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[Alex]

If I may nitpick a tiny bit here, the preorder page has been very clear about a preorder getting you the game in it's current state, whatever that happens to be at the time. That bit is even underlined, and it also states that future versions of the game are a bonus one gets as part of preordering. I don't like making promises I can't guarantee to keep, and being careful and clear about stating all this upfront on the preorder page is part of that.

Compared to what the preorder page says, the stuff in the FAQ, while it was very much incorrect, just doesn't carry nearly the same weight. I mean, if one were to pore over all the stuff I've said over time, I'm sure plenty of other things have turned out to be wrong. The difference here it's this is like the *one* ill-advised statement I'd let slip through about timeframes.

I *don't* want people buying the game purely because of what it might turn into. That's not going to lead to anybody being happy, because things never turn out quite as one imagines them. If you like where the game is going and want to support that, that's great and I deeply appreciate it - but I hope you'd only buy the game if you feel like you'd enjoy it as it is right now. And, since *that* is what you're getting when you preorder, I try my best to make individual releases fun to play on their own.

Now, apparently Alex has finally reached the stage were he can start adding major and fun features he has been planning for ages so hopefully this means more patches and fewer 8 month waits.

If I had to guess, I'd say that's more likely to mean the releases will have more fun stuff in them than come closer together. But we'll see - really looking forward to talking about some of the stuff that's already in the works!

[Midnight Kitsune]

really looking forward to talking about some of the stuff that's already in the works!

You just can't resist teasing us, can you?

[Alex]

You just can't resist teasing us, can you?

Sorry*


*not sorry

[torbes]

so i've been lurking around for about 6 months since i bought the game and first of all its awesome. if/when more content comes i expect it to be awesome. mod content has also been awesome. 

now the love is out of the way, there is no contract expressed or implied that the game developer owes you anything other than the version of the product you are purchasing. if it is advertised that you will receive all future versions of a game in perpetuity and there is no official timeline then you get them if/when the dev decides to give them to you.

about the FAQ statement regarding this isn't blizzard, it won't take forever that is clearly puffery, not a statement of fact.

[braven25]

I often think in game with very few devs, yet a hugh high quality modding community, then I can't help but think with appropriate permission and credit to original authors that some those mods should become legit part of the game to help speed along development and make a more fleshed out game

[mitthrawnuruodo]

Perhaps its time for a Steam early access release.

Honestly this game has lot more content and polish, and is a lot more enjoyable than lot of "complete" games on Steam this days. And there really is almost nothing like this (Ceres, Nexus Jupiter Incident, Starhammer .. thats about it). No space game I have played has this much of tactical depth and realism (sci-fi equivalent).

I think it will make lots of money even in early access. There's huge number of people starved for a game like this and will love it to death. There's also the quasi-hardcore bunch who will buy and leave positive reviews just because of 2d + ironman mode even if they suck at it.

Alex can hire many more minions and push updates faster.

[Kevin Flemming]

It's not about hiring more people, mitt. You might not understand the sheer amount of logistics that go into managing a team of developers. It's not as simple as "get more people, push more content" otherwise everybody would be doing it.

Alex obviously has a vision of what he wants his game to be. I very much doubt there is one more person with exactly the same vision. Sometimes it's just easier to do things on your own (or with a very small team of 3-4 people).

[mitthrawnuruodo]

It's not about hiring more people, mitt. You might not understand the sheer amount of logistics that go into managing a team of developers. It's not as simple as "get more people, push more content" otherwise everybody would be doing it.

Alex obviously has a vision of what he wants his game to be. I very much doubt there is one more person with exactly the same vision. Sometimes it's just easier to do things on your own.

I have been a application UI designer for 5 years. I understand a little bit at least lol. Not all developers need to share or participate in his vision, especially at this late stage where the direction of the game is more or less set. They can definitely help him implement his vision.. so he can in fact focus more on the envisioning part.

In any case its up to him. I can understand someone simply not wanting to manage a team. Peace of mind is paramount. For me, the game is more or less complete. I dont care much for exploration or industry... they are only a distraction from the tactical battles which is the U(O)SP for me. The only things that concern me now are cosmetics like more character images which I can add myself, and more ships, faction for which we have more than enough mods. I do like the idea of absorbing certain mods into the game.




 

[moontan]

the game is already excellent as it it is!

so Alex can take all the times he wants to polish this gem. 

[arcibalde]

Alex strikes me as perfectionist, always pushing for most stable releases (of Alpha!) and hot-fixing in matter of few days. Person like that wont give his product to wide public unless it's not, like, perfect so going Steam Green Light? Nah. No way. I know he told, somewhere, he will GL it when it's more complete but without some big crisis (like lack of money) going on it just don't look he will do it before 1.0 Or, or, at least when all main features are in, like industry. Ofc this is just my humble opinion and i may be totally wrong about it.

