Planetary Annihilation kickstarter

Sephiroth_dude

Its not being released till december?

synesthesia

beta\early access in june

Sephiroth_dude

synesthesia wrote: »

beta\early access in june

Ya I know that,what I mean is full release is december?or according to wiki it is anyway,I wish I'd backed it .

synesthesia

you can still pre-order the warfarme edition - that gives beta access ... but ... is it alpha access in june ???

Sephiroth_dude

Ya its alpha in june and early access beta in september,I might pre order so .

synesthesia

latest update :

The big announcement of course was our overall project timelines and Steam availability. First off, project timelines:

Alpha will start to roll out this month, and a combined UberNet Alpha/Steam Early Access Alpha will start on approximately June 7th.
Alpha access will run for the summer, until the end of August.
Beta/Beta Early Access will run from September through the end of November.
Finally, we expect to have our worldwide launch in December of this year.
We’re very happy with the speed we’re moving at, and are at the point where we feel we can start to lock down much more concrete dates for alpha, beta and launch. We’re looking forward to the next parts of development with more direct interaction with the community.

Steam access is a convenience for some people who prefer to keep all their game keys in one place. If you wish to move your key to Steam, you’ll be able to once the game is live on Steam. If you wish to continue to simply play though our own service UberNet, you’ll be able to. No action is needed at this time for Steam access. We’ll send information once Steam keys are available for use. It also means it’s our first digital distribution platform besides our own, which means another way for the community to grow further and bring in more players.

Watch the LiveStream here, and keep an eye on here and your email box over the coming weeks if you’re a backer at the alpha level ($90 +). We look forward to hopping in game with you soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCRA1ae5WWQ

Jet Black

Regret not backing this at the time. Alpha is just released. €83 on steam.

degrassinoel

I just seen that, hilarious!

VinLieger

WTF? 83 quid to test a game?

Jet Black

Yeah I know, as much as I like it no way I'd be paying that for alpha access. Its 45 for the game with beta access and 30 for just the game. Not due out til mid December though.

degrassinoel

it's being called "Wallet Annihilation" on their forums lol

gizmo

The price reflects the $100 tier in their Kickstarter campaign which was the first one to include Alpha access.

This "paying for testing the game" nonsense really needs to stop. If people keep clamouring for developers to move away from the traditional publisher model then these are the schemes which are going to be required in order to fund lengthy (and costly) development cycles.

Jet Black

I can understand the price structure, the public have to support it. I think I'll just get the game and beta.

synesthesia

hmm ... i still think it was a mistake to make it available on steam at that price ... people are going mad on forums \ facebook ... a lot of bad publicity for nothing

Overheal

Looking forward to the $20 purchase option..

Sephiroth_dude

Overheal wrote: »

Looking forward to the $20 purchase option..

Same here.

wayne040576

gizmo wrote: »

The price reflects the $100 tier in their Kickstarter campaign which was the first one to include Alpha access.

This "paying for testing the game" nonsense really needs to stop. If people keep clamouring for developers to move away from the traditional publisher model then these are the schemes which are going to be required in order to fund lengthy (and costly) development cycles.

There are obviously people who are paying for it. That's why it keeps happening. If you don't pay, you can still get it on the official release at normal price. Which will make no difference to you in the end.

Dave_The_Sheep

While I personally would never pay that kind of price for Alpha access, or even a finished AAA game that fed me bacon through the DVD drive, the talk on the forums of people not buying the finished product because of this kind of "stunt" is a bit odd. You're not forced to buy it now, wait and get it later at a normal price. If you're not prepared to put up the cash, quit whining because what you're actually annoyed about is people having access to the game, even in alpha, before you do. I know it's the internet though, and you get this kind of whining/anger all the time. Most of them will end up getting the game in the end anyways.

