What is your take on posting screenshots from alpha ?

[sphinxgate]

I'm taking the 'half full glass' approach and assuming that you get backed successfully ! What are your thoughts on backers posting aplha screenshots, I know some developers like to get into beta before anything is made too public to protect the game from looking too unfinished.i 'd be interested to hear your take on this ?

[SJones]

I understand why some developers may feel that way, I might myself however for Colonisation: Moonbase and the fact this is my first game, I am not expecting a massive fan base (would be nice) as such I think getting stuff out as early as possible may actually help grow this, there will most likely be some development build text stating it is alpha or beta in the game window itself, meaning anyone looking at them will clearly see that it is an unfinished product. (this text will be small and out of the way.) Also the fact that kickstarter has a fair amount of apha imagery throughout it (screenshots and gameplay video) means that if people think it looks bad from the alpha stage, then the damage has already been done. So from the point of view of colonisation moonbase I am more than happy for backers to post alpha and beta screenshots. It would be nice if with those screenshots there was a link included (if its a forum post or review site etc) back to the website and forums so they can discuss what they have seen.

[sphinxgate]

Thanks for the response - great news. It would be good if you could get a screenshot / or mock up of a mico-meteor shower on the KS page, especially if you have the building evac in progress, as it shows some of the excitement factor and may attract a few more backers.

[SJones]

I will be demonstrating the micro-meteor shower as well as the damage system, I hadn't considered an emergency evac system, this is another interesting idea that I would add excitement as you said, already thinking of ways to implement this, but will need to do some more research to determine the level of difficulty this would be to do.

[sscadmin]

I think screenshots are good because it does show off progress which most people like. Gamers know that games are in a state of development and understand early pics of the game/gameplay. And on sites like SSC where posts are shown on the frontpage it can give a game/project extra exposure from people trying to find more info on the pic they saw. Plus it gives gamers something to talk about and a dev can get some good feedback from those nit-picky gamers like me

[sphinxgate]

+1 yh more screenshots for the forum and updates