Colony Ship Early Access Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Alienman]

Damn, 500k+ USD EA income being a commercial failure for a team of 3 developers really puts the games industry in a different light for me. Salaries really stack up when it takes 5+ years for each release I guess.

It wouldn't be a commercial failure, just not enough to continue. For us the sales revenue isn't a reward but an operating budget for the next 5-6 years. And the team is bigger than three: lead designer/writer, designer/artist, programmer, animator, 3D artist, and 2D artist. Plus several contractors, mostly 3D art and composer.

What about a kickstarter for the next game, wouldn't that take away some of the pressure?

 

[agris]

A Kickstarter is a lot like a bridge loan. I think Vince rather realistically has recognized that their formula will either resonate enough for ITS to be self supporting, or he’ll have to fold up.

20+ years of “just one more game and we can do it” isn’t really sustainable

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

edit: and Epic takes a cut for UE's commercial usage, although I don't know any details of what that % is.

Epic starts taking their due after you pass the 1 mill mark, so it hasn't happened yet.

But getting hit with western taxes is like getting hit with a truck, so I'm not surprised they're out of money.

What about a kickstarter for the next game, wouldn't that take away some of the pressure?

An indie studio can count on getting 50k from a kickstarter nowadays. It's worth the effort for an eastern solo dev, not for a western company.

 

[Jaedar]

A Kickstarter is a lot like a bridge loan. I think Vince rather realistically has recognized that their formula will either resonate enough for ITS to be self supporting, or he’ll have to fold up.

20+ years of “just one more game and we can do it” isn’t really sustainable

I think what is being discussed/suggested is more along the lines of "Ok, so 30 Euro (or less for the early adopters) per person is maybe not sustainable. But what if you used kickstarter/patreon/whatever to get more money from the most dedicated consumers to supplement that 30 euro per person?". There's clearly an amount of people willing to pay more money based on the fairly frequent post like "I bought the game 4 times". I guess the real question is there's enough of them, and if it is something ITS wants to do (since you typically have to spend some money/time/effort on things that are not the core product to extract extra money this way).

 

[Vault Dweller]

What's more beneficial for y'all - sales of the game now in EA or sale of the game when it launches.

It's all the same now.

What about a kickstarter for the next game, wouldn't that take away some of the pressure?

The problem with Kickstarter is that it doesn't fund anything. It gives you a bit of money, which in most cases isn't enough to hire one person for a full development cycle. Hibernaculum got under 100k, partly due to great physical rewards. I wouldn't be surprised if the rewards alone would cost them 50k. Factor in the KS cut and taxes and what's left?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Epic starts taking their due after you pass the 1 mill mark, so it hasn't happened yet.

Our deal is different (more beneficial to us, but we pay from day one).

But getting hit with western taxes is like getting hit with a truck, so I'm not surprised they're out of money.

We are not out of money and the taxes are very reasonable. The question here is can we sell enough to pay for the next game not can we cover the current expenses and then some.

 

[Hammer Of The Heretics]

$21.50 to start

Where do I apply?

The one I saw was an In-and-Out Burger. Here's the address: 3001 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95054.

 

[Alienman]

The problem with Kickstarter is that it doesn't fund anything. It gives you a bit of money, which in most cases isn't enough to hire one person for a full development cycle. Hibernaculum got under 100k, partly due to great physical rewards. I wouldn't be surprised if the rewards alone would cost them 50k. Factor in the KS cut and taxes and what's left?

I see. How about Patreon then, would that be a better alternative? Maybe to pad the economics a bit, offer a few perks, like special discord, dev video logs or something? Seems to be working out for the Call of Saregnar dev.

 

[Crispy]

the next game

Have you revealed anything about this yet? Care to?

 

[agris]

The problem with Kickstarter is that it doesn't fund anything. It gives you a bit of money, which in most cases isn't enough to hire one person for a full development cycle. Hibernaculum got under 100k, partly due to great physical rewards. I wouldn't be surprised if the rewards alone would cost them 50k. Factor in the KS cut and taxes and what's left?

I see. How about Patreon then, would that be a better alternative? Maybe to pad the economics a bit, offer a few perks, like special discord, dev video logs or something? Seems to be working out for the Call of Saregnar dev.

My guess: because this is pathetic.

edit: oh, and it wouldn’t make a material difference while taking away from the team’s most precious commodity - time.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I see. How about Patreon then, would that be a better alternative? Maybe to pad the economics a bit, offer a few perks, like special discord...

:I'm getting too old for this shit:

Have you revealed anything about this yet? Care to?

Back in 2019:

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,7753.0.html

 

[Tyranicon]

Epic starts taking their due after you pass the 1 mill mark, so it hasn't happened yet.

Our deal is different (more beneficial to us, but we pay from day one).

But getting hit with western taxes is like getting hit with a truck, so I'm not surprised they're out of money.

We are not out of money and the taxes are very reasonable. The question here is can we sell enough to pay for the next game not can we cover the current expenses and then some.

If you can share, what's the rough number of copies you need to move to meet those goals?

 

[Alienman]

The problem with Kickstarter is that it doesn't fund anything. It gives you a bit of money, which in most cases isn't enough to hire one person for a full development cycle. Hibernaculum got under 100k, partly due to great physical rewards. I wouldn't be surprised if the rewards alone would cost them 50k. Factor in the KS cut and taxes and what's left?

I see. How about Patreon then, would that be a better alternative? Maybe to pad the economics a bit, offer a few perks, like special discord, dev video logs or something? Seems to be working out for the Call of Saregnar dev.

My guess: because this is pathetic.

edit: oh, and it wouldn’t make a material difference while taking away from the team’s most precious commodity - time.

