What happens once Beta comes out?

Yes that will always Happen. Piracy is one thing, it doesn't really affect sales because Pirates rarely buy a game, pirate version of it, or not. So the pirate versions don't really affect the game. Resellers do, mostly in Online Games as MMOs where then insist of trying to mess the Game Economy for their own profit. In this case there will be resellers but not in any big number for sure. I guess we must wait and see. But simply an option to let players choose Steam or Non-Steam version, is more than fair.

 

Again about the double key issue: I (pre-)ordered 8 games via humblestore. 5 of these games give you both a DRM-free (!) copy and a steam key. For the sixth game, the devs comfirmed this, too. The seventh game (Overgrowth ) is still in alpha and the last one is starbound.

The only devs I know, who said, you have to decide between Steam and their store, were SQUAD from Kerbal Space Program. But they had their own store system.

EDIT: With the games I ordered, I don't mean the countless games from the Humble Bundles

EDIT2: I can also add Prison Architect and Oil Rush to the games with Steam key and DRM-free copy plus at least three devs, who offered cross-activation from Desura to Steam.

 

I think this might be overstated a bit, because having a reselling business is... really obnoxious and not always rewarding because driving traffic to your site is difficult. And in this case, we're still making money off of the transactions, and the volume will be limited. So, I'm not worried about it.

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarken, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

 

You may be right, Resellers usually Win More in MMOs because the hugeness of Bots, Spam, and Hacked Accounts that helps them to reach a lot of the community, now i'm thinking about that in Starbound, it doesn't look like a problem.

 

If the game were more than $15-20 I could see the issues with piracy. For the cost of a modest meal, most folks will just buy the game if they enjoy it. Think back to when Terraria was first on Steam and word got around - they ran a sale for $5 or so, and sold many copies. I just don't see an issue.

 

I don't understand the purpose to crack indie games... Despite the fact that piracy isn't good at all, I understand, sometimes, why people do it (huge companies such as EA or Activision which are now, well-known for selling overpriced crappy games...).

But indie games, it's just random guys like you & me (with a better knowledge of coding ofc) who are trying to developp a game. They're not here to make money, they are here to make a game. In fact, the "money" part is only because we are in a capitalist world, nothing is free (and still, it's a reasonable price unlike companies mentioned before).

 

Seems this topic has been answered and then some, closing it.