70€ for beta including copy and head club for it's ok. I can deal with it. But what if they offer sometimes a deluxe edition.
What will be with be with guys already paid for beta pass and copy?
Alpha Date Announced!
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70€ for beta including copy and head club for it's ok. I can deal with it. But what if they offer sometimes a deluxe edition.
What will be with be with guys already paid for beta pass and copy?
They already said that for the beta you will get other private forums to contribute to, so technically no need to buy the coaster head club membership, it's "just" for extra insights and the merchandise. really depends on what you are in for. Sure if you want it all, you have to pay quite a lot. But there are other special editions out there with all kinds of merchandise and extra info at similar costs [happy]
I don't understand this sentiment sometimes. A beta gives you access to a game that you would usually not play for months in advance. What you pay for is to take part in the the development of the game as it goes on, and gives you the ability to help progress the game.
I think some people see it as "working" or a hassle because you get an incomplete game that might be riddle with bugs, and you having to report them or see items that are unsatisfactory. Instead of seeing it as a cool ability to see/enjoy the game in advance as it grows and pay to help shape a game. Betas are optional and does not represent the game at its entirety. Its a cool shot to give us a peek at the development of a game you are excited to see grow.
If you think if the price is too steep, you are free to state your dissatisfaction but to say its not cool is a little unfair. You could just wait until the game is complete and watch videos/reviews to judge whether you will spend money on it.
Personally I cant afford all of it right now and will determine what to buy and when depending on information I gather in the future blogs/information.
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100% agreed [up]
Thanks for the info Brett C.
For now i keep my standard edition. Maybe upgrade to early bird in the future if that would be possible with customer support. I am already in love with PC, but not going to spend that much money for now for the extra game development insights and coaster head forums. There need to be enough people first anyway (otherwise it will be a bit empty). Probably can't resist early bird package in march, but for now i prefer 2 other games for the money (can buy around 2 times Horizons expansion for that price)
Looks at it this way. A company starts to come out with a new high tech product. And people want in, they want to start backing the product before they even start to produce it. Its just been 3D models, and sketches and discussion about what it could or can do. But everyone is so exciting knowing this could be the product to change the world and they want in. They want to be able to help back/support the product before they even start to produce a test model. So they start to back it before like a "early access" for games. Its not for everyone and not everyone will do it but the faithful follower that believe it could be a gamer changer are the ones that want to support it. IF it fails or if it makes it, they are the ones that help support it to give it that initial boost of money to help the product become the best there is. I know you may be asking but why is it still so much money? Well if you think about the cost of getting a new product patented, copyrighted, trademarked its a lot of money. Then you need website hosting costs, domain name cost. Then you need your modelers, developers for the site and for the products "games". Now you have all of that, you can really start to work hard at bringing the best product to your loyal fans that have supported you since the beginning! Before you even had a real product in your hands!
This is the same way game developers are able to do this. Some of the best products in the world and games have been made this way. I believe in Frontier, and Planet Coaster that they will developer one of the best Coaster Simulation games we have seen in 10 years or so. And so far this is the game that I have dreamed of since I started playing RCT3, thinking this game could be so much more but the technology was not at the point I was thinking it could, but now it is! This is why I have spent over $112 just on this game and I plan to spend a little more for character creation once I can get a few more bucks on my next paycheck. I want this game to be better and if they say they are going to take my input I believe them, and hope they do! This is why I pay more for the behind the scenes goodies and other things, including Beta/Alpha access.
This is the same way game developers are able to do this. Some of the best products in the world and games have been made this way. I believe in Frontier, and Planet Coaster that they will developer one of the best Coaster Simulation games we have seen in 10 years or so. And so far this is the game that I have dreamed of since I started playing RCT3, thinking this game could be so much more but the technology was not at the point I was thinking it could, but now it is! This is why I have spent over $112 just on this game and I plan to spend a little more for character creation once I can get a few more bucks on my next paycheck. I want this game to be better and if they say they are going to take my input I believe them, and hope they do! This is why I pay more for the behind the scenes goodies and other things, including Beta/Alpha access.
I don't understand your message me neither.
I think you confuse "Beta" and "Early Access".
Apart from few studios (Some "blockbusters specialists" on consoles, you know who I mean), almost everyone agrees to respect the following definitions :
Alpha :
Price : Not accessible
An alpha version is not accessible to the public, cause it's an internal version.
Bêta :
Price : Free (Volunteers)
The beta test is the second period before publication. Beta-testers may be employees of the development studio, or volunteers.
They aim to use the software and report problems and make suggestions.
Gold Master (final version) :
Price : Between 20€ and 60€ (for a PC Game)
This is the final and stable version of the game , which can be released to the public. This is the " Release to Manufacturing " version.
You can Pre-order the game, at this price.
Early Access, Alphafunding, or Paid-alpha :
Price : Between Free and 30€
is "a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can pay for a game in the early stages of development and obtain access to playable but unfinished versions of the game, while the developer is able to use those funds to continue work on the game. Those that pay to participate typically help to debug game, provide feedback and suggestions, and may have access to special materials upon release of the game. The early access approach is a common way to obtain funding for indie games and may also be used along other funding mechanisms including crowdfunding". (wikipedia)
Conclusion :
- If it's an Early Access, this should be cheaper (enven if it's strange, because Frontier is a big company, and they dont need "Crowdfunding")
- If it's a Beta, this should be free, because we do not have to pay to give suggestions, give advice and make bug reports (which seems logical enough)
So, of course, they can change the the market rules, do what they want without any moral sense, and to charge more than others company, but it's not very respectful for the consumers (even if some are ready to accept this kind of aggressive marketing techniques).
