Relic, the developers of the strategy game Company of Heroes 3 have posted their first developer diary chronicling the game’s development ahead of the projected release date in 2022. This diary is all about the connection between the development staff and the players, and how the developers solicited fan feedback and incorporated it into the game. Not only are the players being allowed to give feedback at apparently a very granular level of development, but they’re conversing with the whole team directly to give feedback on more than just gameplay.
The developers describe the process as being a co-development process between the staff and the fans of the game. They apparently recruited a team of ten players from around the world to help with the process and then later grew the community and sought feedback from it to help shape the game. The video is largely testimonials from staff members and community members about how the community’s feedback was used and incorporated into the new game.
It’s actually kind of charming to see how much the two parts of the game’s people came together — the players and the people making the game. According to the community managers, staff at every level of development have been encouraged to seek community feedback, and players are allowed to give feedback on various things. They do note as well that there are some things they aren’t allowed to change in response to feedback, but they say they are transparent about that with the community.
Company of Heroes 3 was first announced in July, and it’s set to release sometime next year on PC, but we don’t know an exact release date. According to the diary, the game is still in the middle of development, so it could be a while before we get our hands on it.