Kickstarter Reward: Early Access - Yes or No?

[BadElf]

I would vote for No early access. I honestly cant wait until release day, and I actually look forward to being excited and talk about it with all of the fans on here. Everyone can jump in at the same time, without some people getting early access.

[Taylor]

Excluding people who aren't sure:
For: 1
Against: 11

The divide is larger than I expected! Hopefully Playtonic see this thread before the Kickstarter.

[Unresolved]

While early access is always a good way to see what you've "invested" in, I think we all know what to expect from these guys. I'd rather have the feeling of experiencing the whole journey without any any spoilers of what to come, and not say "Oh gee, here's that level I played when it was unfinished, I know where everything is already."

[polomi]

[Taylor]

[polomi]

[Taylor]

You've misconstrued and blown what I said out of proportion...

Firstly, 'listen to' does not mean 'act on'. Playtonic can listen to a fan and still act against it. I fully agree that Playtonic should not be a slave to the fans.

Secondly, I never said the 'true fans' know better (I don't believe in 'true fans'); I said the members of the forum are the biggest fans, which is a fact. Sure, there are equally supportive fans that are not on the forums, but that doesn't mean the fans that are on the forums aren't amongst the biggest.

When I said "we all know", I was referring to the forum members, not the entirety of the fan base. 12 votes to 1 is a clear statistic, so yes, I reiterate: we all know. There's nothing presumptuous about it. The title of this topic is a question, not a statement or demand: Early Access - Yes or No? I'm very careful not to be presumptuous, actually.

I even admitted in my last post that many people off the forums would jump at the chance to play Ukulele on Early Access, but Playtonic simply don't need to offer it as a reward to gain funds. I mostly see negatives when it comes to Early Access, as do the members of these forums (yourself included, it seems).

I think the entire fan base should be listened to, but Playtonic would be foolish to keep asking for fan approval over every decision. Playtonic have set up the forums and opened them up for everyone to make topics and discuss them. They've done all they can. If people choose not to join the forums, it's their loss. It's up to the fans to make forum topics and bring it to Playtonic's attention, not for Playtonic to make poll after poll for those that can't be bothered to sign up here. Fan input is a privilege not a right.

If we use your logic and say that forum members have no voice as they only make up a small proportion of the fan base, we may as well close the forums down now. But we know that's not true because Playtonic have read and responded to various posts and threads on these forums -- the latest news article appears to be in response to , for example.

And to clarify, I don't believe Playtonic are obliged to accept any idea even if the entire fan base wants it. Playtonic have their own creative vision and should be able to stick to it. Considering that they have said they want to listen to the fans, though, I don't see any problem in making a thread about the Kickstarter rewards...

[polomi]

[Taylor]

[Nomonoke]

I'm more wary of any of us becoming the louder group, and I also think that's a good argument against an Early Access. I'm afraid the Beta Tester-like people will become the loudest, and while I don't think Playtonic HAS to listen to them nor do I think they will, they will become the vocal majority and it rubs me the wrong way. A lot of games fall apart when they open up Early Access, though that does say a lot about the quality of their Devs as well... Hm.

I still vote no. It's weird to me, and I want to play the game with everyone.

[EarthBound]

How would you see dividing the game in two acts, like Tim Schafer's Broken Age did? The first act could be the first quarter of the game, and it would give us info about some basic controls, interface, characters, moves, pagie-world system, etc.

[polomi]

[Nomonoke]

I do think it's possible that we could be the minority, as the project and fandom are still very new. I would love for there to be a poll open around the time of the Kickstarter to see what people that will actually participate would want.

While I don't want it, that also doesn't mean I would get angry if they did decide to go that route. Kindof upset and suddenly wary of spoilers, sad that I can't experience with everyone, but not angry. If Playtonic believes that they can get decent Beta Testing done that way, I will trust them.

It's so weird, because both of the options have their pros, it seems to about the kind of gamer you are.

[polomi]

[GrayMagicΓ]

Only members with Cave Story avatars are true fans. Take that, everyone's opinions.

[BadElf]

[BadElf]

[Playtonium Matter]

No early access, please. I really want it to release simultaneously on all (or most) of its target platforms. Early access kind of deludes the excitement for the actual release IMO, and I personally don't see many upsides to it aside from getting to play it a bit quicker (It reminds me of finding your gifts before Christmas or something, kind of kills it a bit for me.)

I do really like the other popular kickstarter ideas, though. I've never supported a kickstarter before (I almost backed Double Fine's but neglected it) but I am very eager to back this one.

[Exaskryz]

[karashata]

I wouldn't mind having beta access available as a reward, nearly all of the games I've backed on Kickstarter I've backed at tiers high enough to obtain beta access. That said, I would expect any sort of beta access to be fairly limited in scope, avoiding any story elements as much as possible and only give a small glimpse of what can be expected in the game as far as character moves and level design.

Heck, if they could pull it off, having some sort of early demo available that has little or nothing to do with the actual game (as far as story is concerned) would be rather interesting, and give those people who want to pay whatever they might ask for it a small taste of what's to come, without spoiling the actual game. Of course, doing something like that would take some development time away from the actual game, and I'm sure most people would prefer they focus all their effort on the actual game to make it the best possible game they can.