Alphas/betas/indies?

[MustardHo!]

Hey guys, so what are/have been some of your favourite games in alpha/beta, or from indie studios?

I generally like getting games in development, not only for the price, but because you get to see the game get better every update.

Games like Prison Architect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_Architect), or Gnomoria (http://gnomoria.com/), or Starbound (http://playstarbound.com/) are top picks for me. Especially Prison Architect, I've never seen such a committed dev team, it's still in alpha but plays like a finished game and updates every month, always with shedloads of new content/improvements (and the devs upload vids on youtube every update which are a great watch!)

Looking forward to hearing some of your favourites anyway :)

[Zeraf242]

I would have to say that Starbound is the best game that I have ever bought in alpha. I had to cut back on buying games in alpha and beta because it started to eat up my wallet and I have several games that I am still waiting to be finished.

I like that indie studios can understand what their target demographic wants to play instead of trying to find something that will make money.

[MustardHo!]

I would have to say that Starbound is the best game that I have ever bought in alpha. I had to cut back on buying games in alpha and beta because it started to eat up my wallet and I have several games that I am still waiting to be finished.

I like that indie studios can understand what their target demographic wants to play instead of trying to find something that will make money.

For sure, although of course some devs do fall guilty of that later down the line, I guess you can't blame them too much when it's their baby they've been working on for years and it's not making them anything.

Starbound is great though, and apparently they're finally adding a permadeath mode in coming updates - the lack of real risk was the only thing that's put me off so far. New update will wipe characters and worlds though, so don't get too attached to anything right now!

[Zeraf242]

I know I've been checking their website every day to see when it was coming. I created alot of characters when I was editing textures to see if they worked or not as well as finding out which race is better for me to play as. So it would be nice to see my character list wiped for (most likely) the last time.

[Riot.EXE]

The Skullgirls Endless Beta...where you can try all the new shit that Lab Zero would like to do, before they finalize it in the actual game. Fighting Game updates done RIGHT!

[MustardHo!]

I know I've been checking their website every day to see when it was coming. I created alot of characters when I was editing textures to see if they worked or not as well as finding out which race is better for me to play as. So it would be nice to see my character list wiped for (most likely) the last time.

Haha yeah, "most likely" is the crucial phrase there. I sure hope it is anyway, had hours and hours in other games wiped away overnight from forgetting to turn off steam auto-update or something!

The Skullgirls Endless Beta...where you can try all the new shit that Lab Zero would like to do, before they finalize it in the actual game. Fighting Game updates done RIGHT!

I just watched a couple of videos, the artstyle looks sick, what are the mechanics like? I've never played a fighting game on PC before, it seems like it would benefit from a joypad? I see it's on deal for under $7 though for the next few days, might have to pick it up!

[Riot.EXE]

I know I've been checking their website every day to see when it was coming. I created alot of characters when I was editing textures to see if they worked or not as well as finding out which race is better for me to play as. So it would be nice to see my character list wiped for (most likely) the last time.

Haha yeah, "most likely" is the crucial phrase there. I sure hope it is anyway, had hours and hours in other games wiped away overnight from forgetting to turn off steam auto-update or something!

The Skullgirls Endless Beta...where you can try all the new shit that Lab Zero would like to do, before they finalize it in the actual game. Fighting Game updates done RIGHT!

I just watched a couple of videos, the artstyle looks sick, what are the mechanics like? I've never played a fighting game on PC before, it seems like it would benefit from a joypad? I see it's on deal for under $7 though for the next few days, might have to pick it up!

Yeah, you'd most definitely want an arcade stick for this game. It's a pretty combo-heavy game that rewards creativity by instating a system that auto-detects and punishes attempts at infinites. If you're interested in picking it up, you definitely should, so you can stay caught up. I did a podcast episode about the game when it had initially come out on console (PS3 and 360), but it's a little outdated, and I'll definitely be recording a runback episode for the game when it's properly finished.

[MustardHo!]

Yeah, you'd most definitely want an arcade stick for this game. It's a pretty combo-heavy game that rewards creativity by instating a system that auto-detects and punishes attempts at infinites. If you're interested in picking it up, you definitely should, so you can stay caught up. I did a podcast episode about the game when it had initially come out on console (PS3 and 360), but it's a little outdated, and I'll definitely be recording a runback episode for the game when it's properly finished.

