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Star Citizen - Fans have dropped $77m on this guys buggy, half-built game [WIRED]
- Thread starter mocoworm
- Start date
Or people like me who do need a portable machine.
My windows 2-in-1 cost $350, came with a keyboard dock, and does everything I need when traveling. Combined with my desktop which does games and media stuff at home, my computing needs cost less than an i7 Surface Pro 3.
Felix Lighter
Member
The game isn't anywhere near launch. Do you think they've reached anywhere near the entirety of their audience? 850,000 early backers is not the extent of the audience. What is your line of thinking in this thread? Why do you believe they are choosing not to release this on the "consoles that can run it"? I'm very curious. I want the "poor" $1500+ tablet/next gen console gamer perspective.
Well, next time maybe stop to consider that the "extra device" for some people would be the tablet/laptop, not the other way around. Strange concept, I know.
At that point, it might be a matter of budgeting your devices better. Maybe next time don't buy such an expensive tablet, and you can join us rich, high end desktop users for as little as $600 with a machine that can run most if not all games at a very acceptable performance. You at least seem interested in this game enough to do that.
Not sure I understand. Are you suggesting that the number of early investors in this game is the size of its final audience?
Feature creep is a real thing.
durante bringing the naphtha
Zalusithix
Member
If your features don't creep after bringing in many times the original goal in donations, then you're doing something wrong. None of the successful released Kickstarted games just said "fuck it" and only did the bare minimum required to realize the original pitch.
Too much creep can be a bad thing. None at all is just as bad in these cases.
PedroLumpy
Member
I think the real test will come when the monetization model is set. With that much money, and that many backers, inevitably some portion of the audience is going to be unhappy with the microtransaction hooks.
I think crowd funding should give people perspective on what it means to be a publisher.
Everyone complains when publishers rush buggy games out the door, but if you look at discussions from certain backers you see, "they've worked on this game for TWO YEARS, why isn't it out? Where's the money gone!?!"
Backers supporting a game so devs can escape the toxic environment caused by bean-counting suits themselves turn into bean-counting suits.
Natureboy99
Banned
Absolutely it's subjective. I know there are lots of people that a desktop fits all their needs, or so they think. I'm arguing that way more people are abandoning desktops because they are too constricted. Even in personal scenarios, tablets are so nice since you can use it anywhere in the house, on the road, on vacation, etc. Windows 8 and 10 are designed for tablets first, desktops as an afterthought. When was the last time you saw a tower advertised on tv?
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Content wise I think Broken Age is not that far away from the original idea, yeah the scale of the gameplay grew I'm sure, but the budget went into the entirely new level of production value from graphics to soundtrack imo. In the other hand ,Pillars of Eternity may have looked very similar, but have much less content, with the original goal budget
DoktorEvil
Banned
Except publishers actually have legal teeth to bite with, backers don't.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Nikon and Canon are also not advertised on TV compared to cameras put on cellphones, but this is an enthusiast forum, so not many are going to agree that the dedicated tool for the task is not the one they want to use.
ss_lemonade
Member
What's interesting to me is how the width of the content seems to be smaller on a larger screen.
over 300
Regurgitated
Banned
Wow, an unfinished game that still has ages before release is buggy? Weird, huh?
Except enthusiast part sales are increasing at a steady pace.
The pre-built PC market is dying.
I require a cheap Chromebook with solid Linux support. Do I force those requirements on other people? Obviously not.
wow
More_Badass
Member
They'll telling you definitively that a desktop does suit their needs. The "or so they think" isn't really necessary
Chilled_Eskim01
Member
I backed this game just a few months ago, after having the opportunity to fly around in my buddys' account, and can tell you that it's shaping up incredibly well for something built from the ground up.
It's got mission based, horde style gametypes, a dogfighting module (death match pretty much) and a Hangar for me to look at my ship. I got all of that, and the rest of the game when it (if it?) comes out, which is AMAZING! But even still, I've probably put in about 30 hours now and that's a pretty good bargain for only $45.
