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Early Access Developers Can Learn from ‘Killing Floor 2’
Since the arrival of Killing Floor 2 on Steam Early Access back in April, Tripwire Interactive has used the game’s fervent community as a tool for guiding its development. Even with the limited content that it came with initially — the game started with just three maps and seven playable characters — its launch has been well-received.
One of the driving factors behind this success was recently explained by Tripwire Interactive VP Alan Wilson in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.
“We do not subscribe to the view that things that go into Early Access should be broken,” Wilson said. “Yeah, there’s probably going to be the odd, lurking bug. But at that point, we’re asking people to part with their money, and they should not be getting a broken product. I think that’s where a number of people are going wrong with Early Access. They’re treating it like a paid beta.”
Steam Greenlight is a cluttered mess. It started out as a promising platform to help aspiring indie developers build their games, find an audience for them, and eventually, sell them. In its current state, it’s ability to do those three things effectively has diminished somewhat.
“I think when they threw Early Access out there, Valve were expecting developers to be… mature about it–let’s put it that way–to be mature about it and respect their clients and get it through their skull that you’re asking for money at this point, so you do not piss about.”
Steam Greenlight has value for the makers of games like The Forest and Monstrum, and even the growing number of horror stories it continues to be a reliable source of won’t be able to completely ruin that. “You do not piss about” are words that some would-be developers could learn from.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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