X-Rebirth beta

[jonsnow13]

Currently there's a game out called Miner Wars That has a unique purchase system

If you buy the game at half price now, while the game still roughly 1/10th what it should be you'll get a full copy at release and be able to play the immediate alpha version.

I think X-Rebirth should look into doing something like this.

I was reading the developers blog on why they went this way, and they said if they didn't go this route then they'd literally have to release the product before it was finished because they didn't have enough cash saved up to push the release date out further, and by doing this they got people to buy the game who normally may not have simply because it was 50% off. It has worked amazingly well for them. They take care of their beta tester problem, get a ton of feedback, and also get to release a more finished, better version of the game if they hadn't done this. Thus more sales will be coming at the end, because the product is way better.

[Sirus5]

Ha wonderful -

What do you think Albion Prelude is then....
You could call AP the Beta of Rebirth - it's got the new engine and everything, they just haven't got all the missions and things in yet.

That's just my view, but it makes sense -
1. We need something to keep us happy whilst they finish Rebirth.
2. They have the new engine and a bit of content...

So, they offer AP with the new engine - I think that savegames may even be forwards compatible with Rebirth (but that will need confirmation) and you get it at a reduced price...
When Rebirth is offered, they will probably offer an upgrade path from AP.

[Spero]

Egosoft already do this.

No offence intended, still my favourite games company.

[wRAR]

What do you think Albion Prelude is then....
You could call AP the Beta of Rebirth - it's got the new engine and everything, they just haven't got all the missions and things in yet.

Not sure if trolling.

[ShoC]

Eummmm I'm fairly sure this is not the new engine!

[X2-Illuminatus]

I think X-Rebirth should look into doing something like this.

I bet you mean Egosoft should look into doing this for X Rebirth.

This business model is mostly used when the funding of a project is not assured, when it's started. While there are a lot of chances with this, the overall risk, that you won't have the money to develop your project further, remains.

Given that the X Rebirth development is now in its 5th year and that Egosoft has a publisher (Koch Media / Deep Silver), I'm pretty sure that the funding is assured.

You could call AP the Beta of Rebirth

Sure, you could also call a chair a pink elephant. Doesn't make it right, but if you want, no one will stop you.

That's just my view, but it makes sense

Not at all. Neither has X3AP a new engine nor will the new engine be compatible with the current game, its engine and saves. Also you just don't take the engine of one game, put missions and "gameplay stuff" of the old game on top of it and ready is the new game. That's simply not how it works.

Egosoft already do this.

Not exactly. While there is the DevNet, in which community members can be involved in testing and developing games, pre-purchasing games, that are in development, is not involved.

[Terrachova]

Sounds a lot like what Minecraft did. Buy the game now for like, 50% off, get each new version as its made.

That said, I doubt it would work with Rebirth, especially since, its not likely to b nearly as 'modular' as Minecraft. A fun idea, but not for everything. After all, X-Rebirth, I feel, would only really work as a completed game.[/i]

[alr]

hahaha. Hilarious. AP has the New engine he says. LOL.

Well, dont know what a game engine is then do we now?

[Sirus5]

My apologies to everyone if I got things wrong - I was just reading between the lines
What I read is below.....

If you look at this, you can see it is a bridge between TC and rebirth.
It has new features which will be most probably part of rebirth.
It does NOT have savegame compatibility - this means that there have been some major changes and one would have to assume that part of the engine would have been changed in preparation for rebirth - thus savegames not compatible - some database changes (what I would call database but are really their version of database) .....
That is what I based my assumptions on - ok, perhaps I was wrong but it does seem to suggest that lots of mods have been made on the way towards rebirth and this is a nice way of making everyone happy and easing them into the next stage...




Bridging the gap between X3:Terran Conflict and the upcoming X:Rebirth
- Improved user interface
- New Stock Exchange feature
- A huge war and lots of new missions and ships!