Also, when (if) the game fully launches, you can purchase all the availalbe ships/mods/guns/outfits etc. with in game currency. The reason folks are buying the bigger ships now is because Roberts Space Industries has stated most of them won't be sold again. It's optional, but it's purpose built to cater to super enthusiats willing to continue to fund the HUGE project.
And seriously folks... it's been two years... Calm down, do some research, and you'll see that there's plenty to enjoy.
Is it for everyone?
No
Is there huge potential?
Yes
That's what Kickstater is all about!
It's got mission based, horde style gametypes, a dogfighting module (death match pretty much) and a Hangar for me to look at my ship. I got all of that, and the rest of the game when it (if it?) comes out, which is AMAZING! But even still, I've probably put in about 30 hours now and that's a pretty good bargain for only $45.
Also, when (if) the game fully launches, you can purchase all the availalbe ships/mods/guns/outfits etc. with in game currency. The reason folks are buying the bigger ships now is because Roberts Space Industries has stated most of them won't be sold again. It's optional, but it's purpose built to cater to super enthusiats willing to continue to fund the HUGE project.
And seriously folks... it's been two years... Calm down, do some research, and you'll see that there's plenty to enjoy.
Is it for everyone?
No
Is there huge potential?
Yes
That's what Kickstater is all about!
This is unnecessary....
Chilled_Eskim01
Member
Oh come off it already! I love my PC, tower and all. You may like the portability of your tablet, and that's fine too, but to say that those of us who don't like them don't truly understand the 'needs' we have is insulting and trite.
That's 850k pre-alpha early adopters, not the market for the finished product.
They're making sure things scale well. It's not high end exclusive, it's just that the high quality assets are there for high end systems which can handle it (now and in the future).
SneakyStephan
Banned
What a dumb clickbait title regardless of the content of the article
LMAO. Please, keep telling me what needs I have that my staple household device for the past 20 years isn't covering for me.
You are a joke buddy.
Anything from Chris Roberts is gold. He's Miyamoto of space sim genre. Come on Wing Commander I and II, Privateer, Starlancer. Freelancer to some degree. No wonder people throw that kind of money at him. He'll be making Star Citizen 5 years with that kind of pressure and expectations tho
This is mentioned in the article. ~320 people spread across 4 studios, the most recent one opening up in Germany.
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/fans-dropped-77m-guys-buggy-half-built-game/
But does anyone really need to "bite back?" there are 320 people working on a 77 million dollar game and stuff is coming out at a regular clip. What happens if 50%+1 backers wanted the game to ship now because they're being irrationally impatient?
Edit: the PC vs. laptop thing is hilarious. "What's with the stereo system buddy, don't you have an iPhone?"
DoktorEvil
Banned
They don't have any legal options. They're SOL. The only obligations Chris Roberts would have is to upholding the KS, which he currently is doing. Any money after that is not an investment. That is unregulated.
Natureboy99
Banned
Just to be clear, you should always say "(bold and underline mine)", because that was a very minor remark I made, and by marking it up inside my quote you're making it look like it was a major part of my post and position. It wasn't, and you really should learn to ignore minor remarks you disagree with. I wasn't trying to insult anyone, it was just a reference to the fact that a lot of people haven't tried a windows tablet and are thus ignorant of the ways it could improve their life.
For more than 20 years people used land lines only for phone calls. Is it a joke to say that 'they think they aren't missing anything by not changing to a smart phone'? Again, don't take offense. Technology just moves forward. What used to work well eventually becomes obsolete in some or many ways. Someone posted earlier that Desktops are becoming enthusiast devices and are no longer mainstream. Thats a good way to put it. Just like some still ride horses or use typewriters because they love the experience.
By and large, generally, subjectively, desktops are done being a mainstream computer.
Right, which is why they went with the crowdfunding model instead of traditional publishers.
Natureboy99
Banned
Anything from Chris Roberts is gold. He's Miyamoto of space sim genre. Come on Wing Commander I and II, Privateer, Starlancer. Freelancer to some degree. No wonder people throw that kind of money at him. He'll be making Star Citizen 5 years with that kind of pressure and expectations tho
Was he out of the picture on 3 and 4? I thought those were good too.
