Release Date Pressure - Selfmade - Take away some Steam

Hi all.

Today i read on a german gamesite article the assumption that the developers may stick to some changes, even with huge criticism from the communiy, because of the pressure to release the game this year.

Edit- (entered the source link of the article) :
http://www.gamona.de/games/shroud-o...er-chat-konversationssystem:news,2437411.html

I have been asking myself if this is realy the case.

I thought one of the greatest features about crowdsourcing of a game is that they do not have a producer with a gun saying the game has to be finished on that day and this and that has to be done.

I would like to say a word to Richard and the Team and even the Boardmembers that might be behind Portalarium.

Rest assured that i am 100% sure that the huge majority of the Backers of this game wan´t the game to be released not on some Release-DAY you created.

We wan´t you to release the game when it is finished!

Please could some Developer comment on this, that your priority is a finished, fully tested game with all the features you have envisioned and you will openly communicate to us if you feel like the planed Release-Day might be to tight. Do not skip features becaue you think we can´t wait.

We are your Backers, not the ones with the Gun. Christmas is a great selling option, but a unfinished game not!

We know time is money. But i am sure most uf us also know that quality needs time.

 

The game will be "finished" in 5 years with episode 5.

I agree with the rest of your post.

 

I could not agree more. This is not a <expletive deleted> EA situation, where RG was told "this game WILL be released on time, ready or not." We all know about U8.
Sure, I am hanging out for October, but I want the developers to know that a finished product that meets their and our dreams is the most important goal.

Progress is awesome so far; I'm happy to wait until Episode 2 for a mount - I'll just play with my coconuts until then

 

"Assumption". They have stated that the map takes relatively little effort to produce. It was an aesthetic design choice, not a "we're running out of time" choice.

Portalarium are doing the right thing IMO by setting clear actionable goals. Of course they can change the release date, but that defeats the purpose of challenging themselves to reach the target.

The difference between Publisher pressure and Portalarium pressure, is that one benefits the quality of the game, the other benefits the size of someone's wallet

 

I kind of really hope SotA wont hit Steam minute early and hopefully not participate in early access, theres some bad examples there atm. I would put it in steam after we as community & portalarium both agree that its moslty ready to be released.

RG said while back a good sentence "No one remembers when you launched, everyone remembers HOW you launched"

 

To be fair (working from Google Translate version so I may have gotten the gist wrong) that article seems like it just went to the most contentious forum arguments and reposted it as "news".

 

Having a good launch can be critical to your long term success. If you have a bad initial impression, sometimes people won't revisit you. And you only get one review at launch from publications. This team has very ambitious goals and very little time to reach them. They have been doing impressive work, but I'm not sure the game will be ready on time.

I would prefer a pushed back launch rather than a bad launch personally.

If Portalarium needs money, then do what everyone else is doing these days. Do "Early Access" on Steam, and "launch" on time with a beta version. Backers and people buying it through Steam in Early Access can play then, but don't call it your real launch so that you don't get reviews or expectations of a full launch until you're ready.

 

This. If you need to push back launch, please do so. I've seen far, far too many hastily launched games. Also, if you need more money, simply ask. I think the vast majority of the community will respond appropriately and step up to the plate. Everyone wants this game to succeed and be the best it can be.

If necessary do a 'soft launch' and call it Beta. Then do a new set of stretch goals and goodies to raise more money for Episode 2. People really love goodies and shinies.

 

100% supported. I would estimate at least a extra year to give the game as much extra WOW factor as possible. Just completing a minimalistic game will not impress anyone IMHO.

My advice to the team and Richard after what I have seen so far would be for them to batten down the hatches or hunker down and just work at it with their small team throughout 2015.

They clearly have a good budget to work with as a small team and the money they have brought in should, if used properly, be able to last them for a while longer in order to make the games foundations much more robust.

 

Nice post. I think this sums up most backers feelings toward the release date.

 

I was just discussing this with another this morning, actually. I've been getting the impression from a few bits said by the team that "release" may wind up being more like "the day the servers go permanently live" rather than "the day the game is complete." I hope my interpretation is off... I think that would be an awful idea, both for the multiplayer aspects and the single player storyline.

It looks like a whole lot of effort is going into the Vale's quests and NPCs, and the standups seem focused on this area too, and I've found myself wondering how the mainland is coming along. I know Richard and Tracy worked out the entire story, but that story and questline needs to be implemented in game. Based on the releases and the notes in standup, it almost feels like the Vale will be the only portion that is complete and bug-free by the fall. How is the mainland and the dozens (hundreds?) of NPCs and quests needed for this 40+ hour story coming along?

I would rather the game be delayed a year and released complete than to release a half-finished product. Releasing an incomplete game will be a disaster... and a dream come true for Richard's critics.

 

We make a los of pressure, but I dont raad many times "work fast because I need the game the 1th of october). Most of us dont care about that date. But we are refined and exigent people.

I agree. Anyway I think that the mainland (or the main island ) is more bug free everytime that the Vale is most bug free. The problem, I think, that the game is not enough stable to open more the map, the paper map . Anyway we dont know what they have in the chest.

 

+1

 

Well I think the hardest thing is getting all the systems stoodup. They have a decent start to crafting and housing and are currently working on combat. Next I would say art assets are the most time consuming, even with crowdsourcing there is still work to do to adapt it to the game itself. I see that as the slowest process of them all.
Once they have the systems ready to go the rest will come. I don't see this game ready for an October "full release" but with the other games I'm following there doesn't seemed to be a "full" release either. Just a point where they stop doing wipes.

 

The article just sounds like it's from someone who is raging but trying to present it in a neutral tone. It's a short piece that tried to string 4 complaints into an "article." I used google translate to read but didn't translate the comments. If I read that article on a game I'd completely disregard it, I hope others do too.

Of course I, like most in this thread, prefer a finished game to an on-time game. October seems ambitious but the team is efficient. I hope they create many more environments so that it feels like one giant land and not one giant ctrl-v of course, and I expect they will

 

I think it will be delayed...and then people will freak out. I'm ok with it being delayed.

 

Completely agree with the OP. I would rather have this game delayed a few weeks/months ( up to a year if necessary ) rather than trying to beat a deadline. I would be somewhat disappointed if this game was released in Oct 2014 with much of it still unfinished in Episode 1.

 

I would prefer it be delayed if it meant a better product.

 

I agree with the OP. A rushed release will not benefit anyone.

Just keep the ball moving.

Take care

 

The fact is, a game like this is an agile developer's dream. They can release hexes and stuff every week. It's not like they ship 2 5.25" floppy disks and the game's done.