1. Here you will find official announcements and updates. These announcements are also linked in the Official SotA Discord server.
    We encourage comments from the community! To keep the announcements official, we ask that comment threads be created in the General forums for player input.

                                                 Thanks!

New Pledge Rewards, New Pledge Tiers, Player Owned Towns & Stretch Goal Store Megapost

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by DarkStarr, Jun 5, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Lord Andernut

    Lord Andernut Avatar

    Messages:
    3,340
    Likes Received:
    10,087
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    New Britannian Market

    Don't forget
    "There is a secret in-game effect that wearing Lord British's cloak will invoke."

    I kinda hope it's not a light-bulb though :)
     
    Time Lord, Maka, Mishri and 2 others like this.
  2. WarderDragon

    WarderDragon Avatar

    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    46
    Trophy Points:
    3
    So you promised to make the game for $1,000,000 and we gave you more than double that by the end of the Kickstarter. Then you spent a year using our pledge money to make heaps upon heaps of overpriced store items and houses so we could give you even more money, an effort which you dedicated half of every weekly update to, even knowing that many of us spent far more on this game already than what any regular game would cost. We gave you double that again, well over $4,000,000... and now you're saying you spent that and need even more funding because you hadn't counted on having to make decent graphics?

    I'm baffled. Stunned, really. I mean I've had a bad feeling about this project for a long time, but the audacity of expecting backers to upgrade their pledges even further when you guys at Portalarium pledged to make the game for a quarter of the funding we've already given you... I don't know what to say.

    Forsaken Virtues, indeed.
     
    agra, EvilFocker, Dean478 and 11 others like this.
  3. enderandrew

    enderandrew Legend of the Hearth

    Messages:
    7,359
    Likes Received:
    15,646
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Omaha, NE
    @WarderDragon, Star Citizen asked for $2 million when Chris Roberts said they really needed $25-$30 million to make the game. But they also knew they couldn't raise $25-$30 million in a month on Kickstarter. And with an asking price that high, many people never would have pledged because they'd assume (rightfully so) it would fail. If you don't make your full goal, you get zero from Kickstarter. They took the Kickstarter funds, and it crowd funding wasn't enough they would turn to investors to get the rest. They're selling ships for hundreds of dollars. Would you say they aren't being virtuous?

    SotA was always the same way, and RG mentioned it during press interviews when the Kickstarter launched. They asked for $1 million, but RG said they really needed $5-$7 million to make the full game. If they didn't get it all from crowd funding, they'd also have to turn to investors. Since the KS announcement, the community has also asked for more. They demanded the graphics get improved. We've asked for more features.

    There are daily standups where the devs talk about what they're working on. They're making more than houses. We just haven't seen all the systems because the game is in a pre-alpha state.

    Likewise, Brian Fargo said you need $25 million for an ENTRY LEVEL AAA game these days. I'm not sure who truly thought they could make a full campain RPG, plus a persistent online game with no subscription cost for $1 million alone, and that they wouldn't look to raise other revenue.

    Making more money means hiring more developers and making a better game for all of us to benefit from. Do you want to play a game developed with only a $1 million dollar budget, or a game developed on say a $5-$7 million dollar budget?

    The first game can be made, but it certainly wouldn't be everything people would want it to be.

    Edit: The game will be made and finished whether you contribute another penny. You can pledge $45, never spend another cent and get the full game.

    If you look at the whole post, most every tier is getting new things for free. Do nothing and get even more than you were promised. And lower tiers are being offered housing, making it more affordable to people.
     
  4. PrimeRib

    PrimeRib Avatar

    Messages:
    3,017
    Likes Received:
    3,576
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    The only thing you could make for that would be a pure html based game. And you'd have to have a model where sales, marketing, accounting, etc. magically took care of themselves. I have no doubts they'll go over $20 million.
     
  5. Duke Olahorand

    Duke Olahorand Localization Team

    Messages:
    1,287
    Likes Received:
    2,465
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    North Germany
    Since not only two pledge tiers have been added, but also other pledge tiers have been updated in a way, which make them more interesting for upgrading, I already proposed something like that before.
    (Even if I will rather not be capable to make that jump from Baron to Duke at any of these prices, I think it's fair play to support this request.)

    The early founder prices have been a part of the rewards for the founders. So they should not have to experience this reward being taken away and instead having to pay a penalty for coming late, if they wish to upgrade their pledges to a higher level due to their subsequently changed reward table.

    *Salute*
    Olahorand
     
    EvilFocker, Maka, Maeryck and 2 others like this.
  6. Myrcello

    Myrcello Avatar

    Messages:
    2,662
    Likes Received:
    9,176
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    I would be confused if they did not try to keep getting more money.

    The moment they stop would be a bad sign for the future of this game.

    I hope you did notice that the amount of employees has increased almost the same way the money has increased.
    Feels good to create jobs.
    Have you noticed the increased demands on visual and gaming quality we the community want.
    And you cant blaim a company for taking money from a community willing to give.
    No one forces anyone to spend money. Free decision.
     
  7. Sir Frank

    Sir Frank Master of the Mint

    Messages:
    4,065
    Likes Received:
    10,927
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Kansas City

    With my luck, it will double my aggro radius.
     
    Walkerhart, Ronan, Time Lord and 10 others like this.
  8. Sindariya

    Sindariya Avatar

    Messages:
    2,634
    Likes Received:
    7,681
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Female
    How big can a player town be in the end with all the streets, NPCs houses? Have the lots to stay crowded on one spot?
    Can the towns grow? Will you handle it the same way like upgrading lots? Taxfree towns stay taxfree after upgrade?
    Do we have to decide all lot sizes before placing the town or can we plays them how we need them?
     