They went with crowdfunding because traditional publishers would not fund a space sim, as they would not fund a top down cRPG in the Ultima or Baldur's Gate style.
It has nothing to do with avoiding legal obligations.
They already had angel investors lined up to carry the full $20 million cost for their original vision. They were doing crowd funding to offset as much of that, and to hold as much control over the rights as they could. I'm not sure how much Chris himself was putting on the line.
But basically they got so much through crowdfunding they freed themselves from needing investors. Then the funding just kept rolling in.
Dictator93
Member
You have a new avatar.
Pillars of Eternity is quite good.
Zalusithix
Member
In regards to the pledge page citizen count ticker, does anybody know for sure whether this is a package counter or a unique account tally? Generally one account would have one package and the rest add on ships (if any), but this isn't universal. Many people (myself included) have multiple full packages. If it's a package counter, the actual tally of real backers will be a fair bit lower.
For those unaware of the distinction, packages are what's required to play the game and are more expensive than a ship would be individually. Once an account has a package, they can add additional ships to the account via add-ons at a reduced cost. As to why you'd want more than one package, it's easier just linking to the page explaining it all.
For those unaware of the distinction, packages are what's required to play the game and are more expensive than a ship would be individually. Once an account has a package, they can add additional ships to the account via add-ons at a reduced cost. As to why you'd want more than one package, it's easier just linking to the page explaining it all.
No and yes those were good too. I'm sorry
There is no way the game doesn't end up a disaster in SOME respects. At least fans MAY get a competent or even excellent space shooter, right?
I abhor the pay to pay aspects of the way the game has been funded. Thousands of dollars for a lifetime ship? Crap. These are game mechanics that I hate, so it's not for me...
Still, a very interesting title to watch from afar.
I abhor the pay to pay aspects of the way the game has been funded. Thousands of dollars for a lifetime ship? Crap. These are game mechanics that I hate, so it's not for me...
Still, a very interesting title to watch from afar.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Newsflash: A (short!) development cycle for a brand new game from scratch is typically 4-5 years long, not to mention one of this scale. No one will be playing a final version of this until late 2017, minimum. And that's being optimistic. Then again, this shouldn't be surprising.
More_Badass
Member
You serious? You know, people could have a desktop and a tablet, right? Someone having a desktop doesn't mean they don't also have a tablet
Hell, I use my laptop for gaming and typing papers, and my iPad for everything else.
My point is that devs have greater financial freedom through crowdfunding, but that by nature, anyone who gives money through KS, or invests money as a Publisher becomes hyper sensitive about dev time. I quoted the GTAV comment above because it's pretty amazing the pub didn't push it out the door, because if it were a KS game I guarantee there would have been a vocal section of people who would have lost their minds over the 5 year dev time.
And do we have a guy with a Mario avatar complaining about developing games for an shrinking platform?
That really isn't the case here at all. And neither are the "moving on" and "improving technology" points in your posts. Guess what? desktop PCs are improving constantly on that front too. That still happens today, as irrelevant as you might wish them to be.
You started off this conversation by characterizing the desktop PC space as a place for an elitist, rich audience. When you were shut down on that front you tried to pass off your personal preference as the status quo with your broad assumptions about "main" and "side" devices. You admitted defeat on that front too and now you are doing god knows what.
That's why you are a joke. No one has denied the enthusiast status of dedicated gaming PCs or even this game. The only thing that is clear is that it is something you don't like and doesn't agree with your lifestyle. Big deal.
Maintenance
Member
Haha, what a joke. So you know more about people than themselves, nice to know that you're a psychic.
Keep moving the goalposts/port-begging though, it is funny.
Natureboy99
Banned
Of course! But how many people do that? There are tons of exceptions to every generalization. If you disagree with anything I have posted in this thread, it likely because you are outside of the generalization I'm making. Anyways, this looks like a cool game. I'm glad enthusiasts will get that perfect space game they always dreamed of.