I backed $60, this was said to give me Beta access by at least April 2017 and then full release in September 2017. I know the Game development took a turn and has gotten harder, but saying the Alpha isn’t going to be finished until the end of this year (who know’s this may be missed too?), that’s pushing us back.
People who have any form of access above full-release should at least have something at this point, and it’s disappointing to know this isn’t really being covered. The FAQ still has the wrong release estimates as well, so I’m really not sure what’s going on.
I’ve been following the project for 10+ years, since the old site and prototype, and was also backer #2 for the whole crowdfunding project on kickstarter, so I do follow the project closely.
Edit: Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand that when building something, it’s very easy to miss deadlines due to unexpected things, and learning curves along the way. But, some sort of communication/acknowledgement/compensation, even just an update on the FAQ’s saying “We’re unsure on a complete timeline, due to”. Just something.
You guys are doing an amazing job, and I love looking at the screenshots, and reading the updates.
Edit #2: Cheers guys, obviously I msised a big bulk of info and am an idiot
Yeah a Free Play Weekend and access for people with Alpha access instead of just “Developer Access”. I’m a “Beta” accessor, and the Beta isn’t even on the tables yet.
I bought Beta access to have the earlier access rather than wait till launch. Didn’t see the point in paying for Alpha when there was only a few months in it between December and April.
Its not ideal that most backers didn’t get anything out of it so far. There was a discussion started by the devs to release access to alpha and beta backers ealier even if the developement is not there yet, unfortunately most people were against it for several reasons that I don’t agree with. I try to summarize.
People would expect an alpha/beta version and would be disappointed to have less than that.
It would take momentum away from the enthusiasm to release a barebones build to more people that might lose interest.
It would be unfair to people that paid more to receive the same access rights as those who paid less.
It was basically decided that people would have to live with the delay and ‘free’ play weekends would enable ealier temporary access to waiting backers.
I personally believe releasing to all backers with beta or above status and only barring them from the dev forum and discussions and polls would be the best option. People that paid more would still have a great deal of privileges more and backers that paid less wouldn’t have to endure a two year delay.
Cheers for that @Selbie, I didn’t note that, I’m an idiot for noticing this, didnt’ realise KS couldn’t be updated.
@Playbenni, that does make sense, I just still feel deflated. It’s the reason I made the post to get these sort of answers that I missed out on, so thanks for posting them. Definitely makes sense, maybe the initial privileges and rewards will be upgraded for the delay.
Usually creators are using official project updates to inform their backers about delays, so there is “a way” .
INS did inform us about delay via official project updates.
To make a huge generalisation, there are two reasons for someone backing at a cheaper tier: 1. People who are super keen and interested but their spending is cheifly limited by their finances. 2. People who’s spending is cheifly limited by their interest in the project.
Giving access to that 1st type wouldn’t be a problem as they would be forgiving of bugs and appreciate the stage of development, but giving access to the 2nd type could result in negative reactions and bad publicity.
As there is no fair way to determine which group someone is in, it’s all or nothing.
Cheers MrGibbs ! Your frustration is totally understandable to us but as others have explained we’ve suffered from (surprise surprise!) delays, and if we gave you access right now you wouldn’t have much to play since it’s still in heavy development.
And others who paid for earlier alpha access would feel legitimately cheated.
You’ll still get beta access once we enter beta stage, and it’ll stay in beta for many months before we even get to a release, so you’ll definitely have your chances of playing the bulk of the players during release.
As hrobertson said, if you’re eagier to get alpha access as it’s around the end-of-year corner, you can upgrade your pledge.
About communication: we’re pretty open with the state of the game and development issues in the dev updates. You should receive them by e-mail if you’re a Kickstarter or IndieGoGo backer. For others who aren’t, we also repost them on our forums.
The estimation dates on KS / IGG cannot be edited anymore. KS / IGG official stance on that is that creators shouldn’t be able to go back on what they promised as tier rewards. It is possible to create new tier rewards, but not remove or edit in any way or form the existing ones. That’s totally understandable to me, but I wish there was a system in place to inform people of the new estimated delivery dates, while still showing the original content.
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