Suggestions for Advertising(?)/View from someone who doesn't know the game

[beginner]

Dear Developers,

 

i want to display, how your game looks for strangers, so you can maybe take some ideas, how to improve your game presentation from it. I don't mean to troll, i'll just write down my experience with the "game", rather it's presentation until now.

 

I just read the name of your game on twitch. Because i love naval games and never read the name before i googled "Naval Action".

I got to a beautifull picture (of the sea an some ships) with the writing "BEAUTIFUL AGE OF SAIL".

I clicked in welcome.

I got to the same page again.

I clicked on "Blog", to get some information. Naturally i did get Information, but naturally within 10 minutes not something i could really use without knowing the game.

I clicked on "Purchase" because I thought "they'll give some information on what i buy!", but i just saw "aha... they want 40$ (to be correct 39.99$) for the game, where i get a 20$ yacht (AHA! the game has a yacht-type ship!) and i can play it now, instead of after it is released in... wait, will this game ever be released?" ah and "YAY i get undefined bonuses!"... wait, why is the legal entity for a game published by ukrainian people based in the UAE?

Next i looked at the forum and looked at the news... "How to activate(download) the game on steam" from 05 Jan 2015... wait what? I looked on steam and they don't even know this game... and the last post only contains "we get a lot of questions still..  up." from the same day.

Next forum: "Support":

• infamous "nvidia display driver stopped responding and has recovered."
• Email Not Recieved
• No key still

 

i clicked on the main page again, because I was still curious about the game... then I found out, I CAN SCROLL DOWN OMG!... There is more fancy text and 11 pictures (of unrated quality, because i don't want to rate a game i don't know)... but still nothing that tells me something about the game i would buy...

I clicked on "purchase" again and confirmed the developers want 39,99$ for the piece of software i'd buy and saw... "Game keys are sent out every in batches every friday", what is REALLY ridiculous...

 

This is still not meant as troll, but please ask yourselfes: "Would i pay 40$ for some piece of software, that may be a game or may also just be a cause to phone some legal Agency in the UAE who noone ever heard about"?

[maserb]

Agreed. I'm a person who loves the Age of Sail and is desperate for a good game to be made for it. When I saw NA I was pretty excited since I assumed that someone was finally going to make that game.

 

I mean clearly they have a plan for the actual combat which is all good and well, but you can't expect people to drop $40 down on a game that so far only shows PvP ship combat, which in itself seems fairly lacking at the moment, with only a few vague promises for the actual bulk of the game. It's early access, yes, but there isn't a solid plan anywhere. It almost looks like they're making it up as they go, rather than actually having a plan for what appears to be a fairly large-scope game. 

[Galileus]

I don't intend to troll, but you're really bad at gathering information, ain't ya?

 

I paid 40$ for a game I knew exactly what it is at this point and knew what it is supposed to become in the future. I also did not have a single problem with bathed keys. And even more importantly, I knew I buy a very early testing build.

 

I don't think overly advertising a very early testing build is a good idea. It being available is fine enough.

[admin]

. "Game keys are sent out every in batches every friday", what is REALLY ridiculous...

 

 

We fixed the typo..Now the sales will skyrocket to the moon.

I can't believe we missed it and no-one told us. 

 

Btw - based on Evolve or Star citizen pricing we should have been charging like 60-99 dollars or something. We will definitely raise the price eventually but not now, as we promised not to do it before EA launches on steam (some people hate paypal that they will better wait)

[Galileus]

not to do it before EA launches on steam

 

Best missclick ever

[beginner]

We fixed the typo..Now the sales will skyrocket to the moon.

I can't believe we missed it and no-one told us. 

 

Btw - based on Evolve or Star citizen pricing we should have been charging like 60-99 dollars or something. We will definitely raise the price eventually but not now, as we promised not to do it before EA launches on steam (some people hate paypal that they will better wait)

 

Oh my, did i just see a rocket flying by? Sorry for not taking that one serious, but as you do to me...

