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General discussionIntroducing Games in Development(760 posts)(760 posts)
(760 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 28, 2016
Excellent hand-picked games, 14-day refund policy, always DRM-free.

We want GOG.com to be the home of games that are both excellent and really worth your time.
In today's gaming world, we're seeing more and more titles that become hits before development dwindles down. We want to give you a way to enjoy what these games have to offer, a way that's comfortable and fair to you — the GOG.com way: that means evaluating each and every game, a 14-day no-questions-asked refund policy, and more.




That's why today, we're introducing the first five games in development:
Starbound (-33%)
Ashes of the Singularity (-25%)
Project Zomboid (-40%)
TerraTech (-30%)
The Curious Expedition (-15%)







The GOG.com way.
First and foremost: we're hand-picking only the games we can truly stand behind. Offering a selection of the most promising titles, and those most highly requested on the Community Wishlist, is our way of avoiding bloat and ensuring that every game will be worth your time.

It takes some confidence to discover games that are still being shaped — and to build that trust, every game in development comes with a simple refund policy: 14 days, no questions asked. It doesn't matter if you're having technical issues, if you don't think the game is sufficiently fleshed out, or if it simply doesn't click with you — all games in development can be returned for any reason within 14 days of purchase.

The GOG Galaxy client should also come in handy for games in development. It lets you control updates manually if you want, while the rollback feature allows you to easily restore any earlier version of your game if an update breaks something or makes unwanted changes. For games in development, rollback will also track and create historical snapshots throughout a game's development. That means you can always revisit any point in a game's history — for fun, or for science.






It's your call.
For those of you who prefer to wait for the final release, nothing will change. Once a game leaves active development, we will be making the announcement and giving the newest release proper exposure. Basically, business as usual.






More info.
Surely you have questions. You'll find many of the answers in the <span class="bold">games in development FAQ, including more details on the new refund policy. Our User Agreement has also been expanded to accommodate games in development — check out sections 6.12, 6.13, and 6.14 to find all the new information.




Enjoy your time with games in development!
Post edited January 28, 2016 by Konrad
Posted January 31, 2016
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FiatLux: I am very sorry for having caused any confusion and I may have read only some of your posts and not all . I never intended for it to sound as if you "bitched" , I don't think that you bitch at all . I think that you came across as a person that is maybe a little set in your ways (which may have made you sound a little negative in some ways) , but hey ! , so am I (set in my ways) - but I know that I am set in my ways and try to fight it when I think appropriate - which is not exactly always when other people want me to ;) (LOL) .

As for the Steam vs GOG question then Steam is not only a store , it is also a DRM method so I don't see Steam ever going totally DRM FREE (the only reason that I personally ever got on Steam was because I bought a game on DVD that would not install without Steam cause it used Steam as DRM - basically it was screwing people to sell it on DVD - they should have sold it as go to Steam and install on their DRM platform and if they had I don't think that I would have bought it back then...
Anyway , if I have to be fair then I don't know if you can compare Steam and GOG ? , only time will tell. At the moment GOG gives much better customer service than Steam in my experience has ever given, but if GOG were able to do better in Steams situation , I simply do not know.. (I do not know enough about the long term money flow and business viability in the two companies...) Also I think that GOG has been a much friendlier place , but in forums and staff wise...
Maybe time will answer such questions ? , who knows ? ;)
Thanks for your reply, I guess you're right that what I said may have sounded a bit negative even though I never intended it to. So no offense given and none taken :).

I have to agree with you that GOG's customer service is (at least from my experience) really very good. Though to be honest I have never dealt with Steam support in my life, so I can only rely on other people's (mostly negative) experiences in this matter. And GOG's community is definitely active, friendly and devoted (as clearly evidenced by this thread). To end on a positive note - I really think that GOG will do well in the future and I am sure they will continue to publish both new games and the old classics DRM-free. And while I dislike some of the changes they've introduced over the years, I understand why they've decided to introduce them and I respect this decision. As it is now, GOG is perhaps no longer the place I initially fell in love with, but I still consider it to be the best place for me to buy games from.

