96 - Alpha build overview

[matt]

This one isn't super exciting if you have alpha access, but I prepared it for our Ouya blog post, which seems to have gotten very little attention, so I am recycling it as a developer diary. There isn't a lot of exciting news (especially if you already have alpha access), but maybe it'll be slightly interesting. hahah

[gagaplex]

Definitely nice for those that don't have the access to playtest this for themselves.

[RightClickSaveAs]

Thanks, that helped clear up the Ouya situation for me, I wasn't clear on the requirements for free content and all that. Also nice tease at the end "who knows what might be lurking" indeed

Have you gotten much feedback from the Ouya crowd, either with the alpha builds or in general? I haven't seen any on the forums but I'm curious if people are checking it out on that platform, I know basically nothing about the Ouya.

[matt]

Ouya is an interesting platform. I think it's a really cost conscious crowd, so most of the non backers are planning on waiting until it's $15 and released. There are some backers who are really excited about the Ouya build, and we have sold some alpha access builds on the Ouya platform. One guy found it there and has been really active on my twitter.

We did originally release the Ouya build with no demo because I was thinking it was mainly for backers. However, that didn't go over well at all with Ouya owners. There was a lot of displeased messages on Ouyaforum.com or ouyaforums.com. (I did clear it with Ouya, so I wasn't really breaking the rules, but the Ouya community was not happy)

I was actually hacking in a terrible demo, when Kellee Santiago called me to discuss the situation. I told her that I was on top of it, and if I got off the phone quickly I could get it in before the end of the day.

Honestly, I'm not sure I want to offer a demo, but it's the rules of the platform, so I might as well. In general, I think it might be a bit of a problem with the Ouya. I suspect most people don't buy games because they are sufficiently entertained by the free content. I am ashamed to admit I only bought one game so far on Ouya...

Anyway, I digress. I think the people most excited about the game are the backers... so far. I hope to reach out some more over the course of development.

[RightClickSaveAs]

Oh wow, I looked up that forum, and what a weird situation that put you in, I don't entirely get what the problem was. Early Access seems like a pretty common thing now, as the marketplace adapts to the new ways of doing things, especially with so much indie development making use of this kind of option now.

That does seem like a particular community. I also saw the comments in other threads about the expected release of August 2014 being really far away, that's really not long in game development time! Anyway, good to see you found a solution that kept everyone happy. Also, the game is #27 on the O-Rank, that's pretty cool!

[matt]

Yeah, the Ouya crowd is an interesting one. I can't say I understand it fully, but I think they are looking for quality content, and hopefully we'll deliver with Neverending Nightmares.

I do think that Ouya has sort of backed themselves into a corner with the premise that at least something has to be free. I know some developers are set against offering a demo, so that means they won't want to develop on Ouya. Antichamber is a brilliant game, and Alexander Bruce said that he would never offer a demo because he felt like it'd ruin the game, and I'm inclined to agree. That being said, I love the freedom we get on Ouya, so I'm not complaining.

I had the idea of making a trailer "free", but everything interactive behind a pay wall, but judging from the comments we got with our initial build, I don't think that would fly. hahah