 

Based on Star Citizen and Evolve, I should easily have found a plan what features you are planning to do if you reach the goal of X$ (insert number that pleases you)? Where is it? I didn't find a button on your page, that allows this sort of and neither did i find anything about your Project on kickstarter, indiegogo, Steam (Greenlight) where the game should be according to your own thread at http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/2036-how-to-activate-download-the-game-on-steam/ ,nor any site listed by forbes... so please tell a stupid person like me, where i can see, what the game will include, when it's done... and maybe also, where i can see, what of that is included in the actual build... for which i'd have to wait a weak to be able to play, after purchasing

[Chustler]

I have already recieved my money's worth from this game and it is still in alpha and growing...Not much more I can say.

[Galileus]

Based on Star Citizen and Evolve, I should easily have found a plan what features you are planning to do if you reach the goal of X$ (insert number that pleases you)? Where is it? I didn't find a button on your page, that allows this sort of and neither did i find anything about your Project on kickstarter, indiegogo, Steam (Greenlight) where the game should be according to your own thread at http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/2036-how-to-activate-download-the-game-on-steam/ ,nor any site listed by forbes... so please tell a stupid person like me, where i can see, what the game will include, when it's done... and maybe also, where i can see, what of that is included in the actual build... for which i'd have to wait a weak to be able to play, after purchasing

 

This game has no stretch goals, as it is not community founded.

This game is not on any hub site, as it is in very early test build.

This game is on greenlight. Your google sucks.

You can browse forums and youtube and find any info you want.

There is no ETA nor feature list for full game, as this is a very early test build only.

You don't like the fact you have to wait a week to play, don't buy nor play.

[marecek05]

Now this is a bit puzzling to me. When I found about a game in mid december, it took me probably 2 hours to find out what the game is about, then about a day of trying to hold on and not purchasing the game, then purchasing the game on wednesday, then watching videos on thursday and cancelling my program for friday. By monday it was the best spent 40 usd on a video game in 2014 tied with wargame red dragon for me.

[beginner]

This game has no stretch goals, as it is not community founded.

This game is not on any hub site, as it is in very early test build.

This game is on greenlight. Your google sucks.

You can browse forums and youtube and find any info you want.

There is no ETA nor feature list for full game, as this is a very early test build only.

You don't like the fact you have to wait a week to play, don't buy nor play.

 

So this game is already completely funded?

I'm glad, i love games about naval warfare, where can i find what the game will contain, when it's finished?

[Brotapol]

 

Introduction

 

Our goal is to create an exciting and realistic naval combat game. We want to give players the opportunity to experience the most beautiful period of naval history first-hand – a time when sailing ships ruled the seas. A time when traders, naval officers, privateers and pirates roamed the oceans in search of fame and treasure.  

 

We are following a development process similar to Kerbal Space Program, Minecraft and DayZ, releasing content early and improving it using player feedback. You are encouraged to join the development process by voting on features and milestones that will be developed first.

 

Our current priorities are combat and core systems, render development and tools programming.

 

Further steps include:

• Open world gameplay
• Player Guilds, Companies and Global Conquest
• Crafting and Trading
• Guild owned ports and villages
• In-depth exploration

 

General information about the game (work in progress)

 

Ship line-up:  16^th Century to the end of Napoleonic Wars.

 

The Royal Navy Rating System will be used for our ships with hull sizes ranging from First Rates wielding 100+ guns to unrated with just one gun.

Players will be able to customise and improve their ships. This includes adding better equipment, armour, weaponry, sails, and variety of internal modules.

We will post a more detailed post on ships within a week.

 

Weapons and combat

The game will include the common weaponry of the Age of Sail: fort guns, mortars, carronades, cannon and their variations

 

Combat

Your performance in combat depends on your skill. Players must judge variables like velocity, distance, movement and crew performance. Weather and ship conditions will also affect your aim: a pitching ship due to damage or stormy seas will change the way you fire your broadside.

Boarding will be a feature. There are no plans to create an action game with characters fighting it out on decks. There are ideas that are being discussed on how to realistically represent boarding combat from the captain’s perspective. Players are invited to participate in these discussions on the forum.

 

Damage model

The game will feature a comprehensive damage model.  Different parts of ships can be targeted and damaged to have various effects. These can include destroying a rudder, or tearing sails and rigging to damaging internal equipment like pumps or the magazine. Flanking and maneuvering will have a great impact on battlefield performance, because of weak stern and bow armour. Buoyancy and flooding will influence combat as well – you may sink without having lost anything vital. A simple repair system will be implemented to keep combat dynamic.

