Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow

[Roland]

Again, you show a huge disconnect between your belief and reality. We do not ban people because we don’t like what they say. Perhaps you are sincere in your comments and not purposely trying to troll. In that case you are just completely off. You are drawing upon your own experience and it doesn’t look like it applies very well. 
 

At any rate, you are quite mistaken in the assumptions you are making regardless of your background.

[Riamus]

12 hours ago, Noctoras said:

nooooo, I can't wait for gold, since after gold they can produce a DLC with content. I so miss new content as opposed to streamlining things and would happily pay for a DLC with more building stuff, more weapons, more zombies and such! 

Well, more weapons and zombies are unlikely to happen, though not entirely off the table before gold.  However, "more building stuff" is coming in A21.  We are getting around a 50% increase in block shapes (just under 700 new shapes from what was around 1300 in A20).  So you're definitely getting more building stuff.  Whether or not you like what you get is something you'll have to wait and see, of course.  I know some people didn't like the majority of the new shapes that came last time, so we'll see.  But I know that the vast numbers of new doors and windows excites me for building my bases.  Also having pictures on the walls that you'd expect to see instead of only posters will really make a difference.  So much improvement for building in A21, imo.

9 hours ago, pApA^LeGBa said:

Most people either already got it and played it or bought it on sale and wait for release to play it.

Not necessarily.  Many people aren't going to spend money on something that they don't know will be any good once it goes gold.  I rarely buy an early access game unless someone can give me a good reason to think I'll enjoy it, which was the case with this game.  But otherwise I will wait until it's officially released and then check reviews following the official release to see if it'll be worth buying.  Whether or not I fit into the majority or minority group of people, I don't know.  Either way, I think sales will still be significant post-gold, regardless how many already have the game.  Let's say 100,000 people have the game after almost 10 years of early access.  If even 1/10 of that number buy the game after it goes gold, that's still a lot of sales.  And I'm pretty sure we'll be talking larger numbers than that.

 

Either way, we are both guessing based on our beliefs and there's no guarantee which way will be correct or if it'll be somewhere in between.  However, I think it would be accurate to say that TFP expects to have good sales after the game is released as gold.

[seven]

20 minutes ago, Riamus said:

Not necessarily.  Many people aren't going to spend money on something that they don't know will be any good once it goes gold.  I rarely buy an early access game unless someone can give me a good reason to think I'll enjoy it, which was the case with this game.  But otherwise I will wait until it's officially released and then check reviews following the official release to see if it'll be worth buying.  Whether or not I fit into the majority or minority group of people, I don't know.  Either way, I think sales will still be significant post-gold, regardless how many already have the game.  Let's say 100,000 people have the game after almost 10 years of early access.  If even 1/10 of that number buy the game after it goes gold, that's still a lot of sales.  And I'm pretty sure we'll be talking larger numbers than that.

 

Either way, we are both guessing based on our beliefs and there's no guarantee which way will be correct or if it'll be somewhere in between.  However, I think it would be accurate to say that TFP expects to have good sales after the game is released as gold.

 

They passed 100,000 a long time ago, 1 million by 2015. The last official figure I've seen is 15 million. I do expect there to be a respectable number of sales after gold but I do wonder if most people who would be interested already have it, and most new sales will be from people new to gaming.

[jetZeds]

Don't mean to interrupt the whining and crying, but what's the latest word on A21 Streamer Weekend/release date of A21 

[HB_H4wk]

Like watching paint dry in real life....

 

 

Still anxious for A21.

[mstdv inc]

1 hour ago, jetZeds said:

Don't mean to interrupt the whining and crying, but what's the latest word on A21 Streamer Weekend/release date of A21

Choose 
3,4 🤔
10,11 🙃
17,18 
24,25 
You have a 24% chance to guess the date.
(I left a 4% chance that it's not June.)

[Havesomehats]

12 minutes ago, mstdv inc said:

Choose 
3,4 🤔
10,11 🙃
17,18 
24,25 
You have a 24% chance to guess the date.
(I left a 4% chance that it's not June.)

 

This is unfair because you have biased the decision making by including emoticons. My heart wants 3,4, . My mind says its more likely 27,18 ; but boy howdy do I want to support 24,25 just giving his all on those drums. 

[Beelzebubs Ghost]

10 hours ago, YourMirror said:

You managed nothing. You only write down narcistic fantasies. Nobody wants to hear them, so just stop.

 

I want to hear what @Cr0wst0rm has to say.

