mechmouse: Thanks for the update. I had thought the price update signalled the advent of the full release, my mistake.
I might install and have a bit of a play, but my concern is that I'll ruin the story experience come full release.
Question.
If you were to introduce multi-player (not saying that is the big surprise), but if you were would it definitely have LAN or would it be via private servers only (requiring a Galaxy to play)?
Manywhelps: I wouldn't say you'd ruin it. You'll experience most of Arthur's side quest content but only a small bit of his main path. That being said, if you're the type of person who really wants the full story at once, it's probably better to wait! If you just want to play around in the sandbox for a bit, see what you like/don't like (and maybe even give us feedback) then August 16th would be a great time. It's a really big update mechanically.
Multiplayer, unfortunately not :( The only way we would do multiplayer is if we did some sort of Don't Starve Together type thing - add it on as DLC way down the track. Multiplayer requires so much work - both on the technical and on the design side - that we just can't do it while we're building the game.
In the hypothetical though, I like LAN. I like Galaxy too. I don't really understand why modern games restrict that, but I've also never built a multiplayer game. Might be that there is a good reason I just don't know about. My guess is that very few people play on lan any more so it's not considered good bang for buck in terms of development spent - a similar argument that people make about linux. You'd also have to have some sort of complicated host process if you built your game with a central server in mind.
Thanks for the reply. I'm definitely the type who will engross themselves into the story. I'll have a brief play of the post 16th update and give feed back.
I remember you saying multiplayer may be something for much later, but the secrecy around the 16th made me concerned that this might have been the highly requested feature. Hoping your not bluffing to protect the surprise, had a server based multiplayer option been upcoming I'd quickly buy my wife a copy to we can enjoy together. We racked up about 80 hours playing Dying Light and looking forward to the Free DLC's Techland are adding this year.
I understand why developer run servers to let them control, rank and prevent cheats. API's such as Steam and Galaxy also make social gaming easier for both players and developers. However I feel any company making a game (specially a DRM free game) in which multiplayer is a key aspect, that does not include a LAN or private server option is either artificially reducing the life expectancy of the game, or just doesn't believe their game has a lasting appeal.