If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going?

This is a question more for the Dev team than anyone else, but anyone who can give me a concrete answer is more than welcome to chime in.

I only stumbled across PA a few weeks ago, and I am thinking about picking up Alpha access on steam. I have a question about where my money is going to go though.

If I purchase now, is my money going to go towards further developing the game - implementing new features and generally packing more into the finished product (I know this is an over the top example for my $90 contribution; but say by hiring more staff so more can be done before launch) OR would my money just go to the profits the game is going to make (as it has already been funded via kick starter)?

At the moment, as PA is going down the route of TA rather than SC or SC:FA and the lack of unit variety (two tech levels, one race) is hurting my enthusiasm a little. Therefore I would be over the moon (and get the alpha access) if I thought that it might contribute even the tiniest amount to bringing a few more features into the final version! I know multiple races is confirmed not included so I'm not expecting anything like that.

Basically, I am just wondering where my money is off to. Funding further development, or boosting profits.

Anyone know?

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

I'm betting on further development, but buy from the official uber store so they get more money.

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

Either way, it's going to support the company, and that's what it's really about.

also, I know you didn't mention this, but in both cases of kickstarter and Steam, they both get a cut. I don't know which one gets more though.

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

Further development. Making games is pretty expensive. I.e. making SupCom 1 cost 11.5 Million $. So basically, your money will flow into the wages of the guys at Uber, so they can keep developing. And into other random costs they have.

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

I bought mine through the site, turned around and clicked the steam conversion, and then added on my steam account. It isn't hard PM me if you have questions on how to do that. Either way.

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

I bet the more money the devs get the longer they will be able to support the game after launch.

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

If you think about it, SupCom had very little Unit variety actually, because of the way the Tiers were balanced once you had more than 10 higher Tier units the Lower Tiers were basically worthless and you only ever used 2-4 units from any given Tier at a time.

The short version of the plan that seems to be the goal is 2 densely populated Tiers that have a much smaller Power Gap between along with keeping general purpose units in T1 and more specialized Units in T2 support having more units that are actually usable at any given time.

The Single Faction is primarily a budget thing, making multiple factions, even if they're Done SupCom Style as opposed to Star-Craftian style, is very expensive in terms of art assets. Only doing only one Unit pool lets them save some money while still providing a densely populated unit selection.

These are both questions that come up very often, check the Topic Index and do Some Searches and you'll find a lot of discussion on these.

Mike

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

Definitely further development. We would love to hire more people to work on the team but as it is can't afford to do that yet. Making games is really expensive.

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

Fantastic! Thank you all for your replies. I am now the proud owner of an Alpha key (got it through the Uber Store so hopefully you guys got the most amount of money). I hope you continue to make things more awesome!

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

I suspect there will be more than 2 tech levels later on - maybe not in terms of "every unit type has >2 tech levels, but instead it's entirely possible that space units will emulate high tech levels by having longer intel range etc, instead of just continually popping down higher tech radar y'know.

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

Now you say this I'm intrigued to know how sales have been since the Alpha release. I mean it's been in the top sold games on Steam for a couple of days, which would suggest to me a significant revenue boost.

Re: If I by the steam version of PA, where is my money going

Hiring even one person for only 6 months can cost anywhere from 35k to 100k or more depending on what their skill set is and what part of the country you are in.