For All The Devs Doing The Little Things, We Appreciate You

Azherae

From Some Gamers to Some Dev-Gamers,

We know that sometimes design is all about fixing the next big problem, and userbases talking in broad swaths about stuff that they can do in most games or get from other genres. Or the irritated people who stand out because they are the ones who take issue with the little things you do and voice their wish to tear them down amidst the silence of all us who just like to zone out and enjoy the world and not have to think about much, far less 'coming to tell the devs how much this tiny thing mattered'.

So, a heartfelt thank you to every one of you who tries to make sure that the ducklings wander about, who properly places the cows or makes joke references to the lack of cows. To those who write the mini family drama dialogue for random NPCs or make sure to give some of them individual names.

To everyone who makes sure the right fish get caught in the right rivers, who grind out the concept of "Aelan Spice" or "Scorpion Tail Fritters", and those who make sure NPCs can sometimes just stop and sit down for a bit. To everyone out there building the systems so we can randomly put flowerpots/vases on side-tables, and those making sure that we can personally make both the vases and the side-tables.

To everyone who asks, who surveys, who listens, who spends way too much time making sure long elfin ears come out of hoods properly and that we can choose which way to sheath our weapons. For each and every one of you who gets caught up and forgets to go to lunch because that one tree just isn't quite right and you know people will notice because you notice it every time yourself and have to make an entire case to bother adding the update for that one tree into the next build.

And for every producer juggling sixteen priorities, every networking specialist trying to shave off that one last frame of lag, for every soundscape designer making sure that the sound of the boat moving through the water as it pulls away from the dock is properly balanced to the sounds of the seagulls and the dock workers, and everyone else who are, sadly, unmentioned because there simply are too many things to mention when it comes to these games...

We see, we notice, we go 'That's so great' and 'I love this game, lol', but you don't always hear that because we're sitting in front of it and whatever tiny immersive beauty your hands crafted isn't something we want to step away from in that moment, that pristine moment where everything is just right, or at least right enough.

Hear it now.

We appreciate you.

Ludullu

I'd like to especially call out the lighting people. Yes, there's a multitude of bugs related to it, but god damn sometimes I'll just be riding my horse and notice that it's right around dusk/dawn time and shadows are long and the sun is reddish and the horizon is clear and far - and damn does that look amazing, even on my shitty PC on minimal settings.

So thx to whoever worked on those dusks and dawns.