 

Navigation

Wind, heel, and pitching will affect performance of all ships. Wind needs to be taken into account when planning your maneuvers. Our selection of ships and sail layouts will let players choose what fighting style they want to use.

 

Crew

As the captain, you must higher sailors and officers. Officers will participate in combat with you, influencing a wide range of combat, sailing and passive parameters and gain experience. The number of officers on the ship will be limited by ship class and your rank.

 

Ranks, awards and titles

A selection of ranks, titles and awards will be issued for achievements in and out of combat. Ranks and titles will grant access to new ships, officers, flags, banners, weaponry and ship upgrades. Skilled players may even display their achievements on their masts. 

 

 

all of this is being planned to be in the game. The reason the Devs did not post any ETA on their release of the game because it would give them more pressure to do all of the game at once instead of focusing one thing at a time.

 

I would also advise you to look in the General Discussions forum to read up more of what the devs will do to NA.

[-KM-]

...Seems OP lack some basic skills when it comes to browsing, googling, youtube ang gathering information in general.

 

You can check steam greenlight, you can watch most/all of what you can expect of the game as of today on youtube/twitch

 

You can geta ll information about the game/problems pro's and cons from the forums.

 

There is a disclamber about it beeing alpha.

 

As for the marketing. Well its an alpha, seems the DEVs just havnt decided to put any effort into making it shiny yet. The players who find it through youtube, twitch etc will do so, the ones who go through the hassle of paypalll will do so etc. This is speculation but I would guess the DEVs at this time is more intrested in getting dedicated testers than trying to sell the Alpha to a huge amount of people.

 

Hence the need of marketing and an inviting webpage with clear information about the game and development goals, ETA etc is not rly needed at this stage.

 

There will come a time (probably this year) when it will b e possible to buy it on steam as early acces. I guess when that time comes the information that you want to be more accesible will be on steam.

 

regards

[maserb]

Further steps include:

• Open world gameplay
• Player Guilds, Companies and Global Conquest
• Crafting and Trading
• Guild owned ports and villages
• In-depth exploration

 

 

I'm interested in this part mostly. Is there going to be a third-person controller? "Open world" at this point seems to be limited to sailing on the world map, and how that will work is still very unclear.

 

In other words, is it going to be Pirates of the Burning Sea with prettier graphics and slightly more in-depth naval combat? Or is it going to be Pirates of the Burning Sea with prettier graphics and slightly more in-depth naval combat minus the third person portion of the game?

[beginner]

 

 

 

all of this is being planned to be in the game. The reason the Devs did not post any ETA on their release of the game because it would give them more pressure to do all of the game at once instead of focusing one thing at a time.

 

I would also advise you to look in the General Discussions forum to read up more of what the devs will do to NA.

 

 

 

 

OH MY GOD! This game is the solution of all my everyday problems... it's not like every developer would write this... and have a HP where it's found on the main site... while they are still are able to send out the keys at least 1 hour after they get the money and don't have legal offices from wherever... and yes, now it's just a troll, becuase this would just be a ridiculous waste of money

[PIerrick de Badas]

i give them 40$ to see what is coming next and to support em while deelopping a game i already play around 288hours on steam and many more before it was on steam.

I don't have problem for that, better than some games i pay 5$ and never use more than 1 hour

[Pullie]

I don't have problem for that, better than some games i pay 5$ and never use more than 1 hour

Yeah, even just the alpha combat test content is better than any other game made so far, if you're into the age of sails.

 

But yeah, maybe their marketing is crap or unexistent, I'll give you that OP, but attempting to widely sell such a completely unfinished product isn't a good thing either. As mentioned by others, they are looking for support and "investments" from alpha testers capable of contributing to their work, not people who want to test what the game is like. You make valid points about their flaws but those flaws haven't mattered a single bit to the good bunch of people who are already actively testing (or maybe honestly just playing) how the game works and how the development goes.

 

The price I paid for this unfinished product was more valuable than any similar amount I have ever spent on anything else, maybe apart from my preferred (cheap) headset type and the amount of Coca Cola I have to drink every single day.

