Crowfall Devs Detail 'The Road to Alpha' in New Blog - MMORPG.com

SBFord · January 2019

Crowfall Devs Detail 'The Road to Alpha' in New Blog - MMORPG.com

In a new blog post on the Crowfall site, Creative Director J. Todd Coleman details the "Road to Alpha", numerically v6.0. Currently, the pre-alpha version 5.8 is live on servers and Coleman writes that it has been "VERY well-received" and has resulted in "both increased player concurrency and a noticeable uptick in new players".

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kryntok · January 2019

I remember Hiveleader playing this game about 2 years ago. I thought oh maybe it will release within a year.....now I see they are on the road to alpha....yeah

[Deleted User] · January 2019

The user and all related content has been deleted.

3dom · January 2019

Its permanent alpha state is starting to resemble Star Citizen scam.

boris20 · January 2019

Ive got some friends playing this fairly actively. They are making progress and now have persistent seasons, siege wars happening, guilds, alliances, ect.

But I too just had my jaw drop when i realized they are still in pre alpha. I am waiting for beta before i try the game out.

bamwalla · January 2019

Loooong and winding rooooooad

boris20 · January 2019

Torval said:

The road to alpha? I got the impression this game was leaving alpha and heading into beta and early access by the way some recent backers and articles talked about it. Seriously? The road to alpha? /smh

That is the impression I was getting as well, that beta was looming.

lahnmir · January 2019

As someone who has been playing this over the last two years, progress is huge. And CF Alpha does not resemble other Alpha games, before the last update it already felt like more of a Beta test and I haven’t yet tried the latest patch. This is no Atlas, CU or CS Alpha, or Legends of Aria, Project Genom, the Repopulation etc. etc.

It is also MUCH smoother, more intuitive and more fun then something like SotA. Out of all crowdfunded MMORPGs this one is leading the pack, by a longshot.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

Slapshot1188 · January 2019

Torval said:

The road to alpha? I got the impression this game was leaving alpha and heading into beta and early access by the way some recent backers and articles talked about it. Seriously? The road to alpha? /smh

You haven't kept up with the times. All the cool projects today are in PRE-ALPHA!

Also, thinking that Early Access has some bearing on whether something is pre-alpha, alpha, beta or gold is really old school thinking. Today we have evolved and are willing to buy concepts and ideas as Early Access because of FOMO.

Soon we will have PRE-Early Access games. In this stage, we purchase games BEFORE they are announced. We just know that developer XYZ will eventually make a game so we get in early on that concept before they even think of it.

What a deal!

Slapshot1188 · January 2019

TimEisen said:

I wonder why developers don't put accurate dates on their Kickstarter launch advertisements.

They can only be as accurate as their Gantt Charts!

Vrika · January 2019

boris20 said:

Torval said:

The road to alpha? I got the impression this game was leaving alpha and heading into beta and early access by the way some recent backers and articles talked about it. Seriously? The road to alpha? /smh

That is the impression I was getting as well, that beta was looming.

They use the terms differently. The game's been in a state where most MMO devs would have called it alpha for a couple of years already, and now it's nearing a state where many devs would soon call it beta.

In reality it's more finished than any other crowdfunded game in development at the moment.

Wizardry · January 2019

#1 You can't as the developer say your game has been very well received,that is something only the players can say.

#2 I have forever not figured out what this game is doing or whom it is selling to.It is like we have characters and we can do damage,ummm yeah and?Oh and we have this castle idea we hope we can build a bigger cash shop based off it.

IMO you can't sell game like this,i personally wouldn't do it,i would have no confidence in selling it.

"accurate dates ?"You can't put an accurate date on a development cycle,you have no idea of what is to come from bugs to ideas that simply don't work or you might discover new ways to do them better.What SHOULD be released from ANY game is the development stages,what EXACTLY the game is going to deliver otherwise my assumption will always be the team is just "winging it"similar to Star Citizen.

Ozmodan · January 2019

The major difference between COE and this game is that they have funding. From what I have read the backers are happy with the progress. Something that is absent in COE.

Ungood · January 2019

lahnmir said:

As someone who has been playing this over the last two years, progress is huge. And CF Alpha does not resemble other Alpha games, before the last update it already felt like more of a Beta test and I haven’t yet tried the latest patch. This is no Atlas, CU or CS Alpha, or Legends of Aria, Project Genom, the Repopulation etc. etc.

It is also MUCH smoother, more intuitive and more fun then something like SotA. Out of all crowdfunded MMORPGs this one is leading the pack, by a longshot.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

This is true.. I have played "Released" games that were not as good as Crowfall's Pre-Alpha.

Outside Polish and maybe fleshing out their systems, this game is built.

