I'd donate, as long as updates were given. Not Valve updates... real ones. If NS2 folded for some reason, I wouldn't think my money wasted as long as I understood the problems and possibly saw it coming b/c of transparent updates on the status. Flayra, I sent you an email regarding this and hoping a response, but I'd really be interested in the future of NS2.
I remember playing NS on the day it was released and being blown away with it and i lost sooooo many hours of my life too playing it, i have always enjoyed playing it although recently it seems to have lost some of its appeal (maybe this is more to do with stuff going on in my life than the game it self although a awfull lot of people i know have stopped playing the game). I'll quite happily pay simply because of a the pleasure you have given me it seems wrong not to support you in your next venture so hell yes why not and i urge people to do the same.
<!--QuoteBegin-noncomposmentis+Jan 18 2005, 09:03 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (noncomposmentis @ Jan 18 2005, 09:03 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I voted no. I've been a member of the NS community since the day of its release and a constellation member to boot. There have been a lot of things to cheer about, but also a lot of disappointments. I don't regret donating to constellation to support a great mod. There are, however, different standards to be applied to a for-profit game company. I don't believe NS2 will bear fruit considering the management style exhibited during the development of NS.
Start-up companies in every industry face the same problem. You need to spend money to make money, so it goes. The fundamental idea of entrepreneurship is that you assume more of the risk and thus reap more of the rewards. I believe it is unethical to foist this risk onto your community, considering how unreasonable it is of them to be educated on the facts of the matter. I know revenue models like this have been tried before and I am unaware of how successful they were, but I can't see anything positive coming out of this in terms of reputation.
If you wanted an assessment of a start-up company in the games industry you didn't have to ask the investors how it would go. Every industry is dominated by those who have the money. It takes real business-savvy (which I honestly don't believe you have), not games-savvy (which I think you have) to maintain independance and succeed. There are, however, plenty of models for you to rely on. None of which, however, involve making people pay for a non-existant product. I suppose in this regard I actually blame the success of the constellation program. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Actually I already spent all my savings making NS.
After reading thru much of what is said, I see some trends (and Im not trying to make a blanket statement):
People like the game NS.
Some People are disenchanted with the evolution of the game (updates, bugs, etc). Whether thats fair or not is an opinion and I believe up to the individual authors.
People like Flayras concept and product but are skeptical of his business sense.
Im sure in an endevour such as this, Flayra has it in his mind to keep the game "in house" as long as possible. This would allow him to keep direct control over the direction the game takes.
I don't believe it will be possible to complete the game on donations and preorders and Im sure realistically neither do you. This brings up the issue of how a publisher is going to feel about subsidizing a game that already has X number of copies sold before they got involved. This is money (profit) that they will not receive from the distribution of the game. What kinds of issues will this bring up? Will those that "prepaid" for the game still get it if the publisher makes it a condition that those not be honored?
Perhaps if UWE were to bring in a true business savvy person to oversee that side of the operation people might have a better feeling about forking over $25 (or whatever the amount is) to preorder a game that may never get published.
I would probably preorder due to the amount of time spent playing from a historical perspective but I again (said in a previous post), would currently not expect a product any time soon or if at all.
<!--QuoteBegin-Firewater+Jan 18 2005, 11:19 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Firewater @ Jan 18 2005, 11:19 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Word of mouth isn't a very effective means of getting a game around. Take for example Microsoft's Allegiance. Allegiance was an RTS space sim that was an amazing game to play. It got voted best space sim by PC gamer but the game's sales were horrible? Why? Lack of advertising. I've seen very few Allegiance advertisements and most of the players I have talked to heard about Allegiance by WoM (myself included). Word of mouth is a good way to get quality players, because they are friends of people and not just some random person picking up the game, but quality does not lead to quanity of $$$. Allegiance had a very tight group of people playing the game, but eventually MS had to shut down the servers because there were too few.
