Are you happy with the development speed? [Unofficial Poll]

Well, at the very least have have enough money to work on it for the next 9 years, right?

 

I voted kind of happy with the development speed and updates... The development seems to be moving steadily which is a good thing, even though I would wish they were focusing more on the progression of the game, they are probably already doing that for all I know.

Having to defeat a boss in order to advance in the game was not really what I expected from Starbound, I mean defeating a boss being the only way to advance. I thought it would be more open to the player, in such a way that the player could craft the upgrades for the spaceship without having to defeat a boss.

The stable build updates are taking a while, but it doesn't bother me that much, I just hope they make Starbound as good as it can be.

Edit:

Oh, and I really hope elevators come to Starbound, that would be cool. I'd really love that.

 

They've been pretty vague on that score. Like, they've told us they're working on it, and gave us a raw outline of game progression, but it was stripped of a LOT of specifics, likely to prevent over-spoiling of gameplay. But I did note one of the "bottlenecks" on the graph mentioned you could quest for a key item... OR just buy it outright. Soooooooooooo...

Yeah, that I did not expect. Here I am puttering on my little moon in my little cave-like base, armed with not much more powerful than a bow and arrow and common sword, thinking in normal "survival" mode, and no indication that activating my distress beacon meant a flying saucer fulla penguins would come wreck my shit with bazookas and such forcing a different kind of survival mode. That was an arduous fight. Took forever.

I'd so put one in my tree.

 

If you want, I can put together a kickstarter like the guy who kickstarted a potato salad. The only people who get a cookie are those who donated $50 or voted on this poll. Stretch goals include $500,000 for chocolate chips and if we raise $1,000,000 I'll add vanilla chips.

 

To be honest its nice to at least see them working on it instead of completely ditching it. So I voted "Kind of" due to the fact that they haven't updated Starbound in so long

 

They havent released a stable version in a long while but that dosent mean that they "havent updated starbound", they update starbound allmost every work day (nightlies version).

 

Exactly what I want to type in every thread around this particular topic. Voted "yes" as it will be done as fast as it will be done, my feeling in anyway dissatisfied/impatient/patient/happy/busy doing other things won't change that.

 

I support Starbound, but even I don't support the nightlies = updates argument. They're a showcase or Teaser of whats to come at best.

I will point out that people are flat out wrong when they say Chucklefish isn't working on the game though.

 

Its crap they haven't updated the game. Developers are immature, unprofessional and dont stick to their word. They say they develop the game but release a few others in the meantime. Its crap. I'm upset.

 

LET THE LOGIC SHATTER IN YOUR MIGHTY FOOTSTEPS!
Well, you are upset. Just don't pour the deceptic tank on these forums.

EDIT: Galacticon, that post is the kind of stuff you make a rap with.

 

Yeah, I think that questing for a spaceship upgrade would be a cool addition. Not so sure about buying a spaceship upgrade from an NPC though, but I guess that could be fun too given the mobs and battle system become more advanced (not just clicking the mouse button, but something a little more skill-based).

Yeah, I was in that boat when I first started playing the beta, I ended up having to google search how I could advance in the game. I don't like having a guide holding my hand through a game though, but I think it should be easier to find out how you advance in the game, maybe have a tutorial option when you start the game which tells you the basics. Some kind of old man NPC showing you the basics, maybe.

Yeah, elevators would be lovely, even if the elevator is slow. I can imagine 6 players waiting for the elevator to reach their floor, pushing the button. "Dude, I was going to take the elevator now, it was my turn >_>" - "The elevator was closest to my floor, stop complaining, it will come to you soon." great fun. Or a skyscraper with lots of floors and more elevators in a multiplayer server, fun fun.

 

Development speed wouldn't have bothered me if the game hadn't been EA. Chucklefish set a standard for EA early on and then fell below that standard. I don't regret my purchase, dislike the game or particularly resent anyone for this. I feel that, in entering Starbound to EA, Chucklefish had a responsibility to meet the goals they set for themselves regardless of the cost. I was raised to believe that, if you make your bed you have to lie in it; so I feel very strongly about this. I suppose what bothers me is that it feels like, while Starbound hasn't be abandoned by any means, Early Access has been; and that's not really fair to the many dedicated fans that gave their support and money.

Setting that aside, I'm ambivalent. I felt like I should emphatically vote no. I'm torn between understanding that the game is taking longer than they expected, and condemning its failure as an Early Access game.

