Scrap Mechanic is DYING (& YOU are killing it.... maybe..)

What this video is NOT - is a critique of Axolot. I strongly believe the devs are doing whatever they can that they think will help the game. While that doesn't make the problems go away, I hope I got my point across and will not be seeing people go after the developers.
This video is meant to bring up the two (imo) biggest issues *with the game*, and hopefully inspire people to take action to fix them, for example by being a bit nicer towards each other :)
Some extra:
Since recording, I've seen some people make an argument that player numbers don't represent how alive the game is. At least in terms of Scrap Mechanic though, the player stats are roughly matching with the game's popularity on the internet, as per Google Trends:
trends.google.com/trends/expl...
This video took a lot of time and effort, so I'd appreciate a share or a like 🐸
Timestamps:
0:00 Part 1
6:25 Before you ask..
8:12 Part 2
----------
Sources:
Poor early Survival performance:
• Unlocking The Spudling...
Financial Reports:
www.nordicnet.net/companies/A...
www.largestcompanies.com/comp...
Player statistics:
steamdb.info/app/387990/charts/
Other:
/ scrapmechanic
/ foulball-hangover
/ @axolotgames
• Meet the new Community...
/ hydroneergame
/ satisfactoryaf
store.steampowered.com/news/a...
steamcommunity.com/games/3879...
----------
Become a Channel Member to support me directly! :D
/ @thedartfrog
Join my discord server!
/ discord
Need to contact me? Go ahead!
Mail: [e-mail]
Twitter: / the_dart_frog
or comment down below!
🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸
Music:
Scrap Mechanic OST

[@TheDartFrog]

edit: okay, I'll admit I got a bit overwhelmed with the comments on this vid haha, there is a lot of them! even though I don't reply/heart everyone, I do read all of them still, just thought I'd throw that out there :) really appreciate y'all's input! What this video is NOT - is a critique of Axolot. I strongly believe the devs are doing whatever they can that they think will help the game. While that doesn't make the problems go away, I hope I got my point across and will not be seeing people go after the developers. This video is meant to bring up the two (imo) biggest issues *with the game*, and hopefully inspire people to take action to fix them, for example by being a bit nicer towards each other :) This video took a lot of time and effort, so I'd appreciate a share or a like I'm fully expecting quite a bit of mean/toxic comments on this video, be it from people mad I don't say the game is perfect or from people mad I don't say the game is completely terrible.. It isn't worth wasting your time and energy on those people, instead - hop on here, where toxic arguments are *not* going to be happening: discord.gg/TgS927Q Some extra: Since recording, I've seen some people make an argument that player numbers don't represent how alive the game is. At least in terms of Scrap Mechanic, though, the player stats *are* roughly matching with the game's popularity on the internet, as per Google Trends: trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fg%2F11g0slzh90&hl=en

[@invention64]

It definitely is the developers fault, whether it's "kind" to point it out or not. They could follow a release pattern that other games do, but don't preferring longer release cycles. This is a good idea for most software companies as it leads to stabler projects, but doesn't work well for the marketing heavy industry of video games.

[@dark-5825]

Man, to make things worse it seems they posted something on twitter just as a quick-fix excuse after your vid dropped. I hope that was just a coincidence...

[@Breadyboi18]

Can you make another scrap mechanic video asking for a release date from the devs? They seem to talk whenever you ask questions.

[@GibMowell-fo3uc]

i never stop playing scrap mechanic

[@GibMowell-fo3uc]

i also never give up on the waiting of updates

[@gamefan5225]

In my opinion I think that scrap machenic would be more alive if the devs released a lot more small updates instead of working on a huge update for 2 years ,because by that time scrap mechanic would have no players left

[@jwalster9412]

Like beamng does, every three months seems to work gooyd.

[@sovietaxolotl9389]

@@jwalster9412 beamNG'next update is in 10 days

[@ThatBlenderGuy1]

I do too I think that it was the right thing to release one big update for suvival but now they should have split chapter 2 into like 4 updates so that pleople dont loose intrest and axolot would gain a lot of money and new players from this too

[@SUL55_]

they have things like the timer block and the new seat and physics improvements that are done and ready to go but they wont release them for some reason, a small update like that is just what the game needs

[@sovietaxolotl9389]

@@SUL55_ yep

[@AntPlayzs]

I honestly remember playing this game so much even back in 2016, when survival came out I made a world and now it’s basically all somewhat done. But now I just do what I used to do, mess around in creative with some creations. But this game will always be my favourite

[@purplepicklepizzapigproduc8528]

Yeah, I remember the golden era, 2016-2018 of scrap mechanic was happening. Many channels were constructed off of this game such CamodoGaming, Scrapman, Kan, Moonbo & more. This was also when other channels like CaptainSauce, Jackscepticeye, & others that are massive behemoths at this point. I'm glad that these channels have developed so much but it's saddening to see this game failing.

[@The_mrbob]

For real, I remember this game being huge for years. What happened to gaming. Games used to get released and that was it, no updates. Yet those games are still huge today. But in the world of modern gaming, games need to see constant updates to stay alive? Shame that Camodo stopped playing for no reason… I remember loving that series.

[@AntPlayzs]

@@The_mrbob yea I remember before I even got my first proper pc, I watched so much videos from all the big KZbinrs at the time for sm, until I got my first laptop with the game, That was a good day

[@mixup2216]

I don’t think survival did a whole lot for scrap mechanic to be honest. It was always about what crazy things people could do with the simple tools in the game. I just think the problem now is people have already made everything you could imagine making.

[@jeanenzo9357]

I think the devs should either release smaller updates regularly or make a "test" or "experimental" version

[@AI-Idiot]

they used to have a beta tester version that you could activate on steam, but it got neglected, plus it removed many features because "it would not be compatible"

[@TheConfusionalCat]

yeah

[@Mimimo02]

I mean there is but it changes the publish date/time of minor but fixes by like 2 days or something

[@dark-5825]

I hate that the devs are doing this. It pains me so much to see this gem fall like that, despite the devs seemingly having the tools to polish it. I've said it elsewhere and i'll say it again, even if the devs are doing all they can and, in the end, made the right choices in development, heck even if they fixed every single bug and made it run on a potato, it's all worthless. Because to us, with the information we're given, we have no choice but to see mistake after mistake. I hate this situation. I have more than 1200h in SM, and i want love that game, but they're doing the best they can it seems to stop me and others from doing so. My biggest fear is that we're gonna end up with an unfinished chapter 2 that's riddled with bugs because they lack the funds to at least finish what they have in place.

