What would you do ?

One last talk and im out :

What would you do if someone would say to you:

Hey im writing a great sci-fi book right now. Im only done with page 20 out of 200 and this 20 pages are not fun to read in the moment because they are only conceptional,but you can buy this 20 pages for 50 $ and you will become the rest of the 180 pages when I'm done ( or maybe every x days one page) , for free.

If you wait till the release date with buying my book (full 200 pages) than it will cost only 30 dollars.

So you decide.
How would you decide?

Many of you can't understand the critic on ubers alpha politic, but keep in mind its exactly the same like in the example above.

Many of you argue that : Full game + Alpha is total legit to cost more than the full game because alpha is additional.But it is not additional code , nor contend, that's the point.

Alpha is part of the code they will release with the finished version of the game , and on top of that a buggy inferior version of a very tiny part of the finished code.

-Its not additional content.
-They have to do server traffic testing and playerfeedback testing anyways for being successful.
You save them money, because elsewise they had to pay a huge amount of people for playtesting and serverstability tests.
- Its not right to charge you the player for that.They should be thankfull that you help them and not the other way around.

Plz wake up before other developer follow ubers practice and soon you have to pay for every alpha nearly fullprice additional.

The other developers wont say:"We finance our game not over kickstarter so it would be unfair to charge the same as uber does, for alpha plus game"
They will say:"Oh interesting people are willing to pay nearly full price of the game on top of the game for the alpha, we will do the same as uber does"


I have nothing against kickstarter, but many people have a lot against uber leading other developers the way for this kind of ridicules priced alphas !! Plz don't buy the alpha you are hurting yourself and gameingcommunities around you.

Thanks for listening.


P.S Only one thing left to say:

No, the amount of money which a person is willing to pay, is not an indicator of the quality of his feedback as an alphatester, at all !!!

So, for example, if someone buys his desktop PC for nearly the double amount of money than someone else , would you really say that this person will give better feedback on how to build an custom desktop pc???

I'm sorry but you totally fail at marketing. Please think about the purpose of an alpha and the meaning of the term exclusionary pricing. Stop being an idiot and read this thread.

your analogies are garbage.

Crowd funding is a relatively new way of product financing, why are you comparing it to mainstream financing? its apples and oranges.

I would personally rather pay a higher price for a game made by developers who will listen more to the community which will be given a more active role in development (whether they want to or not due to the amounts being paid).

I guess what im trying to say is, quit your bitching.

By looking at his proposal for the book and deciding if I want to help him be able to finish the book.

I understand it perfectly. The people who criticize it are just idiots who do not understand game development.

So? Why should that make it cheaper? Its up to you to decide if you think the price is worth what is being offered. Nobody is forcing you to buy it.

Who cares what other developers do. Each company will do what they feel is best for their product. So some will make early access cheap and others will make it expensive. The market will decide which is better. And to be honest there is probably room for both models in the market.

Other devs don't really care what Uber does nor will they alter their marketing strategies because of what Uber does or does not do. Stop being stupid.

Screw you and those other people. Uber is not in some sort of commanding position to dictate market trends in the gaming industry, nobody is. It is the blatant ignorance of people like you that is hurting the gaming community. Not indie devs pioneering a new development model.

Current evidence contradicts you. You have obviously not bought the alpha and are not providing any kind of useful feed back at all, just inane ramblings.

You analogy does not apply. I cannot go and buy a PA clone for less than $90 that offers the same game play. Unlike spunkgargleweewee RTS titles in the style of TA are quite rare. Counting PA itself there have been 4, ever.

I can however pre order PA for only $40. So I guess you could say that the guy buying the PC bought the $1200 one instead of the identical $600 next to it because he wanted the limited edition mouse pad and screen saver.

In your actual analogy I would offer to build him a PC for slightly less than the pre built one and pocket the difference. Welcome to the real world buddy.

Hey its my favorite community member, how are you doing?Feeling good today?

This one sentence i hear you repeat in many topics over and over again.
Like a damaged record player. Plz dont start developing a opinion and keep hideing
behind insulting(more or less) other players, with the same repetitiv talk over and over agin.

And i mean this in an non ironic way. I really like you that way, its very entertaining.
So take it as an compliment not as an offence. I wish you the best.

You too are quite entertaining. Please be sure to not read my well thought out points that totally destroy your post and all others like it.

Uber doesn't lead anyone to anything, they're not Valve for anyone serious to care.
Your concerns are pointless until someone will actually try to do this without legit reasons.
And even then - i don't see it as a big deal. We're still getting our good finished game at a reasonable price and date. Do you really want to alpha test everything? For me it mostly worsens the experience, since I play buggy and unbalanced game and by the point it's released I'm already bored of it and want to play something else.

viewtopic.php?f=61&t=47976

A nice post from Araxisht that gives a nice perspective of how you could look at it. Buying the game in it's alpha is purely optional. Many games that have alpha versions are often very close to Beta already. On the contrary this game is really alpha with many features that are incomplete or not yet implemented.

As such offering it for a lower price, for example 25 dollars. Would mean that many players buy the game, then realise it's not all that playable yet, and then ditch it.

Yes thats legit, as i said i dont have anything against kickstarter, but what if some aspects of ubers pricepolitic will inspire other developers outside of kickstarter to do the same ?