But, for as much as I like this game, I am going to be blunt, the balance is off the charts horrible, if they don't find a way to work that out before their official launch, this game is looking to be a flash in the pan kind of game. It will get a burst of people to come in, play for a bit, realize that the balance ifs horra-bad, and move on to something else, in short order.

You cannot have a PvP focused game with poor balance and expect it to survive.

Vrika · January 2019

Ozmodan said:

The major difference between COE and this game is that they have funding. From what I have read the backers are happy with the progress. Something that is absent in COE.

It's not just a difference in funding. COE has wasted a lot or resources on abandoned ventures with SpatialOS and ElyriaMUD.

Arkade99 · January 2019

Ungood said:

lahnmir said:

As someone who has been playing this over the last two years, progress is huge. And CF Alpha does not resemble other Alpha games, before the last update it already felt like more of a Beta test and I haven’t yet tried the latest patch. This is no Atlas, CU or CS Alpha, or Legends of Aria, Project Genom, the Repopulation etc. etc.

It is also MUCH smoother, more intuitive and more fun then something like SotA. Out of all crowdfunded MMORPGs this one is leading the pack, by a longshot.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

This is true.. I have played "Released" games that were not as good as Crowfall's Pre-Alpha.

Outside Polish and maybe fleshing out their systems, this game is built.

But, for as much as I like this game, I am going to be blunt, the balance is off the charts horrible, if they don't find a way to work that out before their official launch, this game is looking to be a flash in the pan kind of game. It will get a burst of people to come in, play for a bit, realize that the balance ifs horra-bad, and move on to something else, in short order.

You cannot have a PvP focused game with poor balance and expect it to survive.

The balance is bad, but I'm confident that it will be addressed, and I say that as someone who plays a class that's on the wrong side of that balance

Ungood · January 2019

Arkade99 said:

Ungood said:

lahnmir said:

As someone who has been playing this over the last two years, progress is huge. And CF Alpha does not resemble other Alpha games, before the last update it already felt like more of a Beta test and I haven’t yet tried the latest patch. This is no Atlas, CU or CS Alpha, or Legends of Aria, Project Genom, the Repopulation etc. etc.

It is also MUCH smoother, more intuitive and more fun then something like SotA. Out of all crowdfunded MMORPGs this one is leading the pack, by a longshot.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

This is true.. I have played "Released" games that were not as good as Crowfall's Pre-Alpha.

Outside Polish and maybe fleshing out their systems, this game is built.

But, for as much as I like this game, I am going to be blunt, the balance is off the charts horrible, if they don't find a way to work that out before their official launch, this game is looking to be a flash in the pan kind of game. It will get a burst of people to come in, play for a bit, realize that the balance ifs horra-bad, and move on to something else, in short order.

You cannot have a PvP focused game with poor balance and expect it to survive.

The balance is bad, but I'm confident that it will be addressed, and I say that as someone who plays a class that's on the wrong side of that balance

So.. basically you are not playing a Hamster, Confessor or Assassin.. got it..

Ungood · January 2019

Wizardry said:

#1 You can't as the developer say your game has been very well received,that is something only the players can say.

Allow me then you put your worries to rest.

Yes you can. Here is how it works, If your players have expressed to you that they liked your game so far, than, you as a the developer can say it was well received.

Wizardry said:

#2 I have forever not figured out what this game is doing or whom it is selling to.It is like we have characters and we can do damage,ummm yeah and?Oh and we have this castle idea we hope we can build a bigger cash shop based off it.

It's Realms vs Realms warfare. That is their demographic and target market, if that is not what you want to play, than this is not the game for you.

The fact that you are struggling with that concept, pretty much means this was not designed for someone like you, just not going to be the kind of game you will enjoy.

Nothing wrong with that, different strokes for different folks, I hope you find a game that is more your liking.

BruceYee · January 2019

I agree with others who have said that this game is in the best shape of all the crowdfunded games but some of those same people say the game is mostly done, so why all the delay? The game currently works better than other games I tried in closed beta and can't wait to finally play when it comes out if it ever does. I miss the good old days when games had release dates.

Slapshot1188 · January 2019

BruceYee said:

I agree with others who have said that this game is in the best shape of all the crowdfunded games but some of those same people say the game is mostly done, so why all the delay? The game currently works better than other games I tried in closed beta and can't wait to finally play when it comes out if it ever does. I miss the good old days when games had release dates.

Because it's not mostly done. They just recently started making the actual GAME. Prior to this it was the engine and the mechanics.

I have hopes for the game, but no... it's not ready for release yet. Not even very close. But the backend work is mostly done so we should see rapid progress now.

Quizzical · January 2019

Wizardry said:

#1 You can't as the developer say your game has been very well received,that is something only the players can say.

Actually, I believe that they have just demonstrated that they can say it. Whether they should or not is a different matter entirely.

Really, though, their claim is much narrower: version 5.8 is much more popular than previous versions.

