Prison Architect to have 'paid alpha'

[mibias]

Stumbled upon this article on PC gamer

Seems like we'll be playing Prison Architect before the world ends.

[shinygerbil]

So, that'll be most of the forum regulars then

[Feud]

On a similar note, for as much as I love IV's games they have a horrible track record for updates, news, and releases. I'm a bit hesitant to put down money on an alpha because of that. If it seems fairly complete then I might, but it makes me nervous.

[Xarlaxas]

Well, Minecraft did something similar and look how that ended up. . . .

It depends on how much is being charged, in my opinion. If it's a matter of "we need money to stay afloat" then I'd probably be more willing to do it too.

[Xocrates]

it's more "charging you money without having to give any guarantees".

How is this any different from a regular purchase? Buying a game on release doesn't guarantee that a game works, depending on the game and where you got it, you won't even have a guarantee of your money back if it doesn't.

While I admit that I am not hugely fond of the concept of "paying to test your game" I freely admit that in practice it tends to be a good idea. It gives the public the ability to try the game early, usually at a lower price point, and you get WAY more feedback than with a small group of dedicated testers (million monkeys at keyboard, etc...)

Besides, you should be well aware that even in the previous IV betas, only a fraction of the testers was actually active. Unless you're suggesting that IV actually hire someone to do QA, this is likely a better option than the previous method.

BTW, the bragging rights people were the ones that joined the old betas and proceeded to do nothing, there is nothing to brag about when everyone can get in.

[Xocrates]

Anyone complaining about problems with it was basically told "you're expecting too much, it's a beta". Once it hits stable it's much more accepted to complain and people are much more inclined to listen to you.

That's the case with people outside the developing company. I don't care if random forums or websites listen to the complaints, so long as the ones doing the actual development do.

More people? Certainly. More feedback? I don't buy it. (Harhar.) The fact that you pay for it makes people not care enough to report bugs, with the mindset that by paying they've done their part of the deal. Most comments will lack constructivity ("it's broken", "the game doesn't work", "you suck") and the small portion that actually helps you is not significantly bigger than it would be with a closed beta.

You're assuming that only the constructive criticisms are useful, that's not actually true. If you have a lot of uneducated trolls complaining about something, then it's probably worth checking if there's something wrong with it.

Also, you're working on the basis where the proportion of helpful people in a closed beta is significantly larger than in a open one. Personally I seriously doubt it, I recall about a dozen active people in the Multiwinia beta and by the end of it probably about 100 people were in.

[xander]

If IV needs money, just make it a pre-order and leave it at that.

So... for the cost of the game you can pre-order it, or you can pre-order it and choose to download the alpha. I don't see how pre-order+alpha access is worse than just pre-order.

xander

[frenchfrog]

The paid alpha will give players the opportunity to pay for a pre-order to get immediate access to the build that Introversion are currently working on.

Looks like the article's title is misleading (Ah! Always trying to catch people into reading the article).


I think this move by IV is not about money but more about building up momentum for the game.

[tllotpfkamvpe]

.

[zach]

Multiplayer? Do you know something about the game that we don't?

Personally, I would much rather they spend what little resources they have developing the game they have in mind, rather than adhering to the (frankly) silly fad that every gamer expects at least some form of multiplayer in pretty much every game.

Either way, they will definitely get my money

[shinygerbil]

I kinda always assumed that it would be multiplayer-based. I thought everyone else did too?

[mibias]

I can't imagine how the multiplayer would work. How do you envision it?

[mred209]

Actually I can't imagine how multiplayer could ever be the focus. How many other building/management games on this nature are multiplayer focussed? To me it looks like it plays akin to Dungeon Keeper, Evil Genius, Theme Hospital, those sorts of games.

[Xarlaxas]

Well, Dungeon Keeper had multiplayer, certainly 2 did at any rate. . . .

[GreenRock]

A bit hesitant because I might not be able to contribute much to the actual debugging, though, if they're asking for money I'll totally pay them to see what they've been working on so far. Even if it is hella buggy.