Jimquisition: Early Access

[otakon17]

I have picked up Mercenary Kings, Star Command and Starbound on the "early access" model. Mercenary Kings STILL isn't done yet, Star Command I can't even play because I had to sell my iPod and Starbound is actually pretty good except for the asshole guards that won't let me defend myself and the complete inability to sell goods so I can actually buy a better weapon because I am so damn tired of being stuck with that shitty sword and shitty bow.

But yeah, way too many "early access" games out there right now, asking for full release prices while you're basically paying them to be a beta tester. It's downright criminally genius/insane.

 

[Stilkon]

...this whole notion of letting people "test" pre-alpha stuff is quite silly because not even the devs will gain anything from that (bar money up front). There will just be too many bugs (which the devs will be fully aware of) and missing features in a pre-alpha stage for any public input to be worth a flying duck to the devs.

Not necessarily. Any player can be a playtester, and playtesting occurs during most stages of the development cycle. Designers often start with a "paper prototype", which is a mock-up of a game using paper, sticky notes, or whatever physical supplies they can get their hands on. Even when their video game isn't digital at all, they still have players playtest their concepts to see if the game is fun or if there are problems with the rules. Input is helpful at any and all points.

 

[mjharper]

So, can we expect the 'Thank God for me' patch any time soon?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

This is why I refuse to buy into Early Access games. No if I'm going to do your beta testing for you I expect to get paid not the other way around.

 

[vxicepickxv]

It didn't start with Minecraft, it started with Windows.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

You can always...you know, not buy it.

Normally Jim is pretty insightful but in this case he is dead wrong. Early access is a GREAT thing along with kickstarter. It leads to way more experimentation, innovation, and risk taking than could be conceived of under traditional publishing systems. And it lets developers know right away the level of interest in their products so they know how much effort to devote to the current offering.

The minecraft model is the perfect for non-story games since playing without pumpkins doesnt "spoil" the experience later.

 

[Ipsen]

If you are putting out an Alpha or Beta early access build, you should not be charging money for it - or, at the very least, the title should have been available at a heavy discount. They are selling an unfinished product and expecting the community to give feedback as to where the bugs are or how to make the game better - features that normally a company would have to pay for.

I was under the impression that in paying for an Early Access game like Starbound, what you've actually done is pay for Starbound. As in, the finished product. In that light, you DO get the alpha and/or beta free, because Chucklefish lets you have access that; something obviously preceding that finished product.

I could be completely (and scarily) wrong there; it doesn't seem to be required text or terms, from what I've seen.

Your point on charging intended retail price lands with me, though. Then again, if they're going to give you their completed build in time, then they still deserve their asking price. Even if the game wasn't to your liking, walking away with the experience of the game's skeleton for free or discounted seems a bit unfair, no[footnote]As long as you hold typical game return policy as fair[/footnote]?

Overall, I highly recommend you look at Early Access as a donation process, or something very similar to Kickstarter (without most or all of the tiered rewards nonsense). The idea is to actively support the development of these games. That is, with money, so devs can eat and live, and perhaps also your feedback (at a point where it is more relevant, too), which is much more control and input than consumers ever get with a AAA product.

That roadmap you linked, while nice, is irrelevant - the average person isn't going to check out the companies website before buying a game.

Well then...thank you for making clear your sense of mediocrity in shopping discernment.

C'mon, dude, you can even ignore the general internet's advice of 'do your own research', but you can't just ignore the developers' OWN warning of the game's possible status, then turn around and complain. I'm going to bank on you NOT actually intending it that way, but painting the 'average person' in some negative tone just to defend your griping doesn't reflect well when it starts to fit your own actions.

 

[ThatQuietGuy]

Early access seems to have the same problem greenlight does/has. Good concept but quickly flooded with crap with a few gems in the rough.

 

[ThatQuietGuy]

Early access seems to have the same problem greenlight does/has. Good concept but quickly flooded with crap with a few gems in the rough.

