Donation/Pre-order Development Model

[jiaco]

Dont hope, do.

Too bad that Google Spider that likes to hang out in the Calendar section does not get to donate.

Seriously, if you have signed up to a forum for a vapor-game and have not decided to support the developers and help make this thing happen, then what are you waiting for. Now is the time that they need your support. And now the money goes straight to them (well paypal must take a cut, but not nearly as much as the distribution channels that the game will eventually be released on).

[Renevent]

Hope so too...but how do you get yourself out there like that? Especially right now...there isn't even any promotional material. Hopefully once a few screen shots are released and a video or two interest will ramp up.

[eisprinzessin]

Originally Posted by jiaco

Dont hope, do.

Eh, I did. But one copy is enough for me.

[Renevent]

When are you guys planning on releasing some promotional material? Month or two? I would really like to start hyping and try to get the game some attention, but without anything for people to see there's not much we can really say...well other than "it's from the makers of TQ!".

[medierra]

Originally Posted by eisprinzessin

Hope you will get as much attention as Unknown Worlds. About 5641 gamers pre-ordered Natural Selection 2.

I think they actually surpassed 10,000 a while ago. It would be really fantastic if we reach those numbers but even half that in legendary donations would allow us to add a bunch more enemy models, items, environment art, and V/Os.

[Chameleon]

Originally Posted by medierra

I think they actually surpassed 10,000 a while ago. It would be really fantastic if we reach those numbers but even half that in legendary donations would allow us to add a bunch more enemy models, items, environment art, and V/Os.

You should have a fund raising graphic like this somewhere on the site so we can see how much has been given.

[Renevent]

Yeah that would be pretty cool...interested to see how this whole thing works out

[medierra]

Originally Posted by Renevent

When are you guys planning on releasing some promotional material? Month or two? I would really like to start hyping and try to get the game some attention, but without anything for people to see there's not much we can really say...well other than "it's from the makers of TQ!".

A month or two is probably correct. Engineering and design are currently much further along than art. Unfortunately, art is what people want to see. We intentionally back-loaded the art because, beyond certain essentials, it isn't necessary to have much art during the early phases of development. This lowers risk because, by the time we need to start making art, we have a more concrete idea of what we need, how those assets need to be built and we've reached a point in the project were we're more confident about further investing ourselves. So, we pulled the trigger on increased art production about a month ago and more assets are beginning to roll out while we're also polishing up existing ones.

We wanted to launch the site in advance of this so that we could slowly introduce our more enthusiastic fans to the project and the forums, get feedback, and test everything out before a major press release. Our plan was to sort of slow-roll the launch but it seems like it is picking up momentum faster than anticipated due to the great enthusiasm many of you have shown in getting the word out. (Curses! If it weren't for you meddling kids we would have gotten away with it too! - Old Man Withers).

Although many companies wait until their games are in a polished near-shippable state before releasing media, we plan to buck the trend and release stuff that is a little more "raw". We want to do this so we can make our fans more of a part of the development and let people see how the game is shaping up. However, we don't want to release media that is too raw since some people may not be able to take it fully in context and could make false assumptions about what the quality of the end-product will be like. Many gamers don't realize how much polish a game goes through in the months leading up to release. So, we're trying to achieve a balance here. We want to give you an early peak at the game... but not too early. ; p

[Renevent]

Very cool, and I think all of us "enthusiastic fans" here right now appreciate this approach.

[Dragonero]

Really understand you, medierra. As you know I'm a cartoonist and I also develop medium and long term projects with my team. Readers are asking us to continually updates the progress of the work. They want to see pictures and preparatory drawings and they want to know the story and characters. I understand them and I am very happy with the relationship we have established with readers, but it is always best to show them examples of work close to the final result. As a fan of TQ I confess that I can not wait to see some image of GD ... but I promise to be patient.
By the way ... when pictures of GD?