There is one topic that bothers me. Attracting and retaining new players.
This concerns how the game is being talked about on the Internet.
Most often in the tops and articles, the game is referred to as "survival in the open world in a zombie apocalypse with horror elements."
Sometimes it is called "voxel-based".
Do you know what "voxel-based" means to ordinary people? It doesn't mean anything. An incomprehensible set of words. And they are not interested in finding out what it is, they are unlikely to go Googling. Yes, that's not necessary.
They want to buy a game and play it.
And the "voxel game" is the main reason why it is incorrect to compare it with ordinary AA, AAA, AAAAAAAAAA-class games.
But people don't know this and compare instead of trying to play on their own. They rate the game based on articles and tops that miss one of the most important features of the game.
There are very few official materials on the game. Screenshots and videos for the press.
Game reviews often use old screenshots or videos.
Personally, I learned about this game in 2018 from a YouTube video with a review of the games. I was shown the gameplay from the old alpha version, and I just scrolled through it.
Right now, open Google images and write "7 Days To Die". You will see a couple of new covers and screenshots, and then only the old alpha versions.
I was so surprised when I first launched the game in 2020. It was completely different from what I saw on the video. It was much better.
I think it is important in the video about the release of version 1.0 to focus on this and show clearly what can be done in this game, but cannot be done in 99% of other games.
I do not know who wrote the text that Rick voiced in the Alpha Exodus video, but this text is addressed to people familiar with the game.
To attract new players, it is necessary to show everything that this game can surprise and delay, without using definitions that are difficult for ordinary people like "voxel-based".
Show how you build a beautiful building, and then destroy it, show that you have a huge city in which you can enter every building.
The video that will be released for the 1.0 release is very important to attract a new audience.
I also really hope that you will pay attention to the training quests.
Journal entries are evil. Nobody reads them.
Show the basics of the game in the form of short videos. Tell us about the tools and their levels from simple to steel, weapons, survival and base construction.
Biomes, loot, progress, and more.
Here's the right way to beat the grass. Here's the right way to defeat zombies. It can be cured, and it can relieve a headache, it can cure an infection.
That's how to build, and that's how to modernize. With this, it is better to extract wood, and with this, stone and iron.
You can barricade yourself in a ready-made building or build your own base.
And so on and so forth.
You shouldn't expect people to figure things out on their own or turn to google.
They will close the game and make a refund.