Starbound Progress

Because adding mods to the game right away is a great way to end up with a clunky, buggy mess. I don't doubt that any third party mods need to be heavily tested and altered before they can be released as part of the game, just like anything else. There's no way a team of any size could keep implementing mods at the speed they are released by the community, especially if they have _their own things to work on_. If players want to have mechanics or content added that are in the mods, they can just download them...

 

"Daily updates are small because small updates are all that can be produced in a day."

I think it's hilarious that you had to explain this. It sounds like people are going to complain either way.
Personally, I have no preference between big and small updates, unless one of them is more efficient for development.

 

nours77 your English is bad but I think what you are trying to say is "the development team are bad". Well you are wrong, the have done SO much more work so far than other games do in their lifetime. They have moved it slows down development OK? But they haven't failed. People are getting annoyed like starbound is the only thing in life that matters. I enjoy updates, same as everyone else but I don't jump down Tiy's throat when he hasn't brought one out in a while. Take a chill pill!

 

I feel like some people in this thread and similar discussions are crossing the line a bit. Having our voices heard, whether in praise or criticism, is the only real tool a consumer has with any power. Yes some people sure like to whine and complain about the progress of Starbound here and elsewhere and they can be pretty unreasonable sometimes but that does not make it:

Nor should the complainers reasonably be expected to stop and just hope it gets better on its own. Yes they can be absolutely vicious but that's what you have professional community outreach types for. Chucklefish are an indie studio sure, but they're a company selling a product just the same as any of the bigger tougher studios. It's patronising both to indie developers and their supporters to expect the the kid gloves to come out so feelings aren't hurt.

No it's not really anyone's business how many people Chucklefish have hired and how much they're paid, matters of decorating taste aside the new office isn't either. Moving around the world to set up is a perfectly reasonable delay. This weird haphazard way of developing things isn't really reasonable however. Amusing diversion or not what's the point in the Agaran? You're building little mushroom villages and dungeons when one of the playable races still dont have even a shack to their name. You've got all these Hylotl resources and objects floating about but you're just going to save them up for later when presumedly you get the ocean biomes going? Why wouldn't you had focused on that if adding more colourful and lively elements to the game around this stage was in your plans rather than brand new content? Can you at least see from an example like that how development seems like a confusing and unguided mess to an outsider? The kind of thing we're perfectly justified in asking hey wait guys, what the hell is the plan anymore?

 

Hahaha, and here I was wondering if I should reply to the first post on page 4.

Anyways, I have to agree, the only reason not to pull in all of these crazy mods, is simply one, giant, massive, hairy problem:

Balance.

Balance is one of the HARDEST things to develop into a game. And one of this complexity? My Lord, I don't even want to think about the countless hours that have already gone into, and have yet to go into balancing all of the content and the content to come.

And yet, Tiy & Co. have managed to keep things well balanced overall thus far... and it's only beta.
With each coming update means double or quadruple the time spent developing it to balance it.

For example, the combat change to allow aimed weapons. That pretty much broke spear's balance, as they mentioned in the post, because they were meant to be powerful due to their difficulty of aiming. Now they're just plain overly powerful.
Now, they've taken, what, double or triple the time to come out with the next combat update? Balance. Oh, and they might be working on every other part of the game too.

There's another game I love at the moment under open alpha development, and it's open source: Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead.
It's suffered the mod problem. Their primary devs have accepted most every content addition that's come to pull-request. What's ended up is the game got clogged up with a lot of mostly useless or duplicated items that weren't properly integrated into the game, and some of them are just plain broken.
To make matters worse, the exponential explosion of items made C: DDA's inventory management (which was pretty low-tech) completely unusable, as you're having to scroll through hundreds of items to craft, and you (or at least I) don't care about 60% of them. Recently, they've fixed a lot of things, and I haven't gotten to see the latest status of the game, so I'm looking forward to what they've updated in the last months...

(Holy crap this post got long, sorry, I haven't posted in ages)


My point in all this rambling is simple. Chucklefish has done everything right. More right than most big game developer studios get it. I mean look at Sega's recent forays. **shudder**
Even if every update hasn't been 'right,' they're building a massive work of art, not getting bogged down in minutia, and now everyone's leaving their homes just so they can make us a better game?

I salute every single one of you folks at Chucklefish and wish you the best in your new lives up at the new office.