Anyways, thank you very much for an interesting discussion and for bearing with my ranting!
Posted January 31, 2016
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JudasIscariot: Ummm there is a rather large label just above the price for each game In Development, the games are marked "In Dev" in the NEW tab, and there is an "In Dev" right next to the game's title in your library :)
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eiii: And where's the filter to suppress games in development from the games list? ;)

Please GOG, add one!
That would be a good option and so would allowing us to hide The Witcher 3 Free DLC in our library shelves. I will never, ever use that here where I want to play the game on XBox One.
Posted January 31, 2016
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FiatLux: I am very sorry for having caused any confusion and I may have read only some of your posts and not all . I never intended for it to sound as if you "bitched" , I don't think that you bitch at all . I think that you came across as a person that is maybe a little set in your ways (which may have made you sound a little negative in some ways) , but hey ! , so am I (set in my ways) - but I know that I am set in my ways and try to fight it when I think appropriate - which is not exactly always when other people want me to ;) (LOL) .

As for the Steam vs GOG question then Steam is not only a store , it is also a DRM method so I don't see Steam ever going totally DRM FREE (the only reason that I personally ever got on Steam was because I bought a game on DVD that would not install without Steam cause it used Steam as DRM - basically it was screwing people to sell it on DVD - they should have sold it as go to Steam and install on their DRM platform and if they had I don't think that I would have bought it back then...
Anyway , if I have to be fair then I don't know if you can compare Steam and GOG ? , only time will tell. At the moment GOG gives much better customer service than Steam in my experience has ever given, but if GOG were able to do better in Steams situation , I simply do not know.. (I do not know enough about the long term money flow and business viability in the two companies...) Also I think that GOG has been a much friendlier place , but in forums and staff wise...
Maybe time will answer such questions ? , who knows ? ;)
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Serpico: Thanks for your reply, I guess you're right that what I said may have sounded a bit negative even though I never intended it to. So no offense given and none taken :).

I have to agree with you that GOG's customer service is (at least from my experience) really very good. Though to be honest I have never dealt with Steam support in my life, so I can only rely on other people's (mostly negative) experiences in this matter. And GOG's community is definitely active, friendly and devoted (as clearly evidenced by this thread). To end on a positive note - I really think that GOG will do well in the future and I am sure they will continue to publish both new games and the old classics DRM-free. And while I dislike some of the changes they've introduced over the years, I understand why they've decided to introduce them and I respect this decision. As it is now, GOG is perhaps no longer the place I initially fell in love with, but I still consider it to be the best place for me to buy games from.

Anyways, thank you very much for an interesting discussion and for bearing with my ranting!
And thanks to you also Serpico for a likewise interesting and civilized exchange of opinions :) , also I can't read any of your posts without thinking of that movie with Al Pacino ( www.imdb.com/title/tt0070666/ ) , now why is that ? ;) :D
Yup , I also hope and wish for the best for my favorite PC game seller GOG ! :)
Post edited January 31, 2016 by FiatLux
Posted January 31, 2016
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Starmaker: Curation. Promo policies / package deals. A better refund policy. Staff who aren't ass. No cards / badges / levels / other similar bullshit. And VERSION ROLLBACK (I can't all-caps this enough).

There's only one feature I really like on Steam, and that is rich content (for walkthroughs, guides, and such). The internets as a whole have been really letting me down on this, with endless clickbait wikis allegedly containing walkthroughs but empty of actual content. I like it so much that I occasionally consider making an account there, never mind the DRM, and then I remember the badges and sober up.
Those are some valid points you've presented, thanks. Since I am not really well acquainted with Steam features, I never realised they don't allow version roll-back. That's really a major advantage for GOG. And you're right, GOG staff is truly great, during all the years I had an account here I never had a problem with support. It's good that it is not ONLY the DRM-free aspect which makes people choose GOG over Steam, knowing this made me feel better somehow :).
Posted January 31, 2016
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Serpico: Let's imagine that suddenly Steam decides to make all their games DRM-free - what reason would people have then to use GOG over Steam?
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Starmaker: Curation. Promo policies / package deals. A better refund policy. Staff who aren't ass. No cards / badges / levels / other similar bullshit. And VERSION ROLLBACK (I can't all-caps this enough).

