[PC] Scraps: Modular Vehicle Combat

Here's a post I made on the Scraps website today covering the upcoming full release of Scraps.

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The Final Steps

Scraps has been in development for a long time. I started this game in late 2012, working full time. I had originally hoped to get an initial version out by mid-2013. When it took longer than that, I ran a Kickstarter campaign in late 2013. It was relatively successful and kept things going.

In late 2014 I had multiplayer working and showed Scraps at PAX Australia. In mid-2015 it released to Early Access on Steam after making it through the Steam Greenlight process (remember that?).

In early 2016 things were really taking longer than I had hoped, and since the multiplayer servers were usually empty, I decided to work on a new singleplayer mode named Gauntlet that would make the game a much more worthwhile purchase even without an active playerbase.

In late 2016 Scraps was taking much longer to complete than I had initially hoped, especially with the new Gauntlet mode, and Scraps sales never did very well. I reluctantly picked up another full-time job to provide an income, knowing that it would only prolong the trek to complete Scraps even further. I was very lucky to land a job making games at Facepunch Studios, and I continued to work on Scraps in the free time I had remaining, usually around an hour a day during the week.

I never stopped working on it, and Gauntlet mode was recently - finally - released in full. It's got seven worlds to fight through against enemy vehicles, turrets, and drones, all while upgrading your vehicle. More content than I originally planned, and the levels you fight through are a bit different every time.

What's Still Coming

Within the next few weeks I'll be releasing Scraps out of Early Access and it'll be done for real. The main thing that's coming in that update are a couple of additional maps for Melee mode:

Desert road is set up like a simple racetrack, just as an additional option to play around with.

Cold Hill a king-of-the-hill type layout, with the spawns at ground level but the only evac pad located on the hilltop.

What's not coming

I've been working on Scraps for over eight years now. I wanted to get it finished and I have, both because you and others have paid good money for it, and because I'd always be disappointed in myself if I didn't, just like I would have been if I'd never taken the risk and started. But I need to have it done. It's been eight years of always feeling like I should be working on it, never really getting a break. I haven't let it consume my life - I've seen how that road goes for other indies. But I haven't started any side projects. I stopped recording music. I've done what I can but it's time to move on.

So, I don't like to say it but two major features that I said would go in at some point are cut:

Team Melee - Intended to be a two-sides version of Melee mode. With the lack of multiplayer interest, this isn't too much of a loss anyway.

Tank Tracks - It would be a major undertaking to add additional propulsion types beyond wheels at this point. I'm really sorry that this one isn't making it in, but if it's any consolation I don't think it would have made a major difference to gameplay.

I think Gauntlet mode (which was never originally promised) adds a lot to the game. I hope that helps make up for the missing bits above.

Some questions you might have

Here are a few more general answers.

Q: Will Scraps still be updated after it leaves Early Access?
A: Game updates no, bug fixes yes. I intend to fix any major bugs and issues that come up for at least the next six months. The only exception to that will be if something external like an operating system update causes a bug at the game engine level, as the version of the Unity engine that Scraps runs on is very old at this point and requires a massive amount of work to update to the latest. Of course, an update like that that breaks Scraps would likely also break many other existing games, so hopefully that doesn't happen.

Q: What if Scraps becomes popular though and starts making money? It's not even out of Early Access yet - how do you know it's failed? And what about marketing?
A: Almost always, Early Access performance is a strong indicator of post-release performance. It's very unusual for a game to be small in Early Access but get a big release. Usually an Early Access launch is basically the real release launch.
So I'm not expecting much. I could do a big marketing push at release like I did in the early days, which may help or it may not (these days good marketing depends on a lot on things like getting through to big-name streamers, more than just paying to advertise somewhere). But I need to move on now, whatever happens. I think the final result is good, I'm proud of my little game, and it's something I always wanted to make.

When I started Scraps the landscape was very different. I'd been waiting a long time for a game with buildable cars like this and there was nothing. Then soon after I started, Robocraft came out, and now in 2020 "buildable vehicle combat games" is pretty much a genre unto itself. Robocraft, TerraTech, Besiege, Crossout which looks incredibly similar in concept to Scraps. I was banking on the unique gameplay to be a major selling point and in the end it was one of many, which lost its selling power to a great extent. Oh well. At least we now have plenty of games in this genre to try, I always knew it'd make an excellent premise.

Q: Will the price increase at release?
A: No, and I'll do a pretty steep launch discount. If it gets a few players on the multiplayer servers for a while it'll be good for everyone.

Q: What are you going to work on next?
A: Something different, finally.

Thank You

I'm sure I'll say this again at release in a few weeks, but thank you for contributing to Scraps and coming along for the ride. I'm sorry it's taken so long to get here but I'm happy to have made something from my imagination that people really enjoy. This was my first real game project and I think some things (especially semi-authoritative physics-based multiplayer networking) only got done because I didn't know yet that they should be impossible. It's been quite a journey.