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Rule the Waves 2

Started by solops, June 05, 2018, 02:32:43 PM

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Staggerwing

Some piracy of niche games may be down to a sort of hooliganism, where someone uploads the game to as many cracked game sites as possible, not because so many people want to play it but more just to be malicious or even to undermine the developers because of some perceived slight.
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Grim.Reaper

details of it......

Basically the protection itself is a self-contained 'wrapper' (incorporated into the game executable itself, nothing external), where the game executable is protected and the game would need to be re-registered if it is moved to another PC. Out of the choices we had available and affordable to a rather small company like ours, IMO this is our best option without going too restrictive. You will not need to be online to play it, you will only need to send your machine code in and receive a unlock code to play. You will also be able to play for a time without unlocking the game, so you can play even if you have to wait a bit for an unlock code. You will still receive a separate serial code, but this serial code will not be required to install RTW2, it exists so we can make sure folks who need to have their game unlocked are legitimate owners of the game. If you transfer the game to another machine you will need to get an unlock code for the new machine, of course.

I do personally dislike that we have to have this sort of (relatively moderate) protection scheme to help curb certain types of piracy, but RTW was our first release wherein we tracked fairly significant piracy of the game and we believe that it likely harmed our sales to some degree, mostly later in the games' sales life-cycle. Larger companies perhaps can write off a certain amount of piracy as 'cost-of-business' and such, but smaller developers like ourselves just do not have that extra margin of monies/resources to do so in many cases. I certainly understand that some players may not like this decision, but I hope you can understand why we need to make some efforts to protect from at least casual piracy. We will do our best to make this as painless of a process as possible, and if you have any issues we will (as we always do) put forth our best effort to help clear them up for you.

Thanks for your time, and for your understanding.

steve58

What is this "machine code" we send in?
Government is not the solution to our problem—government is the problem.   Ronald Reagan
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.   Thomas Jefferson
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.   George Orwell  The truth is quiet...It's the lies that are loud.   Jesus Revolution
If you ever find yourself in need of a safe space then you're probably going to have to stop calling yourself a social justice warrior. You cannot be a warrior and a pansy at the same time   Mike Adams (RIP Mike)

Grim.Reaper

Quote from: steve58 on April 19, 2019, 07:37:53 PM
What is this "machine code" we send in?

I have seen this in other games...basically you go into a screen in the game and it will give you a unique code based on your computer's configuration (looks at things like motherboard and other hardware).  You then send that code to the company, and they send you a license code based on that machine ID.  You type it in, and you can play the game.

It's not as bad as some other things, but just a plain hassle...and if the company ever goes away and your PC changes, no more playing the game....

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Huw the Poo

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on April 19, 2019, 07:31:04 PM
but RTW was our first release wherein we tracked fairly significant piracy of the game and we believe that it likely harmed our sales to some degree

This has been claimed many times but never proved.  Admittedly it's hard to get to the bottom of this issue, but indications (where serious studies have been done) are that "piracy" actually enhances sales.

The_Admiral

Well, Rule the Waves received a sudden and unexpected attention considering its sole channel of distribution. The excellent gameplay just made it more than a closet success in the end, and I can understand that pirating became an issue. They don't have to look very far in order to assess the damage - after all, any proper torrent tracker will tell you how many people downloaded a file, it would be telling - and depressing - enough as it is.

Still, even though I can understand that even if going for Steam means losing pretty much 40% of each sale (that would include Valve's cut and the taxes), I can't believe that the amount of business volume generated from having RTW2 showing up on such a forefront wouldn't largely beat the cost conceded in the end. A dev is still allowed to make people pay a certain price on Steam and a different one on their own private shop in order to make for that difference, and to me it's a missed opportunity to reach a much larger audience.

Heck, they could even approach the Epic Store with the prestige of RTW1 to show for. I wouldn't be shocked nor scandalized... They will never have a better time for that!

Huw the Poo

#22
Quote from: The_Admiral on April 19, 2019, 08:41:20 PM
They don't have to look very far in order to assess the damage - after all, any proper torrent tracker will tell you how many people downloaded a file, it would be telling - and depressing - enough as it is.

This is disingenuous.  As has been well documented by now, the vast majority of such downloads either never would have been sales in the first place, or would actually convert to sales that wouldn't have happened otherwise.  One isn't harm, and the other is material benefit.  "Illegitimate download = lost sale" is a fallacy; that has been known for a long time now.  At the end of the day, DRM is a problem only for the paying customer; "pirates" aren't troubled by it.  That's arse-backwards however you look at it.  GOG have built their entire business model on this, and have been successful for years.