[@TheDartFrog]

well, 2020 alone made them something around 8million dollars, so funding at least shouldn't be s problem, I'm more worried there just isn't gonna be many people left to make the game for

[@inkyspirets2460]

i dont think they would release it with bugs they've made that pretty clear in the devblogs and Q and A (they say that's whats taking them so long)

[@dark-5825]

@@inkyspirets2460 yeat that's true, and it seems they are in that polishing phase right now, as the last 4 months of updates on their local depot are barely more than 0.4Gb (Chapter 2 is around 9.33), so it seems they're just tweaking things now Still kinda worried tho that they mess it up

[@jjjlucky]

In my opinion, fixing the input lag in multiplayer would get people to atleast care again, being able to play with friends without the PAIN of the imput lag. ofcourse the lack of content and news about the update is a way bigger problem, but i get that it could be harder to fix that soon. Its sad to see that scrap mechanic is slowly dying.

[@TheDartFrog]

we've tested a lot of MP stuff for the SMServers project, it's heavily dependent on your distance to the host (around the globe) as well as host's connection and most importantly, server FPS if you ensure the host has good FPS, the MP experience is actually really nice nowadays, but.. especially in survival, mp can be pretty laggy (one of the large causes are bots/animals) but I think in terms of MP, dedicated servers (especially being able to join them easily from ingame!!) would help a lot

[@valinforeststorm6908]

@@TheDartFrog I get input lag even when all of us are in the same network. I think this is because all of the network traffic is still going through the internet to the Steam backbone which is then sent straight back. It is annoying because a LAN connection Should be the best possible scenario, but there is no way I could find to bypass the Steam servers. LAN support would need to be implemented by Axolot or the Steam multiplayer API would need to create a LAN connection transparently (it is proven that Steam can make a LAN connection because of local game transfers). I don't really know how SM or Steam works, this is my best guess. I do know that I need a internet connection to stay connected in-game and that the game gets more laggy in multiplayer.

[@jjjlucky]

​@TheDartFrog yeah i see that the input lag is caused by that but at the same time it makes the process of playing together 100 times harder, preventing a smooth experience for players in countries where the game isnt popular and preventing from players with not TOP specs pc's to have atleast a decent experience since even with a VERY good pc is hard to get fps when there are 1 or more complicated creations per player, (so atleast 2 or 3 complicated creations in a single world)

[@Scoofy.]

The game would 100% gain many many players if Axolot just added console support with maybe even crossplay

[@bongi6811]

I have found srap mechanic about a year ago and played it quite a lot with friends, but after a couple months I felt like I did almost everything that the game had to offer. I played through multiple survival worlds, including some with mods, completed the default challenge mode and built some quite advanced things in creative, so I just moved on to other games and only ocasionally came back to it. Actively waiting for something like the chapter 2 update can become very frustrating. Its much better to one day, whether thats in a month or in two years, find out that chapter 2 released and start a new survival world with friends and get back into the game than to check signs of progress every day and get frustrated at the slow pace while constantly building higher expectations that the update will never be able to fulfill. Scrap Mechanic is a decent game, some things about it like the build system, graphics and theming are great, others like the performance and quite limiting suvival mode aren't. Unless you are a absolute Scrap Mechanic superfan, it's probably not enough to be your primary videogame forever and that's fine, just keep it in your Steam library and play it ocasionally when you got the idea for a fun new contraption or when it one day gets an update.

[@skytrooper3537]

I feel like both sides have contributed to the problem, but like any game, with no communication, things will crumble

[@Trevorus1]

Team Fortress 2, the fourth largest game on Steam:

[@valian8985]

Hopefuly things like what happened on warthunder show that there is always hope

[@GrubyOut]

I think that maybe fixing the multiplayer and giving the community DEDICATED servers might get some part of the community back atleast until chapter 2 comes out but after that I do not know

[@TheDartFrog]

yeah I also think that just a join server button on the main menu would go a long way, but still I think there are easier and more impactful things they could do, even though dedicated servers are my personal top wishlist haha

[@jonnytheegg1187]

Multiplayer update would be much needed, it would bring players together and everyone would be much happier. I also think they should rebrand chapter 2 as chapter 1 because really, it is

[@valian8985]

​@@TheDartFrogsame, with a few mods I can already see some neat PVP servers 😅

[@lindor941]