Egosoft is pleased to announce X3: Albion Prelude, which provides a welcome bridge from the X Universe we know and love to the X Universe that will be experienced in X Rebirth. This new adventure will also feature more than 30 new ships and stations. A new Stock Exchange feature will enable players to speculate in local markets in a bid to increase their wealth. With this will also come tools to monitor and analyse economic developments and progress. Users with high-end machines will also benefit from some improved graphical quality settings. It is important to note that X3: Albion Prelude will NOT feature savegame compatibility with X3: Terran Conflict.

[ConCorDian]

dont know what a game engine is then do we now?

is that the bit that burns the fuel to make the ships move?

[bit.hauler]

That's exactly what Firefly Studios should have done when they were making Stronghold 3. They ran out of money while working on the game so the CEO decided to release the game way before it was ready (based on a post-release interview about the night-marish experience). The community was outraged at the extremely poor quality of the game - it was largely unplayable, and they lost a lot of fans. They knew they could get a ton of money because there were a ton of pre-orders because the series had such a large following. They would have hugely benefited from a Beta launch like this and kept all their fans in the process.

Stronghold 2 was released pre-maturely by the same developers but the quality wasn't nearly as bad as SH3 was.

[highflier]

what has a savegame todo with the game engine? that incompatibily is just plain artificial because it doesnt make sense to start a game like AP in a full fleet with 10000 complexes...

dont know what a game engine is then do we now?

is that the bit that burns the fuel to make the ships move?

full yes

[Sirus5]

A Game Engine I think will be a large set of functions and maybe structures which are put together (I assume this will be using C# as it's a language which allows both low and high level coding).
It may or may not include a main procedure which will be the heart of the X3 program.

These functions and structures will then be called from each task which is run on the processor and each task will reference the main "Engine".

[highflier]

A Game Engine I think will be a large set of functions and maybe structures which are put together (I assume this will be using C# as it's a language which allows both low and high level coding).
It may or may not include a main procedure which will be the heart of the X3 program.

These functions and structures will then be called from each task which is run on the processor and each task will reference the main "Engine".

that is correct tho you should adjust your irony detector

[Sirus5]

Yeah, sorry, not with it today, been ill.

I was originally writing that for dlr (I think) although I did notice the fun you guys were having.

[harold5187]

In my personal opinion, in dealing with the Arma 3 Alpha, it's a nightmare, and for many greedy gaming companies, an excuse to reap in money on the promises they may very well be unable to keep to the most important people, which are those that buy the games. Thanks to the internet gaming companies can now release an unfinished game with polished promises of grandour, while we gamers are stuck near tears between what they give us, and what we were hoping for. This upsets me greatly, the quality of crap being sold now that people call games, but I call adrenaline games like Planetside 2 that make you pay monthly memberships, while in game play is a mess of cannon fodder for people just wanting to try the game; They get angry enough to spend the money to get revenge, while in the end, the product wasn't worth the money put into it! I expect a lot from Egosoft, but they haven't failed me yet! Egosoft is still the best space sim company to be found, so I'm willing to keep being loyal to them as long as they do not jump on the bandwagon, or become selfish or greedy. I can't wait to buy Rebirth, and I've saved the money to buy it when it's available; but only when it's completed! I don't want another unfinished video game that makes me upset!

I've bought several of these so called unfinished games, like Minecraft, Mount & Blade, Arma 3 Alpha, but it wasn't worth it, dealing with the problems that come with it, beta testing THEIR games, while they get paid for us telling them whats wrong with THEIR games.

My advice to Egosoft is to continue to create and expand upon your ideals, listen to the advice of those that buy your games, and we will tell you what we would LIKE to see in your games. Put you heart into it, and the money will follow, create a game for money and you will fail. Finish the game, please, because we are sick of what other gaming companies are giving us for our money. Great job Egosoft, and keep up the good work!

[Alan Phipps]

Since this thread has totally missed the fact that there is an X-Rebirth forum and is attracting a lot of familiar comments and 'random noise', this can slip away now.