Early Access related games

[V_O_T]

I cant be the only one in this ship when I say that early access just plain bad.

/walloftextrant

I mean, there are all these games on steam with "early access" and some charge full price to play their half finished games. Which is all well and good and the developer gets money to keep progressing. But sometimes the development stops for it and the people who were looking forward to it AND paid full price get the crap end of the stick just to keep a half finished game.

Not only that, sometimes the development time of these early access games takes longer than some AAA titles that take years and years to complete. By the time you get into the early access and play around with it and its mechanics, the gimmick of the game dies down and when it finally does get released, you've already played it and dont want to replay it because you have that early access taste left in your mouth.
Some of these games are literally flash games and still take years to complete compared to other indie developers. I'm more than happy for these indie developers to have a donation system set up, but their games that we are "testing" by paying for them doesn't feel right at all. The drive for development should be "I want to make a fun game that others will enjoy and I will put effort into it because I like video games."

not "I want to make this game specifically for money income. I'll charge $25 for my game, show that it costs $50 on the store, and say if you get it now in early access, you get a 50% discount. Players will be able to pick up a ball in the pre pre technical alpha omega, but trust me, this concept sketch I have shows the ball will be all like "PWAOHH" and sparks will fly out and "ZHOOMM" *shooty fingers* and you will get to do that all in 2032." income and profit in this case should be secondary, but in this day and age, that's not a thing.

I just feel that there are better ways to get your game out there and get money for it at the same time rather than tricking customers with cool trailers and bullshots of an unfinished game. I kind of want to know why demo's are a thing of the past and a not so common thing now.. But i think the reason for that is there is more profit when you don't have one and just release it finished. Which should be the case for some games. I mean logically, I'd want to finish a game before giving it to some one, not ask them for $50, give them the ball test game and tell them to file all errors they see on my myspace profile and tell them they'll get the fully polished game in 2 years time...




tldr: I being tricked into wasting money and I hate a majority of early access games and their false promises. Yes buyers remorse. Yes mad. Yes I should spend my money more wisely etc. Yes i dun got tricked and was foolish.


But tell me I'm wrong or I'm missing something. I cant be the only one here who has gotten reeled into an early access disappointment.

Just going to throw one of the many names out there, don't buy starforge.

/endrant

[OANST]

In most situations it isn't a trick. You know you're getting an unfinished game.

[V_O_T]

Sometimes even at the end of its development it still is visibly unfinished. That's the dire part of it all.

[OANST]

Yeah, but you understand going in that this is the chance you are taking.

[DarkHoodness]

Game dev is expensive if you don't have money upfront. Early access is one way to solve this - But whether you get what you were promised if you buy in early depends on the game, the developers, and your expectations from something that's clearly labelled as such.

As OANST said, it's not a trick. You're free to wait for them to "cook" first, and look at videos on YouTube to see what you're getting...

I've had good experiences with Early Access and it's a good thing IMO. I've had several hours of entertainment from Spacebase DF9, Prison Architect, Space Engineers and Kerbal Space Program (perhaps more than my money's worth). Later updates give me a reason to pick those games up again several weeks/months after I've put them down. But then I like replaying stuff. To each their own.

[Crashpunk]

I've kinda got mixed feeling about Early Access. It's a great idea, much like Alpha/Beta testing. But I've heard so many awful things about it too. Like how devs give up on the game because they've got the money from Early Access or devs release crappy, clearly unfinished games and just tag it as Early Access. TotalBiscuit did a great video on the topic.



Personally. I'd much rather buy a game when it's completed rather then playing it when it's in development. I feel once it's out, I have no desire to play it because I've already played it during the testing.

The only game that didn't do that (well not straight away.) was Minecraft. Minecraft is a perfect example of Alpha/Beta testing, And I was so glad i was a part of it.

[Job McYossie]

I get annoyed with how long it takes for StarBound updates, especially since it comes in waves it seems. I do love how well the dev team keeps the updates, even ones that are not implemented into the Early Access game and are still being implemented, on their blogs and such so you can know they didn't just disappear.

[MeechMunchie]

I think the worst-case scenario here is that the idea of paying for a game on the promise of updates becomes so prevalent that people are no longer willing to buy non-updating i.e. finished, polished games. Barring that, I don't give a shit.

Most of the "horror stories" come from projects that were sketchy to begin with. As long as you know about the people you're giving money to, and not just the claims they're making, you shouldn't go far wrong. Consume responsibly, folks.