Alpha release on 15th June

[kamui]

Hello,

Just saw this anouncement on Twitter but cannot find it here. Was it announced on a recent weekly update ?

It could be useful for this news to be be highlighted on this forum, so new visitors could be interested (with a link to Indiegogo)

Also could be interesting now to put some efforts on visibility by participating in events like PAX East or anything else everybody could see/remember Inovae exist

This game is going to be incredible and is reaching alpha state soon and it could be hundreds of daily players at this state with more visibility… Go dethrone PUBG ! I:B should be the battle Royale everybody’s looking to

Edit3: also, and I don’t ask it for me because I’m going to upgrade to alpha access for only 40$, but I think alpha access should be reachable for far less than 110$ for new backers (or just after alpha release reduce the amount ? Any plan on this?). Comparing to standard alpha access of SC (most common example sry) it’s a bit discouraging I think.

[Wargrim]

I think it is safe to say that Alpha access to Battlescape will be different to Alpha access to SC in more than one way.

[Lomsor]

Link to the tweet? Can’t find it.

[kamui]

https://mobile.twitter.com/INovaeStudios/status/982816597323677696

[kamui]

Beyond any consideration or comparison, not everybody can spend 110$ for an alpha access level, even for a future game of this quality

[hrobertson]

If the objective was to give everybody alpha access then it would be cheaper, but that is not the objective.
The objective was to fund development of the game, and that means providing a spectrum of price points so that people can pay what they are able to afford. If they can’t afford $110 for alpha, I’m sorry for them but I-Novae shouldn’t change the prices.

[INovaeFlavien]

We did come from Kickstarter though, so let’s keep that in mind. If we cheapen the alpha access too much ( let’s say at SC’s level of $45 ), a lot of Kickstarter / IndieGoGo backers could feel frustrated that they didn’t get good value for their money, or had no incentive on pledging early.

I think it might be possible to find a compromise though; maybe a new tier at a lower price point including alpha access, but none of the other goodies. I also suspect a lot of people pledged to support our development, and not for the intrinsic value of their pledge. After the alpha is released we might revisit this option, and maybe get feedback from the community through a poll or something…

[INovaeFlavien]

Just saw this anouncement on Twitter but cannot find it here. Was it announced on a recent weekly update ?

Yes, it was announced in last week’s update #104 ( Weekly Update #104 ) - although it was on the last line, and most people don’t really seem to read these weekly updates anyways

Keith is working on our e-mail system so when we’re closer to the alpha release, we’ll make sure to let everybody know with a proper official e-mail.

Also could be interesting now to put some efforts on visibility by participating in events like PAX East or anything else everybody could see/remember Inovae exist

We’ve been discussing that possibility a few times internally, but the conclusion was that the game needed to be in a more advanced state ( and be purchasable on Steam - major emphasis at not being priced at $100+ ) before we could attend one of these major events. Otherwise it wouldn’t be worthwhile.

Go dethrone PUBG ! I:B should be the battle Royale everybody’s looking to

I think you should revise your expectations. We’d be delighted to reach even a fraction of PUBG, Star Citizen or Elite: Dangerous’s numbers. Remember we have no budget for marketing and have a vaporware reputation ( often mixed with the old Infinity MMO story ) to fight against.

But your enthusiasm is heartwarming

[Lomsor]

Yes, it was announced in last week’s update #104 ( Weekly Update #104 ) - although it was on the last line, and most people don’t really seem to read these weekly updates anyways

This is what happened:

If (Author == Keith && SentecenceContains == Alpha) then
   flushSentenceCash();
End_If

[kamui]

I like the idea of an early access on Steam for or after the alpha release like DayZ did (also considered vaporware but releasing beta this month).

I personally don’t mind of what you do regarding to our “initial backer” privileges. For me and I hope a lot of other people, we were just helping a team working on something big. So please think about it and how it could improve Inovae’s context (as a game dev studio)

If you guys make the game accessible for example at 45$ on Steam this year and it starts to become really known and you have so much money that you can add volumetric clouds on the game KS backers will forgive you

[selbie]

There is already the Beta tier of $60 and I think that would be a good starting amount for basic access (with no perks) and bring forward all beta backers to the alpha tier.
To compensate the Alpha + backers give all original backers something unique as a thank you for early support. New backers will not get any.

[JB47394]

This is what happened:

Pretty much the same here. We gave them a hard time about that download email they sent out, and apparently nothing was learned.

You guys desperately need one or more people who are not living, breathing and eating Battlescape day in and day out. People who see the magic in your creation. People who get excited. People who aren’t engineers. Dropping your Alpha announcement in as a footnote in a backer update message is outrageous. It’s as if you’re ashamed of what you’ve created. In contrast, if Star Citizen changed the color scheme in their user interface, it would be presented on a par with the Second Coming of Christ.

You can’t afford staff, so leverage your players. SpaceJay and Lomsor immediately spring to mind, and I know there are others who you can rely on to safely sanity check your player communications. Just send your major communications to them first to see what their reaction is. I’m sure those two are mature enough to keep a secret for a day or two.

[selbie]

Now that I think about it, 15 June is the end of E3, so I would suggest some sort of short video to announce the date on the Youtube channel. Something which is easily reposted on social media as well.

[Playbenni]

We gave them a hard time about that download email they sent out, and apparently nothing was learned

It was anmounced that Keith is going to work on a proper email system. Either way, alpha is still months away, plenty of time to create a nice announcement for release.

[JB47394]

Either way, alpha is still months away, plenty of time to create a nice announcement for release.

They just released an announcement. They tweeted it. They included it in an email to their backers.

Consider this: INS just announced the alpha date for their flagship product - which was backed by crowdfunding - by including an off-hand comment buried in a paragraph at the end of a weekly update. It didn’t even rate its own paragraph. It’s straight out of Hitchiker’s Guide.

“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”

[JonnyRedHed]

Some new ED thread comments and feedback.

[Almostpilot]

We did come from Kickstarter though, so let’s keep that in mind. If we cheapen the alpha access too much ( let’s say at SC’s level of $45 ), a lot of Kickstarter / IndieGoGo backers could feel frustrated that they didn’t get good value for their money, or had no incentive on pledging early.

I think it might be possible to find a compromise though; maybe a new tier at a lower price point including alpha access, but none of the other goodies

That would be very interesting. I hope you implement it.

[Arkenbrien]

I would take their comments on gameplay with a grain of salt. It is Elite: Grinderous we’re talking about.

[JonnyRedHed]

Yes space game fans do offer the harshest critique. If enough leans in one direction though, as in people always falling back on the ‘pew pew’ saying. Then what, if anything could be done with that, shaped into something useful to start to even out the ‘pew pew’ critics. How to shape gameplay and show it these critics as something exciting to play, they might buy a copy of the game. Now thats the trick, and not an easy one at that.

And the comments continue here…

Maybe we could start listing ideas to help the devs in and around the going to alpha date. And maybe also some post alpha ideas as well. I keep Scott Manley and Bluedrake42 updated. I tried to keep Angry Joe updated but have not had a reply from him since the kickstarter, busy guy I guess. I do have regular contact with the Star CItizen lead writer Dave Haddock, who along with his writing team over at CIG are fans of the game. But I do not have any wider gaming media contacts and nor do I use the twitter, the fleecebook, or reddit.

The wider gaming media both online and print are very important to have onboard. A PR and community manager would be great around now to have.

So whats the next best ideas you have?

[hrobertson]

I think it’s important to acknowledge that actual gameplay has barely started being implemented.