STEAM everything early access??? :-/

Its great, how on earth do you not like it?
If you want the finished game wait.
But early access gives small developers/Indies capital to work on the project, people who want to can play early, things get much more testing so should result in a better game.

I can't understand why you wouldn't like it, as I said if you don't want to pay to test, just wait till the final release, and then theirs no difference to how it is now for you.

I paid ~6 for ksp and have played it so so much. Probably less than 10p an hour. And its doesn't look like it'll be finished anytime soon, and when it is finished, its likely to be ~£30. The early success has given them so much money, they've expanded the game, the game has evolved. Planes and multiplayer was never on the cards till the community made themselfs known they wanted such features. Same for a fair few features, they've been added to the core game, due to popularity of the mods.

On the other hand I have total annihilation, but have no intention of playing it till its finished.
 
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It aids a significant hurdle for smaller developers looking to make ambitious games that take +1 years to develop. Most simply can't fund themselves that long without any revenue stream. You either early access, or you kickstart.
 
Columbo said:
It isn't a bizarre thing at all, the con comes when you shell out for a product that gets poorly developed, supported and then ceases. You've paid out the money under the pretence that it will get finished which never gets anywhere near and leaves you out of pocket.

Pre-orders exist to buy what should be a finished product, early access is you being charged for a product that is not finished and may never be.

I've bought 2 early access games and been stung twice with lack of support, I simply wont again. If this is the way PC gaming is heading then its going to alienate a fair few gamers including myself leaving us with a simple choice....continue or not?
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You're basing this off assumptions, these 2 early access games have not been from the same developers, so you are just assuming that the same thing is going to happen.

How do you respond to poor development where early access isn't involved? I would imagine you'd complain that it's just poor development, no?

Poor development happens regardless of early access or not. Look at Minecraft and how much of a success it's been. It had early access, it has had a lot of development up to gold and beyond. It just doesn't work the way you're claiming it does.

It's not going to alienate anyone either, if you don't want to buy in to early access, don't. You're not going to be able to take advantage of the big savings they often bring but that's your choice, just buy them when the game hits release like you would any other game and stop pretending that early access is a death sentence because you've bought in to 2 early access games that didn't go how you liked.

Oh also, I've had more than 2 crap PC games, therefore PC games are crap.
 
Early access is great, of course there has to be faith in the developers that they've planned the process out properly, but generally we now get to fund projects that otherwise would not have existed.
 
Some will burn you, some won't - Prison Architect, KSP, DayZ, seemingly Spacebase DF9 all give regular updates. Godus is apparently rewriting the entire game - and they've been putting out a few videos to prove it, but it's still been months with a dead end game.

Seems to be a case of do your research first - don't get them just as released, wait a few months to see if there are updates - and still be prepared to take a risk
 
The point of contention here is that some games will burn you full stop. The early access part is not the factor here, it's that some games WILL be poorly developed regardless of whether they have early access or not.
 
Another vote for researching early access games before purchasing them.

ArmA 3 is shaping up nicely and the MP mission makers are getting a good grasp in the differences between it and ArmA 2.

DayZ is proving a somewhat moveable feast at the moment as key features and functionality are being still being optimised and/or fixed build by build.
 
I think this can only be put down as a matter of opinion really, yes you are right that steam has a LOT of early access games.

But look at the big developers, people complain about them because of the lack of innovation and yearly recycling of games!

IMO I do dislike buying into early access generally speaking, so I try to pick ones I will definitely stick with. What I hate more is a game that gets released by a big dev and is a broken mess the same as the year before
 
This is not a new phenomena, I remember buying entry to the Beta on Skidmarks for the Amiga in the early 90s.

As long as I know I am getting early access then I enter this agreement with my eyes open and I am happy, it is when I buy a supposedly finished game and find an unplayable game I am a little annoyed (Simcity being my most recent example).
 
badcompany said:
Agreed just sell me a finished game.
All this early access stuff is getting out of hand.
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You are aware you can not sign up to the early access and just buy the full version when it's released?

Why are you complaining that some of us can do the hard part and test the game to be better for release?
 
I'm currently in 3 early access games. Two are on steam (although I pledged for one via Kickstarter) and one outside STEAM via Kickstarter.

I'm having great fun with all 3. The two games on STEAM are Grim Dawn and Divinity : Original Sin, and the game outside is Elite : Dangerous.

*edit* Oops, also just realised I pledged for Godus, Maia and Sir, You are being hunted, all of which are early access on STEAM.
 
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I don't really like it myself, and I think you can end up spoiling a game for yourself, I'd rather wait until its finished and buy it then.

However I don't have an issue with it as nobody is pointing a gun to my head and making my purchase early access, I only have one early access game and that's because I backed it on kick starter, based on that experience I'm very unlikely to get another.

I think it can be a good thing though as the developer essentially gets a huge number of people testing their product, and as long as they set up a proper system for gathering feedback then this can help them develop a better game, and if other people are happy to pay for the privilege then feel free, thanks for your work. :)
 
If there was ever a death of quality pc games, this new early access trend will be it.

Steam should know better than to flood their store with unfinished crap. Disappointed isn't the word.
 
I know its not on STEAM, but Elite : Dangerous is going to have a Alpha, Beta and prolonged Gamma phase with input from the players in order to try and make it as good as it can be before the final full release. The current Alpha is already brilliant.

Grim Dawn, Divinity : Original Sin, Wasteland 2 just to mention a few of the early access games on STEAM are all shaping up to be really good.

Obviously you need to be a bit careful in what you choose, as an example Grim Dawn is being made by some of the developers of Titan Quest, Divinity : Original Sin by the makers of Divine Divinity etc.
 
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seen a kickstarter other day and i swear there was literally nothing !

a big dev said this looks cool :rolleyes:

probably one of his friends . basically it was a jump map with unfinished models. you could play this kinda of game for 10+ years already :D


i personally think all alphas and betas should be closed doors until game is finished. unless they obviously so small they need the money for the project to be completed. half of the games now arnt even gunna get finished.
 
~>Dg<~ said:
seen a kickstarter other day and i swear there was literally nothing !

a big dev said this looks cool :rolleyes:

probably one of his friends . basically it was a jump map with unfinished models. you could play this kinda of game for 10+ years already :D


i personally think all alphas and betas should be closed doors until game is finished. unless they obviously so small they need the money for the project to be completed. half of the games now arnt even gunna get finished.
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I don't agree, a lot of games people like myself would like to play would not be made without crowd funding and therefor access to the various stages of production. Publishers now days have no inclination to make game such as Elite or Pillars of Eternity.

http://elite.frontier.co.uk/

http://eternity.obsidian.net/
 
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problem is most will sit and rage shortly after buying as they dont know the process of making a game. ala dayz/rust and every other alpha beta early access.
 
I'm old enough to remember Alpha/Beta testing a game was considered a service from developers/publishers, and as long as you took the time to report bugs etc. was usually rewarded, often with a free copy of the game. Come 2000 it started becoming something people queued up to do do and so it was promoted as a privilege for early access. Now they've managed to complete the "Jedi mind trick" and have suckers paying to test the game for them or pay in advance for a game based on some loose promises that it'll be great in two years time, honest.. Seriously, people need to get a grip... We're letting publishers get away with, well, not quite murder but certainly treating gamers as naive
 
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