Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Author Topic: Moral dilemma and regional prices  (Read 1715 times)

deanisi

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Moral dilemma and regional prices
« on: June 12, 2022, 10:56:11 AM »

Hello, unfortunate person who stumbled upon these ramblings.

I'm university student who lives in Syberian part of one specific slavic country, which basically means that I'm broke, constantly sleep deprived, suffering from cold (except summer) and hungry af.

And I'm in love with this game, it's like more mature and developed space rangers which I loved to play as a kid. I'm so much in love with this game that I'm unironically feel guilty for pirating this masterpiece, especially because I have some friends who are into gamedev which makes me truly appreciate THE WORK devs are putting into Starsector. And as said above, I can't pay for it because 15$ in RUB are around 1500RUB and it is like my monthly stipend which I spend on food.

I know that devs have a very chill attitude towards piracy and don't really care about these 15 bucks, but I still feel guilty for not paying for something that was made not just for greed like most of AAA games, but something that have soul.

So, finally, my questions are: do they have a patreon or something so I can donate the summ of money I can spare? And will they add this game on steam so I can buy it for reasonable price? I know that they are thinking about adding it on steam, looking at current version 0.95 which is very close to 1 which means I have enough time to witness it to be "Finished", but will they add it to steam for sure?
Logged

Grievous69

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2980
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2022, 11:24:42 PM »

Welcome to the unfair world of buying digital content, where Americans throwing 60 bucks at something is barely felt, and on the other side you have poor European and Asian countries, Brazil and so on, where people have to save up for multiple months to get a single indie game they want. And it's always the folks from first world countries giving the moral high ground and acting superior. I wouldn't exactly call the devs "chill towards piracy" but the Sseth wave definitely showed them the real picture. People pirate games because they can't afford it right now or in very near future, not out of boredom like some claim.

I can't speak of any donation platforms since I never heard anyone here donating except in cases where people buy multiple copies of the game to show support, but that's kinda the opposite of what you seek.

No one knows on which digital platform will Starsector be available at 1.0. It has been asked many times and Steam is certainly a big option here, but the devs can't 100% promise it will happen. Who knows how will everything look in the future, I think that decision will be made where we get very close to 1.0.
Logged
Please don't take me too seriously.

deanisi

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2022, 06:06:18 AM »

Thanks for answering.
I guess I can't support them now, but I'm certainly will when it appears on steam, which is very likely to happen, because devs want it on steam and only problem they have is possibility to give steam keys to people who already bought it (I've seen lots of devs giving keys to people just like that so I don't think that it will be a problem).

About piracy, in their blog devs said that they're against DRM and that it's normal occurence so there's no reason to fight it. Piracy can boost sales too, like Sseth shown us, even I copied Sseth's key and now want to have my own.

Again thanks for having time to answer some random dude from internet, have a nice day ;)
Logged

LinWasTaken

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 189
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2022, 03:21:41 AM »

One of the main reasons why steam release is a nono. Is because steam forces you to update your game to the newest version when ever it is out and as you might be able to tell the modding community wouldn't like their mods becoming null and void in the blink of an eye.

but trust me Deanisi. most if not everyone understands what you are feeling.  ;)

Grievous69

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2980
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2022, 03:27:05 AM »

I'm not sure if that's really a problem, since the updates come so slowly but are huge. Also when the game releases there probably won't be many patches after that, I assume mostly just bugfixes and additional polish.
Logged
Please don't take me too seriously.

Doctorhealsgood

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 516
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2022, 11:39:31 AM »

I decided to give the game a spin with Sseth's key way back then and after a while i decided i liked it enough to support the devs delete sseth key and use my own. If you can't afford it because you might go hungry otherwise i doubt anyone can blame you. Here is hoping things go better for you buddy.
Logged
Quote from: Doctorhealsgood
Sometimes i feel like my brain has been hit by salamanders not gonna lie.

Cyan Leader

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 718
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2022, 07:41:09 AM »

One of the main reasons why steam release is a nono. Is because steam forces you to update your game to the newest version when ever it is out and as you might be able to tell the modding community wouldn't like their mods becoming null and void in the blink of an eye.

but trust me Deanisi. most if not everyone understands what you are feeling.  ;)

That's a solved issue. All the developer has to do is to enable each release as beta branches so users can have the option of not updating. Case in point (another game that had mods break with updates):

Logged

LinWasTaken

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 189
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #7 on: June 20, 2022, 02:42:37 AM »

One of the main reasons why steam release is a nono. Is because steam forces you to update your game to the newest version when ever it is out and as you might be able to tell the modding community wouldn't like their mods becoming null and void in the blink of an eye.

but trust me Deanisi. most if not everyone understands what you are feeling.  ;)

That's a solved issue. All the developer has to do is to enable each release as beta branches so users can have the option of not updating. Case in point (another game that had mods break with updates):


dude, you reminded me of such an old but good feature of steam i hardly ever use. thank you!

Jalapeno

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
    • Future of fintech and digital banking
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #8 on: June 24, 2022, 12:53:11 AM »

Good day to you all!

I am sorry to interject a thread but I had my eye on Star Sector for a long while and I would love to put my paws on it and support the devs but like my predecessor, I was waiting for a Steam release. Is it still happening or are we sure that there will be no Steam release? Also if I bought it from the homepage is there a chance to receive a free-Steam key once it is published or would it require a second purchase? Thank you.
Logged

n3xuiz

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 219
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #9 on: June 24, 2022, 04:07:32 AM »

@Jalapeno from what i've read here over the years the steam release might happen but only once the game is 1.0. as for why you'd have to search previous threads about it but afaik Alex has good reasons not to do it for now.
Logged

Salter

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 213
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #10 on: June 24, 2022, 11:11:58 AM »

Welcome to the unfair world of buying digital content, where Americans throwing 60 bucks at something is barely felt

Eh. These days with the economic crisis, inflation, rising prices and so on; most average americans will balk at the prospect of spending even 60$ on a game. Most are in the market for games to be 20-40$.
Logged

Grievous69

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2980
    • View Profile
Re: Moral dilemma and regional prices
« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2022, 11:27:15 AM »

So naturally it's even worse in countries that were poor to begin with.
Logged
Please don't take me too seriously.