A quite good example of this is Mountain (Though it is more a screensaver than a game) half the guys who doesn’t like the game are angry that it doesn’t really have any futures though the description clearly states that this is more a zen-out type of game/(Screensaver 
).
1 Like
All in all I have to say this:
@sdee @not_owen_wilson @Tom (And the rest of the Devs) Do not do early access unless you need the money and if/when you do Early Access, Put “THIS GAME IS NOT FINISHED” Signs EVERYWHERE to the point that if you have not read one of the signs then there is a high chance this person may have to see the optician…
Remember, The community will support you on your decisions. So if you decide not to release it for a while we are all happy to wait patiently.
9 Likes
I would definitely add my voice to the suggestion of not going onto early access yet for the reasons given of people simply not getting what early access means. The other reason I might add is that with early access can come a huge influx of I guess you could call them sideshow devs, basically people who feel they know exactly how the game should be made within the first 5 minutes of playing it and then bombard the forums with often bad or unrealistic suggestions. This can then put a lot of pressure on the developers to follow these suggestions or rush updates for fear of disappointing people or Stonehearth getting a bad reputation.
Right now Stonehearth seems to have a good clear goal and the community here seems good at providing useful feedback. Therefore maybe waiting till a later alpha almost beta build of the game would be better where its more about finding and removing bugs than adding more content.
5 Likes
Bugfree or not does not really matter. There are people that will just downplay every game on early access because they think the concept of early access does not belong on steam. And will go everywhere to proof themself right. Just like the dev from Planetary annihilation said “the internet is upset sometimes”. It happens and will always happen.
I dont mind early access. I also dont mind if they dont do it. I have fun playing it and can not care less about what other people think of it. I am happy I play it and dont regret buying it.
peace 
4 Likes
Usually I hate early access games, mostly because devs don’t bother fixing things in a reasonable manner or communicating with their gamers. You guys however have my utmost confidence. If anyone can crush early access haters, it’s you guys.
1 Like
I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. Push it out as long as need be, just don’t release a buggy alpha on steam!! The future of Stonehearth may regret it.
1 Like
I think you guys should wait until beta before early access. There are way to many people out there that will buy the game play it for 5 min and then give it a negative review. Then again if you can pump out new content on a steady basis (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly…ect) it might not be that big of a problem. Also if you do go the route of early access. there will be a lot more stress on your part as well. Yea your brining in more money. However, that not so dedicated crowd will shun you if the games goes for a while with a lot of bugs.
2 Likes
Thought things through more and I do think radiant is doing an amazing job atm but they are at a different pace to what is expected by the steam community. For example the goblin horde, here taking two weeks to patch it is fine, for the steam public a bug like this that essentially means no more then 20min of play before game over better be patched in at most a few days. Im sure the team could speed to this pace, but they are doing so well now I dont want them to change their dev style and ruin what they have.
3 Likes
I agree that early access is something they might want to double think. I play loads of early access games and I hate when other talk down about a game that is clearly still in development. I think it is our job as a community to educate instead of fight with the new members of the game. I know it gets frustrating and rude when they make unknowledgeable comments about game, I have seen many “this is a rip off, they want $30 for a game that has no content”, which in reality is not the case. I think if we go in trying to “kill them with kindness” rather then saying “you don’t know what you are talking about” then maybe we can lessen the gripes and put more positive thoughts about the game into their heads. Lets be honest, early access might happen, or maybe later in the game development they will release it before end product, either way people will complain. We should be the bigger party and tell the complaining people with a soft tone why they are wrong and what makes this game so great! ahh but that’s my silly thoughts on this 
6 Likes
I would rather Stonehearth not go into early access but if the developers need the money then sure!
As long as the Steam forum and the steam frontpage of the game CLEARLY states every single aspect of the game as well as plans for the game, I think it should be fine.
The first two lines on the Steam page should state that “you can play about 5 days in the game, build houses, farm a bit and harvest wood before you get murdered by goblins, that is all for now”
The devs have to be very active there and post very clear messages. People on Steam are really dumb and feel privileged so you have to make sure they understand the game before they buy it. Posting the roadmap directly there would help as well.
I’ve been a part of the early access program ever since it was introduced and I have a pretty good idea how NOT to piss of the steam kids. Ideally a video of a dev playing the game and showing every single thing you can build in the current build would be best.
3 Likes
Right. Unless that’s the case (For example, a tiny note under a mountain of other boring legal stuff) then I’d understand if people were upset. Mindlessly raging about Early Access, even though they were warned beforehand, is simply ridiculous and annoying.
Since when has a fear of being ridiculous and annoying stopped the internet 
?
6 Likes
However true that may be, people still do it. It’d be nice if everyone acted rationally and understandingly, but that’s not how people tend to operate. So even though, in a perfect world, a dev would be able to post glaringly obvious disclaimers about alpha, lack of features, buginess, etc., without people raging, we don’t live in that world. I agree with some of the opinions expressed above–no matter how (rightly) clear and obvious Radiant might be about the state of the game in early access, people will still evaluate the game unfairly.
7 Likes
There has to be something called the internet variable! So when scientists do research someone can come along and say:
“But if you add the internet variable you might as well go flip a table now”
3 Likes
I agree with most posts, Early Access is good for extra cash for devs but I think in longterm It does more bad than good, couse people will look at the final release through their experience with early alpha, and the reviews are going to be bad.
Best way would be release the game on steam when Stonehearth hits Beta where will be much more content and game will be more polished from tech perspective.
Even If you squash most gamebraking bugs now there is still not enough content, and we all know that, that people will see this game as a GAME ready to play, not as an early stage program released mostly for feedback and support, for people that want to see and help in developement of the game.
2 Likes
We can all as a community post honest favourable reviews to counteract some of the steam rage. I mean there has to be a significant amount of people here on the discourse still. It would take like 5- 10 min for each of us to either write a review or like a favourable review. This might help combat some of the rage review problems. Then at least when people are checking out the games reviews, those that can read will have some positive upvoted information to process. This sort of an if and when Stonehearth is early access released plan.
Just in case anyone hasnt seen it:
http://stonehearth.net/2014/09/09/desktop-tuesday-update-on-steam-release-plus-expleveling-feature/
Great job radiant, not because I got what I wanted but because you continue to let your actions speak for your commitment to the community, and that is awesome.
4 Likes
I think they’ve made a very smart decision postponing early access. I can’t say I’m really surprised, though, the developers have been listening to us all along and they’re not dummies.
2 Likes