When is a FTP game not a FTP game?
When you charge for early access for a 5 year in development game ...
Their are up to update 38 and still charging for a SOON (lol) to be released free game.
What incentive do they have to ever release it?
Recent gaming economics are a joke.
Companies used to release a demo for free and if you liked it you bought the final product..now they just string you along forever.
This isnt a troll post...its a serious question of how long a game can be considered early access?
I wish there was a way in Steam to filter a not show any Early access games.
I agree that gaming companies are becoming lazy cash whores. That is why I now fund hungry indie game designers as they are the ones that haven't "made it" yet and therefore will deliver a product worth my time. Hunger has a powerful impact on quality.
You mean like the filter found when you click on the "customize" buttons? It's not perfect, or global, but it should help.
Hello.
Sins of a Dark Age released its first iteration of closed beta in December 2012 with IGP as a publisher via a standalone client.
Ironclad split with its publisher around July or so of 2013, and Soada then had to be retooled from the ground up for Steam. Bear in mind Ironclad is made up of 15-20 people so without a publisher, it had to do development and publishing duties all on its own.
The Founder Access period began in December 2013 when Soada debuted on Steam.
Sins of a Dark Age entered Steam Early Access on March 14, 2014.
It will go free to play this Friday, May 8th. So it was only in Early Access for a year and almost two months.
If you have any questions about Sins of a Dark Age, I can try my best to answer them.
You can find more information at http://sinsofadarkage.com/
Is this accurate? http://steamcharts.com/app/251970#3m
Yes. Sins of a Dark Age has a small but super dedicated community.
Of the 900 bug reports on the official Github, over half were found by a handful of players (~5).
There have been many promotions and giveaways, such as the Steam Summer Sale and a nice boost during the Winter Holidays.
Hopefully the combination of free to play and soon to be summer break will allow the player base to grow so the developers can focus on adding new heroes and more content.
In the mean time, the game has a variety of modes to adapt to the player base such as 5 vs ai, Try hero, Custom games against bots, and a scrimmage system that allows you to play a smaller 1v1 or 2v2 while waiting for your primary game type. When your 5v5 or 5 vs ai is ready you can join from your 1v1, 2v2, etc then and there. More modes and features are planned (such as lore based Adventures and a Last Hit Challenge mode.)
But that number will hopefully get bigger come Friday!
Still don't understand the point of charging for access for a ftp game.
Maybe if it was ftp from the start it would have a higher player base.
And that "if they are willing to pay for access they must be dedicated"(to test) reasoning is pure BS.
Dedicated players flock to games that they like.
I wonder why Stardock did not publish this game, as they had a long working relationship with Ironclad with SOASE?
Between Kickstarter and EA games the weight of game development has gone from the big publishers to the players who will buy the game anyway.
IIRC people who bought early access get some exclusive costumes, items etc. Remember even though it is free to play, the devs have to make money somehow, either through in game purchases or ad revenue, and SoaDA is definitely doing the former. So basically they're getting content similar to what you'd have to buy in SoaDA later, plus getting early access to the game so they can of course enjoy their new stuff.
World of Warships is doing something very similar now where they've started selling "premium units" that are only available by paying with real money. Only difference is since the game is in a closed beta, they'll give you access to the beta if you buy one of these units now, so you can enjoy your purchase. Basically the same thing SoaDA is doing, only they're selling it as a exclusive ship with the beta access as a bonus.
Stardock had a bad experience with MOBAs with Demigod? That or they decided they didn't want to support a MOBA, since F2P games require longer term investment.
SoaSE took something like 5-6 years to develop. I remember listening to an interview in which the first 1-2 years was something like infrastructure and research (I might not be remembering perfectly though).
Video game development takes time. Especially when you have 15-20 people and no publisher. That leaves a good ~4-6 programmers to do the workload of double or triple the people. The rest is mostly art department, and everyone seems to double dip and not just do one job, but multiple jobs.
Soada started out with an idea to have a hero and commander mode. The commander mode never worked out. It was too ambitious, too hard to balance, and not fun. It was scrapped before it entered any form of beta.
Ironclad eventually mutually split with IGP in 2013. They were interested in self publishing on Steam and did just that. Unfortunately they had to retool the game from the ground up for Steamworks support (Steam friends support, Steam market integration, party/chat sytems etc.)
So yes, Soada has had a few restarts here and there. Not to mention the entire legal action over the Rebellion name issue took place around this time as well.
Ironclad opted to have an Early Access paywall ($5 is a steal) at Steam's recommendation to help get dedicated testers and to do small scale tests with an active, but small player base. There have been many giveaways. . . but unfortunately many of the keys have been compromised by third party key reseller sites. Free to play should hopefully solve all those issues though.
Eventually the assets from the commander system are now being used as part of the game's Quest mechanic. This combined with free heroes (now and future), craftable (and droppable) skins, Twitch integration, voice chat, and an RPG like Hero Gear and attribute system hopefully makes the game stand out from the crowd. It's also known for its unprecedented developer/community interaction, in which player feedback has been incredibly helpful in shaping the game.
I hope this helps alleviate some of your concerns over Soada's development cycle.
You can find more information and help spread the word here.
Edit: I forgot to mention that the $5 gave an Early Access Bundle which included access to the closed beta, a hero skin, a piece of hero gear, and some crafting materials/recipes. This Early Access Bundle will be retired from Steam when free to play hits. I also read that players who were in the beta before f2p hit will get some special recognition in the future.
The only reason this game is even on my radar is cause until it's DONE, Ironclad is prevented from moving on to SOASE 2.
Well, I think we all want SoaSE 2.
But Ironclad is putting a lot of time and effort into making Soada the best game it can be.
So the best thing we can do is support them so that SoaSE 2 can one day become a reality!
If you guys aren't interested in Soada, that's fine.
I only ask that you give it a shot come Friday, hang out with the devs and community, and play a few games to see what it has going for it.
I've been following it since it was announced, so it's nice to see it finally come to fruition.
I'll still check this post if you have any questions about it though!
I have a question.
What the hell is Soada?
Sins of a Dark Age. The game mentioned in the title.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/251970/
I know what the acronym is, I want to know what the game is.
thanks for the link, but just clicking it didn't give me the quick and dirty I was interested in
Ah, yes, sorry. I am so accustomed to calling it "Soada" and "Soase" that I forget that everyone may not be familiar with Ironclad products.
Your best bet for information is to check out the game's official website which was just updated.
And the game's wikia here.
Tomorrow will be sort of nuts, so if you have any questions about it, you can post on the forums, which I have heard is quite nice and helpful.
Hope this helps, and hope you consider trying it!
God, I don't want to go through any of that, I just want someone to tell me what kind of a game it is and why I should be interested in it.
It is a Moba with free heroes (now and future), craftable and droppable skins, an in-match Quest system, RPG-like Hero Gear and Attribute Systems, Steam Market integration, Twitch integration, voice chat, and more things I'm probably forgetting.
It's also from the makers of Sins of a Solar Empire.
The website explains things better than I can.
Thanks, MOBA was all I needed to hear to skip it
Well if you ever change your mind about it, you can PM me if you have any issues or questions.
I'd have to change my mind about MOBAs which I can assure you will never happen
Sins of a Dark Age is now free to play.
Hope you all try it out!
There is no money to be made in Beta at all. I can assure you holding off on Free to Play has nothing to do with economics.
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