Black Mesa Is Now On Steam Early Access For $20

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It looks as though Black Mesa is now an Early Access Game. It would seem that some people are taking issue with the fact that the Early Access version isn't free, as the developers are charging $19.99. Thanks to SoFGR for the heads up.

Making a game with the scope and scale of Black Mesa is a massive undertaking. Back in 2012 we made the decision to release what we had completed up to that point, and were blown away by the community’s response, feedback, and improvements to our work. We want to keep that relationship alive and well by using Early Access as a tool for allowing our community to participate in the final phase of Black Mesa’s development.
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Pre-order, kickstarter, early access, man they have proven gamers will pay for anything.

I could charge people so that I could come up with the idea of a game. If I get at least $150K raised, I will let you know what my idea is, but I can assure you its going to be awesome!
 
....by using Early Access as a tool for allowing our community to pay to participate in the final phase of Black Mesa’s development.
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Fixed.

I have no problem with people wanting to be paid for their work, but don't blow smoke up my ass about it.
 
what have they been doing since the free mod was released back in September 2013?...planning a way to start this pay-to-play model?
 
Ducman69 said:
Pre-order, kickstarter, early access, man they have proven gamers will pay for anything.

I could charge people so that I could come up with the idea of a game. If I get at least $150K raised, I will let you know what my idea is, but I can assure you its going to be awesome!
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No, see you kickstater the idea, then you use unity to make something, need not really even be a game, and then you stick it on early access for $50 (claiming it will go to $60 on release.)
 
I'll buy this when it's ready. If it turns out to be good, I don't have a problem paying $20 for it considering the scale of the project. I've had games that cost more with lesser gameplay content.
 
pxc said:
I counter offer $0.
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Which is exactly how much you'd have to pay to get the same thing before.

Reviews are noting that the Xen levels still don't exist. So you're paying for a money grab on a game that had been vaporware for over 10 years and is STILL unfinished.

Finish and ask for donations... don't try to sell a remake of someone else's property on their own service.

Fucking shameless.
 
It's not always a scam. I paid for Kerbal Space Program Early Access last year. It only just hit 1.0 last week. And it was worth every penny along the way. Steam says I've spent >600 hours in it.
 
Mohonri said:
It's not always a scam. I paid for Kerbal Space Program Early Access last year. It only just hit 1.0 last week. And it was worth every penny along the way. Steam says I've spent >600 hours in it.
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I don't think they are all scams, but IMO paid early access shouldn't be open ended like it is now, and should be to help a developer get over that final hump to release not to fund them for 2 or more years while they work on the basics of the game.

Games like Kerbal and Starbound are the exception and not the rule, they released with enough existing gameplay that even if they stopped updating a week after release they were worth the cost.
 
Mohonri said:
It's not always a scam. I paid for Kerbal Space Program Early Access last year. It only just hit 1.0 last week. And it was worth every penny along the way. Steam says I've spent >600 hours in it.
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For every KSP theres a dozen shit games that just want your money while they sit in an indefinite beta status.
 
techrat said:
don't try to sell a remake of someone else's property on their own service.

Fucking shameless.
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I don't get your attitude.

They were allowed by Valve to release their mod.
Then they got permission to commercialize it by submitting it to Greenlight.

Do you really think even for a second that Valve would allow something like this to go on without their express consent?
 
doubletake said:
I don't get your attitude.

They were allowed by Valve to release their mod.
Then they got permission to commercialize it by submitting it to Greenlight.

Do you really think even for a second that Valve would allow something like this to go on without their express consent?
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You seem to be assuming that Valve actually pays attention to things put on Greenlight, but the all the detritus on Greenlight says differently.
 
Geez ... who pissed in your corn flakes ... why should anyone care if there are Preorders, Kickstarters, or Early Access for a game unless your wife or kids stole your credit card to pay for it ;)

Each of those types of purchases are voluntary and usually only Kickstarter can have an impact on the final product's availability (if Kickstarter fails to fund then the project might die). They each have advantages for both developer and potentially the user:

Preorder - the digital preorder is pretty meaningless unless it offers some benefit you want that wouldn't be available after the game launch (Beta access for example). The physical preorder could be useful (depending on the game) since we are migrating away from the antiquated physical model and certain titles might be hard to get in physical form without mail order or preorder

Kickstarter - has allowed the creation of more niche titles but with higher production values ... publishers like to give their funds to big name titles that are going to return large revenues ... they also expect control of the IP and marketing/launch dates to offset their funding ... kickstarter has allowed bigger name titles to launch like Indie Titles (but with better production values than the old Indie releases)

Early Access - an optional form of purchasing Alpha or Beta access to a program ... when a program is clearly labeled as Early Access I see nothing wrong with giving folks the option to purchase the early access
 
I've never tried early access before..... do you pay the $20 and then get $20 off the full release or do you pay $20 then $50 or $60 when it's release?
 
