Content Creators Early Access?

[Cpt72Bug]

Has there been any word on if advanced copies of the game will go out to content creators? I'm curious to see if there will be any youtube videos on launch. 

[KalleHeHa]

3 minutes ago, Cpt72Bug said:

Has there been any word on if advanced copies of the game will go out to content creators? I'm curious to see if there will be any youtube videos on launch. 

there will most definetly be content creators making videos on launch, maybe some will get early keys, but i doubt they will alow any videos to be posted before launch.

 

[Cpt72Bug]

Just now, KalleHeHa said:

there will most definetly be content creators making videos on launch, maybe some will get early keys, but i doubt they will alow any videos to be posted before launch.

 

Yeah, doubt anything earlier. But i am very curious if there will be an embargo period and a bunch of prerecorded videos on launch day. 

[KalleHeHa]

3 minutes ago, Cpt72Bug said:

Yeah, doubt anything earlier. But i am very curious if there will be an embargo period and a bunch of prerecorded videos on launch day. 

i dont think they would be allowed to post anything before the actual launch

[K^2]

2 hours ago, KalleHeHa said:

i dont think they would be allowed to post anything before the actual launch

It's not about posting before the launch. It's a common practice to give major creators in the space access to the game a few days, often up to about a week early, and allow them to prepare the footage, upload it to YouTube in private mode, etc. Everything but release that footage to the public. That way, the moment the game becomes available on Steam and other online stores, there is a wave of digital content that gets people hyped about the product, driving sales.

If it weren't for this being early access, I would have zero doubt that PD would be doing something like this, but as it stands, I'm not sure. I think, a lot would depend on how much of the games sales PD is hoping to get during the first days of early access, and whether early footage would improve sales or make them worse. The game might be rough the first weeks, so there might be no reason to give people advance copies, in which case PD will be delaying any public marketing push, including work with influencers and content creators, until much later in the year.

[MechBFP]

16 minutes ago, K^2 said:

The game might be rough the first weeks, so there might be no reason to give people advance copies, in which case PD will be delaying any public marketing push, including work with influencers and content creators, until much later in the year.

This is my guess. I am about 90% confident no one will see it prior to Feb 24th. 

[PicoSpace]

On 1/14/2023 at 7:41 PM, MechBFP said:

This is my guess. I am about 90% confident no one will see it prior to Feb 24th. 

I've heard nothing yet from other content creators of advance copies but it wouldn't suprise me if some of the bigger players get access under embargo agreements. I plan to make content on the 24th when it drops and go from there... I can do a pretty quick turnaround or even do a live stream of the game so not too worried on that front (although it WOULD be nice to get advanced access but I don't expect it).

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

On 1/14/2023 at 7:23 PM, K^2 said:

It's not about posting before the launch. It's a common practice to give major creators in the space access to the game a few days, often up to about a week early, and allow them to prepare the footage, upload it to YouTube in private mode, etc. Everything but release that footage to the public. That way, the moment the game becomes available on Steam and other online stores, there is a wave of digital content that gets people hyped about the product, driving sales.

If it weren't for this being early access, I would have zero doubt that PD would be doing something like this, but as it stands, I'm not sure. I think, a lot would depend on how much of the games sales PD is hoping to get during the first days of early access, and whether early footage would improve sales or make them worse. The game might be rough the first weeks, so there might be no reason to give people advance copies, in which case PD will be delaying any public marketing push, including work with influencers and content creators, until much later in the year.

My pure speculation is that they've invited folks like Scott Manley and a few others with notable followings and KSP experience to be Beta testers.  I base this purely on the weight of the milk my 15 year old left in the carton when he failed to put it back in the fridge, so you know this is solid and reliable.

That way they get input from people who both know the game and who are invested in its success (as they shill for views while freely promoting the game).  Likelihood is that if there is a whole host of Day Zero or Day One content dumped on the interwebs... I'm right.

[K^2]

10 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

My pure speculation is that they've invited folks like Scott Manley and a few others with notable followings and KSP experience to be Beta testers.