Well, good luck then, I guess.

 

[Jrpgfan]

The problem with Kickstarter is that it doesn't fund anything. It gives you a bit of money, which in most cases isn't enough to hire one person for a full development cycle. Hibernaculum got under 100k, partly due to great physical rewards. I wouldn't be surprised if the rewards alone would cost them 50k. Factor in the KS cut and taxes and what's left?

I see. How about Patreon then, would that be a better alternative? Maybe to pad the economics a bit, offer a few perks, like special discord, dev video logs or something? Seems to be working out for the Call of Saregnar dev.

My guess: because this is pathetic.

edit: oh, and it wouldn’t make a material difference while taking away from the team’s most precious commodity - time.

You don't need a discord(which they already have and are pretty active there) or make video logs to set up a Patreon page. You just need to post updates on progress from time to time(actually not even that, although that wouldn't help them getting more or keeping their patrons), the same way they already do on steam.

My bet is that they'd have enough people supporting them to allow them to stay in business. Their games might not sell hundreds of millions of copies but they've definitely developed a loyal fanbase by now.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Then how come you said EA wasn't doing as well as you expected and you could go out of business if the release doesn't do well?
Were the development costs that higher compared to AoD?
Of course, unless AoD EA sold as much or more and I wasn't aware.

It's a long story, better left for a retrospective article when the game is released and we ponder our future. In short, if the game doesn't sell enough to cover the next development stretch, we're out of business whether we like it or not. As stated earlier we have enough money to finish the game and provide quality post release support in any scenario.

AoD sold $653,367 in EA.

Did you fall for the crytpo meme?

 

[The Wall]

But getting hit with western taxes is like getting hit with a truck, so I'm not surprised they're out of money.

THIS coupled with RETARDEDLY high costs of production, the West is the worst place for any indie game dev team to be, except for Congo or Yemen. Simple Mathematics and Cold Reality. Game Dev is Business as well, and there is no business sense to make your game in the West. West is dying

 

[The Wall]

@Elhoim must be one of the richest men in Argentina with that wage, though(truth be told, ~3k U$D a month is a lot even in my country(Brazil) if you take into account the salary avg, so I guess it's not that bad for those living in a third world country).

Dude! this is what I'm talking about. 3k $ salary?! It's fucking high middle class in Eastern Europe. And with better standard of living for the same money

Why there aren't bunch of Western funded studios in Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Moldavia, Romania etc.. boggles my mind

 

[notpl]

@Elhoim must be one of the richest men in Argentina with that wage, though(truth be told, ~3k U$D a month is a lot even in my country(Brazil) if you take into account the salary avg, so I guess it's not that bad for those living in a third world country).

Dude! this is what I'm talking about. 3k $ salary?! It's fucking high middle class in Eastern Europe. And with better standard of living for the same money

Why there aren't bunch of Western funded studios in Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Moldavia, Romania etc.. boggles my mind

Are you seriously asking why educated upper-middle class americans/europeans don't want to live in Bulgaria or Romania? Hell, the cost of living in Uzbekistan is even lower, just keep moving east!

 

[The Wall]

@Elhoim must be one of the richest men in Argentina with that wage, though(truth be told, ~3k U$D a month is a lot even in my country(Brazil) if you take into account the salary avg, so I guess it's not that bad for those living in a third world country).

Dude! this is what I'm talking about. 3k $ salary?! It's fucking high middle class in Eastern Europe. And with better standard of living for the same money

Why there aren't bunch of Western funded studios in Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Moldavia, Romania etc.. boggles my mind

Are you seriously asking why educated upper-middle class americans/europeans don't want to live in Bulgaria or Romania? Hell, the cost of living in Uzbekistan is even lower, just keep moving east!

Agreed. Being raped and killed at every corner in big cities is something You just CAN'T experience in Eastern European cities. And it's important part of being stuck-up midwit middle class Western highly educated urban retard who makes video games

User is Polish and thinks America is still in the 80s? CHECK

 

[The Wall]

Also who the fuck said anything about hiring programmers and designers from West? Too retarded, too confused about which bathroom to use and too expensive. Western capital and management and creative people like Tim Cain and Chris Avellone? Sure. The rest of the team would be local.

That winning combination would guarantee INCLINE beyond your wildest dreams. Both creatively & financially

 

[NecroLord]

America is still in the 80s

America was pretty cool in the 80s.
Also great as a setting for video games (Vice City, for example, a classic).

 

[The Wall]

Poles should shut the fuck up. Keep sucking Biden's old saggy cock and keep making WOKE shit but with 10% less development hell then in West
Biggest gaming industry among Slavs and all they make is WOKE shit with standardized, dull gameplay, and break only 3 deadlines

Dumb arrogant kurwaaaaaz

 

[The Wall]

America is still in the 80s

America was pretty cool in the 80s.
Also great as a setting for video games (Vice City, for example, a classic).

Sure, but MANY Slavs (Boomers and Butthurt Poles) believe America in 2023 is America from 80s
That's like thinking Rome from 400AD is Rome from 117AD. It's just dumb

 

[NecroLord]

America is still in the 80s

America was pretty cool in the 80s.
Also great as a setting for video games (Vice City, for example, a classic).

Sure, but MANY Slavs (Boomers and Butthurt Poles) believe America in 2023 is America from 80s
That's like thinking Rome from 400AD is Rome from 117AD. It's just dumb

That's because Poland is pozzed beyond belief and is content to be America's fuck toy.

 

[Jrpgfan]

America in the 80s wasn't exactly wonderland either. You had the crack epidemics in most big cities, the italian mob etc...