Early Access Review

Decent game, shoddy development team.

TL;DR: A good game weighted down by slow development and unsatisfactory PR management

I know you're looking at my hours and thinking "Wait, how could you not recommend this game, you have 650 hours in it"You are correct in your confusion, because I do in fact enjoy this game, and as a video game on its own, it is a fairly good one.The reason for my dissent is the development team, The Fun Pimps.This potentially amazing game is being squandered on the inefficient and painfully slow development cycle (actually no, a cycle implies a consistent rhythm), as well as a poorly managed PR.I'll start with the updates themselves. Are they full of content? For the most part, yes. But are they worthwaits? Well that's subjective, but for me and probably many other people, absolutely not. After the 8 month wait that brought us Alpha 16, the developers decided to abandon the concept of a schedule entirely, opting to go with the "it's done when it's done" route. We are now almost 9 months in, and judging by some abritrary "health meter" in the 7 Days to Die forums, Alpha 17 is... Almost done? I think? At the current rate that the "health bar" is draining, it won't be here until late May. So we are looking at almost ansince the last Alpha. Does that sound reasonable to you?As you can probably tell by my own confusion, the devs, while having inconsistent updates on their development, have otherwise poor communication on their part. They have a nice list of what's coming in Alpha 17, but they absolutely refuse to give us any form of release date. Likely because the Fun Pimps, despite being an estimated 25+ people strong and having multiple members with overof development experience in AAA games (at least that's what they claim on their kickstarter), do not seem to have any form of rhythm to their development. And the game is hurting because of it.Take a look at Rust. Yes, the time in early access was even longer than 7 Days to Die, but they had very consistent weekly updates, going into great detail of what they had accomplished that week. It was very easy to tell that they had passion and dedication for their game, and certainly had a time schedule to keep.Then you look at 7DTD's blog and see some videos by Joel Huenick (more on him later). These videos are like Leafyishere videos, they take about 20 minutes to get to the 5 minute beef. He doesn't discuss accomplishments for that weak any farther than a surface level, usually just referencing a member of the team and his work. He'll mess around with that single feature for about 10 minutes giving little to no commentary on the development of the game, and then he moves on to showcase something new. Rinse and repeat. The list on the 7 Days to Die forums is far more understandable than his videos.Joel Huenick is the apparent PR manager of 7 Days to Die, but he's certainly not the best choice. Back when there was the whole steamer controversy, in which they gave select streamers early access to the expiremental of Alpha 16, he made this post: https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?52805-Developer-Diary-Alpha-16!!!/page1171&p=643641#post643641 Not exactly the response to public outrage you would expect. Joel's lack of respect to his customers just poured gasoline in the fireplace, turning a regular PR issue into a garbage fire. What baffels me the most is how he could be so coarse to such a patient and naive community.So why does any of this matter to the game, then? Because all of these issues combined is potentially dooming the success of the game. Time's a wasting, how long until a game similar to 7 Days to Die comes along? And worse, what if it's better? And worst of all, what if that game's development team proves itself to be more professional than the Fun Pimps? At the current rate of development and the slow rot of their public image, I fear that by the time this game is actually released, no one will really care.If you want to play the game, go ahead. Just keep in mind that you'll be giving money to a development team that has such poor behavoir. If they can turn a new leaf by improving communications, hiring a new PR manager, and keeping a more timely development cycle, I and many others will be happy.Please Fun Pimps, I want you guys to improve, and I want you to succeed. Your direction is a risky one. And Joel: Respect your customers.