My only problem is that (again, unless I missed the fine print, which is totally possible) it wasn’t presented as a premium buy-in option, just a kind of selective closed alpha. The only Stardock game I own is one of the Political Machines, so I’m not really into the studio or their process. I’m just really into Star Control. So maybe I should have known, but it was an unpleasant surprise.
Must have just been a miscommunication somewhere. I haven’t followed the new Star Control news too closely, but I was aware when it rolled out that the initial $100 founder access was going to be very limited, and the reasons for why. I’m not sure where I heard that, though, if it was just from reading this thread or if it were from another source.
I can see how that’d be an unpleasant surprise. :)
Thats not the first time I read this, others are understandably upset - What seems like a possibility to gain access to a select club due to your love of an old game, turns out to be a privilege you have to pay 100 dollars for. It sure does seem like a scam, even if it wasn’t meant like it. No matter what, its a catastrophic miscommunication.
I expected them to do a founders club just as they did with GalCiv3, no problem there.
The questionnaire they sent out I would assume was for a very very limited number of people to basically get ‘founders club’ free, as they would be doing a lot of “leg-work” (being die hard fans of the game) and basically “work for free to help make game awesome, yo!”.
- Was this the wrong assumption?
- Should I be angry at someone?
The text is:
Interested in participating in one of the most exciting reboots in gaming history? If Star Control is as near and dear to you as it is to us, fill out the survey linked below for a chance to join our Closed Founder’s program! If your application is approved, you will gain access to The Vault and the private forums where you can get an insider’s look at our development process as we move toward release. You will also have the chance to play each iteration of the game when we enter Alpha and Beta phases.
I just think they need to reword that it to include the word ‘purchase’.
Interested in participating in one of the most exciting reboots in gaming history? If Star Control is as near and dear to you as it is to us, fill out the survey linked below for a chance to purchase the Closed Founder’s Edition! By purchasing the Closed Founder’s Edition, you will gain access to The Vault and the private forums where you can get an insider’s look at our development process as we move toward release. You will also have the chance to play each iteration of the game when we enter Alpha and Beta phases.
Or just link to a discussion of their Founders Programs of yore. Going into it, as someone who’s fairly familiar with Stardock, I figured it’d be a high buy-in. I can see why Star Control fans coming in “off the street” as it were (whose last experience with SD might be, say, GalCiv2 or Sins) wouldn’t have good reason to be familiar with how they use the term.
Sort of unfortunate all around, really :(
Yeah - there is absolutely nothing in that text that tells you that you will gain the privilege of purchasing anything. Its not just unfortunate, its extremely misleading. I am somewhat curious as to whether the vagueness was intentional or not?
Or just have the wording as it is.
“Closed Founders” - Forum Access, Alpha, Beta.-
Paid “Founders” - Forum Access, Alpha, Beta, Game, DLC, DLC, Expansion (Like with all their other Founders programs)
I am assuming that they were going to have two different programs?
Christ on a bike, man. What on earth would the point of that be?
Stardock has run Founders programs for all their recent games. To my knowledge, they’ve always been $100 for the all-inclusive package. I’d imagine a mistake/assumption was made in thinking that people would know what Founders meant.
I have no idea - its just a REALLY poor choice of wording here, something that I don’t normally see from Stardock. Everyone makes mistakes of course, so its probably just that.
Just miscommunication. If it were a scam you’d only find out about the $100 after you handed over some $5 administrative charge and then you get auto-billed under some obscure clause in the T&Cs you agreed to when you signed up.
• Name a planet in the Star Control universe
I … I … I find my self control faltering.
Must resist.
I wouldn’t be able to play anything for quite some time.
$100 can buy a good amount of groceries.
I can get Fallout 4 and the season pass for less than that.
But to name a planet in the proper sequel to my most cherished space game of all time? How can I put a price on that? No longer would bullies kick sand in my face (I don’t often go to the beach, but I see potential bullies passing by my place all the time and I’m sure that some of them bring sand with them wherever they go). While out on a date, looking romantically up at the stars, I could confidently say “Yeah, I got to name a planet. That’s how I roll, baby.” Any woman would swoon at hearing of such awesomeness. When I listen to the advertisement for “starregistry.whatever” offering their package of absolutely meaningless drivel because it’s not binding to celestial mapmakers in any way whatsoever, I can scoff at it instead of secretly wanting to purchase their offer. My planet? People would only need to load the game and find it. Even the aliens would respect and pay homage to my naming of it. How do you like them apples?
sigh
For $100 I should get my very own Ultron.
I have been a founder for several games; I would say that the switch from anyone purchasing the package to it being closed to a select few is more off putting. Personally, I think it would have been wiser to have called it something else instead of founders package since the nature of the package in this case was switched to mean something different.
Hi guys.
Just to clear some things up. The Founder’s Program is the very limited offer (looking for a very very small dedicated group). We’ve been running Founders programs for some years now which I fear has made us a bit sloppy in our communications on it.
The difference this time is that we wanted to restrict the number of people involved further (we have a very limited # of private Steam keys we can distribute) so instead of just making it generally available we gated with the survey. From the thousands of surveys we were able to narrow it down to around 2,500 candidates who received the email.
Brad, since I didn’t know it was a buy-in thing when I applied, is there any good way for me to pass my opportunity on to someone else?
They’d need to take the survey. The idea is to keep the # of people involved very small so that they’re essentially integrated into the development process.
Happy turkey day!
-brad
And if someone had, say, taken said survey and was in the system, waiting patiently and politely? ;)
They rejected you for a reason, bro.
I keed, I keed. :)
The doctor says those polyps are perfectly natural, albeit disfiguring!