 

[geizr]

Those of us who were stupid enough (and I include myself in this camp) to buy Diablo 3 back when it released got exactly this sort of thing, an early access game. Though, it wasn't really called that at the time, that's exactly how it behaved. The game was very incomplete and missing several features at launch. The game was quite buggy and poorly balanced. The auction house was not necessarily a bad idea, but it was poorly implemented (to be honest, the economy could have been instantly fixed by charging a 0.5-1% listing fee on auctions to put pricing pressure on the sellers, rather than a 15% tax, which lead to sellers just inflating prices to account for not getting as much money as they would like due to the tax). The lack of compelling content was abysmal, and the loot system was an exercise in OCD masochism and futility (which seemed by design to force people to the auction house). We were charged the full, finished game price of $60 for something that really was nothing more than a blueprint for a game. The real game, for which we already paid, won't possibly be fleshed-out until Reaper of Souls, due out March 25th, at the cost of $39.99. That's right, we have to pay again to get the real, full game that we thought we had already purchased back in 2012. We weren't told that the release of Diablo 3 in 2012 was simply an "early access" version, but that's exactly what we were given, and now we have to pay again to get the finished game. PPPHHHBBBTTT!

All I can say to it all is the same thing I have said time and time, again: Just stop buying it.[\b] As long as gamers continue to buy into this crap, game companies will keep dishing it out. A company only hears and understands two sounds: the creak of your wallet opening and the slap of your wallet closing. All other sounds are noise to be ignored. Until we back our complaints with that wallet slapping shut, things will never progress toward a better state for the gamer.

(Yeah, I'm not inclined to buy Reaper of Souls, not at release and not for $40. I'll wait and see what happens with the price dropping and a bunch of patches coming out. Even then, I probably still won't buy it just because I was that disgusted with Diablo 3.)

 

[Do4600]

I've bought about 10 early access games so far, I was disappointed with three, but I've also seen Minecraft, Kerbal Space Program and Mount and Blade blossom from seedlings. Four of them are yet to be completed, but I find the play at least satisfactory for the price I paid. I also bought 7 days to die for $10. You really just have to accept that it's not totally finished and try to figure out what you're buying.

Also, any game that's a 2d side-scrolling sprite based "adventure" game should have a hand-written notice from the "universal authority of good games" before it's sold, because chances are some college student played limbo and thought he could do better.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

TLR Consumers are dumb and companies are more than willing to scam them.


I for one can skip it heck I even wait till the GOTY is released before I buy it.

 

[Nexxis]

I've paid for early access a few times, but only when the game was in a state where it was fun to play and I would get a chance to make the game better. Also, it is much better when it is an $10 indie game, not $20 or $30 or more.

Same here. $20 is usually my limit. I'll participate in early access if it's under $20 and/or is it complete enough to function and for me to fully enjoy (like Starbound). While Early Access has been abused, it is up to the customer to decide where their money will go. If they're ok spending $60+ on an incomplete game and they're fully aware the game is incomplete, then it's on them and companies will take advantage of it as long as they know they can get away with it. Limits will be pushed. We just have to hope they don't go too far.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that seeing videos and first impressions of these early access games can also influence my decision, so thanks to all the reviewers, LPers, etc out there for helping people make better purchase decisions.

 

[Doom972]

I don't mind the early access games on Steam - I can see them for what they are and just ignore them. It does annoy me when I buy a "finished product" with beta quality. I don't see a reason not to wait for the finished product.

 

[Reyold]

Nooope, sorry, just don't see how this is a bad thing...

Between this and the episode about how "Gamers" have a communal responsibility to police the internet and have no right to complain about being marginalized and categorized against their consent, I think Jim is slipping a bit. Don't punch down, Jim.

I was more under the impression Jim wanted us to strike down harassment where we saw it, rather than go out of our way to do so. That would certainly be more practical. And I imagine Jim's aware of the benefits of early access, but it is something that can be (and apparently has been) exploited

But I'm no mind reader, and I"m just some guy on the Internet, so make of that what you will.

