Expectations (and managing them)

--snip--

...

• Unit Cannon
• Asteroid Belts
• amphibious units (current OP bugged Dox don't count)
  
• [Galactic War] exciting counter attacks and special missions
• giant artificial battle stations that can be recycled or reactivated (metal planets)

Those were all on the kickstarter too. Not trying to be negative, but let's be honest about the gap between what was promised and what exists today. There are also some amazing things they have done that were never promised.

Personally i'm not at all surprised, and even with this list, feel that Uber made it a lot farther than I expected. For me it is more surprising that anyone legitimately thought that every single stretch goal was guaranteed or even likely (or even wanted!) in the final product. Kickstarter is salesmanship and a pitch is a pitch.

There's a vast difference between whose Kickstarter project it is, and what expectations can be considered realistic.

Suggesting that there actually are people who don't want stretch goals included in the final product is an entirely alien train of thought to me. Uber consciously played the Hype, Nostalgia and Industry Veteran cards, both during their KS campaign and the post-KS marketing. Their accolades, their experience, their previous games - all were used as an implied guarantee: we're experts at what we're doing, so trust us.

Hear me out: I'm not saying that's a bad thing! I'd have done the same; it's an amazing and highly effective method of marketing, one I love to employ in my own job on projects where I get the chance to do so. But it's also risky: People believe your promises. Not believe as in "I'll believe that unknown indie studio and give them $10", but believe as in "I'll believe these guys and buy the cosmic edition for $250". And not just any people: RTS veterans, former and current hardcore gamers and a lot of very, very vocal folks.

So Uber will have to deliver on their promises (most of them, say 95% - I think we all agree that 100% is overkill). Because they asked people to trust them, and people did, and they're not just some run of the mill studio producing 8bit platformers. They're a studio deserving of people's trust - and they have to honor that.

There are no promises on the Kickstarter page, all there is is a pitch.

I disagree.

The Kickstarter page lists out a bunch of features to be delivered.

If they don't deliver on those features, then they break their Kickstarter promise.

Technically they can, but they really shouldn't, list out a bunch of features in a Kickstarter campaign and then don't follow through with a lot of them.

No, no it doesn't, it lists out a bunch of things they want to do. I want to know where you're getting the word promise from.

I wish people could see some game pitches that get made to a publisher compared to the end result. This game is very close to the original vision! Every game starts with a plan and ends with a final product. Some planned features turn out better than expected, but others don't quite work. The only reason people think there is a problem here is because that initial pitch was public.

Kickstarter promise, are you ******* joking me. I didn't know it was legally binding, please point me in the direction of said documentation, i missed that one. A Kickstarter promise might aswell be a cub scout promise for all its worth.

You brought a vision.

And holy thread derailment, another thread about missing features, purkiss are you on a mission to turn every thread into a missing feature thread.

Alright! Closing this.