As a long-time player of Snowbreak, I must say, this recent event story debacle has left me feeling rather flummoxed, much like trying to navigate the treacherous waters of the game itself without a proper map. It seems that every time I think I’ve got a handle on things, the ground beneath my feet shifts, leaving me to question if I’m truly standing on solid ground or just quicksand.

The launch of version 2.3, titled Sands of Secrets, hasn’t had a smooth debut. The freshly unveiled character Fritia – Turbo Hare has received mediocre at best feedback, and the community of players from China (CN) has shown intense criticism towards the event story. Consequently, an emergency developer stream was conducted to address these problems earlier.

So What Happened?

Initially, Kangkang, our chief writer who had penned the anniversary special piece, spearheaded the beginning of the stream. However, he wasn’t tasked with writing this particular event’s story because he and other team members were focusing on creating content for upcoming updates (typically, we work on three patches ahead). This included ensuring that version 2.5 was fully voice-acted. As a result, tasks were divided among individuals with reduced collaboration. Kangkang did discuss the general idea and direction of this event’s story with the designated writer, but chose not to closely monitor the progress due to his busy schedule. He acknowledges his oversight during production and states that there are no valid reasons for this lapse. He has requested that any blame be directed towards him and is personally committed to rectifying the perceived flaws in the story.

Kangkang openly acknowledged his overconfidence in the writer handling this chapter’s story and their reliability. This is an incident he will never forget. Moreover, he clarified that there was no truth to the rumor suggesting Seasun executives were taking control of LiHuaMao, the subsidiary company responsible for Snowbreak development. Contrary to speculation, MuMu did not lose his job.

Initially, Chong Chong, Snowbreak’s chief producer, stepped forward to address the audience. He admitted his error in approving the content for release. As he explained, there are typically two individuals who review the content before it goes live, but Kangkang was preoccupied with developing future updates and didn’t check this time. Additionally, Kangkang had been occupied with meetings about refunds following the recent censorship wave, which compounded the issue. Consequently, a team member not originally involved in writing reviewed the event story. This oversight led to the termination of both a writer and a quality control employee.

It’s intriguing to note that LiHuaMao doesn’t manage their own Human Resources, as they mentioned; instead, they’ve been reliant on Seasun for sourcing prospective employees. He reassured players that kangkang would effectively revise the story and address the concerns raised about it.

Until now, the experience had been purely auditory. Recognizing this, we as fans, were thrilled when they introduced a real-life camera view. Regrettably, it was turned sideways, but having some visual element made the experience more immersive.

The decision to show their faces thanks to the camera was also to debunk an alleged conspiracy theory about Chong Chong and MuMu being fired, and replaced with AI voices. Look, I don’t know.

It seems that players of CN (China) version found issue with Qingying, a recently introduced character during this event, primarily due to an incident in the storyline where she steps on a male NPC barefoot. Initially, the developers announced they would remove her from playability, but later changed their stance multiple times. For now, it’s important to be aware of this situation.

Noticing that the camera feed was rotated sideways, the hosts made efforts to rectify the issue. After several tries, they eventually succeeded and corrected it in the end.

The conversation moved towards discussing problems encountered within the event’s narrative and the game as a whole, including potential spoilers.

• Yao in the story was referred to in a way that could be considered a play on words to also refer to a prostitute. This was considered highly disrespectful for obvious reasons. Yao even objected to this in the story only to be referred to like that again, indicating that it was not an accident.
• The addition of “01” to various artworks in the game, which has been a problem since the game’s first anniversary when the arts were first changed due to alleged sabotage. “01” in this context refers to Ling Yi, a male playable character that was removed from the game before its official release. His name resembles how “01” is pronounced in Mandarin. As well, it was perceived as the supposed saboteurs publicly signally that they had successfully infiltrated the company. The development team has been slowly finding and clearing out these alleged instances of sabotage, but have not found all of them yet, which lead to players discovering more instances of it recently.
• Rozan sent a female shapeshifter to another group of characters to serve as a “plaything.” This later lead to dialogue where sounds of implied intercourse could be heard over a communicator. This was not well received.
• A girl was seen leading the way for a group of bad guys, who then kill her. Again, not well received.

The speakers asserted that the problems associated with the narrative were a rare occurrence, yet undeniably an error that cannot be reversed. They are committed to taking every step necessary to rectify their errors when they occur, and initially were uncertain as to what form of restitution would be appropriate in this specific situation (although they eventually devised a solution, as you will discover later).

According to them, feedback was collected regarding the story, and this would be used when rewriting the story. They promised further details to come in a later post (see below for that). Chong Chong confirmed that plans regarding the future of Snowbreak were fully under the control of LiHuaMao and that he is still in charge. This includes who is ultimately hired despite still relying on Seasun for candidates to consider and workforce expansions in general (again, no HR department at LHM). Both of these statements were apparently to debunk more alleged conspiracy theories about a Seasun takeover.

It appears that finding skilled writers is quite challenging due to additional requirements. Apart from their writing abilities, these individuals must also possess programming skills for the in-game cutscenes. Moreover, many talented writers are already employed elsewhere, making availability an issue. As a result, we often find ourselves short-staffed and are sometimes forced to hire less thoroughly vetted employees.

