Dead State - Getting the Word Out & Patch

Couchpotato

Couchpotato

Part-Time News-bot
Supporter
Joined
October 1, 2010
Messages
36,360
Location
Spudlandia
The next Monday Design Update from Brian Mitsoda released this week asks for help on spreading the news for his game, and talks about the upcoming new patch.

As you may know, we've been updating the build pretty quickly these days. We've been finishing up the last tasks on our plates, closing out bugs, and figuring out the priorities for the polish stage. We're finally getting to the point where we are looking at a definite time period for release and we will be announcing a release date soon. However, as Early Access/indie titles tend to be overlooked by press - especially in a season full of major AAA releases - we really need your help to get the word out about Dead State. To build awareness for the release this year, any word of mouth you can generate will help build buzz that will make our eventual launch a lot more successful and allow us to continue to work on fixes and expanded content in the future.

Here are some of the things you can do to help us get the word out:

-Post about us or link to our 2014 trailer or our eventual release date announcement on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
-Discuss or recommend Dead State on game forums. If someone hasn't played since the 7 Days build, let them know how much the game has changed. Remember to emphasize that we're not just another "kill zombies" game. Please be mindful of forum rules and basic courtesy.
-If you like the game, review the EA build on Steam. The more positive reviews we have at launch, the higher the interest from new players.
-Add us to your Steam wishlist if you haven't bought the game already.

With all the holiday releases coming out this year, it's going to be easy for our game to be overlooked. Remember, we're a group of ten developers with a small budget - we don't have a dedicated PR team or even a PR person. Every bit of attention we get right now is because of positive word of mouth. Additionally, with all the negativity about Kickstarter projects lately, many players have written off Kickstarter and Early Access titles completely - we need to make sure that people understand that we have not abandoned development and that we are releasing the game this year. With your help, we can help reach a greater amount of potential players and gaming press, and that's a good thing for Dead State and DoubleBear's continued operation. (And no, don't worry, we're not close to closing up shop or anything, but a successful launch gives us a lot more freedom on future projects.)

Now, as for the patch, we intend to (hopefully) have another patch out this week, and it's another content-heavy patch. Here's a few things to look forward to:

-Fixes for many of the major dialogue freezes (Aimee, Corbeau).
-New Crisis Events.
-25 new random encounters, some that are reactive to attacking factions.
-Wounded system - if you've played Jagged Alliance, it will seem familiar, but starting with the next patch, healing will create wounded HP that can only be healed with time/infirmary treatment. This feature was supposed to go in at beta, but slipped back a bit due to other priorities.
-Additional balance to weapons, melee special attacks, and certain stat effects (carry weight adjusted up again).
-Additional areas with loot passes.
-Additional system and bug fixes.

As of right now, we have a few other additions that might make it, but I don't want to promise them yet as they haven't been 100% tested yet (*cough* horses *cough*). As I'm writing this on Sunday, you might be able to infer that we're working overtime to get Dead State into the best shape we can. We want the game to be as polished and bug-free as possible at release, so keep that feedback coming in - we appreciate the dedication of our Beta players in helping us track down these issues. Okay - back to work for me. Thanks for your continued support and remember to spread the word about Dead State!
Click to expand...
More information.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,360
Location
Spudlandia
Eh, best ways to "get the word out" IMO are

- put the game on sale enough to get visibility on steam. Some players (like me) browse hard looking for interesting games to check out. But I think for many buyers if it's not in their face they'll never know it exists. The game has a large number of "mostly positive" reviews and that and positive forum discussion do a lot to seal the deal IF people know your game exists. Zombie/survival type games are popular - if people know your game exists.

- lower the price (and/or put it on sale) since $30 for an indie game is pretty high these days, there are a bazillion zombie survival games (even if they don't want to call their game a zombie game it IS a zombie game and will be perceived as a zombie game). Wasn't this game community funded too? $30 for a community funded indie game is even more absurd.

I think due to the huge number of PC gaming titles available these days and the association so many people make between "indie" and lower cost games, that it's gotta be tougher sell such a game at a higher price unless it's something that's highly anticipated and highly in demand (divinity and wasteland 2 for ex).

- give out copies to a few youtubers that people actually watch and who can speak coherently like Das24580 (not generally his type of game but he has done indie zombie games before), gamersdissent (does mostly survival type games), quill18 (not really his style either) but these are the type of youtubers that tell the truth and produce good video. Having your #1 fan do videos doesn't help much if people who already own your game are the only ones watching.

PS - I already own the game and bought it ages ago before you could even do much in it (so I'm not campaigning for a lower price for myself :p )
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2013
Messages
633
Location
Arizona
Dunno how 30 bucks is "pretty high". A game offering that much, being in development that long, developed in full time - and the equivalent of two take away pizzas with a diet coke is too much?
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
53
Location
Munich
It's funny how people define to high....
 
Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
5,749
I love how a few failed Kickstarter projects (something that people are warned about prior to pledging) have a greater weight than a sheer ton of successful games that exist solely thanks to crowdfunding. I've seen the same inane comments from people on here. I admit, I've had a couple fail on me, but the majority a good 80% + have been released, are out in EA/alpha/beta format or show clear signs of being worked on regularly.

