Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness – Fresh Update and Localization FAQ

GrapeOcean Technologies brings us a new update for their isometric RPG Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness that mainly deals with gameplay-related issues like XP values and merchant stocks. But before we get to the actual patch notes, we also get a chance to read a quick FAQ that revolves around the issue of localizing a game as a small indie studio.

Check it out:

Ho there, adventurers!

Since the release of the game, we have received many questions from you on several topics, including the future translations of the game to various languages.

In this update, we are presenting a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) that gives answer to the most frequent questions we have received. At the end of the update, you can also find the changelist of the most recent patches.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: I thought the game would be translated to my language by now. Why are some languages available while others are still not? Do you prefer some languages to others?

Answer: There is no preference between languages, we would love to add all of them. The only thing that determines which languages are added are our possibilities, including our financial options. The game currently has more than 280,000 words of text, which is an extreme amount of text for an indie title. Translating this many words is usually very expensive, and takes a very long time for an affordable translator.

Question: I still don’t get it. Why were some languages already added that have a much smaller player base compared to other, major languages that are still unavailable?

Answer: As a small indie studio, we are adding languages that we can, not the ones we want to. For example, some of the existing/upcoming translations were made by our friends or enthusiasts of the genre/game, who are professional translators but translated Black Geyser basically for free or at a very low cost. We don’t prefer adding language X to language Y because we like X better than Y, but because there was enough time and budget for language X. Skipping/postponing language X wouldn’t have helped for adding language Y at all.

Question: My language is still not there anyway. Should I forget it?

Answer: Definitely not! As soon as we have more information (such as an ETA) about a particular language, we will let you know. By the way, Russian and Turkish translation will be added very very soon. We will post more information about them in the upcoming days.

Question: As a small indie studio, you still had a budget for the game and translations, what happened with that? You also had a Kickstarter campaign.

Answer: As stated on our Kickstarter page, the Kickstarter funds were only a part of the funding that we secured from external sources. Unfortunately, as an indie project, we faced many difficulties in the years following the Kickstarter, including the challenges caused by the pandemics. Based on community feedback throughout the years, we also changed the scope of some things in the game and refined/reworked certain features. Altogether, the overall budget required to complete the game increased by the time the pandemics ended. Therefore, less budget remained for translations than we initially anticipated.

Question: Why don’t you allocate more budget? It would allow you to add the missing features and languages. I have also posted a negative review about the game with the hope it will encourage your company to fix bugs faster and add the missing languages. Do you not listen to these reviews?

Answer: We do not have any external funding. Black Geyser is currently our only project, and it is the only source of revenue for the team. We appreciate all feedback, including negative reviews as well, because they are very useful to us for deciding how and where to improve the game. Regarding your question, paradoxically, the more negative ratings we get, the less the game’s revenue will be, even reducing our financial resources to the extent where we’re unable to improve the game by adding missing features or language translations. At the moment, our team is very small, and while we read and process every single review, we lack the resources to implement all requests in a short time.

Question: If you have had so many issues, why have you released the game so early? I’m glad to see you are constantly improving the game and listening to player feedback, but why didn’t you do these much earlier?

Answer: As a small team, we have been doing our best. If we had been able to postpone the release and refine the game before the launch, we would have done it. Black Geyser has been our dream project, but there are financial limitations. The question wasn’t whether there can be a “Perfect Black Geyser” or a “Black Geyser that needs refinements”, but whether Black Geyser exists or not. Based on the feedback of our community, we felt the only right decision was to stay together, release the game and then keep supporting it as we do now.

Latest Changes

• 3440×1440 resolution now always works correctly
• Fixed Shady Dealer dialogue in Garden of Delights
• Added Potion Case, Parchment Satchel and Ingredient Pouch for storing items
• Item containers (such as bottomless bags) now retain their content if sold
• Temple of Alnarius no longer needs a loading screen in Market Street
• Level 1 to 4 scrolls are now restocked by vendors
• Jade romance now has a correct cutscene
• The Fish Out of Water quest now correctly ends in every scenario
• Fixed ghost visual effects
• Loot added to many empty containers in Crimson Crossing
• Loot added to small houses in Amanuel’s Hoard
• Loot added to Fasitgrove houses
• Isilmerald Sightseeing achievement description is now more accurate
• Multiclass characters can now utilize the Outlaw “Disarm Trap” skill as well instead of Magical Perception to disarm the Wizard’s tutorial trap
• The levelup tutorial no longer appears if the player finishes the levelup process while another tutorial panel is displayed
• The Twisted Requiem spell now properly adds buffs to the revived party members and reduces the caster’s HP by the correct amount
• Resurrection fix: Revived character’s contribution to Adventure XP will not be lost as long as they can be revived
• Additional recipes added to various vendors (Ilio, Zelima, Hu’dai, Red Damsel, Freynagar Brewery, Ay’eda, Regon, Arnulf, Aravina, Deron-Guld Herbalist, Southern Shore)
• Incorrect reply options no longer appear in Rothgor starting dialogue
• Cannibals, corrupted wolves and skeletons added to Castle Alastor outdoors area
• All powders are now plantable
• Planting stacked items no longer plants the full stack
• Large white visual bug no longer appears for some freezing effects
• Tolbard’s shop now displays correctly in all circumstances
• Arnulf now correctly moves to Fasitgrove after you complete his quest
• The Estranged Sisters quest no longer gives gold as a reward when it shouldn’t
• Fixed Kronica longsword’s attack times to match other Longswords
• Added missing Shortbow damage bonus for Fighters
• The Divine Aid spell now damages Abominations as well
• Isla cutscene no longer breaks in the Trapped Under the Surface quest when you attack her
• Shady Dealer can now spawn/despawn while he is in party sight
• Reply option that ends the companion dialogue is now always the last option
• Reply option in Stephan’s dialogue now correctly reflects your intention to attack him in the Trapped Under the Surface quest
• Fixed a bug that prevented Lich Agelas from casting the Unholy Siblings spell
• More loot added to Thieves’ Guild and cemetery crypts
• Increased XP value for Xurzax the Devourer
• Increased Gryphon sight range and XP value