It does strike me as strange though, that people will pay that. Assuming you're actually submitted bug reports and all that, you're paying for the privilege of testing their game for them. To each their own, I suppose.

wayne040576

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

While I personally would never pay that kind of price for Alpha access, or even a finished AAA game that fed me bacon through the DVD drive, the talk on the forums of people not buying the finished product because of this kind of "stunt" is a bit odd. You're not forced to buy it now, wait and get it later at a normal price. If you're not prepared to put up the cash, quit whining because what you're actually annoyed about is people having access to the game, even in alpha, before you do. I know it's the internet though, and you get this kind of whining/anger all the time. Most of them will end up getting the game in the end anyways.

It does strike me as strange though, that people will pay that. Assuming you're actually submitted bug reports and all that, you're paying for the privilege of testing their game for them. To each their own, I suppose.

Yeah, I'm a bit confused by all the anger on the forums all right, Just don't pay for it and wait!!. Steam forums are usually such nice place too

gizmo

wayne040576 wrote: »

Yeah, I'm a bit confused by all the anger on the forums all right, Just don't pay for it and wait!!. Steam forums are usually such nice place too

I'm no longer confused unfortunately, what was it that Total Biscuit said awhile back?

TB: The most pervasive problem within gamers right now is a complete lack of critical thinking and analytical ability.

TB: Which results in stupid opinions based in shallow surface-level fallacious interpretations of what is actually happening.

Thankfully there are plenty of people who do understand the reasoning, hell a bunch of them were the original backers for the project via Kickstarter (who, incidently, would have been ****ed over if Uber had offered alpha access via Steam for less than the KS reward) unfortunately these aren't the people who, for instance, are spamming the games Metacritic page with god awful reviews.

synesthesia

http://kotaku.com/theres-a-90-steam-game-and-people-are-freaking-out-513318065?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

degrassinoel

Total Biscuit, the same guy who openly boycotted and encouraged others to boycott mass effect 3 because of day one dlc..
If I didn't already have the lowest of low opinions of him i might actually care about what he had to say about an 83 euro alpha on steam.

See it's cool to hate on EA, but it's uncool to hate on an indie developer being as greedy or even more so than EA.

gizmo

degrassinoel wrote: »

Total Biscuit, the same guy who openly boycotted and encouraged others to boycott mass effect 3 because of day one dlc..
If I didn't already have the lowest of low opinions of him i might actually care about what he had to say about an 83 euro alpha on steam.

See it's cool to hate on EA, but it's uncool to hate on an indie developer being as greedy or even more so than EA.

Lots of people on here refused to buy ME3 for this very same reason, actively encouraged others to boycott it and have brought it up continuously as a reason why EA are the worst thing since Hitler. Should all of their opinions be ignored too?

Uber are not being greedy here, they launched what turned out to be a very successful Kickstarter and as part of that process offered alpha access as one of the rewards for their higher funding tiers. 1543 people backed the $90 tier, 1000 backed the $95 tier and 3908 backed the $100 or more one, clearly there was plenty of interested in this. If they had offered alpha access for a cheaper rate to people on Steam who were disinterested in becoming early backers via Kickstarter then that would have been a slap in the face to the early adopters and would have completely undermined their crowd funding campaign.

Offering alpha access for a higher fee as an incentive during the development process is a completely valid strategy in my view. These developers are doing precisely what gamers are calling for, creating games free from the burden of publishers and they should be supported in such endeavours. This kind of development is far from cheap however so they need to do everything they can to help fund it. Such incentives are there for people who support the product, the team and what they're doing and want to give their input to the game as it's being developed (especially during the alpha process which is incredibly important in the development process), not for someone who'll maybe throw $20 at them for the finished product.

Azza

gizmo wrote:

Lots of people on here refused to buy ME3 for this very same reason, actively encouraged others to boycott it and have brought it up continuously as a reason why EA are the worst thing since Hitler. Should all of their opinions be ignored too?

I think so because there arguments where unreasonable.

Uber are not being greedy here, they launched what turned out to be a very successful Kickstarter and as part of that process offered alpha access as one of the rewards for their higher funding tiers. 1543 people backed the $90 tier, 1000 backed the $95 tier and 3908 backed the $100 or more one, clearly there was plenty of interested in this. If they had offered alpha access for a cheaper rate to people on Steam who were disinterested in becoming early backers via Kickstarter then that would have been a slap in the face to the early adopters and would have completely undermined their crowd funding campaign.

