Sorry not again but I have to re stretch goal remedy

That's what the stretch goal money is likely for though, hiring more people. They don't need that much money simply to make the assets.

 

Er, writing contest?

 

Hmmm, except one thing. They have far exceeded their original KS dollar goals, and still the features promised are not finished.

I don't think it's unrealistic if they bring in enough money that's allocated specifically for stretch goals, that they could hire someone to fulfull them, apart from the base game.

That was the whole point of raising individual money for stretch goals.

 

Would it not be better then to freeze funding entirely? Let's assume we have enough funding now for all that has been promised, possibly more; I would rather see the game
completed in it's current design state than keep asking people to open their wallets and finding they were storing their cash in Pandora's Box with regards to feature creep and public concern.

I was originally writing a long, long post calling upon my own experience of working in a similar industry, fudged for the NDA there and wider understanding here; but here's the simplistic version of it. Whilst I have deep admiration and respect for the team here, we simply can't know if the project is in practice now able to meet it's own commitments. The post from QBall stating the dev team is down to 2 in various departments raises a lot of questions for which we cannot have any certain answers.

I will admit the funding model is addictive, in the worst possible way; a few more dollars here, and I'll get a black cat, a few there and the game will be closer to how I dream it would be, a few more thousand and I'll be seen as the amongst the exalted of the game world... I wonder if the devs themselves have found it addictive; the lure of always seeing your project quoted in the media with higher and higher figures attached? The lure of being able to add new features you want to see and not just develop...? But it's not a healthy model. Especially when simple ill health could knock out the entire art team as it is. We simply don't know, and can't know until it is done what we will definitely be getting out of the promises already made. We're all assuming the budget calculations are correct, the staff hired can do their job, and the job itself is doable.

But maybe it's not.

So perhaps what we really need is to simply stop. No more moving targets, but cap actual development targets at 2.5m, the final stretch listed. Simply say "This is the final feature set we are now aiming for. There may be additions, but they will be at our discretion." Allow people to increase pledge levels and buy in the store still, as they will be buying already promised features. But... and much as it pains me to say it... Give up on boats and mounts for now. It's an experiment that didn't work, has led to a lot of confusion and division within the community, and isn't likely to be funded.

What would the extra money be spent upon? I trust Lord British and team to do the right thing and keep it as insurance for completing the game, if it turns out to be unexpectedly hard. I'd sooner they have that financial cushion, and release the game we all hope for now, than go down the Star Citizen route and remain addicted to growth whilst any actual game drags years and years behind. I wish that game well, but it's already on a number of "Most Likely To Disappoint in 2015" lists. And I want Shroud to succeed. I want it to prove this model can work. But increasingly I feel that can only be done by knowing when to put the brakes on.

The people who have already pledged to the Store Stretch Goals? Let them have their items, perhaps do one last fire-sale to see if at a discounted price they can fill any of the goals, so people at least feel an effort was made to honour their implementation; then close such stretch goals off for good. Then at least people will know what sort of game they're buying into at launch.

And make a much larger effort to get basic systems information out there; I still can't motivate people I know when they have no idea of what sort of homes they'll be able to live in, if any. Locking down the feature set will aide with this...

 

Regarding motivation to get the stretch goals selling, who says we can't have motivation that is visual and should be visual. Regarding horses and ships, I could of course have found a video for every goal, but then you might say 'hey majoria get a life', lol and you could be right

Also thank you everyone, and Cult Leader your heart is in the right place. I understand. Many of us who have been here a while have upped our pledges perhaps a few times already. The point of this thread was never to put more work on portalarium or to have those who have contributed have to dig deeper into their pockets, or empy pockets in some cases. It was created to bring great ideas in changing the way the stretch goals were presented and get solutions and ideas to make them very desirable so they get funded or to totally redo them to get them implemented. This community is comprised of many talented people, perhaps some would love opportunities. If the solution were something that was easy to implement and perhaps already written out with examples and photos for example of possible mounts and descriptions then we could start moving forward. If there is not the threat of our stretch goals not happening and that if it doesn't then the reward is paltry non working examples. It is just not encouraging the way it is set up now.

 

My two cents from the peanut gallery… I’ve purchased one stretch goal, the pack animals because I really want it and it was cheap (about two trips to the movies… so even if they don’t get around to implementing it I don’t feel like I’ve wasted much. Oddly enough I thought this one would have gotten a lot farther along as it’s useful to almost anyone, especially those without homes.

Now compare that to the others, the next one I want most is the Flexible Placement, but I won’t support that at this time as I feel it’s too expensive right now. I’ve to better things to allocate $200 to. If it reaches around the halfway point I will support it, though I feel the items are mostly useless. You can’t fit the stables anywhere and there’s nothing special about the other structures. If the greenhouse for example gave a bonus to plant growth in it… I would be tempted… but just to put some decorations on an already cramped lot is not worth it. This one is also only of interest to those with homes… so a good chunk of the player base won’t be interested.

Boats, now there’s a fun one… even though I’ve got a house boat or two with my pledges I won’t be able to use them as I plan to actually put houses on my lots, not a dock. Again, there’s nothing special about any of these items to warrant the $100 (except the spy glass maybe, though not for the full $100…) This one really only caters to those that actually plan to use the boats that come with their pledges and not their other houses. So there’s really a limited audience even more so than the Flexible Placement.

