About Preorders
I want to talk real quick about why I’m providing a 100% Money Back Guarantee to those who preorder the game. I should have done this before but, to be honest, I didn’t expect anybody to preorder.
Why 100% Money Back Guarantee?
I have no games under my belt
Nobody knows me (I’ve never worked in the games industry before) therefore I have no credibility
There are currently no screenshots or game play for the game (January 2012), so you don’t know what you’re getting into.
Honestly, to sum it up, it doesn’t make much sense for anyone to preorder this game. Period.
Do I have to provide a money back guarantee? No. But I like providing it. Why? Because I can, it’s as simple as that.
I’m not a “company”, just a single developer. I have nobody to report to. I like to have a clear conscious, that’s all. I don’t want anybody coming up to me and saying, “I supported you when you didn’t have shit on your site because I like indie developers, I bought the game 10 months before the release and you deliver this abomination of a game? Pokemon is scarier than this! Is this how you thank your customers? You are the worst independent developer the world has ever seen. I hope you eat shit and die!”
You can get your money back anytime you want. It doesn’t matter if it’s before the release date or not, if you’ve played the game or not.
I don’t want to hijack anybody’s money. To make it crystal clear:
You can get your money back anytime you want for whatever reason. No questions asked. I’ll just stalk you from a safe distance that’s all.
On a side note: If I die or anything happens to me that prevents me from contacting you and completing the game, I’ve made the necessary arrangements for refunds. This may sound morbid but that’s the reality of developing a game as a single person.
But I want you folks to know, I’m truly dedicated to providing you with the best horror experience I can. Therefore if I die during the production of this game, I will come back from the grave and fuck with you as long as I can. And when you see me, you’ll shit bricks. That’s my promise.
Steam Achievements
You can choose to download the game through Steam (rather than here) when it comes out and get your achievements . To make things clear, you don’t need to buy the game again for achievements, your preorder entitles you to a Steam copy.
Thanks for this post! (which I believe might have originated from my e-mail and/or others, sorry bout that!).
Glad to see you so serious about it. Looking forward to see how the dev goes on!
Also, Zombie you finishing the game made me chuckle ^^
It’s really good that you take your customers into account. However, you shouldn’t promise the money back for the customers that get to play the game because it may lead to dilemmas like customer asking their money back even if the game was awesome (people really CAN be horrible like that). People know what they’re getting into when investing onto this game if they’ve read your blog at all.
Don’t get me wrong, I totally support the idea of giving the money back IF something happened and you couldn’t manage to actually finish the game. Just make sure you don’t promise anything you’ll regret later :) Making a good game requires tons of time, especially all alone and I’m sure the money you’ll receive from the pre-orders will come in handy from time to time.
Investing into indie projects like this might always be “a risk” but seeing this post really tells that you’re being serious about this and I really look forward to seeing new content & the actual game when it’s ready. But, as I said earlier, don’t give the money you EARNED back to your customers ’cause everybody here on the internet is not as honest as you are :)
(P.S. Also, if you feel like you need more time to develop the game, don’t hesitate to push the releasing date back (just inform about it well before)! Everybody loves carefully made, polished game, even if they had to wait a bit longer :D first impressions are always the most important!)
Great post, Ferzan.
I’ve translate it in italian for my personal survival horror blog.
I agree with Villeveikko about the money back after the game release.
Gameplay footage will help people decide on a pre-orderer. It’s still early in the development I’m assuming so I know there won’t be much to show, but of course the release is still a ways away so you don’t have to rush to show yet.
And if you release a small demo that’ll show you have confidence in your game. A developer that has confidence has customers who have confidence, especially with your first release. Don’t underestimate the power of demo’s with a cliff hanger!
I just preordered this game and I am happy to see this post here.
It’s good to know that the developer is serious and honest in this project. I am looking forward to play this game ^^
Hey, I just preordered this game and the soundtrack is downloading right now. I just have one question, and it might be very stupid and allready answered in another post. But, how do I download the game when it comes out without having to pay for it again?
I also want to add that you sound like a very passionate and cool guy, and this is the first time I´ve ever pre-ordered a game..EVER. So, you better deliver! (hehe). And about the “money back guarantee”. It don´t think anyone who DO pre-order will demand to get their money back, atleast I hope not. This will be an interesting game to play, and I am looking forward to the release!
- Per Morten (Norway)