Nick Thomadis is leaving Game-labs - Is this the end of the road for UAD?

[Tycondero]

I just read the following message on discord and steam that our beloved developer Nick Thomadis is leaving Game-labs. I wish him all the best and hope that he will continue to do what he is great at: making innovative strategy games. Hopefully he has something better ahead for him with a larger budget so that we can all enjoy his future work even more!

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1069660/discussions/0/592884386754509192/

https://discord.com/channels/752511217716691015/752515850069868553/1321122302762680413

With that said, what does this mean for UAD? Nick mentions the "last patch", does that mean that UAD will no longer get support/updates?

[King_Tiger_II]

I hope this is not UAD's last patch, there is still so much that could be done. I hope this is just Nick's last patch.

[UnleashtheKraken]

1 hour ago, King_Tiger_II said:

I hope this is not UAD's last patch, there is still so much that could be done. I hope this is just Nick's last patch.

Perfectly said.  There are tons of hulls that could use addition, a greater variety of towers and smokestacks.  I deeply dislike 'double smokestacks' because they get treated as one hit location, so there's almost never a reason to use them if you value mobility - better to design around two separate single modules.  Long standing bugs to smash.  I still hope for coastlines, islands, large rivers.  On a UI front, the ability to tell a division to STOP CHANGING TARGETS.  I told you to shoot that close battleship, stop switching to a destroyer that is 15 klicks off.  I still hope that the bug I've reported, and others have added info to, gets dev attention, for weird accuracy when ships cross the firing line of attacks against a different ship.  I'd like to see a summation of tension changes caused by navies.  The current screen requiring scrolling and totting up a lot of different changes is useful, but very cumbersome.

[King_Tiger_II]

32 minutes ago, UnleashtheKraken said:

Perfectly said.  There are tons of hulls that could use addition, a greater variety of towers and smokestacks.  I deeply dislike 'double smokestacks' because they get treated as one hit location, so there's almost never a reason to use them if you value mobility - better to design around two separate single modules.  Long standing bugs to smash.  I still hope for coastlines, islands, large rivers.  On a UI front, the ability to tell a division to STOP CHANGING TARGETS.  I told you to shoot that close battleship, stop switching to a destroyer that is 15 klicks off.  I still hope that the bug I've reported, and others have added info to, gets dev attention, for weird accuracy when ships cross the firing line of attacks against a different ship.  I'd like to see a summation of tension changes caused by navies.  The current screen requiring scrolling and totting up a lot of different changes is useful, but very cumbersome.

I do not think we are getting updates anymore, we are concluding the game is now Abandonware.

[Zuikaku]

Since the thread about final update is locked I presume that this is, sadly, the end.

I was hoping for DLCs and further development, not killing off the project.

Edited December 29, 2024 by Zuikaku

[Cryadis]

2 hours ago, Zuikaku said:

Since the thread about final update is locked I presume that this is, sadly, the end.

I was hoping for DLCs and further development, not killing off the project.

Yeah i mainly bought the MP DLC to support Game Labs and the game so it get furter improvements.

[lordcmdr]

Thank you, Nick! 🥲

[Zuikaku]

The problem is Nick is leaving and nothing is known about future and development of the game, if any at all. Good ol' lack of comunication.

[PhoenixLP44]

38 minutes ago, Zuikaku said:

The problem is Nick is leaving and nothing is known about future and development of the game, if any at all. Good ol' lack of comunication.

Lack of communication is what has held this game back since late beta. Alpha and early beta communication was quite good but no idea what happened afterwards

[Aendos]

At the very least they need to give some tools to modders. I appreciate all of Nicks and the developers work but I would not consider this game in a finished state. 

[Suribachi]

5 hours ago, Aendos said:

At the very least they need to give some tools to modders. I appreciate all of Nicks and the developers work but I would not consider this game in a finished state. 

I truly hope that modders do get access to under the hood stuff to work on balance and AI directly.  This is a game I have sunk over 1,300 hours into and would hate to see it fizzle out now.

[MDHansen]

I just checked; just shy of 2700hrs so far 😬

Yes, hope we can get (make) more access to this game to atleast fix all the small things left over. Adding/fixing models would be amazing, but not holding my breath there

Edited December 30, 2024 by MDHansen

[vonPeretz]

It's a pity that this happened. But: I stopped playing a long time ago - how many more updates are needed?

Created a historical mod for the era of battleships 1890-1903. Gave it up due to endless updates.

[Aldaris]

4 hours ago, vonPeretz said:

how many more updates are needed?

Depends on what you want. Haven't tested the new release yet, but last I played (2-3 weeks ago) - perfectly playable, but lots of glaring issues that could and should be so much better.

So, if you want a playable game, it is that now.

If you want a game that lives up to its potential, it needs a lot more love. And I mean a lot. Especially in the campaign, many systems feel more like placeholders than fleshed out mechanics. Meaning they're kinda servicable, but don't feel final, if you know what I mean.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Aldaris

[PhoenixLP44]

1 hour ago, Aldaris said:

Depends on what you want. Haven't tested the new release yet, but last I played (2-3 weeks ago) - perfectly playable, but lots of glaring issues that could and should be so much better.

So, if you want a playable game, it is that now.

If you want a game that lives up to its potential, it needs a lot more love. And I mean a lot. Especially in the campaign, many systems feel more like placeholders than fleshed out mechanics. Meaning they're kinda servicable, but don't feel final, if you know what I mean.

This is the most true but also sad assesment of the game I have ever read

[rossi191]

sadly 

17 hours ago, MDHansen said:

I just checked; just shy of 2700hrs so far 😬

Yes, hope we can get (make) more access to this game to atleast fix all the small things left over. Adding/fixing models would be amazing, but not holding my breath there

sadly I think you're right many devs are leaving the company and it looks as if stillfront are cutting funds to game labs. fingers crossed that Nathan can find time to continue fixing and modifying the code or Darth decides to continue to work on the game from outside of the company through mods.

[Peksern]

At least the game does not depend to any servers or something. So it's playable as long as we like and not just shut down. 

[Tortenschachtel]

On 12/29/2024 at 3:11 PM, PhoenixLP44 said:

Lack of communication is what has held this game back since late beta. Alpha and early beta communication was quite good but no idea what happened afterwards

Was that the time they were bought by their current overlords?