Tears of Adria Interview: Ark Island Studio on Player Feedback

Tears of Adria gameplay screenshot showing large-scale combat.

Join Our Newsletter

Stay updated with the latest interviews, previews, and indie gaming news.

What made you decide that now was the right time for such a significant overhaul instead of moving on to a new project?

Good work becomes irritating when you leave it behind. I know many people like to move on to the next new thing. I tend to linger on things I like.

We did not really need to remake the game. We needed to introduce it properly.

We are making a new game as well, but we already know how to make a game that, at least, we like very much. What we clearly did not know how to do was make people notice.

So are we going to stand there with our trousers down when we release the next game too?

I hope not. This is us learning.

Looking back over the last two years, what was the most common piece of community feedback that directly influenced Version 1.1?

The most useful feedback was not a review. It was a timer.

Players who made it past 40 minutes usually kept going. The people we were losing tended to leave before then, either getting stuck, bored, or never quite learning how to play.

Apparently, “it gets good after 40 minutes” is not a tutorial.

So we rebuilt the entire starting area and overhauled the tutorial tips.

Are there any mechanics or systems you originally believed were working well at launch, but two years of player data convinced you to redesign?

Not redesign, no. But explain, yes.

The systems are quite deep. I still sometimes find myself looking for a wiki page that does not exist.

I think those systems are where the game excels, and one of the things many players liked most. We put effort into making them clearer without making everything obvious. I’m betting most players 100+ hours in still have things they would like explained.

We really should get around to making that wiki page.

The update mentions progression changes. What was the biggest problem with progression before, and how does the new system solve it?

“Progression changes” might have been overstating it a little.

We raised the max level from 12 to 14 because players had been asking for it since launch. Eventually they wore us down.

Our new system solves this by letting the number go up twice more.

If someone played Tears of Adria at launch and hasn’t touched it since, what are the three biggest differences they’ll notice immediately that are tied into your big update of the game?

Visuals, I hope, which we greatly improved, believe it or not. And the start area.

The third is probably pacing. We have tried to get the game moving earlier, giving the player a better sense of direction while showing what kind of game you are actually playing.

Tears of Adria exploration screenshot.

For someone starting Tears of Adria today, what’s one piece of advice you wish every new player knew before beginning their adventure?

I’m going to get real real here. Gold might not be very sexy, but gold counts. Don’t underestimate greed.

And get them recruits!

Is there a mechanic, interaction, or strategy that many players still overlook, even after hundreds of hours?

Animal Whisperer.

It’s a Shaman skill that lets you recruit animals you encounter. Pretty neat.

Until you make it over to the Lost World and notice that, technically, dinosaurs are animals.

After that, the game changes quite a bit. Especially for everyone else.

There are quite a few interactions like that. Even after hundreds of hours, I would be surprised if you had seen the strongest items or combinations in the game.

Now that the game has been live for two years, what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as developers that you’ll carry into future updates or projects?

Well, we are pretty thick, and continue to encounter new ways in which we are stupid. Recently we saw the game had been classified as an RTS this whole time.

We also found this out while trying to look professional when emailing Jesse Cox, asking if he could maybe save us.

So no, I don’t think we are improving much. But at least we are finding new mistakes to make.

Written by Aidan Minter, Writer at Fix Gaming Channel.

Send interview pitches, corrections, tips, or developer stories to contact@fixgamingchannel.com.

Support independent games coverage on Ko-fi.