We have a failure to communicate. The message is NOT getting out there.
@INovaeKeith needs to do a “talkie” video update - just him in front of a camera, with occasional gameplay footage spliced in behind the words (nothing special - raw footage!) - where he clearly lays out the gameplay design and engine tech in plain, simple language.
Gameplay:
Make references to Planetside to help describe the ‘control points’-style battles
Describe the resource system, mining facilities, and player purchases
Describe your best-case estimates for player counts (thousands)
Talk about the persistence stretch goal and how cool that will be
Describe the different ship classes, and the plans for RTS/Third-Person-style capital class ships control
Yes, that’s all in words on the campaign page - AND THAT’S THE PROBLEM. This needs to be in a message, and it needs to be shoved in peoples faces. I am seeing so much misinformation and misunderstanding about what the game is supposed to be, and it’s killing the message.
Engine:
Multiple clear planetary transition videos
Describe the technology as revolutionary
Tell people that no one else has this technology, including E:D.
No instances, no server shards. Seamless star system.
Describe how you can watch players dogfighting in a canyon below while high above in orbit.
Describe the different terrain types / biomes.
Describe the number and types of planets
Describe their sizes (i.e. Earth-sized)
Described the plans for gas giants and volumetric clouds - show the concept art.
Guys! Get this out there! You can’t wait for more journalism to come to you - you need to give them flashy things to write about, and easy summarizable lists they can paste into their media (pathetic, I know, but that’s what we’re dealing with). Assume nothing on the campaign page is read, and that you have thirty seconds to describe your product: Most important stuff up first. Hook them, then they’ll dig for details and subtleties. The cinematic is touching but it does not describe what makes Battlescape unique.
Community - am I crazy? If not, please help with more suggestions for what the devs should be publicizing.
I know this is being talked about in other threads but wanted a singular place to discuss improvements to the campaign that only the INovae team can make happen
You’re welcome @INovaeAndre… I write this impassionedly because I want so see all of you guys quit your day jobs two months from now because you have 2.5 million bucks to spend!
My thoughts exactly about the cinematic trailer. It’s nice, but it doesn’t really show what the game really is, let alone what separates it from other space sims.
We have a saying around here: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough. I fear that members of the team may have fallen into the trap of wanting to release only the best material, and only show finely-tuned, polished product.
This isn’t working out, and I urge you to try a new tactic: “Open Kimono”. Show them everything. And most importantly, show them your excitement. The campaign feels a bit impersonal right now.
As evidence to all of the above - your most effective marketing right now is without a doubt BlueDrake42’s videos - it’s real footage, clearly not manicured, and he shows his excitement and passion for the project. Time to get down into the trenches and start pumping out content similar to that.
You’re not crazy. (At least imho). We need to show in some way that this is worth people’s time and money. It’s easy to see how amazing this project is if you’ve been a part of the community like we have, but it’s hard for people outside the community to see why they should care.
This project has incredible potential, but we need a way to show that to people. Especially those who think this is no big deal because “other games already do this…” etc. even though that’s not true.
I completely agree. It needs to be brutally specific on the best aspects of I:B. Treat it like a pitch to a major publisher. It’s not enough to politely ask for a backing, you need to tell people why they should give a **** about Infinity (without swearing of course ) and describe why you are competent, not confident, in completing this game.
This is your one and only chance to convince the undecided people who are reading too many assumptions about it.
I think something like this could be framed in a “We just thought we would make a video update to clear up some misconceptions about I:B” kind of way. If you’re worried about how to approach the video itself (assuming you guys were to make one), I think this would come across in a positive way to someone who doesn’t know why they should really care about the project.
Agreed. It also serves to demonstrate that the team listens to feedback and is ‘agile’ and flexible. Big confidence boost for those looking to be engaged in the development, as most KS supporters are.
I feel this has been a problem of theirs, or at least Flavien’s from the start. It’s not a coincidence this project took this long to reach a kickstarter campaign even though it had a decent enough engine and assets even 5 years ago.
Sure, what they have now is much better than what they had back then, but they nearly missed the boat. If they had settled on good enough, and asked for crowd funding way earlier they probably would have ridden on the first class yacht of funding, not second class.
As someone that has been following Infinity since 2007/2008 I can’t help but be a bit frustrated and disappointed that so much time has been lost.
Ah well, I wish it does succeed and gets more funding than I expect.
The problem from the start was that the goal was unreachable, and that there was not nearly enough actual work going into the engine to achieve the goal. I think it’s better that they took the time to improve on necessary things. They were pretty secretive, in fact, I don’t even know the faults of the 2010 demo. They hid the supposed faults very well, and never told us what they were. In the end, we have an achievable goal and a team that’s probably going to get bigger.
I don’t know if the original goal was unreachable. There are projects like the Elite clone games, Pioneer, Oolite, FFE3D and procedural engines like Space Engine that have separately some of the features that Infinity:TQE was to have, of course at a more primitive level. There was a time when these would have been the only real competition Infinity would have had and “good enough” would have been perceived as excellent. Now they have to compete with ED, SC and other great space games at a whole other level of detail and expectation and it will take even longer to have something suitably polished for release, especially considering that they also need to expand and consolidate their team, as they can’t work with just a few people across continents and be efficient enough anymore.
Of course I don’t know the details of the faults the engine used to have and I may be wildly off, but I think it was usable enough for a somewhat more limited vision than the original idea for Infinity Quest for Earth, but a more expanded vision than what Battlescape is. The idea of Battlescape does not completely appeal to me to be honest, but I do understand it;s just a stepping stone for better things.
Thank you for the suggestions. We’re definitely trying to do everything we can to increase our profile, communicate why I:B is going to be an incredible game, and acquire more backers. While we wish we could raise $75k every single day the simple truth is we’re going to have some days that are better than others. I would like to take this opportunity to mention that we’re engaged in a number of ongoing conversations with members of the media.
We have a bunch of interviews and live streams scheduled through next week and we’re constantly trying to schedule more. Personally I think this is perfect as I’d rather we have a steady stream of media coverage rather than releasing all of it in 1 day. A side effect of this is that our backer acquisition is likely to come in spikes. Also many people have stated that they are waiting until they get paid or, for some reason, until the end of the campaign before they pledge.
We will be releasing additional videos over the course of the campaign including our own live stream. The first of these will likely come out sometime next week. Lastly it’s critically important that all of you are out there on the internet, at work, with your friends letting everybody know why this game is going to be amazing. If you’re buying groceries ask the cashier if he/she plays games, do they want to see something cool as hell, and show them our video on your phone (I’ve done this). Unfortunately some of the reporting that has been released about I:B so far has been a bit misinformed and it’s up to all of us to set the record straight and communicate what makes this game and this community so great.
Once again we can’t thank all of you enough for your support, the volume of traffic is making it difficult to respond to everything, but we’re absolutely reading all that you’re saying!
What about a large scale demo? Everything I’ve seen so far is all the streamer and a couple of devs. It’s very…boring, after having watched two or three, and that’s from someone who has been with you since very nearly the beginning.
Unless there is a technical reason, why not have a hundred players get online all at once? I’m sure you can find enough volunteers, and many of us could all stream or record for your use.
I am a 100% with NavyFish and MarianR87, I think they absolutely nailed it.
IMHO we’re at a very crucial point of Infinity and its future, and I think sticking with small sites and overall especially just waiting for reaction is the most wrong thing you can do now.
As some others pointed out, like MarianR87, you guys at Inovae went out on kickstarter with a bad timing with lots of competitors already in place (or done, like ED), and especially ED hitting into the exactly same area with the procedural planets. You should be very much aware (and worried) of it, and, like NavyFish pointed out, transport in your videos and updates why nevertheless Infinity Battlescape is different to them, and why everyone here is so passionate about it. I agree with NavyFish, your kickstarter content does not need another live-gameplay video but needs to go a different route overall.
Nevertheless of course I encourage my colleagues and friends to support the kickstarter to do what I can do to help, maybe a few friends of mine will support. I am with you since GameDev.net and want this game done so much. But the fact that I need to explain them what this game is about after they dont get the idea having watched the pictures or skipping through parts of the videos shows that there is something not yet in place.
I’ve done all I can online, I’ve pasted some text and the KS link to all my steam friends, re-edited and bumped a few of my Star Citizen threads. Send PM’s on the SC forums to Wingman, Dave Haddock. Also sent the same to some of the Interstellar Marine devs. And will continue to bump the I:B thread on SC and ED forums over the next month.
I’ve also suggested the dev’s contact Kate Russell from the BBC Click (webscape) who is an avid Elite fan.
If the aim is to show people as much as possible before they get bored, why do you need multiple videos of transitions when one will show how it works?
On it’s own, that sounds like marketing talk. Unless there’s a specific thing that allows their engine to do what others can’t (precision of the coordinate system, maybe?). If so, say what it is.
I’d be very careful not to call out other developers by name, or even drop obvious hints. Gamers are a tribal bunch and they shouldn’t alienate Elite fans, No Man’s Sky fans (I think Flavien inadvertently did that already once already) or Star Citizen fans.
I also disagree with showing everything. There’s easily enough very good quality screenshots on the Battlescape page (including some concept art), to not need to skimp on quality. I’ve already seen someone on the Elite forum post the 2 slightly dodgy pictures from that page, saying “these are pictures from their actual web page, lol”. One in a canyon where the ground looks really really green and one with the gas giant in the sky where you can clearly see the placeholder trees aren’t looking great. Ditch those two and all other screen shots are great.
Some other points:
Make it clear that the live streams are coming from a very early build. If possible ask the people doing them to make this very clear at the beginning. If anything Bluedrake was a bit too “this is going to blow your mind” and not enough “this is the tip of the iceberg”
Mention briefly that the prototype proves the engine works and multiplayer functionality is robust. Then emphasise that the effort now is going into building the gameplay and content.
Talk about the flight model. I believe that there are no space speed limits (or if there are, they are ridiculously high). If the warp drive is just a way to travel faster and you can still fully interact with other players, this should be made clear. These are points that many players weren’t happy about with ED (but don’t compare directly with them).
An in game fly through the city / industrial complex and close to the water would be good too, if possible (even if you have to keep distance due to modelling detail).
) and describe why you are competent, not confident, in completing this game.