Incline Colony Ship RELEASE THREAD

[TheDarkUrge]

Hopefully the market for CRPGs becomes bigger with the success of bg3 so it's not so risky for these indie devs.

Not sure why you think the market will become bigger because of Baldur's Gate 3. Indie devs don't have the budget nor development time required to provide the amount of content Baldur's Gate 3 did.

A fellow monkey that enjoyed BG3 sees the CRPG tag attached to BG3 then searches CRPG tag in steam. That's the extent of my belief it will lead to a bigger market

 

[Modron]

A fellow monkey that enjoyed BG3 sees the CRPG tag attached to BG3 then searches CRPG tag in steam. That's the extent of my belief it will lead to a bigger market

"175,519 results match your search." < for the tag CRPG sure going to help players stumble across Colony Ship. Just to show you how liberally users apply that tag check out publisher/developer supplied RPG Genre which is 32,411 results.

 

[Tyranicon]

If we're being optimistic the BG3 to CS funnel would work something like this:

"Man I really wish there was an RPG not made for zoomers that grew up watching degenerate streamers!"

"Sure friend, you might enjoy something called Colony Ship!"

 

[TheDarkUrge]

If we're being optimistic the BG3 to CS funnel would work something like this:

"Man I really wish there was an RPG not made for zoomers that grew up watching degenerate streamers!"

"Sure friend, you might enjoy something called Colony Ship!"

Yeah I made a couple threads like that in the BG3 discussion forum, talking about owlcat and other games then colony ship sneakily added in. A few people mentioned they never heard of colony ship but played all the rest already so it 100% works. Vince is shooting himself in the foot for not employing some botter to spam pseudo recommendations that shill his game.

 

[deama]

Hey Vault Dweller , I had a question concerning payments towards the team, not sure if you can answer it or not:
Basically, during colony's ship development, what was the size of the main team? I'm not sure how the payment was done, but if you were to pick a number in dollars that you'd get every month, how much would it need to be to keep everyone at a "workable" level?

And you mentioned you had to hire contractors etc... too, how much of the budget was allocated to the contractors vs paying the main team? 50%?

 

[Vault Dweller]

It's not that simple or straightforward.

First, there's the core team and there are contractors. Contractors were getting paid first, so in 2020, for example, we could only pay the contractors. In 2019, after paying the contractors, we only had 38k left to pay the core team, which isn't a lot.

Second, we hired based on what we could afford, not based on what we needed. Any shortfall was offset by working longer hours and extra months and years.

 

[deama]

It's not that simple or straightforward.

First, there's the core team and there are contractors. Contractors were getting paid first, so in 2020, for example, we could only pay the contractors. In 2019, after paying the contractors, we only had 38k left to pay the core team, which isn't a lot.

Second, we hired based on what we could afford, not based on what we needed. Any shortfall was offset by working longer hours and extra months and years.

How large was the core team at that point? When you had the 38k left over?
And what would be an "ok" amount to have at that point, instead of 38k, if you had to ballpark it?
Or was it moreso of the core team sort of working for the future in that they'd get a piece of the sales once game was done, so the 38k was reserved for emergencies and/or more contractors?

 

[cvv]

In 2019, after paying the contractors, we only had 38k left to pay the core team

38k to live for a year? For "a team"? Jesus, do you live in woods eating tree bark?

Fuck it bro, just make a nude loli shooter next, buy an island and then keep making your niche nerdery until you die.

 

[Vault Dweller]

How large was the core team at that point? When you had the 38k left over?

4 people.

And what would be an "ok" amount to have at that point, instead of 38k, if you had to ballpark it?

It doesn't matter what you wish you'd have. The main problem is that we need to expand the core team and hire more contractors, so the past numbers are a poor indicator of anything.

 

[deama]

It doesn't matter what you wish you'd have. The main problem is that we need to expand the core team and hire more contractors, so the past numbers are a poor indicator of anything.

I'm moreso interested in how much of an upkeep you would need per month to keep a decently sized core team to deliver a game in the scope of colony ship.
I don't have any idea of the finances involved, so I was wondering whether something like $10k a month, distributed across e.g. 10 people would be enough for e.g. 5 years.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Not when other studios pay more. We lost a second programmer because he was offered a much higher pay elsewhere (and that's in Ukraine). We lost two good contractors for the same reason (they built stronger portfolios and applied for better paying jobs in bigger studios).

 

[Rincewind]

Well, that 38k could get you maybe an average gfx artist in Hungary for a year, but it wouldn't be a great salary. Try to get a coder, well good luck. They could earn 3x as much without trying too hard.

Then here in Australia you won't get a receptionist for that kind of money

I had no idea Ukraine was so cheap.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Not when other studios pay more. We lost a second programmer because he was offered a much higher pay elsewhere (and that's in Ukraine). We lost two good contractors for the same reason (they built stronger portfolios and applied for better paying jobs in bigger studios).

India is solution to your problem VD

 

[deama]

Not when other studios pay more. We lost a second programmer because he was offered a much higher pay elsewhere (and that's in Ukraine). We lost two good contractors for the same reason (they built stronger portfolios and applied for better paying jobs in bigger studios).