My story with scrap mechanic: Creative Mode was all i ever needed. I had motivation, i had inspiration and the best of my creations even got featured in some videos of ScrapMan and kAN. When i discovered the modpack suddenly there were endless possibilities. Then the modpack got updates. By that time i focussed so hard on mods in my creations that like 90% of my creations didn't work anymore. I tried to fix it with modpack legacy support, but that only helped in some cases. Even up to this day i have creations which immediately crash the game once i try to spawn them in, no matter which mods i have installed. When challenge mode came out, i had another peak of just playing lots of challenges. But it was somewhat frustrating in the few cases where there's challenges i couldn't beat and i couldn't find any help even on youtube. And although a lot of challenges were fun, it didn't help with my creative mode motivation at all, rather the opposite. Why use brain on creative if you can just play a short challenge instead? I know it sounds like a decision i can make as a player, but human psyche doesn't work that way. Well at least mine. I start the game with the intention to build something and still end up playing short challenges instead. I also tried my best to create cool and interesting challenges to be featured in youtuber's videos, but somehow only very few people seemed to be interested in my challenges so i stopped with it. Also kANs last logic challenge, which i spent lots of time for a worst-case 9-guess-solution, never got resolved, which also frustrated me a little bit as i was somewhat sure that my solution would at least get mentioned. When survival came out, my fears came true: suddenly all the youtubers were about survival, it killed my motivation to do stuff in creative as i knew it wouldn't get featured anyway. Yes i admit it: In the beginning i played this game purely for myself, but my stuff getting shown in videos shifted my primary motivation as i was building also for the community and the youtubers and not just myself - and it was great. But when they suddenly all focused on survival, it really changed the way the game was played for me, but not in a good way: creative was dead and survival was not what i bought the game for. I didn't want to grind, i wanted to build and show it off. When they removed the glitch welding, one of the very core features of this game, i finally decided to break up with scrap mechanic. There's no way i would blueprint edit every time i want to do stuff that could be done with two mouseclicks before. I continued watching kAN and ScrapMan, not only for scrap mechanic, also volcanoids and zeepkist were/are lots of fun. Never was interested in trailmakers though. And i never really played scrap mechanic anymore. That is until now. I do say that survival is fun for me if i'm in the mood for it. I started playing again today (before i watched this video), and i plan to continue because i like it. kANs trammel gear video inspired me to try and go for piston engine cars or try to figure out other zero-fuel-usage solutions in survival. But it's nowhere near the fun i had during the creative times. Yes scrap mechanic as it was is currently dead for me. Some thing that would help is splitting off survival and creative into different games. Right now there's no reason for me to build anything in creative, as i would need mods for most of what i imagine while being aware that modded creations won't work anymore in the future. The devs need to focus more on creative. Put at least some of the stuff from mods like wings into vanilla and make it backwards-compatible so that old creations will work even in like 100 years. That would bring me back into creative. I'm not interested into survival nor in chapter two nor challenge mode. I play it if i'm bored. But i don't feel any pull towards it, like i do with factorio e.g., and like i did with creative mode in the past. Also being able to download challenge mode levels and see them as developer would help. You can make it that downloaded challenges get flagged un-uploadable and their blueprint gets encrypted e.g. with AES if you worry about pirate copying. Just giving the players the ability to see challenges you can't beat in dev mode would save so much frustration. It's not something you need to use. But at least i would want to have the option to do it. I have to say one last thing. Even if i had my own youtube channel (and enough time) where i could show my creations, and even if i had lots of attention, i would still rather show off my factorio world. As long as there's no progress in creative mode from dev side, the game is boring for me. Cheesus that has been the longest wall of text i ever wrote, sry and respect if you read it :) I'd like to have a dev reading this, but as you described it, they don't seem to be interested a lot into communication, so is it even worth a try? Dntknw

[@ragnarok_2618]

i read it and i do agree with you. those were 10 minuites well spent reading

[@fernaosouza6726]

Devs, if u r reading this: I don't care if its perfect or not, just release chapter 2 already. Since I started waiting for this chapter alone, I already moved home 2 twice, had a son, created a business, and so on. Soon I'll be old and die and this update will not be released yet. My ghost will come back to haunt u!

[@PrincessSunbutt]

I waited 5 years for Survival. I am now on year 3 for Chapter 2. I backed Scorn on Kickstarter sometime before 2018 and it took maybe 4-5 years for it to come out with similar neglect to backers. If Scrap Mechanic doesn't have a full games worth of content in this next update I don't know how I'll feel about Axolotl as a developer.

[@SlowDancer]

It's gonna be 7 years. I stayed positive with Satisfactory because they make an effort communicating on 1.0, and the progression towards it feel tangible. Scrap Mechanic, despite an awesome core, did not suggested that in me. Last time I launched it was in 2020, before the Survival Update if I'm not mistaking.

[@Dustwing]

I used to play Scrap Mechanic a lot before Survivial mode, but once that was released I completely stopped, the performance was terrible and all my favorite mods weren't working anymore. This is probably better now, especially with mods, but after all the time I just feel no reason to go back to this game. Good Video regardless.

[@J05HY06]

In terms of branding renaming chapter 2 to something more like survival 2.0 MIGHT help people recognise this as not just some extra content but idk

[@KantNew]

After 2 and a half years I don't even complain anymore about the fact that ch2 takes a lot of time to be created, the problem is just communication Although it's hard to give news without spoiling the big content or the story, I don't see what's the problem with posting, for example, concept art, memes, reviews of the best workshop items every week, as does for example Space Engineer or Satisfactory .... Honestly I'm afraid for after chapter 2, knowing that this update will also be the "official" release of the game, I fear that this will be the last update of scrap mechanic because of the lack of player, unless ch2 saves scrap mechanic I think the last hope is that Microsoft/Xbox buy Axolot Games (they showed a list of companies they would like to buy, including Axolot Games because SM has a lot of untapped potential by the devs) and put the game in the games pass and force the devs to make a console port. in short, after the release of ch2 this year normally there is 1/2 chance that the game will be saved or not

[@frankie-gaming]

Yeah, The company being bought by microsoft would be the best thing to happen to it. It would expand the playerbase, the budget and most likely improve the optimisation for the game since it would need to be able to run smoothly on something like a Series S

[@KantNew]

@@frankie-gaming I 100% agree but... I have seen a lot of people disagree with this , they are scared that microsoft will do the same thing with SM that they did with minecraft (full of micro-transaction , multiple version , bad update ...) and they are kinda right We'll see how this gonna be , if they buy Axolotl i just want them to add some devs and add the game in the game pass as i said

[@frankie-gaming]

​@@KantNewThat's a good point honestly

[@purplepicklepizzapigproduc8528]

@@frankie-gaming Lets just hope that Axolot's acquisition goes similar to the one of double fine

[@Damian-cilr1]

@@KantNew honestly after the minecraft account migration and windows 11,yeah i don't trust microshit much if at all

[@6Saturn9]

TL;DR: (I don't feel bad about it... We had our fun... The game was goofy enough to be enjoyable... We all have fond memories of Scrap Mechanic... Now it's time to... let go.) -------------------------- Axolot messed up big time. To make it even worse, this is the worst time to mess up! Gamers are (rightfully) mad at the industry for the empty promises and delivering nothing but a shell, and smaller devs tend to get crushed easier... So... do I feel bad for them? Kinda. (not really...) Do I blame the fan base? NO! If anything, the community kept the game alive with their mods for far too long! Sometimes you should just accept what it is... Axolot miss managed EVERYTHING... Their scope! Their budget! The development process... like, for god’s sake, I still had hair when this game came out! 😂😂😂

[@servenator-3335]

I stopped playing scrap mechanic, as I found a game that better suited my taste in creative vehicle building. When the survival came out I liked it and played it as far as I could before my game suffered a catastrophic failure and my game as a whole was corrupted somehow, rendering all I had built gone. I still have the game sitting ready for use in my steam library waiting for that another chance. I feel rather sad that my interest has toned down so much, since I watched Scrap Mechanic content for maybe two to three years even before purchasing the game itself. It is a good project.