NS2 should go through a publisher, and secure funds by large investors and not rely on word of mouth. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Please note that I didn't say that advertising is a bad thing, far from it! I wasn't saying that UWE shouldn't advertise the product and rely on word of mouth either. I was talking about possibilities how to involve the public in the development process early on. Actually if you read my post carefully, you'll notice that I say that "given you know that you'll have (or already have) the assets neccessary to fund a 3-4 years long commercial game development process, it is better than heavily relying on the public! Otherwise, the model I mentioned would be a better choice (my opinion)". It does not say by any word that advertising should be left out in any way. I think this was misunderstood by Flayra also.
A good point is that the publisher might be concerned about distribution of early builds that would mean loss of potential profit for them (they often leave out the word potential however...not just in negotiations).
On the other side, without the early support from the public, you might not get to the negotiations with the potential publisher.
This of course might not apply to you if you already have a good concept that will immediately attract large companies to fund your team.
NS was money well spent to us consumers who had a free product, but for Flay, it may not be so. Granted it was great publicity and the chance to show off his talents, but at what cost? Was the ROI what he had hoped? I'm sure he thought that the possibly of being swept up by Valve like CS, or a publisher coming to him with the idea of a sequel, but they never came to fruition.
Right now Flayra's got a great idea for a product, a great example in NS to show the viability of the project, AND his capability to make it happen, but he lacks the investment and capital to move forward. I am leery about some past practices, mind you, the months of darkness, the seemingly unbalanced releases, the off and on communication with the community, but I don't doubt the capability of Flayra and Cagey, and anyone else on the team, to deliver a great product. Sadly, I'm not an investor, nor do I have capital to lend....
That's why it's important to find out if a community funded project would be viable. Personally I'd raise it to 35 dollars, I don't think many people would mind paying an additional ten, and a promise of inside information as the project goes ahead. Maybe the possibility of using the prepay group to choose PT'ers from, maybe open betas. but most importantly regular updates on the status of their investment.
i dont realy need a manual, but a cd and a box would be neat (maybe a poster, too? <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> ).
I would pre-purchase NS2 if I'm sure to like it. I'm normally very hesitant when it comes to buying games, and I have to make sure I get something good for my money. However, I'm also very sentimental when it comes to games. Meaning, if was grabbed by a series of games or a special company, <span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>*co-blizzard-ugh*</span> I don't hesitate investing in it.
I'm sure I would pre-order NS2 if I got some more info about it.
What i want to know, is, will the game be HL2? Will it take another direction, or will it stay basically the same game with better graphics?
Personally, i'd like the same game, with small changes, such as bug fixes, map tweaks, maybe even more balance in the game. I mean its pretty good now, but there are some things that could be done imho.
Otherwise, yea, 25 bucks is nothing compared the all the great times ive had and will have in NS.
And its not CS <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Actually I already spent all my savings making NS.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Do you have to pay for ns.org ( traffic, server ) ?
UWE's server, which is where Flayra hosts all NS-related data, is on his server in SF, and will stay there (check the privacy policy and the part about treatment of the user data). He pays the bandwith bill.
<!--QuoteBegin-Nemesis Zero+Jan 18 2005, 08:48 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Nemesis Zero @ Jan 18 2005, 08:48 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> UWE's server, which is where Flayra hosts all NS-related data, is on his server in SF, and will stay there (check the privacy policy and the part about treatment of the user data). He pays the bandwith bill. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Hmm I know that advertise isn't very popular but to lower the cost some GoogleAds could be useful. The ns.org forums offer many pageimpressions for this.
I have had so much fun with NS that alt he MMO's I have played can't even begin to touch it and I have paid literally thousands for those.
I would do this and never doubt that the money is well spent, even if the project fails and Flayra becomes the next Derek Smart (and I would pray to every deity ever invented by man that this doesn't happen (please note: I am certain that the Smart-part (sic) won't happen, but the previous is not unlikely)).
I feel confident that whatever NS2 is, it will be fun and cool. I would see my 2x25$ as an investment that just might result in a lot of fun, cheap.
