Community MetaSteam | June 2020 - Month Of The Seal, With Many A Deal, Throw Money With Zeal, The Wallet Will Kneel

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sk2k

Steam New Releases Warrior
Dec 8, 2018
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Somewhere else
Some pages ago someone mentioned a survival/crafting? game he was playing. What was the name of this game? I can not find the post. :( HELP!!!
 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
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Still, the growth is quite ludicrous, especially if you consider that anyone who takes reviewing seriously and didn't play the game on PS previously probably hasn't reviewed it yet.
Wouldn't that serve to make people buying P4G much more likely to review it, though? Dragon Quest XI and even Trails of Cold Steel 1 are far less popular games than Persona 4, which is the most popular release in a fan favourite series. I also belief because of that huge popularity, people would be more likely to boot it up around the release, inflating the CCU numbers too.
My point is that the ratio of CCU to owners, or reviews to owners, might be very different for P4G when compared to other games on Steam, making it hard to get a good approximation of the sales, just based on those numbers.
 

texhnolyze

Child at heart
Oct 19, 2018
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Indonesia
Japanese devs tend to do limited time demos all the time, and they're on consoles.

Remember FFXV and Nioh? There are lots of smaller games too that I can't remember.
 
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Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
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Yeah why are the demos timed?
Because developers choose to make them exclusive or tied to certain event, in this case the steam summer festival, however, once it's done (the event) they can totally keep them if they want, however, they won't as it's a marketing thing and there's an strategy behind :/
 
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Madventure

The Angel of Deaf
Nov 17, 2018
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My take is that they're trying to be like a event or a convention type thing is what I'm sort of gathering like even with the mini live streams with the schedule of games and AMA's and all of that

"Hey come up to my booth check out my game ask me some questions see what the game is about" And then it's done in a few days
Along with some of the "DEMOS" are super fucking rough and to be super to the point on it so some people will just immediately get their hands on it and go well that game is shit forever
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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Valve probably introduced these time limited demos because developers asked them to. And that was probably in response to the question, "We have demo functionality. Why aren't you guys doing them anymore?"

I feel like blaming this on Valve is kinda pathetic. Especially so once you realise that if their competitors did it they'd be praised for "listening to the devs".

Basically, Valve had a few cock-ups with some developers and ever since those "friends of the devs" have shat on Valve for everything under the sun.
 

Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
4,041
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My point is that the ratio of CCU to owners, or reviews to owners, might be very different for P4G when compared to other games on Steam, making it hard to get a good approximation of the sales, just based on those numbers.
I think there are factors in both directions. For example, usually more expensive games (like DQ11) get a much higher percentage of sales actually playing and reviewing the game. Ultimately it's all just estimates, but I think it's pretty likely that the P4G PC release already made around 5 million USD.
 

kio

MetaMember
Apr 19, 2019
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P4G is now up to ~10000 reviews. For comparison, DQ11, which released almost 2 years ago, sits at ~6800, and that was rather successful on Steam too.
(Or, perhaps even more poignant, Trails of Cold Steel 1 was really successful too, and that has < 3000 reviews)
I'm pretty sure price point is a big factor. Persona is 20€ (or 13/14€ in some stores) while the other are 60€ releases and have yet to reach this price point, even during sales.


Spanish indie dev behind Unepic and Ghost.
Thanks, loved UnEpic.
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
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I'm not a fan of the demos being timed but the way Walker complained about them felt pretty disingenuous and entitled. Also, blaming Valve for that is as relevant as his preview of TW3.
 
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BO7AMMOOD

Lucas isn't sure what to do anymore
Apr 18, 2019
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I agree that these demos shouldn't be timed at all. It feels like they're leaning a little too much on FOMO to attract people into trying out their games. Though to be fair, I also can't say I blame them if this strategy ends up working out better for them than permanent demos, since it's a ridiculously competitive scene. It is also clearly the developers choice to have these demos available for a limited period of time rather than Valve's. I've come to expect games media to not give Valve a fair shake more often than not, but I'd say it's probably a misunderstanding on John Walker's part in this case.
 

