Anyway, as a consumer I can sympathise with the recent shift in forum attitude towards Starfarer since there's been no development aside from combat in months.
I don't actually see a shift in attitude. If you were to look back through the forum's history, you'd see something very similar crop up every couple of months, almost from the very beginning of the forum's existence.
That said, I do sympathize with those that want to see Starfarer finished sooner, what with me being one of those people and all
I don't think anyone wants to see the game finished more than I do. But even more than that, I want it to be the game I want to play, and I want to do it right.
So, regardless of what the general attitude/perception is, I don't have any real choice in how to go about things. I'm already working as hard as I possibly can - because I love it, not out of a sense of obligation - although getting a new version of the game into your guys' hands is a huge motivator.
If the pace of development is not fast enough for someone, well, that's fine, and I understand - but it's not like I can suddenly realize, "oh, man, I really ought to be doing things twice as quickly!".
Alex, please use your blog update (FB or tweeter) to inform your existing/potential customer of snippets of what you are planning (or even idle thoughts on the direction of the development) and not just a monthly update of new, almost-finished features. Customer relationship management is about managing customer expectation and as pre-order customers, we are potentially the most valuable and cost-effective advocates of your game there is - you really don't want to lose people like the OP due to lack of information.
Hope you see this.
I see this, but I happen to strongly disagree - about the first part, that is. The last thing I want to do is talk about features I'm not sure about, create expectations, and then not deliver on said expectations. Besides, talking about things that are farther in the future is only going to cause more desire to see those things. If I have any influence in that regard, I'd rather you be excited about the things that are coming up soon
Also, I don't like the idea of calling the OP "lost". All he did was come here and express his opinion - which he absolutely has a right to, and that's grounded in
wanting to see the game finished. I hope that he'll come back when the game is closer to completion, and am sincerely sorry that the pace of development didn't match his expectations. Like I said above, though, there's nothing I can do about that - beyond continuing to work on the game, and continuing to ask for your understanding in that this process takes time.