Planetary Annihilation: Total Annihilation IN SPACE

[zespri]

40% off on steam now

[Misery]

And about time, too.

Their pricing scheme up to this point has been all sorts of stupid.  Alot of people dont have anywhere near the kind of cash that was necessary for the initial pricing, and for a mostly untested/unproven game, at that.   Talk about a risky purchase....  I could afford it easily myself, but I held off on general principle of not wanting to support that sort of idea.

The current sale price though makes alot more sense for a game that's not even near completion.

Might grab it later, it seems very much like what SupCom was, and that game was bloody excellent.

[keith.lamothe]

I was in the Kickstarter but haven't played since I prefer to save my enthusiasm for a game for when it's done (or at least released).  Last night I watched a couple of ZaphodX's recent games, though, and found them entertaining:

Simple 1v1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nru83Ht5Ptk&list=TLIJ4FFg5VGEaFvW6EblhgEkKx4CosGbyT

More chaotic 5v5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84p0WbnSwic&list=TL4ahtare3AY8MhvPmWxp3ACzcwPDpzHZR

I'm sure there are better videos out there, but in case anyone was curious.

[Aklyon]

I was in the KS  as well, but haven't tried it yet because my laptop can't handle it. But my desktop might be able to! (big might.)
Also they've gone into Gamma, a phrase I haven't heard since I played MechQuest.

[Mick]

It's nice to see it no longer costs a bazillion dollars.

[keith.lamothe]

I suspect the pricing stuff worked out well for them in the end, as I doubt the money raised by the kickstarter could have funded a team that large for this long even at relatively low (say, $50k/year) salaries.

Though I guess it could be just them eating the cost, as their own side of the investment.

[Misery]

It's nice to see it no longer costs a bazillion dollars.

The current price though exists only briefly.

On the 6th it goes back up from 30 to 50.

Because, you know, that price makes total sense for a game not even close to finished. 

[orzelek]

Their pricing scheme was explained also bazillion times.
Prices on Steam matched kickstarter fee for access to that stage.

As for the game.. I'm disappointed - no campaign or something like that. I think it was in kickstarter but might be wrong on that point didn't check again.

I have it now and it's not my kind of fun I think (after leisure playing for about 1h I sent some sats to scout.. AI had hundreds of units.. all around the place... it didn't come to wipe me out in all that time but I had no chances with it )

[Misery]

Their pricing scheme was explained also bazillion times.
Prices on Steam matched kickstarter fee for access to that stage.

As for the game.. I'm disappointed - no campaign or something like that. I think it was in kickstarter but might be wrong on that point didn't check again.

I have it now and it's not my kind of fun I think (after leisure playing for about 1h I sent some sats to scout.. AI had hundreds of units.. all around the place... it didn't come to wipe me out in all that time but I had no chances with it )

Feh, explanation or not, I still deem it stupid.  LOTS of other developers are capable of coming up with better pricing models... there's no reason these guys couldnt have found a better way.   As it is, WAY before the game has come out, they've already caused a good chunk of players to decide to never buy the game, because of that.  It's one of the most frequent things I hear in relation to the game.  AKA, *not* a good business move.  It is, though, a superb way to get on the road towards having a reputation of being really greedy.   Both are things that only lessen the potential sales that they'll get.  Fortunately for them, the game itself looks to be shaping up to be something great.... so a move like that isnt likely to damage them too much.  In theory.

Me, I'll still get it, but then I just tend to buy whatever the hell I want regardless of anything else.   Unless it's something by Nintendo, I'll always resist THEM.

As for the difficulty you mentioned, the developers have said that difficulty settings/sliders are coming (may already be there in most recent patch?) as that's a comment they've gotten from alot of players, is the AI being much too hard, particularly when learning the game.

They also had some.... very unique ideas about the "campaign", which apparently wont be anything like a normal campaign.  I'm not really sure how to explain it without getting the explanation totally wrong.... best to look up what they've recently said on it.  I heard it on their Twitch stream a day or two ago.

[keith.lamothe]

As for the game.. I'm disappointed - no campaign or something like that. I think it was in kickstarter but might be wrong on that point didn't check again.

The KS stretch goal for that was the Galactic War thing.  They've said it will be a procedurally generated set of star systems (i.e. individual missions) with some reactive elements (counterattacks, etc), and will be playable in single-player, co-op, or as a sort of competitive clan warfare thing.

I don't think it will be the best thing since sliced bread but I'm looking forward to it.

[Mánagarmr]

If you people say there are a bajillion ways of doing a payment model better than they did, how about you come with a suggestion instead of saying "It's bad", because personally I can't see how they would've done it without screwing their KS-backers over monumentally.

[orzelek]

If you people say there are a bajillion ways of doing a payment model better than they did, how about you come with a suggestion instead of saying "It's bad", because personally I can't see how they would've done it without screwing their KS-backers over monumentally.

I think thats the main problem there.

I'm still looking to see how this will end up

[Cyborg]

Given that the kickstarter was meant to give certain benefits in exchange for money up front, I question this "gamma" release. The wild fluctuations and money grabbing strategies has scared me off from ever donating to one of their products. I think I will just hang off to the side and wait for a sale. I'm in favor of developers making profits, but now it's just getting gimmicky.

[chemical_art]

In retrospect, I would not have given money for this game due to how money grubbing it seems. No matter what they claim, I feel screwed over paying up front for a game to later see those benefits, with the game far more solidified, for a similar price. Combine that with the pay-to-access features and the whole game just stinks from that standpoint.

[Misery]

In retrospect, I would not have given money for this game due to how money grubbing it seems. No matter what they claim, I feel screwed over paying up front for a game to later see those benefits, with the game far more solidified, for a similar price. Combine that with the pay-to-access features and the whole game just stinks from that standpoint.

Exactly.

And part of the problem was that initial price.  An absurd $90 to get into the alpha!  30-40, I could see being a bit better, maybe.  But 90?  Good grief, no.  Particularly if there's going to be more paid content down the line.  That makes it even more greedy and stupid.

That's the part of their payment model that everyone was so angry about.   And the simple solution.... would have been to not do it in the first place!  As it is, they've alienated many potential customers, who now indeed see it in just that way:  too money-grubbing, too greedy.  They wonder, what other methods of screwing over their players might they come up with later?  Which is a valid concern.

And the whole "not screwing over our Kickstarter backers" bit just reeks of an excuse now to keep the price high as they go along.