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[0x517A5D]

Warning!  Warning!  Unexpected Steam Sale detected!

The Lunar New Year Sale, on through the 19th.

Did anyone know this was coming?

[Sirus]

I'm pretty sure Steam has been running a Lunar New Year sale for the past couple of years. It just doesn't get quite as much attention as the biggies (Summer and Winter sales).

[LoSboccacc]

how's star drive 2? I have it in wishlist but never see any let's play or anyone talking about it, saw it around for less than 5$, how depth is it? is it worth it?

[Persus13]

I think quill18 did a let's play in it awhile back. I've been interested in it, but supposedly its abandoned by the dev.

[Blue_Dwarf]

I think quill18 did a let's play in it awhile back. I've been interested in it, but supposedly its abandoned by the dev.

The first game was abandoned in an unfinished state as well. I'd say watch some let's plays to see if you actually want it.

Oh and apparently he's now developing a new game. Priceless.

[Reelya]

It's not always viable to continue making a game. It's extremely time-intensive and the dev needs to factor in how much additional revenue they can make from the game for the future time they need to invest.

The current state of the game isn't a relevant variable, because that falls into the sunk cost fallacy. e.g. if you spent 10000 hours making an unfinished game, but it needs another 1000 hours to get $X revenue, but you can spend that same 1000 hours and get at least $X+1 revenue, the logical thing is to abandon the old game and make a new one.

[Arbinire]

It's not always viable to continue making a game. It's extremely time-intensive and the dev needs to factor in how much additional revenue they can make from the game for the future time they need to invest.

The current state of the game isn't a relevant variable, because that falls into the sunk cost fallacy. e.g. if you spent 10000 hours making an unfinished game, but it needs another 1000 hours to get $X revenue, but you can spend that same 1000 hours and get at least $X+1 revenue, the logical thing is to abandon the old game and make a new one.

Huh, not everyday you see someone defending selling an unfinished product with the intent to never finish it

[Reelya]

idk, you're not talking an EA or Ubisoft here, who have money in the bank, you're talking about an indie studio that sounds like it's few people, tops. People were unhappy that they didn't keep developing Star Drive 1, but released Star Drive 2 three years later in 2015. But of course, spending 3 years patching a game that already shipped isn't the sort of thing that pays to keep the studio open.

Now, people are unhappy that three years after Star Drive 2 launched, they're working on another game. OMG what bastards! They actually want to keep their studio open and don't just spend eternity doing support for a product they shipped that's no longer making them revenue. An indie studio that was 100% focused on tech support for a 3+ year old game they launched wouldn't be in the business much longer.

[Blue_Dwarf]

Wow, he really is defending selling unfinished games...

Also, if people already bought it in early access, and expect it to be completed for free that's a toxic level of entitled thinking right there.

How is it toxic to expect the product you paid for?

In case you were not around whhen the Star Drive 1 was abandoned, it was abandoned in order to make Star Drive 2, instead of "losing money" finishing the first game. Which then got abandoned in the same manner.

[Reelya]

3 year development cycle, which is average. The problem is that he over-scoped the original projects. Basically, the original plan failed to be economically viable. Part of that is that not enough people bought into the idea originally, which is something the dev cannot control. Now, he could have sold a lesser idea, which was more achievable, rather than the idea that he did sell, but of course that would have attracted even less interest, making even that less viable.

this is just the reality and risk of any sort of early access type game development. most projects don't pan out the way they are planned. It's always been this way, it's just more visible now.

[forsaken1111]

This is why I never buy into early access with expectations of more. The developer is under no legal obligation to deliver on any promises made during early access/beta/alpha/whatever. They can bail at any point and call it 1.0 release version.

Stardrive 2 is a fun game in its current state and worth it on a deep discount. I wouldn't (and didn't) buy it full price.

[SalmonGod]

Wow, he really is defending selling unfinished games...

I'll defend selling unfinished games.

Keep in mind you're hanging out on a forum dedicated to the ultimate early access project.  Toady's been making a living off an unfinished product for many years.  It's kind of ironic to complain about early access here.

As mentioned, game development is a major investment.  A team can either fit the project into their free time over a fuckhuge period on their personally funded equipment, and honestly most such projects will die before anyone sees anything, finished or not.  Or they can offer early access to sustain more focused development and ride that out as long as they can.  Don't assume these are people who are just trying to cheat you out of money by half-assing and then abandoning an effort at something.  May be the case sometimes, but I'm sure it isn't always.

I don't mind early access offerings.  If it's more than a few $, I'll put research into the game before I buy it.  How excited am I by the concept?  What's the current state and pace of development?  How involved are the devs with their community and its feedback?  If I fail to ask these questions first, it was my own fault.  I've enjoyed many unfinished games, and I like that there are easy ways now to get something in return while directly investing in expanding game development beyond established, successful studios.  I'm pretty sure the early access route churns out many more seasoned developers than unfunded basement projects that never see the light of day.

If you just can't shake the sense of entitlement that every time you ever spend money it should be like buying off a shelf in a retail store, then just stay away from early access.  And blame capitalism for its absurd incentives that forces people to choose between pursuing a goal through less than ideal methods that might piss some people off or not pursuing it at all.

[LoSboccacc]

well I don't defend selling unfinished games, but I do defend cutting losses if an early access title bombs

what are them indies supposed to do, take a loan and bankrupt their families for our enjoyment?

if they ran with the money, the stigma will follows them anyway, and each case/situation is different, as long as they're upfront (i.e. not selling a title as 'in development' when it is not) I'm fine with that.

[Blue_Dwarf]

Keep in mind you're hanging out on a forum dedicated to the ultimate early access project.  Toady's been making a living off an unfinished product for many years.  It's kind of ironic to complain about early access here.

Toady hasn't been participating in the business model of abandoning an unfinished game in order to sell another unfinished game that he would abandon, and another and so on and so forth.

[hector13]

Nor is Toady selling any games.

If someone offers to build you a house, you pay them and end up with a shed, I think you have the right to be a bit disappointed.