[@Matty12787]

I spoke up once about the game and received nothing but hate only because I wanted stronger bearings for survival as the bigger the vehicle and more complex, the bearings would go floppy.. I was told that I was not playing the game how it should be and the simpler the design, the better.. This was a huge slap in the face and will not go back to normal Scrap Mechanic. I play modded only now but it is rare when I play it now as the hate from the community and attitude or lack of from the dev team did it for me..

[@szymonh8772]

If devs let the players call them names, i don't feel so bad for them. We see so many people defending devs with "they're a small team" etc. But tbh it means nothing unless we hear it from the devs themselves.

[@codaman127]

Scrap Mechanic's devs are too ambitious, they're not filling out the holes with the development of chapter 2, they're just adding more. Survival needs to be filled out, the game cycle needs a little more love, content in place needs to be completed, and much of the ground floor mechanics need a better polish, all of these things having already been done by third party mods. They could TOTALLY do this.

[@bakedsynth3447]

We dont need bug fixes we need to fix game breaking bugs since most bugs have been integrated into a part of the game

[@coltonparker2313]

I’ve already basically done all there is to do in the game, make a flying machine, auto farm, all crops, (most) guns and much more but I can’t find anything else to really do and now I just search around for people doing warehouses to revive the spark that made this game actually fun.

[@GhostOfSnuffles]

I abandoned the game about a year ago when i realized the game was never going to get a chapter 2, only dev blogs about chapter 2.

[@Ry852]

I like the game, but I am not hopeful for the game's future. The fact is the Crashlander creators have a much better grasp of what the game play loop should have been for survival. Vanilla SM is all about running around for countless hours to gather component kits. It's busy work to pad out more gameplay time. Being able to craft them, and tons more makes the game much more fun, and opens up options on how YOU want to do it. You want to harvest the crap out of crops and then trade for materials you can do that. You want to make a massive mining/refining and forest clearing machines/vehicles you can do that and have a lot of materials to work with. Like I said, I like the game. It's pretty fun, but the vanilla game is lacking a ton. Getting sniped by tape bots is not fun, searching basically the same tower and tower and other POIs for component kits is not fun, farming crops then packaging them to take to a trader who doesn't have anything you'd want... is not fun. The impression I get is this team made a the framework for a great game, but never or rarely played it themselves.

[@Researcher_Jim]

Honestly - my only real gripe with the game was and is the performance and the multiplayer lag/desync stuff.

[@jmugurr994]

I'm more worried that with the new version that we will need to pay for the game again. Basically releasing scrap mechanic 2 with all the new changes it would be almost a different game.

[@erwer5136]

Very nice video! I think that Axolot Games suppose to giving us more news about the game. In fact I think that when the chapter 2 will be realise, Scrap Mechanic will be no longer in Early Acces version but a full game because the adding right now a endgame things.

[@thehawker694]

tbh I don't get payed to fix their problems but I like the game and I think you're right

[@malbyx]

finally some Dart Frog content again, I've been missing that

[@James_R_]

I'm sure they made more off of the work they did with Raft. Many are turned off by the lack of multiplayer optimization and new content. Updates are on the discord a lot more often.

[@ttry1152]

I really hope that axolot can gwt it out soon. Because i have had no inspiration to play. None of my friends play anymore. And it is not like i don't uave the experience to think of ideas I got near 3k hours. It is just hard to enjoy cuz nobody wants to play. Nor can they join in multiplayer cuz they rubberband alot

[@KieranMahoney]

They need to get this update out before Christmas and make the game extremely discounted for a week or so or even free for a day. I’m terrified of this game shutting down, I’ve put so much into it, I’ve got over 10000 hours

[@RobertGarlinghouse]

I don't play right now because after several experimental world, i established my prime world, and played it to a point. At this point i don't want to put in work that will be wiped out by the update.

[@SlavioPabiani]

Unfortunately I've left the game behind and I don't see myself coming back because of one issue: suspension glitch. Most of the times I wanted to try some new vehicle designs or improve handling of my vehicles, I've had to face the infamous physics bug. One day I came across a post from the devs saying that they are not going to fix this, because there are people that are using it creatively... and that day I stopped caring about the game despite spending a significant amount of time playing it. Though I did enjoy it for what I've played because the game is not bad at all. I just think it needs a little bit more love and menagement from the team.

[@notbop9744]

You know you can like turn it off now, right?

[@dubl33_27]

if every new vehicle you make causes this glitch, then it's a you problem, I rarely encountered this bug and even then it was an easy fix.

[@SlavioPabiani]

@@notbop9744 no, I don't. And I don't see any news saying that it can be disabled.

[@SlavioPabiani]

@@dubl33_27 I like the idea of game's bug being a "me problem".

[@dubl33_27]

@@SlavioPabianiit's not like it's a game breaking bug, it's quite the opposite

[@YoutubeAccountName]

If I don't want to be bothered with the community, I just ... don't go on forum/discord/twitter. Doesn't matter who says what comment, I left the game behind because there's just so many time you can come back, and realize there's only 5 things to do. I've come back right now for the mod Crashlander. I've finished it, I'm going away again. If the update eventually comes out, I'll wait for Kan or Scrapman to play it, to see if it's good or if I'm just going to hide it in my steam library. I don't feel I "have" to try to make it survive, or aid in any ways. If it dies, it dies, there's plenty of other games.

[@sysghost]

3000 players only??? No wonder the game is abandoned. Games like this probably need at least 150 0000 - 300 000 players before going anywhere.

