Message from the developers:
Greetings!
First off, welcome to the Galactic Civilizations III Steam forums! We are so glad you're here!
Before you post please read this as I'll try to answer some of the common topics that come up here.
Yes. The idea is to let GalCiv fans who are interested in the long-term success of GalCiv III have early input into the game.
The Founder's Elite edition gives you:
The base game (which will list for $49.99 when released)
The future expansion packs (we current have 4 planned)
All DLC (we plan to do around 6 the first year and 4 per year subsequently as long as there is interest)
Access to our Founder's vault which includes access to our own internal dirty laundry (internal docs, failed concepts, music drafts, etc.)
Naming a star in the game
Forum badge and special forum accessThe idea being a bit like some recent games that have come out that have let you do the same thing which can be convenient for those who just want to sit down and always have "everything".
When the BETA arrives, the Founder Elite version will go away entirely and have the regular version. We actually had this on GalCiv3.com where the standard edition was only $40.
The regular version with early access will be discounted over the final price as a thank you to those willing to put up with Beta bugs.
However, the ALPHA is a very different animal. It sucks. It's not fun. It's ugly. And for that reason, we decided that it made more sense to only share it with those who are looking to be with us for the long haul and thus looking at the long-term.
By the time the BETA hits, the game should suck a lot less and be less ugly.
The big reason for the public alpha is the same reason I had a public alpha back in 1993 for the original OS/2 verrsion of GalCiv (back when I was in college).
Alpha access is early enough where we can experiment with new ideas that we may subsequently throw out. The downside is that it's a real sausage factory. People always imagine game designs being set in stone. But they're not.
Having our most dedicated players sharing their ideas and thoughts early in the process can be helpful. Starbases in GalCiv came from the beta community (for example).
We are looking for GalCiv III to be able to be enhanced and expanded on for a very very long time. GalCiv II was 32-bit and came out in 2006. By 2009, we could no longer add more stuff to it because we were out of RAM (all those ship parts for ship design and having thousands of unique planets gets memory intensive).
64-bit is cutting edge today but in 2021, it's going to be pretty passe. ;-)
Having the base game be set up for 64-bit and DirectX 10/11/12 means we can do major updates to the game without having to start over.
Anyway, hope that helps! I'll be around!
http://steamcommunity.com/app/226860/discussions/1/558751812932368701/
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I'm glad some of us have the common sense to read instead of shouting "paid alpha"...
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Oh boy, and i thought DayZ was pricey for a alpha/beta...
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"it's croudfunding (like kickstarter) but with ONE (sic!) tier ONLY"
Exactly. Its crowdfunding.
/closed
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Back in my days the game devs pay some poeple to play the alpha.
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Reading though what they're including, why they're including it, and who they intend this for, it makes pretty good sense. You're getting a lot of content for that $100. The game, 4 expansion packs, 6+ dlc's, and some other goodies. Would probably cost you more than $100 if bought separately at retail price. And it's aimed at people who are read up on the game, know what to expect from it, and are in it for the long run. If $100 is to much for you, wait for beta and pay standard price. If you're unsure if you will like the game or not, don't buy this, wait until later. If you buy this and discover that you don't like the game and wasted $100, you deserve it because you're stupid.
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"You're getting a lot of content for that $100. The game, 4 expansion packs, 6+ dlc's, and some other goodies"
Wrong! You WILL be getting all expansions and DLC but you are not getting it right now or near future.
You basicly loaning them this $100 and they will pay off in like 3 years. Knowing just basic economics you will see its not worth it in most cases. Its a good deal only for publisher, noone else. And there is no proof that giving money for an unfinished game will make this game better (except case where game wouldnt be relesed otherwise) imo quite the opposite.
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So you are saying is that if I make a game with 0$ it will be the best game ever?
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No, you are talking about not having money to make a game., I've excluded this case in my statement.
Stardock never said that they are lacking money to make GC3 the way they planed it. Being happy with paying for unfinished game when the game could be better can make devs lazy and not willing to try harder to make a better product
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I implied no such thing, and that has absolutely nothing to do with anything I posted. You're looking at it as investing your money in a company to help them make their game better. I'm looking at it as you'll have payed less for the same content when all is said and done.
