I'd speculate about one thing. If the people in the alpha aren't shooting their mouths off left and right despite the NDA (and they don't seem to be), that suggests some measure of loyalty? And if the testers are feeling loyal, then?
A quick note on the NDA. It is planned to be lifted relatively soon. Not by any means impending immediately, but it will drop before the game hits Steam. As for why the NDA is in place, you have to understand that we did things opposite of what some of the more recent alpha titles have been doing. We focused on features, making sure we could have functionality, and without much of an eye on polish. Even today there are some aspects graphically, or functionality wise which are placeholders. With a smaller number of testers and a lot of things to do, things like cosmetics have been low on the totem pole. We're now focusing on shoring up a lot of those areas because we are getting ready to add a ton of testers over the next couple months.
That is the direct opposite of what a game like Landmark has done, for example. They instead focused on a small core set of features, but tried to release it in a pretty polished state for being testing. It's easier for them to deal with player videos, and encourage them, because while they have been adding new content to the game, it's appearing in game in a more polished form. That's worked well for them, but it wouldn't have worked as well for us. We have a smaller team, so waiting on polish for certain features could take a long while, and from a mechanics standpoint we have wanted players being able to test those features as early as possible. If we had lifted the NDA a few months ago though, to appease to players who don't yet have access, then surely there would be videos of things like players standing up to fire with some weapons from a prone position. This was due to us not having the full set of animations ready yet, and just a part of the development process. But you don't want dozens of videos on youtube of a glitchy product, because once they are out there in public they never away.
So while some other games have gone without an NDA earlier along in the process, and it may have worked well for them, it wouldn't have worked well for us. At the moment we're pushing hard on getting the game in a ready state to feel comfortable about an NDA lift. Your probably looking at about a two month wait.
I'd speculate about one thing. If the people in the alpha aren't shooting their mouths off left and right despite the NDA (and they don't seem to be), that suggests some measure of loyalty? And if the testers are feeling loyal, then?
Anyway, here's hoping.
This just here is one of the reasons that motivated me to pledge. I was looking at everything I could find online to get more information and make an informed decision and that was the last straw : knowing they had a very solid trusting relationship with their alpha testers.
It's a great game with really interesting content (I am an early backer and have been in testing and can't say more than that).
My fear is not that it will never be released: I'm confident that's happening, plain as plain.
But my concern is that some Major Studio Mega-Corporation will buy them out shortly after launch and try and rework the indie premise.
This would give all the folks working a Above and Beyond a great payday (and they deserve it!) but then I'd be left looking for another in-depth large-scale quirky sandbox-y game to play.....
There's always that chance, but it doesn't mean, if they do, that they would have to go Notch on it.
If that's ever to happen, another approach we could see which has been seen in tech startups : having a larger coporation take a stake or partnership in A&BT, making them benefit from good marketing/distribution channel in return from some share of the profits. This kind of deal can mean the original owners retain control over the IP and development. It's a fine line to walk to balance that, however, to ensure it doesn't spill into the game proper...
guys...I honestly don't sense that about these developers. This isn't a cash grab for them. I say this as a backer with a vested interest now. From the fact they are so hands on and accessible to the testers, I think this is a labor of love for them. Not a set up for a quick cash grab.
As far as release dates. I am AOK with when it is done it is done....sick of big companies pushing out crap before it is ready.
guys...I honestly don't sense that about these developers. This isn't a cash grab for them. I say this as a backer with a vested interest now. From the fact they are so hands on and accessible to the testers, I think this is a labor of love for them. Not a set up for a quick cash grab.
As far as release dates. I am AOK with when it is done it is done....sick of big companies pushing out crap before it is ready.
I agree with you, that's totally not what they let off, but Notch wasn't letting that off early on either, and I don't think he sold out for monetary reasons alone. You never know.
But if I can trust any such developers to do the right thing for the evolution of the game they invested so much of themselves into, it's them. So I'm not worried
Comments
I'd speculate about one thing. If the people in the alpha aren't shooting their mouths off left and right despite the NDA (and they don't seem to be), that suggests some measure of loyalty? And if the testers are feeling loyal, then?
Anyway, here's hoping.
A quick note on the NDA. It is planned to be lifted relatively soon. Not by any means impending immediately, but it will drop before the game hits Steam. As for why the NDA is in place, you have to understand that we did things opposite of what some of the more recent alpha titles have been doing. We focused on features, making sure we could have functionality, and without much of an eye on polish. Even today there are some aspects graphically, or functionality wise which are placeholders. With a smaller number of testers and a lot of things to do, things like cosmetics have been low on the totem pole. We're now focusing on shoring up a lot of those areas because we are getting ready to add a ton of testers over the next couple months.
That is the direct opposite of what a game like Landmark has done, for example. They instead focused on a small core set of features, but tried to release it in a pretty polished state for being testing. It's easier for them to deal with player videos, and encourage them, because while they have been adding new content to the game, it's appearing in game in a more polished form. That's worked well for them, but it wouldn't have worked as well for us. We have a smaller team, so waiting on polish for certain features could take a long while, and from a mechanics standpoint we have wanted players being able to test those features as early as possible. If we had lifted the NDA a few months ago though, to appease to players who don't yet have access, then surely there would be videos of things like players standing up to fire with some weapons from a prone position. This was due to us not having the full set of animations ready yet, and just a part of the development process. But you don't want dozens of videos on youtube of a glitchy product, because once they are out there in public they never away.
So while some other games have gone without an NDA earlier along in the process, and it may have worked well for them, it wouldn't have worked well for us. At the moment we're pushing hard on getting the game in a ready state to feel comfortable about an NDA lift. Your probably looking at about a two month wait.
https://www.therepopulation.com - Sci Fi Sandbox.
If they launched before it is ready to launch that would be better?
This just here is one of the reasons that motivated me to pledge. I was looking at everything I could find online to get more information and make an informed decision and that was the last straw : knowing they had a very solid trusting relationship with their alpha testers.
There's always that chance, but it doesn't mean, if they do, that they would have to go Notch on it.
If that's ever to happen, another approach we could see which has been seen in tech startups : having a larger coporation take a stake or partnership in A&BT, making them benefit from good marketing/distribution channel in return from some share of the profits. This kind of deal can mean the original owners retain control over the IP and development. It's a fine line to walk to balance that, however, to ensure it doesn't spill into the game proper...
guys...I honestly don't sense that about these developers. This isn't a cash grab for them. I say this as a backer with a vested interest now. From the fact they are so hands on and accessible to the testers, I think this is a labor of love for them. Not a set up for a quick cash grab.
As far as release dates. I am AOK with when it is done it is done....sick of big companies pushing out crap before it is ready.
Co-Founder of Elder Moot
SotA Founder
I agree with you, that's totally not what they let off, but Notch wasn't letting that off early on either, and I don't think he sold out for monetary reasons alone. You never know.
But if I can trust any such developers to do the right thing for the evolution of the game they invested so much of themselves into, it's them. So I'm not worried