[@MrHocotateFreight]

I was just checking the game out, there are definitely notes 1. Hunger and thirst seem to deplete rapidly for how scarse the food based loot is. I can try to farm, but then im seiged on all cardinal directions by farmers and bots, ripping down my walls and trampling my crops. 2. Progress feels pretty slow, if there is any. Some kind of world events would spice things up, but i say this for every game. 3. It feels so lifeless! Where's the personal charm?

[@mrman8583]

I know it's been mentioned already but the game could have died ages ago even before survival mode was created but the thing that saved it was regular updates to keep people busy while they wait. Now we get teasers for things that might come in maybe a year? two years? And they surely have a creative set of communities and devs, even once a month small updates for creative mode or little test branches for small features would make everyone know things are up and running for Chapter 2. Even if it delays productivity of the next Chapter, at least we still have more to play while we wait for the massive update. (Yes I'm aware that being a developer isn't easy but there are lots of ways to go around the problem, the problem being the fact they are focusing on the future and not what's happening right now)

[@tjhedgescout3052]

Yeah Axolot needs to be more vocal with us, they need to stop with the radio silence. Rising World's Red is vocal with his community, Mark Kern/Grummz is vocal with his Em8er community, Core Keeper Devs are vocal, even Valheim's devs are vocal, why does axolot take the silent route? cause yeah when they are silent it discourages the fans, and i do not want the game to die.

[@andrewmelnikov292]

10:00 As a memeber of this third category, I feel empty. Initially, SM looked like a promise, but before Survival I saw little, if any, reason to play it. Creative modes for me are merely testing chambers to fine-tune my constructs for the "real life". Without one, I have no reason to create. So I've waited for Survival, hoping it would dramatically change the experience. It did. For a time. But performance was still problematic (to put it mildly), which together with grindy resource gathering and pretty high damage from enemies (which is all the more painful due to lags) worked as a deterrent and incentivised to wait further. And now, a few years later, I don't even know if I should wait any longer. I mean, yeah, Chapter 2 will roll out in a year. Or two. Or maybe three. Probably. Meanwhile DRG has an expansion every year, and Satisfactory, you've noted as much, shows how it's supposed to be done. Tbh, I love their way of communication, and despite them losing one of their long-standing Comms (Snutt decided to strike on his own), I still view them kind of a "gold standard", demonstrating that it is possible. And if it is - why can't the others do it? Considering community, I didn't experience it myself (probably because I never got into the game pretty deep and kept waiting), but DRG taught me that forming a proper community is in part also on the devs. I can't quite formulate what makes a good community, but I feel like Ghost Ship's narrative of dwarves being buddies, suggesting to salute them (and the ability to do so!) and dialogue lines in part were the instruments to instill that feeling of "brotherhood" that DRG players often show to their random coop comrades. I doubt I can offer clear pointers but communicating with the community better (and more often!) and including narrative ques to bonding would, imo, definitely help the case.

[@lil_sweden2323]

Scrap mechanic is such a underrated game tho😢. They should add multiplayer servers

[@megawl2086]

tbh, the game hasn't seen a big update in so long, that i don't even care anymore, took a brake from the game for like 3 months and i don't exactly feel like coming back, i just ran out of ideas or can't execute the idea because of the limitations of the game, it will either lag, or won't work

[@toarnide8176]

I would rather see updates way smaller but more frequent than the devblogs they post

[@grummanschumann6475]

i will have to say there is positively a community issue and ther is certainly the risk of scrap mechanic dying. i agree and support your theories and analysis and think this should be shown directly to the lead developer of the game. the only thing i dont neciserally believe in is the claim of chapter two being an addition to an emptiness of the game, (first of all i share the same nostalgic love as you do, ive played sm ever since around right after the paint tool came out). from what i can see, it feels like scrap mechanic will become not an empty game, but a (mostly) COMPLETE one. this is the final biggn' after all, as you must know from the devs own word. the second chapter will cap off the hole that the survival update has left us by fully fleshing out the game and giving us a finish line to strive for. the first release was the menu, the survival update was our appetizer, and the second chapter... is our full meal baby. now maybe im being too optimistic but if theyre working as hard as theyve ever been on improving the game and you know for a fact this game and its production has had leaps and bounds, with several occasional pot holes, then this final update should be pleasant. the devs just need to yknow... stomp on the crickets around here! if you know what i mean. or rather, we gotta verbally storm the place and do that for them right in their offices! anyway my point is... i believe you, and i believe in the skills of the dev team, but we absolutely have to speak up and get them to be more open about what they're doing or at the very least, upload some funny content that could hold a casual sneak peak of something they've been working on. like memes with hidden lore! well thats it i think, those are my thoughts, sloppily puked out at 10:10 pm on a tuesday night. thank you for taking the time to struggle through my ramble lmao

[@Gimlog]

Me and my friends are going to get through chapter 2 when it get out, and the stability of the game will determine for how long.

[@ThatBlenderGuy1]

ya its really sad because for almost 2 years this was my favorite game and i would play it 8 or more hours a day (ya I know its not healthy) but then around june 2022 me and all of my friends that played survival got fed up with waiting and just left. and just recently I and one of my friends have started playing it again in hopes that an update drops soon.

[@T_PLAYER]

the main reason i left this game for almost two years (22 months to be exact) is because it didnt recieve anything worhty of attention. survival mode was a disappointment for me, and the creative mode was the same unoptimised mess i always knew. the physics optimisation never revieved attention, so i couldnt play with my friends in creative because of the unbarable multiplayer lag (+the physics lag). only after the epic fail of historical proportions that the "sequel" to overwatch was i downloaded this game again, but i only played it less than 10 times since. what would make me happy would be a physics overhaul to make things less laggy. that is all i ask for, if in exchange i would never get any more updates, new parts, etc., so be it

[@matador4501]

You have all those cool possibilitys in Survival ( complex sensor arrays, logic, extreme automation ), but why use it ? After a warehouse raid you have seen everything.

[@ch1kn_tenders]

I love this game with friends, only dissapointing thing is that performance degrades heavily as we make more stuff, even with everything welded down or on a lift. The World get's laggier and laggier, each survival world can only last like a week before it's bugging like crazy. Mod's are still really fun to try out every now and then, but alot of mods are depreciated saying theyll update once chapter 2 comes out, so have to wait for chapter 2 to try out some of them supposedly. Might be able to try using the scrap mechanic beta feature to try some of them, not sure? I wish the game dev's posted something monthly to let us know their still alive, anything can happen and I have no clue what direction scrap mechanic is heading in since it's been a year now and there's no news.