<!--QuoteBegin-radforChrist+Jan 18 2005, 03:05 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (radforChrist @ Jan 18 2005, 03:05 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> NS was money well spent to us consumers who had a free product, but for Flay, it may not be so. Granted it was great publicity and the chance to show off his talents, but at what cost? Was the ROI what he had hoped? I'm sure he thought that the possibly of being swept up by Valve like CS, or a publisher coming to him with the idea of a sequel, but they never came to fruition.
Right now Flayra's got a great idea for a product, a great example in NS to show the viability of the project, AND his capability to make it happen, but he lacks the investment and capital to move forward. I am leery about some past practices, mind you, the months of darkness, the seemingly unbalanced releases, the off and on communication with the community, but I don't doubt the capability of Flayra and Cagey, and anyone else on the team, to deliver a great product. Sadly, I'm not an investor, nor do I have capital to lend....
That's why it's important to find out if a community funded project would be viable. Personally I'd raise it to 35 dollars, I don't think many people would mind paying an additional ten, and a promise of inside information as the project goes ahead. Maybe the possibility of using the prepay group to choose PT'ers from, maybe open betas. but most importantly regular updates on the status of their investment. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Please don't make the mistake that the ability to send money over paypal or in written form makes someone a capable PT.
<!--QuoteBegin-noncomposmentis+Jan 18 2005, 12:03 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (noncomposmentis @ Jan 18 2005, 12:03 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I voted no. I've been a member of the NS community since the day of its release and a constellation member to boot. There have been a lot of things to cheer about, but also a lot of disappointments. I don't regret donating to constellation to support a great mod. There are, however, different standards to be applied to a for-profit game company. I don't believe NS2 will bear fruit considering the management style exhibited during the development of NS.
Start-up companies in every industry face the same problem. You need to spend money to make money, so it goes. The fundamental idea of entrepreneurship is that you assume more of the risk and thus reap more of the rewards. I believe it is unethical to foist this risk onto your community, considering how unreasonable it is of them to be educated on the facts of the matter. I know revenue models like this have been tried before and I am unaware of how successful they were, but I can't see anything positive coming out of this in terms of reputation.
If you wanted an assessment of a start-up company in the games industry you didn't have to ask the investors how it would go. Every industry is dominated by those who have the money. It takes real business-savvy (which I honestly don't believe you have), not games-savvy (which I think you have) to maintain independance and succeed. There are, however, plenty of models for you to rely on. None of which, however, involve making people pay for a non-existant product. I suppose in this regard I actually blame the success of the constellation program. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> I agree with the points made by this person.
No, due to their is no gaurentee and the fact that we never know what is going on with ns, the website and news are hardly ever updated so we are always left hanging, if I where to pre-order something, even though I do think ns is the best...I would have to currently say no because of the lack of notification the the existing NS, I have donated to the existing NS because I enjoy it and expect it to grow and improve, and if NS 2 where a sure fire thing sure I would donate, but I guess until then, nope.
More community members would be interested in supporting the NS2 development if more interest was shown where it is due. I'am not saying the devs owe anything to anyone, I love this game and feel privilaged to be apart of it. However, I think there are a few things need fixing before jumping into NS2. I would vote no because generally speaking, it's too pre-mature.
Like someone in the previous posts said where's valve in all this? I don't think valve's been supporting or supports mods, after all as we all know it's the mods that had kept and still keeps the interest in HL. I think they should help a bit UWE and perhaps add NS to my games list or something ( they added CS and recruited his creator into the valve team if I'm not mistaken), since this game has already shown it's potential and that it's creators are willing to show even more by announcing a possible NS sequel.
I'm a little skeptical because you could make a ton of money and not actually do anything. I'm not saying Unknown Worlds would try and take us all for fools, but stranger things have happened.
Two years from now, if you say "Oops, the game's not going to come out...sorry to all of you who payed us $25.00"
If 20,000 people all gave you $25, you'd of made a half a million dollars for NOT releasing a game.
If the people who pre-purchased got weekly newsletters and early alphas on the progress of the game, I might consider it. But for now, no.
