Interstellar Marines

Interstellar Marines

Hicks  [developer] 7 Jan, 2016 @ 12:51pm
Surviving on Early Access: Challenges and Options
https://youtu.be/G017cTVjyyk

Surviving on Early Access: Challenges and Options

As you probably know our funding comes entirely from Steam, and lately sales have been going down. For example during this year’s winter sale we only made 10% of what we did last year, and as a result of the dramatic reduction we’ve been forced to let Paul (Producer), Miki and Niko (Coders) go this week.

One of our first options is to look for a publisher or other knowledgeable investor; something we’ve already started this week. With a publisher agreement and subsequent investment we would be able to increase the staff and give you a real road map for the release of Prologue, and maybe even for PS4 and Xbox One.

In the meantime we will still be making progress on the game while we pursue these options. We have 2 exceptional coding interns and they’re already hammering away on Update 25.

Update 25
Here’s our initial list for the next update:
  • Add skin customizer/shop section to menu for unlocking skins with CP’s and selecting/viewing skins via simple marine/weapon skin customizer.
  • Automatic unlocked specific skins based on TP ranks and if Spearhead.
  • Support for switching skin groups in menu while playing.
  • Centralize how completing missions and challenges reward CPs.
  • Add central map and gamemode selector/voting to coop and mp servers.
  • Create several awesome Marine, SMG, and AR skins.
  • Prepare marine+weapons package to share with community to make skins.
  • Fix Fort Knox achievements
  • Main menu (replace old crap Unity UI)
  • Fall out of world test we can send to Unity
  • Test Unity 5.3.1

Now we could (and have) discussed reasons behind it i.e. long development time, general Early Access reputation, mixed review score etc. But we’d rather look at options moving forward because that is a more productive, better use of our limited time.

We understand many of you will probably be quite disappointed with this announcement, but we ask those of you who still support us to know we’re not giving up and there’s still many options left to turn the tide!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
ZPSHicks (Kim Haar Jørgensen - Game Director)
< >
Showing 1-15 of 308 comments
Five5staR 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:03pm 
Please, whatever you do. Do not give up your creative power over developing the game to publishers. Do anything else you feel necessary, just don't let the game become another cash grab from big publishers.
Lagarto 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:06pm 
Is this a joke? you expected to sell an unfinished game every winter? make an option to refund money to the people who dont whant to wait anymore im tired of this excuses every year since 2013, this difrent publisher thing dosent convince me, just recognize your company is not capable to finish it and be done with this game.
Joestuk 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:10pm 
Don't go for big publishers. Look for those not so big, those who won't be so demanding with deadlines, look for those looking to increase their games' list.
dragonice501 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:13pm 
Keep doing what you do. I feel l ike crap, knowing i haven't done that much as a fan to help build the game. Looks like that's what you need more of; community support.
cx3907 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:15pm 
What a shame to let even more experienced staff leave the coy...

Be careful with the negotiations with the publishers! Don't want them to push the release date too darn early with less resources to complete the game!
♂TheBlasterMaster™✞ (Banned) 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:20pm 
I'm sure you would rather look forward.
I am convinced we will look back at Interstellar Marines as the poster child for what is wrong with Early Access.
It is irresponsible for you to take our money and be in this position at this point.
You should have never involved yourself with EA when you were so early in the development of this game. IMO, games should not be available through EA until they are content complete. When I buy an EA game I assume that it will be completed within a reasonable amount of time. Not years and years. That's ridicules.
You know the best sales come in the beginning. IMO, there is no excuse for this.
It is clear to me that I will never see the game I paid for. You cannot cut expenses to prosperity. Sales will continue to go down as this drags out and as others see how we have been left out in the cold.
This is VERY disappointing.
Last edited by ♂TheBlasterMaster™✞; 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:27pm
jakesidian 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:31pm 
Originally posted by TheMasterBlaster™:
I'm sure you would rather look forward.
I am convinced we will look back at Interstellar Marines as the poster child for what is wrong with Early Access.
It is irresponsible for you to take our money and be in this position at this point.
You should have never involved yourself with EA when you were so early in the development of this game. IMO, games should not be available through EA until they are content complete. When I buy an EA game I assume that it will be completed in the near future.
You know the best sales come in the beginning. IMO, there is no excuse for this.
It is clear to me that I will never see the game I paid for. You cannot cut expenses to prosperity. Sales will continue to go down as this drags out and as others see how we have been left out in the cold.
This is VERY disappointing.
Please, if you buy an Early Access game expecting it to be completed in the near future then you are part of the problem with people buying EA games. It even says on the store page 'Will be in early access for a long friggin' time'.

