Planet Explorers

[NekoRinChi]

I bought this on steam recently, it's still in alpha. Game seems relatively fun once all the stuff is finished. There's also a free demo that falls in line with how the single player is for the purchased game. Did anyone else look into this?




Updated thread available here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2416181

Anandtech Administrator
KeithTalent

 

[DarthPader]

I did, but it looks so last 10y ago 😛 But has a funny and interesting concept 🙂

 

[DarthPader]

But always like a new space game, so there are alot of them im trying now 😀

 

[Markbnj]

Is everything on Steam an early-access indie title now?

 

[chimaxi83]

Is everything on Steam an early-access indie title now?

It seems like it. There are a few gems, but Steam is polluted with half baked "indie" crap.

 

[smackababy]

Is everything on Steam an early-access indie title now?

Of course! How do you expect indie developers to develop? Be like in the old days and get real jobs as programmers until their game takes off and they find a company willing to invest? Why have some actual accountability when you can just sell "shares" to the public?

 

[Markbnj]

Of course! How do you expect indie developers to develop? Be like in the old days and get real jobs as programmers until their game takes off and they find a company willing to invest? Why have some actual accountability when you can just sell "shares" to the public?

That's basically what they're doing. I'll happily test an alpha for them if they need testers, but I am not paying them for the privilege.

 

[imaheadcase]

Planet Explorers is not a space game fyi. Its basically a sandbox game you can do tons of stuff. Its pretty fun, but unless you got friends you can get bored quick.

 

[Red Storm]

Early Access on Steam should be free, and then when the game is fully functional the price tag ticks on. That will actually motivate these smaller dev companies to push through and finish their games.

Nowadays if I hear about a new game that sounds cool I have to first confirm that it's not an Early Access game before being interested.

 

[smackababy]

All this "pay for the beta" is pretty much the fault of Minecraft. If that hadn't become so popular, people wouldn't think they could get a gem on the cheap and opt for this kind of terrible business model (well terrible for the consumer, at least).

 

[Markbnj]

This is going to turn into a threadjack, but... the basic force behind this is Steam trying to keep alive a market that is, frankly, dying. Maybe they can morph their platform into a console front-end on the Steam distribution back-end. That's essentially their only viable strategy.