Survival Games and Early Access

Open world survival games are a thing that has recently, over the past few years, exploded in popularity and many developers/publishers are jumping in to get a part of the pie. This craze began with a little 56MB voxel based game called Minecraft. The Beta began for 10$ buy in to test, a bit later when it released it upped its price to 30$. Then the craze continued with a mod for an obscure (at the time) military simulator called ArmAII; DayZ Mod. The mod was free (as long as you bought the base game ArmAII for 20$ (5$ with steam sales) ) and always in development, adding features with every patch. Vehicles, Wildlife, Tents, Base Construction and so on. It became the new hard core survival game. This is when everything started to go downhill.

Over the past 5 years we started to see the rise of the hard core survival genre. The problem is not the variety, in fact this is a good thing, it creates healthy market competition. The problem is that there are at least a dozen survival games and only but 2 are finished products. the first obvious one is from Microsoft (Mojang): Minecraft and the second is from Ubisoft: Zombi. (before you ask, yes it is plagued by UPlay).

To make things worse is that all these games are BUY TO TEST, with a promise of a copy of the game when it's released. Minecraft was buy to play and was totally worth it for 10$ specially since the game is out and now worth 30$; so what is the problem? These new Survival games are mostly 20$ or more and are in semi playable state filled with bugs and crashes, sometimes making the game unplayable. Here is a quick list of all Survival Games with their approximate prices (CAD/USD) for sure there are more, I just placed the best known but there are dozen more survival games

RELEASED
ZOMBI - 25$ (single player)
Minecraft - 30$

EARLY ACCESS (Multiplayer)
DayZ Standalone - 40$
Ark: Survival Evolved - 30$
Rust - 20$
7 Days to Die - 30$
Miscreated - 20$
Life is Feudal - 45$
Planet Explorers - 20$
Nether - 10$
Infestation: Survival Stories (aka WarZ) - 10$
Savage Lands - 20$
H1Z1 - 20$ (F2P on release)

EARLY ACCESS (Singleplayer)
Stranded Deep - 15$
The Forest - 15$
The Long Dark - 15$

These games are no where near being complete and some like Nether or Infestation, We haven't heard or patched anything on steam from the devs since February (That's 8 months ago from the time stamp of this blog). DayZ which is a zombie survival games, currently doesn't have any zombies. Ark's latest patch crashes the game if you use ladders. Some of you might say: Its a beta/alpha, bugs are expected. Sure, and some will remain in beta/alpha for ever. "foreverbeta games" DayZ has been in beta for almost 2 years now. Zombies not working, and not in game is not acceptable time line. H1Z1 survival is so boring and incomplete that most players are just playing BattleRoyale mode. which is a deathmatch/team deathmatch. even the devs have been focussing on their arena pvp deathmatches more than survival. If I want to play deathmatch games, there is CS:Go or CS: Source (among a gigantic pool of shooters)

I am sure that 1/2 these games will just die out and the devs/publishers will simply walk away with all the Early Access money they got. Also worth mentioning. if you stay in beta too long the hype will just die down and when you release the game it will attract only a few players (if any)

I thought F2P was the bane of gaming. but at least you get something for your money. be it a fancy digital dress/armor, or bag space/ bank tabs. but Early Access has topped this. EA is probably the new EVIL in gaming. You are forced to Pay to Play, but you get an incomplete game, sometimes even unplayable and sometimes they never even get finished and get abandoned.

Gaming news only today:

Elite Dangerous:

I have upgraded to the next smuggling ship. If you guys remember I was flying the Cobra which was a really good ship to start smuggling. Now the ASP is an upgraded version of the ship, even though the bonuses are increased like more cargo space and much beefier systems the same can be said about the penalties. It's a bigger ship, thus less maneuverable, more heat signature. Balanced overall I would say. The best part is that It can double as an exploration ship.

