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General discussionIntroducing Games in Development(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 February 01, 2016
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rampancy: As Jim Sterling once said, "Selling faith is for the priest, not the game developer."
Well currently Jim Sterling is saying GoG's handling incomplete games correctly, hand picking for quality, games with content, and games not trying to make a quick dollar that's caused Early Access to be full of garbage.

I won't say it's high praise, but it's definitely much better than steam.
Posted February 02, 2016
And the sad thing is, a lot of people will take a look at the games in development on GOG only to finally get them on Steam.
Posted February 02, 2016
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rtcvb32: Well currently Jim Sterling is saying GoG's handling incomplete games correctly, hand picking for quality, games with content, and games not trying to make a quick dollar that's caused Early Access to be full of garbage.

I won't say it's high praise, but it's definitely much better than steam.
That's cool to see Jim give GOG a bit o' air time.
Posted February 02, 2016
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Trilarion: 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??
I think the idea is the games will be good enough now to enjoy playing them whatever else happens during development. In other words, no empty level mockups populated with promises. So you can immediately ask for a refund if the game doesn't deliver a good enough experience.

I don't know how profitability will work for GOG. As long as enough buy a game, keep it past 14 days, and don't demand all their money back if development eventually falls short, GOG comes out ahead of where they'd be without GID sales. The biggest risk for GOG is having too many customers ignore all the warnings, spend their money based on the most optimistic hopes for the game's future, see the game fall short, and then start an internet riot until GOG refunds everything. It's not an impossible scenario.
Posted February 02, 2016
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tfishell: That's cool to see Jim give GOG a bit o' air time.
To be fair, most of Jim's time is spent complaining and showing the elements of the industry (so we can avoid them), most of the episode is comparing steam's failures (and lazy no-QA hands off approach) rather than GoG's better approach (how steam SHOULD have done it).
Posted February 02, 2016
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tfishell: That's cool to see Jim give GOG a bit o' air time.
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rtcvb32: To be fair, most of Jim's time is spent complaining and showing the elements of the industry (so we can avoid them), most of the episode is comparing steam's failures (and lazy no-QA hands off approach) rather than GoG's better approach (how steam SHOULD have done it).
Probably because he mentioned all there was to mention? Like you said, not high praise but that's about what it is. It's better than Steam, but not by a lot. It would be nice to see some things being put at the developers feet rather than just cherrypicking some titles in the hope nothing goes wrong with those somewhere down the line.
Posted February 02, 2016
Just saw Jim Sterling's video on this, and I've gotta say that you're doing this right GOG. Steam's Early Access and Greenlight system is more a failure than success, and I found Xbox's version disappointing, though a step in the right direction. Meanwhile, this is just amazing. Hopefully with the selection process you guys have, the actually promising content will get through the shovelware that makes up most Early Access titles.

If I can, might I suggest a few to look at:
The Long Dark
Layers of Fear
BeamNG Drive
ARK: Survival Evolved
Gang Beasts
Posted February 02, 2016
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tinyE: Starbound
How is Starbound? Contemplating getting it
Posted February 02, 2016
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tinyE: Starbound
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trentonlf: How is Starbound? Contemplating getting it
Like others have said, it's a poor man's Terraria.

It's not bad but you'll probably play it for a while and then opt to go back to Terraria which runs a lot smoother and faster.
Posted February 02, 2016
deleted
Posted February 02, 2016
I don't particularly like the concept of Early Access as it stands, and I think it has largely been a very sneaky way to save money by having the public do what would normally be a QA department's job. The way that Early Access is managed today is not the same way Alpha and Beta Tests are managed.

That said, since GOG is restraining themselves and offering a no questions asked refund period, I will accept a select few Early Access titles being brought onto the service. This cannot be allowed to get out of hand, like it has on Steam, though. Please be receptive to community input as we try this new experiment in DRM-free Early Access.

And I must say, there is one really good thing about Early Access: it has made me and many others realize just how much we have utterly failed to fully appreciate excellently coded and crafted games.
Post edited February 02, 2016 by StickOfPlywood
Posted February 02, 2016
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wvpr: ... The biggest risk for GOG is having too many customers ignore all the warnings, spend their money based on the most optimistic hopes for the game's future, see the game fall short, and then start an internet riot until GOG refunds everything. It's not an impossible scenario.
I guess this risk is rather small currently. Judging from the reactions here, people are rather suspicious of pre-ordering and early access by now. So if anything, they will rather avoid the topic instead of jumping on it. I guess it is much more likely that only a few (not enough) people back these games in development than hordes of customers throwing money at these games here and then becoming angry in case of a failure.

We should wait and see how these games in general fare after the end of the development. Then if they are good, maybe even better than average and if one feels like wanting to support certain games (in development) - why not. With the money back guarantee this is a safe thing. The only question is if it is also a fun thing? Probably only if the games are good. We will see.
Posted February 02, 2016
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Trilarion: We should wait and see how these games in general fare after the end of the development. Then if they are good, maybe even better than average and if one feels like wanting to support certain games (in development) - why not. With the money back guarantee this is a safe thing. The only question is if it is also a fun thing? Probably only if the games are good. We will see.
Early access games end development? I thought it was more of a static and perpetual label.
Posted February 02, 2016
Coming to this thread late. Specific question about Starbound:
Has GOG secured any assurances or clarifications that the game will one day be completed?
Posted February 02, 2016
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Trilarion: We should wait and see how these games in general fare after the end of the development. Then if they are good, maybe even better than average and if one feels like wanting to support certain games (in development) - why not. With the money back guarantee this is a safe thing. The only question is if it is also a fun thing? Probably only if the games are good. We will see.
If development has ended so has the early access, so I doubt you'd still have money back guarantee at that point.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionIntroducing Games in Development(760 posts)(760 posts)
(760 posts)