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[mendonca]

Hey Kaiden, if you're struggling with patience issues I found this real neat idea for a home-made Cryostasis machine somewhere on the 'net if you wanted me to make you one?

Seriously dude, don't doubt the integrity or the work ethic of Alex. A little patience will go a long way, and I'm sure, in time, you'll be blown away.

[Thana]

just keep in mind that while you have probably been around for several patches

Actually no - the 0.35a was my first contact with the game, although I think there might have been one small hotfix-style patch to it shortly afterwards.

[JuffoWup]

I don't see any reason for concern; the game we have right now is easily worth the ten dollars I paid for it, independently of promises of future releases etc.

[Alex]

ok so getting close to the 3 month mark since i purchased this game.  have yet to see a single patch. the forums are like a cemetary and the occasional blog posts are less then satisfying.  my ability to continue supporting this is close to gone...i would ask for a idea of whats going on but i think we all need somthing a little more concrete then some vague somtime in the future response....i was under the impression alex had made this his full time project.  by full time im assuming more then half an hour a day

Hi Kaiden. Well, what can I say - there's a lot of new stuff in the next version, and it takes time to implement, balance, and playtest. I'm not happy about the long delay between versions either - but because of the major (and interlinked) features being added, I didn't see a good way to split it up while still delivering something fun to play in the meantime.

I am, on the other hand, extremely happy with how it's progressing. It really will be a brand new game.

This is the part where you might get mad at me - sorry! - I still won't give you a release date. It's basically impossible to say with any exactness, and I don't want to have to cut corners and put extra pressure on to try to meet an arbitrary date.

From a practical point of view, there's no one that wants to see the next version (and Starfarer in general) released more than I do. Living out of savings isn't very much fun, so I have some excellent motivation in that regard. To be perfectly honest, even without that, there's still nothing else I'd rather be doing.

... been over 5 months now since the .35 ...

A bit under 3 and a half, but who's counting

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Thank you guys! Thank you. I'll do my best to deliver on your expectations!

[Alchenar]

I don't see any reason for concern; the game we have right now is easily worth the ten dollars I paid for it, independently of promises of future releases etc.

Seconded.  On a cost/time analysis I've already more than got my money's worth.


KaidenOZ you bought an alpha from a solo indy developer.  That's not even close to the same thing as buying a retail product from a commercial developer.  When you buy a finished product you expect to get a finished product.  When you buy an alpha you may not end up with anything.  That's the bargain you make when you buy in early to a project to help fund it's development.  Nothing was held back from you.

[SeaBee]

I can understand his point of view. I don't happen to share it, but so what? It's easy to get a "bad feeling about this" when money is involved and the future is somewhat cloudy, and I have (unfortunately) seen indie projects that haven't gone well after the pre-order phase. I don't believe this will be one of them, though.

Besides, it is hard to be patient -- so much awesome stuff in the recent blog notes (the crew management stuff is really exciting to me)!

Still, I think it's important to be understanding. We're all interested in a great space game here. Maybe we'll have a little Christmas preview if we behave! 

Oh, and I completely know all about the SotS2 letdown. That was really depressing. Still is. I hope Sword of the Stars 2 will be a game of some kind in a few months. 

[The Old Farmer]

I don't understand people, first they scream we want it all and we want it NOW! Then when it is delivered in an unfinished state like SOTS2 they scream that it is not finished and buggy.  Give Alex the time he needs to do it right and I feel he will deliver us a great game, as he has said he wants it finished as much as we do, if not even more.  As well we only paid a few bucks for what we have now, I know i got my moneys worth so far.  Here is looking forward to a new build when it is ready.
 

[ollobrains]

i referred on another thread to weekly updates as a player i play the last beta after having brought it i hear no news and i see no weekly updates for 3 months am i likley to refer this game to a friend as a pre beta game to buy and support if i dont see regular smaller updates to keep me hooked most likley no - do this across many potential buyers and youre competiting against a lot of other games ie a valley without wind, miner warps alpha 2081 and theres a host using the minecraft model after looking at them the ones putting out at least one beta patch update a week and then getting feedback off those are the ones selling the most units.

Rather than focusing on polished betas they throw flexbility for regular update-feedback cycle and are more successful and the are u still alive threads just dont exist

[Thana]

A large part of the reason the 0.5 update has taken this long is because it wasn't originally meant to be this ambitious. It was going to consist of refinements to combat (which are going to be in), ship refit (which is obviously going to be in), more missions along with some more progression in their difficulty (which probably won't) and such miscellaneous stuff (which will be in, most likely). Then at one point Alex realised that the thing about the progression of missions into larger, more complex and more difficult ones kind of sounds like a light version of a campaign, and since he was planning to add that in anyway, he might as well start working on it now. This meant that after he'd worked on a bunch of stuff already, he also had to start from scratch regarding all the campaign-relevant stuff. And that's a big thing that can't really be released piecemeal.

"Hey, here's a cargo transfer screen for you to play with. Whaddya mean it does you no good without a campaign mode implemented? Fine, then enjoy the crew experience gain system. You mean that's not going to be useful in single missions? The hell you say!" And so on.

[Zapier]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but it clearly says this game is in development still on the main page. Not meaning to rile anyone up, but anyone talking about Starfarer in a beta sense, is getting it very wrong. The game isn't in beta. I'm not even sure you would call it alpha... maybe close to alpha, but the base game is still being developed.

If Starfarer claimed to be a 'beta game' I would understand the wishes and wants of more patches/updates, but anyone buying at this point is supporting development, not purchasing to get an early crack at a soon-to-be finished game. That being said, I too would like more updates and such, but I understand that small independent groups and developing games take time... just have to have patience and enjoy each piece as it comes along and be supportive to the people that are bringing that forward to us.

Edit: Oh, and since it isn't in beta... it's very unfair to compare Starfarer to any other 'beta' period for any other game... it'd be like comparing a beta to a released game and complaining that the beta one just isn't as polished as a released game... they're in two very different stages with two very different expectations.

[Thana]

I believe it's alpha at this stage - to my understanding, beta usually means that it's feature-complete or close to it. Alpha, though, implies "can be played around with but isn't really anywhere near complete" to me. Maybe I'm wrong, though.

[Zapier]

Yeah, I'm not exactly 100% certain on the definitions of alphas/betas, etc. It varied from person to person sometimes so... wasn't sure if people may be referring to Starfarer as an alpha version at this point... I just know I don't believe anyone should be calling it a beta... it creates unnecessary expectations.

[Alex]

I think you guys are right on re: alpha vs beta, and Starfarer definitely alpha at this point - and an early alpha, too, though 0.5a should move it squarely into the mid-alpha category. I do think a lot of people say "beta" and just mean the whole "preorder to support development" model, but then other people hear it and that's where overly-high expectations might come in. It hasn't been a problem overall, though - I'm very thankful for how understanding and supportive people have been, present company most assuredly included

[ollobrains]

Oh yeah i definetly did the pre alpha to support development thing.  Seems to be more mid alpha whenever 0.5a actually comes out and looking forward to it to, perhaps its the lowering of expectations of development speed that i should be looking at and fair enough

[Alex]

Oh yeah i definetly did the pre alpha to support development thing.  Seems to be more mid alpha whenever 0.5a actually comes out and looking forward to it to, perhaps its the lowering of expectations of development speed that i should be looking at and fair enough

Thank you! I'll do my best to make sure 0.5a gets here as soon as it can