Yes you're right. The game was meant to have a limited free alpha, a paid beta, and then go live. I think we all underestimated exactly how close to the wire Chris had to take the company to
need the full release's cash infusion.
So! Here we are a week after Arcen's worst selling, best quality release ever. Shit sux. Chris, Pablo, Keith, Blue, Erik, Quinn, Cath and any of the full timers I missed, I am so sorry it came to this.
Misery, Pepsisolo and the rest of the contractors, thanks for your work, the game wouldn't be what it is without you.
I've been trying to write this post since the thread went up, but what I think is second most important to say (first is above) keeps changing. I'm glad that you're going to move forward with both SBR and SR. I hope that you manage to turn them both into successes, because they're great. And I think you CAN turn SR into a success like AI War, but you're going to need to treat it like AI War.
You mentioned that things in the indie gaming business are starting to feel a lot more like 2009. There's a reason for that: indie gaming is experiencing a market correction that will end when enough indie developers have gone out of business to balance the supply of new indie games with the demand for new indie games.
Jeff Vogel at Spiderweb Software has written about this a few times and he's on the money. Worth a read since it captures the state of the market as a whole, but it's not the immediate problem.
That is: no one knew about Starward Rogue. TLF did well, and people are still interested in SBR. That's no accident, it's directly correlated with how much you talked up those games during development. You've got the visibility and reputation and a number of major outlets and public figures who'll spread the word about your games when you provide the material. This can still happen with Starward Rogue. Start talking about the game. Write up the backstory, the mechs, the design process, interview the contractors and volunteers, post links on reddit and do some streams. It has to be semi-regular and consistent, and on the blog so that more than the core fans see it.
But why? Like the dark ages of 2009 should not the game either rise as it finds its audience and as the updates come, or fall? Problem: your direct competitors are numerous and they're throwing around all kinds of marketing. SR's battle is staying relevant, and it won't be if the only ones who see progress are the players. It will be slow. Remember how many years and expansions it took for AI War to really take off? You're looking at that here. But it needs a base before it can get to that point, and the base is as much your talking up the product as it is the product itself. When your, Chris, share your excitement, the community responds.
So from now on no more stealth releases! No more stealth expansions! Secret plans are all well and good except when you have to sell them at the end.