[@voyteck7696]

I am sure Scrap Mechanic Devs are not some sort of shy Unicorns that you have to be on your toes around them in order for them to come out and play. Communication and transparency is the key to everything, dude. I remember when Mass Effect Andromeda was roasted by players for its buggy mess. What BioWare Devs did? They packed their things and went away, cancelling two promised DLC's because they were offended by harsh reviews. I'm an artist, and I'm being reviewed and criticized all the time for the work I do. Some of them are good and some are bad, that's how it goes. If you can't stand the heat, you better say out of the kitchen (don't make games).

[@Hinged-But-Un]

Man, I've been playing this game since day one, some friends discovered and showed me just how many things you could do in it. Many, many fun, great times on this wonderful game! Never got tired of it, even to this day. Seeing this beautiful game I grew up with slowly die over time is breaking my heart. I greatly hope that ch.2 and further updates change everything to bring back players and even attract new ones.

[@ezrac704]

I actually left when survival came out, and I was a huge fan of creative. I think I disliked how survival mode affected creative mode. If I'm not mistaken, a lot of mods were broken when survival launched. On top of that, the survival gameplay felt like there wasn't much to really focus on, unlike other games like Subnautica. I think I've moved on with the game, and I'm alright with that. The game has been amazing for over 7 years now, and I won't forget the hundreds of hours I spent in it. I haven't launched it in over 2 years.

[@Dinkleberg96]

In one hand I understand Axolot it’s creating a lot of new content and improvements for SM and that releasing it gradually would mess up with the players save files if the devs are making any massive changes to the progression. Players wouldn’t be happy if we had to restart a save every 2-3 months …. But in the other hand 3+ years it’s a massive amount of time to wait for an update of game that got some content already but it’s not mature enough to keep players interested in those 3 years wait, not counting as well with the lack of communication on Axolot’s behalf. Things should be balanced ether it be communication or updates. Smaller updates ether it be performance or small content things or new blocks would stop the descent of players, keep the SM KZbinrs interested and the game’s name on the map. The lack of that all makes players give up on the game we love so much and honestly I can’t blame them. I did the same.

[@valian8985]

Test branch exist for a purpose....

[@arctic-1878]

I mean, you have test branches. EVERY other game manages to produce regular updates, why should this be any different. Don't excuse Axolot for not putting any effort into their own game.l

[@satanicscar4920]

2 big reasons I stopped being so active on the game. Ground mesh randomly throwing vehicle around, and Suspension glitch.

[@BeelzeKid]

I belive in the next big update ... even tho axalotl does not want me to ax-alotl questions about it ... hate the devs not the game ... or was it hate the player ?

[@lucasbarchine1044]

i read somewere that microsoft wanted to buy axolot, so hopefully they will have money to spend on personal and growing up the game

[@GlockoCroco]

Back in 2019 when I made my steam account, Scrap mechanic was the very first game I played. I was younger and never knew about all the management stuff ect. As much as I love the game I wish that the dev team opens up to the community, the game is amazing, but the lack of communication is really bad for the game and the community.

[@mrface21]

I'm not playing cuz I'm waiting for chapter 2

[@dominik4205]

one good thing I like about Scrap Mechanic: that it exists. one bad thing I hate about Scrap Mechanic: this stupid suspension glitch.

[@mason-ry5ci]

I honestly think that they could get lots of players by adding support to like Nintendo/ps5/Xbox etc it would probably earn a lot of players then!

[@aakaarkaushik7604]

They could even do small weekly events like Gta 5 do. It shouldn't be that hard to implement

[@Breadyboi18]

They need to hire more people to work on the game. It seems like greed thinking that its fine to not do so and take years to finish a game they promised and made 8 million off of.

[@guillermoelnino]

Why would they finish the game when they already have y ou r money?

[@jackindustriesrevamp]

You know I haven't been around the community much however I honestly think of myself as an apologist. However I am not blind to the fact the game has issues. Like creations freaking out if you put too many moving parts on them, or in survival where you get launched when you get stuck in the wrong place. And more. But I still like the game. Also I'm very aware of the fact of radio silence from the devs thanks to another video. But this really brought all the issues to my attention. And I really hope the game pulls through. I've been playing it since I was 4 or younger and again I really hope scrap mechanic survives.

[@CrownedSnake133]

THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A HATEFEUL COMMENT, OR A COMMENT TO START CONTRAVERSY. I'm completely happy with the way things are progressing in Scrap Mechanic, sure it might not be the fastest but I still enjoy the game. Since that's out of the way I can continue. I know I'm a few months late, but I feel like a simple pvp addition with armor and more weapons/tools would open up so many more possibilities, it would create a competitiveness within players. Also maybe just adding more multiplayer possibilities. Mayber a server function, so that you can have a world perpetually open and people can come and go to play as they please on that world/server. That itself would change a lot I think. As kAN said, he was hoping it would be a community that would grow to be like Minecraft, but what made Minecraft so popular was the multiplayer capabilities on the prexisting game of survival/creative. Chapter 2 is defnently not going to be the revive of the game, its only going to expound on the survival aspect.

[@GasolineGuy]

i totally forgot scrap mechanic was even a game,

[@ultimatech]

I personally left the game because of a bug that still hasn't been fixed and that prevents ressources and bots from respawning, making survival nearly impossible

[@davidboudreault5931]

is because of the dev who take forever to drop content...

[@grimreapybones2875]

I JUST got into the game, a couple days ago... I knew it exsisted a couple years ago but never got it and forgot about it, so when I saw it again and decided to play it and I was like : WOW THIS GAME IS GREAT, but it could use more content... and why isn't there a larger community? If there's anything I could do to increase community and thus development I would but it seems like a sinking ship, a rough diamond unpolished and unapreciated, since I am knew I don't really understand the development situation but in the modern gaming age 99.9% of games deaths are underdevelopment related, games never *actually* reach true potential anymore, minecraft is an example of where continueous and proper development kept it alive for very very long. However one thing that can really save a game is a strong modding community especially if devs are inspired by good mods and make similar features in updates, again minecraft as a good example.

