When will the game be finished?

rsksmiles

R
Dear anyone in charge,

This is not a rant so please do not take it as such.

I would simply like to know when the game will be delivered to backers?

I was initially told February 2014. Now it is being stated simply as 2014.

If I was being cynical I would say that you are milking things a little bit by asking people to pay 200+ euros/ pounds to participate in the alpha phase. Is there a project plan? How many alphas and betas will there be? What are your target dates for these? When is it expected to be delivered to Kick starter backers?

I am also in the software development business and I wish that I could get my clients to pay upfront and then pay an extra amount when I want them to test my applications when I appear to be running behind schedule!

I could probably bash my way through the forum posts and find an answer but can you not have an information page on the main website?

Thanks.

Robert
 

kilvenny

kilvenny
It's down to the level of backing you put in at. No dates are known, FD have indicated sometime in 2014. This year is the 30th Anniversary of Elite in September and obviously release in November would hit the Christmas rush so I think its possible to infer something from that.

What we also know is that Alpha's have it currently, the last Alpha stage will probably start this month, after that its first beta and then Beta followed by gamma.

The buzz word on these forums is soon, so I guess if you have premium beta it will be sooner rather than later after that is anyone's guess.
 

Jezzah

Jezzah
This really reads like an alt of FromHell. Same arguments different tone though. :D

Game comes out when its ready is the short answer.
 

SzaryWilk

SzaryWilk
Beta will be available when the results of Alpha will be good :)
Gamma will be available when the results of Beta will be good :)
The game will be released when Gamma will be complete :)

Probably somewhere in the end of 2014 :D

This is my PLAN , hihihi :)
 

Asp Explorer

Asp Explorer
Jezzah said:
This really reads like an alt of FromHell. Same arguments different tone though. :D

Game comes out when its ready is the short answer.
Click to expand...

Indeed - it will be released when it's ready.

What a lot of people don't seem to understand is that many of us backers who paid lots of money for this game simply want to see it made. We cherish it from our former days, and it's something we want to see return.

It's not about backing to get perks, or to sneer over betas - it's to get back to the charm of rainy 80's playgrounds, wrapped up in your parka with the orange liner - and telling your friends at school "I made Elite last night!"
 

Aewarin Jameson

Aewarin Jameson
rsksmiles said:
I am also in the software development business and I wish that I could get my clients to pay upfront and then pay an extra amount when I want them to test my applications when I appear to be running behind schedule!
Click to expand...

Hi Robert

As you're in software development you should know that things can slip and fall behind schedule. The game (ED) was funded by means of a kickstart campaign and there it was stated as "estimate" March 2014. Alpha was on time, but with various issues being found the process is taking longer than expected.

AFAIK there are at least 4, probably 5-6 Alpha main rounds (4 being trading) then it's onto Premium Beta. That should last a few months then regular beta, then release.

For what it's worth I find the alpha quite fun - loads missing (check the DDF Archives for threads on features to come) but slowly coming together.

Patience will definitely help keep you sane :)
 

rsksmiles

R
Fromhell said:
And so, it begins.



Yes, I´m every gamma backer posting in this forum.

edit: Except "rksmiles", because his post is way to friendly for my taste.
Click to expand...

I am of the opinion that the great thing about the internet is that anyone can say anything. One of the bad things about the internet is also that anyone can say anything.

Thus I think twice before being rude and insulting.

-rksmiles gcmg
 

ZeeWolf

ZeeWolf
If you want games to be launched to meet deadlines there is a tried and trusted publisher model that already exists, if you want to get involved with crowd funding and back kick starter projects expect to manage your risk and expectation along the way.
 

KING5TON

KING5TON
rsksmiles said:
Dear anyone in charge,

This is not a rant so please do not take it as such.

I would simply like to know when the game will be delivered to backers?

I was initially told February 2014. Now it is being stated simply as 2014.

If I was being cynical I would say that you are milking things a little bit by asking people to pay 200+ euros/ pounds to participate in the alpha phase. Is there a project plan? How many alphas and betas will there be? What are your target dates for these? When is it expected to be delivered to Kick starter backers?

I am also in the software development business and I wish that I could get my clients to pay upfront and then pay an extra amount when I want them to test my applications when I appear to be running behind schedule!

I could probably bash my way through the forum posts and find an answer but can you not have an information page on the main website?

Thanks.

Robert
Click to expand...

