If a mysterious secret room inSports Storyis to be believed, Sidebar Games' development of the oddball RPG may have been quite troubled.Sports Storywas a surprise launch on December 23 following over a month of silence from developer Sidebar Games. The highly-anticipated follow-up toGolf Storyhas some unfortunate technical issues, however, andSports Story’s newly discovered secret room may offer some insight into why that is.
Sports Storyis a major step forward from Sidebar Games' highly-regarded original game,Golf Story. WhereGolf Storyrevolved around golf,Sports Storyexpands to include BMX, cricket, volleyball, fishing, and even more golf. It couldn’t have been an easy project to work on, which is why fans were more than comfortable waiting the five years it took to finish the game. But a slew of technical issues has some wondering why Sidebar Games didn’t take even more time to polishSports Story.
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Due to certain technical issues inSports Story, players have been able to glitch out of bounds in ways that Sidebar Games likely never expected. Using this method, players found a secret room otherwise inaccessible filled with developers from a fake game studio named Cold Catridge. The room is surprisingly detailed, so someone clearly put a good amount of work into it. When talking to the NPCs in the room, however, the tone takes a somewhat serious turn.
The NPC at the entrance of the room mentions that their game,GALF, will be releasing any day now. A second NPC then shouts, “You said that a year ago!” The first NPC responds, “You might say we’re experiencing a troubled development.” Other NPCs then mentionGALF’s original vision no longer existing due to requests for new features, and maybe that they should have “made the game work instead of adding features.” Given thestate ofSports Story, the atmosphere of the room is quite dour.
To be clear, by all appearances this room, the development studio of Cold Catridge, is supposed to be taken in good humor. It’s a joke meant to break the fourth wall, making fun of game development and also perhapsSports Story’s development. It was, perhaps, at one point in time supposed to be in the game itself and not hidden away. The state ofSports Storymay have prompted Sidebar Games to hide it away, though.
Game development is extremely challenging, especially for a smaller indie studio that’s also publishing its game like Sidebar Games withSports Story. At some point, money will always become an issue, and the money rarely lines up with the schedule of development.Sports Storyis, by all accounts, a very good game despite its technical issues. Here’s hoping Sidebar Games is able to polishSports Storyquickly, and have the resources necessary for its next game to be that much better.
