It's Time To Be Honest About Manor Lords

Hello my fellow Manor llords. Today I

have a bit of a different type of video

for you. This is more of an objective

discussion and talking about the

direction, development, and community

interactions with the game as well as

the business side of it. Keep in mind

this is not necessarily representing a

shift in content here on the channel as

the main focus is and always will be

about discovering unique aspects of

games, experimenting with strategies,

and enjoying some epic journeys. But

with a lot of these recurring issues and

frustrations surrounding Manorlords, we

almost always inevitably end up talking

about these topics here on the channel.

So, I figured I would just make a video

addressing most of this stuff right up

front. So, with that said, for this

video, I'm going to begin with showing a

discussion that I started in the

Manorlord's Discord, which sparked a lot

of thoughts that I just had to get out.

So, I made this post in the Manlords

Discord replying to someone that was

asking about any information regarding

the development perks. And you know, I

pretty much just laid it out for them or

was saying, "Hey, look, honestly, if you

look objectively at the track record of

the of the Mandalor's team and the

developers and stuff and their

communication and everything so far up

to this point, you know, it really does

tell you one one underlying message,

which is that honestly, you you can't

really spend too much time or energy

thinking about what's in their heads.

You know, what's the plan, what are they

working on, when is this coming, etc."

uh because the reality is there doesn't

seem to be any real rhyme or reason or

any real legitimate plan. They obviously

just they don't really think about the

realistic roll out plan for anything

that they're doing. Um, for example,

here with the development perks, it's

like, you know, we had an already

working system. And, you know, to their

point, maybe the new system, it does

have the potential to be better than the

old system, what what it offered. But

the problem is, it's certainly not

better if we only have one thing. Like,

you literally build five living

residences and you you're done. You've

peaked. Your town has peaked. you have

no motivation, no incentive to to

further grow or customize your town,

customize your playthrough, anything

like that. Obviously, they had this

seemingly great idea of this better

development system, which sounded all

nice and shiny at the time, so they

jumped the gun and implemented it. But

so now in the aftermath, it's like, "Oh,

wait. Now we can't add any other perks

beyond this first basic one because we

haven't delivered on all these other

things that are actually supposed to be

involved in the development perk system.

So, it's like, you know, I I totally

understand why this person and many

others are asking about what's going on

with the development perks, right? And,

you know, they did add that one little

line about it at the end of the uh

latest update preview post where they

said, you know, we're we're hopefully

going to do the development perks after

we finish this next update, which is

cool, but you know, the problem is it's

like we've we've heard it all before.

You know what I mean? The fact is we've

seen and heard Greg announce all kinds

of stuff. I mean, there's a long list

here. Like I even mentioned me, Cider,

the German cookies, candles, artisan

storefronts, town walls, siege, cavalry,

yada yada yada yada. I mean, the list

goes on and on and on, guys. You know

what I mean? And these are not these are

not topics that I am just, you know,

pulling out of thin air just because I'm

thinking like, hey, I'm a I'm a paying

customer that paid 20 or $30 on this

game and therefore, you know, I'm super

entitled and these are my expectations

for the game and what I need you to do,

blah, blah. No, no, no. These are

expectations that they created. These

are expectations that the Manorlord's

team and developers created by

announcing these features saying here's

what we're going to implement guys.

Aren't you excited about that? And it's

like, yeah, we are, right? Okay. So,

honest that's that's not adding up. So,

the problem here is that, you know, they

say they're going to do something and

they don't continuously. This is a

pattern here. Okay. And unfortunately

this seemed to spark some kind of, you

know, debate. You know, basically he's

saying, you know, look, Greg came back

from his vacation and, you know, he's

he's super on top of stuff now and he's

very engaging with the community and

listening to what we have to say and

that there's all these huge new updates

that are coming and they're going to be

coming out every month now moving

forward. And you know, I'm just thinking

to myself like, whoa, this guy is really

looking through some rosetinted glasses

right now. But it turns into like, you

know, he said I'm just being negative

and basically creating this connotation

of like if you come into this discord

and share any sort of criticism towards

these developers, then you are no better

than a spoiled little child as if you

are just a toddler in the grocery store

throwing a temper tantrum because mommy

didn't buy you a lollipop or something.

And then, you know, that's when I bring

up the point that it's like, look, I'm

not being negative. I'm being realistic,

right? The point is like in life in

general if someone says they are going

to do something and then they don't do

that thing and don't communicate

otherwise or basically just ghost out on

doing that and then move on to other

stuff. What what do you think of that

type of person in life in general?

Typically those you lose respect for

people like that, right? Anyone who does

that in life, they lose credibility and

they lose the respect of others. That is

just a simple fact of life. And this is

no different in in game development or

whatever it is, literally any situation.