Quick, circle the wagons lads, someone's asking questions! :rolleyes:

Robert, it depends on what tier you backed at. If you have Premium beta access (£100) it will probably be within the next month or so. FD haven't given firm dates for the beta starting as yet but hopefully they will be giving them in the next couple of weeks.
Once premium beta starts there will be an undetermined period before Standard beta (£50) joins in. There will be a number of phases in the beta and Premium beta will have access to the first ones and the standard beta players will get in on the last phases. Through all this alpha backers will have access to all new builds/phases first to ensure there are no game breaking bugs before releasing to the beta backers. This is hoped to only be a matter of hours. Once the beta has finished all other backers will be able to access the game via a pretty much feature complete Gamma release. At some point in the future there will be a retail release that may or may not be in 2014.

The original kickstarter delivery dates became null and void when FD decided that each phase of the process will take a long as it has to. Better than kicking crap out the door just to meet a deadline but IMO they could have managed our expectations better. The Alpha was originally released in December and we are still in it now in April and may still be in May. Since the Alpha has lasted nearly 6 months and you'd expect the beta to be considerable bigger and contain more features/bugs that we may be in for potentially another 6 months between beta release and gamma release with retail release a few months after. This might not be the case though and we could be in for a shorter or longer period than Alpha.

During the Alpha FD offered the ability for people to upgrade to Alpha backer status with a discount against the £200 cost of alpha but I think that it only considers your current package (if you backed at the £60 level you only really get £50 off as your package covers only products and not your kickstarer pledge amount) but that may have changed. Hopefully they'll offer the same thing for beta so if you really want to get in on the action now you can join in the "testing".

All you're other questions I can't answer and you'd be better emailing FD directly.

Cue spin, excuses.
 
Last edited:

Cmdr Andy B

Cmdr Andy B
its like british rail, it may be slow going and suffer from the wrong kind of snow but you know you'll get there in the end ;)
 

Jezzah

Jezzah
KING5TON said:
Quick, circle the wagons lads, someone's asking questions! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


No need for that :)

KING5TON said:
Robert, it depends on what tier you backed at. If you have Premium beta access (£100) it will probably be within the next month or so. FD haven't given firm dates for the beta starting as yet but hopefully they will be giving them in the next couple of weeks.
Once premium beta starts there will be an undetermined period before Standard beta (£50) joins in. There will be a number of phases in the beta and Premium beta will have access to the first ones and the standard beta players will get in on the last phases. Through all this alpha backers will have access to all new builds/phases first to ensure there are no game breaking bugs before releasing to the beta backers. This is hoped to only be a matter of hours. Once the beta has finished all other backers will be able to access the game via a pretty much feature complete Gamma release. At some point in the future there will be a retail release that may or may not be in 2014.

The original kickstarter delivery dates became null and void when FD decided that each phase of the process will take a long as it has to. Better than kicking crap out the door just to meet a deadline but IMO they could have managed our expectations better. The Alpha was originally released in December and we are still in it now in April and may still be in May. Since the Alpha has lasted nearly 6 months and you'd expect the beta to be considerable bigger and contain more features/bugs that we may be in for potentially another 6 months between beta release and gamma release with retail release a few months after. This might not be the case though and we could be in for a shorter or longer period than Alpha.

During the Alpha FD offered the ability for people to upgrade to Alpha backer status with a discount against the £200 cost of alpha but I think that it only considers your current package (if you backed at the £60 level you only really get £50 off as your package covers only products and not your kickstarer pledge amount) but that may have changed. Hopefully they'll offer the same thing for beta so if you really want to get in on the action now you can join in the "testing".

All you're other questions I can't answer and you'd be better emailing FD directly.

Cue spin, excuses.
Click to expand...

No need for spin or excuses, for once in the past few days you've told it like it is.
 

Daedalus

D
Asp Explorer said:
Indeed - it will be released when it's ready.

What a lot of people don't seem to understand is that many of us backers who paid lots of money for this game simply want to see it made. We cherish it from our former days, and it's something we want to see return.

It's not about backing to get perks, or to sneer over betas - it's to get back to the charm of rainy 80's playgrounds, wrapped up in your parka with the orange liner - and telling your friends at school "I made Elite last night!"
Click to expand...

Congrats you finally made ELITE....better late than never hehehe j/k :)
 

rsksmiles

R
Well thank you very much everyone for their comments and opinions. I am a digital 30€ backer and as such will just have to wait. As long as the game does come out I do not mind (too much) and I am totally in favour of waiting for the bugs to be sorted.

I was perhaps naively looking forward to end of march playing ED. I had even splashed out on an I7 etc. in order to play it! I must admit that I have not being following the evolution of the game and that is why I have also funded Star Citizen ... now it looks like they will be similar in scope (no I am not trying to start a flame war).

I was an "anorak" back in the mists of time playing Elite on a spectrum. I still wake up in the middle of the night worried that I have somehow miss-jumped and been caught by the Thargoids!

Good luck to all you alpha and beta (fe)males and make sure you sort out all the bugs as soon as possible Us lower life forms are counting on you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom