I've never really got the problem people have with DLC. You either wait 6 months and pay £20 for an expansion, or you get content at shorter invervals, in smaller chunks, and costing less. It's what you get for what you pay which counts, not whether you call it an 'expansion' or a 'DLC'.



Admittedly some companies do some pretty shabby DLC packs like just some textures or whatever - that I'm not fond of, you need a bit of 'meat' in each release, whether that's a few scenarios, or a new faction, or whatever.

maceman wrote:
My point being moderation in all things. any extreme ideas tend to be unhelpful for the human condition. Trying to connect a space game to North Korea is like talking about the menu at TGIF and the nutritional condition of the population in Eritrea.



This is one American speaking to another btw.



anyway. back to the topic at hand... my curiosity is sated. all are entitled to their opinion. Though talking about Bourgeoisie from the land of Nike... kinda feels ... :P

Hmmm... like china with their politics and economy? communist gov & capitalism

Wait i'm curious, because alot of us pre-order and got to play alpha, does that mean the final product will be be more expensive?



I'm just asking because I saw this on minecraft when I bought it in alpha for $10 and the final product was $30.

SpaceTroll wrote:


As you can see from my comments, there was nothing specific for post release, we have NO IDEA what form will our additional content take after release....

Get your mods to understand what the company line is then:

Raptor wrote:
Me too. There are way more than 3 and there will be even more when the expansion/DLC gets released.

4x_Fan wrote:
Sid Meier's Civilization IV (2005)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords (2006)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2007)

Sid Meier's Railroads! (2006)

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (2008)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2008)

Sid Meier's Civilization V (2010)

Civilization V: Gods & Kings (2012)



2K games acquired Firaxis in November 2005, after the release of Civ IV. If you think that 2k games are not scummy bunny boilers, you're greatly mistaken.



Civ V has a single civilisation [whichareafewlinesofXML,asoundfile+asplashavatar] for £2.99.

Fall from Heaven II (for Civ IV) is free.





You probably don't even know what I'm talking about...

Of course Fall from Heaven II is free. It's a mod. Civ III had it's expansion as well.

4x_Fan wrote:


Oh, and if you want to prioritise: stop making multiple models for pirates & getting people to vote on them. USE EVERY ASSET YOU HAVE FFS. YOU'RE PAYING THE ARTIST FOR HER/HIS TIME*.



*or per model, depending on the freelance contract you may or may not have. The idea is the same: player feedback on stuff like models is pointless and a waste of money. Far better crunching code...

That is one of the reasons I took a chance on this game. The appearance that the players matter, and can do minor things to help create the game are very appealing. But then, in your world, the artists always create one model and say "BAM! There we go. Done and DONE!" That one model is probably always based off of a single sketch as well. I mean, everyone knows the Artists are the least important part of the team.

White_Mage wrote:
When it comes to games like this, I really hope that even rudimentary systems for all kinds of additional gameplay are part of the free patches for the game after it has gone gold and started to be sold over digital distribution.



That being said, if Amplitude wants to put together a large pack of content that adds to and enhances the game, I would be perfectly fine with buying it all at once like an old school expansion pack. (Remember those!? Those were the days...)



I know it's early to start thinking about post release stuff, but I really hope that DLC is limited to cosmetics and not major components of the game

That. I would love to see a huge content expansion as well. I would gladly pay for it as well. A few new factions, some new tech, and new game play methods. Unfortunately, in today's model small DLC is becoming the standard.



While I would love for any DLC to be free, these guys have to make a living. And I am happy enough with alpha that I have no objections to giving them a little more of my hard earned cheddar to enhance my experience.

4x_Fan wrote:
Yes, I'm aware of that. You managed to answer my question though :rolleyes:









DLC - yes or no?

Dude they haven't even finished the Alpha yet why don't you lay off?

Oh, and if you want to prioritise: stop making multiple models for pirates & getting people to vote on them. USE EVERY ASSET YOU HAVE FFS. YOU'RE PAYING THE ARTIST FOR HER/HIS TIME*.

Ok first off: OH NOES A company asking for player input on what the design of end product is going to be how HORRIBLE!



Secondly: You don't know how the heck they are paying their modellers or artists and they may very well use those models voted nay on for other things so chill and stop with the ALL CAPS bolding like you are five years old.



Third: You obviously have no frigging idea how development works as the ARTISTS as you so boldly capitalized is NOT involved in coding/story/plot/game logistics they are ONLY involved in making the units and artwork. So in otehr words they are wasting absolutely no resources by keeping artist making models while they work out the finer points of ACTUAL game design and development.