Speaking of exploration, I took a trip to the California Galaxy and back to Federation space. Took me about 3 days (a couple of hours each day). All in all, I have 2 stars and about a dozen planets with my name on them :). Economically... 600k credits... not really worth it when I can make between 100k-250k in 15 minutes of smuggling.

In conclusion: Back to Smuggling.

Guild Wars 2:

I bit the bullet and pre-ordered the Heart of Thorns expansion. I only got the base version because it's way to expensive for an expansion and it's what I can afford at the moment. Also, paying 25$ more for a mini and a glider skin? I'll pass thank you.

Upcoming Game: Tree of savior (https://treeofsavior.com/)

This game is going to release beta soon. The developpers say it's the spiritual successor of the popular Ragnarok Online. I used to play Ragnarok quite a lot! I consider it the TF2 of MMORPGs. This new game looks amazing and I can't wait until release or at least to get more information and gameplay.

Well the Job search still continues with no luck... life is haaaard! On the other hand I am losing more weight and are closer to my goal of 160-165. After that I will need to start toning. On the bright side I am a high performance trainer so I am saving the costs of hiring a personal trainer.

I have a couple of news in the online world though.
For one I tried making a video to show my american friends that in Eastern Canada we have Milk in Bags and the result was... uhm... I'll let you see for yourselves.

Razer Naga is still all good,
Steelseries Keyboard is still all good
Razer Gaming Mousepad... Not so great... (still usable)

I have also started a Collaboration Stream with Nirahiel ( http://www.twitch.tv/nirahiel ) where we will develop and build a Starbound World.

Speaking of Starbound! NEW PATCH!!! Crazy stuff in that update. Colonies! new balances... ok just way to many things to list off

check out the trailer video for some of the updated stuff.

Don't forget to follow me on twitch http://www/twitch.tv/squalzell and on twitter @deadvoidstudios

Sneak Peak.
I will be opening the DeadVoid Studios youtube channel soon with lots of game reviews, first looks, and top5s. Stay tuned on the next blog for more new on this!

I have lost a good 10 Lbs with all the evaluations and hoops I need to jump through to get the Personal Trainer job! I guess they want us to be fit!! I am almost done with all these evaluations they ask and now i have to take 1/2 day of compressed theory courses and I should have a job! YAY
The good thing about being a personal trainer is that eventually when you grow your client base you can make your own schedule.

Also, my CEILING IS LEAKING!! I called the landlord, no answer. I called the emergency number, no answer, I called the secretary of the building, she is in new york and no answer! So i guess i am going to RONA to get some duct tape and let them figure out the mess. So far the leak is maintained... but i have a feeling its accumulating and will cause more damages. Either way they were warned about this 2 weeks ago.

In the gaming news Skyforge launched its beta. That's a lot of fun. I mean, a game where you are an immortal trying to achieve godhood. and there is no cap on how powerful you can get. Imagine a game like Guild Wars 2 or World of Warcraft where there is no level cap; you can be lvl 1 million if you play long enough. they want you to be OP, its how the game is developed.

In Guild Wars 2 I am trying to finish my living story... I know I know I am INCREDIBLY BEHIND! but better late than never right?

On other sadder news, I finally canceled my EvE Online account. I finally was able to break free of the chains of a game that I was subscribed to but never had time to play. This means I have 15$ per month extra to spend in my budget YAY!!!!

Lastly I gave Archage a second chance. I heard they patched the problems and It is actually playable now. First of all it took me 30 minutes to download and 4 HOURS TO INSTALL!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!. I played for 4 hours and I didn't see a single player, there is this stutter when it loads the world objects and it is more P2W more than ever. if you are not a patron then there is no point in playing at all. I understand they need to  make money, but they are going about it the wrong way. I see this game shutting it's doors soonish.

Job Update

My everything HURTS!!!!! I should not have pushed myself that hard yesterday during the job training evaluation. my body composition is not made for this kind of fitness activity. I lift weights and then put them back down. I don't run for miles on end, I'm to heavy for this. I have to do this again on Saturday Morning... I will pace myself this time and not go all out for the warm up and then die because my heart exploded.


