Game Release Extended?

Would it have been a bad business move if they would have simply just said, "its done when its done" because as of right now I think thats what I would have liked to hear at the start. No need to rush it. More time put into a project means a better quality product.
Then again... these days it seems that developers are starting to "develop as the game plays". For example, diablo 3 is now much much different they have fundamentally changed the way the whole game works by eliminating the auction house. I guess you could say UO was a "develop as we play" kind of project too... its not the same game it was in 97' at all... With this project we are being told things. like that ships and mounts won't come out till later episodes.... Perhaps releasing the game kind of around the release date wouldn't be so bad after all. So if its released somewhere in the beginning of 2015 or so it could work out nicely(but if we are trying to build the whole game at once, I think this date is WAY too early.)
I think the key to online games these days is to have sort of a development plan like they already have. 5 episodes is what was stated... So its like they got a limit to how much new content they throw into the game. So if they officially halt development at episode 5 and say "this is the whole game! Enjoy for years to come!" then I think we will have a good product. I think its probably most important that they have a point where they will stop development so that the game from day one looks recognizable on the very last update to the game. Ideally we want it to always be the same exact game(well... its what I want anyway) so that we dont have to go to some private server to get the taste of "Old school SotA" again.

 

Yes, it's bad business. Not giving at least an indication of a potential release date (even if estimated) makes a lot of would-be pre-orderers worry, thinking that the project might be a smoke and mirrors campaign. Committing to a release date gives the impression that the development team is committed to completing the project, even though that itself can be used as a trick.

 

I'm on the fence about them moving the release date. On the one hand I want the best game possible, but on the other I have to say moving the release date does worry me. I've been burned by a few Kickstarter projects over the years and when the release date moves that rarely ends well. It usually means the dev team has underestimated the amount of work to complete the project, which typically leads to funding issues because there isn't enough money to cover the extended development cycle.

I've seen a quote bounced around on the forums to the effect that people don't remember when you ship, but how you ship. In fact, I would disagree. When they ship (the fact that they haven't) is all I remember about a certain project (Star Command), which is now a year and a half late. The comments section on the Kickstart has basically just become a rant over how the game is so terribly late. See here: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...d-kickstart-part-2-the-pc-mac-space-adv/posts

I would say take a couple months extra, but there's a point where you're late enough that the crowd turns against you. I'm really excited for SotA and I don't want to see it go that way

 

^One problem though is that the KS date is always an estimate on if they only get the funding goal. When it comes to any extra funds they get, and stretchgoals they meet, there will most likely be a delay because of that. Now, how much of a delay is up in the air, and they can't change the KS estimate date if they get over funded.

A delay because of over funding is acceptable if they have to add more content. How long that delay lasts though is another story. If it takes too long then the crowd turns against you like you mentioned. If it is a short while because of a certain amount of over funding then I am not worried. Hopefully this won't turn into a case of more than a year after the initial estimate and things still aren't out.

 

Most of the good kick starters end up being late. Although it gets on my nerves as long as I get a high quality product in the end, I'm happy. OGRE from Steven Jackson was over a year late, but we got something amazing in the end.

The ones that just lie and lie and never give anything are another story

 

Yeah. Take a look to all the strech goals: pet system, seasonal weather, interactive instruments, taming and more taming, more scenes and dobule size, new island , other languages, Lost/Hidden Vale adventure (well, we more or less have that), all the pvp content, massive underworld, the theatre, castle defense... and now better graphics and the 3d overland map. That will take some time.

 

While that's true, SotA is way over the KS goal of $1 million, having finished the KS campaign with nearly $2 million and is now sitting at over $4 million. I seriously doubt they'll run out of money. Anyway, at the rate they've been going, they should have a playable game by October. The reason we want delays is because we are confident it can be made better with a little extra time and because we have seen enough of the project so far to have confidence that progress is being made. This experience is not analogous to Star Command; I don't think many people will be worried here.

 

Oh I agree to the date being moved out. There's tons to do. I am not worrying about the game happening.

There are so many people who are not finding what they want in a game and SOTA is trying to address as much as possible for the things people are missing in other games.
Not many games out there will do that.

Now if we can get all that working beautifully, along with better character models, working systems all in place, and a wonderful trailer, then SOTA will rock the world.
While it may not be for all people to play, it will definitely entice those who have been searching and searching for that special place, a new fantasy world full of so much
richness and possibility, a brand new special place to call home. lol.

 

How did Ogre turn out? I never backed but was interested...is it worth buying?

 

It depends on how much you appreciate an asymmetrical tactical tank warfare 2 player game that comes in a box with it's own tote bag that weighs like, 30 or 40 lbs. LOL.

There's really no other board game quite like it I've ever seen.

 

The budget for SotA was $5-$7 million. The will likely raise $5 million before launch, but I'm not sure they'll hit $7 million. And they're pushing the date out, which means paying their staff longer than anticipated. They will ship, but it isn't like they have unlimited funds.

$5-$7 million is still a micro-budget for an MMO or a game of this scope.