There's only one feature I really like on Steam, and that is rich content (for walkthroughs, guides, and such). The internets as a whole have been really letting me down on this, with endless clickbait wikis allegedly containing walkthroughs but empty of actual content. I like it so much that I occasionally consider making an account there, never mind the DRM, and then I remember the badges and sober up.

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Thiev: If it's available for rollback, it is available to all.
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Starmaker: Awesome, thank you!
I forgot to emphasize the general much better attitude to everything here at GOG (in my mind it were sort of covered by saying that GOG is more customer friendly , but you are right , emphasis ought to be brought to general much better GOG attitudes and policies also :)
Post edited January 31, 2016 by FiatLux
Posted January 31, 2016
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Serpico: There is just one thing that sort of bothers me, though. Let's imagine that suddenly Steam decides to make all their games DRM-free - what reason would people have then to use GOG over Steam? The thing that actually makes me uneasy is that I am not really able to convincingly answer this question.
If such a thing ever happened I suspect there's a good chance that GOG would be overcome (perhaps even bought) by Valve, since both stores would be offering almost all the same services.

But in the end, in a bizarre way, GOG would be the true winner in spirit.
Why?
Because that'd mean that they would have won the war against DRM, by being the first and greatest voice to fight for a DRM-free software industry.
Posted January 31, 2016
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Serpico: Let's imagine that suddenly Steam decides to make all their games DRM-free - what reason would people have then to use GOG over Steam? The thing that actually makes me uneasy is that I am not really able to convincingly answer this question.
DRM-free is the number one reason GOG can't get lots of big new releases. Steam grew so big because enough companies trusted Steam's DRM compared to DRM on physical discs. Even that wasn't enough for everyone, leading to add-on DRM services like UPlay. It's difficult to convince some companies to abandon DRM for 15-year-old games, and it's very difficult to convince most companies to abandon DRM for a brand new big-budget release.

If Steam went DRM-free, they'd lose a lot of the business GOG can't get, and GOG would have an easier time picking up many of the games that remain on Steam. I suppose Steam could go DRM-free only on games GOG already sells DRM-free, but it's not really in Steam's interest to promote that to customers. In fact, there are already lots of games on Steam that you can run directly outside of the Steam client without any changes. They're old enough that the publisher doesn't bother adding Steam's DRM to the Steam release. Do you hear about this a lot? Probably not, it's not a Steam selling point.
Posted January 31, 2016
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Serpico: Those are some valid points you've presented, thanks. Since I am not really well acquainted with Steam features, I never realised they don't allow version roll-back. That's really a major advantage for GOG.
Steam does have that capability. Developers can offer older versions of their game through beta branches. Early Access games tend to have several versions. Crusader Kings 2 has 5 or so I think.
Posted January 31, 2016
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Pheace: Steam does have that capability. Developers can offer older versions of their game through beta branches. Early Access games tend to have several versions. Crusader Kings 2 has 5 or so I think.
I assume though that this capability is not universally available, right? Meaning you can use it only on some games, and on some you cannot? With Galaxy you can theoretically rool-back to a previous version with pretty much every game there is. As far as I know, the only limitation is that you cannot roll-back to a version which became obsolete prior to when you purchased the game (so if you purchased the game when the game was v. 1.04, you cannot roll back to 1.03, but when 1.05 comes out and it turns out you don't like it, you can roll-back to 1.04). I may be wrong on this one, however.
Posted January 31, 2016
I thought more about this slogan:

"introducing games in development
excellent hand-picked games • no‑questions‑asked refunds"

And I must say after a few days of thinking about them they just sound extremely odd. The hand-picked part I totally buy it from them - after all that is the GOG hallmark. But how can anyone know if a game in development will be excellent or not? This is crazy, isn't it?