 

It makes a refreshing difference to the nauseating zealot-level apologetics, and the gagworthy, cringing brown-nosing 🤷🏻‍♂️

Edited May 29, 2023 by Beelzebubs Ghost (see edit history)

[zicky]

[unholyjoe]

38 minutes ago, zicky said:

 

Spoiler

 

1. the release will be announced for A Monday for public release.

2. when that Monday is chosen, it will then be announced to the streamers for the Friday before the chosen Monday. (then everyone will know).

3. so number 1 didnt happened thus it wont be this weekend for sure. sorry

4. getting closer tho

 

[zicky]

I knew Memorial Day was a no go and rightly so.  I'm hoping more for a streamer weekend this Friday and a release the following Monday.  I'm not getting my hopes up, its just that I'm intrigued by the learn by looting magazines and I'm anxious to try it out. 

[FinkPloyd]

On 5/27/2023 at 8:38 PM, pApA^LeGBa said:

Sales after release will bring in a bit of money, not much in my opinion though, but right now i don´t think they can earn a lot of money from sales.

 

I would expect a new console version to sell a few copies, given the time between updates.

 

On 5/28/2023 at 1:21 AM, Callum123456789 said:

There's a specific company in mind that does milk a game and their customers huh I wonder what it could be *cough* *cough* grand theft auto 5 online.

 

 

Look into ARK, IMO they are the 'champions'...

 

There is an ARK upgrade to UL5 scheduled for Aug 2023 (which was originally advertised as free).

When it drops they will upgrade all official servers to be exclusively the new UL5 version, wiping out years of playtime in the current version.

Unless you play single player or on a private server you will have to pay for the base game and all of the expansions again (some of which won't release until late 2024).

[Laz Man]

@Cr0wst0rm I am not exactly sure what feature or number of features would satisfy your  expectations.

 

It is no secret what features are left for gold based on promised kickstarter features (e.g. bandits, character overhaul, story quests, etc.)

 

All I know is our programmers bust their butts off to get their work done.

 

The dismemberment system was not an original promised feature but it was greenlighted and the game is so much better for it.  I know Steve has spent a ton of time squashing bugs left and right while rolling that feature online onto more zeds.

 

Faatal's work on the vehicle changes was just one of many tasks he has worked on this Alpha.  As our lead programmer he is involved in so many different areas its hard to keep track.

 

I wish I could clone the guy as he is always willing to listen to my level design rants and even fix bugs on the spot instead of telling me to get in the back of the line...😅

 

It sounds like you develop games too, so you should know that not all games are created equal.  Let alone one studio vs another.  

 

I think it's unfair to compare development of a racing game to an open world voxel game like 7d2d.  Yes, I am sure there are some similarities, but the scope is much larger and there is much more moving parts under the hood imo...

 

Hopefully once A21 lands, I hope you feel all of the work that went into it.  If not, I hope you at least get a good amount of enjoyment.

 

 

[Games'n'Grumble]

11 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

not all games are created equal

Some people are very funny. They were given a game with a completely destructible and built-up world, where each block takes into account physics. Hordes of zombies come at night, up to 64 at a time, who can normally navigate this world and the player's buildings. The player has several branches of leveling perks, a lot of clothes, armor, tools, weapons and the progression of experience accumulation. And it all looks modern, not like Minecraft. And they're like: "Hey, we need extra wheels on the car. What have you been doing there all this time that you couldn't add it to the game????" lol😅

[dakravch]

2 hours ago, Games'n'Grumble said:

Some people are very funny. They were given a game with a completely destructible and built-up world, where each block takes into account physics. Hordes of zombies come at night, up to 64 at a time, who can normally navigate this world and the player's buildings. The player has several branches of leveling perks, a lot of clothes, armor, tools, weapons and the progression of experience accumulation. And it all looks modern, not like Minecraft. And they're like: "Hey, we need extra wheels on the car. What have you been doing there all this time that you couldn't add it to the game????" lol😅

you better tell me when 21 alpha will be

[VoltraLux]

I'd like to suggest for Alpha 22 the Dev Diary thread is locked to staff and moderators for news and update posts only. Maybe there can be a separate Dev Diary discussion thread for 200 pages of arguments and in-fighting? Personally I'm Interested in what TFP staff and moderation team have to say on the subject in the Diary thread more-so. Don't know if this is out of pocket but that's my two cents. 

[pApA^LeGBa]

22 hours ago, Cr0wst0rm said:

 

slowing development iteration intentionaly.

