Question about Retail Commanders.

How would they have known which commanders you'd like the most? Future retail versions should have been expected to be honest. You bought Alpha and got what you bought; you shouldn't get something just because you bought the game early on. This is coming from the person who felt disappointed for paying ninety on Steam and didn't get Alpha, you know what I did? I bought the game again for 200 more dollars, why? Because I wanted those commanders; I'm not mad at Uber or anything neither should anyone else

Perhaps, @squishypon3, but you are a hell of sweetheart for Uber. They should give you your own personal Commander just to thank you for your dedication and support. Just saying

Thanks for clarification.

But then it doesn't match with what has been told to us earlier on this very forum.

In fact, or Uber had the budget to complete the game since the beginning having they reached more the three times what they pledged on Kickstarter (and therefore we should be entitled to expect all the promised features and stretched goal already in game at version 1.0).

Or the initial budget (which was three times bigger than what has been pledged) wasn't enough and therefore Uber did in fact plan to have a financing partner from somewhere since day one, in case they could get only 900.000 USD.

And that has in fact some relevance for a Kickstarter project.

I point out that I do not blame or criminalize Uber for issues related to the budget. Poo happens, I do not think they did anything wrong either way. Plus, they're developers, not necessarily top class managers or bankers.

However, I would like a bit more of transparency on this aspect. They asked people to believe in what they promised, and those people deserve some kind of a neat answer. Being told soon at any given questions about the future or status of the game doesn't make everyone happy.

I'm a sweetheart to all <3

Also, I'm still waiting for that pony commander.

That kind of conclusion requires what feels like quite a few unfounded assumptions.

Like I said/alluded to earlier, Uber has always been open about the idea that just because the Kickstarter goal or Stretchgoals were set at certain amounts didn't imply it would be that exact cost and that they were self funding the project in addition to everything else.

They also never stated SPECIFIC goals they're aiming for and they were pretty clear that while they deemed the 900K the bare minimum needed to make AN game it was always a case of "The more funding we get, the bigger/better the game would be.

I would say that it is a fair assumption that Uber was counting on continued funding via Post-KS Pre-orders and eventually Steam Early Access to SOME degree because lets face it, in a project as big and complex as making a game it'd be folly to expect things to be executed 100% perfectly so having a safety blanket is just a good idea. In this case it turned out that PA got to be pretty popular and has done really well it seems in terms of continued funding which has been rolled right back into game and numerous ways.

In the end, The PA we have today is DIRECTLY a result of not only the support during the Kickstarter but all all the support since then as well. If PA had only made 900K on the Kickstarter and didn't do ANY Pre-Orders that PA wouldn't be the same as the PA we have now. Uber was Always intended on scaling the scope of PA to the budget. They haven't been pocketing the money or anything nefarious like that.

Mike

Let's try with simple questions, then.

Where exactly has been clearly written on Kickstarter that vastly surpassing the budget for all the stretched goals (closed to 3 billion initially, more during the following years) wouldn't be sufficient for completing not even the basic game (less than 1 billion required)?

Mike- my comments regarding the deal with Nordic aren't suggesting that they are taking over or now somehow in charge of the project. The case still remains that to even open that kind of discussion up and persuade them to go to the effort of putting the game on the shelves- there has to be evidence that the demand is there for this type of game and that distributing it in this way will in actual fact return more than the cost of the investment.

I personally believe that before the Kickstarter campaign few if any publishers would have touched PA due to the fact that the perception was that there's no longer interest or money in RTS games.

What's more interesting is that since PA took off in the way it did, a whole raft of other interesting RTS games have been announced- it could be coincidence but I think Uber didn't just prove the relevance of PA but the RTS genre as a whole.

I guess RTS will never bring in the revenue like your GTA or BattleMedalShooty games will- but they've proved that it is a much bigger niche than first thought and there is reasonable money to be made if you have the right product.

I don't understand what you're asking here, but I do know that this thread is quickly spiraling into tinfoil hat territory. Planetary Annihilation is a video game we're making with your support and our own. We didn't spend the Kickstarter money on an island so we could make our own Jurassic Park or anything.

Really? Then where did Godzilla come from?

I believe he's saying that with all the extra money on the kickstarter how have you not been able to finish the 'base' game. Which I have to say, the base game is complete pretty much, we even have planet smashing and have for months. You guys at Uber have done some fantastic work with your low budget and I can't wait to see your future developments. Big rock feature immanent!

Thanks, dude!

I think everyone out there has a different interpretation of what the "base game" is, but we're definitely still making the game.

This is old but, yes, you can stack keys. I've already stacked my Steam edition of the game as well as my Cosmic edition.

No problem! Now may I have a sneak peak at that "big rock feature" eh? Nah, just kidding.

Oh and sorry for double post.

Trust me, no you don't.
The conspiracy BS on this forum is already bad enough, but when a company is transparent about MONEY, **** hits the fan. Fast.

So far, Uber has delivered in ways that clearly show they can be trusted, so what "answer" do you want?

It simplifies things, in an iterative process "soon" really is the best you can manage.

This does also work on the flipside you know - What about the people who never saw the kickstarter or preorder versions of the game, they don't get all of the exclusive commanders many of you have access to.

Perhaps it would be nice if they were exclusive for 3 months and then commanders could be bought separately as cosmetic items.

Uber is a company after all. "old backers" payed already. Uber need more people to buy PA so they can continue to develop, hopefully forever. And that's a good thing for all of us. I would not really worry too much about a few commander models. They are really just a tiny PR-thing Uber needs to attract more buyers.
Which is good for everyone. Also they have not really forgotten anyone. They communicate better than any other company with us in the forums after all.

Frankly, I'm a little upset with Uber now. I wish you guys had been more upfront with us about this Jurassic Park option. I'd have gone for the $10,000 tier to get my own dinosaur but now I'm just stuck with a stupid video game. WTF.

You guys should really learn to read what people actually write, otherwise we'll end up in the usual misunderstanding.

So, I quote myself here.

As for Brad:

Censoring threads do not make things looking better. On the contrary. So if I were you, I would simply say that I do not know the answer, and smart people would sympathyse with you. It's really that simple.

Anyway, my specific question was directed to Knight/Mike. There was nothing accusatory towards Uber in that question (or that wasn't my intention).

However, since I've been asked about the term transparency and the continuous questions about various aspects of the game (like the budget), Uber sold (and prepare to sell) an Early and Alpha access on several marketplaces. No surprise your customers base keeps asking questions about the actual state, past and future of what they bought already.

Or do you guys expect people to lend you money and/or buy a product, and forget about? Is that what you want?

That's true, and it's awesome. But perhaps "communicating better than any other company" is still not enough of a communication, and I do not see how you can blame people for wishing to know more.

So, let's stop with the conspiracy paranoia, and let's try to address recurrent questions. Won't we?

This thread has left the station. Feel free to start up a new Commander thread if ya'll want, but let's keep the conspiracy stuff in another thread so I can find it and lock it easier.