Next steps

Information about releases and roadmap.
slpwnd
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Next steps

Post by slpwnd »

Hello everyone,

Here is a promised post about the next planned steps after Indiegogo campaign. We have compiled it as a list of questions and answers. This is largely based on the questions we have received through the email.

I missed the Indiegogo campaign. Is there a way for me to get the alpha?
There is not at the moment, but we hate seeing people eager to play our game and not being able to. Therefore, we are working on preparing an alpha preorder directly on our website.

When will that happen?
We will probably setup BitCoin / PayPal payments within a week or two. We will see how it goes. Other payment methods might follow later.

How much will the game cost?
As long as the game is in the alpha stage, the basic membership tier will cost 10€ (approx. 13$). The price might go up once we think it is ready to be called beta.

I would like some stuff present in the higher Indiegogo tiers. Will that be possible?
Yes. We are thinking of having couple of membership tiers that would more or less correspond to the Indiegogo tiers. This way, you will, for instance, be able to buy the game together with some art (digital wallpapers) and downloadable content (scenario packs).

The Indigogo ended very short of the multiplayer stretch goal. Will you do the multiplayer anyway?
Yes we will.:)

When will the final version of the game be released?
Indiegogo said that the game would be finished by summer 2013. We are still aiming at having the features promised on the Indiegogo page ready by that time. However, we would like to see the development of Factorio more as an ongoing process. That means that we are planning to continue development as long as the game sells. We already got enough input from the people here at the forum for at least a year's worth of work.:)

I heard that your funds were blocked by the PayPal. Is that true?
Yes it was, and it scared us a lot!:) We contacted PayPal, and we were asked to upload certain verification documents. We have done that, and after a bit of back-and-forth communication they unlocked our account today. That was a big relief for us.

I have backed your campaign. When do I get the rewards?
We have already started working on this. The estimate here is that we will start distributing the rewards by the end of the March. However we consider some of the rewards to be an ongoing work. For instance, the scenario pack. We will start small and we plan to keep adding the content into the scenario pack for a while. Naturally, the backers who selected a tier including this scenario pack will be entitled to all the future updates.

How will you distribute the rewards?
We will create member accounts at our webpage based on the tier you selected. These accounts will be created based on the emails provided for your PayPal payment. All our rewards are digitally downloadable. So, you will simply be able to download them from our website.

What if I made multiple contributions?
We will sum those contributions and you will be entitled to the perk corresponding to the total value.

I have a testing account, but I have not backed the game. Will my account stay active?
We will keep the testing accounts around for a while, but we might interrupt them in the future. We feel this is fair to our backers.

I have a good question but it is not here. What should I do?
Post it in the comments.

orbito
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Re: Next steps

Post by orbito »

Thank you! The development team has done a wonderful job here. This answers a lot of questions, great customer service. :)
Glad to hear Paypal unlocked your funds, that must have been stressful. I know I'm revealed to hear it's okay.

It sounds like the backers that currently have "tester" accounts will eventually change over to a "member" accounts to continue receiving updates.
That's what you seem to be saying, which is a good idea. It will allow you to keep selling the game and keep your user accounts organized.

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Re: Next steps

Post by Xisuma »

slpwnd wrote:The Indigogo ended very short of the multiplayer stretch goal. Will you do the multiplayer anyway?
Yes we will:)
Epic news :D MP will be really interesting!

There was one thing i was a bit disappointed with, the stopping of development in the summer, why not take the minecraft approach and continue selling the game in development and see where that leads? This game has huge potential! I don't think you can fulfill that in such a short amount of time.

Anyway whatever happens i will enjoy playing the game :D

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Re: Next steps

Post by Bolibi29 »

Merci pour ce jeu excellent !!!
Continuez comme ca !

Un grand merci à toi aussi Xisuma, pour me l'avoir fait découvrir !

slpwnd
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Re: Next steps

Post by slpwnd »

Xisuma wrote:There was one thing i was a bit disappointed with, the stopping of development in the summer, why not take the minecraft approach and continue selling the game in development and see where that leads? This game has huge potential! I don't think you can fulfill that in such a short amount of time.
I might have phrased myself badly. What you are saying is exactly what we want to do:) We plan to develop the game as long as there is interest in it. However we would like to fullfil what we have promised in the Indiegogo by the summer. At the moment the most probable scenario is that we would start calling it the beta in the summer (if all those things we promised are in - the graphics, more content, polishing).

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Re: Next steps

Post by DarkGiovy »

who will buy the alpha with the preorder,must also pay the final version of the game, or is included in the 10€?

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Nova
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Re: Next steps

Post by Nova »

All future updates are included in the perks on Indiegogo. ;)
digital game key (allows download / all future updates / alpha access)
Greetings, Nova.
Factorio is one of the greatest games I ever played, with one of the best developers I ever heard of.

Mysteria9
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Re: Next steps

Post by Mysteria9 »

Many thanks for the update.
Good to hear that the paypal issue has been resolved!

darkrebelion
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Re: Next steps

Post by darkrebelion »

if you had the "preorder" option but it isn't avaible so why did you add this now?
work to add this and put the banner after ...
for the people who miss the indiegogo things it is a fake joy D:

azoundria
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Re: Next steps

Post by azoundria »

Now that Factorio is starting to become popular and as it approaches the mainstream, I feel it's appropriate to have proper spelling and grammar on all official announcements from the team. ^.^ I also made a few small changes to improve the readability: (All changes in red.)
slpwnd wrote:Hello everyone,

{H}ere is a promised post about the next planned steps after Indiegogo campaign. We have compiled it as a list of questions and answers. This is largely based on the questions we have received through the email.