Oh sweet, yeah I've been searching for an excuse to use my keypad, I'll snatch it up while it's on sale then. And yeah in some of the podcasts I've seen it looks like people have sick skills at it - I can only really get into fighting games when there's a lot of strategy involved instead of just button-mashing, so it seems this has plenty enough of that. Definitely let me know if you do get around to recording another playthrough

[Riot.EXE]

Yeah, you'd most definitely want an arcade stick for this game. It's a pretty combo-heavy game that rewards creativity by instating a system that auto-detects and punishes attempts at infinites. If you're interested in picking it up, you definitely should, so you can stay caught up. I did a podcast episode about the game when it had initially come out on console (PS3 and 360), but it's a little outdated, and I'll definitely be recording a runback episode for the game when it's properly finished.

Oh sweet, yeah I've been searching for an excuse to use my keypad, I'll snatch it up while it's on sale then. And yeah in some of the podcasts I've seen it looks like people have sick skills at it - I can only really get into fighting games when there's a lot of strategy involved instead of just button-mashing, so it seems this has plenty enough of that. Definitely let me know if you do get around to recording another playthrough

Um...You're confusing "Podcast" with "Let's Play".

I don't have any gameplay footage online. The podcast is just a few friends and I talking about the game when it came out...Here's the link

[Amphibious-Dave]

I'm in up to my armpits in Kerbal Space Program. It's a game in which you build and launch rockets into a fictional solar system, all run on actual orbital mechanics. I love it when my "opponent" in a game is the rules of the game themselves.

[MustardHo!]

Um...You're confusing "Podcast" with "Let's Play".

I don't have any gameplay footage online. The podcast is just a few friends and I talking about the game when it came out...Here's the link

Ohh right yeah I must have misread, didn't realise there were many podcasts around about gaming!

I'm in up to my armpits in Kerbal Space Program. It's a game in which you build and launch rockets into a fictional solar system, all run on actual orbital mechanics. I love it when my "opponent" in a game is the rules of the game themselves.

KSP is definitely up there for me as well, can't believe I forgot about it! Actually, no, I know the reason I forgot about it - I can't think of another game ever that's caused me so much frustration! Without that Wernher VonKerman guy's youtube tutorials I felt like a flailing fish, murdering Jeb over and over again in my ridiculously ill-conceived designs

I've still only managed to orbit though, crashed in to the Mun many times, but nowhere near a stable landing. What have you managed to do? If you've got any further you should definitely let me in on some of the tips, I see videos of flights and ships sometimes that are just incredible - I just feel like I'd need a degree in planetary physics to even understand them sometimes!

[Zeraf242]

Kerbal Space Program is an awesome game though I haven't played it in awhile. I have landed on (not recently) the Mun, Minmus, Duna, Eve, and Laythe with rovers. But the most recent game I have started in the campaign mode has gotten me so starved for science that I think I might have to start over which makes me sad. I'll probably just wait until the next update before I do that.

MustardHo!  The first Mun landing is always the hardest!. Scott Manley http://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg suggests that it is easier to land on minmus first rather than the mun.

Riot.EXE  Didn't know you did podcasts. I may have to watch some of them.

[Amphibious-Dave]

So I'm in a bit of a bind now. I want to talk about some KSP stuff I've done, but it would be personally identifiable. Can search engines see these forum posts? I can't find the robots.txt.

[Riot.EXE]

Kerbal Space Program is an awesome game though I haven't played it in awhile. I have landed on (not recently) the Mun, Minmus, Duna, Eve, and Laythe with rovers. But the most recent game I have started in the campaign mode has gotten me so starved for science that I think I might have to start over which makes me sad. I'll probably just wait until the next update before I do that.

MustardHo!  The first Mun landing is always the hardest!. Scott Manley http://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg suggests that it is easier to land on minmus first rather than the mun.

Riot.EXE  Didn't know you did podcasts. I may have to watch some of them.

I've mentioned it before, but it's possible you might've missed 'em. They're not video, though...81 episodes, 4 bonus episodes. First episode of the year is getting recorded either tonight or tomorrow night, and getting posted on Friday. Here's the entire series, so far...

[Amphibious-Dave]

To hell with caution. I've done a bunch of KSP Youtube LP videos (about 60ish) that I am mostly proud of. I don't make them as much anymore, most of my KSP content these days is livestreaming.