[-KM-]

All thought overall I disagree with OP I agree on one point. The Yacht 20$. I was chuckling to myself a bit when I saw that. They could just have written something like: an exclusive Yacht that will only be avialable later through... or something like that.

 

We have no idea of future prices for the game (all thought they hinted that it will go up)  nor for "skins" or other items if there is a cash shop and I actually doubt even the developers do.

 

However for me 40$ was money well spent looking at how much I allready played this game. I payed 50$ for several full rpiced titles that were utter crap (they looked promissing and had all the info and high metacritic score.. but still crap)

 

It is an early Alpha. Seems like OP havnt rly gotten the part "EALRY ALPHA"

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

OH MY GOD! This game is the solution of all my everyday problems... it's not like every developer would write this... and have a HP where it's found on the main site... while they are still are able to send out the keys at least 1 hour after they get the money and don't have legal offices from wherever... and yes, now it's just a troll, becuase this would just be a ridiculous waste of money

 

Beginner, I understand some folks are getting a little sarcastic on this thread.  No worries.  Here's the basic deal.  This is a game that is extremely early in its development.  Someone posted a basic feature list above, and you're right, it likely could be better displayed on the web site itself.  These guys are a small team who are focused working hard on the game, the web site is likely a distraction so it is being ignored while they push hard on an early iteration of Open World.  

 

Key generation is likely manual right now.  Someone has to open up the email from PayPal, open up the database (maybe they have an internal management form for this, but who knows), copy the pertinent values into the database, open up the list of available keys they've gotten from steam, apply the key to the database with your payment, and then generate an email to send to you.  This takes time, in fact, for a software developer, doing just that little thing costs around an hour or more of development time.  This isn't an assembly line where you can stop the line and take a phone call, then fire the line back up and resume your work.  It takes anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or more for a Developer to restore the "picture" of what they're doing in their head so they can once again begin to make progress on their code.  Right now, stopping every time someone buys a key would be crippling and remove a valuable member of the team from their primary job - developing the game.  So, keys get sent out in batches.  That's usually Friday, but I've seen cases lately where they send them out more frequently at the end of their day.

 

The company itself is Ukrainian, their corporate entity is in the UAE.  None of that actually matters on the internet.  The question you ask yourself is - if I send them $40 via Paypal (not even exposing your credit card number to them, just sending them money via Paypal), will I get what I was promised, when it was promised.  The scores of us on here playing, and posting videos of our gameplay to YouTube, streaming it on Twitch, all are proof that you get early access to Sea Trials by sending them $40.  Again, where they are, what the company is called, none of this is important.  They are a small business, with a product, and they're delivering that product to the people who pay them.  I, personally, have gotten far less entertainment out of "completed" games that I've paid more for - $40 is a value as far as I'm concerned.

 

As to this being a waste of money - that's a decision and perception that is entirely upon you to make.  $40 for me is rather trivial.  $40 for someone else may be their entire grocery bill for the week.  Take a look at what is offered, and if there isn't enough value there for your money, go in peace and have a great week!  Those of us here think we got a great bargain for $40, and we think you will too.

 

So here's the deal.  This isn't a finished game.  You can't expect instant, dedicated customer service, servers that are always up, nearly bug free code, or the polish that would be present in a finalized product.  It is, however, and extremely well put-together Alpha, there is new content being released all the time - new ships, new features, balancing, and very soon, a free-sail open world in the Caribbean for us to explore.  All the Developers ask in return is $40 and your patience while they keep working on what is shaping up to be a great product.

 

I hope this answers some of your concerns and questions.

 

All thought overall I disagree with OP I agree on one point. The Yacht 20$. I was chuckling to myself a bit when I saw that. They could just have written something like: an exclusive Yacht that will only be avialable later through... or something like that.

 

We have no idea of future prices for the game (all thought they hinted that it will go up)  nor for "skins" or other items if there is a cash shop and I actually doubt even the developers do.