 

[njrk97]

Alot of companies and even indies do seem to be trying to charge for incomplete games and pass them off as early access, what even worse is with the game industries how it is your basically trusting that they finish this game you payed full price for and how it is with consumer and company trust they will probably exploit that.

Their are some good early access ones like jim stated, just recently i pre order my first game ever, its called next car game and i payed 35 dollars for fundamentally a tech demo, 2 cars and 3 tracks, am i pissed? Not at all because for starters i chose to pay the extra amount to get some extra stuff like wallpapers and other content when the game is finished but the real reason i was convinced to pre order it was simple, the demo area showing off the engine for the game in terms of fun is completely worth the price i have had so much fun just seeing what the hell the engine can do and how i as a player can push it (Basicaly you can compact your car in anyway you want, you can literally be a cube and that is brilliant).

If it had just been the steam early access by itself (The 3 tracks and two cars) I would never pay that amount for it but because along with that early access i got a fun as hell tech demo i was willing to fork out the cash just because i wanted to support the engine they use. (Remembering also they had a free version of the tech demo with less stuff in the playground and after i played that i thought to myself 'i want to do more in this playground, i want more ways to crush my car' so i spent the money on the payed playground and am still having hours of fun.)

Along with that BugBear seems to be a pretty trustworthy company, they went on crowdfunding and stuff because they are releasing this game without a publisher stating that they wanted to make a game they wanted to make and not be limited by what the publisher wants so that also why i payed cause i wanted to support them realeasing a game without publisher restrictions.

TLR Some people exploit early access and that sucks, but their are some good early access ones like jim stated and people are more likely to buy Early Access games if you have some cool side content aswell a good example is next car game by bugbear which has a demo showing what the game engine can do because they only have a few things in early access on steam you can also choose whether to pay 20$,30$40$ ect and get additional content because of that (wallpapers, a special car and more).

 

[Aardvaarkman]

You don't pay for the Jimquisition.

Sorry Jim, I do, via The Escapist Pub Club subscription. And others pay via being exposed to advertisers. Just because you don't charge money directly per episode, doesn't mean people aren't paying for it by other means.

 

[Pyrokinesis]

Hey Jim, in Version 1.42 can you also include the part where companies will charge EXTRA for the "privilege" of playing a broken buggy game early. IE Payday 2's "paid preview" beta that was level capped and had no real feedback being used. Or The worst offender Planetary Annihilation who charged $90 for the alpha, $60 for the beta and $40 to pre-order. No joke the games Alpha was an extra $30, and the beta an extra $20 just to play. Also how about the "soft launch" titles that fail miserably in beta but continue to exploit its customers IE: Firefall or mechwarrior online.

 

[karamazovnew]

Sometimes the addition of content can be troublesome. I've played World of Tanks a LOT during the early stages, but abandoned it when they added tanks which, from my point of view, messed up the game I wanted to continue playing.

Another problem is simply boredom. I got bored with Minecraft after a while, and I find myself close to abandoning Kerbal Space Program for a while, just so that I don't get bored with it too. In both cases, the Mods are actually the problem. I'm proud to say that after a few weeks of tweaking, I've got my Kerbal Space Program game close to perfection, with tons of features which, let's face it, will probably never get into vanilla. But every time they make a new patch, I have to wait for the mods to catch up, when some of the modders quit or just take too long to update. At the same time, the patches just don't keep up with promised features. Heck, I've got so used to the sandbox mode of the game that the new science career mode seems weird to me.

Problem number 2 is... well, Youtube. You'll find hundreds of videos of these games in various beta releases. Most of these videos are just clutter now. All in all, even promising games will fall into boredom after a while, with gamers and devs alike falling into complacency.

On the other hand, the system does work with some types of games, mainly race sims. The early access of Assetto Corsa was a nice surprise for me, in terms of driving quality, my only fear being that I have no idea how much of the good tracks/cars will be reserved for DLC.