Important BETA RELEASE DISCUSSION - DECEMBER 4TH (*ALL* beta discussion goes here. Other threads deleted)

From the kickstarter FAQ.

If I am unable to complete my project as promised, what should I do?

If you realize that you will be unable to follow through on your project before funding has ended, you are expected to cancel it. If your project is successfully funded, you are required to fulfill all rewards or refund any backer whose reward you do not or cannot fulfill. A failure to do so could result in damage to your reputation or even legal action by your backers.

To avoid problems, don't over-promise when creating your project. If issues arise, communicate immediately, openly, and honestly with your backers.

Mind you this isn't directly kickstarter itself issuing penalties, but due to the open transparency of kickstarter taking action aginst those who abuse it is easier. Pages remain up permanently unalterable when it comes to terms once money changes hands when it comes to things like reward tiers and such holding accountability publicly.

In all cases of outright fraudulent action however Kickstarter seems to have the blanket action of canceling the project, and refunding backers. As the poster you responded to said, it is expected that an explanation is given as to what caused a delay. Something more detailed then a vague elements had to gather and programing is difficult. If not, it could lead them to deeming a project possibly a fraud and closing it down. However after funding it would be up to those who donated to take legal action if refunds aren't given by the project in that case.

 

Well, I'll say again as I've said before - kickstarter is better known for its projects which don't finish on time than those that do. The only one I know about that finished on time was FTL.

Some projects have been more creative than others with the excuses they give, and some have been downright uncommunicative about what's happened, but I have also yet to hear about any successfully backed projects which have faced more than angry posts from supporters when dates have been pushed back, regardless of the reasons given or not given. Unlike CF, there is no inbuilt mechanism for requesting a refund - it's up to the individual projects as to whether they offer it or not.

 

Cool story. Now show me world diversity, monster diversity NPC's, Advanced AI. System Requirements, optimization. All I see is a pretty engine but not a game. Which is pretty much what Minecraft was. A gaming engine to tinker in. Not a game until way ages later in its development cycle

 

if you do send it out to the press with game breaking bugs before release suggest that any youtubers show the gamebreaking bugs they encounter. not to put the game in a bad light, more to save the backlash of "but they get it! me want me want!"

but anyway, can't wait. take as long as you need, what i've seen already puts terraria to shame.

 

I agree with you deathsgift, i want the game badly too, but its better they get time to work and implement the things they want, rather than releasing a beta, worthy of the game, since there are alot of people who these days think beta = early preview of the game, rather than a phase of bug hunting, and with game breaking bugs there will be a riot an the forum no doubt.

 

Just two months to go before we can play

 

i'll hope that game be released in March. To my two years registration on this forum.

 

I've worked on several projects that received kickstarter/IndieGoGo funding as finished on time, there are many out there, it's just that you don't hear about a project when it finishes on time with no issues, but it's a big thing when someone doesn't.

 

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the responses in this thread.. non technical/non developer folk don't really understand how complicated and how long computer games are/take to build. If Chucklefish release a pile of broken crap too soon, the backlash could bury them. From what I can see they are playing it cool and will deliver an amazing game.. soon enough!

 

Unless they push back beta.

Also for those who say its better they wait to release beta so it is more complete - it isn't like it is impossible for them to update it as they add things.. like any game that has done this ever. Even if they wait until Dec31st they will still need to update the beta as they progress towards release, with things to be tested.. So if their going to anyway all they are doing by waiting is shooting themselves in the foot.

 

Ok, fair enough, there is more than one apparently, but having dug deeper:

http://money.cnn.com/interactive/technology/kickstarter-projects-shipping/
http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/18/technology/innovation/kickstarter-ship-delay/index.html
http://gigaom.com/2013/07/05/if-you-back-a-kickstarter-game-dont-be-surprised-when-its-late/

Basically, as of Nov 2012, 84% of kickstarter projects don't ship on time. I'm confident that the figure is much similar (worse if anything) for games. No reason to believe that's improved much. So, my statement stands: Kickstarter is better known for games shipping late than on time. I haven't bothered looking for anything similar with indiegogo, but I doubt there's much difference anyway.

