Greedy Uber Entertainment?

I will try to present Alpha testing to everyone over my channel, hopefully people won't be like "dude just play the game.." but understand how actual alpha testing is done.

I have two pcs with very different hardware so I'll try to do testing on both of them, maybe even my dad's laptop if he lets me.
I'm not a developer myself so writing detailed bug reports will be difficult for me, I figured providing the problem visually along with a short description will be much easier to understand. :mrgreen:

I tested a lot of smaller games so this big one will be a nice challenge! :ugeek:

Well you could try checking out the bug report system for Dwarf Fortress you'll have a good idea of what to type. http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/manti ... g_page.php

I said it before and will do it again:

I paid more because I am sick of those f*cking publishers with their sh*t soo called AAA games trying to milk out every euro I got. I am sick of those publishers who have bought very populair IP's and game companies only to destroy them for that one euro/dollar more (Simcity anybody?!).

I have send a message to every game publisher out their that I *AM* willing to pay more but *ONLY* for a game which is made *WITH PASSION* without any interference from those so called "investors".

There is only one thing that matters in the end, and thats money. Paying a bit more is a small price to get the signal out: Stop making crap and start making games we want!

ps: sorry for any foul language

When I watched a Let's Play on Youtube and saw how small the 'cities' were, something in me died. The new developers completely failed to grasp what the original Sim City was about, and what made me spend hours and hours in that game. :?

Haha that was my first thought too . I've had to deal with a heap of QA bug reports over the years and even professional QA testers can be terrible at it, I dare not imagine some of the reports that Uber will be getting from completely untrained players :|.

I know right? How the hell did they miss the mark by so much, and worst of all, the "good" features that it does have are just so poorly written (like the traffic path finding which is just atrocious) that I'd have been embarrassed if my name was attached to it . Though to be fair it is an EA game so the devs were probably rushed into doing something else before they could actually finish such features.

Many people feel that the Kickstarter development model is a good solution to these problems. Major publishers will always have a place as spunkgargleweewee games do sell lots of copies. But there will always be a place for smaller studios like Uber as long as there are people who want "good" games as opposed to "popular" games.

Sorry, I have been gone since I posted this thread and I haven't read through it yet but I will.

So far I've scrolled through fast and as far as I can see, all the fanboys and raging like mad, but this was expected. I think this would have been a bit better if I posted it outside the backers forum, but I wanted to post it on the backers forum to actually show that someone who loves this game and backs it does not agree with it's unfair prices.

Look at a lot of other kickstarters, there are very few who actually takes up to 20 to 50 dollars for alpha and beta.. Stop with the "they don't have a publisher", without a publisher they can earn a **** ton more than what a game developing company who for example publishes their games through huge companies like EA/Ubi and so on does. IF they are successful (they will be) they will rack in a A LOT of cash.

How are the unfair? Why are people obligated to be part of alpha/beta anyway? How do you determine the worth of alpha and beta?

You may very well call me or anybody else here a fanboy, but this is not an argument to invalidate what I or anybody else says.

EDIT:

If the game is successful I am pretty sure you are right about the fact that they can make more money than with a publisher. However before that is the case they first need to be successful. For that they first need a lot of money to develop the game. Which is way they need to ask for money on KS. The money from KS is absolutely necessary to get anywhere, so ofc they asked for as much as they thought people would pay.

There should never be a huge price for alpha or beta.

Because alpha and beta are there for customers to test a product and report back to the developers with all the bugs to basically make the game better. They want payment from us for helping them to make the game better, sell better and get better reviews at release because it has less bugs because we who played the alpha and beta reported tons of bugs for them to fix before releasing the game?

As I said before, when it was on kickstarter, they were mostly there as gifts for you backing so much. And how is it expensive? SupCom was 50 bucks if I remember on retail, and FA was something like, 40? 30? We're talking it's normal for new releases to be 50 bucks, 60 more like it these days, and for that, all you get is a release of the game. And here, for 70 (if you backed) we get alpha access, beta access, soundtrack, 4 unique commanders (that come to mind), wallpaper, and a digital artwork book.

