News on 1.0

Hi everyone,

I wasn't really planning to do another news segment before the Steam release, but I deem it necessary unfortunately.

Summer In The City is still under review by Steam and I haven't heard back yet. There are currently no indications on when or if it will be successfully concluded before the release date on August 29th. It takes way longer than the officially stated average review time, which leaves me pretty anxious to be honest.

I can only assume that Steamworks' review team is busier than usual due to the new guidelines implemented as a reaction to the pressure set forward by payment processors. It's also vacation time in many parts of the world which may have an effect too. These are mere assumptions though, I frankly don't know. This doesn't change the fact that this whole situation is extraordinarily inconvenient to say the least. I did my best to make sure there won't be any delay for the most important launch ever. Besides a few lines of code and minor polishing I'm currently working on, the game is very much ready to launch on August 29th.

Yes, maybe I should have waited for the review to be finished before announcing a release date, and this is what I will most certainly do in regards to future launches. I've already learned from this mistake, believe me. But in my defense, I sent the game four weeks prior to launch while, according to Steam, even three weeks is usually more than enough. The regular review time is 3-5 days, up to 7 in special cases. I also couldn't afford to wait much longer, considering the loss of ca. 40% of my monthly income due to the delisting situation on itch. I genuinely (and maybe naively) believed there wouldn't be any problems. Well, life is just one big learning experience I suppose.

So here is what I will do: I am going to wait until Monday, August 25th, evening. If I haven't heard back from Steam by then, I will have to make the difficult decision to request a delay of the release date. I can't set a release date manually anymore due to launch being less than two weeks away, so I will have to contact Steamworks in order for them to reset the release date settings. It usually takes them a day or two to reply to a ticket, so I have to make sure to get it done before the original launch day. I really, really hope it won't come to this, but I think it's just fair to let you know beforehand that this is a real possibility unfortunately.

In case of a delay I will create a public post announcing it on Monday evening of course. Let's hope for the best though!

Apologies for not coming to you with more uplifting news today, I know that some of you are waiting eagerly for the conclusion of season one, myself included. Anyway, I wish you all a fantastic weekend and thank you for your support. Much much love ❤️!

Flip