"Why early access" Indeed.

[Wandering Mania]

Okay so as far as I could dig up; The current version is 0.8-something on Patrion. And normally the 'full release' version of a game is 1.0. Which means it's possibly close to done. Also considering that the 0.20.1b version that I found floating around out there, which has lots of unfinished things, 2 out of 4 or 5 islands, quest lines that all stop about 3 or 4 tasks in, and a few bugs, but overall looks solid, was only the version from about Aug of 2020.

So I gotta ask; Why early access? Especially if it's coming to Steam "Late" this year.

I mean don't get me wrong, I can't wait to buy it on Steam, and I could get a current version on Patrion or your guy's Discord. But I have personal issues with both Patrion and their censorship, and Discord and one of their 'investors' (TenCent). So I refuse to support either of them (Patrion/Discord) for any reason.

[Lord_William]

Probably told their patrons "You'll get the game before anyone else!", and are following on that, a reward for those who cash in extra money, far more than a Steam buyer would.
That would make sense, but other than that, I have no idea. After all, everybody in Steam is realeasing their games in "Early Access" with games at 0.2 version or even less.

[Wandering Mania]

Originally posted by Lord_William:

Probably told their patrons "You'll get the game before anyone else!", and are following on that, a reward for those who cash in extra money, far more than a Steam buyer would.

Well besides the 'monthly payment' for access to a game that isn't even fully made yet. They do release the current version to those who can't afford to pay or don't want to pay on their discord a week or something after the paying people have their hands on it. But I refuse to use discord, as I already stated.

So my question was more about; Why early access at all? If it's close to being done in Aug 2020, and it's releasing on Steam in late 2021, wouldn't it be a full release by then?

Originally posted by Lord_William:

That would make sense, but other than that, I have no idea. After all, everybody in Steam is realeasing their games in "Early Access" with games at 0.2 version or even less.

Not only that, some games are only store pages, and never go anywhere because the devs/publisher didn't get enough 'hype'. Like the game 'Plastic Love'.

[Stoltverd]

You think it's close to being done because of versioning numbers.
In software versioning, 1.0 doesn't come after 0.9 it may... But it also met come after 0.8614.84f.1
And that could be the second version.
The only people that know how their versioning works... Is them. If they say they are not close to done... Then they are not.

[Wandering Mania]

Originally posted by Stoltverd:

In software versioning, 1.0 doesn't come after 0.9 it may... But it also met come after 0.8614.84f.1

So it goes version 1.0 then 0.9, then the release version being 0.8? At least that's what your incoherent argument is implying.

If you can't say something intelligent, then don't even bother replying at all.

[TheLoneWildWolf]

Originally posted by Wandering Mania:

Originally posted by Stoltverd:

In software versioning, 1.0 doesn't come after 0.9 it may... But it also met come after 0.8614.84f.1

So it goes version 1.0 then 0.9, then the release version being 0.8? At least that's what your incoherent argument is implying.

If you can't say something intelligent, then don't even bother replying at all.

They are correct in a way. Numbering for version numbers is arbitrary at best! Some EA games even have 1.4 version for example as they are using Early access tag to mean "In development, big side content in production".
For example, 0.10/0.11/0.12. Simple fixes the issue if they want to add more due to patreon going well/steam selling well/wanting to do more with the world.

[Wandering Mania]

Originally posted by TheLoneWildWolf:

They are correct in a way. Numbering for version numbers is arbitrary at best!

True it is. But normally it counts up, not down. Which is what he was saying.

Originally posted by TheLoneWildWolf:

Some EA games even have 1.4 version for example as they are using Early access tag to mean "In development, big side content in production".

Again true. But still, that doesn't mean it's going to suddenly go from 1.4 (to use your example) to 1.3 simply because 'they can'.

Originally posted by TheLoneWildWolf:

For example, 0.10/0.11/0.12. Simple fixes the issue if they want to add more due to patreon going well/steam selling well/wanting to do more with the world.

