Dear followers of Rulers of the Sea,
Happy new year!!!
2021 was to be the year we hoped things around the world would turn up a bit after a difficult 2020. For some it might have done, but at the end of the year many of us faced problems that seemed eerily similar to 2021. This year we feel most people don’t count on anything. It might be the year in which we will accept a new status quo. We’ll go on as best as we can in these changing global circumstances.
Perhaps our project is now more important to keep up than ever. Learning about history seems crucial and providing an inspiring environment to escape to and find likeminded people seems equally important.
Yet this is to be year three that we work on the project and year two we’re on the hunt for investment. On the plus side it shows we’re not quitters and we’re not here for quick wins. But we’d really like to scale up from the volunteer phase to the full production phase, and for that we need to get the break we haven’t found so far.
Looking back we carried out all of our goals for 2021. We didn’t bring the gamer shares live again because we feel we should proceed a bit further with adding value before we do a second round. We also revisited our strategy to investment, which required more work on the proto-type, the presentation and the outreach initiatives, which is ongoing.
We gained new team members that made us stronger. As we are developing at a steady but slow pace, we toned down the community campaign to save money and effort until we’re further advanced, but a good group of loyal supporters remain and some still join, and for that we’re incredibly grateful.
In 2022 we will give the project a big push. A lot of work still has to be done for this. December was a difficult month with new COVID lockdowns and exhausted people, but we are charged up fight again in the new year. We really want 2022 to be the year that we get full production going, this will be an important year.
- We will put more emphasis on the project’s educational goals, the importance of a game that combines immersive historical role-play with experimental historical simulation. We’ll reach out to academics and educational institutes to seek partnerships and help. We think this will give the project a firmer footing for investment.
- We’ll develop the proto-type in a game engine so that we can create an early (experimental) playable test version of the game, in stages.
- We’ll improve the website and create an advanced trailer and wiki to improve our presentation and marketing.
Once we have these elements in place we’ll look for options regarding a large crowd funding campaign drive, but if we can find investments in another way we’ll certainly go for that too. We still have parties that we can interest with further progress and there are always new prospects to reach out to.
Our spirits are up and we remain positive we can pull it over the finish line! But 2022 is the year to make that step to full production.
A last thing we need to say: we have quite a team of supporters that are sticking with us! They support us to this day, financially and/or in spirit. It is hard to express how much that means to a team of volunteers. When the chips are down it is easy to quit unless there is something that fires you up. Wanting to pull this off is all about the supporters. All we can say to them is just: you’re amazing! Thank you so much for your hope, support, positivity and sharing a dream.
We wish you all a very happy and successful new year! We hope you’ll continue to be with us in 2022!
The Deadeye Games team