Stage 01
Planning
We decide what the game is and what it isn’t: what you’ll actually be doing, which features make version one, and whether we can realistically build it.
We’d rather our games speak for themselves. We don’t set release dates in advance, because no-one can possibly know when a game will be ready.
Announcing a release date months in advance means one of two things: releasing a game before it’s ready (and potentially filled with bugs), or sitting on a finished game that you could be playing and enjoying.
As soon as the game is ready, you’ll be able to play it. No delays, no disappointment, no broken promises.
We understand your enthusiasm. In fact, we love it. We appreciate it’s difficult not knowing when the game will land, so we’ve built this page to give you an indication of where we are in the development cycle at any given point, and what’s left between now and you being able to play.
We decide what the game is and what it isn’t: what you’ll actually be doing, which features make version one, and whether we can realistically build it.
We work out how everything functions in the game: the systems, the rules they run on, where the data comes from and how the screens hang together. Getting this wrong is expensive later, so we take our time over it.
We start coding and building the game. This is the longest stage by a distance, and it’s where the plan turns into something you can sit down and play.
We play it ourselves, looking for what’s broken, what’s missing and what simply isn’t enjoyable yet. The game is rough at this point and we expect it to be.
The game is feature-complete. We hand it to a small group of invited players and watch what they do with it. People who didn’t build it find the things we’ve stopped being able to see.
The game is available to buy and play, but there might still be some bugs or oddities that only become apparent with a wider base of players. This is where you help us polish the game and perfect it.
The game goes on general sale at its full price point. It leaves Early Access because we’re satisfied it’s finished, and we carry on supporting and updating it from there.
We want you to feel part of NLFM’s development, so we’re sharing our progress as openly as we can.
This log gives you a running look at the work we’re completing. It covers improvements you’ll notice in the game, along with the less visible jobs that keep everything moving towards release.
We’ll keep adding updates as work is completed, so you can see the game taking shape and just how much is going into getting it ready to play.
This page changes as the game does. If you’d rather hear it from us directly, join the Discord and you’ll know as soon as we reach the next stage.