Treasure Adventure World pre-orders are now LIVE!

Even though I have to say people are overreacting a bit here and there, I can't say I blame them. Starbound opened up for pre-orders months ago, promising all kinds of things, including beta access, but so far we've gotten nothing.

And now they're asking us to back a second project.

Tell you what, the game is more than ready enough for beta. Open that up at least and we can talk about throwing even more money at Chucklefish

 

Used to be a Starbound only forum. Now it's not. Times change. Devs have already been criticized when they spend "more time playing with the forum than coding the game." So it's going to remain playstarbound.com for the foreseeable future.

Also, no @ readabout.

Here's the thing. You don't need to be super hyped up, in order to wait for a game. Even if all of your hype died down, completely, because you were tired of waiting...once the release date is announced, or once the game is released, the hype will probably build. That's what so many people on these forums have struggles with. The hype. I understand completely. "Oh man I'm so excited about this game. I eat, sleep, and breathe waiting for this game. But it's not out yet, and every day, I get a little less hyped." Well, again, you don't need to maintain an over-9000 level of hype in order to wait for a game. Or enjoy a game. How -I- wait for a game...is play other games until it comes out. I haven't even preordered Starbound yet. (For myself, at least.) There's no need to get so ridiculously worked up while waiting. Excitement is fine, but getting overhyped is often bad.

Now, I might sound like the bad guy for saying this, but thousands of people preordered, the second it was available. Those funds from the preorder helped Chucklefish to work on the game more, and get it out faster. But at the same time, many people preordered simply to throw their money at the game. That's not bad exactly. But at the same time, many people preordered in an uninformed manner. They preordered wanting to get beta access, and wanting to support Chucklefish. (Which again, isn't bad) But many of these people never once thought about how long it could possibly take. At the time of preorder announcement, the slated release of Beta was 2013. Many people, for some reason, assumed that preordering would give them access to a beta next week, or next month. While it's not bad that they preordered, a lot of them made uneducated decisions. Putting forth more money than they expected to, preordering faster than they expected to. The option was "The game won't be done for a while, since we're aiming for 2013. If you preorder now, that money will be spent towards developing the game. You can preorder now, or you can preorder later." Again, most people opted to preorder early on. They invested money into it, and that money was used for exactly what CF said it'd be used for: helping development of Starbound. But let me ask a question: What's the difference between somebody who preordered the absolute second it was available, without doing research or being educated about the development cycle, and someone who waits until release date / beta-release date to be announced before preordering? The answer is absolutely nothing. (Other than the fact that the person who preordered earlier has money that will go to the development cycle earlier, and the one who preorders later has the money go to the development cycle later.) I could preorder a month from now...still get the beta. Still get the badges. Still get the other rewards. Still get the game.

What am I saying with all of this? Well, a lot of people preordered as soon as it was available, and a lot of them didn't seem to realize that "2013 Beta" could mean anywhere from a day after preorders, to a day before 2014. Me, personally, I don't like preordering until I know the beta release date / game's release date. This saves me the trouble of feeling like I "invested my money for nothing." And on the bonus, I keep the money I would have otherwise not had due to preordering. So yeah, I do feel like a lot of people may have preordered Starbound and not fully understood how long it could take. Again, I'm grateful they preordered, because that money is going towards development of Starbound, in one way or another. But at the same time, this is what happens when people preorder without knowing all the details. Granted, it's hard to get and garner up exact details, like release dates and what not, but at the same time, there's no reason to feel cheated. If you do feel "cheated" you can always request a refund. And you can turn right around and use that money to preorder the game again when you know the date. That way, you won't feel cheated because you don't actually have any money "invested" into a game that's not coming out fast enough.

As for others who "did not support CF"....we don't know that. The Yogscast could have bought 3 of the Impervium tiers for all we know. They're excited about the game like we are. I'm sure a few of them have preordered the game. But we don't know if they have, or haven't, do we? It's very easy to pretend like they're just some random outsiders who are playing a game they've never even heard of...when they could have been dying of excitement to play it, and nervous to play it in front of an audience. It's too easy nowadays to paint someone as a villain when one feels wronged.

But, in interest of keeping it as short as possible: Chucklefish is not trying to cheat anyone. Nor do they like it when their valued community members feel cheated. If you feel cheated, you can request a refund. If you feel like they're ripping you off, you can request a refund. It's relatively easy to do. I understand that hype is a powerful thing, but you don't have to be hyped to wait for a game. I've bought / preordered so many games that I was hyped for, and eventually I just forgot about them. But once they get released, I remember them, and the hype hits like a truck. I'm not telling you to forget about Starbound and do something else while you wait, I'm just saying hype rarely dies. It just sleeps. I can look forward to the weekend, make plans, get excited...but when Wednesday hits, I'm in a bad mood. I feel like the weekend is never going to come, I feel like it's going to be Wednesday forever....but guess what...once Friday comes...I shoot right back to that same level of excitement. Whether I planned all week to go to the movies on Friday, or whether I randomly decided to go to the movies on Friday; I'm still going to the movies. So, all in all, it's not necessary to maintain an insane level of hype while waiting a game. In fact, I think being too overhyped for a game ends up burning someone out faster. The more hyped you are for a game, the more upset you are when it gets delayed. Those who are less hyped about the game are often less upset. Those who aren't hyped at all, often don't care too much (assuming they don't have money invested in it. ) But what all of those people have in common, is they'll all be enjoying it release day / beta release day. (Or at least most of them.)

 

Robit Studios. not ChuckleFish, but close enough.