Edit: Hah, it's been so long since I posted (I think beta launch) I had to update my sig from $2M to $4M. I'm damn glad Chucklefish is getting this kind of support.

 

I totally disagree with this statement, paying 15 bucks doesn't make you a member of the dev team, your not going to get an invite to sit in at the office either. I don't understand this entitlement vibe for a large number of folks.

Look, people know CF's history and how they operate, you either OK with it or not. If your not, send your feedback to the devs....but please refrain from the constant bombardment of CF activities because that does turn into WHINING whether you like it or not.

 

I think your post was very eloquent and well explained Tiy, keep up the good work.

 

Good thing I am one of the patience ones, as I know it is difficulty with all the policies going from one country to another. You have brought us what you could in the meantime while that is happening, that I appreciate; even if not shown. For me the update cycle is fine, as that in it self makes sense. Some things take more communication than others with the team. Having them in one place will I believe bring on more efficiency in the cycle. I am glad that you are doing your best, and am sure you will continue to do so.

It doesn't really matter to me that the updates are slow right now, as it is understandable. I am one not to ask for daily or bulk, or even just having something to show every week. I am one that what ever you do put out, i know will enjoy as it adds to the game as a whole. More options if you will, which is how I look at it; then again I am really easy to please, or I should say easily entertained. With an overactive imagination I look forward to what ever is brought into the game when noted or mentioned; every thing else not mentioned or noted is something that I will take as a nice surprise.

Like I have mentioned before I enjoy the game as it progresses towards the final product; with each step is another closer, so little or big it is all the same to me. Just means I look at what is delivered with full on creativity to see what I can do with it, even if just a small addition. So continue to do what you can, as I know yall are working hard to create a lovely game.

 

To Chucklefish: You guys just keep on trucking. Do your thing. I fully appreciate you guys giving so much attention to our thoughts, but you guys don't need to listen to a single one of us when it comes to your vision, scope, and milestones for Starbound. It's already an amazing work, and it can only get better from here. I really, REALLY don't want to see what happened to Fez 2's developer happen to you guys.

So don't worry about that vocal minority. Those of us that care are behind you and your decisions 100%, and we're VERY excited about what you guys have in store for us - when it's ready.

- Severyx

 

Thanks for the info, good to know whats going on behind the scenes.

 

Doing more work is not a particularly good marker of quality. Just putting that out there.

 

It makes perfect sense that game development has slowed down due to the move. But blaming the fans? Come on guys, you should be above that.

On the same note, I don't remember Chucklefish ever announcing the move from daily updates to meatier ones. Today's post is the first I've heard of it, and I follow the forums daily.

 

I gotta say, you guys are doing a fantastic job.

Chucklefish is one of the best indie devs out there. Your whole team is passionate about the product you're making.

I think what ends up happening in a lot of cases is that the people who have nothing better to do than find fault in what you're doing are the ones who vocally complain on the forums. Those who are excited and awaiting the game's updates and final form, like me, have other things to occupy their time. Other games, other hobbies etc. So while I'll read some info and move on, someone with a negative piece of mind is more likely to respond.

I don't comment, but that doesn't mean I don't care, you all are fantastic, and should not forget it!

 

The fans suggested changes in updates, they received it. Now if they were expecting the impossible in terms of updating is that still on CF? What is the issue here?

 

No i think the main reason is that you can't just add mods and make them compatible with every other mod.

Chucklefish has to "implement" a mod on its own way to still maintain (the same) compatibility with every other mod that is not included in the game.

Second reason would be is if you do it your own way, you know exactly what you did and will understand easier what the code does.

Implementing a mod is not just "Copy paste" like many people think

 

I believe that once Chucklefish settles in and starts updating the game faster, most of the people whining* will shut up.

*And when I say "whining", I don't mean the people being civil about their complaints (that's not even whining), I'm strictly talking about the people making a fuss and throwing out insults at Chucklefish.

I believe he's referring to the people who got angry at them, and not every single fan as a whole.

 

How can you whine about a game that is not yet in final state? Let them please take their time to finish the game! I don't want any EA timeframes that fuck literally every game up.(Titanfall, BF4, SimCity. Get it?)

 

I wish that post were written much earlier. Thank you for the information, Finn, it explains a tons now ♥

 

I dunno, but some people manage to do it

Also, I understand how BF4 and SimCity had botched launches...but I never heard anything bad about Titanfall's launch.