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Thread: Did we pay $ to the crowdfunding campaign just so Biskup could charge us $ to play?

  1. #1
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    Default Did we pay $ to the crowdfunding campaign just so Biskup could charge us $ to play?

    ADOM had always been free to play. I've been playing for 20 years -- since before there was even an overhead Drakelor Chain map. I donated to the crowdfunding campaign so that we would get new content. But now all of the releases are no longer public, and now ADOM is on sale for money on Steam. Why is the new content not publicly available, for free, and when will it be? I don't care about the "deluxe" features like saving your games or achievements. Nor do I care about the Noteye graphics--ascii is how it was meant to be played. But I do want access to the new items, artifacts, game mechanics, and quests, and all the new content the crowd funding campaign promised. I hope I didn't give Biskup money just so that he could sell the game for money. Will the new content ever be available for free?

  2. #2
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    There's free versions still available, just not quite up to date. You still get almost all the features.

  3. #3
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    If you donated to the crowdfunding campaign you should have free access to the Steam version. I think there's a lower limit for it, though. (like $25 or something)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blank4u47 View Post
    There's free versions still available, just not quite up to date. You still get almost all the features.
    The last public release was R60 (version 1.15.3), which came out before the Steam release. Even just considering Release 73 (version 2.3.0), there has been 82 new items, 4 new artifacts, implemented Rolfs quest, implemented the volcano quest and more. My question is not whether the game without the new content will be free, my question is whether the new crowd-funded content will remain free. Is the plan to continue to make the new content available for free, and if so, when? The last public release was pre-steam, so I'm worried no more public release will come now that people can purchase the new content on Steam. I hope that is not the case. People would not have donated to the crowd-funding campaign if the content would only be available on steam for purchase.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dogbreath View Post
    If you donated to the crowdfunding campaign you should have free access to the Steam version. I think there's a lower limit for it, though. (like $25 or something)
    Unfortunately, my donation level (seeker, I believe?) did not grant me access to the pre-releases, nor to a free steam purchase, I don't believe. But more importantly, even if I was given access, it would not be fair to turn my donation into making the game pay-to-play. I donated because I want other people to get as much joy out of the game as I have--not so that the game could become pay-to-play. It needs to remain free to all, especially because the crowd funding campaign strongly implied (if not stated out right) that the game would remain free. (For a postcard of course.)

  6. #6
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    I think there is supposed to be a new free version. I vaguely recall TB saying he was planning on it, but I don't recall any details because it didn't concern me I'm sure someone better informed will let you know, but you may have to wait a few days for a response.

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    Every single time that a big update comes to ADOM TB has released a free update. As soon as Ice Queen Domain was stable a public release was made. I have absolutely no doubt that as soon as Volcano and Rolf are stable that a free version will be made available. Theoretically the steam release will come before a free public release but I'm sure TB will keep the free version in mind.

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    Quote Originally Posted by pjsb1 View Post
    Every single time that a big update comes to ADOM TB has released a free update. As soon as Ice Queen Domain was stable a public release was made. I have absolutely no doubt that as soon as Volcano and Rolf are stable that a free version will be made available. Theoretically the steam release will come before a free public release but I'm sure TB will keep the free version in mind.
    That's great to hear. As long as it's just a matter of fixing bugs/stabilizing for the pre-releases before the real (free) release comes out, that's great. But I became concerned that TB would migrate everything over to Steam, and forget why the public releases are so important.

    I would even suggest TB not worry about the graphics with the public releases. If new content exists and it's sufficiently stable, just the ascii version could be released.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ornithopter View Post
    I hope I didn't give Biskup money just so that he could sell the game for money
    pretty sure part of the plan was always to have him sell it for money? so we get content for ever..
    Wins:
    Gnome Assassin / Dwarven Paladin (ULE) / Ratling Duelist (UNE) / High Elf Archer / Gnomish Wizard x ~5 / Gray Elven Wizard (UCG) - Archmage / Gnomish Weaponsmith / Grey Elf Elementalist / Dwarven Priest / Trollish Barbarian / Drakling Farmer / Mist Elf Wizard / Human Beastfighter / Ratling Archer (UNE) / Gnomish Mindcrafter

    Classes Left
    Many!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Carter View Post
    pretty sure part of the plan was always to have him sell it for money? so we get content for ever..
    Actually, that was never part of the deal. Although "stretch" goal #4 was to put the "Deluxe" version on a mainstream platform, that goal was tertiary to the main campaign for adding new content to ADOM classic, which would remain free. I quote from stretch goal #4: "ADOM Classic still will remain free, the idea of this stretch goal is to use the awesome tile support at this level to make ADOM Deluxe more of a mainstream game in order to be able to fund the continuing development of the free ADOM Classic version." Thus, the deluxe version was to ensure funding for the free version, not the other way around. Indeed, the indiegogo campaign specifically requested donations because ADOM was a free game, and thus needed help completing development. Another quote from the indiegogo campaign:. "Please put your faith in me and I will show you what a seasoned developer can do. ADOM will remain free, but your investment will help give it a new lease of life." (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/r...-development#/).

    It was never part of the plan to make ADOM a commercial, pay-to-play game. If that was the case, you wouldn't need donations to continue development now would you? Making ADOM Deluxe available for purchase with mainstream features that the true ADOM community places little emphasis on may have been one of the "stretch" goals--and indeed a good stretch goal to have--but that was never the emphasis of the crowd-funding campaign.

    My only concern is that based on the releases and blog posts, it seems the new content is going into the commercial steam version, and not the free releases. I'm worried TB is becoming too focused on the commercial version, which was not what the crowd sourcing was about. I'm assuming the free versions will be released when ready, but I hope TB places a strong emphasis on getting those out, given that is what this is really all about.

    I note that the crowd sourcing campaign's main goal was to release a polished ADOM, version 1.2.0, including lots of new content, and continued free releases. The last free release was only version 1.15 (the version numbering system was completely changed) yet versions above 2.0 have been released to pre-releases and based on the blog, it seems have already been introduced to the steam version but no mention of when the public release comes out. Seems to me like the priorities have really changed.
    Last edited by Ornithopter; 09-21-2017 at 01:14 AM.

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