The Pros and Cons of Continued Development of Early Access Games

So someone complained on the Folk Tale Steam forums:

"This was the first Early Access I brought, I actually didn't realise it was early access, I just liked the sound of it and clicked straight to pay (I will never make that mistake again). Anyway almost 2 years on, its still not ready, is this usual?

After realising it was early access I wasnt too concerned because I assumed there would be a few months max before it was finished, surely these things are regulated right, how foolish I was?!" [sic]

Photo credit: http://www.gamesfoundry.com/media.aspx

Click read more to see my reply.





I replied with:

I'm not saying Folk Tale is the best game ever but "unfinished" games may mean just that---and these suck---but there are those that are still stuck at versions that are less than version 1.0 and people support those games.

Dwarf Fortress for example is still at v0.40.24 but it's widely hailed as one of the best games ever by legions of fans and other reputable gaming websites. It even spawned several webcomics (here's one: http://bronzemurder.timdenee.com/) and repositories of lore (http://www.dfst.org/).

I would say the longer Folk Tale is in development (read: more patches!) the better. I don't want it becoming a Spacebase DF-9. Who would?

There are many games that have been rushed out of Early Access. Quantum Rush for example. Trust me, you don't want that to happen to this game.

Again, I'm NOT saying Folk Tale is the "shiz." I'm just throwing this out in the open so you guys can see the pros and cons of continued development.

What would you rather have? A game that's rushed out (Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords anyone? How about Spacebase DF-9?) or a game that's playable but with continued support as the devs try to quash several bugs. Even some of my favorite "finished" games do have some bugs. Tarkus' squad in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising for example, gets stuck periodically on terrain they tromp through.

Bugs that aren't fixed suck yes, I do acknowledge that. But to have this rigid mindset that a game need to be finished as soon as possible and be done with it also has its own disadvantages.