EDIT: It feels like nothing has been done other than the landscape, water physics, optimization of word destruction (async collision cooking?), some balances etc. Maybe it's the later features that are expected to be released the later alpha (overlap). Still I think more could be done. Maybe coders were blocked with the new art coming in the game (support)? Either way I think over a year there could be many other features done, I managed to code a vehicle Physics system with suspension, dynamic damage (almost wreckfest like) and animated interiors just in 1 year (+ racing events + vehicle customization support + saving system etc etc (Unreal Engine, pure C++)). Considering the team has like +- 3 code guys? I think there could be just a tiny bit more, considering it way a YEAR.

 

Ok, but how is that milking? Milking means making money with unnecessary sales. Like DLC´s that should be part of the maingame and such things.

 

If they do achieve anything by making the development time longer than it would have to be, it´s people beeing p´ed off. How could that possibly something they want?

Edited May 29, 2023 by pApA^LeGBa (see edit history)

[Blake_]

I came here to complain about the catfishing mechanic. I believe that after all these years there should be people that hide their real identity in the game, only to meet a potential partner and have them realize that we are naked all the time. Also,  coming from a dev team that makes streams in underpants and the fact that I'm an astronaut (they do not use pants), this should be easy to implement. Fun Pimps plz get your sh** together, as hard as that might be without undies. I'm sorry but I have proof : It gets itchy.

[Roland]

6 hours ago, VoltraLux said:

I'd like to suggest for Alpha 22 the Dev Diary thread is locked to staff and moderators for news and update posts only. Maybe there can be a separate Dev Diary discussion thread for 200 pages of arguments and in-fighting? Personally I'm Interested in what TFP staff and moderation team have to say on the subject in the Diary thread more-so. Don't know if this is out of pocket but that's my two cents. 

 

We've done variations of that in the past and it stifles developer participation because there are no questions for them to answer. If you follow the developers who post here you can see all of their contributions without the rest. We usually prune this thread every few days to move player discussions over to the overflow thread in general discussions but when we get close that kind of slacks off because the developers are often so busy trying to get the update out they rarely post.

 

EDIT: Okay, I did a huge prune back to the last time faatal posted.

Edited May 29, 2023 by Roland (see edit history)

[VoltraLux]

29 minutes ago, Roland said:

 

We've done variations of that in the past and it stifles developer participation because there are no questions for them to answer. If you follow the developers who post here you can see all of their contributions without the rest. We usually prune this thread every few days to move player discussions over to the overflow thread in general discussions but when we get close that kind of slacks off because the developers are often so busy trying to get the update out they rarely post.

 

EDIT: Okay, I did a huge prune back to the last time faatal posted.

 

I guess that works, though the discussion thread would also support the interaction aspect as well I suppose. I'll follow up on your suggestions though thanks for the heads up. 

[Riamus]

20 hours ago, seven said:

 

They passed 100,000 a long time ago, 1 million by 2015. The last official figure I've seen is 15 million. I do expect there to be a respectable number of sales after gold but I do wonder if most people who would be interested already have it, and most new sales will be from people new to gaming.

Yeah, I figured we were well beyond that but rather than over-inflating the number and having someone say I'm making stuff up, I chose to use far lower numbers than I expected as those also got my point across.  But 15 million?  That's more than I had expected even though I was expecting over a million.  Very nice.  So even if you had 1/100 of the sales after gold, you're still looking at 150,000 in sales * whatever the price is that people end up paying at the time, which is pretty good sales.  And I'd personally expect a much higher number.  Maybe you're right and the number of people buying the game after gold will be low but I would still expect plenty of sales.  Either way, there will be more sales then than there are now and so they are better off getting gold released than continuing to stay in early access.  Certainly no "milking" going on by staying in early access.

[meilodasreh]

10 hours ago, zicky said:

I'm hoping more for a streamer weekend this Friday and a release the following Monday.

 

On 5/28/2023 at 5:45 AM, Laz Man said:

No streamer weekend this week. 

 

A21 Release Target Date: May-June 2023  June-July 2023

 

fixed that for you

[Roland]

1 hour ago, VoltraLux said:

 

I guess that works, though the discussion thread would also support the interaction aspect as well I suppose. I'll follow up on your suggestions though thanks for the heads up. 

 

Its time consuming to quote a question in one thread and answer it in another. Developers wouldn't take the time to do that. They would simply answer the question within the discussion thread and we would be back to where we started.

[zicky]

Oh well.....More Reforged Eden for another month (or three) [sigh].

[Oros]

On 5/27/2023 at 10:59 PM, Riamus said:

Since they haven't said anything about Streamer Weekend starting, no, it won't be this weekend.  It looks like it'll be later.  Laz Man mentioned they were still dealing with bugs that they need to fix before they can release experimental.  Once they can get those taken care of, they should announce it.  No way to know how soon that'll be.

Thank you for the information!