Now this is the way to do early-access. In-development gives us a 14-day money-back guarantee to avoid the scammers. They are still hand-picked and curated. Way to go GOG!

I was an enemy of Early Access until Kerbal Space Program. That game had so much fun packed into it that even before it was a full-fledged Space Program Simulator, you could still adventure out into the solar system. KSP made me a believer, but I choose my titles very, very carefully.

Thanks GOG for another option!

But that's the problem - KSP was success among dozens of failures that starts as "promising". 14 days isn't really something helpful - if game is going well and then, half year later is abandoned, how is that going to help? That's my main concern. And releasing popular/hyped GiD games instead of good but underrated games. :(

Gotta say, I'm not a huge fan of the Early Access model, and I kinda wish GOG.com wouldn't have introduced it, since I think it's inherently anti-consumer. But I understand why they did it, and it's not the worst thing that could happen.

I'll wait till the games are officially released though.

Early-Access or GiD, IMO, is to allow people to buy and play games that are complete games. They're just not quite more-complete.

So 14 days gives you a chance to play a game and see if you enjoy playing it. KSP was enjoyable to play on the first day I got it. It only got better from there.

I was very glad to have KSP when I did. I got lots of use out of it before it released. The Early Release also gave the team more funds to do more, which rewarded everyone who already had it and will get it.

If KSP was abandoned, I still had a complete game. It wasn't the vision of the game, but it was complete.

That is why GiD is great. 14 days money back. That gives you a chance to try it and see if you like it. If not, get your money back.

GOG releases popular and overhyped games as well as underrated games b/c they are a business with a specific clientel. They aren't hipster-gamers.com, they are GOG -- a curated gaming store with new and old, popular and unknown, DRM-free and good games (except Empire Earth 3 -- so I hear. Still haven't played it. :D)

So what is great about GiD is that it gives gamers the choice between a DRM-free GOG early access version of a good game or a GOG finished game. The only option before was early-access steam or hope it comes to GOG in a few years.

GOG did it right. More games, more in-development exposure, more sales, more options for us.

After giving it some though, this is basically the same what we've had so far:

- We've had plenty of buggy, unfinished games release here so far, so that doesn't change
- The same goes for good games

But, we're getting 14 days of money back guarantee for all our purchases with this tag. So besides this part, there really isn't a difference. In development can be awesome and released can be horrible.

I'll wait to see if GOG hand picks a game I'm actually interested in, but I'm glad they're finally introducing this.

I just hope the updates aren't overly delayed compared to when they're released to people who've purchased the games on other sites.

I don't care about unfinished games, but it's cool that those that do can get them DRM-free. ... so long as they are properly marked, curated and ideally can be hidden completely. I really hope there won't be too many unfinished games for sale cluttering the homepage.

I still think a timeline should be added for every early access game, so GOG customers will know when to expect the final product.

Welcome to Steam 2.0.

So much for the site that I loved for being different from the rest. Lets see what we have now. Multiple editions of games, DLC, a client, and of course the latest: paid for demos. When can I start buying GOG gift cards at Walmart?

We have come a long way from when this site debuted. :(

And FOUR of these five games are already in the Top 50 on the Popular tab. SMH.

GOG, I've gotta say it here. You'll do better among your new clientele if you'd just introduce DRM already. Steam rules!!!1

I think this could be a good step for GOG, for several reasons.

If the games are carefully selected and curated, then there's a pretty good chance that the games offered will be playable as they currently are. Hopefully, this means GOG staff (or volunteers, whatever) will be checking patches to make sure they don't break the game, but that's also down to developer integrity, and so far it looks like GOG has chosen some pretty solid titles - the best unfinished games I've played fixed bugs within a day or two anyway.

Being able to access titles while they're in development has several advantages, including giving players the option to participate in the progress of the game as it goes along. The risks are well-known, and as long as they're made clear, I think it's fair to allow people the option. It's an advantage to have a big audience play test games that are going to have many features, it helps protect against bugs at release. There are a good number of gamers out there who want to move away from other platforms like Steam, and invest more in GOG (like me). However, a lot of the titles I've enjoyed or have wanted to play weren't/aren't available on GOG. So now I have the option to support GOG and bring more of my business here, as do many others - I trust GOG a lot more than Steam, and I really feel that they listen to their customers.

I've probably got 20 or so games that are either still in early access or have launched since I bought them that are absolutely amazing, and I wouldn't trade that feeling of having been there from the start for anything. Hopefully, a bit of competition for Steam's over-saturated, shaky Early Access market will both provide a viable alternative and put a bit of pressure on Steam to do better. I'm excited to see where GOG goes with this, as well as looking forward to more Good Old Games. :) Thanks, GOG!

I am a frequent KickStarter supporter to push interesting games to a DRM-free Linux release, though I have become increasingly wary.
Kickstarter has a set timeline. to be declared on submitting a project.
That seems fine for a game that manages to make it's bottom funding limit.
You can clearly judge it on that factor of either being able to deliver the agreed upon product or failing to do so in time.

This set timeline becomes problematic once the project exceeds it's target funding and manages to get funding for more and more extra's, called "Stretch Goals" on KS. Mind you that those need not necessarily translate into DLC!
It should be obvious to any one with a remote sense of management that there are two ways to deliver these goals: allow more time for the project to finsh and/ or hiring more developers/ artists, employees of any field that are required for this stretch goal.
In pretty much all occasions both factors are needed: an extension of the deadline of release and extra (wo)manpower.
Good kick starter managers present this adjusted schedule shortly after the campaign has ended to avoid caustic remarks later for having failed their set timelines.
Case in point for Monochroma:

(I couldn't link to his conversation because it's in a "Backers-only" post).
================
Creator Nowhere Studios on December 20:

@Linux backers: sorry we couldn't deliver the DRM free copy we promised, the game is on Steam for Linux as well.
--
Me:
Sorry, but that is unacceptable. I backed this game only on the promise of a DRM-free Linux copy. I don't support DRM with my money. If you can't deliver I request a full refund.
================
I have become more calm and formal in my replies as I backed more Kickstarter Projects.

I don't quite like the idea of Early Access.
That said, as Gnostic pointed out (+1):
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/introducing_games_in_development_9083a/post126
The voting community of GOG members said "Aye" to this and it's good that GOG listens to it's customers.

I do see some positives here though:
- Many software houses shirk their promise on delivering a proper DRM-free Linux version of that game because they cannot spare the funds to invest in separate version. Having Early Access on GOG would make this claim harder to substantiate, but only *if* the development environment API offered by GOG can reliably deliver both a *stand-alone* version and *optionally* a Galaxy version.
- You can decide if you trust the developer enough to pay for testing the development team's unfinished work outside of hot water vapor-based platforms.
*if* you like it in the state it is in at that time, be sure to make an offline backup copy of that version.

If a game passes the curation by GOG the developers should be obligated to:
- Produce a projected time line and along with a plan on how to achieve this and share it with their prospect testers.
Failing to achieve this should incur a set penalty to the developer at GOG's discretion).
Produce a minimum of regular ( having a fixed schedule ) updates both in description as in actual tangible project progress.
Continually failing to do so should lead to have your game in development removed from the store page.

This way we can avoid a debacle similar to Desura.

Mixed feelings about this. Or as skavens would say: "Good good. Hate hate."

I wish I could say I support this, but seeing this play out before on Steam (Starbound being a game that's been in EA for over TWO YEARS) is something I feel will not succeed at all.

I'd love to see some older games, though. :P And if anything, I hope GOG promoting these games will get the developers to work on them more to release them faster.