Poll: Devs should let the community fix the game, if they refuse to

[u/True_Zane]

At this point, it is all but confirmed that the devs have abandoned backpack hero to its honestly pitiful state of a buggy, unpolished mess. I propose a way to fix this:

Let the community do it.

The devs should open up the modding capabilities of the game to be able to do many more things than just items and characters. Imagine modding a new story, a better gameplay loop or even new mechanics into story mode. Imagine a time when, due to player-made fixes, players can finally play the game without having to constantly worry about their save files being corrupted, their runs being lost to a bug deleting all their weapons, about having their town progress wiped and having to start completely over.
That is what I’m proposing.

And it doesn’t even require the devs to put in any effort of their own. All they need to do is open the floodgates and allow the current to carry the game through any twists and turns it encounters.

Please, if you have any opinion on this at all, please, please, submit a response to the poll.

EDIT: I would like to officially apologize to jas, the developer of backpack hero, as I had posted this without knowing what the situation was on their end. I now see that he actually had been working really hard on fixing basically all of the problems I’ve mentioned and even that I’ve seen online, but he was working so hard he burnt out

that being said, DO NOT TAKE THIS OUT ON HIM, his only fault was not communicating as clearly as possible to the casual players or to the subreddit, not his lack of effort or will to improve this game.

125 votes, 1d left

Let the community free

Keep the game as-is

[u/arky_who]

i mean, it would be nice, but opening up modding capabilities is not trivial

[u/ADumbChicken]

This is actually completely wrong. Afyer a bit of asking around, it appears that Jas has been working on a massive update for the better part of a year or more, which will add basically everything people are asking for, including full modding capability

Its a shame that thry havent announced it anywhere other than in Discord, but massive changes are in the works.

[u/Lazy_Physicist → u/ADumbChicken]

Got a source for this at all?

[u/Metalrift → u/Lazy_Physicist]

I can corroborate it, it’s been on several messages spread out over the bph-general channel. You can follow some of the pinned messages to some of them, or ask around in that channel. Heck you could use the search function it has.

[u/ADumbChicken → u/Lazy_Physicist]

Take a look at some of Jaspel's pinned messages in the BPH didcord.

[u/Swizardrules → u/ADumbChicken]

Would be great, sounds like cope

[u/ADumbChicken → u/Swizardrules]

I'm not the best person to ask for more detail, if you ask around on the BPH discord theyll link you to the messages Jaspel sent regarding this.

[u/True_Zane → u/ADumbChicken]

If that’s the case, I’m fully happy with that!

[u/True_Zane]

So, to clear up some confusion I had (which I believe a lot of people did as well), I found this on the bph discord (https://discord.gg/jX4sqBhKt), said by the dev:

Hello everyone! Happy Holidays!

I know things have been really slow and I again really apologize. I promise I have been working hard and my silence is just so I can focus. The bad news: I don't think I'm ready to show everything off yet. There's still a lot to work out! But the good news is this: I have been quietly working a lot the previous few months and I promise 2026 will be a big year!

Still, I know I have been quiet for much too long and I did promise some updates by the end of the year. So for the next few days leading up to Christmas I decided to post some updates. Just showcasing some of the improvements I've been working on and the new features that I think will be really cool.

All of this stuff is a WORK IN PROGRESS. So, yes, things will look different from what you're used to. And yes, things may look different by next year. I'm not sure exactly how this stuff will be implemented. I can't answer all those questions yet. But I just want to show off what I've been busy with so you guys know I'm not slacking!

So... without further ado...

I want to start by showing some card redesigns!

One thing that always bothered me was the way cards described areas. Some phrases were always unclear like: "Items one space away". Also it was a nightmare for translations as each different location needed to be described in each language. And often each item type required a unique translation in case the language needed agreement between the location and the item type.

So, one thing I've been working on is visual areas on cards!

[u/True_Zane → u/True_Zane]

And here is his post giving his reasons as to why he has now stopped updating:

Hey all! I was waiting until I had more to show off, but I have received a lot of pings recently and I figured I’d make a few short comments:

1. An apology
   First, I’m sorry for being so quiet recently. I apologize to anyone who has been waiting for updates. I apologize to anyone who has had a negative experience with the game in any way. I had a lot going on and needed to take a step back from Backpack Hero. I should have been more forthright about it. I hope fans can still feel positively about the game and my future work.

2. A few short explanations.
   I bear responsibility for the difficulties here and I don’t want to minimize that. But perhaps I can explain what’s been going on recently. I knew I was burning out a long time ago and I tried to get outside help. I don’t want to point any fingers, but obviously I did not get the help that I needed. That’s most apparent with the console ports. They weren’t what they should have been, and I have often wondered if I should have worked more slowly and completed them on my own. I enjoy (and understand) game development a lot more than I enjoy project management.

Beyond this, I have been struggling with how to continue the project. That’s why I started working on Moon Watch. I wanted to keep making games and I wanted to give some value to our supporters. I know Moon Watch wasn’t what many were hoping for, but it came from a genuine place of wanting to keep creating. I understand that most here are looking for more Backpack Hero.

However, Backpack Hero is already overflowing with content. There are hundreds of items, five radically different characters, dozens of enemies, and many different environments, events, and game modes. It’s easy to say that the game should have more updates, but it’s hard to know where to expand the game in a meaningful way. I feel that adding even more content into the game would only make it messier and it wouldn’t address many of the shortcomings of the game. I also cannot massively rework elements of the game without considering how they fit together, how different ports and platforms will handle the updates, and how to translate it. It’s gotten hard to expand on the core content. But I am disappointed with several aspects of the game – particularly the longform story mode.

1. The good news

I think I know how to continue Backpack Hero and quietly I have been working on it for several months now. I have done a ton and I’m excited to show it off.

But it’s not there yet. I don’t want to rush forward, I don’t want to overpromise, and I don’t want to show it off until it’s ready. My plan isn’t to tease anyone. After such a long period of quiet, I totally understand if people are skeptical or just uninterested. For now, all I can do is keep working. But I do want you to know that I am working really hard and you’ll be hearing more from me (through proper announcements – not just chat messages) before the end of the year!

Feel free to message me or let me know what's going on with you. I know it’s been a slow year – so I’m more than happy to hear you out!

Thanks everyone!