There is always a risk that a game coming into Early Access won't completed or finished and you should ALWAYS consider that possibility. If you have a problem with EA take it up with Steam. I would consider games that got pulled out or lost all funding to be completed to be 'poster childs' like The Dead Linger, Stomping Land, and even the hundreds of other incomplete games that were made by college students for cash.

The dev team at ZPS has been nothing but honest and open with their work and what they've done for us. I've put more than 500 hours into this game and even if it doesn't get completed it was one hell of a fun time and I am glad to have bought it and happy to still support it.

That being said I wish the best of luck to ZPS and hope you get the funding you deserve!
Last edited by jakesidian; 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:33pm
Goose 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:31pm 
I really can't think of anything to say other than "Damn!" right now. It's a shame to hear that the team has shrunk, and I really hope that you can keep things going.

Although I suspect that the aim of producing a game on the level that you are aiming for is ambitious without a publisher backing you, I would love to see it done. That said, if it's what it takes to keep it going, I hope that you can make it work, and I'm sure that what you have already achieved will go a long way to proving that to any that you have to approach. Although there seems to have been a lot of recent criticism, what you have achieved amazes me with the size of the team that you have been working with.

If you do end up going down the publisher route, I hope that you retain enough control of it to make it the vision that you have described - this is a game that I sincerely look forward to playing.

Given the amount of effort that you have put in so far, I'm sure that we will see it one day, I just hope that it remains what you have been aiming for and that it's not too far in the future!
♂TheBlasterMaster™✞ (Banned) 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:34pm 
Shame on both of us.

When will these games release?
Its up to the developer to determine when they are ready to 'release'. Some developers have a concrete deadline in mind, while others will get a better sense as the development of the game progresses. You should be aware that some teams will be unable to 'finish' their game. So you should only buy an Early Access game if you are excited about playing it in its current state.
hdangren 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:42pm 
I will buy this game for my friend.
Dark5tar1 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:45pm 
Originally posted by hdangren:
I will buy this game for my friend.

I'd recommend waiting a little bit, price will be adjusted a little lower.

To everyone, this is really sad but we're definitely persistant on continuing development. This also means that we want to continue development in a larger scale. I'll try and answer questions and will be trying to help Kim out with this.

/Dark5tar1
Community Manager
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dark5tar1
Join my Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/darksdeviousdoomroom
Last edited by Dark5tar1; 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:47pm
hdangren 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:46pm 
Originally posted by ZPS.Dark5tar1:
Originally posted by hdangren:
I will buy this game for my friend.

I'd recommend waiting a little bit, price will be adjusted a little lower.

/Dark5tar1
Community Manager
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dark5tar1
Join my Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/darksdeviousdoomroom
It's fine. I already did it.
Edit: Every dollar helps right?
Last edited by hdangren; 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:46pm
jakesidian 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:47pm 
Originally posted by TheMasterBlaster™:
You should be aware that some teams will be unable to 'finish' their game. So you should only buy an Early Access game if you are excited about playing it in its current state*and want to support the developers.
Yes
Five5staR 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:47pm 
Originally posted by TheMasterBlaster™:
Shame on both of us.

When will these games release?
Its up to the developer to determine when they are ready to 'release'. Some developers have a concrete deadline in mind, while others will get a better sense as the development of the game progresses. You should be aware that some teams will be unable to 'finish' their game. So you should only buy an Early Access game if you are excited about playing it in its current state.

Then why did you buy it I ask you?
Dark5tar1 7 Jan, 2016 @ 1:48pm 
Originally posted by hdangren:
Originally posted by ZPS.Dark5tar1:

I'd recommend waiting a little bit, price will be adjusted a little lower.

/Dark5tar1
Community Manager
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dark5tar1
Join my Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/darksdeviousdoomroom
It's fine. I already did it.
Edit: Every dollar helps right?

Haha, appreciate it :)

Just wanted you to at least take advantage of the price drop.

/Dark5tar1
Community Manager
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dark5tar1
Join my Steam Group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/darksdeviousdoomroom
< >
Showing 1-15 of 308 comments
Per page: 1530 50