I missed the Indiegogo campaign. Is there a way for me to get the alpha?
There is not at the moment{, b}ut we hate seeing people eager to play our game and not being able to. Therefore{,} we are working on preparing an alpha preorder directly on our website.

When will that happen?
We will probably setup {B}it{C}oin / {P}ay{P}al payments within a week or two. We will see how it goes. Other payment methods might follow later.

How much will the game cost?
As long as the game is in the al{ph}a {stage,} the basic membership tier will cost 10€ (approx. 13$). The price might go up once we think it is ready to be called beta.

I would like some stuff present in the higher Indiegogo tiers. Will that be possible?
Yes{. W}e are thinking of having couple of membership tiers that would more or less correspond to the Indiegogo tiers. This way{,} you will{,} for instance{,} be able to buy the game together with some art (digital wallpapers) and downloadable content (scenario packs).

The Indigogo ended very short of the multiplayer stretch goal. Will you do the multiplayer anyway?
Yes we will{.} :)

When will the final version of the game be released?
Indiegogo said that the game would be finished by summer 2013. We are still aiming at having the features promised on the Indiegogo page ready by that time. However{,} we would like to see the development of Factorio more as an ongoing process. That means that we are planning to continue development as long as the game sells. We already got enough input from the people here at the forum for at least a year's worth of work{.} :)

I heard that your funds were blocked by the PayPal{. I}s that tru{e?}
Yes it was{, a}nd it scared us a lot{!} :) We contacted PayPal{,} and we were asked to upload certain verification documents. We have done that{,} and after a bit of back-and-forth communication they unlocked our account today. That was a big relief for us.

I have backed your campaign{. W}hen do I get the rewards?
We have already started working on this. The estimate here is that we will start distributing the rewards by the end of the March. However{,} we consider some of the rewards to be an ongoing work. For instance{,} the scenario pack. We will start small and we plan to keep adding the content into the scenario pack for a while. Naturally{,} the backers who selected a tier including this scenario pack will be entitled to all the future updates.

How will you {distribute the rewards}?
We will create member accounts at our webpage based on the tier you selected. These accounts will be created based on the emails provided for your PayPal payment. All our rewards are digitally downloadable. So{,} you will simply be able to download them from our website.

What if I made multiple contributions?
We will sum those contributions and you will be entitled to the perk corresponding to the total value.

I have a testing account{,} but I have not backed the game. Will my account stay activ{e?}
We will keep the testing accounts around for a while{, b}ut we might interrupt them in the future. We feel this is fair to our backers.

I have a good question but it is not here. What should I do?
Post it in the comments.

slpwnd
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Re: Next steps

Post by slpwnd »

@azoundria Thank you for your corrections. I have updated the announcement.

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Re: Next steps

Post by Aklyon »

This might be awkwardly specific, but its relative to me:
If you have a testing account, and then backed the indiegogo later on but didn't email you guys to get the alpha (since I already had it from the testing code), would I still end up in the 'member' section?

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Re: Next steps

Post by kovarex »

You will.

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Ilnor
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Re: Next steps

Post by Ilnor »

Take my money please

THE DEMO ISN'T ENOUGH
http://www.twitch.tv/ilnor
I try to stream often ! Follow the stream to get e-mails when i go live

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Re: Next steps

Post by Darthlawsuit »

Ilnor wrote:Take my money please

THE DEMO ISN'T ENOUGH
When people start posting these types of comments it is a good sign for the future :D looks like you guys are going to become game developers from now on.



Image

darkrebelion
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Re: Next steps

Post by darkrebelion »

when will the alpha end? /when wil the beta start?

idrogn
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Re: Next steps

Post by idrogn »

TAKE MINE !!

I missed indiegogo by one day !!! Start another one just for hiring a webmaster that can set the order page! :P


By the way, for french people, i discovered this game via the let's play from Iplay4you : http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... HInpGIMaIh

THENIRL
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Re: Next steps

Post by THENIRL »

Ok, PLEASE take my money XD I missed the backing campaign by a couple of days too =(

On another note, I have to go with Xizuma, from whose LP I found out about the game: if the money keeps rolling in, stay on the project like Jeb and Notch did. It seems like this has so many places to go, be it multiplayer, custom missions, campaign, war scenarios vs economic puzzles, and so on... it would be a shame if you let it go unless you really couldn't afford it.

Hanse00
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Re: Next steps

Post by Hanse00 »

Please be patient :P
The purchase on the website is being worked on, it won't go any faster because you want it :P

zlosynus
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Re: Next steps

Post by zlosynus »

I believe it should be up in a few days, the development is progressing quite nicely. I heard there is some new problem with PayPal now (developers might say something about it somewhere), so it is unclear how long it takes to solve it. But at least the BitCoin part should be running very soon. (And BitCoins are absolutely cool, so everyone should support this.)
Hanse00 wrote:Please be patient :P
The purchase on the website is being worked on, it won't go any faster because you want it :P

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