Darkwood devs get upload their game DRM-Free on ThePirateBay - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE]Development has been a long and often difficult journey, as Acid Wizard Studio told in today’s announcement. [I][B]Now it’s finally out, they say, they’re being inundated with e-mails trying to blag free Steam keys with the assumed intent to resell ’em.[/B][/I] This “makes it impossible for us to do any giveaways or send keys to people who actually don’t have the money to play Darkwood.” Acid Wizard Studio join a long line of developers not best pleased with resellers. [U]They say they were also moved by a player who requested a refund “because he didn’t want his parents to be stressed out when seeing the bill at the end of the month.”[/U] So to heck with it! [B]They have uploaded the latest version of Darkwood DRM-free to torrent site The Pirate Bay[/B]. Darkwood costs £11.99/13,99€/$14.99 on Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store.[/QUOTE] [url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/08/26/darkwood-devs-upload-game-torrent/]Source[/url]

That's pretty generous of them to do that

[QUOTE=99$-Plate;52625204]That's pretty generous of them to do that[/QUOTE] Shitty that this was caused by key resellers though.

If I ever finish something worth selling, I'd also upload it to Piratebay but when you start up the game there'll be a notification box (that you can close permenantly) saying "Yo, I hope you enjoy this game. Buy it if you wanna, but if you won't you can just take up 3 seconds of your time and click this adfly link to generate a cent or two of revenue for me as a thank you gift" You can't really stop piracy since pirating is a much easier way to get hold of games, so you might as well be nice to them and get them to be on your side. Key resellers though, not much you can do about them. They just want to profit off your generosity, so this is also a convinient way to battle 'em. If it weren't for resellers I'd definitely shoot copies off for people who emailed me. I just want people to enjoy my shit.

[QUOTE=buu342;52625209]If I ever finish something worth selling, I'd also upload it to Piratebay but when you start up the game there'll be a notification box (that you can close permenantly) saying "Yo, I hope you enjoy this game. Buy it if you wanna, but if you won't you can just take up 3 seconds of your time and click this adfly link to generate a cent or two of revenue for me as a thank you gift" [B]You can't really stop piracy since pirating is a much easier way to get hold of games, so you might as well be nice to them and get them to be on your side.[/B][/QUOTE] Depends on where it's published really. If it's on anything like steam/origin etc it's a lot easier to install with the latest updates and everything. With torrents you usually have to download the game and then a bunch of patches as well, and manually install them (in order, one after the other) too.

Yeah, I've been thinking on multiple occasions about how I'd deal with piracy and the key thing if I ever were to sell a game and every time I'd conclude that I should make my stuff DRM-free. Right now the cons greatly outweigh the pros if you decide to go the full "anti-piracy" route.

[QUOTE=Skipcast;52625229]Depends on where it's published really. If it's on anything like steam/origin etc it's a lot easier to install with the latest updates and everything. With torrents you usually have to download the game and then a bunch of patches as well, and manually install them (in order, one after the other) too.[/QUOTE] I guess, but if the pirate has to do patching work like that then that usually means the person who purchased the game had to do the same. Honestly, the one leaking the game can usually do all the patch work beforehand and just make their own custom installer for the game, at least that's what I've seen being done a lot.

[video=youtube;mBakPg6x63Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBakPg6x63Q[/video] This video explains why key resellers are a big problem.

Key resellers wouldn't be such a big problem if Valve got their shit together. Let me explain. Say there's a new game out on Steam. I want to buy my friend a copy. Because I live in Canada, I usually have about a forty percent chance of being able to gift someone living in the States a game via Steam because of what they call regional price differences. Sometimes the game I want to gift has like a two cent price difference between the two countries after doing the currency conversion math, and sometimes the game's more expensive in Canada than it is in the States, but either way I'm blocked from doing it. Nothing encourages piracy or, in this case, using key resellers, like legitimate services making buying or gifting a game inaccessible for no good reason.

[QUOTE=Octopod;52625238]Yeah, I've been thinking on multiple occasions about how I'd deal with piracy and the key thing if I ever were to sell a game and every time I'd conclude that I should make my stuff DRM-free. Right now the cons greatly outweigh the pros if you decide to go the full "anti-piracy" route.[/QUOTE] the problem is drm is non negotiable for big developers, their lawyers and stockholders, and management basically believe they have a responsibility to make the game as hard to crack as possible, even when the evidence seems to suggest that torrenting doesn't account for lost revanue since those people probably weren't going to buy it anyways

[QUOTE=archangel125;52625288]Key resellers wouldn't be such a big problem if Valve got their shit together. Let me explain. Say there's a new game out on Steam. I want to buy my friend a copy. Because I live in Canada, I usually have about a forty percent chance of being able to gift someone living in the States a game via Steam because of what they call regional price differences. Sometimes the game I want to gift has like a two cent price difference between the two countries after doing the currency conversion math, and sometimes the game's more expensive in Canada than it is in the States, but either way I'm blocked from doing it. Nothing encourages piracy or, in this case, using key resellers, like legitimate services making buying or gifting a game inaccessible for no good reason.[/QUOTE] Two cent price difference is preety insignificant, but things get more extreme when it comes to countries with more shaky economies. I'd rather have affordable games than region-free copies, thank you very much.

[QUOTE=buu342;52625243]the person who purchased the game had to do the same[/QUOTE] huh? no.. you just install the game that is provided to you at the latest revision whatever distribution service you use usually does it for you, at least in the case of origin/steam

[QUOTE=Sableye;52625319]even when the evidence seems to suggest[/QUOTE] If you want to convince big publishers that DRM isn't the way to go, just show them actual evidence beyond simplistic thought experiments like 'those people probably weren't going to buy it anyways'. The actuaries that publishers hire to do cost/benefit analysis for years on end, using both experimental and forensic data on conversion rates, have reams of actual statistical evidence that the benefits of implementing DRM outweigh the cost, so speak to that. Publishers are famous for cutting corners wherever possible so if you can statistically demonstrate that their efforts aren't worth the cost they'll drop DRM in a heartbeat. Now, if you're an indie developer, making your game fully DRM-free is probably a good idea. You're relying on word of mouth so greater awareness of your product is a good thing, you're dealing with a niche audience with greater investment in the space, you're more personable and can hold people more emotionally accountable than a large corporation, and your price point is low and accessible. Really, if you're an indie developer, paying for any real DRM is almost never worth it on its own, which is why solutions like Steamworks that come with other benefits (eg a proper distribution platform) are so popular. But all those things are different for larger developers, and it changes the equations. There's no one-size-fits-all solution.

[QUOTE=Perl;52625446]huh? no.. you just install the game that is provided to you at the latest revision whatever distribution service you use usually does it for you, at least in the case of origin/steam[/QUOTE] I'm talking about non steam/origin programs, stuff that isn't auto updated by the service but rather the user. Skipcast was reffering to those programs so I was explaining that the leakers can just update for the user and make their own installer.

[QUOTE=VintageCat;52625439]Two cent price difference is preety insignificant, but things get more extreme when it comes to countries with more shaky economies. I'd rather have affordable games than region-free copies, thank you very much.[/QUOTE] See, the thing is, some games don't have that resriction, with price differences being pretty dramatic, say five to ten dollars. Why prevent me gifting a friend a game that costs a few cents more in one country than another and not prevent that?

Darkwood is probably the best horror game in a long time so its a shame people are pirating it as well. I know no game is free from piracy but some just dont deserve it

I bought Darkwood when it was fully released a couple weeks ago, it's really great, and as always, if you enjoy the game, support the devs and buy it.

While I don't condone piracy. Some stuff like this is an incredibly hard sell without experiencing it yourself. Many people don't like putting down money on a chance, especially with horror games.

I preordered this game years ago, because this small team of Wizards deserves every penny for their hard work and dedication. This is what an amazing developer looks like.

I did buy Darkwood as well. I haven't yet played it properly, though. Hope I get that chance soon.

[QUOTE=LeonS;52625804]Darkwood is probably the best horror game in a long time so its a shame people are pirating it as well. I know no game is free from piracy but some just dont deserve it[/QUOTE] it's one of the best horror games, but it isn't a particularly good game to be honest this is made obvious by the fact that the average playtime for it is about an hour or two, meaning people just play through the prologue and make it through the first night and then just stop playing because it has little direction and is randomized each playthrough [editline]29th August 2017[/editline] like it has everything; the atmosphere, the character design, the storyline, but the gameplay is just clunky and unintuitive making it a hassle just to roam about which is what the player is doing 99% of the time

[QUOTE=archangel125;52625787]See, the thing is, some games don't have that resriction, with price differences being pretty dramatic, say five to ten dollars. Why prevent me gifting a friend a game that costs a few cents more in one country than another and not prevent that?[/QUOTE] i think the gift should tell you its price in your currency for that region so if you gift, it warns if its more/less then the one in your region, then lets you buy it for them at their price

[QUOTE=Melnek;52625929]it's one of the best horror games, but it isn't a particularly good game to be honest this is made obvious by the fact that the average playtime for it is about an hour or two, meaning people just play through the prologue and make it through the first night and then just stop playing because it has little direction and is randomized each playthrough [editline]29th August 2017[/editline] like it has everything; the atmosphere, the character design, the storyline, but the gameplay is just clunky and unintuitive making it a hassle just to roam about which is what the player is doing 99% of the time[/QUOTE] First, your playtime average is just wrong. [URL="https://steamspy.com/app/274520"]The playtime average for everyone on Steam who owns the game is close to four hours just in the past two weeks (since its release). If we're looking at the all time average, it's closer to 7 hours.[/URL] Most people who have completed it end up with at the bare minimum of 10 hours, though more realistically it's closer to 15-20 hours. It's a horror game so the average playtime is going to be shorter because people are too afraid to play it, hell even one of the top reviews explicitly states that and only has like 3 hours. Not sure what you mean by that broad description of "gameplay is just clunky and unintuitive." It's a crafting / survival game with a pretty basic gameplay loop. Search for items -> craft -> return home and survive -> search new areas -> rinse and repeat. It's not the most advanced gameplay loop, sure, but it has what it needs to be a well-developed game.

[QUOTE=Intoxicated Spy;52626034]i think the gift should tell you its price in your currency for that region so if you gift, it warns if its more/less then the one in your region, then lets you buy it for them at their price[/QUOTE] See? Something even as simple as that would solve it for me.

The gameplay [i]needs[/i] to be clunky, the artificial difficulty increases the fear factor of horror games. Just look at any Silent Hill title (except downcoming) and you'll understand what I mean.

[QUOTE=Skipcast;52625229]Depends on where it's published really. If it's on anything like steam/origin etc it's a lot easier to install with the latest updates and everything. With torrents you usually have to download the game and then a bunch of patches as well, and manually install them (in order, one after the other) too.[/QUOTE] And a lot of the time the pirates don't upload the patches and DLCs alone, so you have to delete everything and reinstall the whole game with the updated content

The old "Try before you Buy" procedure is actually how I decided to buy the last five games I spent over 20 hours on. This is an extraordinarily savvy move on the devs' parts, kudos to them.

To be fair I can only play this for an hour or so at a time because it stresses me the fuck out. They've done a great job with this.