@krazyninja / @TheRandomPerson I think this is only a question of how you define Alpha vs. Beta. What Radiant is going to do, is to release a version they call “Beta”. However, this version could be considered also as an “Alpha”, because you will not have most of the features in there. Only a few, core features will be working and the game will develop during around a year into a final release version. The approach is more a “Minecraft”-Approach, which was also developed during a long Beta-phase. Personally, I do not mind what it is called, but how the approach looks like.
Now on the free version… I do not think this is a good idea. Radiant is doing this as a full-time job. Somehow they need to eat and pay the bills. Publicity is fine, but will not feed their children. Also here Minecraft has shown that you can achieve both. During a full year of development, you should have enough chances to gain awareness of potential players… if the game is great.
Once the game is out, I could imagine that there will be a demo of sorts, for which you do not have to pay.
I legitimately feel that there have been so many smart posts on this thread that no matter what someone says now, it was probably expressed somewhere above…
Now, I don’t know if THIS has been stated, but the earlier you release it (Beta/Alpha), the earlier the modding community gets to put our…errr, I mean THEIR, grubby hands on it…
This is both a positive, due to people being able to create beautiful content WAY before release, but also a negative, due to people getting used to a certain mechanic, and then later down the line, Team Radiant could be all “You know this function which you’ve been using all this time and basically holds you mod together? Yeah, we’re getting rid of it…”.
In all honesty, I think the Pros outweigh the Cons. Especially since no-one has any idea how these animation JSON files are going to work, or the actual game/mod…
A little peak never hurt anyone…Except for Pandora, that hurt EVERYONE!
I tend to disagree. Even when beta is coming out in december it still only has the bare necessities to call it a game. If you have a good idea for a mod, there is tons of things you can already do without having the game. Think out your idea in every detail, write the lore, create models in qubicle, you can even animate them in blender. What you cant do is write code for things that are not in the vanilla game.
If your mod is a bit more then just a different model, it takes a lot of time to create all the content.
Look at skyrim. The big quality mods are coming out just recently. 2 years after the release of the game. So I see no real need for modders honestly.
To elaborate on what @Miturion said, if a modder is so keen he just can’t wait, he won’t have. There are a few on the forums (@voxel_pirate and @TobiasSabathius are the names that come to mind in particular) who have lots of designs and have animated some. Obviously not everyone needs to animate (if they’re just using humans). However as @Xavion often points out, we have actually seen enough code to probably get most of the coding done. If people were really driven enough, then they might possibly have it ready to come out the same day as the Beta. Obviously that’s fairly unlikely, but people can get a large chunk done. There’s just not that many who are that far through it yet, most people (like myself) just model a little bit for fun. I don’t think there are too many who are being held back through the lack of an Alpha really.
precisely… the live streams expose us to systems and design decisions, which give enterprising modders a leg up on how the game will (likely) piece together…
we then have more time to prepare for the beta’s release, be that brushing up on Lua coding, modeling, writing dialogue, etc.
Oh, I know there are some animations, but what I was more interested in was the specific file itself, like, is JSON a normal animation file type, or are they going to be using a custom type of file(in JSON)?
@Miturion you raise some great points there…I’m gonna have to go and rethink my life…
@Cookie To my understanding JSON as such has nothing to do with animations. It is a file format which allows exchange of data and is linked to JavaScript in such a way that a proper JSON file should be readable by JavaScript.
While I understand that people are keen to take a look into the game (believe me, I am one of them), we should have some faith into Radiant and their plans to release Stonehearth. The plan for the beta start is to have crafting, building and mod-interface in place… at least to a large extend. I don’t think it helps anyone if the game is “playable” without this features.
Also, regarding all the work people do invest at the moment (see all the Qubicle Creations)… we have to be aware that the models might need some adjustments once the game is available.
Indeed, what I think would be quite cool is if they had a large bit on the most exciting new thing and then maybe just a small paragraph or two on what everyone’s doing and how it’s going. That would be cool
here’s my (completely awesome) reenactment of a typical Tuesday morning “conference call”…
Tom: Hey team, today I think I’ll write up a bit on how the blacksmith class has evolved since it was first envisioned. I’ll go through the initial concept art, show where it is now, and perhaps have that lead into a new live stream discussion, where we can get some feedback and continue to shape the class. Could I get a quick “sound byte” from each of you on what you’re tackling today?
Stephanie: Today I wanted to revisit a lingering bug in the crafting UI. It seems that when you want to perform the “maintain X” feature, the UI is literally producing multiple versions of the crafted icon. I have a good idea on where to start, and once that is wrapped up, I would like to work on the reordering algorithm.
Chris: Well, I’m finally setting in, and have had a chance to grab a copy of some rendering logic from our source control. I hope to work on some efficiency passes just to get a feel for how things are pieced together.
Albert: Yeah. So… my wife is glaring at me for dialing in from the honeymoon suite.
maybe a one-hour or 30-minute trial would be good… or maybe you would have to charge a bit to play more of it
minecraft can be bought from stores… maybe stonehearth should have this approach?
@krazyninja now that you said this i kinda feel bad… lol
another idea for this is that maybe you can open trials all around the world and some tickets… a few lucky people around the world might get some free samples?
I edited your post to put everything in one comment rather than over 4 For future reference if you click the pencil button at the bottom of your comment when you hover over it you can make any edits you might want. Also, if you use the @ symbol, you can mention specific people!
I can see this as possibly being worth it in the future, right now being in Alpha there isn’t too much in the way of gameplay and a trial/ demo would be rather worthless at the moment!
A giveaway might be a good idea in a few months, but as I said above, right now it’s not worth the time it’ll take to sort these things out (In my opinion anyway)!
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For future reference if you click the pencil button at the bottom of your comment when you hover over it you can make any edits you might want. Also, if you use the @ symbol, you can mention specific people!