Hi Steam Players, I wanted to address some of the concerns I've seen recently about Paleo Pines, particularly around our Kickstarter, game updates and plushie campaigns.
First, I recognise that much of this criticism comes from a place of genuine passion for Paleo Pines. I have always told the team that both negative and positive feedback should be encouraged because it means that people care. Many of you have spent hundreds of hours in our little world, fallen in love with its dinosaurs, and simply want more opportunities to explore, discover and play. I understand that, and the devs and I share that enthusiasm for what Paleo Pines could become. It's incredibly meaningful to us that players care enough about the game to want so much more from it.
Regarding our Kickstarter, we worked closely with our community to define what the campaign would include, and kept backers informed about our goals and progress throughout. Kickstarter campaigns can look incredibly lucrative from the outside, but the headline figure is very different from the budget available for development. Once you account for Kickstarter fees, reward fulfilment and the costs of organising and managing a campaign, that figure quickly becomes much smaller.
What I'm particularly proud of is that our developers were so eager to return to Paleo Pines. Being able to bring members of our team back together, and importantly, pay them fairly for their skilled development work, was one of the most rewarding parts of the Kickstarter for me. That's where I wanted to put our resources: into the people who could bring more of Paleo Pines to life.
We've completed the development work we committed to during the campaign. There are still bug fixes and Kickstarter DLC items waiting to be published, but unfortunately, we're currently working through the process of regaining access to our publishing platforms, which has prevented us from releasing these final items. We know this is frustrating, and we're doing everything we can to resolve it. In fact, if I could go back in time and find some way of avoiding all the finance and business-related challenges this project has brought, I would. It has been a roller coaster that doesn't stop and I am so grateful to the community that has supported us through the challenges.
Regarding our plushies, these campaigns work very differently from game development. They don't require any upfront financial investment from our studio, and we receive only a small profit from each campaign. They're an opportunity for fans who love Paleo Pines to own a little piece of the world outside the game, and they aren't taking funding away from development.
We're a small independent team navigating some significant challenges much like many other indie studios, but I've always tried to be transparent with our community about what we're doing and what we can realistically achieve.
I understand that not everyone will be satisfied with the amount of content in Paleo Pines, and that's fair. We also know that the desire for more comes from seeing the potential in a world that means a great deal to so many people, ourselves included.
Speaking of going back in time, given the choice, I would also like to have taken more personal ownership over communicating with this community from the start as I feel as though the relationship that we have with our players here is different from other platforms. It would be easy to make excuses as to why this was but frankly, that doesn't matter. I would like to see if it's possible to contribute towards making this Steam community a more open and transparent place from here on out. I know there are questions about Paleo Pines, its development and its future, and I don't want anyone to feel that those questions are unwelcome. So I'd like to invite you to ask me anything, right here on Steam. I'll do my best to answer openly, honestly and directly, even when the answers might not be what everyone hopes to hear.
The one area where I may need to be more cautious is our ongoing situation with our publisher. There are legal considerations that limit what I'm able to discuss publicly, and we hope you'll understand if there are certain details I can't share just yet. Where I can't answer something, I'll be upfront about that too, rather than leave you guessing.
While I can't promise what the future holds, I'm continuing to do everything I can to protect Paleo Pines and get the remaining content into your hands.
Thank you for caring so deeply about our dinosaurs and the world we've created together. 💚 Aimee & The Paleo Pines Team