Horses, as I think I saw someone pointed out… these horses really aren’t that special at all (think rare breeds… not just a brown horse…) and Port hasn’t really explained what benefit riding a horse will provide… will it limit random encounters? Will it give you an option to bypass random encounters if you do get one? Etc… Just telling us we can ride a horse is of no interest to me yet… tell me more about the actual benefits and make the items in the package really special and I’ll buy.

Elves… I have no interest in. But again, I don’t see anything special about the rewards… so unless you really want to play an elf, I don’t see enough interest to meet this reward. Stick a bow or sword in there that can kill elves better, I might buy…


In short, I’ve actually got some money I can put to SotA but I’d rather spend it on increasing a pledge I already have, getting another pledge, or increasing my POT size.. all of which I feel have far more value than any of then the stretch goals… and call me greedy but I get more bang for my buck personally. None of the stretch goals make me feel that way.

 

Elves

 

Some of this seems common sense to me. Travel faster. Negate some % of encumbrance penalties while traveling. Be able to escape enemies easier as long as you're out of combat mode -- I'm assuming they won't kick your horse out of a scene with an encounter. Eventually, serve as the basis for mounted combat.

But your questions are interesting too and I'd like to see them answer them :> Also, it would follow suit if they made the pledge horses better; it would make it just like pledge lots, or prosperity tools, so I'd like to see them commit to that.

 

I agree some of seems like common sense but since Star likes to say... Don't Lawyer me bro... until I see it in game or posted by them I don't like to assume anything with SotA. For me though this is hampering me wanting to commit to some of the goals... until I know more about them.

 

I know that, for me, if I was capable of doing something that needed to be done, in exchange for game goods, I'd gladly do it.

I used to be a software and hardware technical writer. When I see the lack of tutorials, I cringe. I know what it's like to be a newbie and have to figure out things.

The Mad Hermit does a great job at tutorials. I happen to be a bit over the top in detail sometimes, so some details are missing that I would've appreciated knowing. It's hard to cover everything in one video anyway - plus, things change rapidly.

I used to write emotes and macros too. And I'm all around a fairly experienced person with websites, making simple Youtube videos, and such.

I've never tried doing any of this for Shroud, because up until recently, I was pretty sure I wanted no part of the final product. I've softened my view on that. Even though there is much I disagree with, I really deeply appreciate the development team. I've worked in high tech and I know what they must be dealing with, especially with a short-handed staff. I don't envy their position. And I know it's really rough if they hear criticism (I know I can be pretty harsh). I've tried to soften that too, because I really do want the game to succeed.

 

Except that Legolas and (forget her name) weren't even in the original Hobbit, and Hollywood created that nonsense. One reason the family isn't too willing to release rights to make a movie on the Silmarillion.

But I like elves, and so do lots of people.

 

I love horses. I've been horse crazy since I can remember. I've gotten them in every game they've been available.

But I haven't invested in them in SotA because I also see no perceived benefit. They need to sell us on the idea. I'm not so sure they'd be willing though, because honestly - where is there enough space to really need one? If they made travel faster on the overland map, I might be all for it though. Or for combat, the way nightmares fought in UO.

 

Yes I hear you Caliya regarding mounts in game. At first I had that thought too, but so many really love to have them. So we shall see,
I'm sure a way could be found especially if they double up some of the hexes as mentioned in one hangout so we'd have bigger area to explore.
and good idea regarding the map, making us faster on the map, I could go for that,having a reasonable ability to climb mountains on the map,
I could truly go for that too. Good selling point too jusk joking on some of it.

 

Do you also brush their manes?

 

anyone want to take up bets?

i bet withen 3 months of encumberance in the game pack animals hit thier mark

id also bet that once we are able to explore the full novia map and it takes us an hour to go from top to bottom the horse mark will meet its as well (as long as the pack animals hit the game shortly after its meeting its goal)

the others i dont see making its mark till the game goes live. for several reasons 1 most of us now are spending our money on other things and have commited to higher levels of pledges. 2 the scope of the dollar amount to reach that amount is staggering for the limited player base we have. 3) while thier all items we really want the practical aspect of need is not with any of them. its fluff. horses and pack animals have a need. granted that need isnt in the game yet so people havent fully gotten behind it. put that need in and guess what those will make its mark shortly after.

final thought. all the strech goals are great items that the devs said would be in the game. the when is dependant on 2 things if the stretch goals are met then priority goes to that item. or when the other priorities in the game are completed that take precedent over them.

I personally would rather see content development over any of the stretch goals now. not saying i have done everything and walked every inch of the map but im pretty sure im close to it. the developers said it them selves the stretch goals was a tool to define interest in each of those feilds. they have promised alot that still needs to be coded.
why are we hung up on this small portion of the game?
we are 5 pages deep on a discussion the developers made prety clear during the telethon. this was a tool to define levels of intrest. novia is a huge map. i say let them develope that and this will come. let them finish of the crafting trees and all the skills the game will have. the pack horses goal will be met long before the game goes live. bottom line is without need players will not open thie pocket books on items without a use when thier goal is to push their pledge teir. (timed event vs untimed event/necessary item vs unnecessary item)

you want pack animals in the game push the encumberance release then and only then will u see the dollars flow into that stretch goal.

 

Thanks for your great feedback Roper. I don't care if the stretch goals aren't worked on right this minute and that they may be put in the game at episode 2,3,4, or 5, well hopefully sooner than that of course
I do just think they are not being explained in a way that allows them to get funded eventually. I do feel that these are features we'd like to come into the game eventually.

I by no means want to stop the team working on whatever they feel they need to work on at the moment. I just want to give these goals a future in the game at some point, and the way it is written at this point I fear
that will not happen.