Epigenesis is one of the many FPS sport games that have found their way on to Steam since Monday Night Combat. Why is it worth talking about? Because the developers are having tournaments before the game has been released. It seems that beta isn’t just alpha anymore, for some games it is pretty much the full release. This is an important change in the industry which is worth learning about.
The Epigenesis Event and Game
This weekend it is going on a 75% sale and people can try the game for free. At the same time they are running a tournament on this site. All of this is being for a done that is still in early access. The game centers around two teams playing a game somewhere in the middle of football and baseball on some floating platforms. There are also many other locales they have added as well. It has a fairly fast-paced style with the traditional special abilities you want in an FPS.
What Epigenesis has to do with Minecraft
While they certainly aren’t the same game there is a connection. While other games had done it before, Minecraft was the most popular example of a game in development that was played and promoted like a full release. Long before we made it to 1.0 it had massive press, YouTube celebrities and people buying it in droves. While not the first it was perhaps the biggest factor in games going from basic code to full promotion today.
Games like Epigenesis and the Industry
On the positive side games that might have disappeared in development rarely have that happen these days. Most of them make it all the way. On the downside some games that have too many bugs or that lack content, like Day One: Garry’s Incident, get released and never fixed. So is the rush from alpha to finished product a good or bad thing for the industry? We do not know yet so you should decide. At any rate it deserves to be looked at more deeply by you, us and everyone in between.
