Is Vigilantes ready for Steam Early Access? What are your views?

[Daithi]

Hi,

I'd like to get some feedback on whether you feel Vigilantes is ready for Steam Early Access, and if not, what needs to be added before it is.

This is a difficult thing for me to come to an opinion on, but here are some of the factors as I see them. I've held off on releasing on EA so far because the ultimate goal is to make the best game possible, and I'm concerned that releasing on EA to soon might undermine this goal. To make Vigilantes the best game possible, I think the main factors will be extra time to spend on it and good feedback.

If a game is released too early, it doesn't really result in any good for anyone: an underwhelming experience for the player, a bad reputation for the developer and potentially negative reviews on which may never be updated. If the reaction to the EA version is not good, it's very likely to hurt the number of sales both short and long term, which will reduce the amount of extra work I'll be able to do.

On the other pro EA side, releasing on EA could help raise extra funding to extend development time and provide additional feedback, so there is a pretty big opportunity to release a bigger, better final game by going on EA.

The issue is one of picking the right time to go to EA. What do you think? Is Vigilantes ready? Is it too early?

[Nomad]

That's a tough one.
Quite frankly, I don't think I have enough information to make an informed decision.

The combat is coming along nicely. If that is all this game is, then yes, it's ready.
I think the loot is lacking (though I love the system of uncovering it and collecting it from fallen enemies).
The skills system is another thing I like. Though you might have more to do with it, I think that's ready to be revealed to Early Access.

I just haven't played far enough into the game to see if there is any mid-game or any end-game.
Is there a purpose? Are we clearing the zones? Is there a story to unfold?
I see that there is space on the Intel screens for Bosses on the city map. I've never seen one, so I have no idea if they're implemented.
Is the whole game just a series of map battles? Are there mini-scenarios (like when you collect a new companion)?

I tend to grab the Raskol assault rifle on a couple of my people fairly early on and then my game doesn't really change at all from that point. Mostly I'm just levelling up my skills and collecting loot.
Will there be more to spend loot on? That can come in after Early Access.

Do you have a plan for mid to late game? If you do, then I would at least wait until you have a taste of it in the game. It might already be there and I just haven't played far enough in.

[Daithi]

Thanks for the response, Nomad. Since Kickstarter, I've mostly worked on content and combat, but there are 4 other areas I'm going to focus on. It's unlikely I'll be able to do everything here, but working on the campaign is obviously a must.

The first is the campaign. Right now, it's effectively a sandbox. Attacking the districts has no effect, but soon, the district's defenders will be reduced and you'll be able to clear them, which reduces the gang's income. You will also have to locate and destroy rackets, which provide bonuses to the gangs which own them. Each gang has a boss and 3 lieutenants - these can' be found yet, but this will get attention soon. The ultimate goal is to take down each gang's boss, who can only be found when his/her lieutenants have been taken out. I'm also considering the possibility of not being able to find some of the rackets/leaders until you have interrogated a member of the gang, and they have revealed info, like "One of the lieutenants is based in the top right quadrant of the city" - then you can use conventional surveillance to locate them.

I've written 18 encounters so far, and 8 encounters where you meet allies. Most of these focus on world building and character development, rather than pushing a the main plot forward. There will be parts of story telling as you complete events, but since the events are driven by player action, which may differ game to game, it's difficult to have 1 single, structured narrative.

The 2nd area is fortifying the RPG elements. Being considered here are: ability to talk to allies outside mission to give more backstory, reputation system with allies, ability to help allies overcome an issue which is holding them back in life.

The 3rd area is improving game diversity: It would be good to add more diversity to the game cycle of home -> fight -> home. Being considered are: non combat encounters, which are primarily based on skill checks, side missions from allies, a nemesis system for enemies, allowing them to retreat and become more powerful, rescuing captured allies, base facilities which can be build.     

The 4th area is polish, which will entail smoothing rough areas in all part of the game. In particular, I think the UI could use some work.

I agree on the loot - as it stands, only about 30% of the items have been added. Fear not, there will be plenty more toys to play with 

[Nomad]

This sounds like an excellent plan.

Now, be aware that I know very little about Early Access on Steam. By the way.... I HATE Steam with a vengeance. They have treated me quite badly and additionally a lot of their business practices and the design of their launcher just piss me off.
GoG.... now I LOVE THEM. They're everything Steam should have been (except for the DRM free perhaps).
But I digress.

Now knowing that I know little about the profitability of E.A. I have some opinions.
1. Steam E.A. is absolutely overburdened with rubbish. So many E.A. games are abandonware or just cash grabs.
2. Price point is important. I guess if you're looking around the Kickstarter level, then that's probably pretty good.
3. SOOOOOOO many idiots on Steam buy E.A. games (probably because they're cheap) and then absolutely bitch about them or give them a low rating. They don't rate the potential, they rate what they're currently playing against their expectations. Bad ratings and bad comments are going to come and you have to be able to ignore most of them (I'd have a really hard time not taking them to heart).
4. If you can wait... I'd leave it until you had a little more of your ideas implemented. Right now you have a framework and a functional open city. I like it... but I get bored after a series of fights because there's nothing else right now. Don't take that as bad (I don't think it's bad). I am happy to test it with the view that it's expanding. If you can, perhaps get a bunch more encounters in. You don't need a story or anything, just little encounters that break things up. I don't believe I've seen an encounter which wasn't one of the four companions that I know. So, other than the Doc at the start, I've only seen four encounters. I've played a fair bit in chunks, but I generally scan and attack the city blocks systematically. I start at a corner and work my way down or across. So, I have probably missed any encounters that already exist (if you already have a bunch in the game).

Umm... I don't know if I've said anything helpful at all... I was quite distracted while writing. I had a child demanding attention and a cat walking across my keyboard and trying to climb my monitor.

[Daithi]

Hey, thanks for the ideas. You're right about price point, it will be in the region of the KS. Bad comments I can live with. Sometimes even the most hostile comments contain useful info, though I tend not to engage much with hostile people. Bad reviews are different, they could reduce the visibility on Steam, and discourage others from buying, that's the main concern.

Once I have the maps for this update done, I'm going to look at adding different melee attacks based on weapon type, then I'm done with working on the combat system for now. Yeah, I think encounters would be a good thing to focus on - there are some in the game, but not that many. I'll try to add a few new ones in this update, and will probably look at adding non combat encounters.

No, I don't take it as bad. It's entirely constructive and it's good to get a feel for where things are. I think the alpha could pass a few hours every update or 2, but right now, that's about it. Diversity is something that is sorely needed, and this will be one of the main focuses for the next few updates.

Did you get that mafia encounter, they one where they are intimidating the business owner? Heh, it's pretty coherent given that level of distraction - thanks Nomad

[Nomad]

Mafia encounter?
You know what, that sounds familiar. I reckon I did get that one.
So, yes... I've played that encounter... I think...