kovarex Considering a January Release on Steam.

[Kane]

Kovarex posted on steam 5-6 hours ago about considering a Jan Release. This is a Thinking out loud and sharing it as he has always been transparent with his thoughts.

We already wanted to put the game on steam during next month, but then we realised that lot of big games are released during november. Then there is this sales thing during december, so it might be best to do it in january.

I would say you might consider even a Feb - March release and go with a 0.13 Polish release. Yes remove some more features sadly from the list but Maybe early January release 13 with like I said a lot less features then you wanted but Polish it up and release that version onto steam. I think adding steam support alone to the client is considered a major feature.

The reason at least to delay to Feb/March is because it's the burn out special. A lot of people bought games for the Holidays and Holiday Sales after that and sometimes they even extend into January. I think if you sell it in Feb/March you have more chance of doing better sales as well as a bit more time for you and your team to Enjoy your Holidays.

I'm selfish I would love to have the game on Steam Tomorrow! But following the market for so many years I feel it's best that you do delay it and go even a tad further. The 0.13 title would make up for the delays I think even with less features it would show that versions are being more rapidly deployed.

*This post is personal opinion and experience and no way telling what they should do with their game but just commenting back"

[Peter34]

It's a question about how much Wube needs a fairly big cash influx in Januar versus a notably bigger cash influx in March.

If they're doing fine with their accounts, then waiting until March is the best choice. But if they're hungry for cash then going with earlier may be best, or may even be necessary.

[Kane]

It's a question about how much Wube needs a fairly big cash influx in Januar versus a notably bigger cash influx in March.

If they're doing fine with their accounts, then waiting until March is the best choice. But if they're hungry for cash then going with earlier may be best, or may even be necessary.

That is true but I think their selling about 1k a week if not more. That is not my business to do their accounting of course but I think their doing fine right now. But you did make a good point.

[Xterminator]

Is this actual Steam release or the start of the green light process? I had the impression from one of the recent FF that they wanted to to start the green light this month.

[lancar]

Nobody wants to compete with Fallout 4 in November, so several pushed their games to February... which makes that a bad time to release as well.
January might actually be the best choice if it has to be "soon".

[silenced]

Nobody wants to compete with Fallout 4 in November, so several pushed their games to February... which makes that a bad time to release as well.
January might actually be the best choice if it has to be "soon".

And noone wants to compete with XCom 2 aswell, in February. Doesn't matter when it's released on Steam, it will have it's sales.

[Peter34]

Is this actual Steam release or the start of the green light process? I had the impression from one of the recent FF that they wanted to to start the green light this month.

I imagine that this Steam "greenlighting" process may be quite slow or very fast, depending on how questionable the game is. High questionability for early alpha games with many bugs and few features, but low questionability for late alpha games with almost no bugs and lots of features and functionalities ("yup, that's a game alright, green light for you guys!").

[lancar]

Nobody wants to compete with Fallout 4 in November, so several pushed their games to February... which makes that a bad time to release as well.
January might actually be the best choice if it has to be "soon".

And noone wants to compete with XCom 2 aswell, in February. Doesn't matter when it's released on Steam, it will have it's sales.

Yeah, I was thinking of XCOM2 when i noted february, but don't forget that Deus Ex: Preorderdlc Divided is coming out then as well. That's why I said January might not be a bad idea.

XCOM2 isn't that big of a heavy hitter in the wide-audience appeal (despite my near-religious anticipation of it), but Deus Ex is.

[HiddenWolf]

The game is in alpha. There will always be an improvement or two that could be made.
There are a half-dozen mods that I run with that I feel should be in the base game. Anything from personal roboport fixes though blueprint management and upgrade.
With mods, the game is perfectly playable.
Point it, as long as the devs keep invested, the game will continue to improve, and it does so at quite a decent pace. Communication is good, the roadmap is clear. It'll do fine on Steam.

The big issue with Steam -as I see it- is that it'll bring in a whole lot of new players who will be looking for information, tips and tricks. The forums, the wiki and the mod database should be ready for that. If not, it'll change the community for the worse, as there will be quite a few people griping about anything from documentation to missing features. I want the game to do well, and that means giving new players a positive first impression. A round of updates on the wiki and sections with build ideas, recommended mods and solutions frequently posed problems would help in keeping a positive and constructive community going as the floodgates open. I'd say that is at least as big of a priority as bug fixes in the run up to a Steam release.

[SHiRKiT]

The big issue with Steam -as I see it- is that it'll bring in a whole lot of new players who will be looking for information, tips and tricks. The forums, the wiki and the mod database should be ready for that. If not, it'll change the community for the worse, as there will be quite a few people griping about anything from documentation to missing features. I want the game to do well, and that means giving new players a positive first impression. A round of updates on the wiki and sections with build ideas, recommended mods and solutions frequently posed problems would help in keeping a positive and constructive community going as the floodgates open. I'd say that is at least as big of a priority as bug fixes in the run up to a Steam release.

I make this my words. If they want to cause the biggest impact, they should take this into consideration. This is a real issue.

[Peter34]

The big issue with Steam -as I see it- is that it'll bring in a whole lot of new players who will be looking for information, tips and tricks. The forums, the wiki and the mod database should be ready for that. If not, it'll change the community for the worse, as there will be quite a few people griping about anything from documentation to missing features. I want the game to do well, and that means giving new players a positive first impression. A round of updates on the wiki and sections with build ideas, recommended mods and solutions frequently posed problems would help in keeping a positive and constructive community going as the floodgates open. I'd say that is at least as big of a priority as bug fixes in the run up to a Steam release.

I didn't start the UnOfficial FAQ project with the above in mind, but I'm sure it'll nevertheless be helpful, as an alternative to these forums and the official FAQs, and to the wiki and to YouTube tutorials.

[kovarex]

Money wise, we are currently not pressured. Our reserves should be big enough to live for almost a year without any sales.

There is different kind of pressure. We want be the first of a kind. Doom was the first proper fps game, and for some time, fps games were called doom-like games. I want Factorio to be something like this (although in smaller version). If we wait too long, there could be similar games like Factorio, and we would look like a clone suddenly. Actually, there are few games that have similar mechanics as Factorio already on the steam. They are not very successful, but anything can happen.

[Peter34]

Money wise, we are currently not pressured. Our reserves should be big enough to live for almost a year without any sales.

There is different kind of pressure. We want be the first of a kind. Doom was the first proper fps game, and for some time, fps games were called doom-like games. I want Factorio to be something like this (although in smaller version). If we wait too long, there could be similar games like Factorio, and we would look like a clone suddenly. Actually, there are few games that have similar mechanics as Factorio already on the steam. They are not very successful, but anything can happen.

I hope you're not over-focusing on the game enviroment, that of a factory. Because that's really not what's important. What is important is that Factorio is a long-term-played game, where each game played lasts for dozens of hours (literally dozensof hours, not hyperbolic dozens of hours) and is about building and creativity, rather than being a series of short-term puzzles without any world persistence in between.

But yes, if there genuinely are competitors in development, then I can see why you want to be sure to be the first. I'm not just convinced that there are any nearing the end of the development phase.

Or can you cite any titles?