[@SCOP_]

The thing is I shouldn’t have to play a game I don’t find fun anymore just to keep it alive, im not gonna babysit axolot

[@crazybird199]

Yeah, I switched to Trailmakers simply because the devs are transparent and make major updates every half-year or so. It's also a lot easier to build. Finally, they have a dedicated community manager that runs build challenges for ingame prizes. I still play Scrap Mechanic occasionally, but I would say I prefer Trailmakers.

[@UnknownSeekerProductions]

In a lot of things, communications is a good key to have. I'm very fond of this game, ever since early access was first released in 2016, I've loved it ever since. And only recently have I just begun playing again, and I genuinely forgot how much fun this game is, after a 5 year long break since my last computer broke, long before Survival Mode. I would like to see Axolot improve their game alongside their communication skills with the community, and releasing smaller sneak peeks on what they're working on every once in a short while, as opposed to what they are doing now, to keep players engaged with the game. I would hate to see one of my favorite games of all time die down like this.

[@hharter8319]

I started scrap mechanic 2 days ago. My brother was playing it so I bought it started the game and had a really hard time starting because a lot of the resources that you need to build vehicles are hard to come by mainly scrap in the early game. I got past this starting and was really annoyed that there were only two types of enemies and two rare ones and nothing else and food is really annoying in the early game. I started a new game installed the Fann mod and I had a really good time

[@iamFreddyP_]

it's be real, once they drop this massive update EVERYONE is coming back... I know i will, if it ever comes out... they dont care how long it takes; it is what it is.

[@deadbody1877]

hi, remember me? I 100% agree about part one, with the lack of content, I started looking for other games. the game I found was stormworks, even though I couldn't do many of the things I could do in scrap mechanic. I felt it was vastly more fun with the steady flow of content and an active devteam and contend creators, and I barely find myself playing scrap mechanic anymore, hence my disappearance for over a year, hopefully it will get better, but only time will tell.

[@stevenn110]

i don't want this amazing game to die :( it's my favourite game

[@guillermoelnino]

The concept of this game really had legs. If it was boight out mojang style it could have been a real minecraft killer. But well never know.

[@ethanaterrandom]

Shii, I don't care if the game is dying or dead. As long as I get to play it, I will be fine, but they do need to be more active on Twitter!

[@jozsef6453]

I even forgot this game existed. And a couple months ago i played it daily. With all this silence i think the devs put themselfs in a bad spot since now i dont feel like theres any hype left for the next "big" update. So if it flops the game will definitely die.

[@TheLaziestOfNerds]

I only want my damn sticky wheels

[@vibaj16]

I just hope the digital signs can somehow be controlled by logic. I know it won't happen, but I still hope...

[@TheLaziestOfNerds]

@@vibaj16 but hear me out, sticky wheels

[@ChristCameForYOU]

Sad to see great games slowly die due to companies and devs being silent on updates.

[@redston4D]

i get ur point but as a dev i can see the pov as there getting "scared" bc its all made in lua no game engine so progress is alot slower than it would be in engine and if they do smth for an update it wont be alot so if they just say we added a new wheel thats it they would get hate so they try to do alot to make us happy but its not working but i wish they could say more or make yt vids

[@TheDartFrog]

you say you're a dev, but then say "it's all made in lua, no game engine"..? you realize what you said makes absolutely 0 sense, right..? only some things are done in LUA btw, things that critically need to perform well and with no delay are made in CPP besides, LUA actually makes development of new features *faster*, because it allows for more rapid prototyping and is easier to use than CPP, no need to recompile anything for example

[@redston4D]

@@TheDartFrog i do apolliges for being wrong i thought it was mostly made in lua (not all lua it was like 5 am brain dead) my last experiance was very slow and bad with lua im very sorry for just being wrong should have double checked(my facts) before saying them publicly. sorry for the long comment and love ur vids(only seen a few) hope i did not anoy you. you seemed anoyed at me in your last comment i do hope i didnt bye!.

[@Jakobini__]

There are new tweet in scrap mechanic

[@49diewj]

Crazy! It's almost like..... you're not supposed to play a game forever. It's almost like...... the developers might want to do something else other than support a single game for the rest of their lives. Let the natural cycle of things play out as it should.

[@Kampftroll]

Yeah, i was with the game since its release, i left around when survival mode dropped, played it a few times with friends, but i just didn't have fun with the game anymore, they changed everything with the survival update, changed how everything worked, wasn't the same game anymore. I know alot of people that felt the same way. I tried to get back into it, but it just wasn't the game that i enjoyed anymore. Also, Hi Dart Frog, been a while ^^

[@Tsuintabo]

Spending 3h gathering materials to make my first good car, just for it to glitch under the map and completely disappear, no respawn like in creative, still love the game, but not wasting my time

[@blaise7254]

scrap mechanic has been my childhood and i have always loved the game, i can't stand seeing that it might lose it's popularity like this. i will always have fun playing it, even without updates.

[@petebruno7846]

Its sad I thought this game had huge potential but we are lucky to get ahn update every year. The game has amazing potential but needs alot more to be the game it should be. these are some of the slowesest developers I have encountered and that is saying alot lol.

[@Blackdawn1975]

maybe if the devs updated stuff more than once every 5 years, add on top that there is nothing to do in the game but build which you can't do because it lags the game to death, then what are you supposed to do

[@oliverkjeldsen4483]

Imagine having to invest your time to beg developers to just care about their community. I myself wont waste my time worrying about a game developers themselves dont care about. I think you're right. Community is close to giving up hope.

[@XDairsoft]

I played alot of creative. But there was an update, way after survival, it changed how all my cars drove. I had at least 1000 hours and I still loved the game, but I quit after that. I couldn't enjoy the game after that.

