The image of a lonely creator who carried the project for many years was formed around the creator of Manor Lords. Some industry colleagues decided to argue with this and make players think
The medieval city-building strategy Manor Lords recently launched in Steam Early Access. The developer is Slavic Magic, a studio consisting of just one creator.
Greg Styczeń worked on the project alone for several years, and then he managed to get funding from fans and Epic MegaGrant, which made it possible to hire third-party specialists.
However, it so happened that in the eyes of many gamers there was a picture: “Manor Lords is a game that was created by one person.”< /p>
CEO of Crate Entertainment studio Arthur Bruno, which made Farthest Frontier, criticized and called on the gaming community to think about it. He noticed that Manor Lords had many specialists listed in its credits.
Greg Stychen decided to respond:
«I want to address some of the developers who are angry that I call myself a “solo developer” even though [ My game's credits] are very long. I agree! Partly. I'm facing a lot of pressure to [expand the studio] and hire people, and it's gradually happening.
But also, THIS is the “mocap” [motion capture] department. My best friends in the children's photography studio“.
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Greg then continued his thought:
«Additional programmers joined in April because we were having problems with builds for different stores, and the publisher and I wanted to reduce risks. They are currently working on a UE5 port and more. I'll think of a better term, although I think I deserve “single”“.
He also responded to Arthur Bruno’s “joke” and the author of Manor Lords emphasized that he is the “soul of the project” and without him nothing would simply happen.
“I'm going to start telling people that I'm a solo developer with just a few employees helping me out,” says developer [Farthest Frontier]:
« It's a fair criticism and I understand it, but I don't think he realizes that if I leave it's game over and there will be no more ML. If he leaves his studio, nothing will change“.
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Cover author: Slavic Magic, Hooded Horse. Image source: steamcommunity.com