You'd probobly get a lot better replies to you if you weren't being such a rude condescending self entitled egotist about the whole thing though just sayin'

ArrowLance wrote:
I'm not sure what you mean. I'm very familiar with the Soviet Union, Cuba, and North Korea. I've met with and had various relations with people who lived in the Soviet union. I'm still not sure what you mean.

My point being moderation in all things. any extreme ideas tend to be unhelpful for the human condition. Trying to connect a space game to North Korea is like talking about the menu at TGIF and the nutritional condition of the population in Eritrea.



This is one American speaking to another btw.



anyway. back to the topic at hand... my curiosity is sated. all are entitled to their opinion. Though talking about Bourgeoisie from the land of Nike... kinda feels ... :P

Sharidann wrote:
And no, I don't say that as a moderator, I say that as one user to the other. I try to use forums on the internet the way I would adress other people in real life, I would suggest for you to do the same.

Well said! Vote Sharidann for Super Mod! Oh... wait...

Sharidann wrote:


Nonetheless you would gain much persuasion if you were a tad less abrasive in presenting your opinions and ideas to other people and if you were avoiding being somewhere between condescending and insulting.



And no, I don't say that as a moderator, I say that as one user to the other. I try to use forums on the internet the way I would adress other people in real life, I would suggest for you to do the same.

+1.

Well said, Sharidann.

tsjb wrote:
SPAZ was funded by people buying into the alpha/beta, I was very hesitant to buy SPAZ since it was an unfinished game from a team I hadn't heard of before (just like Endless Space for me), but since release they have updated their game with things they technically could have asked money for but didn't. In return they have made many very local fans like myself who would buy their next game in a heartbeat regardless of what they decide to make.



That's why I agree with OP that it's important that a game looking as good as Endless Space not have paid-for DLC, people are saying that companies need to make money which is very true but you have to think whether it's actually going to be more profitable in the long run or not since the respect you gain by fleshing out your game and adding fairly common features of the genre can go such a long way when it comes to trying to sell expansions, sequels or just other games from the same developers.



That's not even including the other problems that paid-for DLC can cause such as playerbase fragmentation, if 50% of players buy the espionage DLC then how does that factor into multiplayer games? Most likely I either won't be able to join them or I just won't want to because of the disadvantage. Add in just 1 more paid-for DLC and you have four groups of players; people with no DLC, people with both, people with just the first and people with only the second, the problem grows exponentially with each paid-DLC added and that whole point again comes back into the money discussion, if many of your players feel alienated trying to play multiplayer then why would they want to buy your expansion/sequel if they know they will just be forced to buy DLC every few months just to play online?

You're right. Splitting the community wouldn't be a good move. Time will tell if devs can afford themselves free DLCs.

When it comes to games like this, I really hope that even rudimentary systems for all kinds of additional gameplay are part of the free patches for the game after it has gone gold and started to be sold over digital distribution.



That being said, if Amplitude wants to put together a large pack of content that adds to and enhances the game, I would be perfectly fine with buying it all at once like an old school expansion pack. (Remember those!? Those were the days...)



I know it's early to start thinking about post release stuff, but I really hope that DLC is limited to cosmetics and not major components of the game

repbunny wrote:
Wait i'm curious, because alot of us pre-order and got to play alpha, does that mean the final product will be be more expensive?



I'm just asking because I saw this on minecraft when I bought it in alpha for $10 and the final product was $30.

The only distributor, Steam, advertises the alpha as 25% off.



Part of my questioning here is that it's really really really unusual for a company to only offer a single distribution model (e.g. no direct download from their webpage ~ which makes a company more money and although they're planning a physical launch, which is completely stupid for the game quality / size, Steam is currently the sole source of the game) and to get a Steam deal before going gold.





There's a lot odd in the Amplitude business model, and choices: and frankly, the # content in the game isn't justifying it.





Oh, and you're slightly incorrect on Minecraft:



Alpha Price (Expired on Dec. 20, 2010): 10 Euros (~$13.55 US @ time it expired)



Beta Price (Current price): 15 Euros (~$19.36 US @ time of post)



Final Price (TBD): 20 Euros (~$25.81 US @ time of post)



Website lists it as always being E19,95

aside from the communism talk and nickle and diming dlc fears i would rather amplitude if they want to make dlc to go full old school by making meaty expansions there's more money to be made that way since nowadays developers release things that are incomplete and just break the games which drive people away. (im looking at you tropico 4)

maceman wrote:
So wait, you really are communist?!



