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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Author Topic: 345 days - you've read this post before  (Read 21158 times)

Zhentar

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #30 on: March 07, 2018, 10:14:38 PM »

My Star Control 2 story: as a youngin', I got to play an hour or so of the beginning on the 3DO two or three times. And it seemed pretty great, but... I didn't know what the game was called, I didn't know that I played it on a 3DO... I didn't even know there was a thing called 3DO. And so that was that, until a decade later I saw mention of "The Ur-Quan Masters". Some memory stirred within me, this was important. I immediately searched for it, and oh. My. God. It was that game. And so I dropped everything to play it, immediately. And miraculously, it not only lived up to that initial glimmer, but vastly exceeded it.

I think it is a true masterpiece of gaming. There are only a few other games with SC2 DNA I can think of that come anywhere remotely close to matching it (Space Rangers 2, Mass Effect)... and I am quite grateful for another to fill some of the gaps they've left.
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Drokkath

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #31 on: March 08, 2018, 05:55:24 AM »

Despite having played Star Control 2 way back when, I've never played Star Control 2 as much as Starsector but that's primarily because I'm not competitive and thus battles in Star Control 2 were borderline infuriating for me unless I used cheats and/or used the flagship as a flying doomsday cannon and watch my opposition get royally blown to glass puddle, made me feel better.

I still play like that but in Starsector. The difference however is rather quite astronomical as I can change ships, weapons, configs, sprites and then try a bit slightly different level of overkill along with visuals. Loving how this game let's one mod like that without the hassle one would have to usually deal with in every other game just to mod in something, even if it is a tiny detail sometimes. Glad it's not the case with SS.

Current/modern mainstream gaming industry is as much nerve-rackingly mind-numbing for me as trying to fly through Ur-Quan space up outwards the galaxy without fly-by-wire in a Mycon Podship. The plus side to this is that I still have enough access to biomechanical equivalent of buttons and controls near/inside the dead Mycon pilot to melt incoming attackers with hot plasma and propel the ship away faster each time I use the cannon which luckily was already used as a physical booster by the dead/half-dead mushroom crew (killed by gaming industry, not me) and thus can use their ship just long enough to escape from that mainstream gaming hell and see the greener pastures of games that still stay true to singleplayer roots of the DOS era more-or-less.

All those multiplayer-onlys, over-hypements, lies, greed, microtransactions, season passes, pre-orders, loot boxes, predatory practices and at the end of the day; poor players being turned into paying cash-cow whale-hybrid somethings. No, just no, read enough, seen enough, I pass and reject and (would almost if I could) leave with the subtlety of setting a Mycon 'Deep Child' podship (after I've left from it) on a crash course through hyperspace at the speed of light with a Chmmr matter-antimatter bomb into the galactic core to destabilize the supermassive black hole(s). It'll take a long while but the end result will be spectacularly satisfying. :D

All joking aside, I'm just as sick of that mess like anyone else here and thus whenever there is a quality game like Starsector that isn't just a yet-another-money-grab, it's even more important nowadays to hold onto it and not letting it go gently into that good night, IMHO.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2018, 06:00:14 AM by Drokkath »
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For I dipt in to the future, far as my gazer eye could see; Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be.

Linnis

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #32 on: March 08, 2018, 10:10:19 PM »

Comparing the two games Star control combat is not very good at all. But it still had its charm in that every ship was very different. Instead the story was awesome, though all the races were basic stereotypical stuff the characterization and how they were used in the story is where it really shined.

Not sure if you guys have played it but it is also what made Undertale so amazing. The characters are not that complex, but it is the situations they are within that makes it interesting. Atleast for most of the characters in the game...

In writing scripts for characters it is always events that test or counteract a character's traits that makes the story. Like John snow a naive noble character having to choose between his oath or his family. Or Cersi, a character that loves family and children whos motivation is love, but does the cruelest things. Those are just some TV examples.

Or maybe a Valkyrie that has to fight a hound. A onslaught facing enemies from different directions.

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Drokkath

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #33 on: March 09, 2018, 04:04:08 AM »

Comparing the two games Star control combat is not very good at all. But it still had its charm in that every ship was very different. Instead the story was awesome, though all the races were basic stereotypical stuff the characterization and how they were used in the story is where it really shined.

Aye, indeed. I feel about the same way looking back now to be honest. It's the story of the Star Control 2 that kept me playing it and not the combat. It's the story and the lore I still remember fondly unlike the combat of Star Control 2 which sometimes felt like exercise in frustration for me even with cheats.

Anyhow when I originally gave Starsector a try I knew I'd wanna play more of it but back then there were barely other star systems and the world of the game was/felt basically in some pocket dimension so once I got myself an Eagle or a Falcon there wasn't much foes to apply a steady stream of gunfire onto. An update or two later I flew a Hammerhead instead in hopes of catching smaller ships faster and into my targeting range but the world still felt small and not enough other activities.

Fast-forwarding to the present, the game finally keeps me coming back to it multiple times. While Star Control 2 shined with story, Starsector shines with combat and background lore/story which for me is more fun as I like action more than reading. The lack of sentient aliens bothers me though but then again I've already fixed that part of SS for myself by being an alien myself in the game which is also a lot more interesting and much more preferable for myself than being stuck playing as a human character in Star Control 2.

