Forager scraps multiplayer because it's too buggy
Multiplayer was "unfixable", creator says after beta
The creator of Forager has scrapped plans to add multiplayer to the explore-o-crafting clicker game, explaining that the feature was too buggy to reasonably fix. So it's off. The update is cancelled. If multiplayer was why you bought the game or backed its Patreon, the creator encourages you to seek a refund. A shame, because the game's an interesting one, but it sure does sound a big task.
Forager launched in April 2019, then had ongoing development partially supported by a Patreon, with a string of updates leading to multiplayer entering closed beta testing in February. That's not gone great.
"As many of you have noticed, the quality of the Multiplayer Beta was really low," Mariano Cavallero said in a Patreon post yesterday. "The update was a year late, crashes would happen all the time, most features weren't working, and some people wouldn't even be able to start the game at all!"
He noted that many of the prior updates, after he handed development to other people, were "very poorly made" too. The game got into a sorry state. Cavallero went on to explain, "After the first week of the beta, I looked into finding a new team of programmers to fix this buggy mess but nobody professional wanted to take on the project due to how poorly coded and bloated it became since the game released in 2019." Ultimately, he deems multiplayer "unfixable" and encourages people to seek a refund if they bought Forager expressly for it.
While disappointing cos, y'know, it'd be nice to have nice multiplayer, it's understandable that he'd change his plans when the game turned out not to be in a fit state to support it.
Cavallero said he would still like to add to Forager, and notes he has another "Forager-related" game in the pipeline. But when it comes to larger updates to Forager, he says "for now, I think the best is to take a step back and come back to it later on with a fresh mindset and ready to add a ton of actually good content, perhaps in the form of a polished sequel in a few years." Would make sense.
Game's good, though. Or was? Cavallero sounds less than thrilled with some of the changes since launch. But it was good!
"You click a lot," our Forager review said in 2019. "You click on trees to avail them of their wood, bushes to rid them of their berries, and slimes to part them from their current plane of existence. Sometimes you press E instead - but only when the option to click is already taken up by another action. Forager's mission is to combine the compulsive zen of idle games with the pastoral serenity of Stardew Valley to find something like clicker nirvana, and it gets pretty close."
Katharine called it one of the best farming games too.