Is Planetary Annihilation a failure already?

Is Planetary Annihilation a failure already?

After the refusal from Uber to address some specific questions asked my many, I decided to gather attention about the state of the game and the incoming release. In fact, Uber is pretty vague about what will happen next.

Not exactly the best way to address some important questions that have been asked on that thread. I've already published my review about the game on Steam and it is not flattering.

With my great surprise, I also found out that on Steam the list of negative reviews for PA is endless. But very few focus on what is going on at the Gamma Stage of the game, and what will possibly happen after the incoming release.

So, here some speculation to support my fear that the game is already a failure. I would be happy if you could refute and disprove my following statement. So, if you can, please do. I will publish this very text on my blog as well, but first I would like to know your opinions about.

Problems in the core

Of course mine is just a hypothesys, due to the statement from BradNicholson who said that in order to add the Unit Cannon they would have to put their engineers at work on this specific task for weeks.

"The Unit Cannon will take weeks of time from our engineers that we just don't want to spend on this milestone release."

I also recalled that the Multi Unit Transport had been labeled not viable because some technical issues, and coding complexity against the budget at their disposal.

I can see a pattern taking shape. Multi-units objects should have been taken in consideration core-wise at day zero, since they were part of the main concept. But clearly they did not.

Goals and budget

Now, the funding via Kickstarter actually largely surpassed what has been pledged in the first place. In fact all stretched goals had been met, I repeat, largely. They asked 900.000 USD to start with, and they got almost 3 million in the first month alone.

They promised, in the order:

1. Naval and Units and Water Planets (incomplete)
2. Gas Giant and Orbital Units (incomplete)
3. Metal and Lava Planets (incomplete)
4. Galactic War (absent)
5. Full Orchestral Score (apparently done)

So far goal 5. has been achieved. You would assume that all the previous goals should have previously achieved as well. Let me also remind you that the Unit Cannon was included in the first 900.000 USD, so that should have been made even before the Naval.

Nevertheless, Neutrino stated yesterday "The kickstarter contributions were never going to be enough for the full production." - So, let me get this straight. More than 3 times the pledged budget wasn't enough to complete the fundamental game? Which let me wondering as well who's the genius behind such a brilliant budgeting?

https://forums.uberent.com/threads/neutrino-how-are-the-pa-sales.57816/page-6#post-895935

Or perhaps the intention has always been to find a bigger partner to complete the game, and Kickstarter was simply a way to pre-sell the product and test "the water"?

The deadline issue

So where is exactly the problem? There are still many things missing in the game that have been promised, and no one here is pushing for release.

So my guessing (as good as yours), is that the core at the moment is incapable of multi-units dynamics, and it would require few weeks of works from their engineers to fix that. Also they are late with the Galactic War (single player campaign?). So, the game is late and short in budget.

Meanwhile, Uber closed a deal with Nordic Games for a release in the late May 2014.

On their website you can still read the statement "Planetary Annihilation will be available through retail stores and digitally when it's done." - Nevertheless Uber has to meet a deadline for releasing the game on the 23rd of May 2014.

http://www.nordicgames.at/index.php/product/planetary_annihilation

Which one of the two, in your opinion, has the priority? You wishes, and your small personal investment in the game, or the agreement Uber closed with Nordic Games which very likely has some penalty if not fulfilled?

I presume the latter, which pretty much override everything (specially override the Kickstarter campaign). Therefore the so many features that will not be present in version 1.0.

So now the game is no longer done when is done. But it has to be done to meet the deadline closed with Nordic Games. As simple as that.

In the end, what Brad said "...we gotta focus on polishing the game for all of you at the moment." Sounds a bit of an hypocrisy.

Modification to the core and Planetary Annihilation 2.

If the core isn't able to handle multi units objects, like the Unit Cannon, Bigger Transporter, or perhaps Dropships, they will eventually have to modify the core. Otherwise someone else will have to.

If there will be different versions of the core out there, there will no longer be an unique game. This will break the community in parts and the less mod-savvy player will unable to join a bigger scaled game. Those players will be disappointed by the limit of the game regarding a single player mode, or a wider experience in multiplayer (like planetary invasions).

How Uber will regain control of the situation? They will have to release something unequivocally distinct from version 1.0.

Also, they will have to deeply enhance the core and add all the missing features, Galactic Wars, Gas Giants, Orbital stuffs, Unit Cannon, full water support... the list is pretty long.

Do you really see all those goodies coming as patches to version 1.0? With Nordic Games in play and perhaps other investors? I remind you that "The kickstarter contributions were never going to be enough for the full production.".

We have been fooled

We have been fooled, guys. It's really that simple.

Prepare your wallet. Big players want more money for what Uber recklessly promised on Kickstarter.

The bad news is, and it is sad, Uber likely has little fault in that. They tried, but ultimately the money-game was too big for them, and they lost control on their baby.

Even worse news, Planetary Annihilation, as a kickstarter project, can be archived as a failure (or it will be soon). Listening to Neutrino, it has been a failure since day one, 'cos they never got enough money to complete the game in the first place anyway.

I cannot decide if feeling amused by things like that, or saddened.

Meh.

Well if you have lost hope in Uber and PA, then there is nobody stopping you from leaving the forum.

So you know the situation ins not very rosy and still you want to make it even worse by publishing this kind of stuff without having any solid data and sources to back it up?



I am not saying you are wrong. But we all want to see the game succeed. Creating bad PR is not very helpful.

Never EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER give the reviews, especially the negative ones, on an early access game any though at all. They are nothing but people whinging about not getting a complete game in early access.

This is a big game. It's going to take time, being negative about it is not going to help. Have patience and stop being so hyperbolic about the state of things.