 

Hopefully, without breaking the bank, SotA gets worked and polished as it should, and the community stays patient. It's a much better model than having a subpar product pushed out. That woul be more of like an homage to EA and we wouldn't want that would we? Rushing product killed the end of the ultima franchise, let's not let that happen to the beginning of the SotA franchise

 

Ah, I remember those days well.

An Apple IIGS could blow the doors off an Apple II running all those games.

16 bits !!! Woooo.... Wavetable synthesis !

 

Hello this will be my first post to the forums, just wanted to say hello to everybody and also I would like to ask when will the game be released for public play as I am a noob to everything so far, I have played Ultima series games as a child growing up on SNES, and been an avid Ultima Online Player since 1997-2011 growing up as a teenager, I am psyched and totally stoked in anticipation to play the newest of Lord British a.k.a "Richard Garriot" games. I have always loved the Ultima type of games he has brought us over the years, EA killed Origin Systems imo long time ago I quit playing OSI shards after Age of Shadows: UO expansion was turned into Samurai Empire to me OSI/EA took the original concepts and timeframe and the legacy of Ultima and completed ruined it with all their World of Warkraft and Everquest type additions to the game. I would love to see the original Ultima series tradition upheld in Shroud of the Avatar even though I know it cannot 100% follow the old Ultima Series since its copyrights were sold unfortunately to EA. I am proud to say that my brother got to personally meet with Richard Garriot in an up close interview at a convention at which he and my brother attended, so that was pretty cool and rare to honor our family. We have always been a huge active contributor to the immersive online MMORPG in many ways such as UORadio.com and UOItems.com if anybody here was ever familiar with those websites/organizations or my brother in game character known as "Viceroy Of Yew".

I personally cant wait to play this game and am patiently awaiting its arrival I hope to eventually pledge for knight status as soon as I can possibly afford to as I would love to contribute a sizeable donation to the game that has captivated us all over the past decade and totally kept us from banging our heads against the wall from sheer utter diabolical boredom as teenagers. Glad to be apart of this new Ultima similar gaming community created by Lord British. Look forward to seeing and questing/pvping with you all in game and via community forums as we all become part of this new gaming legacy and groundbreaking game of current time!

-Dark Knight IV of Sonoma/Chesapeake

 

Welcome to New Brittania!

 

I can say this about the development speed of SOTA, it's on time and moving along at a fast pace compared to say Star Citizen, the dog fighting alpha for SC was supposed to be released last Xmas, I wouldn't be surprised if peeps didn't know that as it was so long ago it has been forgotten, I bought a computer specifically to play the 2013 December star citizen dog fighting alpha and it has apparently been post poked? gotta love spellcheck, post-poned for 100 million years, so comparing one kick starter to another, SOTA is brilliantly being rolled out at the stated times and we can actually see the progress first hand unlike Star Citizen, I know the dfm for sc was playable as early as November 2013 according to the horrible youtube videos they produce yet they have barred the backers from playing it. Thumbs up for SOTA and a big thumbs down for sc.

 

Hello DarkKnightIV! Welcome to SotA! It's good to see yet another UO vet here. I was on Lake Superior and Europa myself.

As for SotA's release date, we don't really know. Nothing official has been announced. Until recently, it was expected that the game would launch sometime around September or October, but a lot of feedback was given that that release date be extended to give the developers more time to polish the game. A recent announcement by DarkStarr (AKA Starr Long, AKA Lord Blackthorn) suggested that the team is exploring doing just that, and the pledges page now seems to list the expected delivery date as "the end of 2014." We'll see! No one knows for sure just yet!

 

Welcome DarkKnight IV - this is a great community and the game promises to be absolutely awesome! The pre-alpha releases we have seen so far show enormous promise - yes, there is much work to be done, but as posters above have stated the team is both busy and dedicated in the game building, as well as open and transparent to us, the community. We have been kept "in the loop" throughout. And yes, the game was scheduled for October; after the last release the assessment from the devs was that they needed to take a pause to "polish" the game and get visuals, shadings, graphics etc "just right". So the development - as far as adding new content - was put on hold for a month. This may happen again from time to time - they want to produce a perfect product.

So we don't have a definite launch date - definitely after October - but when the game is ready.

Glad to have you aboard!

[Edit - of course, if you pledge at the $45 level or higher, you can take part in the pre-alpha releases that take place for a few days each month. We help the dev team by "stress-testing" new features as they are rolled out. It's not the complete game by any means, but still lots of fun. Next release is May 22 - hurry!)

 

hmm so nobody can play alpha or beta test the game while its being made right now? regardless of your pledge/backing status? (basically no test releases and absolutely no gameplay for players at all period, until it goes live sometime between September 2014 - Febuary 2015?) is that correct?

 

I totally agree with with-holding and pushing back the date of the game going live all in the favor of enhancing the game and working out all the kinks and making sure it is astoundingly fun and bad-!*# when it finally launches and goes live. Although the anticipation growing within us all is killer, me personally I would wait another year from today to play the game if it meant it topples all other online MMORPG and blows the competition smooth out the water. Just sayin imo... I want SoTA to be a hugeee success possibly even bigger than all the awards amassed over Ultima Online when it struck delight into the hearts of many millions of satisfied ex-UO vets.