If someone says they are going to do

something, especially to a community of

people that actively listen to them,

have invested in their product, have

invested in their in their community and

the uh you know the growth process and

all that kind of stuff. If they say that

they're going to do something to these

types of people and they don't, that

means honestly if you're not upset about

that, that kind of means that you don't

really have any respect for yourself.

You know what I mean? And that's kind of

sad. So, you know, I do on one hand

understand the sentiment of like, you

know, let's let's stop complaining and

let's just, you know, trust that they're

doing their best and and whatnot, which

on one hand, you know, like I said, I do

see the validity the validity to that,

excuse me. Um but the reality is when we

look at the objective factors and once

again uh you can see here as I've as

I've brought up before and it's all very

public knowledge. We all know that

there's a full professional team working

on this game and they have already

generated tens of millions of dollars in

in profit. Uh and the game is still in

early access and all that. So that

doesn't that doesn't necessarily mean

that of course things are automatically

just going to be an overnight success.

But the the the thing is here we're not

talking about overnight. We're talking

about years, right? So we have outgrown

the point of you know oh it's a small

indie de blah blah blah. No it's not.

It's objectively not okay. This is a

fullscale professional project. So you

can see here there's a moderator that

ends up jumping into the conversation

here and they bring up well you do know

that you know Greg used to be a uh

individual you know sole indie developer

by himself on the game right and it's

just like [snorts] okay guy yeah like I

duh we all get it we all know that every

single time you open the game before it

would had that popup message saying you

know hey I'm Greg and I'm working on the

game solo by myself for the last seven

years or whatever All right. It's like

we all know that. But how about the last

years since they've released this game

in early access and probably even before

that, this game has been backed by a

company, a successful company, Hooded

Horse, right? So that's factor number

one. And then factor number two is that

over the last upwards of two years, it's

been at least a year and a half, upwards

of two years now, they have expanded

into a full professional team. There are

people that work on this project that

literally all they do is map design or

people that do all they do is the AI

programming and stuff like that, right?

And for years now and I'm I'm sorry, but

like they're I cannot imagine like what

are these people doing? Like is this is

this just like a like a part-time job

that they're only clocking in here like

like 2 hours a week or something? I mean

there's no way that you can tell me that

there's that that this correlates like

the amount that we have gotten as the

you know uh players of the game, the

consumers of the product. You cannot

convince me that that the correlation is

there between the resources that they

have, the team that they have, the

ability that they have and everything

and what we've tangibly received month

after month, year after year. It does

not add up. And it's crazy that there

still seem to be so many people that

don't even know this. I received a

comment just the other day on my latest

video saying that they hate the way that

people talk down about the developers

because it's just a single dev. As if

he's just some poor guy by himself doing

his best in grandma's basement. I mean,

guys, we need to wake up here. So, you

know, that whole money aspect and the

resources aspect and everything, it's

not to say that like anyone like me

bringing this up is delusional enough to

think that, hey, you've got money,

therefore, you know, you can just wave

the magic wand and, you know, we're

going to have like a perfect product

that fits everyone's expectations and

more overnight. Absolutely not. I mean,

obviously, you cannot go and purchase a

magic wand with money. That doesn't

that's not how life works, right? But

what you can do is invest into the

project. Like you know they hired all

this team. What is the team doing? Like

I I don't I don't see the correlation

there. So the money is just a

representation

and additional context to add more

reference and weight to the points that

we're making here about like hey why are

you guys saying that you're going to do

something and then you don't? Because

let's look at the facts. You guys are

obviously able to do it. You have the

skill. You have the ability, you have

the talent, you have the resources, you

have everything. Like this guy, you

know, he mentioned here like right now

everyone's clamoring for cider, but no

one wants to sit down and figure out

what an apple press looks like and how

it works, let alone design and program

it. What What [snorts] do you mean? What

do you mean no one wants to sit down and

figure that out? What are we talking

about here? What? What? So, you're

telling me there are people that work on

this project that are paid to work on

this project and no one can even figure

out how to create an Apple press for

over 10 months? There's a staff member

on the development team that literally

only does 3D art and they can't even

create an Apple press. What have they

been doing for the last 10 months while

all that we've received is technical

updates? The next patch has a new church

model. So, you're telling me that is the

output of a full-time 3D artist working

for a multi-million dollar project, one

building model and some accessories?

What What was their thought process when

they were thinking, "Hey, uh, we're

doing this whole development perk

overhaul and let's go ahead and also add

me and cider and German cookies and all

this other stuff into the game, but you

know, not add any functionality for it

whatsoever. It'll just be there as like

a, you know, an Easter egg for what's

coming next." But, uh, you know, jokes's

on you because it's not actually coming

next.

I just it it blows my mind. You know

what I mean? Like that doesn't add up,

you know, when he calls me uh that I'm

that I'm like I'm as if I'm shouting

like a spoiled children. Like I

mentioned the analogy earlier. As if

I'm, you know, a toddler in the grocery

store throwing a tantrum. I just, you

know, this is just crazy, guys. So, the

the fact is they ask, we are all paying

customers. We're part of the community.

