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Author Topic: Clockwork Empires - 1.0 release October 26th  (Read 255336 times)

dennislp3

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1395 on: July 22, 2014, 08:29:42 pm »

If I say no will you try and bribe me?

Perhaps with some sort of yummy development info or some morsel of goodness I know nothing of about this game?
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Darkmere

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1396 on: July 22, 2014, 08:35:21 pm »

Hmmm. The first modded content I saw was a menu option to chop logs into a live dodo.
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And then, they will be weaponized. Like everything in this game, from kittens to babies, everything is a potential device of murder.
So if baseless speculation is all we have, we might as well treat it like fact.

Karkov

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1397 on: July 22, 2014, 08:39:45 pm »

Wait, chopping logs turned the logs into a live dodo?  Why is this not a feature to begin with?

dennislp3

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1398 on: July 22, 2014, 08:51:31 pm »

Ok that wins lol

Meat from logs...seems cult like
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Oneir

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1399 on: July 22, 2014, 09:04:26 pm »

Meat from logs...seems cult like

Remember the vegan devs.

Butchering the dodo gives logs.

[/joking?]
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ndkid

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1400 on: July 22, 2014, 10:02:55 pm »

Early access in general has led to a major decline in the quality of games upon release sadly...I remember back when games came out and patching them on console was impossible and very difficult on PC regardless...I seem to recall games being much more stable and bug free in lots of cases...or at least not the same monsterous disasters they are these days when they launch...

I can remember, say, five years ago, people bemoaning that release-and-patch had become the norm in game development. I have not noticed that trend getting worse with early access. If anything, I have found the opposite: by the time a game which has early access gets to a 1.0 state, it tends to be more stable than the games which were rushed out the door. This trend isn't exclusive to gaming in software, either... application bloat and the tendency to release without sufficient testing has become more of a norm in Operating Systems, audio programs, etc, etc.

Effectively, it feels like the main difference is expectations and price point. These days, early access tend to see a game being somewhat cheaper than it will be at 1.0 release. I'd say the bug-ridden AAA titles tend to be at their most expensive at initial release, and the "gold" versions that follow some months later with rolled up patches are the first time discounted rates come into existence.

Having said that, I'm pretty happy to fund early access, whether it be DF, The Last Federation, or now, Clockwork Empires, if it helps to smooth the earnings curve of a particular game company and ensures that the companies which make the sorts of things I want to play don't close. (Really, there's a whole lot I would do to make sure the companies making the sort of games I want to play don't close.)
« Last Edit: July 23, 2014, 07:05:39 am by ndkid »
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Rakonas

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1401 on: July 23, 2014, 02:19:05 am »

Games in the past were buggy on release too. The difference is that nobody talks about most of the shitty games that were never patched. Early access is great in that it allows for free beta testing for the (generally indie) developers. The idea that early access has led to a decline in quality of games released is pretty much completely unfounded, unless you're considering release to be release to early access.
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Darkmere

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1402 on: July 23, 2014, 02:28:54 am »

Psssh. Daikatana managed to suck a big one without EA at all. Battlecruiser 3000 AD, big rigs over the road racing, that zelda CDI game (MAH BOI!), the entire library ever featured on Angry Video Game Nerd. Pretty much every full motion video adventure game. Spore. Spore never changes. STALKER: Clear Sky. There's plenty more.
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And then, they will be weaponized. Like everything in this game, from kittens to babies, everything is a potential device of murder.
So if baseless speculation is all we have, we might as well treat it like fact.

Citizen Daniel

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1403 on: July 23, 2014, 05:34:34 pm »

I'm going to try to answer what I think was the question at the start of the current discussion, which i'll paraphrase as "If you're going to do this, why not just do a kickstarter?"

We're in a strange position where the sort of game we're making can start playable and just get more playable the longer we work on it, while also being interesting to replay.  In such a circumstance, making people wait until the game is "finished" when they'd like to play something that's simple right at the start is not giving them what they want.

The important thing for us was that we not sell that experience until people could actually PLAY the game for a while.  Once you hit that point, the ability to deliver becomes a very real thing: you're no longer backing an idea but a game that at the very least will be what it is at that moment.

