A Games Journalist, a Horse and Nikola Tesla Walk into a Bar

Synthetica

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Jul 10, 2013
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I actually thought that the punchline was that the light went out because Tesla invented the lightbulb, for some reason. Still, I'd wait for this comic to turn up in a humble bundle.
 

MrCollins

Power Vacuumer
Jun 28, 2010
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MegaR said:
Jam Strelong?
This mistake is a known bug and will be patched when the next build is released in Spring 2014. Until then, it's a feature!

Good comic, liked the little details.
 

Cecilo

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Nov 18, 2011
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I don't really understand how we can be for Kickstarters and Indiegogo Campaigns but against Early Access and Preorders. There is no guarantee or safety in donating to a Kickstarter, there are no assurances, heck you are not even sure a kickstarter will be in line with what you want. They could change things drastically down the line, completely rework mechanics you wanted.

I guess I am asking why Kickstarter Campaigns don't get the same flak that Preorder/Early Access Games do. It is pretty much the same thing, except you have an idea of what you are getting when you buy an early Access game, when you fund a Kickstarter you are more often than not funding an idea, something not even started yet.
 

bartholen_v1legacy

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
Jan 24, 2009
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Cecilo said:
I don't really understand how we can be for Kickstarters and Indiegogo Campaigns but against Early Access and Preorders. There is no guarantee or safety in donating to a Kickstarter, there are no assurances, heck you are not even sure a kickstarter will be in line with what you want. They could change things drastically down the line, completely rework mechanics you wanted.

I guess I am asking why Kickstarter Campaigns don't get the same flak that Preorder/Early Access Games do. It is pretty much the same thing, except you have an idea of what you are getting when you buy an early Access game, when you fund a Kickstarter you are more often than not funding an idea, something not even started yet.
The difference is that when you fund kickstarter, you're not a customer buying a product. You're a supporter and a funder, and you know there's a risk of not seeing the final product. But when you buy an early access game, you're buying something that has already been started, and therefore you expect it to reach its eventual completion.
 

Artemicion

Need superslick, Kupo.
Dec 7, 2009
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Kerbal Space Program, Starbound, Drunken Robot Pornography, etc.

Additionally,

There are no circumstances where this is ever true.
 

Lvl 64 Klutz

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Apr 8, 2008
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For those saying they don't understand the problem with Early Access: I think the main issue is it promotes laziness. Call it the Google syndrome (or Minecraft Syndrome, whichever you prefer). The developer is already making money on their game, so there's no need to hurry and finish the game. While that promotes a more bug-free game, it means folks who want to play the completed version of the game will have to wait forever for it to be finished.
 

loc978

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bartholen said:
Cecilo said:
I don't really understand how we can be for Kickstarters and Indiegogo Campaigns but against Early Access and Preorders. There is no guarantee or safety in donating to a Kickstarter, there are no assurances, heck you are not even sure a kickstarter will be in line with what you want. They could change things drastically down the line, completely rework mechanics you wanted.

I guess I am asking why Kickstarter Campaigns don't get the same flak that Preorder/Early Access Games do. It is pretty much the same thing, except you have an idea of what you are getting when you buy an early Access game, when you fund a Kickstarter you are more often than not funding an idea, something not even started yet.
The difference is that when you fund kickstarter, you're not a customer buying a product. You're a supporter and a funder, and you know there's a risk of not seeing the final product. But when you buy an early access game, you're buying something that has already been started, and therefore you expect it to reach its eventual completion.
...the warning label is there to let you know that this is not the case. I realize this isn't a catch-all, since the devs write the warning for each game, but it still amazes me that people impulse-buy these when they say stuff like
(and I quote)
[sic]"If you choose to take part during stage 1 you should expect bugs, lots of balance changes, you shouldn?t get too attached to your character or universe as we may make changes that require you to start from scratch. You should expect the game to be broken at points as we make sweeping changes but you?ll get to enjoy exciting new content added constantly. The engine won?t optimized during this stage of the beta so performance could be poor on some low end machines."

To me, that (and every other early access game I've glanced at) screams "if you're not already closely following development news about this game, know what state it's in, and still want to play what is there so far... do not buy it".
 

Braedan

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Sep 14, 2010
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My problem isn't that early access exists. It's that everyone and their cat are releasing them, and now we're being flooded with shitty half made games on a store meant to sell me finished ones. Make an option to filter out early access from stream and I'll be happy.
 

