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Post by ScottFarRoad on Mar 23, 2016 23:51:36 GMT
Hi everyone, If anybody read our final Kickstarter update, they might now be aware of what we plan for this game. Long story short: Atomic Society is going to be on sale in the next 2-3 weeks!Without Kickstarter we can't really afford to continue development (we have no wealthy relatives alas!), and we're hoping that by taking a big risk and bringing forward the release a lot, we'll earn just enough to pay a few development costs. Not that I expect to sell more than 5-10 copies at the moment, but every one will help. Despite the Kickstarter failing, we did really well on Greenlight a couple of weeks ago, and our confidence in what Atomic Society is as a concept is stronger than ever. I believe we're making a great game. I have a little bit of fun playing it already, and it's only 20% of what it could be. Now it's just a case of finishing it... Somehow! With that in mind, we will try and put the game up for sale in early April (2-3 weeks from time of posting). We'll be selling this pre-alpha version just via our site for now (www.farroadgames.com). I don't want to put it on Steam yet in such a super-early state. I'd prefer to keep things relatively quiet for a while. Though we will go to Steam eventually. Obviously our game is not much of a game at the moment. It was never intended to be released so early. Think of the upcoming release more like "premature access" than Early Access. More like a glorified tech-demo. You'll find interesting things to do it in it, but it won't be a game in the proper sense. But anybody who buys it will get regular updates and (if Valve let us) a Steam key chucked in as well for the final version. We'll probably be selling it for £10, (or whatever that is in your local currency.) There will be a special edition version for £20 with stuff like your name in the game and a copy of the soundtrack. That will help the game along even more. Now I can't wait to finally start letting people play it, even if it is a buggy mess. Running a Kickstarter was hard and difficult. Personally, I hate the marketing gloss you need for it all and all that social media stuff that goes with it (I've written more about that here.) Now I'm just looking forward to just making a game and selling a game. Thanks to everyone who has supported and encouraged us this far. I'm really looking forward to sharing the game with you soon and getting any feedback you might have as it progresses and evolves. I'll post another news announcement as soon as the game goes live. :-)
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Post by Bubblebox on Mar 24, 2016 0:26:59 GMT
Good luck to you, the games industry seems to be more competitive than it ever has been, you are gonna need thick skins and plenty of determination but I guess you know that already. I did back you and think that this game has tons of potential, just keep it relevant to the masses so you get some sales and the very best of atomic luck to you and your team.
Bub
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Post by quasi_stomach on Mar 24, 2016 0:47:21 GMT
Any idea of the price at super-pre-alpha release?
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Post by Koner on Mar 24, 2016 4:12:39 GMT
Price doesn't matter We need support these guys as much as we can to help them out!
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Post by ScottFarRoad on Mar 24, 2016 8:28:54 GMT
Launch price will be £10 (or whatever that converts to in your country). That includes all future updates.
The price is hopefully a compromise price between "there's not much content here" and "you're helping support development". The price might go up later when there's more in the game, but that won't be for a while.
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Koner
Survivor
Founder
Posts: 8
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Post by Koner on Mar 25, 2016 18:18:27 GMT
looks like I will buy another copy yaay
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becky
Worker
Founder
Posts: 28
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Post by becky on Mar 26, 2016 4:15:13 GMT
Well, I think that price is very important. Picking a good price point is essential for any developer or publisher. A lot of us are on a budget, and furthermore our local currency might not scale well against the British Pound. Plus, you need to consider how the sales of a product will scale based upon its price. As an example, very few people would pay as much as £50, and many games would flounder at that price point. Ten sales at £50 each earns a gross of £500. But a hell of a lot more people are likely to pay £10, and a hundred sales at £10 each earns a gross of £1000. In summation, I think that £10 is a very reasonable price.
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Post by ScottFarRoad on Apr 5, 2016 22:14:55 GMT
Just to let folks know that things are progressing well and we're really just trying to iron out the last few major bugs before we put the game up for sale. Pretty hopeful we're in the final week now before the earliest of early versions of Atomic Society is available for you to play.
