Keep Expanding! Don't stop adding depth to Starbound!

Hello there, names Yan. I've been registered here for awhile but I have chosen to remain a lurker for some time. I haven't had much to say about anything I've read here and it was looking like it would stay that way but...I really felt I needed to add my personal input on the matter of Starbounds development and identity after reading some of the threads here expressing disappointment or frustration with the development cycle(or the concepts within the game). Some of you may already agree with what I have to say or it may have already been put in a different way, however assuming this isn't the case (and not looking very far to make sure =P) I really want to put into clear cut words exactly how I feel.

Innovative and expansive depth in a game like Starbound is healthy and I might say even highly desired. I'd imagine most if not all of us would desire a game that would not come down to collecting the best equipment and unlocking tiered star systems before becoming bored with the game and trying to find some reason(such as mods alone) to keep it interesting. While it's important for a games lifespan to be open to community content; it is also more important for a game to just click so naturally with your fun factor that you'd find it hard to be bored. I believe chucklefish wants this for Starbound.

Starbound has the opportunity to define/distinguish itself as a game that truly breaks the barriers of traditional progression and sandboxing, perhaps even game play. I say this because when the early access first began people noted that game play basically amounted to unlocking star system tiers and acquiring the best gear there; other than that there wasn't really much to going on. Since then I feel like Starbound has gone into a sort of deep development cycle to solve these problems and expand on its ideas. It looks promising, but I can't stress enough that it needs to take all the time it can before anything else to achieve its goals or risk falling short and flat on its face. it's my hope that the developers don't feel pressured to push out a final product before achieving something like this.

Starbound can become a game that is simply fun to "look at" because there is so much to do and so much going on. Imagine if trees were so interesting to gameplay that you spent some time messing with them before realizing your character was hungry or that the things flying around in the heavens were actually doing something amazing(think planetary bodies, stars exploding, galaxies spinning, etc.)? Starbound can be a story or a quest with a bigger picture. It can be just about anything; but what it shouldn't be is limited in its scope. Terraria is a popular comparison to this game and I can see why; Terraria did a lot of things right with its world and its content, but it was all in one place. Despite this every nook and cranny of the game Terraria felt magical, alive. Exploring was a real treat for the player and It all had a story that could fill just about anyone with a sense of wonder without ever explaining the biomes or the items of the world with too many words. To think that was just pixel art! Starbound(being a bit more than simple pixels) can take it many steps further if chucklefish remains ambitious and more importantly intune with that same magic. I have faith in Starbound. I believe it can blow everyone away if everybody continues to support it and earnestly contribute with their ideas. There's a reason you get bored of a game over time. Perhaps Starbound could take much longer for this to happen.

In conclusion all I have to say is this: Keep the flame burning bright Chucklefish, show us what you got. I request that any replies here maintain civility. No passive aggressiveness or sarcasm.

 

Well said.

I agree with you on all you have pointed out. Starbound, whilst it has had issues in development, does have the potential to be something rather great. Well, it is already great in my opinion. But the scope of it can be drawn out to be so much more with some updates. I never played Terraria so I shall leave that up to other people that have and read their comparisons drawn from that game to this.

Personally down the track I am hoping to see Starbound be somewhat of an MMO. By that nice servers with 100's of people exploring a universe, the thought of running into real playing characters in a space bar or something just seem brilliant. And the Devs have the opportunity to produce that if they so want.

That is all about I have to contribute at the moment. Brain is a little dead. I don't even know if what I said is even worth the time to read for some people haha. I wouldn't blame you for not reading my few lines of rambling

 

I'd love Starbound to become the Dwarf Fortress of 2-D Sandbox games, but I just don't think the developers have the stamina or ambition to achieve that.

 

Don't have to downplay what you have to say friend. The idea of it being an even more social experience than it currently is definitely something to look at.

 

I don't think they should focus on 'expanding' right now personally. Eventually yes, they should expand things, but right now everyone is on edge because of a lack of actual stable build updates. It's been 7 freaking months now. Adding more crap is fine and well and good and all but not when you're continually pushing back a stable release to do so. Especially considering the more you add, the more that goes wrong when it comes to programming. To put it in sort of warfare tactics terms... Chucklefish is failing to secure home base before they take the bandit outpost, and now they're being overrun because their forces are spread too thin.