It has nothing to do with the size of an developer, if other developers see an trend to make more money out of the customer than they will do. And uber showed them that it is possible. Do you think they say:"Uber is to small so we wont include their pricepolitic in our strategy even if it had perfectly worked" ?????

Why should they say something like that . Of cause the will adapt it , it has nothing to do with the size of Uber.

They dont make it cheaper , it costs 40$ additional if the finished game will cost 50$.
90 $ = 40$ + 50$.

And than you said something like this, but removed it 5 minutes after from your post:

antillie:

You mean well thought out arguments like this:

It's only up to you to pay or not to pay those additional 50$. Nobody forces you to. Why do you care?

So what? Just don't buy their stuff if you don't like them or how they choose to do business. Problem solved. Expecting Uber to do things differently just because they might give some other developer an idea is just stupid. Stop being an idiot.

So? There is nothing wrong with this. In fact that is how the market is supposed to work. If you don't like it don't buy the products in question. If that prospect makes you unhappy then too bad, cry me a river.

No they don't make it cheaper. And there is nothing wrong with that. What you are saying does not make any sense and seems to contradict your earlier post.

Yes. Exactly like that. If you had bothered to read any of the other threads on this subject you would see that my points are very well thought out and entirely justified and explained in a calm and civil manner.

You are trying to make arguments about something that you do not understand without making any attempt to understand the issues at play. This makes you an idiot and gives me perfectly reasonable justification to call you out on it.

I would obviously be so insulted that I would waste my time arguing with those who agreed to the terms of the arrangement over a year ago who are really happy that they are able to play it or will be able to play but can watch what it looks like.
I'd probably have then argued against them on a platform on which it was just released.
Or I could just walk away and wait for when it's actually finished before I pass judgement?
Just out of interest how much time have you spent what could be seen as trolling on this one issue? Because instead of that maybe you could play some games, go out see a movie, make a nice pie. You know something positive.

This is an excellent proposal and probably the best course of action for most people regarding PA. Just wait till it is released and then decide if its worth your money or not.

To much, but i dont see this as an problem its an interessting field study on the behavior of different kind of people. You for example are very relaxed others are not.

But you are right im arguing for the purpose of arguing. But not with the motive you imply.

It is very interresting finding out why people rage about something and how they see their self and the others in the moment of rage.

Today people are doing nothing else the whole day then searching for something negative on another person, just that they can feel superior for a few seconds, befor they fall in the next emotional hole.

If we understand better why people are behaving that way, then maybe we can help them to avoid this kind of behavior.

So im only here because im interestet in those kind of people and get a better understanding of them. What better way then to look for them then on internet forums?

But i must really go now. I like your attitude and i mean that really with respect.
Not in an entertaint way like i did it by antillie.
Dont worry i lost interest of this forum because the discussion was getting stale.
So i wont bother you anymore again.

Uber is a private company that can do anything they want! It is up to you if you wanna buy their products or not... So, if this price police they are using is so successful that other companies want to use it, great!!
And you know that coming here in Uber's forum and telling people not to buy their product (without even owning it) is not a good thing.

The only infinite thing that is proven aside from numbers is human stupidity.

lols. So the trolls have come... At least this will keep those of us who don't have the alpha entertained for a bit as we wait.

Can everyone arguing in support of Uber's pricing please stop using the Alpha reasoning and point out;

$90 IS FOR THE GALACTIC SPECIAL EDITION. ALPHA ACCESS IS AN INCLUDED BONUS FOR THIS ALONGSIDE OTHER PARTS OF THE GALACTIC EDITION INCLUDING ARTBOOK, BETA ACCESS, SOUNDTRACK, THETA COMMANDER ETC ETC. THE BASE GAME IS $40 BUT VALVE DID NOT PERMIT PUTTING THE OTHER PRICE POINTS ON STEAM

You can preorder the game for the normal price on the Uber store.

Can't decide if I should feed the troll, or just move on...
Oh what the heck, I'll feed.

The very fact that you're complaining about this means that you're interested in the game. If you saw a $90 game that you didn't care about, you would just saw "Wow, that's kinda crazy," and move on. The reason you're upset, then, is because you see the game, and want it, and cannot afford the $90 alpha level.

Which illustrates the unique position that Uber is in. Most indie developers nowadays are unproven and have to lower the price during alpha and beta to encourage people to take a chance on their game. Once a few people are playing the alpha, word of mouth gets out, and by the time the game is "finished" (which means a lot less than it used to), potential customers are less skeptical of the game and are willing to pay more.

In contrast, Uber has already mobs of fans - yourself included - clamoring to get their hands on any tiny little bit of Planetary Annihilation that they can. So what are they going to do? Discount the game? No. Economics 101: the person who least wants what the other has effectively sets the price. An unproven indie developer desperately wants your business, so the price is in your favor. You desperately want into the PA alpha, so the price is in Uber's favor.

And that's all there is to it!

OK, fine, I feel like feeding the troll even more. You know that sci-fi novel analogy you gave? That works perfectly to illustrate the unproven indie model. The equivalent analogy applied to PA would be something more along the lines of the author of a cult-classic sci-fi series announcing that he's writing a new book. Seeing that fans are crying out that they can't wait, he offers them a deal: pay a little bit extra, and get the privilege of reading the rough drafts as they're being written.

Doesn't seem so unreasonable now, does it?

Games cost money. Like, a lot of money. Like, more money than you have in your wallet.

/thread, move along.