By Jim Rossignol on May 10th, 2011 at 6:42 pm.
According to the big K, Chris Hecker’s clever game of spies and parties, Spy Party, will soon enter a $15 paid-for beta. It won’t be a free-for-all, however, and there will be waves of invites sent out initially. You can declare your interest by signing up here in a flourish of names and email addresses. Many more details lie beyond that link.
For some further clues about what makes this most social of espionage ‘em ups so interesting check out our preview. Check it out. Or else. I mean it.
10/05/2011 at 18:57 westyfield says:
So, you sign up, and then you might get sent an invite, and then you cough up $15. Riiiiiight.
10/05/2011 at 19:06 Zarunil says:
But then you essentially buy the game now, so you can download the full version for free when it releases, right?
Right?
10/05/2011 at 19:58 Chris Hecker says:
> and then you might get sent an invite
You will get sent an invite, I just can’t say when yet, since I need to scale the game slowly. Everybody who signs up will get invited into the private beta, and then once I’ve got it scalable enough, there will be a “quiet period” of a few weeks where I shut down sign ups and let the people who signed up play as a community, and then I’ll open it up to the public. This way all the people who sign up now will be able to complain about the Good Old Days before the pubbies ruined everything, which I think is important in an online game community.
10/05/2011 at 20:17 westyfield says:
Ok, thanks for clearing that up!
“all the people who sign up now will be able to complain”
Ah, and the natural order is restored.
10/05/2011 at 19:00 applecup says:
“Paid beta”?
Well, that’s more honest than mainstream games, I’ll give them that.
10/05/2011 at 19:01 Matt says:
If you like multiplayer games at all you should sign up for this.
10/05/2011 at 19:13 Jesse L says:
Well, probably not if you only like Quake, for instance.
10/05/2011 at 19:02 Delusibeta says:
And yes, that $15 should include a finished copy of the game.
10/05/2011 at 20:46 Zarunil says:
It does, thankfully.
10/05/2011 at 19:02 thesundaybest says:
Minecraft.
Also – awesome!
10/05/2011 at 21:39 Creeping Death says:
Frozen Synapse too.
Seems to be a growing trend in indie gaming to raise sales/interest. But hey, if it works and funds the devs to work further I aint got a problem with it.
10/05/2011 at 23:23 Rii says:
It seems as though the two-keys per pre-order thing is something else the game could usefully borrow from Frozen Synapse, what with it primarily being a two-player affair and all, plus the ‘critical mass’ issue.
For my part I’m intrigued, but I don’t think I’m $15 intrigued at this point.
11/05/2011 at 01:13 Tatourmi says:
Hey, that is actually a pretty good idea. Two keys for one pre-order would definitely make me go for this one.
10/05/2011 at 19:06 mod the world says:
Yesss! I am waiting for this game since i first heard about it on RPS. Let’s hope i get a chance to pay him ^^
10/05/2011 at 19:13 Tei says:
In a way, …it sounds somewhat like “Sleep is Dead”, as you need two persons to play. And is a cheap indie game, and that let you feel things that you have never experience before in a videogame.
I remember Sleep is Dead as a very special game, I got from it a lot of laughs, figuring out the game. I stoped playing the game, because in the end, I decided “i am not creative that way”. But SpyParty ask for skills I probably already posed.
Still, because is a new game (a really New Game), I have no idea what I will feel playing it.
10/05/2011 at 20:18 pakoito says:
I bought Sleep is Death on release date and I’m yet to play it :( I’m glad I payed the developers but it was more a donation than a purchase.
10/05/2011 at 20:49 Tei says:
I am sorry to heard that. Because it was a hilarious and somehow super-stressing experience. I don’t remember laughing more in all my life.
The community was concentrated here:
http://sidtube.com/games/
You can browse trought this to see other people creations:
http://sidtube.com/gallery/
10/05/2011 at 22:26 pakoito says:
Yes I used to stop by when I bought the game but there’s never running games. I guess I should creep their forums asking or something.
10/05/2011 at 19:20 QualityJeverage says:
“The current plan is it will cost $15 for beta access. This will let you play the beta as much as you want as I update it over SpyParty’s development, and also get you a copy of the finished game when it’s released on PC.”
Is reading really that hard? There you go fellas.
10/05/2011 at 19:21 Pobblepop says:
This looks really unusual so it’s got my vote straight away. Signed up.
10/05/2011 at 19:39 Torgen says:
Too bad it’s only a two-person game.
10/05/2011 at 20:01 Chris Hecker says:
It’s currently only two players (well, there’s single-player practice right now, but it’s pretty simple still), but there will eventually be lots of game styles. I talk about this in the shiny new FAQ!
10/05/2011 at 19:50 jonfitt says:
I just hope the multiplayer community reaches critical mass so that you’ll be able to find a game 6 months after release. It should be able to cope with high latency connections. That’ll help.
10/05/2011 at 20:03 Chris Hecker says:
Yeah, critical mass is super important, and hard, especially for indie games. I have a few plans for this, hopefully they’ll work!
10/05/2011 at 19:59 edgeblend says:
Signed up! I’ve been following this for ages, and having had a lot of fun with the Ass:Bro multiplayer I definately see this as a legitimate alternative to the norm of competetive twitch gaming. Hopefully I won’t keep getting ‘pwn’d’ by redbull sodden twelve year olds.
10/05/2011 at 20:19 Hideous says:
Hecker, you are one suave son of a bitch.
10/05/2011 at 21:17 Zoonp says:
Isn’t 15 dollars a bit too much for a simple game like this? I think 10 dollars would be much better.
10/05/2011 at 21:43 razgon says:
I think 14, 34 dollars to be more accurate for the game myself.
Anyways – looks damn good!
10/05/2011 at 22:27 pakoito says:
Cliffski wants a word with you: http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/?p=1178
11/05/2011 at 00:02 Rii says:
Reading from the FAQ the planned release date – 2 years away – and the seemingly enormous gulf between the game as intended and the game as it currently is, this seems less like buying into a traditional beta than buying into Narbacular Drop with the promise of Portal at the end of it.
I’m intrigued, but it’s a high-risk proposition.
11/05/2011 at 00:19 lamzor says:
im sure it will buy you more fun than homefront or COD black ops.
11/05/2011 at 00:40 Rii says:
Well I wouldn’t even pay $5 for those games (hell, I can’t even be bothered torrenting them for free) so I’m not sure what your point is.
I’ve done the paid beta thing before – with Frozen Synapse and Fate of the World – so I’m not opposed to the concept. Fact is, this is a game two years from release being developed by a single individual. With no disrespect intended to Mr. Hecker, there is a non-trivial risk of he and the project simply disappearing in the interim – hell, maybe he gets hit by a bus – to say nothing of more prosaic failure modes such as the game simply turning out not to be very good.
11/05/2011 at 09:29 lamzor says:
i think that this beta is for people really looking forward to play it(no matter the risk).
its about having impact on the game by testing and supporting it.
all in all its only 15$. maybe there will be something like there was while frozen synapse preorder – 2 keys for one price. i sure hope so.
11/05/2011 at 17:00 Drowning Rabbit says:
As someone who has actually played the game at PAX East this year, I’m already signed up and waiting patiently for this paid beta to start with money in hand.
Even if the game did turn into vaporware, it’s at a point right now that it’s playable and very fun game. As it says in his FAQ on the website, the game is amazing sitting with 2 laptops facing away from each other, and I’m extremely curious how this will translate to an online encounter with an anonymous user.