Snowbird Games shut down (Eador devs)

[Infinitron]

http://snowbirdgames.com/blog/?p=2650

Farewell from Snowbird Games
March 28, 2017 | Snowbird

Hi everyone,

Today we’ve got probably not the most exciting announcement for you, but nevertheless — a very important one.

It doesn’t take much to see that with Eador. Imperium, our latest project, we faced an unusual amount of negative feedback. Much of that is justified — the troubled development of Imperium for the past year took far more time than needed, and the end result, understandably, didn’t really meet expectations of our players. Even taking technical difficulties of the engine behind Eador into account, it’s pretty clear — we could’ve done much better, something’s just not working out.



As it is, tough times call for tough decisions: the investor group which took part in forming Snowbird Games has decided to let most of the team go.

So for us it’s the last chance to properly say goodbye. On the behalf of the people leaving Snowbird Games — thank you, everybody!

However you decide to look at it, it’s been a real journey for us. We love Eador and love Blood & Gold. All the work that went into both of these projects by our tiny team was 100% sincere and passionate. You can be absolutely sure of that.

But, when it’s clear it’s time to move on, it’s best not to hesitate. Best of luck to the renewed team. And see you around!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Well shit.
Didn't play much of the Eador remake, but the Mount and Blade one was alright.

 

[thesheeep]

Damn. I had hoped for a re-release of Blood & Gold with some needed fixes, etc.

But I must say this is not surprising.
All except the 2D Eador weren't too great - very promising, but bug-ridden and incomplete.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

totally deserved.
they sold a worse version of the same game two times already.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Sad news but what everyone already said: Eador games after Genesis were just Genesis in generic 3D that played like ass so I'm not sure why they kept going in that direction. Oh well.

 

[Hobo Elf]

totally deserved.
they sold a worse version of the same game two times already.

As harsh as it is, this is the truth. First Eador was neat but a technical mess. Everything after that.. well, at least the devs admit it themselves that they fucked up and that this end result is not very surprising.

 

[LESS T_T]

http://snowbirdgames.com/blog/?p=2660

Studio status update

This is an update from the new Snowbird Games administration.

This week, main investor of Snowbird Games studio took decision to dismiss the development team. Reasons for this being the unsatisfactory results of Eador. Imperium, as well as the slow development rates of Blood & Gold: Caribbean! — two primary projects of the studio. Right at the start of 2017 the investor did an independent code examination and had a talk with developers. As a result, it was decided to let go of the people behind both of these projects and invite new specialists.

New administration is not yet ready to announce its immediate plans on further development. It is also unclear whether the Snowbird Games brand itself will be preserved. At the moment people from the renewed team are preparing their own feedback on Eador and Blood & Gold. After agreeing on what’s the next step should be with administration, new plans will be posted in this blog, as well as in Steam community hubs of both projects. This blog will be kept as means of communication with the audience for the time being. New information should be provided during the next week.

And new plans for Blood & Gold: Caribbean!: http://snowbirdgames.com/blog/?p=2676

 

[Severian Silk]

What is Eador? Is it a HoMM clone?

 

[thesheeep]

What is Eador? Is it a HoMM clone?

Are you for real?
Play it, man! NOW!

I mean the original, 2D version. Though IMO the 3D version by now (NOT Imperium, though) isn't that bad, either.

It is a game that is definitely a lot of fun. Though after X dozen hours spent with it, it does get boring as hell as you basically completely start from 0 on each new map.
The lack of any sense of progression killed it for me. But only after having a blast for quite a while.

 

[Lostpleb]

The Jews can't appreciate talent when they see it. Instead of reinforcing Snowbird with additional testers and better quality assurance so that they might actually polish the interface and bugfix their stuff in time for release, (((they))) chose to (((consolidate))) a very promising team of devs.

Be good goyims now and go work on something profitable like Call of Duty or Minecraft. What a Shoah.

 

[J_C]

Eador Genesis turned out to be one of the best turn based fantasy strategy-RPG for me, it is that good. But everything after that is a total disgrace, which are bugged to this day. I'm not surprised they turned their belly up.

 

[LESS T_T]

And they revealed a new game, Feral Blue, single-player ship game set in alternative reality of the Age of Sale where the Earth is flooded:

Feral Blue is about surviving on a ship with your crew in the boundless Ocean, which once flooded the entire planet. No continents, no states – only rare islands, sea nomads and technology of the Age of Sail.

In 1699 the Sun became too bright. Perhaps, it was that flash that changed the world. Polar ice melted, seas came out of the shores, millions of people died. Those who survived through it, call it the Second Flood. But there is not many of them left.

Start with your first ship, build your town, subdue your neighbors and create your own oceanic empire!

Key features:

• Hero Ship — captains are mortal, but the ship must sail further. The player creates a whole dynasty of captains and their crews: conspiracies, revolutions and poisonings of unnecessary people included.
  
• Naval battles — the player himself controls the ship’s shooting and leads his boarding team into attack.
  
• Deep crew management — your people differ from each other, have their needs and require constant attention, otherwise it can all end with an epidemic or riot.
  
• From a bandit gang to your own state — military campaigns, economic policy and diplomacy await.

Coming to Steam Early Access later this year.

Powered by Unreal Engine 4.

Sensible choice of engine this time.

I guess everyone who don't make battle royale makes a game about ships these days!

 

[Infinitron]

I guess they decided to "preserve the brand".

 

[ERYFKRAD]

That map STILL looks like something out of the mount and blade engine.

 

[Valky]

One shot wonder. Eador Genesis is still one of the best fucking turn based strategy games ever made.

edit:
How are the rights for Eador held? I don't see genesis listed on snowbird games website and gog has genesis's author as Alexey versus Snowbird games for the rest of them. Pretty nice if the original author got to keep the best version of the game.

 

[kris]

And they revealed a new game, Feral Blue, single-player ship game set in alternative reality of the Age of Sale where the Earth is flooded:

Flooded with water from another dimension going by that map.

EDIT - for the confused thesheeep ; If all the worlds ice would melt; meaning we would get the maximum sea level, then not a single square meter of Switzerland would be covered by ocean water.