In this episode, Josh & The Artsy Gamer discuss the popular early access model for game releases, as well the importance of good demos.
Listen to The Gaming Garden Podcast in audio format: https://linktr.ee/GamingGardenPod
The Artsy Gamer’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheArtsyGamer_
Josh’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JoshGamingGarden
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Can we please have this release earlier in the day like around 12. I don’t want to wait too long 😢
Yay, finally able to listen to this week's episode! 🎉
FPS mode in a farming sim? 🤣I need a video on that because WHAT?
I really agree about judging a demo for it's accessibility. Mirthwood is a great example. I LOVE the concept and theme of that game, but the fonts and color contrast make it very hard to read, so I've completely written it off.
As a game creator working on my game while listening to this episode, it was very helpful to hear full time content creators talk discoverability strategy like this. I indeed feel like I will need to become a god of social media and engagement way before I launch, so it's very helpful to hear what worked and didn't for you two so I can focus on the right things with my limited time! Thank you!
This was such a great episode! The conversation was excellent.
Gamers who buy games in Early Access Games should understand they are playing an early release game. Though the Coral Island 1.0 release was an odd decision, I think it was released too early. Humble Games closing 7 to 8 months after most likely affected their 1.0 release. In fairness to Stairway Games, they were transparent about what was available in the 1.0 release.
There will be a difference if a game studio is independent or not. Technically, once you have a publisher, you are on the whim of your publisher, unlike an independent studio. However, indie developers' struggle will always be financial-based. Some indie devs are blessed with the financial support to take their time but this does not apply to all. At the end of the day, indie devs have to find some balance between utilizing the Early Access and be able to survive financially to have their game fully released.
I think the biggest problems with early access are 1. Developers aren't always clear about what it entails or when they are 2. Many players don't read what the developers say EA is for their game and react negatively based solely on their expectations.
Early access is a bad term for most games since few are/feel complete feature wise. Devs should just call it what it really is which is either Alpha or Beta, depending on how far along they are.
I think demos are a better way to give players a feel for the game, but they often put them out too far in advance. If I like a game I want it to be released within a few months of a demo, not a year or more later. I agree with Josh's examples of Critter Cove and Fields of Mistria as demos done well.
Last, I don't like the idea of limiting EA to just content creators. There are millions of players who are good at games and finding and reporting bugs who don't have a channel. And not all content creators are interested in or even good at reporting bugs. Content creators currently often get keys a little early to hype and review games so making EA exclusive to them for that reason isn't necessary imo.
This might be a hot take but I think FoM not having a Discord is a smart move. People could get rabid and intense. I need my focus and peace of mind.
I think EA just for content creators would be… horrible. Like, the amount of bugs reported in the correct way, the amount of non-creator persons invested in giving good feedback, is waaaaay above anything content creators could or should provide. For example – in the coral island discord group are a few people very invested since the very beginning (I know that, because they are so active, that I remembered the names), providing not only bug-reports but also data and as far as I'm aware non of them are CC. I could only picture very few CC to go such length (and not many people to do that without payment anyway :D). would be kinda sad to loose people that are this passionate about particular games, just because they don't share it on youtube.
I'm getting back into wylde flowers but have a little work in my 2nd autumn before I can change the season and access the update.
Early access is important as not having it can kill a game. Look at SunnySide. It had a lot of hype around it with players excited for it. Then it released as 1.0 and tanked to mixed reviews because it was very far from 1.0 quality. vs, Fields of Mistria: similar hype, still very buggy and doesn't even have the full story in it and has overwhelmingly positive reviews. I guarantee SunnySide's reviews would have been positive, maybe even highly positive if it had been early access.
Honestly one of the things I think devs could do on kickstarter is have Special, limited 'alpha' and 'beta' tiers so that the devs can give out early copies only to people who want to break their game. Each backer survey with this tier should come with basically an application that if they obviously just want the game early, it kicks them to the normal tier, because this is the "you volunteer for us" tier.