The hit medieval town Builder Manor Rose is often said to have been created by a single developer, Greg Styczeß, and its marketing is inclined to that concept: the official website says it is "a hand handcrafted by one developer.""Arthur Bruno, CEO of Crate Entertainment, is also the builder of that town and has problems with early access," he said. 

In a phone call with PC Gamer this week, Bruno expressed discomfort at receiving feedback that he assumed Farthest Frontier was made by a huge development team — it's actually a team of 7 people — especially when compared to the "solo" Manor Lords developers.

"People think that somehow 60 people, or the whole [Crate Entertainment] team, are working on the Farthest Frontier, and we're so slow, "One guy is developing Manor Lords," and that drives me crazy," Bruno said. "And you look at [Manor Lords] credit and the team size on it would probably be even bigger than ours."

Styczeş"has obviously done a huge amount of work and what he has done is impressive," Bruno said, but he added that "one person of this day and age is fully programmed and the art and AR

Manor Lords credit has 2 "extra programming" acknowledgments and many 3D artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, artists, Includes animators, illustrators, concept artists, history consultants, writers, and other contributors. In a recent interview with Pc Gamer, Tim Bender, CEO of Manor Lords publisher HOODED Horse, described the development setting as "solo developer plus contractors" with Styczeß being the main creative force but helping outside talent.

Styczeş obviously had considerable help, but it is no exaggeration to say that he was the main creator of Manor Lords. According to a recent interview, he began working on it as a part-time hobby more than 6 years ago, and it was only after he launched Patreon in 2020 and received a grand MegaGrant in 2021 that he began outsourcing some jobs to contractors. 

But as Bruno considers whether the "solo developer" who hires a bunch of contractors is really different from the seven-person team that makes the farthest frontier, "I'm going to start telling people that I'm a solo developer who's been helped by a lot of employees," he joked.

After this article was published, Styczeß said that Bruno made a "fair criticism" about X, but the difference is that the future of Manor Lords depends entirely on him, whereas Crate Entertainment quits Bruno

Beef here before I accidentally start some fake game developers: Bruno is not Styczeş or Manor Lords. There is no problem with Lords. We got into the topic as Manor Lords stated that he had already received an unreasonable "Is this game abandoned" comment, and Bruno could be sympathetic.

"We're always getting it," Bruno said. "Recently we got negative reviews that people were asking if we had abandoned the game and have literally released major updates like two weeks before that

But that's the kind of feedback that made Manor Rose's "solo developer" distinction a place of pain for Bruno: It's a good idea. Is another piece of ammunition used in complaints that crate entertainment is not moving fast enough. 

Manor Lords was comfortable to say it was made by pc Gamer's solo developer, but I'm somewhat influenced by Bruno's perspective. It may be too literal to limit the designation to developers who have done literally everything, but before we lose our claim to the courage of solo developers, we can collaborate.

The big picture, I think, is that as long as they grin and try to bear it, they can quickly provide updates and respond to constant feedback. It reminds streamers that they say they can't take a day's break without losing their followers. As we put it in 2019, "the pressure to constantly update the game is pushing the industry to a breakpoint.""

Neither the manor lords nor the farthest frontiers have been 'abandoned' for the record. Styczeú is working on the first Manor Lords patch, and ahead of the 1.0 release of Farthest Frontier, the team at Crate Entertainment states that they are working on adding a technology tree, improving optimization and "prototyping some new aspects to the military components of the game."

This article was updated with additional comments from Bruno and a response from Styczeß.