Valve Introduces Early Access Games Program

[Phrozenflame500]

Meh, I dunno. I suppose it will cut down on "The War Z" cases where unfinished games are released marked as finished products, but I'm still reluctant to pay for a product that I don't get finished immediately. To each their own I guess.

The only one I'm interested in really is Starforge, which I tried back when it was free and uninstalled it after my computer caught on fire and exploded from the amount of power the game needed.

 

[thiosk]

BUZZ. kerbal space program. Woot!

Already number 4 overall on steam sales.

A much deserved position. Check this one out guys, your collective periapsis is way too close to your living room as it is.

 

[Uratoh]

Woo! Now they can move Towns in here where it belongs! Tis fun, but blatently still unfinished.

 

[mateushac]

I've had an eye on Prison Architect for a while, so I might be getting that. The idea of selling games in alpha stage, though, sounds very dangerous. Is there any sort of deadline system or at least some kind of warranty that the game WILL, one day, get to a finished state?

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Just got my Kinetic Void key off the Kickstarter link, everything looks good so far.

 

[mew4ever23]

WTF at some of the games

"Drunken Robot Pornography."
"Drop that beat like an ugly baby!"

Kinetic Void looks snazy though! And I already have Kenshi..I wonder if I can get a steam key for it from the developer

Honestly, the only one that really made me pause was the last one.

Why? Because, for the bloody life of me, I know I have seen "1-2-3, drop that beat like an ugly baby" on Steam well before this Early Access program ever came to be. In fact, I had contemplated grabbing it a few times during the major sales Steam would run over the past couple years.


So what the frack is it doing in early access now...?!

That's an excellent question. I already own "1.. 2.. 3.. Kick it! (Drop that beat like an ugly baby)", got it as part of the Potato fools day pack.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Other providers like Desura had this going for a while, but then they don't dominate the online games market. Just pointing that out.

 

[Aethren]

Kerbal Space Program and Prison Architect?

This program is the dawn of a new era in gaming, ladies and gentlemen.

Edit: Omg, I just looked at Kenshi, and ... Wow.

 

[Kontar]

This seems like a great idea! I am a little wary though, like others have said what guarantee do we have that the game will continue its development? I know this is what Minecraft did and it worked fantastically (I bought alpha Minecraft, and have been playing it ever since). But what are the chances every game is going to take off like Minecraft. I can still remember all the Half-Life/Half-Life 2 mods that had awesome ideas, put out an alpha and then never went anywhere, true most of this had to do with lack of funding, but still there were hundreds that didn't go anywhere for every one that made it to a semi-playable state.

Some of the games do look good though, Kerbal Space Program looks hella-fun (how is it from people who have played it?). Kenshi looks intriguing, but also looks like it's in incredibly early alpha. Prison Architect is a neat idea, and their steam promo video is hilarious and points out that it is an alpha version of a game, and points out some hilarious bugs that apparently exist.

The prices on them seem a bit steep for an alpha build of a game too. $20 for an alpha version of a game that may go nowhere? No thanks, not yet at least. Doubt I will pay for any of them quite yet, but will definitely keep a close eye on them.

 

[rustybroomhandle]

Other providers like Desura had this going for a while, but then they don't dominate the online games market. Just pointing that out.

Yeah, I wish journalists wouldn't write about a new thing some big company does as if it's totally original, while totally ignoring the fact that it has been done. It's almost like they don't really know what's happening in the medium they write about. Buried under mountains of press releases, no time to look out the window.

Anyway, Desura's Alphafunding program has done wonders for the likes of Project Zomboid.

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

Kerbal Space Program looks hella-fun (how is it from people who have played it?).

Explosively fun. TBH, I get more enjoyment out of my failures more than my successes. Getting a launch craft out of the atmosphere and back again safely is nice... But having the first stage of a rocket break loose and crash through the remaining stages because you forgot to secure something is both somewhat disheartening and quite funny at the same time.

 

[ScaryAlmond]

Love it I think the community will moderate this stuff by saying early access at least people are aware that it is not the finished product and we won't have a game like warz on our hands again.
But what I really like about this is that it encourages games to continue intermittent updates as they already will have a fan base that expects that.
Happy to finally get some games like KSP want to see the steam workshop get on that plus it gives some under the radar games more exposure and gives them more of a chance to get to the mine craft cult status.
Games like Dayz were featured on the damn Arma 2 page and you couldn't get it through steam was entirely ridiculous having to install an entirely new service when steam could have easily sufficed

 

[Bvenged]

So it's the same as a pre-order, but where the developers watch your feedback (allegedly) and you get to play the game instead of, oh I dunno, never knowing what it's like until launch?

Kerbal Space Program looks hella-fun (how is it from people who have played it?).

Explosively fun. TBH, I get more enjoyment out of my failures more than my successes. Getting a launch craft out of the atmosphere and back again safely is nice... But having the first stage of a rocket break loose and crash through the remaining stages because you forgot to secure something is both somewhat disheartening and quite funny at the same time.

I concur. KSP is an absolute blast! (pun intended)

Download the demo form their site. It's outdated and limited, but you can still spend a fair few hours on it.

 

[DataSnake]

Now if only Valve had a game they could put out to headline the initiative. Maybe one that had been in development since, say, 2007. A sequel to a popular FPS, perhaps?
[/subtlety]

 

[idodo35]

im kind of conflicted... on one hand its a good way to refine a game (just like beta) and give consumers what they want on the other hand if you pay for whats ecencially a beta and they dont deliver properly you can get screwed over...
also some of these games look really interesting prison architect, kerbal space program,star forge, gear up and of course the wierdly named "drunken robot pornography" (srsly wtf is with that last one?)

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Pay to be an alpha tester!!!

Yeah, no. People got payed to do the job and they want me to pay? Nay.

 

[BartyMae]

I'm confused - are you paying for the ability to play it early, or are you paying for the game...WITH the ability to play it early, and to have the retail game when it comes out? If it's the latter - super cool! ...If it's the former...

The article makes it sound like the former, but I'm looking at the actual Steam store pages for these games it looks more like the latter.

 

[Alandoril]

Paying a company to test a game for them...how about no?

 

[V8 Ninja]

WTF at some of the games

"Drunken Robot Pornography."
"Drop that beat like an ugly baby!"

Welcome to the wonderful world of Dejobaan Games [http://www.dejobaan.com/].

ANYWAYS: This is pretty neat. Of course, this brings up the question of what will happen to game developers that get their money on Early Access with an unfinished game and decide to run with the money, leaving an unfinished product.