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Koner
Survivor
Founder
Posts: 8
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Post by Koner on Apr 6, 2016 5:43:21 GMT
happy to see that you guys working hard!
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becky
Worker
Founder
Posts: 28
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Post by becky on Apr 13, 2016 2:11:28 GMT
Just to let folks know that things are progressing well and we're really just trying to iron out the last few major bugs before we put the game up for sale. Pretty hopeful we're in the final week now before the earliest of early versions of Atomic Society is available for you to play. I am so looking forward to seeing the first glimpses of the pre-alpha for this game!
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Tigerlily
Survivor
Founder
Just got my special edition, Gonna pretty much be up all night!
Posts: 14
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Post by Tigerlily on Apr 13, 2016 13:59:09 GMT
Today is April 13th, (20 days after we were told April the game will be out on steam) [side note: i'm not in a rush] but I did want the developers to fully understand that even though the kickstarter flopped pretty badly there are a lot of people (like me) WAITING for it to be on steam because, (like me) I only buy games off steam. Its very convenient for me and I have had my steam account over a decade. I don't trust kickstarters or indiegogo campaigns because I have lost money on them in the past and I know a lot of friends who won't support them anymore for the same reason. That's not saying you shouldn't have started one for this project but I don't want you to think there aren't plenty of people ready to throw money at this game. My group of friends greatly respect indie game devs but sadly there are TOO many out these days who make a promise and never keep it. That being said It would be nice for another update with a day the game should be available. I mean we are at the 3 week mark (tomorrow) from when we were supposed to see it out so it should be any day now right?!?! Any update would be nice but like other indie devs updates on the forums get mostly forgotten so I guess I will wait and see.
Oh, one last thing.... PLEASE add a | £20 ($22.59) | version for the hard core guys like my group of friends. We don't mind paying 20 bucks for the special edition because 1.) we know we get a couple cool ingame features as mentioned but we also want to SUPPORT the devs and its kinda pointless to buy more than 1 game for each of us. I know I will be buying 3 copies for myself, brother-in-law, and my nephew. Thats $67.77 just from me. Take as long as you need to get it on the Steam Store but the longer you wait the less interested people are going to become eventually.
Good luck and I hope to see an update on the release date that SHOULD BE any day now...
Very Respectfully
Tiger_lily
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Post by ScottFarRoad on Apr 13, 2016 15:29:31 GMT
Today is April 13th, (20 days after we were told April the game will be out on steam) [side note: i'm not in a rush] but I did want the developers to fully understand that even though the kickstarter flopped pretty badly there are a lot of people (like me) WAITING for it to be on steam because, (like me) I only buy games off steam. Its very convenient for me and I have had my steam account over a decade. I don't trust kickstarters or indiegogo campaigns because I have lost money on them in the past and I know a lot of friends who won't support them anymore for the same reason. That's not saying you shouldn't have started one for this project but I don't want you to think there aren't plenty of people ready to throw money at this game. My group of friends greatly respect indie game devs but sadly there are TOO many out these days who make a promise and never keep it. That being said It would be nice for another update with a day the game should be available. I mean we are at the 3 week mark (tomorrow) from when we were supposed to see it out so it should be any day now right?!?! Any update would be nice but like other indie devs updates on the forums get mostly forgotten so I guess I will wait and see. Oh, one last thing.... PLEASE add a | £20 ($22.59) | version for the hard core guys like my group of friends. We don't mind paying 20 bucks for the special edition because 1.) we know we get a couple cool ingame features as mentioned but we also want to SUPPORT the devs and its kinda pointless to buy more than 1 game for each of us. I know I will be buying 3 copies for myself, brother-in-law, and my nephew. Thats $67.77 just from me. Take as long as you need to get it on the Steam Store but the longer you wait the less interested people are going to become eventually. Good luck and I hope to see an update on the release date that SHOULD BE any day now... Very Respectfully Tiger_lily Thank you for a lovely, supportive post! Though I hate to be the bearer of bad