As in above, if we didn't have early access, this would be nearly a guarantee. Both because it can help generate day-one hype and because these people can usually provide good, constructive feedback. It's a fairly standard practice to both send out preview codes for a beta build and to even fly a few creators to the studio so that the user research team can get direct feedback. For a smaller studio, like Intercept, this might be done via their publisher, so it'd be Private Division's user research team, and it can be either Intercept's or PD's offices.

But for early access, I'm not as sure. Some form of all of this could still happen. I'm sure there will be additional rounds of interviews, but whether or not any of this is done prior to the EA rollout is unclear. They might just send game keys to the creators on day one and then ask them for feedback later. Or even do the budget version, which is watch their Youtube channel for an early review.  Again, it all depends on what marketing strategy PD is going for. It's clear that they're treating this as a very serious title with a lot of money riding on it, so there will be a major advertising push, but it might not happen until the console version is ready, by which point many of us and all of the relevant creators would have been playing early access on PC for months.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

2 hours ago, K^2 said:

As in above, if we didn't have early access, this would be nearly a guarantee. Both because it can help generate day-one hype and because these people can usually provide good, constructive feedback. It's a fairly standard practice to both send out preview codes for a beta build and to even fly a few creators to the studio so that the user research team can get direct feedback. For a smaller studio, like Intercept, this might be done via their publisher, so it'd be Private Division's user research team, and it can be either Intercept's or PD's offices.

But for early access, I'm not as sure. Some form of all of this could still happen. I'm sure there will be additional rounds of interviews, but whether or not any of this is done prior to the EA rollout is unclear. They might just send game keys to the creators on day one and then ask them for feedback later. Or even do the budget version, which is watch their Youtube channel for an early review.  Again, it all depends on what marketing strategy PD is going for. It's clear that they're treating this as a very serious title with a lot of money riding on it, so there will be a major advertising push, but it might not happen until the console version is ready, by which point many of us and all of the relevant creators would have been playing early access on PC for months.

You know - the thing you highlight is interesting... this has a whole different 'feel' to my past experiences with EA titles. 

We are seeing Beta Content - when we know the game is coming out on EA in a month.  We can assume it's a Closed Beta - as they did not invite the forums (captive audience of willing, interested players). 

Vast majority of previous stuff was all labeled "Pre Alpha" - so we can likely assume incomplete builds; but Beta suggests a largely functional game.  (Heck, it used to imply the game was feature complete - but likely had bugs that needed playtesting to identify.)  So I'm guessing that Beta in this case is just that; a bunch of experienced enthusiasts with a broader array of PCs and bug hunting that they can protect with NDAs (and try to clear up) before feeding the PC community the EA... which is likely to be in a Release Candidate state - with some qualifications.  That being the Roadmap.

This kind of activity suggests - mind you, speculation again - that it will be in a pretty polished state during the first part of EA. 

 

...

The background to all of this is the later things on the Roadmap.  There is decidedly a tension between a community that has been chomping at the bit for access since 2020ish and their wanting to put out the game they've advertised... when some of the parts are not yet ready for release.

I have confidence in Sandbox and Science.  Those roads are well traveled.  EA access to those two features buys them time.  Major monetization likely won't happen until Console release anyway - so getting the game into PC player's hands now quiets the community (hopefully) while they work on the functionality of the 'complete' game and the Console port.

[K^2]

24 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

We are seeing Beta Content - when we know the game is coming out on EA in a month.  We can assume it's a Closed Beta - as they did not invite the forums (captive audience of willing, interested players). 

Generally, "Beta" is just a stage in development. At a minimum, it's just a calendar date. In practice, there are going to be associated builds, but the default isn't even a closed beta - the default is that these builds stay purely internal. They are still marked as "beta content," because they can be used by the marketing team, but it doesn't mean that these were ever intended to be played by anyone outside of Intercept or Private Division.

The reason that people think about open and closed beta when they hear "Beta Content," is because that's what people usually see. You'll see a lot more footage and screenshots from open betas, some from closed betas, and only whatever marketing lets out from the internal beta builds. So people end up thinking of "beta" as open by default, or closed if necessary, and not at all about the internal builds that never get shared. The reality is the exact opposite. We're really just seeing a lot more WIP footage from Intercept than most other companies. That's why we saw pre-alpha and alpha footage, which a lot of companies don't release at all, and quite a bit of beta footage now that we're getting close to early access. None of it means that the beta builds have ever been intended to go to anyone who isn't an employee of Intercept or Private Division.

