, easier inventory management, NPC path-finding is very good, map/navigation system is much easier. This is going to the top of my favorite RPG list, a real testament to what a great RPG game can look like, execution of managing inventory, and more; impressive!

Quick question for anyone playing .. .it's on my wish list but heard it has punishing combat. I am not a fan of overly hard combat, especially in TB, are their difficulty settings? If so I plan on picking it up otherwise will have to wait.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
Quick question for anyone playing .. .it's on my wish list but heard it has punishing combat. I am not a fan of overly hard combat, especially in TB, are their difficulty settings? If so I plan on picking it up otherwise will have to wait.

For now there are no difficulty settings but combat is somewhat easier than the Age of Decadence.

There are some fully optional fights which are very difficult but they're not part of the main quest so you can skip them entirely or handle them using stealth or diplomacy.

If you found combat in the Age of Decadence difficult then you might do here too but I find that there are more tools to even the odds. For example, smoke and flash grenades and also gadgets.


Also you can try the combat demo.

Originally Posted by Maximous
Colony Ship breaks some ground in RPG by using new dialog box formats, easier inventory management, NPC path-finding is very good, map/navigation system is much easier. This is going to the top of my favorite RPG list, a real testament to what a great RPG game can look like, execution of managing inventory, and more; impressive!

Wow, blast from the past. Long time no post.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
Quick question for anyone playing .. .it's on my wish list but heard it has punishing combat. I am not a fan of overly hard combat, especially in TB, are their difficulty settings? If so I plan on picking it up otherwise will have to wait.

See: https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/show…3&postcount=16

Originally Posted by Pladio
If you found combat in the Age of Decadence difficult then you might do here too but I find that there are more tools to even the odds. For example, smoke and flash grenades and also gadgets.

Combat in CSG is definitely easier, full stop. I had to do plenty of reading on the forums to get anywhere in AoD, and rely on a heavily focused min/max combat character. CSG I find enjoyably challenging, but not frustrating.

The combat demo is a good example of the style and systems, but I'm not sure it's an indicator of difficulty in the full game.

Originally Posted by screeg
Combat in CSG is definitely easier, full stop. I had to do plenty of reading on the forums to get anywhere in AoD, and rely on a heavily focused min/max combat character. CSG I find enjoyably challenging, but not frustrating.

The combat demo is a good example of the style and systems, but I'm not sure it's an indicator of difficulty in the full game.

Yes, that's true to a certain extent, but new players will have difficulties in Colony Ship too as you may not know what is or isn't an optional fight.
Some fights do require a very strong build and/or use of consumables to win.

Count me in as another one cheering in Iron Tower's corner. Keep up the good work, fellas!!