Wow. I had no idea.

I thought it was a free open source project that was done when I downloaded it in 2012.

That being said, it was a little buggy. I couldn't get past the scene where soldier rappel down in the big room, as I killed them all, but the scripted next scene never happened.
 
AssMan said:
I've never tried early access before..... do you pay the $20 and then get $20 off the full release or do you pay $20 then $50 or $60 when it's release?
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You pay $20 then hope it gets released.
 
Anyone else remember when alpha/beta testers didn't have to pay to test a company's unfinished product?
 
AssMan said:
I've never tried early access before..... do you pay the $20 and then get $20 off the full release or do you pay $20 then $50 or $60 when it's release?
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I don't know if it is universal but with most Early Access game it is the same as a Preorder (you get the full game) but you get to access the in development version immediately ... Grim Dawn for example is on Early Access now (they charge $25 for the game which is equivalent to what they asked during their successful Kickstarter campaign a few years ago)
 
AssMan said:
But if it does get release do you just get the released version with no extra charge?
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With most games you get the game ... it is the same as a preorder ... there should be some indication on the early access description if it is more restrictive than that (I haven't seen one yet but I don't read about all of them)
 
Yeah, I played it back in 2012 or whatever. Thought it was complete then and that was it.

Pretty amazing piece of work.

So what exactly has been added or improved to make it now $20 when it was $0?

It's a little hard to "take it back" and start charging after it has been free for YEARS.
 
Ducman69 said:
I remember when alpha testers got paid to test a company's unfinished product.
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Yeah, I thought of that as soon as I hit post.

It wasn't even unusual for beta testers, for longer term testing, to get a discount on the finished product, of course back then alpha/beta testing were about making sure a game worked properly, and of course that is no longer a concern for most companies.
 
Advil said:
So what exactly has been added or improved to make it now $20 when it was $0?
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Nothing. Confirmed with a friend who ordered. It's the same thing has the public release they did last.

So you're paying $20 hoping they'll finish it... yet since they released it, they haven't shown anything in terms of progress or work on the last part of the game.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Yeah, I thought of that as soon as I hit post.

It wasn't even unusual for beta testers, for longer term testing, to get a discount on the finished product, of course back then alpha/beta testing were about making sure a game worked properly, and of course that is no longer a concern for most companies.
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And bigger companies, like Blizzard, still have internal and professional Beta Testers ... depending on the company or the game I think these early access beta offerings are to gauge audience reaction to the game (kind of like a movie screen test) as well as collecting additional prelaunch revenue for smaller developers. Although some companies handle Early Access and Beta Testing more effectively than others I don't think this is some vast nefarious conspiracy (and if it didn't provide some value or have some critical mass of interest, it would disappear fairly rapidly)
 
No way I am paying for this. People used to get paid for crap like this... Now they have to pay? Talk about a 180.
 
I was wanting to play it, to relive the HL1 experience and didn't mind throwing a few dollars at it, but for $20, I think i'll pass.. $5-10 I would of jumped on board.
 
So this is why the mod took so long to get released? Because they wanted money for it...typical...

The authentic half-life hasn't gotten any less fun so I'll just replay that thank you very much.
 
Guys let it go. For crying out loud. :rolleyes: Its over it's done with. I was there and I still own it via Steam. Shit I was still young then. I'm old now. LOLOL
 
It's $20 because of multiplayer and custom mod tools. Both of which don't interest me. They need to put xen in and then I'd buy. They did a shit ton of work and deserve to get paid... When the work is done.
 
There is literally nothing to complain about they are still releasing a free version when they get out of early access.
 
I downloaded this back then and it didn't feel buggy at all, albeit I didn't finish the game.
 
I played Black Mesa because I didn't get into PC gaming until HL2. The graphics were too dated I just couldn't tolerate to play it. I knew Valve had something to do with it. Now they want money for it. Of course.

If they REALLY WANT MY MONEY...It's HL3 we care about.


Half Life 3.

Half-Life 2 Episode 3. Finish the f-ing story. Otherwise, it's just another black man who died needlessly and unjustly
at the hands of the white-alien power structure.
 
yea ticks me off they do this well over a year to a year an a half after the last public release and they still haven't finished XEN....??? If this was a final release with all content I would happily pay $20 for their hard work and dedication, but as it is it took a long time for the game to come out in its last form, and it was unfinished.
 
MisterHipster said:
No way I am paying for this. People used to get paid for crap like this... Now they have to pay? Talk about a 180.
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Well they still do, huge well funded dev still have internal testers for QA purposes. It's just not something small independent dev can afford, and I believe it has always be that way. They rely on the community to help them out.
 
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