I do agree that not putting the game on Steam is shooting themselves in the foot, though.  It is also known that Steam presence leads to a considerable number of impulse purchases; hell, I'm guilty of it myself.  The Steam storefront is excellent at selling games.

The_Admiral

#23
Well I don't dispute the fact that torrent numbers are only a rather unreliable and not necessarily accurate external sign of piracy among others - but trustworthy or not, you cannot expect a small dev not to be shocked by these numbers the first time he sees them. In the same way, I agree that most pirate downloads wouldn't lead to a sale anyway, anyhow. In that regard, even if it means getting less money for each copy sold eventually, Steam's "impulsive purchase" syndrome would certainly leave NWS sale potential - and its smaller user base - mostly untouched. The mere visibility and numbers trumps the rest in my opinion, but well it's their game, and as such their decision... And our choice to buy it or not.

As someone else said in a recent cold waters post over there at Steam regarding Killerfish (a great example of the visibility Steam can bring to the genre btw), buying a game doesn't mean one suddenly gets shares in the company. Even less so if we don't buy it in the first place. They are big boys, I trust their vision for their own game, and my opinion shall always come second.  :coolsmiley:

In the meantime best of luck to the RtW team. I'll buy it, even if NWS is the only option.

As a sidenote though: despite its good consumer-oriented practices, GOG is not doing very well these days. I wouldn't be so sure about their future right now...

Jarhead0331

Quote from: The_Admiral on April 19, 2019, 10:25:32 PM

As a sidenote though: despite its good consumer-oriented practices, GOG is not doing very well these days. I wouldn't be so sure about their future right now...

Can you link to a credible source for this statement?  It wouldn't shock me if its true, but I'd still like to see where you got this information.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Staggerwing

The lay-off are a fact but the rest is speculation. The report of dire finances comes from one of those laid off so there may be some bitter exaggeration there. It could just be a bit of reshuffling to improve efficiency. GOG's parent company, CD Projekt, is supposed to be doing very well.
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

steve58

Government is not the solution to our problem—government is the problem.   Ronald Reagan
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.   Thomas Jefferson
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.   George Orwell  The truth is quiet...It's the lies that are loud.   Jesus Revolution
If you ever find yourself in need of a safe space then you're probably going to have to stop calling yourself a social justice warrior. You cannot be a warrior and a pansy at the same time   Mike Adams (RIP Mike)

The_Admiral

#27
Quote from: Staggerwing on April 20, 2019, 08:08:14 AM
The lay-off are a fact but the rest is speculation. The report of dire finances comes from one of those laid off so there may be some bitter exaggeration there. It could just be a bit of reshuffling to improve efficiency. GOG's parent company, CD Projekt, is supposed to be doing very well.

Well, yeah, I agree that the rumors of their death have been greatly exaggerated - doesn't mean business is going well. And it's not because CD Projekt is doing good that they're gonna pour money in GOG for the pleasure of it. 12 people, that's 10% of the staff. I dont know under which sort of moon that would be seen as a good sign or good luck - especially for a company that isn't listed.

I can only wish for the best. They're a lovely concept and I grew fond of my old-timer no-DRM games.

Gusington

Wait for the release of Cyberpunk 2077 and the influx of 100s of millions of dollars. Then GOG will be flush again.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Grim.Reaper

Delayed about a month.....

**Message from the company**

I have just finished a meeting with Fredrik & Christopher Dean, and I have also have consulted with our excellent Beta Team members that us help test the RTW2 game. Below is a summary of what we have decided upon for the near future as far as RTW2 is concerned:

1) RTW2 will be released on May 17 (of this year, of course). This is a solid launch date, not an 'estimated' launch date.   This gives us plenty of time to test the latest added features and related aspects of the game, and also to allow for the completion of item #2 below...

2) NWS Store operations will be moved to a more modern/updated hosting service prior to the RTW2 release.

3) A playable demo of RTW2 will be released to the general public 2-3 days prior to the official launch date.

I know some of you will be disappointed in this ~3 week addition to the release date, for that I am sorry. However, in the end it will allow us to better organize our operations at NWS, and also allow for the Beta testers and Fredrik to make the game more solid and enjoyable for you, the players. Thank you for your patience and time, we appreciate both of them.