I just got the beta for $15 after watching the quick look. Only done the tutorial so far.

The dev seems to want it to be a big thing and I'm worried that the higher price point will keep a larger audience away. I don't want to play the "how much is this game worth?" game but this is a weird game to get your head around. And $25 seems a little too high for most people to give this weird thing a try.

I'm not sure if the price point is the problem either way, the game was in development for so long that there was enough time for a wave of games like it to happen and disappear. It sounded like a novel idea in like ... 2008 or whenever this was originally announced .. I'm not sure people find that concept so intriguing anymore.

Wasn't there even an indy game they played that was this idea like, years and years ago?

There probably was something prior to Spy Party's original announcement too, but there at least way an OUYA launch game and multiple XBLA titles around 2013-2014 that did this.

SpyParty has been in playable beta since 2011. While some games with this idea has probably come out since SpyParty was shown years ago SpyParty almost certainly predates them.

I personally think this game will find success. It seems like a very fun game to watch streaming. My only concern would be potential stream sniping. Not sure how this is currently combated, but if a good solution can be found, then this game should do well on Twitch.

I feel like there have been multiple games with a similar mechanic either as the main gameplay element or part of a collection, and i dont think any have caught on have they? Haven't seen the quick look but this idea is still cool so if they can get some twitch streamers on board it has a shot.

i remember the Ship was sort of popular at a point. But that game was basically free. I bet there will be a small hardcore audience, but i don't think many people will play this until it gets to 5$ / bundle price.

The idea is pretty solid though. It reminds me of Hitman & online AC.

Not to throw shade on Chris Hecker's life choices, but does he (and/or the other devs that helped make Spy Party) have a dev blog or interview anywhere that explains how the development of Spy Party went on for this absurdly long?

Spy Party seems like a neat concept and all, but overall I'm going to guess that its appeal is not going to grow much bigger than a niche audience, and 8-9 years is a long time to spend on more or less your "debut" game after leaving a major studio. Even if Hecker is personally comfortable with working on Spy Party for that long and it didn't financially ruin him, it just seems like the opportunity cost is quite high to spend so much time iterating on one concept instead of making say 2-4 different games in the same timespan like other indie devs might. I get the idea of trying to perfect the experience you're delivering, but good lord, I assume most devs want to work on more than 3 or 4 games before they die. I'd feel equally as weird if I heard some indie band say that they had been working on one record for 8-9 years. At some point, just put it out there, let your peers and the public make their judgment of it, then move on to the next project having learned something about what did and didn't work.

I really mean it, all due respect to Chris Hecker for his programming accomplishments and contributions to the Indie Game Jam idea and everything, but unless there's something I'm missing, that seems like a misuse of time if the end product of almost a decade of work is just one well-balanced asymmetrical multiplayer game based on 60s spy movie tropes, that a studio of 5-10 people could've made in 6-12 months at most (super rough estimate).

Yeah I think at $25 it will get swallowed up by the Steam torrent of new releases even more quickly. It's unfortunate but if this had launched 5-6 years ago it would have come out in a very different landscape.

This is kinda my thought too. Like, this seems like a game it’d be fun to play with my GF, but I know she’s not gonna go for it at a $25 price point, and I’m not gonna spend $50 on it to cover both our copies when I don’t know how much either of us will get into it.

Tbh though, I would like to see a 2-copy bundle crop up, at some point, maybe around the $35 price point for normal price. I think that’d at least be a bit closer to feeling reasonable, and on an eventual sale of some kind would probably be low enough for me to feel ok grabbing for the two of us.

Was this in development before or after Assassin's Creed did its multiplayer mode? I remember the original Unfinished look many moons ago.

@captain_insano: Seems like development of SpyParty started in 2009. Assassins Creed Brotherhood introduced multiplayer in 2010.

It's a very... basic game, after the length of development i shouldn't be saying that but it's just such a small game, it would be perfect on phones, i like the concept and had a lot of fun in those Assassin's Creed multiplayer modes but this is really a novelty.

@personandstuff: As others have said, its been "in dev" for so long that its hard to be excited about it anymore. It has been at PAX (west at least) the last few years and every year its almost the same thing but not out yet. Ideally would be pretty cool but I think it may struggle from fatigue of taking way to long to release.