Gaming and Streaming

Elite Dangerous. With the announcements of No Man's Sky where you can fly to unlimited planets land on them and then survive the wild life and explore underwater and the current features in Star Citizen where you can walk around the ship hangar and around your (larger) ships Elite Dangerous will need to up its game. The only thing that they got going for them is that they have already launched and they have a solid core base game. But if either game launches before Elite implements walking in stations-planets/ landing on planets/ boarding ships even a frst person shooter feature Frontier Games will loose most if not all its players. Already with powerplay in action, players are leaving the game in large numbers.

Twitch also faces the same problem. You have YouTube Gaming launching this summer and Hitbox that is taking up steam. Youtube and Hitbox have solid infrastructure. Currently Twitch is having serious buffering problems, server problems for low viewers count. If twitch wants to keep in the competition, they need to up their game, Java video output is no longer enough. They need to get onto HTML 5 or increase their server power.

I think I might be making the switch to HitBox or Youtube Gaming. I am ok starting over again gaining more followers/subs in the other channels. It's too bad because there are features like follower announcements and IRC chat and admin bots.

Games

Elite Dangerous
I did an almost 4 hour stream last night of Elite Dangerous and I am getting pro at Docking in stations. Even better at docking without getting scanned/seen by authorities. perfect for smuggling slaves and contraband.

Also I am learning how to become a ghost ship. completely disappear from scanners. My ship is rigged specifically for that. The Cobra is the ideal Smuggling ship

Job Update

So tonight is my first session with the head coach to "live the experience". I need to follow 2 of those sessions before I need to shadow the trainers 3x. I feel a bit out of shape so I don't know how that will go. On a good side, I have all the equipment necessary.

Elite Dangerous

Yesterday I just played Elite Dangerous. I think I will be playing that for a while. Including in tonight's stream.

This was my last flight with the Viper, I totally meant to do that before I upgraded to the Cobra

I love my new Cobra. It feels sluggish. but awesome how it can fly longer distances than my Viper used to. As a smuggler the Cobra is the best ship for the job when it comes to agility/speed and tank/pewpew power. You need to quickly sneak into the stations before getting scanned with contraband in your cargo.

Guild Wars 2

Nothing much to say, I log in to claim my chest and logged out

Rise of the Incarnates

I downloaded it into my steam library... it's still there. I need to check it out at some point tonight.

Job!

I finally may have found a job, after almost 2 months of searching. The potential Job would be at Orange Theory Fitness. I still need participate in 2 sessions, shadow the head trainer for 3 sessions and follow a 1/2 day theory course. All this starts tomorrow. Having said that I will start my stream much later (closer to 8:30pm EDT).

Elite: Dangerous

I started yesterday the smuggling career in the game. Transporting Slaves and other illicit materials from one system to another. I tried to buy them from systems where things were legal and transporting them to other systems where they are illegal, that gave me a grand profit of 1000-2500 credits... Instead I started running missions for Criminal Organizations, and even Political Leaders wanting me to transport "medicine" to neighboring systems in the galaxy. Needless to say, i now upgraded to a Cobra Mk III and I have made my first million credits in the game.

Guild Wars 2

I have finally reached my 6000AP mark allowing me to get the radiant mantle. Now I have the full Archangel look. Also I am thinking of changing the stats on my ranger and remove toughness precision and add in power and vitality, all while keeping the Condition Damage. Also, I would go back to the Long Sword/Short Bow instead of the Sword-Dagger/Short Bow combo. I might also change the looks of my characters, Making my Ranger more druid looking with a hood, browns and blacks and my Mesmer be the angelic one. more fitting I think. I might need to get more transmutation charges at some point.

Streams

Just a reminder! here is my stream Schedule
-Tuesday/Thursday 7-10pm EDT
-Saturday 11-00:30am EDT (TF2 Night)
-Sunday/Monday (off days)
-Wednesday/Friday (Bonus days no specific times)

twitch.tv/squalzell