Now see... with the tone of your posts... and the communist thing down below...



totally misread you and thought it was all a joke. turns out you're uber serious? fascinating :P



so wait American Native... or Native American? (I'm still reserving judgement on your whole thing)

Bah. If he want communism, show it and move to a country that has it. North Korea is an awesome place to be, if you like eating gravel. It's free too.

About your edit: all mods are actually volunteers.

Members of the Dev Team have the title "Dev Team".



I actually think you develop some interesting ideas, which remind me, in a bit simplified way, of the way we treated - for example - the problem of detection in a pencil and paper Space Opera RPG with own developed rules and universe.

Nonetheless you would gain much persuasion if you were a tad less abrasive in presenting your opinions and ideas to other people and if you were avoiding being somewhere between condescending and insulting.



And no, I don't say that as a moderator, I say that as one user to the other. I try to use forums on the internet the way I would adress other people in real life, I would suggest for you to do the same.

4x_Fan wrote:
Yes; No.



http://unity3d.com/unity/whats-new/unity-3.5.1



Bad form to start pulling stuff open during an alpha, methinks. Although the XML is not written how I would:



[code]















[/code]



I'd not be too happy with mixing the "." and ",", but that's purely aesthetics.









However:



Detection is already coded.



A cloak is simply something that gives -detection.



If something is at -1 detection or lower then it's cloaked.



e.g.



Ship A: Cloak 3 = -3 detection.

Ship B: Brainwave Sensors = +6 Detection



Ship B can see Ship A.





Edit:



Since you're the mod, are you on the dev team or just a volunteer? If the former, get an answer on DLC, eh?

Just curius 4x_fan, what's your time frame for getting an answer before you initiate this epic one-man boycott?

SpaceTroll wrote:
To come back on topic, basically there are things that I know will not be in for official release, why? probably because we had to remove it from the game at some stage because we were not satisfied with the way it was working, or most probably because we did not have the budget for it. So that is why we mention on our tracking list these elements not to get your hopes up for the coming weeks / months. We are a small team and there is only so much we can do.

As you can see from my comments, there was nothing specific for post release, we have NO IDEA what form will our additional content take after release.... and honestly it is not our focus right now. But if it is in that list, all it means is that we want to do it, one day for sure, and when we'll do it we will do it right, or at least and hopefully with your support, we will do everything we can so it is as it should be.

There is so much we want to do and improve for release that already it will be hard for the team to find anytime to sleep .... and there is still very good feedback coming from the community, so we need to prioritize.



ST

Nice to see you not wanting to release a feature until it's complete.



Hopefully, if it's paid DLC, it's reasonably priced, as in not $15 for 3 maps for something ridiculous (*cough*COD*cough*)

d10sfan wrote:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/02/16/civilization-v-expansion-adds-religion-spies.aspx

Yes, I'm aware of that. You managed to answer my question though :rolleyes:

SpaceTroll wrote:

DLC - yes or no?





Oh, and if you want to prioritise: stop making multiple models for pirates & getting people to vote on them. USE EVERY ASSET YOU HAVE FFS. YOU'RE PAYING THE ARTIST FOR HER/HIS TIME*.















*or per model, depending on the freelance contract you may or may not have. The idea is the same: player feedback on stuff like models is pointless and a waste of money. Far better crunching code...

4x_Fan wrote:
Sid Meier's Civilization IV (2005)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords (2006)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2007)

Sid Meier's Railroads! (2006)

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (2008)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2008)

Sid Meier's Civilization V (2010)

Civilization V: Gods & Kings (2012)



2K games acquired Firaxis in November 2005, after the release of Civ IV. If you think that 2k games are not scummy bunny boilers, you're greatly mistaken.



Civ V has a single civilisation [whichareafewlinesofXML,asoundfile+asplashavatar] for £2.99.

Fall from Heaven II (for Civ IV) is free.





You probably don't even know what I'm talking about...

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/02/16/civilization-v-expansion-adds-religion-spies.aspx

halflotus wrote:
The current market has the 4x standard-bearer, Civilization, releasing espionage in a paid expansion. I expect Endless Space to do the same.

Sid Meier's Civilization IV (2005)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords (2006)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (2007)

Sid Meier's Railroads! (2006)

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (2008)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (2008)

Sid Meier's Civilization V (2010)

Civilization V: Gods & Kings (2012)



2K games acquired Firaxis in November 2005, after the release of Civ IV. If you think that 2k games are not scummy bunny boilers, you're greatly mistaken.



Civ V has a single civilisation [whichareafewlinesofXML,asoundfile+asplashavatar] for £2.99.

Fall from Heaven II (for Civ IV) is free.





You probably don't even know what I'm talking about...