Dev here. Yeah, that page turned into a mess compared to what it was originally designed to be, but at the current stage I'm actually trying to ward off impulse buyers. The game isn't even done yet!
I mentioned in the post-mortem that I only want quality players right now who are very familiar with what they're getting into, and I haven't even been advertising the game to a general audience, only the primary target audience.
The Steam/GOG launch next year will be cheaper, and for a different audience. "Problem" is, players are having so much fun with it that news about Cogmind continues to spread...
I'm both an impulse buy and also (I think) your primary audience, as someone who's played Nethack, Dungeons of Dredmor, DCSS, Darkest Dungeon, FTL, Dwarf Fortress, Project Zomboid, The Escapists, Atom Zombie Smasher, etc. (forgive me for assuming I know what your audience is - I'm guessing). What I mean by impulse purchase is that, having made the decision to purchase it, I want to go quickly from making that decision to having the game in my hands. This is one area of user experience where Steam really excels. This includes assessing the risk of making an alpha purchase. Once I figured out how to purchase, your system that emailed me a download link delivered. :-)
But yes, I understand what you mean about discouraging random people who stumble across it from not knowing what they're getting into. Early access games are a phenomenon these days from Steam however, so a lot of people are familiar with the idea and comfortable with the purchase being a gamble, especially when the developer is making an effort to engage with the community, and you have a sense that the game will continue to be improved over time. (I am really looking forward to Terraria 1.3 for example, and find it amazing and delightful that Re-Logic continues to add so much content. They've already secured my purchase of Terraria:OtherWorld.) I also understand that it wouldn't be fun to have a bunch of unsatisfied people harassing you and consuming your time with returns. Just sharing my thoughts as someone who saw the demo and thought "I want this NOW" :-)
The level of polish in the video, in overall slickness and animation and sound effects, gave me a good sense of what I was getting into, and I can say from the game's "loading" screen, first level, animation & sound effects, and interface polish (including item & effect descriptions) I am not at all disappointed. It's great!
I like the fact that you've put a lot of effort into making the game playable without a reference, with inline help. A lot of other games fall down there, including AAA titles.
I haven't played more than a few minutes, so I don't know if by unfinished you mean you need to add a lot of content, or you mean the game isn't playable from start to finish. If it's playable from start to finish then I'd say you're in good shape (if not, then that's understandable as an alpha, and I agree with keeping it away from the mainstream until then). If you mean you can finish the game, but there isn't as much content as you'd like, then I'm sure you will improve it! One thing I'll be interested to see is whether the item drops result in a character that plays in a way that "feels" different, e.g., legs vs. wheels. Movement taking different amounts of time is something that I can grasp as a roguelike player, but I think items will offer the most variety if they can "feel" different somehow (that's the best I can describe it). FTL teleporters and stealth are an example of items that drastically change the feel, leading to completely different gameplay. Project Zomboid melee weapons vs. firearms is another example. (With wheels, can I effectively roll up and melee things when I couldn't on legs? I would hope to find tactics like this.) It's the emergent gameplay that makes tactical games or games with sandbox elements so beautiful and interesting.
Yup, there's a full game in there. You can (if you're good enough =p) play all the way through to the end. We have only two known winners on record since the game's launch. It's hard.
What's missing is the mid/late-game optional branches that will add interactive story elements, multiple endings, and lots more robots and components (the latter objects are all complete, but you can't access them yet until the new maps are added).
And yeah you'd be the target audience; anyone who plays DCSS and DF would fall into that category :D.
There are absolutely the types of strategic differences you mention here, and wide spectrum of approaches. The good thing is it's not entirely based on luck--you can hunt down specific robots and take what you need; at the same time, if caught in the wrong place you could end up getting beat up and forced to switch strategies on the fly. This is a big part of the appeal I think. Comebacks from a partial defeat are commonplace, but not always in the way you intended.
I mentioned in the post-mortem that I only want quality players right now who are very familiar with what they're getting into, and I haven't even been advertising the game to a general audience, only the primary target audience.
The Steam/GOG launch next year will be cheaper, and for a different audience. "Problem" is, players are having so much fun with it that news about Cogmind continues to spread...