Mivey

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Sep 20, 2018
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I think there are factors in both directions. For example, usually more expensive games (like DQ11) get a much higher percentage of sales actually playing and reviewing the game. Ultimately it's all just estimates, but I think it's pretty likely that the P4G PC release already made around 5 million USD.
Oh for sure, I would expect the game to have made significant amounts of revenue already. Just saying that there is too much "noise" in the number (CCU, number of reviews) that people are using. It's more complex than "10 times bigger number = 10 times as many sales", one should treat this with more caution than that.
 
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Cacher

MetaMember
Jun 3, 2020
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Played five hours of Hardspace Shipbreaker. Main gameplay mechanics (ie. shipbreaking) is fantastic, The physics involved in cutting things apart, pulling and pushing them into respective processing areas feel real and very satisfying. Managing environment hazards is also very fun. Decompressure, fire, electricity (radiation too, but have not seen it yet) are all extremely dangerous and can cause huge explosion if not handled properly. Being an early access game, I feel that the developers have already gotten all the core mechanics right.

However, the current gameplay loop can be repetitive and frustrating. The current gameplay loop is (1) choose a ship -> (2) start a work shift, locate and collect the parts written in the work order -> (3) return to hub for daily balance result, upgrade gears and check data logs collected from the ship. Each shift is only 15 minutes long. Main game purpose is to level up employee rank by completing a number of requirements (eg. complete 10 work orders, salvage 15 furniture etc) which will unlock new updates and classes of ships. In order to be efficient in earning money and finishing the tasks as soon as possible, you always aim for the parts with the highest values as well as targeted parts for leveling up the rank. The problem is, this process can be repetitive as the variety of ships is limiting at the start of the game. On the other hand, when the shift is only 15 mins long, you also need to manage resources including fuel of your suit and oxygen level. Both deplete over the course of your shipbreaking activity. Although there are sometimes replenishment inside the ship to find (eg. fuel tank, oxygen tank), many often the ships do not have these tanks available for pick up. To put things worse, oxygen deplete really fast and usually before the 15 mins run out. So the flow of gameplay is greatly affected when you only have a limited amount of time to break things apart.

While the gameplay loop problem should be alleviated over progression, both the time limit and resources management problem are systematic, and there are many players are commenting on these two things in the discord server so I think they will be improved soon. There are also some low-res texture but they are just nip-ticks from me. BTW, there is a free mode which takes away time constraint and resources management. Players can enjoy breaking apart ships at ease.

Do I recommend the game? Yes, I do. You can really tell they have put a lot of work into making the physics feel right. It is also addicting as fuck. If you like the mechanics, go ahead and pick it up. If you can wait, I would recommend waiting for a month or two for them to iron out the issues.

Let's work for common good by incurring 1 billion debt and lose complete control of your life. LYNX, building a better future for all.

Sadly, Hardspace: Shipbreaker is nearly unplayable for me. :( When i'm near the hull of a ship or inside a ship, the GPU (GTX 1070) usage jumps to 99%. It goes from smooth 60 fps to 35-40 fps. CPU (i5 6500) usage is at 45%.
The TOTAL lack of advanced graphic options surprised me.
Yeah, the graphic options are really limiting. Explosion also heavily impacted frame rate. Over the course of 5 hours, the game also crashed twice and there is a bug in menu. Basically, the game is not optimized so we can only give them time to fix it.
 

kafiend

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
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Maybe the issue is in calling them demos, with all the historical baggage that comes with the term. Call them Temp EA-slice or something more elegant.

Personally I don't care about demos at all, certainly have zero interest in time limited ones.
When it comes down to it I can use the refund policy if I'm unsure if I will like the game, Most of the time that does not apply anyway because I tend to be reasonably clued up on wether I'll like it.
Exception being Nier recently. Thought I'd love it, but it pissed me off so much inside of 2 hours that I just refunded. Highly unusual for me and maybe I was just bad tempered.
 
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lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
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lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
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Thank you for the review, I'll definitively wait then. The time limit in career more is what worried me. I loathe time pressure and, given the feedback I've seen, this is one of the most common complaints.
yup ... pretty much half of the threads in steam forums is about the time limit, lol :p
 
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Cacher

MetaMember
Jun 3, 2020
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Thank you for the review, I'll definitively wait then. The time limit in career more is what worried me. I loathe time pressure and, given the feedback I've seen, this is one of the most common complaints.
yup ... pretty much half of the threads in steam forums is about the time limit, lol :p
Yeah, it is. Which also means If they can fix this, the game will truly shine.
 