And think about it for a moment. Quality control. If you take a look, there's going to be over 8000 alpha members in game. If they accepted alpha members for free, that number would skyrocket. There comes a point where if you lower the price, you start getting way too much information. Yes, Alpha is here to get us the game, but it's also here so we can report bugs and comment on game features. Too many people, and all of a sudden you can't even wade through everything. A price point is a great way to limit how many people you get for these systems. Granted, Kickstarter was more about simply getting money to fund it, but it's not unreasonable to not want so many alpha and beta people for such a small company.

Regardless of what you think the game is worth, Alpha and beta prices have very little to do with how much the game it's worth. If you wanted the game, you'd have paid 20 bucks on kickstarter and been done. This way, they can have an acceptable amount of testers for their small company.

The purpose of the pricing is to get the money to make the game. No money, no game. In an "ideal" world we would just make the game and give it away for free. However, since we have kids to feed we need to pay people to work on the game.

So we can either charge enough to make the game or not make the game at all. It's kinda that simple. The pricing structure was directly created to make sure the kickstarter was successful.

So your "there should never be a huge price for alpha or beta" is wishful thinking. Having the call to call us greedy when we are a small struggling company who does everything on a shoe string is pretty insulting.

First off, I didn't really pay for Alpha access, I paid for an artbook, a special commander, my name in the titles, naming a commander, etc. All the other *tangible* post-release bits. Getting access to the alpha was just a bonus. After the game is released, do I still have my alpha access? Nope. Do I still have my Beta access? Nope.

The people with more invested in this venture (the people who pay for the higher tiers) have more "skin in the game" to make sure a great game comes out at the end, so we'll be more likely to playtest the crap out of this in alpha and beta, and put forth the effort to give good feedback early and often.

I get that you don't want to spend the money to get into the higher tiers. You put in, therefore, minimal effort to participate. Don't be surprised if you get minimum return on your participation. Arguing with a company about their prices rarely has the effect of getting prices lowered. You know what does? A lack of customers willing to pay the price, something Uber is not experiencing.

But hey, if you want to try and hold back the tide, feel free to do so. Just don't insult us by implying we're fanboys when we laugh at your antics from the shore.

I think some people don't really understand the kickstarter system in general. The point of the system is to support a project in its early stages and not to get the best price on a product in different bundles. In a way its more comparable to a donation for a cause you want to support than a transaction for something you want to buy and most of the rewards for different levels have a more symbolic character (in particular the higher levels).
In short, don't take the dollar values in kickstarter projects too literal. The values tend to be chosen to get a modelled outcome in basic funding and motivate people to participate, but they don't need to mirror prices you would get on ebay.

Similar effects came up in discussions on stretch goals and the surrounding assumptions the values chosen for certain levels have to be the exact cost equivalent to achieve the additional goal.

Good point here. And yes, stretch goal pricing is not necessarily related to production cost. Same with the overall kickstarter. I'm in a position to know many many people who have done successful campaigns and the relationship between money asked for and cost is often tenuous.

OH no, you have to pay for a game! How disgraceful, closed beta keys are usually $20 for a basic thing. You don't see many games let you play on alpha, usually they have a team/company do that for them (I work for one myself so I know a bit about it) and really, why complain about the pricing of a game that has been funded by kickstarter. I.e; the fans, if you don't like this game then you wouldn't back it, but if you think the game is going to be f*n awesome like everybody else, I don't see money as the real issue.. If you aren't old enough to work, ask parents. If you are, get a job, usually sorts out money problems.

While testing and bug reporting are a key part of alpha and beta, it's not the only reason. The opportunity to influence the game is probably a huge draw to many people. That's exactly what you are getting as a backer with alpha and beta access, the responsibility to test and report issues, AND the opportunity to directly influence the game with the developers before its released for the game you are going to be likely playing quite a bit.

The price of admission for that opportunity seems quite reasonable.

Lawl the Alpha and Beta aren't hugely priced or something. And it's not about us testing the game, it's about us getting the game inside our gaming hands earlier. We get the unfinished game earlier for a bit of extra money. I think it's a good deal.

Just putting it out there, I'm still happy with giving Uber $90.

Ditto!

Heck, I have preorders on Saints Row IV, GTA V and will likely preorder a PS4 and/or next X-Box along with Watch Dogs... wish they offered Alpha or Beta access

Same here, although i didn't throw that much money at 'em But it does seem that some ppl just don't understand that it's more of a donation, rather than a purchase.