So I’ve been catching up on all the streams that @Tom does, and in #41 the question of DLC etc is raised re pet packs and the Kickstarter pets. So seeing as I haven’t seen a poll on it, I thought I’d simply ask what people would like to see happen.
Should the Kickstarter in-game pets appear in DLC?
In regards to poll 1 - I have no feelings either way. if they wanted to they could, but perhaps keep something special back for those who did back the Kickstarter? Maybe simply a different variation of the pet? I mean either way I don’t imagine this is going to be something that will be locked down/ prevented from copying so I imagine ‘pet models’ will very quickly make the rounds?
To be honest I’m just not really sure how I feel about DLC, especially at the micro-level of pets and I think it’s really too soon to even be throwing that word around seeing as it’s probably going to take another 6 - 12 months before any semblance of the full game to be there.
Of course - my thinking with this topic is really to see what the community thinks about this, so that Radiant Entertainment can at least make a more informed decision. Obviously I have my preferences as well, but as it was raised on the stream and as not everybody can get on there to discuss it a poll here seemed the most sensible thing.
Personally, I think that DLC that is just extra stuff to build or like extra animals will not really work for a game that will have mod support, because anyone can make it or copy it. What would work is stuff like extra features like ‘building on clouds’ or riding a dragon. Things that aren’t available easily. You could even give that for free to your Kickstarter backers.
An example of that:
Larian studios from (Divinity Original Sin) are creating a new version with a completely new story and characters, new spells and features. And the best part ? Anyone who backed the original game will get It for free.
I think the particular pets should be reserved for the people who backed the Kickstart-project back in the day. I would feel like backing the Kickstart-project was all for nothing, and quite honestly, we took a the risk to “invest” money into this game, which people who bought or got the game later on did not.
[quote=“Bastiaan_Doolhoff, post:5, topic:12520, full:true”]I would feel like backing the Kickstart-project was all for nothing
[/quote]
Well, the game is getting made .
Maybe I didn’t make myself clear in the way I wanted to. Ofcourse, the game is getting made, but the Pets were something reserved for the people who backed the Kickstart-project, so getting back on that decision would be rather disappointing.
I’d have to go with yes, as some of us only discovered kickstarter after Stonehearth had been backed… As you’re suggesting DLC, the backers would obviously get their fair share of free stuff, reflective of how much they pledged!
Careful using “DLC”, that is a term with a lot of negative feelings associated with it. Especially if the place is about to get flooded with Steam users who will mistakenly believe Stonehearth is going to be microtransactioned up the you-know-where.
I have some mixed feelings about this. I have been regretting for quite some time now not backing the kickstarter at a higher level than I did. Unfortunately I stumbled upon Stonehearth quite by accident with only hours to spare in the campaign, and it was only the third project I ever backed. Being very new to Kickstarter, and knowing basically nothing about the team behind Stonehearth, $30 was all I was willing to risk. That means I’ll get a “Cuddly Kitten” but as soon as I figured out that Stonehearth was going to be a big deal, I wished I had backed at the $50 level or higher, which means I would also get a “Really Cute Puppy”. Knowing what I know now, I probably would’ve backed at the level to get the soundtrack and a t-shirt.
So all those things that were (probably) kickstarter exclusives, I want now and regret not getting. If they were available as add-ons now, even right now today, I would probably pay for them gladly.
On the other hand, I don’t want this to be a game that releases “pet packs” and other such things that probably should just be content everyone gets for free, especially if we’re talking about content that can easily be modded in.
So, why not let everyone who wants to chip in an extra $x to upgrade their kickstarter pledge after the fact, while the game is still in Alpha, and then when the game is officially released don’t do any DLCs. Early supporters can still get something special, and people late to the party can just be jealous, rather than feeling like they’re being milked a few dollars at a time.
True, but I don’t know of any better term TBH. Can hardly call it an expansion pack after all .
Up the wazoo?
Yeah, this is the thing I’ve been interested in with these polls. So far, people seem rather split WRT pet packs after launch, but there’s a large majority in favour of releasing the KS rewards as DLC at some point (not day 1 though).
Well, I doubt Radiant well end up turning SH into a Sims game with 300 “expansion packs” that add 2 new pieces of furniture each .
I actually asked @Sdee about this several months ago & it wasn’t possible, at least not through Kickstarter etc. Radiant would likely have to set up a Paypal account & do it all that way. I’d happily do this as well mind you
I already know it’s not possible through kickstarter, but I’m perfectly happy to throw more money at Radiant’s way if they set up a PayPal and have some way of checking against who already backed for however much.
Pets are as innocent as TF2’s hats. I, for one, would gladly buy some of them just for the sake of having done so and supporting our masters at Radiant.
If others don’t want to buy pets, they don’t have to. As you’ve said there will probably be plenty of pet mods and possibly some more features to pets in the vanilla game.
Eh Im indiffernt to the idea. It would be cool to have a fancy pet seeing I made it to the game a couple days after the kickstarted ended (I’m more upset because I didn’t get to back the game then get the loot perks), but I am fine with the idea of have fox friends as my town pet. They are equally as cute and a army of foxes is a force to be recorded with.
On the other hand if “DLC” was to come out in the far away future, I would be down to get it.
So, for Kickstarter, I completely get and understand that those who were able to back early should get that perk. 1,000,000% behind that. That being said, I do think that some average version of pets should make it into the game for the rest of us who were forced, for whatever reason, to adopt late. I agree that doing it as a DLC thing is difficult at best with the modding community out there, so I think there’s not much other option out there other than letting the folks have some puppies and kittens, but possibly without a trick behavior or something else. Maybe the dog finds bones every once and a while, and brings them back to the hearthlings (bones alternatively coming as drops from defeated undead). The kitty could occasionally catch a fish or bird and bring it to the food stores. (And as I suggest this, I realize how awesome this would be, and desperately wish for this to just be normal pet behavior ) Or maybe they dance.
Either way, I love having pets in games, and would absolutely love to see more of them in SH.
I’m VERY STEONGLY in the same shoes as @Bastiaan_Doolhoff, as I was a $30 backer, just for the kitty. If I knew it’d be a non exclusive later, and sorry to be that guy, I wouldn’t have backed as much. To see it as a chance of not being exclusive, I feel kinda ripped off.
Well the first poll is specifically about KS rewards being used as DLC rewards, but certainly the “pet packs” would presumably feature brand new stuff.
I feel that people should be able to get those pets, as people (such as me) missed the kick-starter. I personally found it the day after it closed. I have purchased the game in support of the devs. I think it is unfair that people who missed the kick starter should be punished by not having access to elemnts of the game.
ell in some ways the whole point of the kick-starter rewards is so that those who back the game can get uber awesome exclusives to make everyone else jealous…
however, that doesnt mean i dont want to get them in any way possible
I’d like to share my story for a moment. @Paulsoaresjr introduced me to Stonehearth in his pre-pre-alpha video. I might have checked out the Kickstarter, but I forgot all about it and Stonehearth in general for quite some time. In fact, I only bought Stonehearth after he revisited it in Alpha 5 - more than a year later.
So, honestly, my bad memory is the only reason I won’t have a cuddly kitten.
It’s up to you all to decide whether that’s fair or not.
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) Or maybe they dance.