<b>In my opinion, if the game wasn't released, it's a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. That's not a threat, someone's gonna do it to get their $25 back and to spite you for not putting out the game.</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-Flayra+Jan 18 2005, 01:54 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Flayra @ Jan 18 2005, 01:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-noncomposmentis+Jan 18 2005, 09:03 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (noncomposmentis @ Jan 18 2005, 09:03 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I voted no. I've been a member of the NS community since the day of its release and a constellation member to boot. There have been a lot of things to cheer about, but also a lot of disappointments. I don't regret donating to constellation to support a great mod. There are, however, different standards to be applied to a for-profit game company. I don't believe NS2 will bear fruit considering the management style exhibited during the development of NS.
Start-up companies in every industry face the same problem. You need to spend money to make money, so it goes. The fundamental idea of entrepreneurship is that you assume more of the risk and thus reap more of the rewards. I believe it is unethical to foist this risk onto your community, considering how unreasonable it is of them to be educated on the facts of the matter. I know revenue models like this have been tried before and I am unaware of how successful they were, but I can't see anything positive coming out of this in terms of reputation.
If you wanted an assessment of a start-up company in the games industry you didn't have to ask the investors how it would go. Every industry is dominated by those who have the money. It takes real business-savvy (which I honestly don't believe you have), not games-savvy (which I think you have) to maintain independance and succeed. There are, however, plenty of models for you to rely on. None of which, however, involve making people pay for a non-existant product. I suppose in this regard I actually blame the success of the constellation program. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> Actually I already spent all my savings making NS.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> That in no way contradicts the validity of my points. I'm not trying to be an enemy here; I sincerely believe in the concept of NS and that it's something many people would like to play as a stand-alone game (and pay for). I'm just saying that I don't think it's right to raise money for its publication in this fashion. Nor do I think it's viable.
Can I add smileys to soften the tone of this post? <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Havent read all the post so this may have been up before.
I like this idea, I was thinking if your going to use the source engine (just my thought) you maybe could strike a deal with Valve. So we pay the 25 bucks now, when the game is done we get a Key that we enter into Steam and voila we get access to the game. This is kinda the hole point with Steam so it would be nice if your company would be one of the first except Valve to release a game using the system <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-Firewater+Jan 18 2005, 04:25 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Firewater @ Jan 18 2005, 04:25 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Please don't make the mistake that the ability to send money over paypal or in written form makes someone a capable PT. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Trust me FW, after beta testing B6 with the CM's, I do not equivicate the ability to use paypal with the ksills required for basic NS play...
<!--QuoteBegin-Isamil+Jan 16 2005, 11:27 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Isamil @ Jan 16 2005, 11:27 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> NS2 is not NS:Source, and nothing says NS2 would be on the source engine. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Then why would they call it Natural Selection 2? People that haven't heard of it will wonder what happened to NS1. (there are a few that have not yet heard of NS.) On the other hand, it would be so awesome to see NS on source. I wish they'd make a mod.
Personally, I don't think I would buy it unless it were in a box. No offense, but I don't trust people I've never met.
Comments
I'll quite happily pay simply because of a the pleasure you have given me it seems wrong not to support you in your next venture so hell yes why not and i urge people to do the same.
Start-up companies in every industry face the same problem. You need to spend money to make money, so it goes. The fundamental idea of entrepreneurship is that you assume more of the risk and thus reap more of the rewards. I believe it is unethical to foist this risk onto your community, considering how unreasonable it is of them to be educated on the facts of the matter. I know revenue models like this have been tried before and I am unaware of how successful they were, but I can't see anything positive coming out of this in terms of reputation.
If you wanted an assessment of a start-up company in the games industry you didn't have to ask the investors how it would go. Every industry is dominated by those who have the money. It takes real business-savvy (which I honestly don't believe you have), not games-savvy (which I think you have) to maintain independance and succeed. There are, however, plenty of models for you to rely on. None of which, however, involve making people pay for a non-existant product. I suppose in this regard I actually blame the success of the constellation program. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually I already spent all my savings making NS.
Money well spent <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
People like the game NS.
Some People are disenchanted with the evolution of the game (updates, bugs, etc). Whether thats fair or not is an opinion and I believe up to the individual authors.
People like Flayras concept and product but are skeptical of his business sense.
Im sure in an endevour such as this, Flayra has it in his mind to keep the game "in house" as long as possible. This would allow him to keep direct control over the direction the game takes.
I don't believe it will be possible to complete the game on donations and preorders and Im sure realistically neither do you. This brings up the issue of how a publisher is going to feel about subsidizing a game that already has X number of copies sold before they got involved. This is money (profit) that they will not receive from the distribution of the game. What kinds of issues will this bring up? Will those that "prepaid" for the game still get it if the publisher makes it a condition that those not be honored?
Perhaps if UWE were to bring in a true business savvy person to oversee that side of the operation people might have a better feeling about forking over $25 (or whatever the amount is) to preorder a game that may never get published.
I would probably preorder due to the amount of time spent playing from a historical perspective but I again (said in a previous post), would currently not expect a product any time soon or if at all.
Money well spent <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
not really.
NS2 should go through a publisher, and secure funds by large investors and not rely on word of mouth. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Please note that I didn't say that advertising is a bad thing, far from it! I wasn't saying that UWE shouldn't advertise the product and rely on word of mouth either. I was talking about possibilities how to involve the public in the development process early on. Actually if you read my post carefully, you'll notice that I say that "given you know that you'll have (or already have) the assets neccessary to fund a 3-4 years long commercial game development process, it is better than heavily relying on the public! Otherwise, the model I mentioned would be a better choice (my opinion)". It does not say by any word that advertising should be left out in any way. I think this was misunderstood by Flayra also.
A good point is that the publisher might be concerned about distribution of early builds that would mean loss of potential profit for them (they often leave out the word potential however...not just in negotiations).
On the other side, without the early support from the public, you might not get to the negotiations with the potential publisher.
This of course might not apply to you if you already have a good concept that will immediately attract large companies to fund your team.
Right now Flayra's got a great idea for a product, a great example in NS to show the viability of the project, AND his capability to make it happen, but he lacks the investment and capital to move forward. I am leery about some past practices, mind you, the months of darkness, the seemingly unbalanced releases, the off and on communication with the community, but I don't doubt the capability of Flayra and Cagey, and anyone else on the team, to deliver a great product. Sadly, I'm not an investor, nor do I have capital to lend....
That's why it's important to find out if a community funded project would be viable. Personally I'd raise it to 35 dollars, I don't think many people would mind paying an additional ten, and a promise of inside information as the project goes ahead. Maybe the possibility of using the prepay group to choose PT'ers from, maybe open betas. but most importantly regular updates on the status of their investment.
I'm sure I would pre-order NS2 if I got some more info about it.
Personally, i'd like the same game, with small changes, such as bug fixes, map tweaks, maybe even more balance in the game. I mean its pretty good now, but there are some things that could be done imho.
Otherwise, yea, 25 bucks is nothing compared the all the great times ive had and will have in NS.
And its not CS <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Do you have to pay for ns.org ( traffic, server ) ?
Hmm I know that advertise isn't very popular but to lower the cost some GoogleAds could be useful. The ns.org forums offer many pageimpressions for this.
Twice.
I have had so much fun with NS that alt he MMO's I have played can't even begin to touch it and I have paid literally thousands for those.
I would do this and never doubt that the money is well spent, even if the project fails and Flayra becomes the next Derek Smart (and I would pray to every deity ever invented by man that this doesn't happen (please note: I am certain that the Smart-part (sic) won't happen, but the previous is not unlikely)).
I feel confident that whatever NS2 is, it will be fun and cool. I would see my 2x25$ as an investment that just might result in a lot of fun, cheap.
/fanboi rant
Right now Flayra's got a great idea for a product, a great example in NS to show the viability of the project, AND his capability to make it happen, but he lacks the investment and capital to move forward. I am leery about some past practices, mind you, the months of darkness, the seemingly unbalanced releases, the off and on communication with the community, but I don't doubt the capability of Flayra and Cagey, and anyone else on the team, to deliver a great product. Sadly, I'm not an investor, nor do I have capital to lend....