 

The preorder programme was launched with the understanding that the game would be available in 2013, beta or otherwise. I get the feeling that Tiy has a different interpretation of the word beta than most of the people that preordered. We expected an unfinished product that we could help improve as the final release drew near, but it seems that Tiy wants the beta to be pretty much the finished product. Beta =/= early access...

 

and it won't be, we will be able to play only the first tree tiers, but npcs and dungeons already appear on those tiers, soo, yeah, he's trying to finish those, erase all the bugs and then release the game.

it's not like chucklefish going to release the finished game saying it is beta, that would be just dumb

 

that's actually kinda what a beta is. it's the majority of features implemented but with bugs and such. grapples only just got added and i'd call them a pretty important feature for a game like this. too many alpha-state games labeled beta because people have heard the term beta. if you were in on the project zomboid alpha early days, that is more like what an alpha is. alpha==early access

 

Oh, for the love of—

You guys!
What are you doing?
Guys?!
Shtap!

No, seriously. All of this about a beta release and delayed development... Really? It's not the end of the world. Find yourself a hobby or something that'll help you kill time in the meantime. Whining over this matter won't make development go faster. Just let it go and take a chill pill. You guys need to relax a bit and take things easy for a change.

 

it only takes a few minutes to make a post regarding the beta, do you really think an entire day is dedicated to making one forum post? Further, the entire gimmick of the pre-order was the promise to play the beta this year. Granted there are still a few months left but take into consideration that throughout most of the year up until around September most people thought the final release was this year, then that was officially delayed so that the beta could make 2013. But when a developer promises 2013, expectations aren't "last minute 2013", and now that it is these last few months people are skeptical they can even make their 2013 deadline. No sane person is faulting the developers for having a larger undertaking than they expected, but the fact of the matter is that preorder promised: "release: 2013", if this estimate was a mistake then they shouldn't have promised a 2013 release as the focal selling point of the pre-order. If money wasn't exchanged for the impression they left, then I would absolutely agree with you. I mean, they haven't even announced a general time frame for beta release and there are only a few months left, less than 12 weeks. Again, I understand that development can be tricky, but that's the price you have to pay if you make a deadline for yourself you can't make. I see all complaints as a fair exchange for the false promise of a beta release this year, and I hope more people do complain as collateral damage should they fail to meet their deadline.

 

It's only false if it doesn't get released. Which no matter how you might find disagreeable, DOES in fact count until the last day of the year.

 

Like to add, whats funny is you assume people aren't chill. At this point I'm fairly in regards to it all, because most of the fires burnt out from various setbacks and choices they have made. I peek in, general toss in my two cents here and there.. but otherwise am nowhere near as active on this board as I used to be.

As for whining, funny how any opinion that isn't praise gets labeled this. If anyone needs to take a chill pill it might be the people who think the developers are made of glass.

 

happy that beta will be out this year

 

It's also funny how any opinion which isn't whining gets the poster called a 'white knight' or 'fanboi'. Some people here (perhaps the vast majority) don't see the devs as having committed any grave crimes, and are in fact quite happy with how things are.

- We understand that game development is hard.
- We understand that ordinary people make mistakes. (Yes, the devs are ordinary people. <Gasp>)
- We understand that estimating release dates accurately is extremely hard.
- We understand that there are questions which the devs shouldn't answer, no matter how many people ask.
- We understand that not everything that the devs say is a promise.
- We understand that some things they have chosen to do may be discontinued, regardless of reason.
- We understand that whinging about any of the above over and over again not only doesn't help anyone, it makes this forum unpleasant.

In short, we kinda realise that in real life, shit happens, and when it's about a game, it's really really minor in the grand scheme of things. That's called 'perspective', by the way.