 

My thoughts exactly. Im sure this thread will have the same divide as with every other thread that touches on this topic, but mine is with the no group. Right now all the updates are about adding these fun little things that I really dont want to put it this way but adds no real value to the game. I mean yeah having these little stuff is cute, but this is really something that you do only at the end of the game's development, like after the game is pretty much complete. I'll use The Sims as an example here. The core game gets finished, then releases like stuff packs get added, things that probably dont add much to the gameplay(*before you jump the gun, stuff packs are not expansions, dont mix up the two) but is still fun and cute to have around. It seems to be starbound is doing the other way round.

 

I won't say that it hasn't been a long time, it is taking awhile. But I propose this, what if the core of the game is exactly why its taking so long? I don't think the purpose of my thread was to continue the argument about whether they are taking too long or not; just to emphasize that good things take time and perhaps bring a new perspective about what's happening with development time. Call it giving too much credit to them or ignorance to the facts, etc. but I think that may be the case here. If you guys have some evidential reasons to doubt that they are doing anything of this scale with their time then I'd not have much to argue about there, perhaps they'll improve their behavior then.

However, in the meantime I speculate It's also possible that when they pushed early access for the game the feedback they received created an unexpected problem for them. Do they release the game as is while these problems exist and hope to be able to fix them and expand later or do they go back and do the dirty work now and expand the game for its initial release and then continue expanding? I personally think there's good reason to believe the first will inhibit development and make the game harder to or impossible to mold. So, I believe what they are trying to do is make Starbound a comprehensibly "modifiable" game for the future as this could be beneficial for the game over all and make for even more possibilities than releasing the game as is would. The only foreseeable issue is of course the fact that this would be quite time consuming the more ambitious their goals are for that stable release.

The problems with the early access are such that anything of this sort could happen, as far as I know. It's probably even an inherent risk. Another indie game company, "Klei Entertainment" hosts a game I truly enjoy called "Don't Starve". Currently they are trying to release an expansion for the game that includes multiplayer but they ended up having to make it an entirely separate game instead of expanding on the current one. I could see given these possibilities that this is something a company might want to avoid for future/current development; just to give an example.

 

I dunno. Considering how long starbound has really been in development, and what they've accomplished in all that time, when I've seen more indie developers do twice or three times as much with less money, less staff, and have generally higher quality outputs on top of it? I mean frankly there have been a few times where the developers basically stopped communicating (And possibly even stopped working on?) the game for months. Not to mention the 'move' they did that seemed to take almost 4 months to accomplish. I've seen a few posts from the developers themselves that were pretty much blatantly hostile towards the community. These may be people like everyone else but you'd expect a certain degree of professionalism on their own forums. (In almost any other job you'd be fired for that kind of thing.) so the lack of professionalism displayed personally casts doubts on their abilities to fight other distractions and aggravations and keep working as well.

 

Mistakes made by a fledgling company. The Early Access game development model is something that is brand new and puts companies right in the firing line for criticism. Older models do a lot to conceal the inner workings of the companies using them. Companies like Nintendo, Atari, Sega, Ubisoft, Activision, EA, Valve and the like have a layer of insulation between them and their customer base and have no obligation to explain their Dev processes. No one can question the development of the next Zelda because there is literally no transparency. Transparency is the price they pay for an early payday.

That being said, if "The Move" happened with a traditional development model, no one would have even know it had happened. No one would know that they rebuilt several key systems. No one would know that the art style has vastly improved. It should also be mentioned that they were working on the game during "the move" (admittedly it was less productive), it's just impossible to test builds when your build server is on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic. I know I've personally been called a white-knight (or as some more politically correctly call us "Chucklefish Crusaders"), I would defend any other company just as ferociously, knowing the facts. The real question is, have they actually given us a reason to distrust them? While some would say yes, I can't say they've done anything to cause me to question their sincerity in producing a quality product.

TLDR: A new company scouting uncharted waters made some mistakes, but nothing that has shaken my confidence in their ability to deliver in the end.

 

I agree. I think it's alright to have some faith in their goals and the company itself. Mistakes were made but I think it's within an understandable margin. Similarly I think it's the same case for their development cycle. There are things we know and things we don't know, but if there had been a lack of transparency like stated by our friend here I think it would have been harder or a completely different story. It is a fresher company(relatively); I think Starbound is unique in the effort it takes to develop if we consider all that it has potentially as well as what chucklefish desires for the game itself. Considering all this, perhaps the development team just needs to grow their craft and work on their interactions with the public(which after all is a unique situation for indie companies who provide a bit of transparency on their goings).

 

First of all, welcome. This is sort of an introduction thread as well, right?

Second, I'm torn in half on this matter. It should expand until this universe can no longer contain it,sure. But it should reach a proper stage of existence first and foremost. At least that's my take on it...

 

Truly, depth, for this kind of game is one of the most important things.