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General Discussion / Re: I'm already 54, will I see the game released before I die?
« on: April 14, 2023, 10:06:23 PM »(Okay, keeping in mind that I respect general griping about waiting and the need to do it. But I think there's also an interesting question hidden in here.)
Imagine a world where Starsector was declared 1.0 a few years ago and the updates came out as DLCs; the "Paradox-style" release, if you like. I ask earnestly, is that a preferable product model?
I suppose another alternative is to declare 1.0 with a possibly rushed 'technically hit all the feature bullet-points', then update post-launch. I struggle to remember a game where this worked out well rather than fizzled, though maybe Brigador kinda did it and managed to turn a rough start around with a viral social media post? I don't think they even rushed their release though, and it is also a game working in a far less maximalist design space, eg. standalone arcade-style maps.
... Are there any examples of this? No Man's Sky? (But that was a publisher-backed project with millions in dev funding, wasn't it? Too big. Different beast.)
Another option: I'm loathe to compare Starsector to Dwarf Fortress because I don't think we think about Starsector the way Tarn/the Adams bros think about DF, but maybe the way the game updates relate to players feels similar? Would DF benefit from declaring a 1.0? Possibly their Steam release and UI update is a stealth-1.0, in the sense that that game state is declared 'provisionally definitive'. (Do people who play it agree? I have no idea, I haven't played DF in 15 years or so.)
Just because there is "worse" option, it does not make the other one "good one" ^^
And yeah seems I bought mine 2012. I do like how each update seems meaningful and Im not in hurry, but you know...