The Future of the Game

[Poogie]

Hello, I have recently joined these forums, but I have been reading them and playing Niche for years. From what I have seen, nobody has asked this question yet, which is surprising to me since it concerns the future of the game.

Although I enjoy the game in its current state very much, I often think about how much more it could be expanded upon, and how sad it would be if development stopped. I think that is because there are not really any other games like this, and if development stopped, we might never get a game like what I imagine Niche could be. Of course I know the team is small, they are working on other projects and that getting there would take a lot of time and work, which is why I wish modding was possible. With modding, some of what I am imagining could be accomplished by the players, and that is a reassuring thought. I know why we cannot have modding, though, and I am not trying to convince otherwise. Instead, I would like to ask if the game is going to continue to be developed in the future, such as in the form of a third community voting. I have not seen the developers make any mention of this, and there are still so many things that could be added or changed.

I would appreciate any insights anybody has and will be understanding of any decision the developers come to.

 

 

[georgie]

Well the mobile games coming out sometime next year hopefully ,along with nyoma being developed so I imagine developments done for now until both games are out and running smoothly

[Robb Plat]

Not sure either. It feels incomplete, which is why I'm not playing it often.

[Spacestar TheThundersuncat]

The water biome never seems done. The jungle might miss a predator or two, snakes would be interesting and fill a stealth niche. But development needs money, and so major updates might only be viable as a add-on.

[Robb Plat]

On 12/12/2019 at 5:30 AM, Reindeerfawn said:

The water biome never seems done. The jungle might miss a predator or two, snakes would be interesting and fill a stealth niche. But development needs money, and so major updates might only be viable as a add-on.

I would actually love to see corals, dolphins, sharks, etc. in a water biome.

Jungle already has those deadly apes, so... also snakes can smell with their tongues to sniff out some yummy Nicheling.

[Philo]

Hey folks

Thanks a lot for liking Niche so much
Currently we're porting the game to Switch and are working on a new Niche mobile game. Both are planned to be released in 2020.
Niche has been profitable for us, but unfortunatly not so profitable that we could survive as a studio by just releasing more and more free updates (which we have done for quite a while now). So we're not really sure where to go from here. I think we will look at how the Switch launch and the mobile game perform and then evaluate further on how and were we can go with Niche.

[Aether]

6 hours ago, Birthday Fawn (Philo) said:

Hey folks

Thanks a lot for liking Niche so much
Currently we're porting the game to Switch and are working on a new Niche mobile game. Both are planned to be released in 2020.
Niche has been profitable for us, but unfortunately not so profitable that we could survive as a studio by just releasing more and more free updates (which we have done for quite a while now). So we're not really sure where to go from here. I think we will look at how the Switch launch and the mobile game perform and then evaluate further on how and were we can go with Niche.

I think Niche mobile will be quite profitable, you're reaching a newer audience. Lots of people and children don't have laptops/computers and even those who do might have chromebooks, which Niche can't run on, however, lots of people have mobile phones, tablets, and iPads. 

But I would kinda like to see modding. What are your opinions on modding? (As long as the mods stick to copyright laws and stuff)

[georgie]

also is it just me or should the "shortcut icon" for niche change? because its always been exactly the same and it seems kinda outdated. along with the opening splash screen with the family and the bearynea in the background

[Poogie]

On 12/15/2019 at 2:22 AM, Birthday Fawn (Philo) said:

Hey folks

Thanks a lot for liking Niche so much
Currently we're porting the game to Switch and are working on a new Niche mobile game. Both are planned to be released in 2020.
Niche has been profitable for us, but unfortunatly not so profitable that we could survive as a studio by just releasing more and more free updates (which we have done for quite a while now). So we're not really sure where to go from here. I think we will look at how the Switch launch and the mobile game perform and then evaluate further on how and were we can go with Niche.

Thank you @Birthday Fawn (Philo); I really appreciate your response, as well as those of everybody else here. I am glad to know the team is thinking about Niche's future, and I am looking forward to hearing what you decide. I hope the Switch port and mobile game perform well!

[Philo]

@Evil Aether
It all sounds so easy but I'm honestly not sure.
The mobile market has become fiercly competitive. And our studio has a moral code that we don't want to include "predatory monetization" in our games. Aka we don't want to make mobile games were people get super addicted and buy more that they can afford. So this maybe slims the chances for a big hit
For modding we would basically need to reprogram Niche from scratch, so I highly doubt this will ever happen. We tried to give a bit of modding options with the sandbox settings update. 
 

[Snowy Owl]

don't hate me for this (the community) but, @Birthday Fawn (Philo) have you considered paid dlc for niche? i would buy them for sure.

[Spacestar TheThundersuncat]

4 hours ago, Snowy Owl said:

don't hate me for this (the community) but, @Birthday Fawn (Philo) have you considered paid dlc for niche? i would buy them for sure.

So would that be like a second kickstarter to minimise risk? They have to assess demand somehow, but with how busy the studio is right now... That might just hit a possibly inconvenient time window for a normal dlc. Or they'd lose out on too much by way of opportunity cost. I don't know. It's nice, but admittedly not the best idea for a small studio when they have no security.

[Philo]

@Snowy Owl that would be an option indeed
@Reindeerfawn If we did a DLC that would indeed most likely be combined with another Kickstarter. But it will very likely not be in 2020 since we're indeed already plenty busy with the Niche Switch port, Niche mobile game, Full release of Nimbatus and the Kickstarter for Nyoma ^^

[Kittylover16063]

On 12/15/2019 at 11:22 PM, Birthday Fawn (Philo) said:

Hey folks

Thanks a lot for liking Niche so much
Currently we're porting the game to Switch and are working on a new Niche mobile game. Both are planned to be released in 2020.
Niche has been profitable for us, but unfortunatly not so profitable that we could survive as a studio by just releasing more and more free updates (which we have done for quite a while now). So we're not really sure where to go from here. I think we will look at how the Switch launch and the mobile game perform and then evaluate further on how and were we can go with Niche.

Maybe, you could start releasing DLCs for the game? That would be a great idea! I’m willing to pay some money for this game, to keep it alive. 

[Lilytuft]

On 12/15/2019 at 7:55 PM, heyitsgeorgie said:

also is it just me or should the "shortcut icon" for niche change? because its always been exactly the same and it seems kinda outdated. along with the opening splash screen with the family and the bearynea in the background

I like them for the very reason of them being old

I guess it's just nostalgia