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Planet Nomads drops plans to have co-op and multiplayer

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The Early Access sandbox game Planet Nomads [Official Site] has officially dropped plans to include any kind of co-op or multiplayer.

A massive shame, as these sandbox games really do end up boring by yourself. Unless they make the game somehow incredibly good, this move may not go down well with their Kickstarter backers and Early Access buyers. In fact, negative reviews for this are already starting to appear.

They wrote in a post on their official site, which does give some valid reasons. The part that bothers me here is that they did promise it, seemingly without thinking on how difficult it would be. I mean, did they really think implementing proper multiplayer wouldn't be difficult? Here's what they said:

It's about time we stopped contemplating and constantly discussing whether or not to start adding multiplayer. A decision had to be made and has been made. Planet Nomads is not going to have multiplayer or CO-OP game modes. Our focus is going to be 100% dedicated to making an immersive singleplayer sandbox game that's both giving a huge amount of creative freedom and plenty of things to explore and discover, as well as a sense of direction towards a higher goal. We apologize to our Kickstarter backers and preorder Nomads who backed Planet Nomads purely for the multiplayer aspect of it. Here's a more detailed explanation for our decision.

In the more detailed link, it really just reads like like they're saying "It's more work than we planned for.". It might sound like I'm being particularly harsh, but that is basically the reality of what they're saying.

They haven't posted about this on Steam directly yet, I imagine as it would cause an even bigger backlash due to more people seeing it and taking note of it.

I'm not writing the game off completely, since it could end up being a good game. However, now it won't have any multiplayer at all, it's essentially become "yet another survival game" that's in Early Access. Their roadmap doesn't particularly sound all that great either. Planet customization, optimizations, quests (very difficult to make quests actually fun) and monuments.

Still, since they can fully focus on the game being singleplayer only, they might surprise us with having more breathing room to make it a great experience. Last thing we need is another ARK.

Thanks to Marcelo in our Telegram Group for the tip!

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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44 comments
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eldersnake Sep 3, 2017
Good thing I have no friends :p
melkemind Sep 3, 2017
Quoting: eldersnakeGood thing I have no friends :p

According to Steam you have 58. :D
TheRiddick Sep 4, 2017
Quoting: ShmerlPersonally, I don't mind and think it's good they'll focus all their resources on single-player, but I can understand that some who were waiting for multiplayer specifically might get upset.

It's not some people, they would sell multiple times more copies if it had plans for multiplayer.
wintermute Sep 4, 2017
I think I might be one day beyond the Steam refund window but I applied for a refund anyway, will see how it goes.
derklempner Sep 4, 2017
"Last thing we need is another ARK."

Yes, especially because what we need is a better-looking 7 Days To Die.
Breeze Sep 4, 2017
I like to play survival games alone. Because they are dropping multiplayer and coop to focus on single player, I am going to put this game on my wish list and pick it up when it goes on sale.
Breeze Sep 4, 2017
Quoting: derklempner"Last thing we need is another ARK."

Yes, especially because what we need is a better-looking 7 Days To Die.

7 Days to Die looks fine. They improved the visuals a lot over the last two alphas and it looked good enough to me before the updates. 7DtD needs better AI, more interesting zombies with different abilities and/or raiders, and late game goals.
Crazy Penguin Sep 4, 2017
Quoting: BreezeI like to play survival games alone. Because they are dropping multiplayer and coop to focus on single player, I am going to put this game on my wish list and pick it up when it goes on sale.
Sorry, I don't get you Loners! What kind of logic is that? Now because the have dropped multiplayer you are suddenly interested in a game which you could have played alone for a long time already. By waiting for a sale, which we had about 2 weeks ago, doesn't show much appreciation for the developers effort in making this game anyway.

However I have requested a refund, because of dropping multiplayer. It is way to boring alone. Crafting is kinda idiotic.
g000h Sep 4, 2017
Quoting: Crazy Penguin
Quoting: BreezeI like to play survival games alone. Because they are dropping multiplayer and coop to focus on single player, I am going to put this game on my wish list and pick it up when it goes on sale.
Sorry, I don't get you Loners! What kind of logic is that? Now because the have dropped multiplayer you are suddenly interested in a game which you could have played alone for a long time already. By waiting for a sale, which we had about 2 weeks ago, doesn't show much appreciation for the developers effort in making this game anyway.

However I have requested a refund, because of dropping multiplayer. It is way to boring alone. Crafting is kinda idiotic.

Not saying that it will, there's a long way to go - Planet Nomads might end up with a better single player game, by dropping multiplayer and focussing on making the single player game as good as they can.

Here are some issues that you get with Multiplayer gaming:

- waiting for a game (i.e. queuing before you're able to start a session)
- playing against hackers/cheaters
- people who are vastly above or below you in terms of ability (poor matching)
- connectivity problems, e.g. lag
- griefers / trolls, i.e. people wanting to upset other people
- people with higher spec hardware having an advantage
- time management, i.e. making time to fit in playing (and your co-op partners making time, too)
- other players who are extreme, reactionary, volatile, e.g. dumb kids
- spawn camping, i.e. a camper who waits at a spawn point
- pay to win
- PvP games where a powerful group of people dominates the map stopping anyone else get a foothold
Crazy Penguin Sep 4, 2017
Quoting: g000hNot saying that it will, there's a long way to go - Planet Nomads might end up with a better single player game, by dropping multiplayer and focussing on making the single player game as good as they can.

Here are some issues that you get with Multiplayer gaming:

- waiting for a game (i.e. queuing before you're able to start a session)
- playing against hackers/cheaters
- people who are vastly above or below you in terms of ability (poor matching)
- connectivity problems, e.g. lag
- griefers / trolls, i.e. people wanting to upset other people
- people with higher spec hardware having an advantage
- time management, i.e. making time to fit in playing (and your co-op partners making time, too)
- other players who are extreme, reactionary, volatile, e.g. dumb kids
- spawn camping, i.e. a camper who waits at a spawn point
- pay to win
- PvP games where a powerful group of people dominates the map stopping anyone else get a foothold
Erm..No! Doesn't happen on my own dedicated server on which I play with friends. :)
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