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I've pointed that "You're getting" and "You will be getting" are two different things and you have used the wrong term that's missleading.
"You're looking at it as investing your money in a company to help them make their game better." Nope. I've said it works only if company doesn't have the money to finish a good game. There is no proof that's the case. It's not like kickstarter where they say that if they will have that or that much money they will relase more expansions that they wouldn't without extra funds. And that was my first tought in this topic, that it looks like a kickstarter but a lazy one with only 1 tier and no information what they will do with this extra money.
"I'm looking at it as you'll have payed less for the same content when all is said and done." That's a common mistake people make thinking paying 100$ now is less than paying 150$ in parts during a longer period of time. There are some things like inflation and opportunity costs that alone can show you that paying 100$ for future game (50$) expansions (3 times 20$) and 6DLC (5$ each) you won't say save at all or at lest not that much as you tought in the first place
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They have it set to give you all the DLC to get the funding to complete the game. If you don't like it, you don't have to click the buy button. Planetary Annihilation was worse, charging more for buying it earlier, less for later, and I don't think you got anything special for buying earlier, except for an over the top price tag.
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Agreed. You'd be better off putting the $100 toward a new graphics card to play that other game that you have always wanted and buying this game when it's $10 on a 90% off sale two weeks later.
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I might start a giveaway for it, just to see all those who don't want nothing to do with it actually enter to win it!
Mind you, there may be no giveaways from me for a couple of weeks afterwards.
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Well I got this game for free so you won't catch me complaining
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I guess Endless Space was 25% off during early access. Also community had great impact on game development even post-release including a bunch of features (4 add-ons) that ALL got for free. So those are 2 different stories.
"I know Stardock are cool." I would like to say the same ;/ Don't get me wrong, i kinda like their games and all but have a little issue with what they have done lately. This issuie is called "Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes" - a full prioe release that should be just a patch or expansion to original "Fallen Enchantress". Also both games have a map pack dlc that seems to be the same thing but sold separately.
And now this highly priced alpha after what happend with PA. IMO those are little steps to losing a bit of this fanbase.
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For "The Crew" Pre Tester I would spend that money
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Not that I support these early access prices, but beta/alfa-testing a game is very different from having a peek into the game and sending developers info about a bug if you see one and sharing your opinion about thegame. Testers are basically not playing the game, for example in racing games, they have to drive through whole track glued to the wall just to see if there is not some forgotten space, same goes with any game with walls.
So I would not really compare early access with beta testing. IMO it is all just about getting some early cash to help company or to be able to actually sell a game which will probably be never really finished (hey DayZ and others). They would still have to pay for testers I suppose, cuz I don't think there is anyone doing what I have written above out of their own free will.
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See a real beta is the Titanfall beta, ESO beta, Wildstar beta and so on. Betas need to be free and give beta testers a cool little in-game cosmetic item. $100 is a lot in life and when it's on steam that's just insane. I can buy like 15 games with that kind of cash lol.
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The Founder's Elite edition gives you:
The base game (which will list for $49.99 when released)
The future expansion packs (we current have 4 planned)
All DLC (we plan to do around 6 the first year and 4 per year subsequently as long as there is interest)
Access to our Founder's vault which includes access to our own internal dirty laundry (internal docs, failed concepts, music drafts, etc.)
Naming a star in the game
Forum badge and special forum access
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I know game development is pricy but charging 100$ for a game that is not nearly finished? i get the point that you also get access to all future DLC ut thats still 2x more the finished game will probably cost.
i think i should't even count it as early access, it's croudfunding (like kickstarter) but with ONE (sic!) tier ONLY
EDIT:
To get it right, you could buy full game with beta access for 40$, now they want hardcore fans to pay 60$ more if they want alpha. With this 60$ you also getting all future DLC. It's like a season pass for the game that isn't nearly finished. You can easly invest this 60$ and wait around 2 years until first dlc will come out. Most people agree that pre-ordering is bad and is harmful to game industry. This is new level of preordering - buying DLC for an alpha game.
If they really wanted feedback from community they would gave alpha passes for free or at least to people who bought early access before. On the other hand if they need cash they should say it as many devs at kickstarter do. Thats just a simple cash-in aimed at hardcore GalCiv fans that are to blind top see they are getting ripped off
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