What really remains is "hand-picked games in development" and what is unknown is if they will be any good?

Just in general the crucial question is that if GOG already for existing games has difficulties estimating the profitability (accepting crappy games, rejecting good games) how can they reliably do that for games that do not even exist yet fully and are still under development??

All in all it sounds like a lot of Russian roulette. I will just ignore this feature for now unless I see a really good point.

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Pheace: Steam does have that capability. Developers can offer older versions of their game through beta branches. Early Access games tend to have several versions. Crusader Kings 2 has 5 or so I think.
Civilization V has none other version you could go to. But fortunately they managed to keep save game compatiblity quite high.

It all has advantages and disadvantages. Having several versions makes support definitely more difficult. If you only support the latest version, customers allowed to play older versions may get grumpy. But for games in development it surely is a good thing.
Post edited January 31, 2016 by Trilarion
Posted January 31, 2016
Oh, this is still running?
I mean, we are the customers. If we don't buy, they don't sell. End of it.

Early Access games are a big hit even for major companies, no problem for me.
I don't pre-order or buy at release day. Simply because of bad experience and I know
that most of them need bug-fixing.
So what, I don't get the discount and excitement?
I can live without the excitement and every game I want is On Sale after a few month
(and after some patches...and/or in a GOTY).

I said it many times: GOG is not a fan project. Its buisness.
Posted February 01, 2016
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Lodium: Still if the multplayer goes down its still lost progresssion even if the time spent only alloted to a few hours
it does not matter what form of game it is.
[..]
i mean i still need to play the equal time spent if i join another hosted game to get to the same point i was before.
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eiii: You are focused on RPG or RPG like games. RPG games are a bit of an exception as they base on player stats which are saved on some kind of server. There are a lot of other multiplayer games (shooter, strategy and even racing games) where every player starts at the same level in every game, match or race. It does not matter what happened in previous games and you do not have to play a certain amount of time to reach an advantage or to progress to a higher level.
In such games you get better only because your personal skills to play the game get better, not because some server says your avatar has better stats or a better equipment. And because the gameplay is based on your skills and not on some server stats it does not matter which server hosts a game.

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Lodium: Though most people wont see it that way and woud happily join another hosted game even if the potential of wasted gameplay is there.
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eiii: Wasted gameplay? That sounds like work. I play games for fun, so gameplay cannot be wasted. :P
But beside that when the progress in a game lies in your own skills and experience and not in some server stats then there is no wasted gameplay. Nobody can take away the skills you have gained.
No im not
i did mention car games as well : http://www.gog.com/forum/general/introducing_games_in_development_9083a/post643
In car games that are online there are other things to earn as progression rather than gear on a character.
Lets say its a challenge that you need to drive 100 rounds on a race course, and you have completed 50, if the host then pull the plug you stil need to race those 50 again.
Post edited February 01, 2016 by Lodium
Posted February 01, 2016
Great - now even the games are in beta.

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Trilarion: ... how can anyone know if a game in development will be excellent or not?
Because...

The same goes for Galaxy, the wish list and the forum: excellence eventually*!

*Soon™.
Posted February 01, 2016
The policy behind games in developement on GOG are sound and solid.

I don't know how anyonce could complain about them.

Even if GOG picks games that are crap for the program, you have 14 days to see it for yourself. What's the problem?
Posted February 01, 2016
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keeveek: The policy behind games in developement on GOG are sound and solid.

I don't know how anyonce could complain about them.

Even if GOG picks games that are crap for the program, you have 14 days to see it for yourself. What's the problem?
There isn't really a problem. If's a safe thing. If it wouldn't be so boring it could even be a cool thing. But unfortunately they only need a bit of money to continue development which may or may not result in an excellent game. I don't know many who are actually interested in that. Chances are high this features is just a waste of time and effort.

But it's an absolutely safe thing without any problems which probably will be completely forgotten soon. I have nothing against it but also won't use it personally. Also I doubt GOG will have a high success rate in identifying excellent games in development.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionIntroducing Games in Development(760 posts)(760 posts)
(760 posts)