As we approach the final stages of our Early Access journey, with Update 4 just around the corner, we have some news to share. As many of you already know, Inkulinati already includes a local multiplayer mode that makes it possible to play together with your friends while they are at your place - we have tried during the recent development process to integrate this function on an online-level - but unfortunately Inkulinati will not feature an online multiplayer mode upon its 1.0 release. This decision wasn't made lightly, and despite our best efforts to enable you to find your opponents throughout the internet, it turned out to be impossible for us and the scenario we are in. Let us provide you with some context on why this decision was made.
Initially, when we planned for online multiplayer, the game was smaller in scale, making it easier to add extra features. However, as we expanded the game with more content like new Beasts, Masters, Battlefields, Academy classes, and more, and also worked on porting the game to “various” platforms (more news about that coming here soon), adding an online multiplayer component across all these platforms turned out to be a too heavy task to burden while at the same time preparing everything for the 1.0 release. It was an ambitious goal to begin with, but at this point in development it turned out to be too risky for the game's functionality.
Essentially, we faced a choice between enhancing the existing offline experience (which we wanted to make even better and packed with a lot more content) or creating multiplayer at all costs, which might end up being very simple and not satisfying for players who are used to other multiplayer 2D strategies. The challenges of implementing online multiplayer at this stage could have potentially compromised the overall gaming experience. In other words – given our very small team – we had to make a difficult decision.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but at least for now, we decided to focus solely on the offline experience and polish it as much as possible before the 1.0 release. Our team is currently focused on creating new content, enhancing existing features based on your valuable feedback, and ensuring a successful launch on additional platforms. We want to maintain the high standard reflected in the current 89% User Rating on Steam.
While we won't have an online multiplayer mode, there is positive news to share though: Local multiplayer remains intact and will receive improvements, including new Beasts, Battlefields, and more. You can still enjoy playing online against your friends using the Steam Remote Play feature as a workaround. Additionally, new Inkulinati content, featuring a brand new water army, is on the horizon. The console versions are making great progress, and we continue to refine and expand the game. And there are even more of yet unannounced Inkulinati things that we will announce soon.
We appreciate your understanding of this situation. We know that some of you – especially those who already bought the game and counted on some multiplayer experiences in the future – wanted to hear some different news today. However, we are working together with our publisher to find a way to somehow make it up to you. Once we know more, we will let you know.
As always, your feedback is important to us, and we remain at your disposal to discuss any part of this. Depending on the future trajectory and the game's success, we may revisit the idea of an online multiplayer feature post-release, but we can’t and don’t want to make any promises about the future.
We hope we can find some understanding in you. Stay tuned for the upcoming Inkulinati "Tactical Swimming" Major Update!
Until next time,
Your Yaza and Daedalic Teams
