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General discussionLast chance – grab We Happy Few before the price goes up(305 posts)(305 posts)
(305 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted August 10, 2017
Final pre-release update and price increase coming August 16.

So much has been happening with We Happy Few since the title joined Games in Development, but this journey is almost at its end. As the full game's release approaches, developers Compulsion Games are beginning revealed their plans for the near future.

The final in-development update "Life in Technicolor" is dropping August 16, introducing new Joy effects as well as a brand new UI (still WIP), AI reworks and much more. This date also marks the previously-announced price change – jumping to $50.99 (or your local equivalent).

You can read the full announcement here.

If you've been on the fence, this is a great time to hop over – and stay tuned for more info coming soon!
Posted August 11, 2017
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Marioface5: Since being In-Development means I can get a refund within two weeks of purchase, I think I'll take this as an opportunity to actually give the game a chance. I don't think I'll find it worth $30, but maybe I will! And of course I'll get to see what this big secret for the 16th is, which might be able to convince me to hold on to the game. If not, I can always get the refund.
If you don't mind, I'd like to suggest you wait until a day or two before the 16th to buy if you'd like to do that. That way you'll get the same price as now, but you'll have more time with the August 16 update.
Posted August 11, 2017
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Manywhelps: Hey folks, I realise there's a fair bit of concern from you guys here. I'd like to answer some of your questions, if you don't mind.

We'll be discussing why we're raising the price on the 16th, along with some announcements on that date, and a new update. Unfortunately I can't talk about that stuff until the 16th - we opted to give everyone notice of the price raise instead of keeping it quiet until then.

We've posted every week in the game's sub forum for the past few months, answering all the (few) questions you guys had. So I hope that shows how much we value open communication.

Ask away.
I loved contrast. Will it be released for GOG? I own the Steam version and i want to own it in GOG too.

Personally, I wish you guys the best possible outcome. It is just that, it looks like a very risky strategy for its PC release given other recent releases reception and what other game studios decided to do in order to ensure the best reception or the least harsh reception as possible.
Posted August 11, 2017
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Marioface5: Since being In-Development means I can get a refund within two weeks of purchase, I think I'll take this as an opportunity to actually give the game a chance. I don't think I'll find it worth $30, but maybe I will! And of course I'll get to see what this big secret for the 16th is, which might be able to convince me to hold on to the game. If not, I can always get the refund.
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Manywhelps: If you don't mind, I'd like to suggest you wait until a day or two before the 16th to buy if you'd like to do that. That way you'll get the same price as now, but you'll have more time with the August 16 update.
I appreciate the suggestion, but the game is already bought and downloaded. I'll still have about a week with the August 16 update to make my final decision though, which I think will be enough time for me to know if I should keep the game or not.

Thanks for being active on here, by the way. It's always nice to see developers posting on the GOG forums, especially in the face of controversy.
Posted August 11, 2017
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Manywhelps: If you don't mind, I'd like to suggest you wait until a day or two before the 16th to buy if you'd like to do that. That way you'll get the same price as now, but you'll have more time with the August 16 update.
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Marioface5: I appreciate the suggestion, but the game is already bought and downloaded. I'll still have about a week with the August 16 update to make my final decision though, which I think will be enough time for me to know if I should keep the game or not.

Thanks for being active on here, by the way. It's always nice to see developers posting on the GOG forums, especially in the face of controversy.
Yup that's fair. I'll be interested to see what you think of the update too!

Gotta admit, it's pretty hard to be active on GOG.com. You guys are really passionate, but you have to stop thinking that publishers and devs are out to screw consumers. Those examples exist, but they're few and far between, and by and large people are just trying to make a living and charge a reasonable price for their work.

If we're wrong about the price, we're wrong, but we're not trying to price gouge.
Posted August 11, 2017
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Manywhelps: Gotta admit, it's pretty hard to be active on GOG.com. You guys are really passionate, but you have to stop thinking that publishers and devs are out to screw consumers. Those examples exist, but they're few and far between, and by and large people are just trying to make a living and charge a reasonable price for their work.
I don't think many people are saying that, though.

The annoying randos on the Internet who pop up and spout "F you" or "you suck" or whatever are just a fact of life - everyone knows you can ignore those.

I think it's more like... the market is the market, and fair or no, $51 is simply above the market's general pricing point for independent games. It's going to have to be a heck of a boomstick on Aug 16 to gain any traction. I think you'll find the regular crowd on GOG is more than supportive of talented, motivated, communicative developers earning a decent living. I hope Brian Fargo wipes his butt with hundred dollar bills and drives to work in his own personal Sherman tank.