That's why it's important to find out if a community funded project would be viable. Personally I'd raise it to 35 dollars, I don't think many people would mind paying an additional ten, and a promise of inside information as the project goes ahead. Maybe the possibility of using the prepay group to choose PT'ers from, maybe open betas. but most importantly regular updates on the status of their investment. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Please don't make the mistake that the ability to send money over paypal or in written form makes someone a capable PT.
Start-up companies in every industry face the same problem. You need to spend money to make money, so it goes. The fundamental idea of entrepreneurship is that you assume more of the risk and thus reap more of the rewards. I believe it is unethical to foist this risk onto your community, considering how unreasonable it is of them to be educated on the facts of the matter. I know revenue models like this have been tried before and I am unaware of how successful they were, but I can't see anything positive coming out of this in terms of reputation.
If you wanted an assessment of a start-up company in the games industry you didn't have to ask the investors how it would go. Every industry is dominated by those who have the money. It takes real business-savvy (which I honestly don't believe you have), not games-savvy (which I think you have) to maintain independance and succeed. There are, however, plenty of models for you to rely on. None of which, however, involve making people pay for a non-existant product. I suppose in this regard I actually blame the success of the constellation program. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree with the points made by this person.
I love NS as it is, and I would need to see how NS2 would stack up before I made a decision.
honestly, if all NS2 did was make gorge redemption not suck, I'd probably chip in my $25 =p
I think it's a good idea flayra, but wait until you have some more info to release about the game before you go down this pre-pay path.
I'm not talking about images or demos either - just some info and concrete ideas.
But then again, it's just my honest opinion.
I'm a little skeptical because you could make a ton of money and not actually do anything. I'm not saying Unknown Worlds would try and take us all for fools, but stranger things have happened.
Two years from now, if you say "Oops, the game's not going to come out...sorry to all of you who payed us $25.00"
If 20,000 people all gave you $25, you'd of made a half a million dollars for NOT releasing a game.
If the people who pre-purchased got weekly newsletters and early alphas on the progress of the game, I might consider it. But for now, no.
<b>In my opinion, if the game wasn't released, it's a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. That's not a threat, someone's gonna do it to get their $25 back and to spite you for not putting out the game.</b>
Start-up companies in every industry face the same problem. You need to spend money to make money, so it goes. The fundamental idea of entrepreneurship is that you assume more of the risk and thus reap more of the rewards. I believe it is unethical to foist this risk onto your community, considering how unreasonable it is of them to be educated on the facts of the matter. I know revenue models like this have been tried before and I am unaware of how successful they were, but I can't see anything positive coming out of this in terms of reputation.
If you wanted an assessment of a start-up company in the games industry you didn't have to ask the investors how it would go. Every industry is dominated by those who have the money. It takes real business-savvy (which I honestly don't believe you have), not games-savvy (which I think you have) to maintain independance and succeed. There are, however, plenty of models for you to rely on. None of which, however, involve making people pay for a non-existant product. I suppose in this regard I actually blame the success of the constellation program. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually I already spent all my savings making NS.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That in no way contradicts the validity of my points. I'm not trying to be an enemy here; I sincerely believe in the concept of NS and that it's something many people would like to play as a stand-alone game (and pay for). I'm just saying that I don't think it's right to raise money for its publication in this fashion. Nor do I think it's viable.
Can I add smileys to soften the tone of this post?
<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I like this idea, I was thinking if your going to use the source engine (just my thought) you maybe could strike a deal with Valve.
So we pay the 25 bucks now, when the game is done we get a Key that we enter into Steam and voila we get access to the game.
This is kinda the hole point with Steam so it would be nice if your company would be one of the first except Valve to release a game using the system <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Trust me FW, after beta testing B6 with the CM's, I do not equivicate the ability to use paypal with the ksills required for basic NS play...
Then why would they call it Natural Selection 2? People that haven't heard of it will wonder what happened to NS1. (there are a few that have not yet heard of NS.)
On the other hand, it would be so awesome to see NS on source. I wish they'd make a mod.
Personally, I don't think I would buy it unless it were in a box. No offense, but I don't trust people I've never met.