Then there are reasons why he is building this in first place. My best guess is cos it's his dream to create something he love. There is financial aspect of it of course but that isn't main creativity drive (as we can all see from big companies when money is main drive to create something we get those AAA games that fail on many aspects, some even on launch , like Batman thingy - one that crashed on PC hard so they need to withdraw until it's patched). This is product of love =>  he is enjoying coding game. Imagine if you do something you like doing, like eating ice-cream. Chocolate one. Huge portion. Would you give other spoon(s) to someone else to help you eat it faster? HELL NO! Stuff he cant do, or at least cant do on level he would be satisfy with, he give to people that know and can do. That way we (and he) get well rounded game.

Point of all this blabing of mine is that i understand him. He is doing something he love, at least (i really hope) $$ is not problem so time of developing is not that huge problem. There is no need for speeding up process. And looking it that way you got people creating something they love without time constrains and that is good thing. They can invest more of themselves in it to make it better for all of us. Only drawback is, well, more time we need to wait 

Disclaimer: All of this above is just my 2 cents. I may be completely wrong. Or partially wrong. Or Alex is evil mastermind that found out what type of game is most scarce out there so nobody else making anything similar and he just enjoy looking people hooked on it suffering for lack of completeness. 

[Tchey]

I played it on january 2012 for the first time. I'm still lurking around almost weekly.

[DownTheDrain]

Nice necro, and I don't mean that in an ironic way, this was a good read.

The only thing that pains me about the long development time is the mods.
Sure, there's plenty of good ones around and I'm thoroughly grateful to the modders that continue to provide updates and improvements, but there's also a lot that have been lost along the way.
If you go back a few pages in the mods subforum you come across so many intriguing projects, so many excellent sprites, designs and backstories. There's just so much wasted potential, for lack of a better word, because real life issues got in the way or people grew tired or bored of constantly updating their mods whenever a new version of Starsector was released.

I'm not complaining of course. I can't mod for *** and I'm fully aware that these are passion projects that modders work on in their free time, but it makes me a bit sad to think of how much more amazing content we could have if the game had had a 1.0 release at some point.

[Blips]

I've been here since May 2011. I'm not too active on the forum but I lurk occasionally seeing what the latest news is. While I wish we got updates quicker I understand why we don't and appreciate the effort Alex puts into each new feature or change.

I typically like to skip updates too, so for example I haven't played since the last two updates but once the upcoming one is released I'll probably jump back on 

Starsector is shaping up really well and I can't wait to see the final result of all those years of work.

[Tchey]

I played it on january 2012 for the first time. I'm still lurking around almost weekly.

Oh, no one cares, but i was wrong, i checked my profil : July 2011 !

[Morrokain]

Nice necro, and I don't mean that in an ironic way, this was a good read.

The only thing that pains me about the long development time is the mods.
Sure, there's plenty of good ones around and I'm thoroughly grateful to the modders that continue to provide updates and improvements, but there's also a lot that have been lost along the way.
If you go back a few pages in the mods subforum you come across so many intriguing projects, so many excellent sprites, designs and backstories. There's just so much wasted potential, for lack of a better word, because real life issues got in the way or people grew tired or bored of constantly updating their mods whenever a new version of Starsector was released.

I'm not complaining of course. I can't mod for *** and I'm fully aware that these are passion projects that modders work on in their free time, but it makes me a bit sad to think of how much more amazing content we could have if the game had had a 1.0 release at some point.

Oh yeah I completely get what you are saying here. It was hell having to fix things after the first major campaign update changed the file structure. But its important to note that there will be a 1.0 baseline eventually, and I think mods will flourish then. Also, there has to be other modders, like me, who have been working on their ghost mod with no releasable version yet for the last ~2 years specifically for that reason. I don't want to disappoint those that would enjoy it when I know I may have to make some pretty significant changes (and beelieve me I have  ) further down the development road.

But, honestly, after this next update it may become far more stable. When you still have to integrate a bunch of new features that could drastically impact the overall balance of the game (like around .6a) vs. when  you have a feature or two left to patch on and the foundation of the game's overall mechanics (and more importantly code) is far more solid (post-next release?).

So that alone could influence an increase in modding. It all just kind of depends on what makes sense for the health of the game. I would much rather have to put up with structure changes every release than features that don't mesh well or are incomplete because the developer is afraid to rock the boat with existing mods in an early-access game.