Rather than people thinking you're evil, it's more... why would these guys do this from a strategic standpoint when it pushes me as a consumer out of the market?

I guess we'll see on August 16th.
Posted August 11, 2017
Spider senses tingling... Greed in the airrrr!

Edit : to be constructive... @Manywhelps 40 price tag would be more appropriate, seriously.

Aaand what's that secret!?
Post edited August 11, 2017 by koima57
Posted August 11, 2017
I backed it on Kickstarter. Waiting for the Linux release!
Posted August 11, 2017
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Manywhelps: Gotta admit, it's pretty hard to be active on GOG.com. You guys are really passionate, but you have to stop thinking that publishers and devs are out to screw consumers. Those examples exist, but they're few and far between, and by and large people are just trying to make a living and charge a reasonable price for their work.
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yogsloth: I don't think many people are saying that, though.

The annoying randos on the Internet who pop up and spout "F you" or "you suck" or whatever are just a fact of life - everyone knows you can ignore those.

I think it's more like... the market is the market, and fair or no, $51 is simply above the market's general pricing point for independent games. It's going to have to be a heck of a boomstick on Aug 16 to gain any traction. I think you'll find the regular crowd on GOG is more than supportive of talented, motivated, communicative developers earning a decent living. I hope Brian Fargo wipes his butt with hundred dollar bills and drives to work in his own personal Sherman tank.

Rather than people thinking you're evil, it's more... why would these guys do this from a strategic standpoint when it pushes me as a consumer out of the market?

I guess we'll see on August 16th.
Easier said than done to ignore those my friend :) But I think your point is quite fair. Again, I'm sorry I can't explain more at this point.
Posted August 11, 2017
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yogsloth: I think it's more like... the market is the market, and fair or no, $51 is simply above the market's general pricing point for independent games.
What defines the price in your view? Why do you think independent developers deserve less than ones funded by publishers? That really doesn't make any sense as a valid idea to me. IMHO price should have nothing to do with whether it's independent or publisher funded studio, but rather with the game itself.

Think of it this way. Would you pay more for a book because it was published by some publisher, or because the author made something unique and interesting? I guess it's not easy to put a price tag on art, but the real value is artistic here, and I guess authors can decide what price they think is fair to set.

More pragmatically though, consider also simply expenses on development that need to be recovered, and needs to fund new development. Some other independent studios like Obsidian for example charge similarly relatively high prices for their games. Check pricing on Pillars of Eternity. And personally think it's quite fair because it is a good game. And you already mentioned Brian Fargo above, inXile are similar in this sense.

How good will We Happy Few be - time will tell, but I hope it will be good.
Post edited August 11, 2017 by shmerl
Posted August 11, 2017
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Anime-BlackWolf: And the comparision between this and "Shovel Knight" is quite laughable. The Knight was finished on release and will be expanded with more episodes, and even it's (quite?) high pricetag is leagues under this one... 50 Dollars... OMG...
True, Shovel Knight's development approach was the complete opposite of the current trend of permanently unfinished "In Development" games. As far as I know it received very few patches, because it was "finished" right at release ( aside from the big content expansions ). They were heavily inspired by the NES and Super NES era, a time when there was no such thing as "patches", and games were either heavily tested and polished before release, or permanently broken.
Posted August 11, 2017
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yogsloth: I think it's more like... the market is the market, and fair or no, $51 is simply above the market's general pricing point for independent games.
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shmerl: What defines the price in your view? Why do you think independent developers deserve less than ones funded by publishers?
I doubt people think that Indie Devs deserve less money for their games. But the question is, how does a small Indie team justify charging the same price for their game, as a major AAA publisher, with a staff of hundreds of artists, programmers, sound designers, voice actors and so on... AAA games generally have much higher production values, and it's well known that they're expensive to produce. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean they end up being more fun, but at least there's a reason for the price tag. And keep in mind that Indie devs already make higher profits per sale, since a smaller team and lower overall production values mean they have less costs to cover.

It's also debatable whether any purely digital release should be sold with a $50+ price tag, but that's a different topic...
Posted August 11, 2017
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Anime-BlackWolf: And the comparision between this and "Shovel Knight" is quite laughable. The Knight was finished on release and will be expanded with more episodes, and even it's (quite?) high pricetag is leagues under this one... 50 Dollars... OMG...
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CharlesGrey: True, Shovel Knight's development approach was the complete opposite of the current trend of permanently unfinished "In Development" games. As far as I know it received very few patches, because it was "finished" right at release ( aside from the big content expansions ). They were heavily inspired by the NES and Super NES era, a time when there was no such thing as "patches", and games were either heavily tested and polished before release, or permanently broken.
Yeah. PC games went to the gutter, when internet-access became more and more common. Why deliver a finished product, when you can push it out early and "fix" it later? Consoles were free from this problem, until this generation, where internet is a foundation, which cannot be avoided anymore. Patches for console games are NOT A GOOD thing.