[@warmcanadain7649]

They should take notes from Minecraft, release a experimental mode with concepts that aren’t done and add things as they go on however keep bigger things hidden until the update

[@xpen2007]

Clocking over 1000 hours now. Still playing it alot thanks to Fant and other mods like Crashlanders. It would be such a shame for scrap mechanic to die. No other game can compare

[@crimester]

i moved on from this game cuz there wasn't much to do once everyone started to leave but i sure will boot it up when chapter 2 releases

[@suijin3176]

To be honest, I played this game for 4 years now, Im not playing regularly but I wouldnt say Im not playing it often. Me and my friend who plays this game regularly didnt even realised that Scrap Mechanic isnt updating, we played creative for years, then survival came and we played it for a while, then we came back to creative. I just now realised that devs are silent

[@dimanull5781]

Also, the Scrap Mechanic community is dying because due to the inactivity of players, works in the Workshop are not gaining popularity, which means that KZbinrs and content creators are less and less willing to do something for the community, and those people who were waiting for those very works will leave due to the fact that there will be no new content and it will just be boring.

[@readfreak7]

Good Video! Definitely agree on the toxicity stuff. I left the reddit and it's discord (only recently came back) for a while to get away from it.

[@nokodev]

Extended Content by me: Part 3 - Performance Since the game now has survival and revamped basically almost everything (UI, Gameplay and etc). Theres someting called: The SM PC Catagories. There are 3: Low End, Normal End and High End. I gonna not mention anything about the Normal End and High End. What i am gonna talk about is the Low End Community. The ones with the Intel HD Graphics (Please buy a RX 580 if your still on Intel HD graphics, if its not a laptop). The low end community is suffering on the lowest imaginable graphics with 30-60 FPS. That FPS might be fine. But Its really bad if you care about graphics. The graphics on the lowest settings makes Scrap Mechanic look like Crap Mechanic. And as me who played scrap mechanic on Intel HD Graphics before. i have experience of particles being soo laggy that i want to make a file mod (that dosen't break checksums aka, Not modifing the game's code) that removes particles entirly. Its real sad that the low end community has to deal with this. Infact in this video at this timestamp kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXTMgJqkibKeqLM i was gonna use my spudgun and survive longer. But unfortantly Particles made my FPS go 15 where i was trying to look down but it didn't want to. Performance in this game is real bad espessally if JUST particles can drop to 15 fps. Part 4 - Lack of fun. Scrap Mechanic since 2023 is starting to make Scrap Mechanic really boring. I wish that Scrap Mechanic Servers existed without the toxicity. And (personal reasons) i get depression from it that causes me to think about suicidal. But thats for a diffirent topic. Scrap mechanic nolonger feels the fun. Even when making mods or clients. i don't feel the fun. The modding became also boring since basicly everything is done. Infact making hack clients in scrap mechanic became more easier than ever. Part 5 - Modding The Modding Community (2023, June) was the worst month ever for the Modding community. The modding community also contained people like me that make hack clients. Because Scrap Mechanic Servers existed at 2020-2022. Also the one who brought out toxicity and made hack clients exist. Its super easy to make a hack client. But your better off reading Part 6 for that. Currently the modding community is at the worst position possible. If your wondering why 2023 June was the worst month for it. Is that MrCrackx, The person who made the SM community better left scrap mechanic because for nolonger being welcomed in it (Read scrapmechanictools.com/shutdown.html for that). MrCrackx tooked everything what he made down. Including the improved API website for scrap mechanic. Thats a big hit for damages. So beginners now have to use the old documentation with the 2 tutorials thats on youtube. Part 6 - Safety When i mean Safety, i mean protection of game not being hackable or hookable. Unfortantly, Its now super easy to make a hack client. heres how it injects: Run the injector, It starts up Scrap Mechanic and before the console even shows up, It injects a DLL called SMLibary.dll and a messagebox will popup saying its injected. and once that, It can do whatever it wants to. Ive already managed to load custom UI Graphics on the game itself without modifing the game! I cannot tell further because it would make it easier for people to make hack clients. And also, the "heres how it injects" part uses a example that im not gonna mention because again. i don't want more people to make hack clients. Theres already a client thats really powerful. Thats all. i might edit this commect to include more information and parts.

[@OttosTheName]

I loved this game dearly. For years this was my main game. But when performance never improved to allow for interesting complex creations, when they ruined vehicle handling by changing wheel collisions and when the survival mode was such an empty experience... I slowly lost interest. All I heard in this video's are things that were direct results of the lack of marketing though. Watched the whole thing to get to the point and I'm like... Yeah we're divided. If you leave a million excited players just to speculate for 4 years with almost no info you're gonna get at least a couple thousand really negative people shouting. Basic human group behavior. *shrug* Not saying those people are not responsible, but they should have seen this coming. I still have hope they are working really hard. Chapter 2 will probably be great for those interested, but if they had figured out how to make this game handle any interesting mechanical creations they would have patched the physics already, so I'm probably not coming back.

[@normalbird8040]

(i own a copy of this game since about 2015-2016 sitting at around 1000 hours as of writing) i would really love to play some survival again but i have played through it 2 times already and spent around 400 hours in the game during that time but none of my friends currently want to play it so i am just waiting for the next update to finally bring an endgoal to the game the trashbot, which will hopefully also bring my friends back for another round

[@valian8985]

The trashbot is Not an endgame goal tho, it is only a boss you will find quite easly

[@normalbird8040]

yeah but i atleast hope it will act as one

[@valian8985]

@@normalbird8040 well I Hope there is much more "end game content " Than à simple bot you Can beat quite easly

[@normalbird8040]

well its atleast something to look forward to right

[@pagannova3621]

I played a bit before Survival came out..played a bit of Survival..didn't "click" with me. perhaps I should give it another try sometime? it's been on my list to try again. think I had more fun watching content creators play it than actually play it myself. hm.

[@TheDartFrog]

I think it might be up to questionable balancing of the game - survival is incredibly grindy but that's a point that's somewhat-subjective *and* it can ne fixed with mods, hence I didn't bring it up

[@purplepicklepizzapigproduc8528]

@@TheDartFrog Mods shouldn't be a necessary tool to make the game somewhat enjoyable. It's a nice fix, yes but it is also a clear sign that the game is lacking to say the least.

[@TheDartFrog]

@@purplepicklepizzapigproduc8528 > Mods shouldn't be a necessary tool to make the game somewhat enjoyable. and I never said they should.....