The Space Dust Is A Feature, Not A Bug, OK?
Hello world. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
Alas, the long silence was not a mark of explosive productivity, instead I come bearing some difficult to deliver news.
As of today, development of INFESTSTATION will be put on indefinite hiatus.
We poured our hearts and souls into this game in the face of some incredible challenges and I couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished in spite of them.
Of course, it hurts to know that INFESTSTATION has not become the game that it was meant to be. From an emergency launch with no marketing funds, to a development cycle that had to run 40% under budget and scope, in an industry that seemed to be falling apart around us, I’ve shed my share of tears over it all.
Yet still, we did release! Even as our financial runway came to an end, we managed to improve performance, put out 11 content and gameplay improvement updates, seasonal Halloween content, and even had a few creator streams for the game.
For a team size that peaked at 11, averaged 6, and released with 4, I’d say it’s pretty damn impressive what we managed to accomplish.
For me personally, I found myself utilizing and improving on a wild array of skills both new and old, within and outside of development. Through it all, I’ve learned as much over these last 2.5 years as I did over the other 15 of my 17 years of experience in the game industry put together.
Put Into Stasis, But Not Put To Death
So, what is going to happen to the game then, you may be asking?
While we didn’t reach a player base that could sustain further development for the company, we do have a few users out there still enjoying INFESTSTATION, and for you wonderous, beautiful folks I’m happy to say that the game isn’t going away.
We made an intentional effort to build peer-to-peer multiplayer and single-player architecture that would ensure that no matter what happens, the game will always remain playable.
As such, I’m not going to delist it from Steam, and I’m not going to pull it out of Early Access as there is always a chance that one day we can blow the dust off the game’s hypersleep tube and return it to active development.
That said, I will be dropping the price substantially and updating the store page to reflect this state of indefinite suspended animation.
Looking Out To The Horizon
So, where does that leave us, and where does that leave Atom Switch, Inc. ?
For now, the Atom lays in hibernation as well.
Having divided all of my energy for the last year and a half across development, studio operations, turning over every stick and stone to obtain further funding and/or a publishing partner for INFESTSTATION, and all efforts to self-market the game, I will now be exploring funding opportunities to revive operations with a new game.
A bit older, and immensely wiser, for the journey that has now reached the rearview mirror.
Sign up for our mailing list here for news and updates as soon as they are avaialble.
I’m not sure when, or how, but I also plan to use this contact to reach out to those who have supported INFESTSTATION with some form of thank-you in the future.
And if you haven’t yet, be sure to join us on the Atom Switch Community Discord!
Along with this post and updating the INFESTSTATION Steam store page, I’ll be slowly wading back out into social media to share updates, concept explorations, and more as I journey onward for the future of Atom Switch.
(On that note, Atom Switch and Myself/Dan are both now on Bluesky…and will eventually post on it too…)
Until then, see you space cowboy.