I am a big fan of Frontier, an even bigger fan of RCT3, but the prices are too high anyway, and that's a fact (according the average market prices)
Sorry to not want to see Ubisoft unscrupulous techniques applied to the Frontier productions. (especially since Frontier have a very good corporate image for now)
My 2 cents.
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Thats fine, we can disagree. But you can't just write out statements as facts without providing a source just because it fits what you want your ideal alpha,beta,early access phases to look like.
Not all companies create games the same way and no companies follows any "beta guidelines". They do what they believe is right for them and continue on. If they see that its causing a major backslash from the community they can change their mind to please the fans but there isn't 1 way to do things.
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I agree with you on that
Hu ?
- It's not "my ideal" (my ideal would be "all early access for free", and it's not what I said). This is just how the market works for now, in the big majority of cases. It's common knowledge.
- When I copied the definition, I quoted the source (even if wikipedia is criticized, I think it's a good source)
- We all know that prices i said are right. But if you absolulty need a proof :
"Early Access" games, TopSellers category - Average price (Two first page)
- 21,90 €
(Source :http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Early Access/?tab=TopSellers#p1)
"Released" action games, TopSellers category - Average price (Two first page, DLC and Deluxe Editions excluded)
- 34,37 €
(Source :http://store.steampowered.com/tag/fr/Action/#p=0&tab=TopSellers)
So, yes, it's facts. Only the conclusion is my opinion.
I dont know if you read my whole post, but it's for this I added this paragraph :
"So, of course, they can change the the market rules, do what they want without any moral sense, and to charge more than others company, but it's not very respectful for the consumers (even if some are ready to accept this kind of aggressive marketing techniques)."
So yes, I agree with you, they can do what they want, but it's still "borderline". But, in the other hand, it's Frontier (They have a good image), and they showed good things for now, so I dont plan to make more noise about it, but still ...
Oh, and after all, I always say something when they do something good, I think I have the right to say something in the opposite case too.
I can honestly say I have only ever played a couple of games for free for the beta, all other games that I have beta tested or even alpha tested I have paid almost full price of the game if not more. And sometimes less depending on if they want to give a cheaper price for the early access stuff. But I almost never see free beta/alpha games much anymore. At least the ones I like to play.
This is EXACTLY the problem I'm talking about !!!
I participated in MANY beta (when I was younger) and it was just obvious that this was a voluntary job, but we were closer to the developers, and we have access to the game before the other, so we accepted to do it.
After that, we saw "Early Access" : it's the same things, but you need to pay a % of the game. Well, it's always less expensive than the finished game, so ... Why not ...
And now, some "smart" (or "vicious" depend what's side you are) marketing people, from maybe 4-5 of the biggest developpment studio, have played with words. And now "Early Access" is called "Beta" (or even "Alpha" in this case), and it's more expensive, than the finished game itself. [wacky]
And I'm not even talking about "DLC" ...
I just want to prevent Frontier goes towards the "dark side of the force". That's all.
I'm okay with paying for it. I don't have any issues with it, plus they are already going there with paying for the beta/alpha access. So really any argument is invalid because its already at that point. But like I said I'm cool with it.
Well, okay.
I saw some people said it's not a problem to pay 70€ for an Early Access ... So, maybe it's totally normal in 2015 ...
At £20 you can't go wrong. In my head I see the game been released this time next year(October 2016). I've spent the money and bought into a really promising concept. I've paid more for released games that were just pants so this for me is not a gamble. Take my money Frontier and use it to make the best game posssible. In the mean time I'll play RCT World. It's an amazing time for this Genre of game. A lot better than the FPS shoot em up rubbish constantly thrown at us.
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I'm not sure it's 'normal', but I also don't think it's a particularly bad approach:
As a producer, Frontier believe that the Alpha/Beta phases of the game represent something of value to the consumer. That being the opportunity to get hands-on the game before it's completed, provide direct and useful feedback to the developers, and generally have some involvement in how the game plays (the one thing that you can design for, but can't always account for). They've demonstrated this approach with Elite: Dangerous, and I'd say that I enjoyed my time as an Alpha/Beta tester at least as much as I enjoy playing the released game. So for me, it *did* represent value and I can see the same being the case with Planet Coaster.
That being said, as a consumer only you can make that judgement call. If you view it as work, or don't see where the value is for you, then you can still support Frontier through the pre-order which looks like representing excellent value.
Those developers who release 'early access' games for lower cost tend to be smaller independents where day-to-day cashflow is an ongoing concern. Early access gives them the opportunity to start generating income before the game is finished as well as generating useful feedback from the players. It also provides them insulation against bugs and missing features as they always have the 'not finished' crutch to cling to, and is a reason why a lot of early access games stay that way for a long time. Once they've reached a released state, the consumer tends to be less forgiving of crashes or missing functionality. This is something that I hope Frontier have learned from with Elite, which was (arguably) released before it was really ready.
Oh, I misspoke perhaps. My bad ! But I have nothing against this approach, what bothers me is the really exaggerated price.
And AAA games got Early Access too (right now, we have "LEGO® Worlds" from WarnerBros, or "DiRT Rally" from Codemasters, and it's just an exemple, there are increasingly), but it's still not as expensive.
I do feel like it's a bit cheeky of the big developers to use the early access model, as they ought to have the resources to be able to both develop and test their games in a traditional release model. However, having said that, there's been a tendency for newer games to be rushed to release with lots of bugs (Arkham Knight, Assassin's Creed, etc.) so perhaps early access does present a benefit for everyone.
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