There is one downside to this sort of development, which we inherit as a result: some people don't want to be able to buy the game until it's done.  Having the extra choice is itself something that they'd rather not have.  I understand this.  I play lots of games as well and I've been in this position before.  And we weighed the detriment of this effect against the benefit of selling "in progress" games for people who enjoy that, as i discussed above.

I think, for many games, the consideration of these two effects would yield a decision to wait until release.  But for the type of game that Clockwork Empires is, we felt there was so much to gain from having players log in and experience new things, that an early access model was the right decision.


Now, having said that, we had another hurdle which was that there were people who we knew would want to buy and play the game (and would enjoy it) as it is right now, but we felt that the Steam Early Access user base, and perhaps even just the average early access game player, wouldn't quite see the level of polish and accessibility that they HOPE these games have (to say nothing of what is typically provided).  For this reason, we called our current release Earliest Access, as it was the clearest way that we could message "everything early about early access, but even earlier".

At this point, I think things have gone really well with this.  Certainly, as I mentioned, for some people this isn't ideal, and if you are a part of that camp I sincerely apologize.  We spent many hours discussing ways that we could make everyone equally happy, and sadly our plan wasn't perfect in that regard.  Still, I hope we make a game that you're interested in playing when it's ready. 

(I'm away for a few days so i'm not posting as regularly.  I'm still reading, but forum posts from a smartphone are hard)

Oh!  And a new blog post today!  Huzzah!

https://www.gaslampgames.com/2014/07/23/earliest-access-week-one/
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Retropunch

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1404 on: July 23, 2014, 05:45:58 pm »

I'm going to try to answer what I think was the question at the start of the current discussion, which i'll paraphrase as "If you're going to do this, why not just do a kickstarter?"

-snippedy snippedy snip snip-
All very understandable and I agree with it fully.

I think the difference between your studio and others is that everyone trusts Gaslamp to deliver and you've got a rock solid roadmap. I feel the main problem for people with early access is that a lot of the time games seem to go into early access and then production slows, things don't get delivered on and it becomes kinda clear that it's not going to turn out like it was meant too, because they've gotten all the hype and hardcore fan sales done already so there's little impetus to carry it through to completion. Early Access suddenly becomes 'late beta' and not much has changed.

Plus as you say, RTS games have massive replay-ability, so I don't think you have to worry about the 'burnout' that is also a worry.

If I didn't have so much on my plate I would buy this in a heartbeat, and I swore to the dark gods that I would never buy an early access title. That's how great you are. Feel the feels.

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With enough work and polish, it could have been a forgettable flash game on Kongregate.

Darkmere

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1405 on: July 24, 2014, 10:02:37 am »

Both of these seemed appropriate:

https://community.gaslampgames.com/threads/cabbage-diary.8683/

https://community.gaslampgames.com/threads/the-daily-grind.8696/

I've also been cleared to share another story from pre-pre-prerelease. But I'm saving it for a special occasion.
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And then, they will be weaponized. Like everything in this game, from kittens to babies, everything is a potential device of murder.
So if baseless speculation is all we have, we might as well treat it like fact.

Kaje

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1406 on: July 24, 2014, 01:14:48 pm »

The second picture....estableished? Someone needs to spellcheck...
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Kaje

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1407 on: July 24, 2014, 02:11:38 pm »

Is there a button to rotate furniture before placing?
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0x517A5D

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1408 on: July 24, 2014, 02:22:40 pm »

The second picture....estableished? Someone needs to spellcheck...

Also "crowed" and possessive "it's".

Chalk it down to the remnants of Elizabethan spelling.  Ye Olde Englishe, i' troth!
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Darkmere

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Re: Clockwork Empires - **Earliest access! Testing Details linked in OP **
« Reply #1409 on: July 24, 2014, 02:24:27 pm »

Is there a button to rotate furniture before placing?

Right click within bounds of the floorplan.
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And then, they will be weaponized. Like everything in this game, from kittens to babies, everything is a potential device of murder.
So if baseless speculation is all we have, we might as well treat it like fact.
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