I was wondering how you guys feel about this model which is becoming increasingly popular. I have no problem with it myself, except for the fact that I end up playing the games in their alpha/beta/pre-release stage, and then once the game comes out with all the bells and whistles fully implemented, I would have already beaten/gotten tired/exhausted of playing the game. Examples: Minecraft, Terraria and Unepic.

I bought Unepic last week, it's a great game and I'm having lots of fun with it, but there are a lot of future updates planned, none of which I'll get to play because once I'm done with a game I don't play it again, not in a couple of years at least.

Same thing goes for Minecraft and other indie games. I play them with half the features implemented and finish them before the 'real' game is released.

The problem is that I can't help myself from buying these indie games.

What about you guys?

I don't have a problem with it. I don't think there's been a case where someone was expecting a complete game for their money. They generally state very clearly that the game is in an incomplete state of development. I think part of the allure is that you're pretty much guaranteed new content on a regular basis, making the game feel new every time you play. As long as the base game is fun it's a good model to go with.

If the game is good, I will play it. If the game is for sale, I will pay for it when required.

My thing is, I would rather have a completed game to play when I start it, not some beta or even a demo. I will do some demos as the first 30 minutes are key to getting me to like a game. However, I would still rather wait until the game is ready to try it out. It is not whether the story hooks me or not, but does the game play hook me or not. A great story in a crappy game will get left on the shelf. Great game play can over come any story defects, or any story at all.

Too be honest I kinda feel that playing and following the games in their beta-stages/etc can be far more interesting than just playing the final product. It's a fun experience and adventure keeping up with updates and such!

Of course this doesn't apply to every game out there.

Most of the indie games I've bought have been sold as the complete product from the get-go, not the beta release model.

I felt the same way as you about Minecraft and Terraria though, moreso with Minecraft because the updates were so slow and sparse. I bought it in Alpha and don't even feel like going back to it to see what they changed.

Yeah, I'm like that too. Sometimes I think "I'd love to get into the beta for that" but then the few times I have, by the game was released, all the changes constantly being made -often ones I don't agree with - exhausted my ability to care about the final product.

Anyway, I'll only pay for a game while it's still in development if it's a sequel to a game that I really want and none of the "big companies" are ever going to make, or it's a company/people I'm already familiar with/trust. Neither of those things happens very often. And even when they do, I still won't pay until quite far into the creation process.

I'm still waiting for someone to make a Dungeon Keeper-like sequel, that's actually 1-good and 2-like Dungeon Keeper, not just a "spiritual successor". I'd pay for that.

I quite like it, personally. I feel like being able to get paid while you're still working on the game, makes it more likely for more people to take up the "Indie Dev." mantle. That's always a good thing.

One game I rarely see mentioned when this topic comes up is Mount & Blade. Yet it was one of the forerunners, and a very successful one at that.

Desura has http://www.desura.com/games#alpha alpha-funded games, having implemented support for them a while back.

It also allows them to polish things more and base their roadmap more on their vision rather than their budget. Both of which are good things.

I also think it's a pretty good model to go by. My only problem is that I get burned out playing the beta, and once the full game is released I'd be tired of the game already. Since I'd have played an unfinished game, I sometimes feel I don't get the max potential fun from a game.

It's a very clever way of funding development costs. That said, I agree with others in that by the time the finished product is out, I'm already bored of the game. This happened with Mount & Blade - I paid for it quite early in it's development, played the hell out of it and have barely touched it in years, despite loads of new things being added to it.

M&B too. I own both games.

Hmm, exact opposite here, Great gameplay does not excuse a poor story for me, but I'll excuse terrible gameplay if the story is fantastic ^^

As far as the alpha/beta bit goes, the few times I've done betawork I've stuck around for a good while in the finished product, mainly because I've firmly lodged myself into the core fanbase, and am generally a mover and shaker in that particular game and I rather enjoy that status ^^ I'll keep playing a game for quite a while if that's the case, even if I'm not particularly getting any enjoyment out of the game itself anymore. Examples(not limited to just betas) are FFXI, where I played for several years longer then I really felt like because I was a core player on my server, knew just about everyone, and was always doing something with someone. Or Utopia! A browser based, text-only medieval fantasy war game. I started playing that thing in the alpha, and stuck around for nearly a decade past that, many years after I had already mastered the game, because I had formed and led a kingdom of people I knew to the top spot on the server, and I wanted to stick around for them. It's sister game, earth2025 I did the same thing with as well.

I like it. Indie developers seem a lot more in-tune with the community supporting their game and tend to cater to them a bit better. Project Zomboid is a great case of that. It's still in alpha and they've opened up the modding floodgates to help make content (weapons, maps) faster. They're always on the forums keeping everyone updated and taking suggestions.

Project Zomboid, eh? I don't know what that is, but it sounds interesting. I think I might have to check it out.

It's not just indie games, Bethesda did it with Skyrim. We're still playing with a pre-alpha User Interface.

Oho! Icwutudidthar.

Seriously, though, what's so bad about the interface? I kind of like it. I do play on console, though. Is it worse to use on PC?

You haven't played Minecraft sinec the alpha? You really should go back - in some ways its a whole new game. So much more great stuff.

Aren't you an optimist. Being pre-alpha would imply that they'd actually fix it.

http://gamingbolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/skyriminterface.jpg Aside from the unresponsiveness, annoying way you navigate through the perks, and the way listed keyboard controls on the PC version don't change should you alter the keymapping.

I bought it at alpha and played through beta, but I got bored before the full version.

I guess it depends on the type of game and whether you are seeing a separate "demo" or actual in-game content in an unfinished state. I'd probably stay away from the latter as it might ruin the actual game for me.

Years ago I played a beta version of a game called "Rune Quest" Or "Runescape" I can't really remember which - well the gameplay had little to do with the way the current game called "RuneScape" actually plays. To this day, I'm not sure what that game was, but it was designed as more of a game creation tool so that users could create their own adventures called "Tomes" and upload them to the database, much like TES games since Morrowind. I don't know what happened to this game, but it must have died, or maybe it did in fact it turn into the current "RuneScape" Either way, it's dead to me now.

I played the beta for DDO, which seemed promising, but the actual game ended up being a little disappointing. I don't remember paying for that, though. I think it was free with limited signup.

It's pretty cool, but it lacks a save option right now so you can't save your progress.

How could you finish Minecraft is it's an infinite open world sandbox?
Try using mods like IndustrialCaft and others that basically change the whole game to suit your needs.
I've only killed the dragon once.

I bought Minecraft when it was in Beta 1.8, I still enjoy it as much as I did back then if not more, it's always different each time I load up a map, if I get bored of one or don't like my project I start a new map and look for epic natural features like ravines, mountains, abandoned mines and strongholds. Though I tend to build on and into mountains giving myself nice views.
I don't know when you bought Minecraft but you should give it a go again if you got it in Alpha and stopped, its so much more different.

I'm willing to give indie games the benefit of the doubt, but I don't understand Minecraft. It's the indie equivalent of The Sims. And The Sims has more structure. Minecraft is just pointless.

I also said getting tired of/exhausted. I played MC for months everyday with other BGSFers.

yea i agree. that's why i never got into minecraft. pointless games, both of them.

i'm currently wondering if i should try out overgrowth, but i think i figured that i'll wait for a bit.