Offering alpha access for a higher fee as an incentive during the development process is a completely valid strategy in my view. These developers are doing precisely what gamers are calling for, creating games free from the burden of publishers and they should be supported in such endeavours. This kind of development is far from cheap however so they need to do everything they can to help fund it. Such incentives are there for people who support the product, the team and what they're doing and want to give their input to the game as it's being developed (especially during the alpha process which is incredibly important in the development process), not for someone who'll maybe throw $20 at them for the finished product.

I have no problem with what Uber are charging and I understand why they are doing it and it seems perfectly reasonable. But I can understand why on the face of it people without any background information are complaining. Like the Mass Effect 3 complaints its a case of gamers being far too quick to judge.

degrassinoel

It doesn't matter to me what the reasoning is behind it. 83 euro for an alpha build is a joke.

Day one DLC by EA is a fart in the wind compared to that kind of carry on. Of bloody course they're being greedy. If they truly wanted to appease their backers they wouldnt have put it on steam so early anyway. It's due for a december release, and .. what's even funnier is that the kickstarter got over double it's goal. So it's not development costs they're mustering together on steam it's pure and simple price gouging. The very same thing EA get's a new arsehole torn for day one DLC.

gizmo

Azza wrote: »

I think so because there arguments where unreasonable.

Sorry, I should have highlighted the "all" there to indicate I mean all of their other unrelated opinions.

Azza wrote: »

I have no problem with what Uber are charging and I understand why they are doing it and it seems perfectly reasonable. But I can understand why on the face of it people without any background information are complaining. Like the Mass Effect 3 complains its a case of being far too quick to judge.

I have no problem with people not understanding how this stuff works, I do however have a problem with people with no background information feeling they have the right to then crucify Uber on the Steam forums and then ruin their Metacritic rating. If they were going to take the time to do something, why not read the update on the Steam page which is literally two centimenters for the price and explains everything?

Kickstarter, Early Access and the Price
13 June 2013
Our pricing for this stage of early access was determined by our Kickstarter. The stages of our early access for ALL users, which was determined during our Kickstarter, is:

June through August: $90 for early alpha access, during the time where we're still locking down features and making tweaks to the flow of the game. This access is permanent access - you will be able to play through alpha, beta and on through retail. (Galactic Edition Equivalent with all addons)

which links to the full update here.

degrassinoel wrote: »

It doesn't matter to me what the reasoning is behind it. 83 euro for an alpha build is a joke.

Are you just ignoring the fact that you get the full game at launch, access to the beta later and all of the other digital rewards the Kickstarter backers get?

Never mind the fact that, as I said above, you get to play and give feedback on the game during it's most important phase. Something which actual supporters of the project actually want to do.

degrassinoel wrote: »

Day one DLC by EA is a fart in the wind compared to that kind of carry on. Of bloody course they're being greedy. If they truly wanted to appease their backers they wouldnt have put it on steam so early anyway. It's due for a december release, and .. what's even funnier is that the kickstarter got over double it's goal. So it's not development costs they're mustering together on steam it's pure and simple price gouging. The very same thing EA get's a new arsehole torn for day one DLC.

Putting it on Steam allows their backers an easy way to keep up to date with new builds so it directly benefits them. It also allows more people to back the project who either may have missed out on it when the campaign was running initially or who were a bit hesitant to back anything on Kickstarter without seeing more progress.

I'm curious though, what do you think they should have done here? Not released it on Steam at all thus screwing over those backers who would find Steam access useful? Or those others users who want to offer similar levels of support but who missed the KS campaign for whatever reason? Released it on Steam at a lower price thus screwing over those early KS backers?

Azza

degrassinoel wrote:

Day one DLC by EA is a fart in the wind compared to that kind of carry on.