  9. enderandrew

    enderandrew Legend of the Hearth

    Messages:
    7,359
    Likes Received:
    15,646
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Omaha, NE
    Secret effects of the Lord British cloak:

    * You take 200% damage from Rainzz and canons
    * Occasionally your bread is randomly poisoned
    * The cloak acts as a special magnet, causing plaques to fall on you.
     
  10. fantalio

    fantalio Avatar

    Messages:
    89
    Likes Received:
    190
    Trophy Points:
    8
    Gender:
    Male
    Before the price increase back in April I would have upgraded my Patron pledge to Ancestor but it didn't offer anything I wanted so I skipped it. Are we going to have the option to pay the founder price if we have a founder account because these are clearly changes to what was offered back then?
     
  11. vjek

    vjek Avatar

    Messages:
    1,162
    Likes Received:
    1,639
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    ̣New Britannia
    Well said, WarderDragon. The situation in review does stretch credulity to it's limits.
     
    EvilFocker, Tarsilion, Caliya and 6 others like this.
  12. Myrcello

    Myrcello Avatar

    Messages:
    2,662
    Likes Received:
    9,176
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    Wonder what you think about Star Citizen.
     
    tradyblix, Time Lord, NRaas and 4 others like this.
  13. enderandrew

    enderandrew Legend of the Hearth

    Messages:
    7,359
    Likes Received:
    15,646
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Omaha, NE
    Their credibility might be in question, save for them saying from the beginning that they needed more money to fully make the game they wanted. Never did they say $1 million was enough to make the game of their dreams and deliver everything they wanted. That was the MINIMUM to deliver any level of game.
     
  14. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

    Messages:
    6,334
    Likes Received:
    14,098
    Trophy Points:
    153
    No, its not. That is patently false. $1,000,000 was enough to show that the game had traction, and that they could find investors. They never said they could make the game for $1,000,000. Or 2. Or 4. Check your sources.
     
  15. Joviex

    Joviex Avatar

    Messages:
    1,506
    Likes Received:
    3,122
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Burbank, CA

    So make it.

    Stop pandering to the fan base with all sorts of feature creep.

    All the posts above this trying to justify the continued funding are in favor of making a "community game". Well, that was the KS. The community funded THAT set of game design elements.

    Stop adding new house mechanisms, towns, etc... because of the brilliant stroke of genius to milk more money out of the ppl kvetching on the forums over the lack of said items.

    This is an obvious example of designing on the run.

    @Bubonic and I are still waiting to hear about the actual GAME. You know, the actual adventure part? with companions? and a story line?

    If R6 is the evidence of the adventure system, holy smokes.
     
  16. enderandrew

    enderandrew Legend of the Hearth

    Messages:
    7,359
    Likes Received:
    15,646
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Omaha, NE
    Combat, magic and PvP systems have been explained. Just because you haven't seen the full game in loop in a pre-alpha doesn't it mean it won't ever happen.

    There hasn't been much actual feature creep, especially compared to Star Citizen which is still adding new stretch goals even through they're at $44 million. No one has suggested that they weren't going to deliver a game just because no one saw any gameplay before this week.
     
  17. Eternal Knight

    Eternal Knight Avatar

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    86
    Trophy Points:
    8
    I don't get all the Doom and Gloom posts that are happening on this thread. Portalarium/SotA is enhancing the game as we go along and with it all the goodies that we all can potentially buy. Everything that they have been adding to each tier is getting retroactively added to peoples pledges. It isn't like they are adding items to the Citizen level but not giving those items to past Citizen pledges.

    There needs to be incentives for people to spend more money or they just won't do it. Portalarium/SotA in no shape or form is forcing people to upgrade their pledges. They are providing fresh ideas and items based on our feed back for people to potentially spend more money obtaining. (Hot Tub!)

    I personally have upgraded a few times over the year based on what I have seen and heard plus the additional items that they are adding to each level.

    If your logic is that every game/fund raiser/marketing campaign/ect.. that adds to their projects to help raise more money is either in financial triouble or has bad intentions, then 99.9% of all of their efforts fall under this category.


    On another note, I agree that there should be some sort of Founder pricing for the new tiers that have been added but I don't think we will see something like this as we have gone past the 1 year mark. Maybe Portalarium/SotA will be nice and grant that :). I willing to bet that some people will have an issue with it regardless.

    Keep up the good work! I am excited to see R7 and beyond.
     
  18. Lord Andernut

    Lord Andernut Avatar

    Messages:
    3,340
    Likes Received:
    10,087
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    New Britannian Market

    Seriously doubt it. I saw some others say it's not fair, but all they have done is added value to the pledges and everyone who upgraded prior has gotten a reward. There's no reason to both enhance a tier and discount it at the same time. Most Founders are just lucky they ever had access to Founder pricing because it was initially a kickstarter thing.
     
  19. Lord Andernut

    Lord Andernut Avatar

    Messages:
    3,340
    Likes Received:
    10,087
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    New Britannian Market

    Houses are available for gold in-game, and they have introduced housing for 175 bucks for people who want a house (and many other perks, including the game itself) in advance of the game and want priority seating in the game. There is no need to spend thousands of dollars, but it's great that they have provided rewards to the players who have backed the game to that level.
     
  20. Amber Raine

    Amber Raine Community Ambassador (FR)

    Messages:
    1,971
    Likes Received:
    9,332
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Abbotsford, BC Canada
    ~grins and tries to resist~ I tried.. so hard.. i read it once.. twice.. tried .. I could not resist



    No the secret in-game effect is it turns you into ... [​IMG]... did i ever happen to mention i REALLY wanted to do this? So i did :p

    ~always much adoration and respects to Richard "Lord British" Garriott~​
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.