Flying through space now in SS is way more interesting in and of itself now considering you can have more fun outside the combat too with activities other than warfare. I tend to salvage/mine a lot and occasionally go on a scouting survey spree.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2018, 04:06:15 AM by Drokkath »
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For I dipt in to the future, far as my gazer eye could see; Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be.

Draba

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #34 on: March 10, 2018, 01:42:40 AM »

I'm not saying that it should be multiplayer, but it should be multiplayer.

Haha, that's one thing I can just about promise it wouldn't be. It helps that a) it would be a monumentally bad idea, for technical and business reasons and b) it's also not something I'm super interested in doing. I'm all about that single-player experience, you know :)

(Technical: game's not designed for it from the ground up, ergo it's basically impossible. Also, balance etc are for SP, not MP, and it's not just a question of tweaking some values - again, needs to be designed for it from the start. Business: a smaller game with an MP component is asking for huge amounts of trouble. An MP game needs a large, consistently active player base; imo it's crazy to stack the deck against yourself like that. There's no slow burn possible, it's either hit or you're done.)

We live in era of multiplayer games, they are produced in bigger quantity, even single-player focused games get MP shoved in, sometimes hurting SP content itself. SP focused games are few, and good quality ones are even fewer. Personally I'm glad MP is not on the board and won't be.

Glad to see that, there are plenty of genres where singleplayer only makes sense.
Also, those are generally left alone by the bigger studios so there's lots of room for 1-man teams to find their audience.
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HyperNova

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #35 on: March 15, 2018, 02:08:23 PM »

I bought this game back in 2012 lol. It was called Starfarer, with only one star system.

I kinda expect this game to be released between 2019-2020 on Steam.
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Kirschbra

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #36 on: March 15, 2018, 03:27:21 PM »

I bought this game back in 2012 lol. It was called Starfarer, with only one star system.

Same, it's come a long ways, I'm very excited for 0.9
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Embercloud

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #37 on: March 16, 2018, 01:10:33 AM »

I bought this game back in 2012 lol. It was called Starfarer, with only one star system.

Same, it's come a long ways, I'm very excited for 0.9


Aren’t we all?
That is also exactly the reason OPs post was made
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arwan

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #38 on: March 17, 2018, 10:38:29 PM »

i too bought the game way back at the start of 2012, just over 6 years ago now. its amazing to see how far the game has come, not only in development but in mod support as well. i very much still look forward to the next release, cant wait to get my own colony started and see what kind of things i can do with it. how easy or hard it will be to get a successful game going.
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Alex
You won't be able to refit fighters and bombers at all. They're designed/balanced around having a particular set of weapons and would be very broken if you could change it. Which ones you pick for your fleet -out of quite a few that are available- is the choice here, not how they're outfitted.

Allectus

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #39 on: March 18, 2018, 08:29:18 AM »

Hey! Dodgy arithmetic aside, just a quick reply here. I *am* working on Starsector full-time, and as much as you might want the next release to be finished, I want the same thing ten times more. I just don't want to put out something half-baked without the necessary set of features coming together to make it fun to play.

Also: I wouldn't equate infrequent updates with a lack of progress - it's exactly the opposite; more frequent releases would slow the overall pace of development down - due to the large amount of extra effort associated with making a release - even though it would probably *feel* like it was moving more quickly.

So, um - I appreciate that you care enough about the game to find the pacing of the releases to be frustrating, and offer my apologies for that, but ultimately stand by it :)

Hey,

The update schedule is a bit frustrating, but the reality is you have something special here that doesn't exist anywhere else in the market.  I suspect that is, in large part, because this is a passion project that you want to get *right*.  I think that's the only way to create something like this--I've got tons of other mediocre games to play if I just want to play something right now, and I'd rather you take your time on this one.   I really appreciate all your work. :-)
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Kirschbra

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #40 on: March 19, 2018, 01:26:02 PM »

..... but soon though right? :)
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JDCollie

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #41 on: March 19, 2018, 06:49:26 PM »

Aren’t we all?
That is also exactly the reason OPs post was made
OP needs to understand the history and timeline of Starsector's development process and adjust their expectations accordingly. (And understand that it really will get to release one day, when it is ready.)
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Codyrex123

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #42 on: March 20, 2018, 05:40:38 AM »

To be frank, if you bought into early access you did say that you were happy with the game in its current state.
As for the game itself, well, it already has plenty to do aaaaand a pretty large modding community for being (at least for me) a relatively unknown little gem.
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Morbo513

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #43 on: March 20, 2018, 06:48:10 AM »

Quote
This has had so much potential from day one. It still does...  If you actually kept this game moving forward and updated it more, as well as brought it to release it would probably more then out shine whatever job you are working now in income.  The sky is the limit for actively supported games theses days. 

I sincerely doubt that. Starsector, as good as it is, is a very niche game.
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Mechanist

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Re: 345 days - you've read this post before
« Reply #44 on: March 21, 2018, 10:43:15 PM »

Even the driest deserts get more rain then this!
atacama desert in chile is the driest desert and evidence suggests that the may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971
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