http://subalterngames.com
Anyone played it? Just downloaded it now finally. Going to give it a shot. Sounds a bit brilliant.

It also has a Kickstarter going that I'm actually considering putting money towards, maybe at the $25 level so I can get beta access.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subalterngames/neocolonialism
EDIT: I realized I didn't actually describe the game. It's supposedly a strategy game where you play "the man" and you mess with economics and some political stuff to win the game. Not entirely sure how it works other than what's said on the site and the Kickstarter.

Someone called it "DEFCON with a bail-out instead of a bomb." Not the most appealing description (I found DEFCON to be really, really boring and hard to plan out since you spent most of the game not really doing much) but it seems a bit different than that.

EDIT2: Holy shit GOG forums. What is up with the adding extra URLS every time I open the editor?

EDIT3: Greenlight - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92968782
EDIT4: Obligatory wishlist item. :P http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/neocolonialism

I read the book. :D

Heh. I'm not even sure they're inter-related.

Added a Greenlight link, btw. :P

I initially read this as "neoalcoholism"

Now there is a game that I'd play!

Well this thread is going nowhere.

I just tried it out with AI. A bit confusing, but interesting. You buy votes, you choose things for political people to do and then you solve crises. I wasn't quite sure what to do so I quit out and read the manual a bit and am going to try it again soon. Each match seems to last 12 turns.

Unfortunately no internet play yet but that's coming with the closed beta, supposedly. There is LAN play though!

It's cool to see that my game found its way over to the GoG folks! Yes, guaranteed! It turns out that Internet netcode is substantially more complex than LAN netcode, but I've got top programmers (aka my younger brother) working on it!

And yes, I too would love to play "Neoalcoholism". Someone should make it just to confound everyone's Google searches for either game. It would be hilarious.

--Seth
Captain of Industry
Subaltern Games

I do not know why, but I am always amazed by the quick pace at which people find threads about their game. Awesome, so by March then, eh?

Also, can you give a rundown of what all is planned to be changed/expanded by release at this point? I mean, currently, the game is labeled as a 0.9.1 release. That's pretty close to "done." Is internet play going to be the only reason to ultimately buy the game?

And since the software is going to be free, CAN you play without paying, so long as it's offline? Will LAN still work?

Lastly, since you found this thread and replied, that means you have SOME interest in a GOG release, right? ;)

These are great questions! Thanks!

I will be at PAX East in late March, and I will have the closed beta out by then (at the very latest!).

I have not yet decided whether the game will be free offline. This, like everything else about the actual business side of things, will be a compromise between righteousness and paying my bills. If it seemed that it would really irritate people to restrict offline play, I would consider acting accordingly. I am thus curious: WOULD it bother any of you if the offline play was not free?

If GoG were to take my game, I would be delighted, but I have not yet looked into this.

As for future changes... I am hoping to have 0.9.2 uploaded either tomorrow or the day after. In addition to Internet capability, the beta will run smoother, crash less, have sound, and look prettier. I'm actually writing a Kickstarter update right now that will clarify much of this... I will post it when I upload the game.

Well, I played about half a party. It crashed in round 7 and I wasn't all to sure what I have done up to that point... I was prime minister of india but aside from that I acted rather random...

It was round 7 and everybody involved was still pretty poor and didn't put a single dime on the side.Apparently everybody took their political duty seriously.

Well, I don't really have a problem with the way it's set up right now, but I know a lot of people will. I know some people will probably interpret it as "the game needs an internet connection to be played" and won't look back to realize they were wrong.

Personally, though, if all I'm getting out of my investment is online play, especially if LAN will still be there (and I'd hope you would keep LAN!), I'm not really going to be all that interested in paying the $10. Determined people could probably easily set up a VPN like Hamachi and play online anyways.

So then you have to decide - remove LAN or just make the whole game cost money? And I'd personally go for the latter. It makes the investment feel more "worth it" to know that you're getting the whole game, as opposed to "oh, they gave us half the game and then they want us to BUY the other half?"

Not quite the best explanation, but I hope you get what I'm getting at. What you're essentially doing with the current plan is asking people to be okay with an Online Pass and, even though it only affected pre-owned copies, people weren't exactly happy with that.

I definitely can't be sure that they won't be happy with the setup you have now, but I just see the segregation of content as a bit odd.I think there's something under "Support" about contacting them for releases. Worth a shot!Awesome, thanks. :)
Mine didn't crash, but I had similar experiences the first round. I bought a vote in China and was instantly broke. I kept hitting pass not realizing that I needed to meddle with red zones of the map until I decided to click on one to see what was up.

Note: Had to add another post because the GOG editor is ridiculously broken in regards to quotes and URLs, apparently.

Not really sure where this post will end up since it's being screwy (if I edit the post, the quotes disappear but if I add a new post, it gets tacked on) so here's hoping it gets tacked on.

Wait wait wait. Maybe I was wrong. I reread it and you are going to need an online account to play at all? I'd rather the software cost money than have that. Games need an offline option. Especially if they have offline and/or LAN play.

I'd rather have the software cost money, but not require online access to play offline or LAN. Have it come with a code. Use that code to create an online account. Online account required to play online. Sort of how ArmA 2 supposedly does it here on GOG.

EDIT: I can't remember where the thread is, but a number of Capitalism fans wouldn't purchase Capitalism Lab because of the online-connection-required DRM.

EDIT: Apparently it made a new post. Go figure. -rolls eyes-

@johnki I haven't tried the prototype, but is there AI?

Yikes just realized you'd mentioned it in an earlier post. That will teach me to search thoroughly before posting :S

@Seth Neocolonialism looks interesting, and I wouldn't mind paying for a game like this if the price is reasonable and I can play it offline whenever, wherever. I'm not particularly interested in playing with other people, but that's my personal preference.

Why not just follow the traditional pricing model - tag a price on the game, and make both offline and online play available to all buyers?