Uber: Why must you release before all the base features are in place?

I think this move would certainly get them more money too. Which is always a big help. And would allow people to mod in the things they want and not limit it to UI related stuff.

You think changing the name from "gamma" to "release" actually magically makes it so mods that previously weren't possible suddenly become possible? =P

No, but releasing the server-side section of the game (which will happen at release) will.

Ah. Fair point.

Well, I'm pretty sure they've announced that the server side code will be mod-able on release, and it's not currently. So balance mods, new units, etc can be done, which is pretty huge.

Edit: Ninja'd

That makes sense with one addition that I would like to point out.

When a game is still into development and people can access to it (Early Access, Backers, and the alike), reviews need to be soft and to state that the game is, indeed, not complete yet. More can be expected.

But when a game has been released and get labeled 1.0, reviewers are usually harsher and then it becomes harder for the developer to justify the absence of features that were expected.

If that is a risk, a good marketing can boost your sales for a while. But it's also possible that angry customers will be your worst enemy, and at some point the good initial wave of sales will fade out. Then you have to invest more in marketing, and at some point marketing is gonna drain a big chunk of your resources.

If that happens, it would be hard to continue development for filling the gap.

Considering we were told we would have the unit cannon at release a few months ago, what makes you so sure we will have the server-side at launch? This could be a feature which will come "at a later point" aswell, just like all the stuff which is in limbo right now.

I don't think it's very difficult to reason that PA needs to go into a full release mode at some point to capitalize on the kickstarter hype. If things drag on too long there is going to be a wave of negative press about how one of the most successful gaming kickstarters of all time died in the crib and is still hugely glitchy, unfinished, etc, however many months or years later. If we want any of the stuff we're all hoping for - a huge competitive scene, long term future updates and support, possible expansions and a real franchise - then Uber needs to make a trade off between releasing the game we all know is possible and actually getting enough sales to make that game.

this is just my opinion

but they should only release the game when every kickstarter goal is met

bicous that wont happen sadly i just get my Flameshields ready get some Popcorn and pickup my "i don't care abbout rewievs googles" while shinning my Antitroll Spray and hoping for the best..........

There is a big difference here between these 2 things.
The unit cannon is a new and very complex unit. Both the technical aspects of making it work well as well as the gameplay elements would need quite some work to make it actually look good and play well.
Access to the server on the other hand isn't really a new feature. They have the server software already after all. It's just not in our hands because piracy even before the game is released is kinda super bad.
So making the server available is very likely not as much work as implementing a unit cannon.
Even if it still needs work to do it, access to the server is a much more basic feature to play the game.
I.e. you cannot play single player offline without the server. Single player people are supposed to be first class citizens once release happens, so they NEED the server.
A release without the ability for people to play their single player thing offline is very unlikely I'd say.
Things like the uber cannon won't be in for release so more important basic things like "good working single player experience offline with cool features" are in.

...what...?
How do you know they won't be meeting all stretch goals? Where did they say that?
Just because the Unit Cannon isn't going to be in, doesn't mean the 2 and a half remaining goals won't.
The galactic war already has a working test version, as said in the January 17th livestream this year, and gas giants/water planets probably won't take that long.

I recall no such statement. Source please.

This is a reasonable point, but it falls short of being a serious concern on two fronts.

Firstly, who is going to be giving negative press based on the lack of a unit cannon? Either the reviewer is already interested in PA personally, at which point they might care about the lack of unit cannon, or they are not, at which point they will judge the game based on it's merits at the time. I don't know of any potential reviewers of PA who both fall into the former category and haven't already expressed a "happy to wait" attitude.

Secondly, this is the year 2014. Different games achieve success (financial, creative, playerbase or otherwise), over different time spans. The big AAA titles tend to get a big lump of cash in one big slug at release, then have a much lesser long tail due to back catalogue sails and DLC. This is the funding model you seem to be quoting, so I don't know if you are familiar that that income curve can look very different for non AAA titles. The devs have repeatedly stated that they are viewing this not as a sprint, but as a marathon. As a result, it makes sense that that long tail is a lot bigger in respect to the initial slug than would be expected. Uber has long term monetisation concepts in the pipeline, so I'm really not worried that a non-AAA style release (which is financially off the cards anyway), will hamper future efforts to develop the game, when they are only ever one steam-sale away from roping in a load more players (steam-sales are something that Jon has already mentioned he is more than happy to embrace). Overall, it is a far smaller risk to go for a closer release, and get the game out soon, rather than end up in perpetual beta.

Well they are in actually. But the gameplay needs a bit polish on them :>

There is no gameplay on them yet, they can't be loaded in-game, at least not to my knowledge.

Oh well a little tiny UI hack and you can do it. Or play PA Stats automatches, they have a water height 100.
And even with the official max water height level you can get planets that are 95%+ water, so basically the land is non existent.
I doubt there is much different between 100% water and 95% water usually. The tiny pieces of land have no real merit for the players to use.

Thanks for the feedback.

Please let me add that I am not concerned about the Unit Cannon per se. What concerns me is a lack of a good Interplanetary Game-play at release, where planetary invasions are possible and enjoyable. After all, Planetary Annihilation focuses not only on smashing planets, but also on invading them (judging from the trailer that's still under the look of everyone).

ps. No need to answer that. I just wanted to point out my position.

Right here:
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/what-can-we-do-for-the-backers.48207/page-4#post-748636

oh gosh a new meme! x'D


....stop!

Ubertime™

Thank you for pointing that out.

At the end of the day, stuff changes. That's part of game development, and the developers have always said that everything is subject to change. Sometimes its a compromise, but if it's a compromise that has to be made, then it's better to go with it than throw the toys out of the pram.

Brian! Hell No! We need to flood the forum with meaningless posts to keep Uber from working on the game, but to answer every single hick-up. lol