Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on development

Dear Uber Entertainment,

First impression is everything and immediately reflects on all the review sites all over the Internet. I know both you and the fans are anxious to play the release, but I strongly advise to take your time and release a polished version of Planetary Annihilation.

You will actually rack in a lot more money by waiting that extra 3 to 6 months since so many gamers rely on review sites such as GameSpot.com, Amazon.com, and http://www.metacritic.com before determining if they will buy the game.

If you release a game too early you greatly risk getting an undeserved low rating score on those review sites and it turns players away from giving the game a try.

It's going to be an amazing game for RTS fans and you're going to make a ton of money.

Thanks for reading,

Kruelgor Khan

edit:
I made this post because in my 30 years of computer gaming, I've seen it more times than not. I'd say in this era of downloadable updates about 90% of games are released in a beta state with major problems. The thinking by the game devs is they can always release as many patches and updates as necessary to fix the problems. The problem with that philosophy is it distorts the ratings on the game review sites and gives a false impression with a poor rating discouraging the curious onlooker from buying the game. If Uber Entertainment is an exception to the case then that's great news to hear.

It's also a post not only directed to the game developers but also, and maybe even more so directed to the INVESTORS. The investors will very often pressure the game devs to go ahead and release the game prematurely - which is a catastrophic mistake.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

You talk as if the guys at Uber don't know a thing or two about making and releasing video games. Or as if they have little or no experience with the process. What gives you that impression?

Unless you have written and released a few games yourself I don't think you are in a position to give them advice on the development process.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

Don't be so judgemental antillie. kruelgors post could just be seen as an encouragement to the decision that Uber just announced that the release has been pushed back to December which isn't quite the summer of this year which was their previous estimate.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

Heh, appreciate the sentiment, but this is like telling a professional stuntman to "be careful".

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

That's how I took it. Uber has gotten more ambitious and they're going to take their time. I appreciate them not compromising the scope of the game to rush release. These days long closed betas are popular (Path of Exile, DotA2) and great for the dev-communtiy feedback loop.

It seems like Uber wants to make the best RTS they can, not complete an obligation, and that's why they're getting so much player support.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

I made this post because in my 30 years of computer gaming, I've seen it more times than not. I'd say in this era of downloadable updates about 90% of games are released in a beta state with major problems. The thinking by the game devs is they can always release as many patches and updates as necessary to fix the problems. The problem with that philosophy is it distorts the ratings on the game review sites and gives a false impression with a poor rating discouraging the curious onlooker from buying the game. If Uber Entertainment is an exception to the case then that's great news to hear.

It's also a post not only directed to the game developers but also, and maybe even more so directed to the INVESTORS. The investors will very often pressure the game devs to go ahead and release the game prematurely - which is a catastrophic mistake.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

As long as you only mean final release. Alpha players should still get alpha, and beta players beta etc.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

Of course referring to the final release. I don't even think the review sites will allow you to rate a game until the final release.

I'm a big believer in Alpha and open Beta testing, btw.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

Proper retail version will probably come in December like they said. I think thats about enough time to get a decent game up and running

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

The Steam release of SMNC has set a poor precedent for what was a great launch for MNC on Xbox Live and PC.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

Technically it is the summer of this year. Check it down-under :lol:

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

I'll be surprised if the December release is feature complete. I honestly don't think 3 months of Alpha is enough to get in every single thing that Uber has in the pipeline already... the stretch goals, I believe, will not all be there come December.

That is if Uber follows the standard definitions for the end of Alpha and Beta, which is "Feature Freeze" and "No Game Breaking or Critical Bugs" respectively... and I doubt they will be. We'll still be getting features most of the way through Beta is my guess.

Even so... I'll be surprised if Uber is able to get this game to 100% planned feature complete, including ALL stretch goals, by December. Six months just doesn't sound like a lot of time.

A game's got to make money though. Releasing in December is fine by me, I just don't expect every feature touted on the Kickstarter page will be complete by December.

Pardon my cynicism.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

yeah, that may be ambitious. i wouldn't mind them waiting until 2014Q1, but it's likely they want to work harder and get a holiday release.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

I would much rather they take their time and not rush to release by any date to appease backers. Just can't imagine they will get a feature complete, balanced and bug-free release version in time.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

I hope they take their time also. I for one am sick of half arsed games, buggy, and full of holes and broken features that don't really work well, rushed and poorly planned. The lack of a publisher frees them from this, game makers should be Artists 1st and foremost, the money will come once they have mastered that.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

We are embracing the concept that we can release an unfinished game and finish development while the community plays and gives us feedback. Quite a few games are going this direction now and I think it will result in a stronger game.

Besides time is money and we have a limited budget. People seem to think we have as much time as we want. I have never worked on a game that wasn't time limited. You do the best you can with the time you have and then you release it. The OP wrote this as if we have some kind of choice in the matter...

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

Is the idea to release the "Pitch" version of Planetary Annihilation without worrying about every single one of the bells and whistles (except naval and orbital units obviously) and then add the Stretch Goals (like The Galactic War) in as time and feedback continue?

That's the way I'd envisioned you doing it from the beginning in any case.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

amen

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

Basically yeah. The alpha that will be releasing doesn't have most of the game features and they will be coming online over time.

Re: Uber Entertainment - Please take your time on developmen

I'm not sure if this can be answered yet, but do you think all the features of the game will be implemented by the game's release in december (i.e all of the base features and the stretch goals in the game)?