If you choose to pledge to a project that fails, how is it any different to making a wrong choice in any other part of life? You date a horrible person, do you swear off being with anyone ever again? You have a bad day at school/work do you never go to work or school again? Similarly, if you have an altercation with a person of a different ethnicity are all people of that ethnicity culpable and the same?
NO, obviously not, so why blame all developers or creators for the actions of a few bad members on Kickstarter? Besides, it is obvious which projects you need to be careful of, most times. A known developer or company you can count on finishing the game (eventually), a small team of first timers... not so much. Sure, you can still support the first timers, but give them a amount you won't miss.

As for Dead State, I hope for even a quarter of Divinity:OS's success for them. DS is a fantastic concept/game. We need more games like it. Where are all the people that complain about the industry ignoring them and not making turn based RPGs?? And from when is $30 a lot?! In the 90's, EVERY game was $60, even the lesser quality "indie" level games. Not to mention, nowadays the inflation has diminished the value of that $30, so no one has an excuse about the cost for a 60+ hour game. How much does it work out per hour? Less than 50 cents per hour!!! Shame on everyone who thinks $30 is too much, yet buy $2+ coffee everyday/multiple times a day. How long does that coffee last? 4 hours?
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2010
Messages
274
Location
Toronto, Canada
PegasusOrgans said:
And from when is $30 a lot?! In the 90's, EVERY game was $60, even the lesser quality "indie" level games. Not to mention, nowadays the inflation has diminished the value of that $30, so no one has an excuse about the cost for a 60+ hour game. How much does it work out per hour? Less than 50 cents per hour!!! Shame on everyone who thinks $30 is too much, yet buy $2+ coffee everyday/multiple times a day. How long does that coffee last? 4 hours?
Click to expand...
If we are talking about US dollars, no game was $60 in the 90's. The first $60 PC game was about 5 years ago. So, games in the 90's were $50 at most. I don't remember when the $40->$50 switchover happened.

edit: just checked my Baldur's Gate 1 box, which I bought at a mall store as soon as it came out in Dec 1998, price is $45. M&M VII (June 1999) box also says $45. Planescape: Torment box is $50 (Dec 1999). M&M VIII box (March 2000) is $48. Sadly, I no longer have any of my boxes from mid-90s or earlier.

I agree with everything else you said though…
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,469
Stingray said:
If we are talking about US dollars, no game was $60 in the 90's. The first $60 PC game was about 5 years ago. So, games in the 90's were $50 at most. I don't remember when the $40->$50 switchover happened.

edit: just checked my Baldur's Gate 1 box, which I bought at a mall store as soon as it came out in Dec 1998, price is $45. M&M VII (June 1999) box also says $45. Planescape: Torment box is $50 (Dec 1999). M&M VIII box (March 2000) is $48. Sadly, I no longer have any of my boxes from mid-90s or earlier.

I agree with everything else you said though…
Click to expand...

Ahh but you are not adjusting for inflation;)
 
Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
5,749
I have given:

$100 to Divinity: Original Sin - great game! So glad I helped.

$100 to Wasteland 2 - great game! So glad I helped.

$100 to Dead State - looks good so far and I'm excited!

$100 to Shadowrun - first game was meh, but then game the "expansion" which is amazing and a great game! So glad I helped.

I also have supported Torment: Tides of Numera and Pillars of Eternity and am psyched about both.

Lots of whiners on the internet who want everything 'just so'.... I prefer to risk giving extra and encouraging the developers making the types of games I want to play. So far I have been very pleased and will gladly keep helping people create.....

Too many people want something for as little as they can get it - which is sad and then they wonder why big producers stifle all creativity and churn out clone after clone after clone......

Every game I mention above has given me as much enjoyment as Witcher - which was pretty good when released - since then they've risen to a true AAA company able to create Witcher 3 (which I hope will be good) but not everyone can do it if we want games that aren't riding a 'mainstream' current. Witcher hit during the Elder Scroll/FPS-RPG era and was helped by that fact. Many of the games I've listed are looked upon as 'retro' by many and are actually enjoying a renaissance only b/c of Kickstarter/early access in my opinion.
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
51
I agree with everything in Pegasus post, including the price tags (but like Rune said, you have to adjust for inflation).

On average I paid at least twice as much for every single game in the 90's, probably alot more. In those days I also pirated games however, which I never do today, so I still spend more monet on games today. I also like to look at it like Pegasus does, as in what's the price per hour of enjoyment. Ridiculously low in most cases, absurdly high in some... (The ones you play for five minutes and then never again...)
 
Joined
Dec 20, 2010
Messages
3,216
Location
Sweden
Though I'm not impressed by this game, I have to say 30$ is very reasonable. In fact, I think it's cheap.

I've always found gaming to be a cheap hobby overall, to be honest. The challenge is making informed choices, I suppose, but my approach is that I simply don't care about the money I have available to spend on such things.

As a consequence, if a game disappoints, it's based on the game - not the price of the game.
 
Stingray said:
If we are talking about US dollars, no game was $60 in the 90's. The first $60 PC game was about 5 years ago. So, games in the 90's were $50 at most. I don't remember when the $40->$50 switchover happened.
Click to expand...

I don't know if there were any normal PC games that were $60, but there were plenty of collector's editions that were $60 or more much longer than 5 years ago.

There were also plenty of console titles that were more expensive than that, but I suppose console titles have always cost more.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,347
Location
Florida, US
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,469
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom