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[Alex]

All the best with the future of Starsector, Alex. With the current cesspool that is PC gaming these days, Starsector was a refreshing break, for a time. And most of all, it can be again. The foundation is laid, time to build the house to go with it.

Thank you, much appreciated! Yeah, that's what it feels like, and what I meant by "everything coming together".

[korda]

That's pretty much my stance. Watch and wait, with some mild amusement. Still, my mood was foul enough today to post my disgruntled status. It's not the lack of updates that bothers me, but rather what this game could be with proper support behind it. You see, I come from a very different generation where we played games that were the stuff of legend. Star Control 2 in particular is what this game reminds me most of. The elements are a bit different, but in some regards it is the same. I spent countless hours pouring over a paper map of the known galaxy drawing out territories by hand, mapping quasi space portals and noting systems with planets of high mineral or biological content, so I could return later and go nuts harvesting. I could say the same thing about Starflight and it's sequel. And they all fit on a 5 1/4 floppy or two or three. I think three for Star Control 2.

Nostalgia attack much? I also have great memories with games like SC2 or HOMM1 or Red alert or whatever but lets not get too emotional.

I mean... Really... Those game were great, but it's not like everything after them is just 'meh'. Amazing games come out every now and then but perhaps are harder to notice since industry have grown so much.

And people making those games also took their sweet time. They just didn't write blogposts about that to tease people

Finally, the reason this game is not on Steam? The Steam community in general would tear this game such a new one with negative reviews that it would be buried along with Star Nomad 2, Space Rangers 2, etc, etc. Basically all the top down 2D space exploration, combat, trade, yada, yada games. I would pay real money to see this posted on Steam in it's current form and let almost an entire year go by with no version updates.

I can bet real money that it would get at least 80% of positive reviews, or even more. Starsector is really well made game - it's performance and stability are pretty impressive, no big bugs to complain about. I played few dozen of hours in vanilla (and a bit with mods) having a lot of fun along the way and I believe that many people will enjoy gameplay and give the game good review just as I would. Perhaps there will be some players complaining about boredom after X hours but that kind of boredom actually happens in any open-world-no-final-goal game if you don't mod it (sooner or later. in some cases much later).

I agree that long update times can hurt in reviews... Or can they? Besiege is great example of game that's well made but lacks content and updates are taking months and are small. And yet it still has 96% positive reviews.

I'm done with this for now.

Hey, you can't just rush in, throw some *** and then quit discussion. Ok. You can in practice. But I still consider it rude.


But I guess it's normal for people who have never done any serious programming to underestimate the time and effort that comes with that stuff. (and I guess same thing goes for artwork)

[torbes]

That's pretty much my stance. Watch and wait, with some mild amusement. Still, my mood was foul enough today to post my disgruntled status. It's not the lack of updates that bothers me, but rather what this game could be with proper support behind it. You see, I come from a very different generation where we played games that were the stuff of legend. Star Control 2 in particular is what this game reminds me most of. The elements are a bit different, but in some regards it is the same. I spent countless hours pouring over a paper map of the known galaxy drawing out territories by hand, mapping quasi space portals and noting systems with planets of high mineral or biological content, so I could return later and go nuts harvesting. I could say the same thing about Starflight and it's sequel. And they all fit on a 5 1/4 floppy or two or three. I think three for Star Control 2.

Anyway, if Alex and crew manage to reproduce this same legendary combo of game mechanics and combine it into something really, really epic. It wil not be an indie game for very long. It will be what Minecraft is now to the space and sci-fi community. Something truly unique. And if you think I'm bashing Alex, Fractal or Starsector. Your dead wrong. I'm just seeing wasted potential, and that's the sort of thing that bothers me. Kinda OCD that way, i suppose. Starting to get old and a wee bit set in my ways

I'm done with this for now. Alex has read it, replied and that is pretty much that. All the best with the future of Starsector, Alex. With the current cesspool that is PC gaming these days, Starsector was a refreshing break, for a time. And most of all, it can be again. The foundation is laid, time to build the house to go with it.

I'm more upset that he so casually trashed Space Rangers 2 so hard. I very much enjoyed that until the very end when cleaning up gets tiresome. Also Star Nomad 2 was a neat little game well worth the $10 or so. I enjoyed it more than Void Expanse.

Finally you might try addressing what made your mood so foul instead of rehashing a tired rant on an unrelated game forum. Unchecked negativity poisons the self! 

Cheers

[TJJ]

He's working on the game full-time

While I don't necessarily share the sentiment of this thread, I do have some doubts towards this claim.

[DownTheDrain]

He's working on the game full-time

While I don't necessarily share the sentiment of this thread, I do have some doubts towards this claim.

I rather doubt that as well.
Don't get me wrong, I really like the game, glacial-pace updates and all, and Alex is on the forums a lot.
However, I don't see how he (let alone the rest of the team, whoever that is) could make a living just on the sales of SS for 5+ years.

[korda]

He's working on the game full-time

While I don't necessarily share the sentiment of this thread, I do have some doubts towards this claim.

I rather doubt that as well.
Don't get me wrong, I really like the game, glacial-pace updates and all, and Alex is on the forums a lot.
However, I don't see how he (let alone the rest of the team, whoever that is) could make a living just on the sales of SS for 5+ years.

Didn't Alex explain that in his response in this thread?

[DownTheDrain]

He's working on the game full-time

While I don't necessarily share the sentiment of this thread, I do have some doubts towards this claim.

I rather doubt that as well.
Don't get me wrong, I really like the game, glacial-pace updates and all, and Alex is on the forums a lot.
However, I don't see how he (let alone the rest of the team, whoever that is) could make a living just on the sales of SS for 5+ years.

Didn't Alex explain that in his response in this thread?

Considering how long this game has been in development, no, not really.
Unless he lives very cheaply and has considerable savings I don't see how that would be sustainable over several years.

Maybe I'm completely off on the sales numbers because I only stumbled upon SS by chance and the game isn't actually as niche as it appears.

[Voyager I]

I'm full-time on this; David and Stian are part-time. Ivaylo's not actively involved at the moment.

(I will say, reading anything regarding "cash grab" and "lazy developer" is bitterly amusing when I consider how much I'm in the hole compared to just getting a regular programming job. To put things in perspective, I'm working off savings - with income from preorders helping to offset the drain, but not entirely - as opposed to doing more responsible things like saving for (eventual) retirement. Not complaining by any means, though, it's a choice I made and I'm happy with it.

Alex has made similar claims before and is yet to give us a reason not to take him at his word, so there's my answer for you.

[Gotcha!]

I understand the frustration, I'd love to see the game completed too, but I do think it's wise to have a different approach to dealing with it.
I'm just ignoring the game's development, only occasionally checking the website if there has been any progress.
Eventually 1.0 will arrive. If it takes years, so be it, I don't mind. I'm not at the edge of my seat waiting for it to arrive, I'll just occupy myself with other things. It's not like Starsector is the only game in the universe.

I have faith in Alex that he'll eventually deliver something great, at his own pace. Keep up the good work.

[Megas]

This wait seems longer than previous years.  Past few years, we get something in November or December, then get hot patches until February or March.  That does not seem that will happen this time, that is, more than one year before next release.  I know of the disclaimer.

As for development, it takes me a while to do stuff (and I need to budget my time)... although I need to learn other programs (e.g., Blender and GIMP for models) to make my assets.  Being occupied with my own projects means I do not want to spend too much time playing Starsector (because I cannot play other stuff).

Putting Starsector on Steam now is a bad idea, thanks to brutal early-game difficulty, unbalanced (and unfinished) skills, enough exploits to twist combat, and no satisfying endgame victory condition (e.g., you destroyed all factions and now dominate the sector).

...relies on the modding community to do it for him.

I have seen this since the '90s.  This is why I prefer a solid base game.  If I need mods to make a commercial game good, then it is a game engine posing as a game at best, or blatant or sloppy cash grab at worst.  Either way, not worth the money.

[Gothars]

Past few years, we get something in November or December, then get hot patches until February or March.  That does not seem that will happen this time

That would be a shame, I'd love to (once again) spent my winter holidays in flat space!

[The2nd]

Anyway, if Alex and crew manage to reproduce this same legendary combo of game mechanics and combine it into something really, really epic. It wil not be an indie game for very long. It will be what Minecraft is now to the space and sci-fi community. Something truly unique. And if you think I'm bashing Alex, Fractal or Starsector. Your dead wrong. I'm just seeing wasted potential, and that's the sort of thing that bothers me. Kinda OCD that way, i suppose. Starting to get old and a wee bit set in my ways

I can understand your point but you are being overly aggressive and in a way demanding.

You fear that this game is being mismanaged and will fail. Your solutions are steam early access and hiring people for marketing.  

In my opinion those are terrible ideas. From what I've read here Alex plan is to finish and polish the game and then release it on steam. And if he is financially able to do it that's great. It doesn't matter if it takes 5 years or more to me, I want a great game and I can wait for it.

My main problem with early access is that a lot if not most of the revenue comes with the early access release and not with the  finished game release. So developers have little financial incentive to keep developing the game. Starsector is clearly a passion project, let him do his thing, let him make a good game, wait for it.

And when it's done it will be moved to steam then promoted and it will be extremely successful.

On a closing note, games usually have a great modding community if the game is interesting/good enough to  attract/deserve it. Nobrainer really.  

[Alex]

He's working on the game full-time

While I don't necessarily share the sentiment of this thread, I do have some doubts towards this claim.

feelsbadman dot jpg

[CrashToDesktop]

Alex the troll and Alex the tease.  Damnit, it's funny and saddening at the same time.  Mostly funny though.

[DownTheDrain]

My main problem with early access is that a lot if not most of the revenue comes with the early access release and not with the finished game release. So developers have little financial incentive to keep developing the game.

Sounds more like Patreon and not my experience with Early Access at all.

I still consider Steam EA a pretty terrible idea for SS but for entirely different reasons.
Niche games need positive word-of mouth, the more the better. From my experience the easiest way to get that on EA are constant small updates, certainly not a single large one once a year. There are some exceptions of course, but not many.

Putting the game as is on EA would lead to a great initial reaction due to it having way more content and polish than like 98% of titles there.
Then the game would be flooded with suggestions and demands, because rightly or wrongly many EA buyers feel that they deserve a say in how the development of "their" game takes place. And then the long wait for the next update would begin and you could expect several threads like this one weekly or even daily, along with numerous reviews warning potential buyers of Starsector and complaining about it being all but abandoned.

Long story short, don't put a passion project on Early Access unless you really want the input and are able to feed the hungry masses with an update once every month or so.