Pre-order games which are still in development makes you a producer, not a customer. You will NOT know, what will be the finished product. Even IF it will be finished at all.

Just because there are more and more morons out there, who think frequent patches for an unfinished game is a good thing, this must not be true. If they want unfinished DEMOS/ALPHAS, it's their problem. But most of them won't buy a title like this...
Post edited August 11, 2017 by Anime-BlackWolf
Posted August 11, 2017
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CharlesGrey: Of course that doesn't necessarily mean they end up being more fun, but at least there's a reason for the price tag
Not necessarily justified either, if they produce trash. Just because they have huge budget, doesn't mean the result is good.
Posted August 11, 2017
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trusteft: The difference is when I bought Midwinter, Hunter, Railroad Tycoon, Gunship, etc back then for $50 or more, I got a full game. Rarely there was a need for a patch. Now you pay full price, you get 4-X GBs of game and you keep getting GBs and GBs of "patches" over the following months. Why, because you get an alpha or beta of a game at best. They are selling you unfinished games. Try that in any other industry.
Even software related outside of games.
Customers are getting loyally SCREWED by developers/publishers. $50 for an unfinished game? I don't think so.
Finish your damn game first, then sell it to me for $50. If it is my type of game, I will buy it. You sell half a game for full price and intent to "patch" it or DLC it to death over the next 6-18 months and you expect me to buy your game? Not any more, sunshine.
I had high hopes for this game, it sounded super cool. But I wouldn't buy it now even at the same price. I wouldn't buy it now for 9.99 I don't buy unfinished games. Some time in 2018 when I hope the game is finished (ie "patched" and DLCed), talk to me again.

If you think that's unfair, tell you what. I am a video editor. You hire me to edit something for you, you will pay me the full amount and I will finish it some time between now and 1 year from now. I will send you piece by piece of it. After 6 months or 1 year, I will ask for more money than the agreed original price so that I send you the DLC, that is for example the audio, or the last part of the video, or perhaps something from the middle.
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Manywhelps: You're yelling about a system that exists on Steam, GOG.com, Xbox and even sporadically on PS4 for the right games, that makes a lot of people happy.
It's got its detractors, sure - but if it's not for you, why not just wait until the game fully releases and judge it based on reviews, like you've always done? If you aren't interested in Early Access, don't buy into it.

Hopefully we'll do a good enough job with the game that when the time comes, you'll want to buy it. If not, that's fine too.
Oh I am not blaming you for this alone. Obviously you are not the first or the last to do this.
But just because more do this it doesn't mean it is right or justified. Yes also many people prefer this, that's because many people are (I will keep it safe for this thread)...sheep. Yes, sheep let's go with that.
The same people who accept Windows 10 spying on them because "everybody does it", the same people who publish everything on their facebook accounts, the same people...anyway, it doesn't matter now.
Yes I will not buy the game while it is still in development, that was my point. I will wait till it is finished in a couple of years with all the "patches" and potential DLC and then I will consider it.
Good luck with the game, I hope it ends up being great.
Post edited August 11, 2017 by trusteft
Posted August 11, 2017
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CharlesGrey: Of course that doesn't necessarily mean they end up being more fun, but at least there's a reason for the price tag
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shmerl: Not necessarily justified either, if they produce trash. Just because they have huge budget, doesn't mean the result is good.
The whole "All triple A games are trash" cliche is rather silly, not to mention besides the point. What I'm saying is, the income generated by a game's sales needs to first and foremost cover all of its development costs, including the wages and fees, hardware and all other expenditures. It's undeniable that orchestral soundtracks, professional voice acting, motion capturing or state of the art CGI sequences all eat up ridiculous amounts of money. And because of that AAA games need to sell millions of copies, and have rather high price points. Whether you personally think a specific game is worthy of that price point is entirely subjective, but doesn't change the fact that the price tag reflects, at least to some extent, the investment of time and money that went into its production.

Now, when an Indie Dev decides to charge the same prices, yet they have only a fraction of the staff, costs and overall production values, I think it's not surprising that people start scratching their heads. ( Or grinding their teeth. )
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionLast chance – grab We Happy Few before the price goes up(305 posts)(305 posts)
(305 posts)