To Developers: No videos for non-contributors? Really?

[shingouki]

Hey I've been interested in this game since it was first announced, and I haven't contributed to the game, but I've been visiting the forum consistently looking forward to seeing the game's development. However, I noticed really quickly that unless you're a contributor, you can't see the development videos...and I really don't understand why.

I can understand if you lock out working prototypes of the game, alphas or betas, but if you're a fan who for whatever reason didn't pay, then you can't really keep up with the game, nor can you share those videos with friends who might also be interested in the game's development.

Personally, I think it's a bad business choice since it alienates certain fans, and potential sales. As a fan of what you guys are doing it's just a bit depressing and alienating. Makes me feel like I have to be a part of the club in order to appreciate the game from afar, which just kind of sucks.

Anyway, long story short, I think it would be a good idea to release your development videos to the common public in order to help foster interest and broaden your fanbase. Or if you have to keep some things exclusive, it'd be nice if you could release the older development videos or something, and keep the newer ones locked...I dunno.

But, if you look at Overgrowth for example, a lot of the interest from the game stemmed from them just talking about its development. It's quite interesting for a lot of people, to see a game blossom, and can spread a lot of interest to help the game.

But that's my two cents anyway. Hopefully you guys let the public in on your video development sometime down the line.

Good luck on your game!

 

[mcmanusaur]

One thing is for sure; they are certainly not giving those who haven't backed yet much (if any) reason to start backing the project now... I'd likewise question the rationale of that policy, but they're of course free to do things the way they want to.

 

[Tom]

The whole "private videos should be public" has been done ad nauseum already, so please don't beat the dead horse even more. If they changed the policy on the videos then those who paid to get those would be screwed.

Funding the project doesn't guarantee a certain amount of updates, videos, or whatever we want - only what the tiers of funding are meant to give. Heck, not even the game itself is guaranteed. The whole point in giving your money now is to ensure that the game DOES happen, and in this case we get some benefits depending on our funding. For instance, I paid 40 Euros, getting Alpha AND Beta access.

So please, I beg of you, stop making threads about this. Maybe we should create a special policy about this so new threads won't be made.

 

[Komuflage]

Well I just ad that Not many games release videos pre alpha, and if they do, it's of a specific scene they worked like hell to polish up. Now I'll stop, since we've 3-4 threads like this

Edit: Missed the Not

 

[Scarecrow]

I agree with Tom here wholeheartedly, people just keep posting threads about this, and it has been discussed so many times. The only thing this does is to create a more foul mood on the forums, and why would you do that? If you want to discuss this, go to one of the threads that already has this as a topic. The reasoning behind this, and quite possibly a lot of your other questions have already been talked about or answered

The development videos are for those who pledged 30 OR 60 pounds. Releasing these videos to the public would be a kick in the rear for those of us who already pledged to get them. A new public update is on the way, and i think its going to be fairly meaty (as in quite some content).

If you contribute on any tier that lets you get insider access you will also be able to read about a lot of the updates. The devs themselves have posted quite a bit about different things, and there are some large posts about some of the updates. We have also a helpful forum member, Fawz, who has taken the time to write long and detailed "Development Videos Recaps".

And you may wonder "why don't we get to see all of this anyway, for the sake of publicity?", well that's probably because they need people to contribute money to the development, so that the game gets developed in the first place. In return, they want to give the backers rewards for their help. If the early contributors got nothing in rewards for backing the game, chances are that most people wouldn't have used their money to back the game in the first place.

 

[mcmanusaur]

Reactionary arguments aside, perhaps the main reason threads like this continue to pop up is because there is uncertainty among those who have not backed as to just how much they are in the dark in comparison to backers. From an outside perspective one would probably assume that all of the update news is going to the backers currently (if for no other reason than the lack of news otherwise), but it may be the case (in fact I have read things to this effect in other threads) that even the backers aren't getting regular updates recently. I know that this is a big project, and I understand the incentive for rewarding the backers with something special, but- no matter how you spin it- I'd argue that for a project to go a long time without updates like this will result in a net loss of opportunity to generate interest. In an ideal world, there's a baseline level of regular communication with the public, with maybe some backer rewards on top of that, and it's unfortunate if the developer are truly too busy to provide this.

 

[Lathspell]

naaah, personally I don't care bout videos and updates, maybe a video with HUGE improvements or changes will be apreciated...if you go and search a bit project eternity they do updates about every tree, and dirt...they put five min video about a rule from another game?

SG team will Know how to make something public...