WorldAlpha website to be launched. Feedback appreciated.

worldalpha

Well, I'm just about to launch my game website. Polycount help me find the artist for my cityscape. I am looking for any feedback. Be it positive or negative. The game is still a bit off, so I don't have a lot of screenshots, no video, etc. At the same time, I hope to be able to tweak some interest in the game. All feedback is appreciated.

http://www.worldalpha.com

chrisradsby

Dude it's "Discovered" "its destiny is yours" just a heads up, you wanna make sure that you have the correct spelling on the main page =P

If I can't see what the game is and what type of the game it is I wouldn't bother, right now I checked two things. What type of game is it? I looked over the text (wall of text) and I have no idea.

Is the game even in pre-alpha/alpha? Why are you having signups for beta testers now? Right now it's just a bunch of text that I couldn't even be bothered with. Good graphic peaks interest and help sell the game, you should try to show off the game as much as you can.

Spent 2-3 minutes on the site, I still have no idea what the game is.

kat

No quibbles with the site design. Do yourself a favour though and register a proper domain name, that one is *going* to kill you later on (especially with this being a potential commercialised project) - an economical way to do it is register your 'business' name, then use sub-domains for each project.

worldalpha

@Chris, thanks for helping with those 2 typos. We are getting alpha testers on the game this week. I'm really hoping by January to have some beta testers on it. We will reveal more of the game play in the very near future.
@kat It is going to be moved over worldalpha.com today. This was just the dev space for it. I wanted to be sure I fixed, all "typos" and such before putting it on the final domain.

Rai

I hate to sound cynical.. But is there even a game?

worldalpha

@Rai, sorry, we just switched from the dev space to live, and it made the old dev space link not work. It is now live at http://www.worldalpha.com

Rai

Any chance that I could Alpha-Test, so you know.. I could verify that this is a thing?

Also, what's this? .. http://www.weneedbetatesters.com/

Looks like a website to snag Emails to sell to spammers.

*Get $100 USD in virtual currency
*Be the first to play
*Win $10,000 USD cash!

worldalpha

Rai wrote: »

Any chance that I could Alpha-Test, so you know.. I could verify that this is a thing?

Also, what's this? .. http://www.weneedbetatesters.com/

*Get $100 USD in virtual currency
*Be the first to play
*Win $10,000 USD cash!

http://www.weneedbetatesters.com/ is our landing page to generate some more traffic for the game. The contest is legit, and is based on the number of beta testers we are able to get to the site. I hope you sign-up.

Rai

I'd personally like to see gameplay images or anything other than your 1 concept piece and contest spam.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90035

It's looking more like a Marketing scheme than a game.

You've also stated elsewhere that this game is heavily influenced by Evony, which is also a marketing scheme, though it at least has actually gameplay.

http://www.ineedbetatesters.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldAlphaGame
http://twitter.com/#!/WorldAlphaGame

My request still stands on testing your game to verify that it is.. A thing.
Sorry, but no I will not put my Email on any of your "Beta Test!" sites.

Mike Yevin

so the game is "still a bit off" and you have no media other than 3 pieces of concept art, yet you are beta testing in like 2 and a half months?

and whats up with this digital currency? seems fishy to me, and im pretty sure everyone can vouch. i guess we'll see, but so far im put off by all of it

xvampire

Get $100 USD in virtual currency, scam, scam scam.
mark me as a flamer, but i really hate something like this ...

worldalpha

Guys, Thanks for the feedback. Positive or Negative is what I asked for. I'll try to address what has been brought up.
@Rai I agree I do have marketing up, and haven't shown much of the game. It is a start. There is more to the game, but I wanted to get something up along with my DevBlog, so that people can see it as it comes together. Jan 2012 is optimistic, but I think I can have a closed beta at that point, to get feedback. Kinda of like I'm doing here with the website.
@Mike We do have more, but I don't want to release it all at once. I wanted to "roll" it out over time. In regards to digital currency, it is pretty standard these days to have Free MMO, and then pay to have "upgrades" through the game. So, I'm offering some of it for free to players as they come to beta test, when we go live, they will have $100 or $20 worth of virtual currency in their account.
@xvampire I'm curious would you rather just have a sign-up and no offer, no contest? I'm really debating about the value, if it appears to be a scam.

Rai

worldalpha wrote: »

In regards to digital currency, it is pretty standard these days to have Free MMO, and then pay to have "upgrades" through the game.

No, it's not.. It's a scheme and people need to quit thinking that this is appropriate.

Notch actually just posted on his Blog about this..

I hate “free to play”.

Ok, that headline it a bit overly inflammatory. While I am sceptical of the free to play trend, what I hate is the wording “free to play”.

The reason some people are moving to this area is that free to play showed up in the “social gaming” segment (facebook) and made a few people (zynga) very rich. It’s been tried in other genres in other markets with decent success. By “success”, I mean “it’s profitable”. The reason anyone switches to “free to play” is to make more money. You get your players hooked on your game, and then you try to monetize them. The idea is to find a model where there basically is no cap on how much the player can spend, then try to encourage players to spend more and more money. Various psyhological traps like abusing the sense of sunk costs get exploited, and eventually you end up with a game that’s designed more like a slot machine than half-life 2.

So instead of calling it “free to play”, we should call it “as expensive as you want it to be” or something.

I do not mind paying for games after the purchase. I like customizing my character, or getting a few extra levels (DX HR:Missing Link, woo!), or even paying a subscription cost for something with running costs.

But let’s get one thing clear: people who think “free to play” is a great future are mostly game developers, not game players.

I’ll go play some team fortress 2 now until dota 2 is released. I can’t wait!! =D

I have a feeling that you don't even have an Alpha.. Or maybe your "Alpha" is marketing your idea to people?

worldalpha

I have updated http://www.worldalpha.com/beta-testers so that hopefully it has taken off the scam "appearances". It wasn't a scam by any means, but I understand how it could be viewed as such.

@Rai - I didn't create the free to play or "expensive as you want it to be" genre. I'm only using a model that I think is fine. Honestly, a game that costs you $60 and totally stinks, cost you $60. A free to play, that you try for a month, and you find out totally stinks costs you nothing. Sure serious gamers pay more, but those wanting to try it pay nothing. I do have an alpha, and it is being play. I'm going to demo it at Digifest Toronto this Sunday. I'm not sure why you are so convinced, I don't have an Alpha. Again, I appreciate any constructive feedback.