[Drakenred65]

This is very true for a lot of games, especialy nowdays.  For example fallout 76 was in such poor shape that a lot of people felt it was still in Beta a year later. And for years a number of Facebook games were flagged Beta despite them accepting money for micro transactions, never mind other games pocketing money for Beta and “early access”

 

 

[magnemoe]

10 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

My pure speculation is that they've invited folks like Scott Manley and a few others with notable followings and KSP experience to be Beta testers.  I base this purely on the weight of the milk my 15 year old left in the carton when he failed to put it back in the fridge, so you know this is solid and reliable.

That way they get input from people who both know the game and who are invested in its success (as they shill for views while freely promoting the game).  Likelihood is that if there is a whole host of Day Zero or Day One content dumped on the interwebs... I'm right.

Well for beta testing they want Danny2462 , 10 ways to use an claw to destroy things like planets. 

[Datau03]

Matt is on the Intercept Discord and his status is on playing Kerbal Space Program 2: Closed Beta 

He could just have renamed some other program but maybe he actually is playing the game

[Luriss]

17 minutes ago, Datau03 said:

Matt is on the Intercept Discord and his status is on playing Kerbal Space Program 2: Closed Beta 

He could just have renamed some other program but maybe he actually is playing the game

He's just set a custom status.

[magnemoe]

2 hours ago, Luriss said:

He's just set a custom status.

Did not knew that was possible. But pretty sure discord only know about games who talk with it. And if you passed out copies to steamers you do not it to be public that they are playing an anticipated close beta game. 
But playing Half Life 3 is an better status for confusing people  

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

8 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

But playing Half Life 3

I told someone I was playtesting "Cake is A Lie 3" and folks went nuts.

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[Drakenred65]

6 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Did not knew that was possible. But pretty sure discord only know about games who talk with it. And if you passed out copies to steamers you do not it to be public that they are playing an anticipated close beta game. 
But playing Half Life 3 is an better status for confusing people  

Yah I just edited mine to sat playing, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes 2023.

 

and I got DMed over it by a very confused freind.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Drakenred65

[Drakenred65]

 It was 2 movies before the tv show.

 

yes one of the tomatoes is a human woman.

[snkiz]

Ya'll are putting to much weight on the 'EA' status of the release. Polish is it the one thing it won't be lacking. Look at the road map, this is about integrating game mechanics, a measured pace. They know we will not just play the game as intended. So they are going to give us a piece at a time and see how we break it before moving on the the next. I'm of mind That at least half the features are more or less complete, the rest at least have working concepts, the dev's were playing multiplayer internally last year. EA is a general tool that can serve many purposes. They appear to be using it, to refine the final product based on player input. I have no idea why given all the information we have, anyone would think otherwise.

[snkiz]

Devs during ea:

 

[mcwaffles2003]

From the discord. Enjoy

[GoldForest]

1 minute ago, mcwaffles2003 said:

From the discord. Enjoy

So, Matt Lowne leaking he has KSP 2: Closed Beta is confirmed? 

[mcwaffles2003]

1 minute ago, GoldForest said:

So, Matt Lowne leaking he has KSP 2: Closed Beta is confirmed? 

Maybe, maybe not. Only 3 keys got out from the link you showed me unless I read it wrong.

He would make sense, though, I kinda hope a someone outside the hardcore community got one. and we all know Scott Manley has one.

[GoldForest]

6 minutes ago, mcwaffles2003 said:

Maybe, maybe not. Only 3 keys got out from the link you showed me unless I read it wrong.

He would make sense, though, I kinda hope a someone outside the hardcore community got one. and we all know Scott Manley has one.

I think that "3" was an ID number, not how many keys got distributed. It was confirmed that content creators will get to release early content. Afaik, there are like 7 or 8 KSP content creators in the discord. Danny2462, Scott Manley, N9 Gaming, Carnasa, ShadowZone, Matt Lowne, and a few others. 

Source:

Edited January 24, 2023 by GoldForest