I voted kind of. I still can't wait to see how the game turns out.

 

They have no hand in developing the other games. They're only publishing them.

 

I voted Yes.
As I look at the rate of updates in the following way...

Stable Early Access - We only got a handful of updates before they squashed most the bugs present in the early release, making it what is considered stable. But as the game is labeled as early access, and I got to play it, early, before it's release, by definition it fulfilled what I expected.

Nightly (possibly broken) updates - These I consider to be like Minecraft's snapshots and development updates, but more frequent. These contain a lot of new things for me to try if I feel the need to see what's been changed or added to the game. They aren't even technically required to be given to me by the Devs, as I paid for early access (see above) and I got it. I DO expect them to give updates AFTER release, as those were indeed promised. And while It's true I haven't played the game for a couple months, but I've been distracted by other things, but that doesn't mean I don't keep an eye on where the game is going or read the dev updates.

As for anything that was promised outright by the Devs to be added to the game itself, I can't complain at all that they are not present yet, as I am not omniscient and know what the Devs will or wont be adding later down the line to fulfill said promises. I know very well what was promised to be added as once upon a time I was the one keeping track of a very long list here on the forum of the announced additions to the game. As for having to wait to enjoy all those things that were promised to be added, patience and understanding are human traits I am glad I possess. I look forward greatly to the game that was promised and do not think I was lied to. And at any point I can not rely on patience then I can rely on STEAM, which contains thousands of other games for me to play while I wait for the finished product. I personally don't see any reason that people are upset. And frankly taking out your anger on the Devs, for whatever reason you may have it, doesn't reflect badly on them, only yourself. Yes I sit on a fairly high horse when it comes to preaching patience... but honestly, there are worse things to be keen on spreading.

 

Well, there's also the diff between "promised" and "what we'd like to put in". They shared a fair few pie-in-the-sky ideas, but I'd hesitate to call everything they floated a "promise".

 

I think their current pace is great, they should just keep doing what they're doing now, love reading the daily updates, a lot of exciting things seem to make their way into the game.

 

In the end, developement is typically behind closed doors and people do not get to see all the warts, sweat, and tears. Development is not all ice cream and unicorns, and the uninitiated seem to have a hard time with this concept. I think we need to add so more choices"

1. I understand software development and I expected this timeframe
2. I thought the game was cool, has no idea it would take this long - lesson learned about development process
3. Burn by EA because I did not properly read or understand what I was paying for (RAGE!!)

 

The issue of EA is a thorny one, largely because Steam has zero protections for stuff like what Double Fine of all companies pulled (basically releasing an alpha as the "finished" product and abandoning the game people paid full price on). I fully agree that a healthy dose of caveat emptor applies to any EA purchase, but there's a question as to how much responsibility is on Steam to properly communicate just what EA entails, and on the developer to communicate on Steam just at what stage the EA game is at upon purchase.

That said, I don't think Chucklefish has abused or exploited the EA program. I do think they could do well to really lay out ON STEAM exactly the state of the game you are buying into, your options and whatnot (5-month-old stable build vs. current unstable nightlies, laying out the big differences between them AND the intended final game, what's missing, etc), without people having to come here for information.

(But once you're ON here though, yes, you should be reading instead of just dumping a "they haven't done anything in two years" manifester.)

I've enjoyed this EA purchase, zero regrets, but I honestly doubt I'd buy into another one at this stage.

 

I do not play starbound, I'm waiting for the 1.0 release before doing so I don't miss any story content and such (as we all were told when chucklefish released the open beta). I think that this game is being developed at a nice pace, but it was released a bit too early. It takes a lot of time an effort from a lot of people to make such big broad mod-able games like this one to come true and to tell the truth, it is even raising my expectations on what's to come.

Chucklefish obviously decided to make things a bit slower and deliver a much better product than what was first told, even though they most likely knew the controversy this would create. If you want a good quality game, this is a good choice. A bad rushed game will always be bad, a good delayed game will eventually be good.

 

I honestly don't believe we will ever see 1.0 at this rate, like, it's way too difficult to make a game, and problems happen, and if they take more time it's even possible they may run out of money, and i would be genuinely surprised if other people gave their own hard worked money for a promise of a game.

I've seen this kind of thing before y'know, we citizens of the internet like to call it vaporware.