Kyleran · January 2019

3dom said:

Its permanent alpha state is starting to resemble Star Citizen scam.

18 more months...

Its always about 18 more months until launch.

Quizzical · January 2019

Vrika said:

boris20 said:

Torval said:

The road to alpha? I got the impression this game was leaving alpha and heading into beta and early access by the way some recent backers and articles talked about it. Seriously? The road to alpha? /smh

That is the impression I was getting as well, that beta was looming.

They use the terms differently. The game's been in a state where most MMO devs would have called it alpha for a couple of years already, and now it's nearing a state where many devs would soon call it beta.

This.

Don't get too caught up in the nomenclature. If another developer would call the game in its current state a "beta", that wouldn't make it any further along or more polished than it is now.

If anything, I think that the modesty in describing the state of the game is a whole lot better than calling a game in the same state a beta and trying to get people to pay money now while giving the impression that launch is imminent.

Quizzical · January 2019

Ungood said:

Arkade99 said:

Ungood said:

lahnmir said:

As someone who has been playing this over the last two years, progress is huge. And CF Alpha does not resemble other Alpha games, before the last update it already felt like more of a Beta test and I haven’t yet tried the latest patch. This is no Atlas, CU or CS Alpha, or Legends of Aria, Project Genom, the Repopulation etc. etc.

It is also MUCH smoother, more intuitive and more fun then something like SotA. Out of all crowdfunded MMORPGs this one is leading the pack, by a longshot.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

This is true.. I have played "Released" games that were not as good as Crowfall's Pre-Alpha.

Outside Polish and maybe fleshing out their systems, this game is built.

But, for as much as I like this game, I am going to be blunt, the balance is off the charts horrible, if they don't find a way to work that out before their official launch, this game is looking to be a flash in the pan kind of game. It will get a burst of people to come in, play for a bit, realize that the balance ifs horra-bad, and move on to something else, in short order.

You cannot have a PvP focused game with poor balance and expect it to survive.

The balance is bad, but I'm confident that it will be addressed, and I say that as someone who plays a class that's on the wrong side of that balance

So.. basically you are not playing a Hamster, Confessor or Assassin.. got it..

Don't get too caught up in the play balance of a pre-alpha game. Unless you're stupid about how you code a game, it's easy to tweak numbers up or down later to fix play balance.

There's no sense in putting too much work into that early on while major mechanics are completely missing from the game. Even if you put in all of the effort to get play balance perfect now, adding new features later will completely break it and you'll have to do all that effort over again. Once you've got all of the major mechanics that you want for launch in place and working, then it's time to focus on play balance. But they're not there yet.

It's possible that the play balance will still be a disaster at launch. But putting too much focus on it this early would be a waste of effort that would either delay the launch or mean cutting more important things out.

Kyleran · January 2019

Quizzical said:

Vrika said:

boris20 said:

Torval said:

The road to alpha? I got the impression this game was leaving alpha and heading into beta and early access by the way some recent backers and articles talked about it. Seriously? The road to alpha? /smh

That is the impression I was getting as well, that beta was looming.

They use the terms differently. The game's been in a state where most MMO devs would have called it alpha for a couple of years already, and now it's nearing a state where many devs would soon call it beta.

This.

Don't get too caught up in the nomenclature. If another developer would call the game in its current state a "beta", that wouldn't make it any further along or more polished than it is now.

If anything, I think that the modesty in describing the state of the game is a whole lot better than calling a game in the same state a beta and trying to get people to pay money now while giving the impression that launch is imminent.

OK, let's forget nomenclature, and focus on what state of completion the game is towards its MMP, minimally marketable product.

From this excerpt it would appear they really don't have this well defined and are basically just continuing development until a lack of funding forces them into release.

"As with every MMO, at some point you have to “call it”; you decide on the specific list of features that you want to have finished (and polished) at launch and what will need to come later. Inevitably, there will be more things that you want than you can possibly fit on the schedule… which means that we will have to make some hard choices on what comes now and what comes later."

Octagon7711 · January 2019

Slapshot1188 said:

BruceYee said:

I agree with others who have said that this game is in the best shape of all the crowdfunded games but some of those same people say the game is mostly done, so why all the delay? The game currently works better than other games I tried in closed beta and can't wait to finally play when it comes out if it ever does. I miss the good old days when games had release dates.

Because it's not mostly done. They just recently started making the actual GAME. Prior to this it was the engine and the mechanics.

I have hopes for the game, but no... it's not ready for release yet. Not even very close. But the backend work is mostly done so we should see rapid progress now.

So when people are saying the game plays better than a lot of games that have launched or are in beta they really mean the combat plays better. As most of the game hasn't been done yet which explains why it's so good yet not ready to launch or in beta.

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Crowfall Devs Detail 'The Road to Alpha' in New Blog - MMORPG.com

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Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey