Developers need to stop allowing people who pre-ordered to play the game as-is. - Games

I say this because I'm a bit fed up of seeing developers seemingly abandon games that had potential after a beta release. It seems to me like once the developers of a game have your money they no longer feel that they have to spend time making the game brilliant. Take minecraft for example. Before it became popular Notch used to update the game often. Then it became the must-have game, and as more people bought it, less and less updates seemed to appear, to the point where the community releases more content than the developer does. Whatever happened to cortex command? People paid for that game too, and the last update was in december of last year. I think I remember reading that the update before that was 2 years ago, but I might be wrong. Is it just me, or does it seem to be the case that more and more developers are using the "release-now-finish-later" model? I'd much rather wait for a good game and have few updates after release than pay for a half completed game that may never be finished. Of course there are a few developers who break the mould, Wolfire continue to update overgrowth and that's coming on brilliantly. I'd hate to see overgrowth, project zomboid or terraria go the way of cortex command. I appreciate that indie developers need money but that's no excuse for a half-assed game. ----------- In short, the prospect of money helps keep developers motivated, once they have your money they no longer have that motivation and you end up feeling like you wasted your money.

Well it is a business it isn't profitable to keep making free dlc or even paid dlc.

That's kind of what I'm saying. If developers release the game early and unfinished and get paid for it, what's their motivation to keep producing more content for the game?

[QUOTE=usaokay;29953936]Valve is making money off of the rich idiots who buy virtual items in TF2.[/QUOTE] After I saw the interview with Robin about how the hats were "a way of letting customers give them more money to show their appreciation" I can't be angry about the hats. I'm actually tempted to buy one.

Video games are an art and are a huge process, they're an enormous amount of work and an enormous amount of man hours. As games have evovled or grown to this point, they cost a hell of a lot more to make. Keeping this in mind, these are companies that are still in the business of making money. As far as Minecraft goes, look how far it's come functionally, updates are more of a rarity these days, but maybe(I'm not sure honestly) it's due to the complexity of minecraft, how big it's gotten that's caused it's lethargy? On a bigger scale, for larger companies, pre-orders might be a bad thing as they would drive sales early without the game actually having been done, meaning some corners can be cut, because you've sold the sizzle and not the steak, which is what marketing does. However, they can in some cases be good, I've seen a recent few games pop up that are being paid for as they're being built, essentially like minecraft, updated continually and growing like that, even being paid for with "pre-orders". The only problem is, I don't believe a larger studio would adopt this method to make a full game.

These are indie developers, well Notch is a exception due to a large team, but his updates are more regular now, there aren't as many glaringly obvious problems to fix constantly like there was during the Alpha. But other indie developers probably have jobs, therefore cannot devote their entire lives to working on a game.

People should stop being idiots and realize the risk of buying unfinished games

[QUOTE=OutOfExile2;29954059]People should stop being idiots and realize the risk of buying unfinished games[/QUOTE] This too.

[QUOTE=hexpunK;29954042]These are indie developers, well Notch is a exception due to a large team, but his updates are more regular now, there aren't as many glaringly obvious problems to fix constantly like there was during the Alpha. But other indie developers probably have jobs, therefore cannot devote their entire lives to working on a game.[/QUOTE] I'd rather it took longer to develop and they kept their jobs than making the game become their job if means I get what I paid for.

This can't really be solved, which makes me sad. The developer isn't going to work for no money, and some of them don't see a point in finishing the game if they're already getting loads of money from the unfinished product.

Giving money to developers to finish games is basically making an investment. Not all investments give returns, and that's a risk you're going to have to be willing to accept going in.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;29954025]As far as Minecraft goes, look how far it's come functionally, updates are more of a rarity these days, but maybe(I'm not sure honestly) it's due to the complexity of minecraft, how big it's gotten that's caused it's lethargy? [/QUOTE] I thought Minecraft was popular because it was simple, not complex.

Selling a game that isn't finished is probably one of the worst possible things you can do as a developer, especially if it attracts a large following like Minecraft does. It simply gives people too high of expectations and forces people like Notch to compete with the modding community to create original content (as he is only one against many, it is sadly a losing battle).

Notch should just pay the community developers to add some of the mods to the game officially. He would be able to get some of his own work done for the game, while keeping everyone happy with the extra content from good mod developers. He should finish Creative as well.

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;29954447]I thought Minecraft was popular because it was simple, not complex.[/QUOTE] Minecraft may have started that way, but it's not that way anymore, not as far as I see it anyways.

[QUOTE=SwissArmyKnife;29954190]Giving money to developers to finish games is basically making an investment. Not all investments give returns, and that's a risk you're going to have to be willing to accept going in.[/QUOTE] There you go, this whole "escapade" was really just a wake up call as to how the real world works.

This is what happened to spore. Let's not even get started about spore.

[QUOTE='Poesidan [GAG];29956513']This is what happened to spore. Let's not even get started about spore.[/QUOTE] what no can you even read?

I don't think Minecraft is a valid example. The game would have been long dead if there was no community feed back, would have virtually never been released. Besides, it really helps in finding bugs. Testing is a must, betas are a good way to do that.

[QUOTE=ZestyLemons;29956658]I don't think Minecraft is a valid example. The game would have been long dead if there was no community feed back, would have virtually never been released. Besides, it really helps in finding bugs. Testing is a must, betas are a good way to do that.[/QUOTE] Closed and open betas that are free are good ways to do that. Betas that people pay for aren't

[QUOTE=Lazor;29956534]what no can you even read?[/QUOTE] This is what I meant: Maxis releases a shit ton of gameplay videos that look promising. Everyone started to preorder. When it releases it has little to no features. I guess I did misunderstand it. So we are basically talking about minecraft, terraria and project zomboid?

OP, your references only minecraft.Take this to Minecraft Forum.

Well done only reading the word "Minecraft" and skipping the majority of the post. If you'd looked further than the end of your nose you'd have seen that I also mentioned cortex command and terraria, and then said that I'm glad some developers broke this mould, for example wolfire games.

It's not just indie devs. Think of how many major games are released in a buggy, unfinished state, only to be patched later- if the game is successful enough to warrant further attention. As long as consumers are willing to pay money for the privilege of being unpaid beta testers, this practice will continue.

I'm quite annoyed at Data Realms; they took my money and ran! :argh:

Pre-orders help the industry. More pre-owned games to the store = more store credit = MORE MONEY FOR NEW GAMES

Why put in the effort when you can be rewarded now and then (maybe) put in the effort?

bullshit like this is why i never bought minecraft and paid only a penny for cortex command (humble indie bundle)

I think Minecraft got its moneys worth of gameplay from me, I only really play it when there's an update, and even so, not much, but I used to play it extensively, and it was great. I don't disagree though, I do think more updates would be great.

I don't get what notch is doing, minecraft is out of beta but it's being "released" on 11/11/11