Um they want a community to be part of

the development process. when you go to

the store page here and it says, "Why is

the game in early access?" It says,

"Because we want community feedback so

we can mold the game in the way that the

community wants and and all this kind of

stuff." So, I mean, they even ask for

feedback on every single Steam update

post that they make. And just take a

look here at this post that Greg made on

the release day for the game. He

specifically asked for people to leave

reviews and even acknowledges that it

won't only be positive feedback, noting

that the game is released in early

access for that reason. I'm sure you've

heard of the concept of tough love. For

example, like in life in general, if

someone really cares about you, then

they're going to be honest with you

instead of just sugar coating things.

So, same thing here. If you really care

about this game and this community, then

you should be straightforward with your

feedback and criticism. Look, if you are

giving feedback, like I said, and it's

objective and has context and

everything, and I say this for myself,

too, don't worry about these types of

people. Honestly, they just try to

gaslight you and spread this false

narrative. It's ridiculous. The

developers need to hear from us.

Otherwise, it's basically just allowing

them to continue with these patterns,

and that would be a disservice to the

game that we all want to see actually be

completed. You know, this is not the

first time that I've had these sort of

interactions here in the Discord, both

with random people and with actual staff

and representatives of Manorlords and

Hooded Horse, you know. So, it's really

not great. Other than that, guys, I

would highly recommend go to Steam.

Steam is the best place to voice

anything like that. So, uh anytime they

make like an update post, uh an article

that's posted here on Steam, I highly

recommend go to the uh direct replies

here in the discussions. There's also

the community hub, uh or there's the

reviews. That is the most powerful thing

that we can do is leave a review. Um

because once again, this is a business.

This is a company and businesses live

and like businesses like this live and

die by reviews. So leaving a review is

the most impactful thing that we can do.

I highly recommend that you use these

outlets to provide your feedback or

criticism. So anyways, I am excited

about these new updates that are coming

out. They did make that update

announcement the other day where they

said we have new uh features coming such

as, you know, the new livestock, the the

cows integrating into being able to make

cheese and grow a new type of crop with

the oats and that we need to feed the

livestock animals with oats and all

these seasonal requirements and stuff

like that. This is all really cool

stuff. I'm definitely genuinely excited

for that. Um definitely going to be

checking that out and making more

content. But, you know, that does not

change the fact that of course I am also

still expecting that they need to follow

through on things that they've already

announced because on one hand it's like,

yeah, I'm excited for cows and livestock

and all that kind of stuff, but what

happened to all these other things that

you announced, right? Are are you ever

going to get around to that? Is that

even a priority? Are we just like are

those things just just done? Should I

stop having the expect the the

expectation that those are still coming

or what? Um, you know, and unfortunately

the problem is their communication

style, which was the original point of

my original post here, my reply to this

person, uh, is that the unfortunate

reality is that we can't really trust

anything that they say because they've

just they've said this stuff over and

over again. You know, they've said, "Oh,

we're going to do this. Oh, we're going

to do that. Here's what we're planning

on." Blah, blah, blah. They've said that

dozens of times over months and years,

and they don't follow through on it. So,

you know, that just means we we can't

really trust what what they say. Um, and

you know, I gave this advice here to to

this person and uh you know, I need to

take my own advice here, which is

basically the only way to enjoy this

game and this process is to just kind of

ride the wave. you know, just wait and

see what they decide to to do next and

uh hopefully it works and then, you

know, enjoy that while you can and then

maybe they'll move on to the next thing

and unfortunately that might regress or

break things that they had done before

and then, you know, it's a vicious

cycle. So, honestly, these are some of

the main reasons why I haven't really

been playing Manorlords or posting about

it very much in, you know, the several

recent months. I think many of you

already know the details associated with

a lot of these undelivered features.

Like we talked about in the update video

from earlier this year as well. For a

quick example, this video that Greg

posted literally 6 years ago showing

progress on cavalry which has seemingly

become just a remnant of the direction

that we thought the game was going or

when Greg posted over 2 years ago about

how the next patch will be town walls.

We've also had announcements saying that

we'll be getting the artisan

storefronts, the additional beverage

variety, and so much more. But I won't

bore you or frustrate you with hashing

out every single thing. But once again,

that doesn't change the fact that of

course the channel will still be moving

forward. I am excited for what we know

about these upcoming updates so far. We

will be covering it and hopefully

enjoying it. And I hope you guys enjoy

it as well. So, thank you all for being

here. I really appreciate it. As always,

feel free to leave your comments and we

can have our own discussion here on the

channel. And also let me know if you

have any ideas or recommendations for

upcoming videos or topics that you want

to see covered with the new updates that

are coming out soon or just in general.

So thanks again guys. Peace out for now.

Thanks.