Cube World strikes me as the poster child for problematic early access/pay up front for something that isn’t done.
I wonder how much of Wollay’s anxiety was really DDOSs and the like, and how much of it was, “I just took in a fuck ton of money, and I’m not sure I can/want to create something like I promised.”
I was only stung by one Kickstarter that didn’t deliver (for a physical wargame, Up Front!), but that was enough for me to not do it again.
So $20 on release over on Steam. What was the pre-order buy in price like 6-7 years ago?
I think it was $20. Right around there, anyway.
It was €15 ($20)
It’s getting hate from Alpha players because of the significant design changes from the original. CW was initially a procedurally generated open-world exploration action-RPG with XP and Skill Tree. It worked and it was fun. I think most Alpha customers just wanted (and expected) the same alpha-based foundation but just with more polish, QoL stuff, and more content (ie factions, better quests, NPCs that DO stuff, more POI’s, more pets, more biomes, more mobs, etc) but that’s not what they got.
While CW Beta has more content, it is now separated into regions (no more wanderlust!) that practically resets your character every time you move to a new region. This is a massive change from alpha and one that many people refuse to embrace for its own merits, if there are any…
The negative reviews are gonna pile up because many people are genuinely unhappy while others will gladly “pile on” just because that’s a thing on the internet whether or not that actually enjoy its current iteration.
There was a whole list of promised features on the picroma website up until a week or two ago that was completely gutted when Beta launched. Several existing features were downgraded (biome + town generation among others).
Yeah, this is going to be tough to watch. I sure there will be cash grab accusations as the were several reviews posted before launch, which were quite positive (I am sure there was a sizable sales bump the first few days).
And we know it may end up being tough on him and he could shut down…I thought it was iffy if things were going good…
Wollay deleted his old blog today. Pixxie (his partner) has deleted her latest tweets and steam forum posts.
Guess what this means? Six more years!
Kind of glad I wrote this game off 5 years ago. I normally really sympathize with developers but it’s pretty hard in this case.
The guy is obviously struggling. If he had issues dealing with the previous launch, the overwhelming negativity accompanying this one is going to be that much worse to deal with.
I do feel empathy for the developer and I hope he copes ok with the pressure and possibly comes out with another patch fixing those issues at some point.
But even if he doesn’t, the fact I spent $20 (actually probably 60-80, as I was playing it with my kids and had a ball with it back then) on an unfinished game 6 years ago is hardly going to inspire me to go on a crusade against him.
And if he does deliver, we’ll probably have some more fun with it.
I have nothing negative to say about Wollay, only his business decisions! I hope the release of CW offers him some catharsis but at the same time, I don’t think he should have released it for money if he’s likely to run away again.
Download link in YT description. (Its a mod)
Won’t the balance be ruined? From what I’ve read it’s pretty easy to get good gear since it’s (mostly) locked to a single region.
Yes. It’s useful for people that just want to explore and see the sights. From what I understand, without resetting gear in each region you’ll spend about 2-3 hours getting equipped and then you’re done. There just doesn’t seem to be a lot there which I think he hoped the progression resetting would mask.
So it looks like the dev is quite quiet on this, and there is plenty of unhappiness on the steam discussion board. You see a few fanboy v haters battles but definitely more haters than fanboys it appears.
One interesting observation is the people who never played it before are more likely to like it than those that played long ago.
Anyone still playing this?
Haven’t bothered after the first steam impressions. I was waiting to read about improvements…
See you in six years.
Wait, no I won’t. I guarantee I’ll be busy.
I played it for a stream and haven’t felt the need to go back. Initial difficulty is too crazy, stuff isn’t explained well and all this makes it not really fun. It’s a shame. I enjoyed the heck out of the alpha years ago.
For me, the Steam edition doesn’t have the same “magic” that the original did. The old alpha was truly open-world and allowed for unhindered exploration and just felt more wondrous. The Steam version feels more formulaic and linear and just doesn’t compel me to play like the original.
Yeah, exactly. The original alpha was open and joyous to play. This one slaps you down all the time, almost punishing you to play it.
Some folks working on Cube World type game in Rust: