Planet Nomads plans an Early Access release in April

Copy & Paste from the Q&A (official Website):

QuoteTHIS IS NOT A COMPLETE GAME
You should not approach the alpha build as a “final game with bugs”. This is not the case. The development of Planet Nomads is a continuous cycle with a lot of content to be created and added to the game. The Early Access release in Q1 2017 will be closer to the game we have in mind, and will feature survival and crafting, but we are still expecting at least 2-years of development after the EA release to bring Planet Nomads to its full potential.

I will have a look look at the game later in time, maybe end of 2018 or beginning of 2019.
I have already supported several early access games too early. I've become more cautious, and I'd rather wait a little. Probably the game is then more expensive. But I prefer an expensive but good-looking and well-functioning game as no game or a game that is never finished or a half-finished game that is thrown onto the market.

But I must say - does not look bad so far.

I have the alpha (got it when they actually made clear that they would be doing the entire alpha on all platforms, not Linux as an afterthought), so I'll have a good look next week.

I never had any problems with the game though. Besides the usual Unity issues (failing to start when certain hardware is plugged in or certain programs are running).

I think I bought a copy off their website not long back. Hope I don't regret it.

A very exciting-looking title that I'm keeping my fingers crossed for. I wish-listed it back in September, but it's got a long way to go before it convinces my wallet to open up.

Liam, perhaps an editorial on how game development has changed from:

Development -> Alpha -> Beta -> Release

to

Development -> Release -> Alpha -> ?

It seems more and more games are releasing earlier and earlier in the development cycle. To what end, I have no idea, but bugs are now expected in a paid product far earlier and with more acceptance than they ever have, or so it seems. Am I the only one noticing this trend?

Quoting: artvandelay440Am I the only one noticing this trend?

I'm afraid you are not! I almost never buy any early access titles. For some good reason: I would like to play a ready made game and not a buggy one. Being bored by a game when it reaches the real final release is not a thing I so prefer.


If a game is in a really good condition but is still being maintained I'm happy to play it! I don't mind new content as well as occasional bug fixes as long as the game is in a pretty good shape. (:

Quoting: liamdaweFor me it will attempt to generate a world, fill the loading bar up and just sit there forever. I reported it months ago and it hasn't been fixed, so I've mentioned it again today.

I have the exact same behavior! I thought it was because I was using the mesa drivers and not the latest one (mesa 13.0 with llvm 3.8 and kernel 4.9).

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this behavior, but this worries me a bit if the bug also exists with the NVIDIA proprietary drivers...

Quoting: artvandelay440To what end, I have no idea, but bugs are now expected in a paid product far earlier and with more acceptance than they ever have, or so it seems. Am I the only one noticing this trend?

I notice that thinks like early access tend to do 2 things: 1) fund development on a project you would whish to have in the future. 2) Let you participate in that future.
Planet Nomads was in alpha for engine and interaction development. They also made a seperate branch for content. The engine+content is what's planned for early access.
The alpha worked for me. But it has no content. The early access has a lot more content.
And I just funded it with the knowledge that in 2 years or so I can play a great game. Most of my investments payed off well.
I think a good example of a working early access is ARK: survival evolved. They are now getting shit on, because they had to rollback 30 hours of database after a bug that got exploited in the early access phase.
They are planning wise in time: They planned release last year, and have only postponed to release this year. Only a 1 year delay for a game like that is pretty awesome.
Still that 30 hour rollback got a lot of people with 3000h of fun time wanting a refund of the $30 they paid.
DOS was delayed about 2 years for the linux release, 1 year for the windows release.
But yes, there is crap too...

Quoting: artvandelay440It seems more and more games are releasing earlier and earlier in the development cycle. To what end, I have no idea, but bugs are now expected in a paid product far earlier and with more acceptance than they ever have, or so it seems. Am I the only one noticing this trend?

With the usual trend, making a game basically means "getting no money for at least a year, often more, and hope that the final product is good enough and people will like it".
When you have no money, this business plan is quite hard to live with, and with the rise of the indie scene, maybe that's why we're seeing more and more different business models popping up. The idea being to have a small income of hard cash while you're developing your game.

That's my editorial at least ;)

Quoting: Creak

Quoting: liamdaweFor me it will attempt to generate a world, fill the loading bar up and just sit there forever. I reported it months ago and it hasn't been fixed, so I've mentioned it again today.

I have the exact same behavior! I thought it was because I was using the mesa drivers and not the latest one (mesa 13.0 with llvm 3.8 and kernel 4.9).

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this behavior, but this worries me a bit if the bug also exists with the NVIDIA proprietary drivers...

Well, they have a second report from me now including my logs. I really do hope this won't be a botched release, as I've been looking forward to it myself.