To address the hiring complications, our production team has been collaborating closely with the CN Voice Actors to create top-notch voiceovers, a process that requires time. Consequently, not every character whose VA was announced as replaced has undergone the transition yet. The scriptwriters often tailor dialogue according to the VAs’ unique traits, resulting in ongoing adjustments and re-recordings. This back-and-forth procedure creates tighter production schedules, leaving less room for thorough review, and making our daily operations quite hectic and stressful.

As a devoted fan looking back on late 2023, I can’t help but reflect on how grateful I am for your unwavering support during our game’s challenging times. The hosts have shared that these moments of struggle have sparked countless thoughts about how best to express their heartfelt thanks to each one of us.

The news that a selector box is being planned for delivery to the players as a form of reparation has been made known. Meanwhile, the initial apology letter that was previously sent through the game’s inbox will be saved in our records.

Q&A

After all that talk, the hosts started reading chat, addressing various questions and concerns:

Is Fritia – Turbo being buffed?

The developers acknowledge that she is not impressing players greatly at the moment, and have stated they will gather feedback for potential enhancements (buffs) in the future.

Don’t stress out too much about having fully voiced stories by 2.5, please.

Chong Chong believes it’s crucial to complete this task as it fulfills a commitment made earlier, and he underscored that it will be ready before the deadline.

How big is the Snowbreak team?

Currently, our development team numbers approximately a hundred members. Given this relatively small size, they’ve needed to extensively outsource work to other organizations.

SSR Nita when?

It’s being worked on, but won’t release until next year.

Is anything going to be changing with Yao? (Likely referring to the issues in the story)

It’s possible that Yao might undergo some alterations, perhaps in the narrative, a slight adjustment to her name’s tone or pronunciation, and even her character traits. However, these changes are intended to maintain continuity with the pre-version 2.3 version of Yao.

Fritia plasma car when?

As a dedicated gamer, I’ve been keeping an eye on the updates, and here’s what I gather: The developers are putting their best foot forward, but they’re encountering some unexpected challenges in the development process. For more details, be sure to check out the subsequent posts for additional insights.

As a gamer, when I find myself struggling to meet deadlines for new game content, one solution that comes to mind is extending the length of patches. This way, I can deliver more content at once instead of rushing to meet multiple smaller deadlines. It’s like having a marathon instead of a series of sprints!

The hosts prefer alternatives that offer sufficient material to justify their duration, since prolonging event lengths might result in insufficient content for participants.

How’s progress on those logistics stat farming improvements

Logistic stat rolling QoL will be added in 2.4. Finally.

Any plans for better gun sounds?

Soon™.

What took so long to respond to the complaints this time around?

Due to the ongoing situation causing them to weigh their options carefully, there was a slight delay in delivering a response. Previously, they had been swift in their responses to quell speculation, but on this occasion, they chose to take a more thoughtful approach before responding.

Hey wait! I like Qingying though.

Instead of immediately deciding to eliminate her from the game, the hosts announced they would conduct a vote among themselves to determine if she should stay. This poll will only include genuine player accounts by requiring a certain level of game participation to avoid automated or disruptive accounts.

In summary, the hosts admitted that Snowbreak was far from perfect, but assured everyone that efforts were being made to address the issues. Aware of the dwindling number of chances they have, any additional mishaps could potentially shatter the trust of the players. However, they emphasized their continued understanding of what the players desire and their unwavering commitment to work diligently, giving their all to ensure such problems don’t recur in the future.

Followup Posts

Following the wrap-up of the event, an additional post was shared on our social media platforms by CN Side, expressing regret over the unfavorable response to the event’s narrative and providing additional information.

• The event story will be made available again in 3-4 weeks once it is written to take into account various changes:
  • Male NPCs will be removed from the event story and will no longer appear in future story content.
  • No romantic relationships will be depicted except those involving the adjutant.
  • The shapshifting girl sent by Rozan will be removed from the story.
• Writers for stories will be credited via a pen name from 2.4 onwards.
• Qingying is again stated to no longer be appearing in the game going forward. I’ve reached out to Seasun for definitive confirmation on this since her fate has flip-flopped multiple times.
• Previously announced plans for adjustments to Yao’s character are still being dicussed.
• CN voiceover will continue to be adjusted and optimized based on player feedback.
• Siris – Ksana’s Ocean Hues outfit will have its idle stance adjusted.
• Enya – Exuvia’s Exclusive Trainer will have its visuals adjusted.
• An SSR Nita alt is again confirmed to be in production, but that it would take a while to be complete.
• Fritia’s plasma car is confirmed to be ready by 2.5.

Interestingly, another post followed shortly afterwards, providing more information about the updates. The most striking adjustment mentioned is a change in Fritia-Turbo Hare’s name to simply Fritia. I must admit, I’m not quite clear on the reasoning behind this alteration.

Compensation for this entire incident has been sent to players:

• A selector box allowing players to choose between any limited SSR operative or limited SSR weapon released up to 1.7, or 30 weapon components
• 90 Moonlit Iris (event currency)
• 4,200 battle pass XP
• 45,000 silverbucks

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2024-11-09 03:00