Safe to buy the game NOW?

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Maf
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Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Maf » Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:50 pm

Hi there,
first of all, this game seems to make a great impression, and that's why I consider to buy it.
But, what bothers me, what is the current state of the game? What do you guys actually sell? Is it still beta?
Should I wait till the game gets mature enough? What is you plan/way for the future to support people who buy the game now?
Will we receive all new stuff as patches?
Please clarify this and then get my $ 30 :)

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Spooner
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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Spooner » Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:21 pm

To answer simply, the closed beta (which was a proper beta, not a marketing beta) was significantly more polished and stable than most games these days on gold release day.

The only thing I'd say was that was incomplete was support for multi-player. It works perfectly well as far as it goes (they use a central server to manage turns, so it can be played concurrently or like PBEM, like Frozen Synapse), but it lacks some features that I'd like to see, like a matchmaking lobby (currently matchmaking is manually via the forum), automatically remembering and managing which games you are currently playing (you need to manually record a code for the game and enter it whenever you want to play a turn) or email notification of the turn being played. That said, I've played at least a dozen MP games so it certainly hasn't stopped me having fun with that side of the game.

Personally I don't see this as a reason not to buy the game, especially if you are more interested in the strong single-player aspect, which is the main focus of the game and is quite complete. I'm pretty sure that the devs intend to flesh the MP side of the game out though ASAP, but you'll have to wait for one of them to clarify that (I think their willingness to throw time into doing that also depends on how much the MP has been used, since they were unsure how many people would actually be interested in that style of play).

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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby ZyZ » Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:53 pm

This is definitely not beta. It have not crashed yet and i could not find a single bug i could report. Game itself does not have many scenarios but if you want to unlock all of them you will need to score brilliant victory here and there and that requires hours and hours of play / studying manual. I am personally very happy i bought it. $30 well spent :-)

Spooner wrote:Personally I don't see this as a reason not to buy the game, especially if you are more interested in the strong single-player aspect, which is the main focus of the game and is quite complete. I'm pretty sure that the devs intend to flesh the MP side of the game out though ASAP, but you'll have to wait for one of them to clarify that (I think their willingness to throw time into doing that also depends on how much the MP has been used, since they were unsure how many people would actually be interested in that style of play).


I still play Master of Orion 2 multiplayer and this game is like 10+ years old. If game is good people will play it. Minor problems like lack of lobby wont stop them :-)

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Tomislav Uzelac
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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Tomislav Uzelac » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:04 pm

Alright! I got an SMS saying I should respond to someone on the forums and by the time I got to my PC you answered it for me. Thanks! :D

Anyway, welcome aboard Maf, I hope you buy and enjoy the game. :!:

@Spooner: we will be adding these MP features gradually, as we see more players perusing the MP server. We need to be able to get some more feedback, right now there's still only a handful of games played daily. This in spite that we sold quite a few copies of the game already. It seems the AI is keeping everyone real busy for the moment ;)

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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Maf » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:13 pm

Thanks for replies guys.
So as I understand, the game is stable / playable.
But, it's still work in progress. So if I buy the game now and in the future something new comes, do I have the access to these updates / features? How does this work?
In other words, if I buy the game now, can I always download the latest/most recent release from UoC website?
Last edited by Maf on Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Tomislav Uzelac
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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Tomislav Uzelac » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:20 pm

Well yes, the game may get updated and these patches will be free of charge like with other games.

Note that it's probably unfair to call the game a "work in progress"... some more features will be added through updates, but you don't really need any of these to play. The game is really more solid than most - note the distinct lack of "Technical Support" issues both here and on the Matrix Games forums.

Also yes, once you buy you can always re-download the file from us, if you need to reinstall etc. We will never charge for this.

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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Maf » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:25 pm

Tomislav Uzelac wrote:Also yes, once you buy you can always re-download the file from us, if you need to reinstall etc. We will never charge for this.


Ok, so if new cool features comes, we get access to them through downloading the latest installer or patching already installed version, right?

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Spooner
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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Spooner » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:39 pm

I can understand people worrying about games being half-finished on release. It has become a real problem for all gamers; I commonly don't touch games for a few months after release and I can't remember the last time I bought a game at full price, because new games are commonly broken and playing them early destroys the experience and you have to pay a premium for the privilege! Indie devs, however, do tend to come clean and actually state that they are releasing a beta to raise capital, whereas the mainstream studios just swear their product is perfect on release regardless of its actual state.

I think the MP is slightly a chicken and egg situation. People aren't playing too much because there is still a bit of a barrier to entry there (though the server-based MP system is massively better already than most games which only support direct IP connections or regular PBeM, so there isn't a lot to complain except that it isn't as polished an aspect of the game as the SP). Your point is well made, however, that MP is something that people turn to when they have mastered a game in single-player mode, which for most people won't be for a while yet: The AI is very strong, but other people are always going to be punishingly better :D

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Meta Baston
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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Meta Baston » Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:00 pm

Tomislav Uzelac wrote: It seems the AI is keeping everyone real busy for the moment ;)


:lol: EXACTLY!

(I read people asking for new scenarios, new campaigns, new theaters... I'm still struggling to win a decisive victory in the Gallop/Star scenario! Which is the fourth I'm playing a week and a half after buying the game. :roll: )

No bug to report, btw. The game is perfectly stable on both of my computers (a desktop and a 13in screen Dell Vostro).

MB

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Tomislav Uzelac
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Re: Safe to buy the game NOW?

Unread postby Tomislav Uzelac » Sat Nov 26, 2011 7:28 pm

Spooner wrote:The AI is very strong, but other people are always going to be punishingly better


Right... and then playing against Ante this gets compounded because he's also the guy who created the AI.

Never going to do that again, he's like a one-man axis of evil 8-)