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Knurek

OG old coot
Oct 16, 2018
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I think there are factors in both directions. For example, usually more expensive games (like DQ11) get a much higher percentage of sales actually playing and reviewing the game. Ultimately it's all just estimates, but I think it's pretty likely that the P4G PC release already made around 5 million USD.
I think you mean 5 million pirates playing the games for free.
We all know there's no money to be made with releasing a JRPG on PC.
 
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prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
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The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
. I've come to expect games media to not give Valve a fair shake more often than not, but I'd say it's probably a misunderstanding on John Walker's part in this case.
i dont think you are misunderstanding .. looking at his early posts , he has got aslmost as big hateboner for valve as Greyson does
don't know why the argument it's always ''Valve screws up people'' when devs make time limited demos all the time.
its easy , volvo doesnt do PR , like at all ... they even barely marketed Alyx
and it drives some of the "extended marketing" people crazy and some just refuse to look at things from other side than their own (like dev or customer one)

PS: just look how he replied to the comparision of it to E3 build - them as a jurnous are entitled to get the demos after the event so evil devs , but when its about simialr digital event the blame is on evil valve somehow
 

Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
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France

Tizoc

Retired, but still Enabling
Oct 11, 2018
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Oman
ko-fi.com
Hardspace Shipbreaker still looking good!

Game needs co-op :S If it had co-op where me and my buddy can go around cutting up space debris and screwing each other over, it'd be an insta buy for me.
...this got me to thinking though:
Many of the co-op games I own are First person view :(
What're 3rd person or such co-op campaign games on steam?
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
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Im delaying the purchase of all games currently on sale if they are part of the summer sale, like EA games and Hardspace is.
 

Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
1,284
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I am massively fucking stupid.

I'm convinced that I've been shorting out my board by using my old case, no I/O MB shield. I should really know fucking better after building many professionoal office machines and refurbishing many 'important' computers. Atm, I don't feel like I deserve my job. How could I let this happen to my personal machine like this?

Stupid.

Plus now I'm missing out on all of the steam demos which is making me more pissed at myself and I'm on the clock to get this fixed before game night with my good friend and twin.

On top of all of this, I bought Concrete Genie after fantomena posted about it being on sale. Fucked around too much with my computer, ended up downloading it right before I went to sleep.

I NEED MY COMPUTER!!!!!!

I offer my prayers to the computer god Ramubis.
 

Stone Ocean

Proud Degenerate
Apr 17, 2019
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These demos are timed because a good chunk of them aren't actual demos but pre-alpha teasers that would likely hurt the game in the long run. Skatebird for example had a super rough demo the first time we had this event, if that thing remained on the store people would likely think that's indicative of the final product and it would seriously hurt it. I can say the same about many, many other games I tried.

"Proper" demos take effort and resources most devs don't really want to deal with and the industry had already moved way past them. Sure I prefer permanent demos as much as anyone else but when the option is no demos or betas or pre-alpha proof of concepts whatsoever I'll take the timer.
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
3,534
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Atm, I don't feel like I deserve my job. How could I let this happen to my personal machine like this?

Stupid.
It's not your fault, mistakes happen and even people who know better do stupid things sometimes. You're not the machines you are building, cut yourself some slack :).

Also, 15 demos installed including Raji. I have no idea it was so anticipated and thought it looked promising by itself, that's pretty encouraging to hear..
 

xinek

日本語が苦手
Apr 17, 2019
777
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Those tweets ... how can someone be shitting on the Summer Game Festival? I swear, the internet does as much to kill my enthusiasm for gaming as the shitty industry practices -- the ps4 design sucks, AAA games suck, demos suck, the Demon's Souls remake looks like crap, on and on and on, and that's just in the past week. It's so predictable and yet so exhausting. There are so many legit things to criticize, and he's going off about the Summer Game Festival? Lol smh.
 

beep boop

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
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I do agree that the demo nomenclature is perhaps not great, because the associations and expectations people (read: consumers) tend to have with demos is different than what many of these specific demos intend to be, i.e. not final, teasers.
 
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