 

However for me 40$ was money well spent looking at how much I allready played this game. I payed 50$ for several full rpiced titles that were utter crap (they looked promissing and had all the info and high metacritic score.. but still crap)

 

It is an early Alpha. Seems like OP havnt rly gotten the part "EALRY ALPHA"

 

The Developers believe the Yacht is about $20 worth of content.  I've paid $50 for a tank that I really wanted in another game.  The $20 price point for the yacht is just their guess as to what something like that might cost down the road.  Anyone who has gotten anywhere near Star Citizen can see how that kind of thing works - people are paying $300 or more for some of the larger ships there!  The $40 is to buy the game early.  The Yacht is just a pure bonus - frosting on the cake.  

 

 

To everyone else in the thread:

Yes, there is some sarcasm flying around in both directions.  The OP does, however, also have some good points.  Let's focus more on education and helping the OP to understand where the value in this game lies and less on making fun of information that OP may have missed.  We all want this game to succeed - please help the Developers to sell the game to potential new players and avoid making fun of them or tearing them down.  We're all salesmen here, and the more interest from age of sail enthusiasts we generate in the game, the more copies of the game get pre-ordered, the better the game will be.

[admin]

All thought overall I disagree with OP I agree on one point. The Yacht 20$. I was chuckling to myself a bit when I saw that. They could just have written something like: an exclusive Yacht that will only be avialable later through... or something like that.

 

 

Yacht is the pre-order bonus. It will not be available on release. It is our special gift that only you guys will get, for your trust in game-labs.

[felelo]

 The guy who posted this post should stop crying around... As already mentioned in this post... Even how the game is right now, it is already worth it if you like age of sail...

[Ned Loe]

Buy now or pay more later!

[Sir Madoc]

I think lots of people share the same concerns as the Op. But I think the reason why people have taken a chance with Game-Labs is because they published Ultimate General which is a successful steam game. If it wasn't for Ultimate General in there portfolio I many people would have taken the chance and bought Naval action before it went on steam with the things the Op has highlighted which do sorta seem unprofessional at first glance. I know for myself when I first discovered the game I was like "Game-Labs who?" but then i saw they made Ultimate General which has 930 reviews on steam which 91% are positive and I liked the look of Naval Action so I was like "I'll give this unknown studio a chance" and if it turns out to be good game then I have made a solid investment.

[-KM-]

Yacht is the pre-order bonus. It will not be available on release. It is our special gift that only you guys will get, for your trust in game-labs.

Well if the Yacht is exclusive and will not be available upon release then I think it is at least worth 50$ (Since some games apparently charge 50$ for a tank that might not even be exclusive content)

 

So that means you guys charged me 40$ for a game that even in early alpha is a lot better than some full price titles that charge 80$ for early access on steam and i got a 50$ worth Yacht as a bonus. In other words I am sorry to inform you but you are loosing some 90$ per copy sold.

 

..jokes aside thought. You are making a great game and well worth every penny. Keep up the good work!

[Galileus]

I think lots of people share the same concerns as the Op. But I think the reason why people have taken a chance with Game-Labs is because they published Ultimate General which is a successful steam game. If it wasn't for Ultimate General in their portfolio I doubt many people would have bought Naval action just yet with the things the Op has highlighted which do sorta seem unprofessional at first glance.

 

I got it due to fantastic looks, solid gameplay (as I've seen in Unit Lost videos) and the topic. I did not get it to play it. Don't get me wrong, I play it a lot (kinda) and I love it. But I got it and got one copy for a friend because I want to support the DEVs, and I want to do that because they did a solid job with a topic I love. Im not even certain if I'll like the final game. I'm skeptic about a lot of subjective values, me-based. I'm terrified by the reality junkies pushing things like no in-game names and identification by flags. And I don't like MMOs. Still went to support the devs with two purchases. Simply because they took a niche topic I love and are bold enough to try and make something great with it.

 

Watch and learn, Ubisoft! Black Flag in my a... bum!

[Sir Madoc]

I got it due to fantastic looks, solid gameplay (as I've seen in Unit Lost videos) and the topic.

 

So did I but I would have been a lot more skeptical and the fantastic looks by itself probably wouldn't of been enough for me to take the plunge of 40 dollars if it was there very first Title unless they gave a ton more info about who they are. But since they made Ultimate General I atleast have some confidence that they can actually produce and publish this game. Does seem kind of strange that they haven't made a Kickstarter though.