- Aug 14, 2018
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Well, I don't quite agree with you on that. He only charges money for work he's done. A one-time payment for 8 chapters (~half) of his game. Once again, 8 chapters, not just one like other demos! For some other developers this is almost a complete game. So in my opinion, this is not milking. What Gum..op does, that's milking. Charge money for nothing, zero. No further development, only promises (and that for over 2 years...). Unlike here, where updates are delivered pretty much every month.My long logical post crushed after I took time for a research. "Acting Lessons" - 259 roubles (Steam have different prices for different regions), finished game. "General practicioner" - 435 roubles, finished game now, price was the same when game was in Early Access, dev still making new updates, as DLC, for free. That was not milking.
"Being a DIK, Book one", version 0.4 - 309 roubles, all continuation (planned 3) as DLCs, each for a price. "City of broken dreamers, book one", version 0.7 - 259 roubles, all continuation as DLCs, no information about price. "Picture perfect v.08" - 133 roubles, continuation is planned in half a year, no information about price. That was 3 examples of milking. And to be honest, you have the most light variant.
You have your own understanding of Early Access, but it doesn't matter. Why I call these examles milking? In gamemaking demo (incomplete version of the game) is distributing for free, "to spread awareness", using your words. Complete version of the game has a price, each genre has their own price range (if VN cost as much as good RPG, that VN is clearly overpriced).
If completed game has package of new features, it's called DLC and may have a separate price. Sometimes DLC is distributing for free, for that dev usually have some points in good reputation.
To sum it all, demo is free, complete game has a price, DLCs may have a price. If game is incomplete, it's demo. That's why it's milking, you (and other two too) are trying to sell demo with a promise of bigger price for a complete game.
So I see the release on Steam almost as much as a release on Patreon: If I want the game in development right away, I have to pay. If I don't want that, I'll just wait until it's finished. And then I just have to pay once. (Ok, there's also this pirate site here - but that's another story...)
Also the mentioned examples for the other "bad" developers don't fit for me either. Most of them are really successfully developers at all - and calling them milkers seems a bit unusual to me. And one "funny" thing too - "BaDIK" an "Acting Lessons" are from the same developer, only "Acting Lessons" was finished quite some time ago...
And sorry, an unfinished game is NOT automatically a demo. That's nonsense. A demo is a short teaser of a game, like a movie trailer. And this release on Steam goes way beyond that. It's for me like the first part of a movie series. And by the way, when other developers publish games in developement there for free, there's usually a reason for that...