news, we never said the game was coming out on Steam anytime soon. The announcement just stated it's going to be sold just through our website (www.farroadgames.com) for a while and that's still the case. I'm guessing it won't be until after summer that we even consider Steam. But you will get a Steam key with your purchase (we'll send them out when we hop to Steam later in the year), so if you buy it via our website this month, you're getting a Steam pre-order at the same time. I buy most of my games off Steam too, but we need to add a lot more features and polish to the game before throwing it at Steam where a mass audience will see it. If we released it on Steam now, it would probably get poor reviews because there isn't much to do in the game yet, and we'd be written-off as another Early Access waste of time. Which isn't the case with us. When Atomic Society hits Steam, I want it go down well. So we're going to just have a little, quiet release here with our tiny community and slowly build it up until I've seen enough people having a great time with it. Then we'll be ready for Steam. "Any day now" is the current release date. Wish I could be more precise but software is a messy business. We're playing the game constantly at the moment, just trying to catch any big bugs. The only thing you can do in the launch version is make a town of 200 survivors and try and keep them happy. but every time we try and do that, some kind of obscure bug crops up. I think we've almost caught them all now (no doubt we'll release it and people will instantly discover 10 more - but that's life). We'll fix them all as soon as we can. Regarding money, there will be a regular edition that is going to retail for £8 plus VAT (so probably the equivalent £10 depending where you live) and a special edition with some bonus features for £12 plus VAT. Just working out how to sell a game online and tax stuff has been a hassle but we're pretty much set now. I think the service we're using lets you pay over the asking price when you buy Atomic Society, so if you want to pay more than is required, you can do that. But people should just pay whatever they feel comfortable gambling - the game is early and you don't know if you'll like it yet. :-) I'll let the world know as soon as it's ready... Any day now.
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Tigerlily
Survivor
Founder
Just got my special edition, Gonna pretty much be up all night!
Posts: 14
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Post by Tigerlily on Apr 13, 2016 18:35:44 GMT
Splendid, I look forward to the announcement.
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becky
Worker
Founder
Posts: 28
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Post by becky on Apr 15, 2016 1:53:39 GMT
I don't trust kickstarters or indiegogo campaigns because I have lost money on them in the past and I know a lot of friends who won't support them anymore for the same reason. I don't really trust KickStarters either. I saw what dodgy Double Fine did with Spacebase DF-9 and with Broken Age, and their new "Fig" platform makes me feel physically sick. I invested in ROAM, and the developer of that got sued into oblivion by his business partner. I helped kickstart Woolfe: the Red Hood Diaries, and backers only got half the product they paid for and we nearly didn't get our physical backer rewards (thanks to their new publishers, Rebellion, for fixing that up). KickStarter doesn't have a particularly good reputation with myself or my boyfriend, but I did pledge at the £10.00 mark (which is about AU$20.00, all I could afford) because I have high hopes for Atomic Society. Either way, I'm checking into the forums on a daily basis, and I'm really looking forward to buying the pre-alpha and doing what I can to support this awesome concept.
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Tigerlily
Survivor
Founder
Just got my special edition, Gonna pretty much be up all night!
Posts: 14
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Post by Tigerlily on Apr 15, 2016 4:46:09 GMT
Yea, Sadly I didn't actually know about this game until after the Kickstarter had already ended. I LOVED the idea right off the bat and when I heard it was already GreenLit on Steam I knew it was going to be a buy and try for sure. Then when I got on the forums and saw the announcement it would be up for sale any day now I almost lost it. So pretty much ALL day today off and on I have been checking my email and the home page so I can get it as soon as its available. I want to make some short videos as soon as we get access to it so I can start sharing the game with friends online and hopefully get another big group of people exposed to it so they can also help fund the project. I can see it now, Soon as we wake up one of these mornings there will be a link to purchase and download and we will all be playing in no time. (I think my first town is going to crash and burn) -TL
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