Except you forgot 0.101, 0.102, and so on. Yes, I know how they can also go in micro numbers, or fractions if you will; But it still don't mean that they will go from 0.101, to 0.102, then with a new patch and new version go to 0.101 again.

They don't just randomly go backward in new version numbers. The reason is simply because if a new version didn't work because something was messed with that rendered the game non-functional; The old version can still be re-released to undo the broken version.

[helix]

The games been going around for quite awhile. It's early access because quite frankly, it's not going to be finished quick enough to meet any sort of deadlines steam might require. 0.8 may look close to 1.0, but in reality a lot of these types of games can sit around or take much longer than a few months to hit .9, let alone a full 1.0 release.

For example, I've seen a few of these RPGM games sitting at a 1.0 without a full release for nearly half a year, if not longer. Some of them arbitrarily use their own version system too, where 1.0 isn't even the finished product; but simply a version where the story is complete, without all the planned extras.

[Birck]

I mean even if this thing is complete in 2 releases, the average Patreon Porn game developer releases stuff every few months. So we are talking between 4-6 months for completion assuming it's done in two more releases. That is a Early Access game the game is not finished, Early Access isn't just for games that are eventually hitting completed status in 1 or more years.

[Wandering Mania]

Originally posted by Birck:

Early Access isn't just for games that are eventually hitting completed status in 1 or more years.

Who ever said it was? I know of a few games that have been in early access for years. They get regular updates, and some are past version 1.0; But never did anyone say anything of that sort.

[zender42]

The current Patreon version is 0.22.4 FYI. Not sure where anyone got 0.8. I back Dystopian Project through there and that's the latest available version of both the Black and Complete editions.

EDIT: Ah, I see. It looks like 0.8.1 was a (much) older version actually. The minor version number (the part after the first dot) is just an update/release number, not a proper decimal. Software version numbers are fun! LOL.

0.8 is likely the eighth update/release. 0.22 may indicate that it's the twenty-second - or at least is more recent than 0.8. It would have probably made more sense to have the first nine versions be 0.01 - 0.09, but oh well.

[Wandering Mania]

Originally posted by zender42:

The current Patreon version is 0.22.4 FYI. Not sure where anyone got 0.8. I back Dystopian Project through there and that's the latest available version of both the Black and Complete editions.

EDIT: Ah, I see. It looks like 0.8.1 was a (much) older version actually. The minor version number (the part after the first dot) is just an update/release number, not a proper decimal. Software version numbers are fun! LOL.

0.8 is likely the eighth update/release. 0.22 may indicate that it's the twenty-second - or at least is more recent than 0.8. It would have probably made more sense to have the first nine versions be 0.01 - 0.09, but oh well.

Seems I got confused by that as well. But at least they updated their store page to stop falsely advertising. Because at the time of my OP, and up until a few weeks after the 'Early access release', the store page 'Why early access?' still said that the game was mostly finished.

[EdenGenesisWs]

I hope the game is far from being finished since there are plenty of unfinished things in the game, we don't even have access to some islands. Also, I wish we could buy more houses, companies or even a castle.

There are many possibilities in this game and depending on how the game is finished, it could become a masterpiece, really!

[Wandering Mania]

Originally posted by EdenGenesisWs:

I hope the game is far from being finished since there are plenty of unfinished things in the game, we don't even have access to some islands. Also, I wish we could buy more houses, companies or even a castle.

Oh it is. But for many months it was falsely advertised on the Early Access statement as the entire main quest and most of the side content finished. It wasn't until a few weeks after release that they changed that, after some of us had already been misled, and we complained about it.

Originally posted by EdenGenesisWs:

There are many possibilities in this game and depending on how the game is finished, it could become a masterpiece, really!

True. Which is why I'm kinda saddened that I will only see one update, and not the finished product; Due to their slow rate of update releases.