Nope ME 3 is a much bigger IP than PA will probably ever be. EA will have made more money selling the From Ashes DLC than Uber will for selling Alpha access to PA.

degrassinoel wrote:

If they truly wanted to appease their backers they wouldnt have put it on steam so early anyway

Appease there backers by giving them a shorter time to access the alpha? All there doing is not giving the 6,400 people who payed $90 during the kickstarted campaign the shaft. No one is being forced into buying alpha access now.

degrassinoel wrote:

what's even funnier is that the kickstarter got over double it's goal. So it's not development costs they're mustering together on steam it's pure and simple price gouging.

And the additional money is be used to develop additional content in the game and as well making a documentary.

So what, they want to make money. Wooohhhhh those evil b**tards!
Look game developers don't make games to loose money or to break even. They want to make money. Just like every other business on the planet.

The need to make additional money if they want to do the little things like living and supporting a family. From a business point of view making money allows them to do things like support the game after release and to start development on other titles. I'm pretty sure no developer will want to keep going back to kickstarter for every title.

RTS's aren't exactly the most lucrative genre if your game isn't called Starcraft. Supreme Commander cost $10 million to make an investment at best it broke even on (if that). Even Company of Heroes the highest rated RTS of all time under performed (eventually turned profitable in the long run).

So while the PA development costs are payed for (not any marketing though) and games sold should be pure profit, Uber are probably going need sales in the 100's of thousands to make enough money to fund any future games. There also going need to see those sale figures to prove there is still and RTS market out there.

degrassinoel wrote:

The very same thing EA get's a new arsehole torn for day one DLC.

Just as unreasonably as well IMO.

degrassinoel

What i think they should or shouldn't have done doesn't mean anything and wont mean anything as i haven't backed them on kickstarter and wont ever pay 83 euro for alpha access to their game or indeed any other game by them or anyone else.
My opinion however is that if they're releasing it as an alpha, they should have given it to the KS backers before anyone else and make it 100% exclusive rather than throwing a 90 quid pricetag onto it and basically saying f*ckyou to everyone that didn't back it.

The amount of people defending their decision is astonishing, i swear if it was EA or Activision or any other AAA games company that did this, there'd be total and utter uproar over it.

Did you back it on kickstarter?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

degrassinoel wrote: »

My opinion however is that if they're releasing it as an alpha, they should have given it to the KS backers before anyone else and make it 100% exclusive rather than throwing a 90 quid pricetag onto it and basically saying f*ckyou to everyone that didn't back it.

they're doing that how?

degrassinoel

Azza wrote: »

Nope ME 3 is a much bigger IP than PA will probably ever be. EA will have made more money selling the From Ashes DLC than Uber will for selling Alpha access to PA.



Appease there backers by giving them a shorter time to access the alpha? All there doing is not giving the 6,400 people who payed $90 during the kickstarted campaign the shaft. No one is being forced into buying alpha access now.



And the additional money is be used to develop additional content in the game and as well making a documentary.

So what, they want to make money. Wooohhhhh those evil b**tards!
Look game developers don't make games to loose money or to break even. They want to make money. Just like every other business on the planet.

The need to make additional money if they want to do the little things like living and supporting a family. From a business point of view making money allows them to do things like support the game after release and to start development on other titles. I'm pretty sure no developer will want to keep going back to kickstarter for every title.

RTS's aren't exactly the most lucrative genre if your game isn't called Starcraft. Supreme Commander cost $10 million to make an investment at best it broke even on (if that). Even Company of Heroes the highest rated RTS of all time under performed (eventually turned profitable in the long run).

So while the PA development costs are payed for (not any marketing though) and games sold should be pure profit, Uber are probably going need sales in the 100's of thousands to make enough money to fund any future games. There also going need to see those sale figures to prove there is still and RTS market out there.



Just as unreasonably as well IMO.

Maybe they have, but their pricing was reasonable.

I didn't say anyone was being forced into paying anything, and I've no idea where you got that from.

Of course that's what companies are here to do, don't condescend dude. Asking for 90 quid for an alpha build is still price gouging and far worse than anything any AAA company has done in the past with prices and DLC.

Yeah, entirely unreasonable to ask for such a hefty price too.