Deathfish15

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Lvl 64 Klutz said:
For those saying they don't understand the problem with Early Access: I think the main issue is it promotes laziness. Call it the Google syndrome (or Minecraft Syndrome, whichever you prefer). The developer is already making money on their game, so there's no need to hurry and finish the game. While that promotes a more bug-free game, it means folks who want to play the completed version of the game will have to wait forever for it to be finished.
I could swear that Garry's Mod came before Minecraft and was basically in-development most the time it was on sale. Minecraft sure slapped a label on it and said "buy my game in Alpha; buy it in Beta!". The game's basics were all there and it was more or less about adding features to the game.

Comparably, many of the 'Early Access' games on Steam are so far from even close to being ready for public consumption. They are not only missing large, key features of the games, but they're also missing many of the basics as well. It's like a Jenga set that someone is trying to put pieces back into a wobbling tower standing on a single piece.*



*I'd say Rust is an exception, so is Starbound. Both are very well established and further on than any other Early Access game. Dayz, however, is not; that game is the basic basis of the word "alpha".
 

Thaluikhain

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Jan 16, 2010
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Ouch.

OTOH, can't you just not buy early access games until they are finished? Sure, the idea is stupid, but it's an option, not a necessity, right?
 

Playful Pony

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Sep 11, 2012
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thaluikhain said:
Ouch.

OTOH, can't you just not buy early access games until they are finished? Sure, the idea is stupid, but it's an option, not a necessity, right?
Yea, I always felt that peoples view of Early Access is a bit silly. Surely we KNOW what we are getting into, and if we are not willing to deal with the many MANY bugs, lack of content and a posibility that the game will in fact never be what the developers claim it will be, why would we buy into it in the first place?

I think people need to simply get used to the idea of waiting for the game to actually be released before they buy into and pass judgement on an Early Access game. It is, after all, not finished. Steam should have a filter option, so that those that dont want to see Early Access games dont have to...

I get the annoynace at the sheer volume of games though, all seemingly doing the same damn thing. They can be 2D sidescrollers or survival zombie games (sometimes even both at the same time!), but there doesn't appear to be much else X3.
 

lokicdn

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Sep 10, 2010
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The problem with early access is that EA and Activision decided to the same thing with COD and BF4
 

zerragonoss

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Lvl 64 Klutz said:
For those saying they don't understand the problem with Early Access: I think the main issue is it promotes laziness. Call it the Google syndrome (or Minecraft Syndrome, whichever you prefer). The developer is already making money on their game, so there's no need to hurry and finish the game. While that promotes a more bug-free game, it means folks who want to play the completed version of the game will have to wait forever for it to be finished.
For some people that may be true but for most decent people it will promote more work. I know for myself if people were paying for an unfinished product, I would be super motivated to get it done as soon as possible for them. Also it can let deves working jobs as well as developing the game to switch to just developing the game.
 

UPISTRVIMYD

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Dec 20, 2013
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Tesla was 6'6. Never realized Erin was so tall. Just makes her cuter, IMO.

I'm honestly curious if this came from a legitimate attempt at something. Knowing this comic, probably another jab at EVA...
 

Cecilo

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bartholen said:
Cecilo said:
I don't really understand how we can be for Kickstarters and Indiegogo Campaigns but against Early Access and Preorders. There is no guarantee or safety in donating to a Kickstarter, there are no assurances, heck you are not even sure a kickstarter will be in line with what you want. They could change things drastically down the line, completely rework mechanics you wanted.

I guess I am asking why Kickstarter Campaigns don't get the same flak that Preorder/Early Access Games do. It is pretty much the same thing, except you have an idea of what you are getting when you buy an early Access game, when you fund a Kickstarter you are more often than not funding an idea, something not even started yet.
The difference is that when you fund kickstarter, you're not a customer buying a product. You're a supporter and a funder, and you know there's a risk of not seeing the final product. But when you buy an early access game, you're buying something that has already been started, and therefore you expect it to reach its eventual completion.
I look at it differently I suppose. When I fund a Kickstarter, I am giving them money for a product eventually. It isn't for their dreams unless I personally know them. For many people I am sure they didn't give money to Star Citizen to see someone fulfill their dream. They WANT a new Space Sim, a really good space sim. They are paying money to eventually see that Space Sim.

I suppose we see it differently. But to me a Kickstarter is just another form of pre-ordering.