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by Jochim 1472 days ago
> I understand that they might want to polish it but I'm not sure if polishing is actually worth. The original game has been continuously getting updates IIUC, so it might be totally OK to release sooner and then use the same model in Steam.

I think the platform shapes the user's expectations of what is acceptable though. If I buy a game on Steam I expect a certain degree of polish when I download it. If I were to buy the same game on Kickstarter I might not even expect to be able to download it for a few months/years. If someone donates to Dwarf Fortress, they probably already like it in it's current state and want to see where it goes.
1 comments
kirillbobyrev 1472 days ago
That makes a lot of sense, but I feel like Steam's "Early Access" is exactly for that. I can't speak for everyone but I often buy games there just to support the developers and don't expect it to be a success (maybe it turns out to be good, maybe it doesn't; either way, it's too early for a "full experience").

Maybe it changed lately, but plenty of astonishing games came out of "Early Access" while being rather unimpressive (though promising) at first.

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langsoul-com 1472 days ago
Early access these days really isn't a good place to test a game. It's like a quasi full release.

Any game that's not fully legit would have bad reviews follow them until after a full release and revamp

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addingnumbers 1471 days ago
I blame Steam for shifting the market's expectations about early access.

In the years before Steam got in on early access, I bought a few early access games, and the attitude was "Keep at it! Hopefully this will pan out," not "Now you owe me a finished game."

For example, I blew $50 on a starter ship in Star Citizen in 2015, when I already felt it was extremely likely Roberts would burn out before his vision could be realized. I saw the purchase as a charitable contribution toward people putting effort toward a niche I wanted to support.

If the project collapsed, there were dozens or hundreds of developers who had spent years honing their skill at crafting a MMO space sim. If they have to move on to the next thing, certainly many of them are going to take on similar projects with a narrower, more deliverable scope.

Also I felt it was useful to signal to the industry that there was unmet demand for this sort of intricate space simulation.

When Steam got into EA, expectations shifted from charitable encouragement to placing a pre-order and getting a partially playable demo to tide you over.

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