India is solution to your problem VD

Soon to be AI too.

 

[Hellraiser]

Not when other studios pay more. We lost a second programmer because he was offered a much higher pay elsewhere (and that's in Ukraine). We lost two good contractors for the same reason (they built stronger portfolios and applied for better paying jobs in bigger studios).

India is solution to your problem VD

Soon to be AI too.

What do you mean soon?

 

[Tyranicon]

Gamedev, especially RPGdev, is very hard to make money from. Passion projects are exactly that: something you do because you love it.

Vince is shooting himself in the foot for not employing some botter to spam pseudo recommendations that shill his game.

You're probably not being serious, but we have enough game companies that do shady, underhanded shit all the time. There's so much heinous crap that people get caught for and are visible, so imagine the stuff that they don't tell you.

I applaud anyone having some standards and ethics. It's in short supply in this industry.

 

[Serus]

Yeah well maybe if Vince had a creative vision like Starfield devs did he would get funding. Bethesda decided to not include aliens in a sci-fi space setting, Vince doesn't have the guts to stand by an idea that bold.

You can have sci-fi without aliens and be successful.

You can have sci-fi ABOUT aliens WITHOUT aliens and be immensely successful. Look at Three Body Problem.

If it wasn't the currentyear and Hollywood was still populated by talented and capable writers instead of being knee-deep in a stinking diversity goo the adaptation would've blown everyone's gaskets off.

Well, the 30-episode Chinese version is great and is miles better than the Netflix adaptation in every single aspect.

It is way better, true, problem is the Chinks don't really have the foggiest idea how adaptations work. I've read the book and watched the show and the show felt like a word-for-word narration of the book. Like a fucking visual audiobook.

I suspect for people who haven't read the book it'd be a vastly superior experience. For me it, watching it after reading the book a few months prior, it was p. boring at times.

Is the The Three-Body Problem book worth reading then?

 

[cvv]

Is the The Three-Body Problem book worth reading then?

Every entertainment is super subjective. It's in my Top 5 of all SF, for you it might be unreadable. Only way to find out.

 

[Rincewind]

Is the The Three-Body Problem book worth reading then?

Every entertainment is super subjective. It's in my Top 5 of all SF, for you it might be unreadable. Only way to find out.

Have you read the whole trilogy, or only the first book?

 

[AwesomeButton]

Passion projects are exactly that: something you do because you love it.

The greatest test for passion is when you realize how many hours of work even a small bit of reactivity costs. Small from a player's perspective

 

[cvv]

Is the The Three-Body Problem book worth reading then?

Every entertainment is super subjective. It's in my Top 5 of all SF, for you it might be unreadable. Only way to find out.

Have you read the whole trilogy, or only the first book?

The whole trilogy plus another book (Redemption of Time) by a different author that fills in some blank spaces in the OG trilogy.

 

[Rincewind]

Is the The Three-Body Problem book worth reading then?

Every entertainment is super subjective. It's in my Top 5 of all SF, for you it might be unreadable. Only way to find out.

Have you read the whole trilogy, or only the first book?

The whole trilogy plus another book (Redemption of Time) by a different author that fills in some blank spaces in the OG trilogy.

Is it true what I read elsewhere that it gets exponentially better book by book, the third being the best?

 

[cvv]

Is the The Three-Body Problem book worth reading then?

Every entertainment is super subjective. It's in my Top 5 of all SF, for you it might be unreadable. Only way to find out.

Have you read the whole trilogy, or only the first book?

The whole trilogy plus another book (Redemption of Time) by a different author that fills in some blank spaces in the OG trilogy.

Is it true what I read elsewhere that it gets exponentially better book by book, the third being the best?

More or less. For me and from dozens of comments on the webz I think the peak is the last 2/3 of the second book which will leave your jaw hanging out in terms of sheer pace and reveals. But the last book is the most mindblowing in terms of imagination and scope.

It's really one of the most remarkable books in the genre, it's a must for any fan, just like Dune, Foundation, 2001, Hyperion and all those greats. The only problem could be the Chink names, I got used to them p. quickly but some people report they struggled with them. Only way to find out.

 

[Rincewind]

More or less. For me and from dozens of comments on the webz I think the peak is the last 2/3 of the second book which will leave your jaw hanging out in terms of sheer pace and reveals. But the last book is the most mindblowing in terms of imagination and scope.

It's really one of the most remarkable books in the genre, it's a must for any fan, just like Dune, Foundation, 2001, Hyperion and all those greats. The only problem could be the Chink names, I got used to them p. quickly but some people report they struggled with them. Only way to find out.

Thanks friend, that's quite an endorsement, and you've dropped the right references, so I know what to do.

Yeah, the edition I found online has a helpful cheat-sheet for the Chinese names at the beginning. Most definitively I'm intending to print that out and reference it:

Spoiler

 

[cvv]

Yeah, the edition I found online has a helpful cheat-sheet for the Chinese names at the beginning. Most definitively I'm intending to print that out and reference it

Good thinking.

What eased me into the names was to learn in China the first name is a surname and the second is a given name. So the main char Ye Wen-jie is like Johnson Mary or some such.