FFS stop with the doom and gloom attention whoring across the forums. Your conspiracy theories are just that, wacked out half-baked theories for you to obsess over. It never stated in the Kickstarter that every single stretch goal would be met by release. Uber is doing the best they can to ensure a game is released that is actually playable. General polishing and balancing will make what we have now suitable for a successful release so they can actually have the money they need to have a shot at adding the full feature list.

This thread should be deleted, and I think the OP should be banned until they've had a chance to cool off a little and stop with the drama whoring.

Also, pretty petty and ridiculous how you are acting like holding your review over their head is a big deal. No one cares about your hystrionic review. The world doesn't revolve around you buddy, chill.

Be careful with your wording. There is very little that Uber has explicitly promised in the Kickstarter and that which they did is already (completely?) in the game. Promotional material does not constitute contractual legal bindings.
I feel your frustration but I don't think yours is the right course of action. Show some restraint, let yourself and Uber catch breath again and see what they have to say over the course of the next few days.

edit: To all those criticising him for writing a negative review: It is valid/worth as much as all those praise reviews out there and I have not seen anyone break a sweat over those, yet.

No. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and the ability to express them.

What a negative assessment of the situation.

The key factors are:

1: Water and naval are in and playable but need work (and are being worked on)
2: Orbital is in and playing well, although we are still waiting on Gas Giants I grant you (but then I'd rather they'd focus on improving the main biomes first).
3: Metal and Lava planets are in. The only thing missing on them is the 'ancient weapon' on the metal planets.
4: Galactic war does exist and they have a playable version in hand (we just haven't been given it yet) so I'm fairly sure this will be added before release
5: The orchestral score is definitely done and sounds brilliant. I don't know what else you could possibly have expected on this front?!

So basically the main issue is we don't yet have the unit cannon and that 1 particular feature is likely to come after the 1.0 release.

You're saying the 'core' of the game is broken as it doesn't support multi units- yet they've built the first engine I've ever come across that allows land battle on simultaneous multiple spherical battle fields. That is a pretty big feat in my opinion and has been the focus of allot of their attention.

Personally, I'm happy for the game to go to release with a few features missing if they can:
A: Tidy up the core game play mechanics (I still think a few new units are needed, and the balance still needs some work but it's getting there)
B: Improve performance a bit more
C: Reduce bandwidth / improve server stability.
D: Introduce the Galactic war as that is going to be very important for both single player and multi player campaigns (and I'm pretty sure this is going to be in before 1.0).

If some of the other features don't make it in initially, then well I can live with this. Also they have confirmed multiple times that they intend to provide free patches to add in any promised features after release. So we haven't been duped, far from it. I think Uber will deliver on all the promises made- they just may have to do it in a slightly different order than they first thought.

The game is good and fun to play, simple as that.

The problem is that any kind of "unsatisfying release" will create LOTS of bad PR because there are many people who are simply waiting for this game to fail.

I will just post that long wall of text I wrote for the other thread (while it was being closed -.-) here.

Sure, but he's blatantly abusing the forums to spread this vitriol. The other thread was closed for a reason. Everyone is NOT entitled to expressing their opinions. This is a private forum owned by Uber. He's annoying and trolling the entire forums. Anyway, report(ed) and move on.

Wow this is one of worst posts I've read recently. I've just wasted my life reading this. All issues you brought up are by far less priority than stuff that they are working on now.

There is one flaw in your logic there.
900,000 was the money asked to produce the base game, without any of the stretch goals. So naturally adding in the stretchgoals requires more money, and more time to produce. That changes the timeline significantly.
I don't think a delay of an official 1.0 release constitutes a failed game either. A failed game is one that sucks *** through a straw, doesn't work, etc. and while the current state of the game still has bugs, it is very enjoyable to play. Not done, but still a lot of features there that do work and make playing enjoyable.

As for the money never having been enough... yeah, it would have been better to be upfront about that.
Takedown: Red Sabre did say something like that during their kickstarter, that the money raised there was going to be used to create an alpha product to show to publishers. They did manage to get a publisher involved, but unfortunately the game still sucked. Seems like they published it at alpha with rudimentary gameplay at best, because a proper tactical shooter it is not.
I don't see that here though.

Shoot, I picked the game up for 30 bucks in the first steam sale. I've already played over 60 hours and watched countless casts. Money well spent as far as i'm concerned. The core game is great and i'd rather have it continue to tighten before new core mechanics are added.

I think you need a reality check. $900k to make a game like this isn't possible. The $2.2M isn't even close to enough either. People seem to think if a stretch goal costs $300k more then it quite simply takes $300k to make that stretch goal. That is absolutely not true.

Please tell me one other game that is essentially a AAA title with a tiny fraction of a normal game budgets and with less staff over a far smaller timescale.

Genuinely it feels like you're expecting a AAA title with over $10M in funding made by a large design studio in several years, yet with very little money and a small indie developer in one year.

WARNING! WARNING! DRAMA QUEEN ALERT! WARNING!

Just mod it.

Wasn't this the universal answer? Ah maybe it doesn't fit that well here.

Dude you should probably just play another game or sth. Looks like you are not having fun so why hang around. There are people here who enjoy playing the game and you are just posting unconstructive drivel that doesn't help anyone.
I get that you are passionate about some big whoop-di-whoop you thought PA would be for you - but it seems like that's something that didn't materialize for you.
So take a break, play FAF or TA or some other rts and check back in a while to see if things got better.

GL with whatever man, but chill the **** out- it's just vidyagames

So, PA is a failure because you got butthurt? Goodbye man, you won't be missed.