To that staff above me, by the time they release the game in 2014, ill be well into playing GTA and the ps4 to even give a rats ass about this... its the realization.

 

I think some people are misunderstanding. I dont believe its spoiled brats, but money talks. People gave money. For some of you 15$ must be pretty meaningless, but not all of us live in rich european countries or of the sorts. If you own a business in real life like i do and you also accept pre-orders for products...if you start to take too long and people have already given their money to you, they will start to get angry. Least you can do is give something, a beta, an alpha, something to let them know "here your money is being spent in developing this, just try it for now, but its real, its comming," (see other games in development...).

Its a bit of a slap in the face to have the nerve to ask for more support in other games and more pre-orders, while Starbound does not even having a concrete day for release, alpha, beta, whatever, no date for nothing. Personally i supported alot of "kickstarter" projects and this is the longest one to even being far to come true, without a doubt. This one is really making me not bet anymore on this type of things and i i used to be a big supporter. Im still interested in playing of course if its out this year. Sure, the devs are doing a great job with the game dont take me wrong i love it and i come to the website everyday to check for updates, some days with none to see. But its way too much time for such a small company which has been given so much money to not give their customers something to put their hands on.

 

Much agreed at least with the money they could get some more developers to speed it up... i cant assume its costing them a whole lot to work on this project..

We've seen from Yogscast's terrible play that its working enough to offer us alot of fun and time on it, even if that's what its limited to, people make their own fun, i mean they cant say its incomplete and crashes to much because there is loads of other games such as cubeworld and a few others which have broken multiplayer and alot of crashes and bugs but people still spend 15 hours a day on it making their own fun, personally what i saw yogscast do was enough to keep me amused for a month straight.

 

Pretty much this. There are 110ish days left in the year now and not even the slightest hint of a release date other than simply "this year". And then they advertise another game, urging us to pre-order, another game with no release date that will likely meet the same fate? No thanks. :\

 

It isn't totally unrelated, it's being published by Chucklefish.

Just cause a game isn't MADE by EA doesn't mean that big "published by EA" doesn't affect my desire to not play it

 

i'm a little sad to see all the negative-ness on here, i am a supporter of treasure adventure game, i've played it all the way through, it's great in my opinion. I greatly look forward to the treasure adventure world reboot.(and was happy to see an update, as i have been waiting for this also and the treasure adventure world site previously offered nothing other than a "coming soon").

Yes i know we all come here for starbound updates, and people are getting tired of waiting. but hey put it this way, the longer they work on it, the more complete it will be. They could of givin us beta access right away, but then people would play, exclaim that the game sucks, even though it would not have been completed yet. I have pre ordered, and honestly take as long as you need dev team, i like what you are doing and will happily wait as long as it takes for you guys to be comfortable releasing your game.

(Also, the pre-order we have all paid for will not make development move faster, more money doesn't equal more productivity, it makes sure the devs can eat and live their lives in the meantime while they make this game. And if anything it gives them more time to add their creative touch)

Basically DO NOT RUSH because people are getting antsy, take your time and bring it to your level of satisfaction, please and thank you

 

Should just go back to the days before "crowdfunding" and "kickstarters" when devs would actually develop games, set up preorders with a GIVEN release date and not this "Oh, please give us money, we'll work real hard on the game we promise~ It'll come out... Soon " Thing is, they already have your money so they really don't need to work all that hard, giving people so much money for a product that they can't even use because it'snot out just makes people lazy. Hell, they can just go"No Starbound 'till 2025! No worries,your money is safe and sound... While we vacation in Mexico!"

But there is a saying about how easily a fool and their money are parted...

We had plenty of indie games before kickstarter, and we'd still have plenty more if kickstarter wasn't a thing. Hell indie games were better quality before every Tom, Dick, and Larry could simply beg people for money to make a "game". Ofcourse, there are some kickstarters that actually pull through and DELIVER the product, and give actual solid dates before you pledge to them that they stick to, so can't really call it all bad.

Maybe one day people will realize they should only put money into a game (or anything for that matter) if there is an actual product, such as a demo/alpha/beta that they can actually play. But that's being smart with your money. Maybe people should speak with their wallet, cancel their preorders, then go and spread the word not to invest in a nonexistant game, then if they wish they can buy it when the game actually launches.

But ofcourse people will still defend it with their dying breath, it must suck fighting back that buyer's remorse, huh? Still some time left in 2013. Looking forward to that "Beta Released! December 31st 11:59PM !" Announcement.

 

As a business... there comes a point where said business has to put the customer's level of satisfaction ahead of their own.

 

i couldnt care less about this game.

 

tl dr, how about you do the updates for Starbound? You seem to be eager to write big pieces of text!

 

Sokina, you are one of the staff i respect the most. Probably the one i respect the most. But something in your comment i really, really, do not agree with:

So far all evidence points to no. From what i gather we won't be getting a beta until at absolute earliest november, and that 2013 date has been around since preorders started. I don't think the facts/evidence weighs in favor of all that preorder money making the game come out sooner. By the sound of it, they're setting the end of the year as their mark, and the list was populated (and likely altered) to see what they could fit in by then, as opposed to having a vision of what the initial game would have and getting that done and wrapped up. Post release is not a dirty word, and i believe they'd do well to believe that too.

 

Wasting money? The humanity! That money goes to support a developer in need! Your money is being used to buy the pizza and mt. dew required to fuel round the clock coding binges. You do a noble thing, friend. The poor, poor developers!

 

My experience with Starbound and Chucklefish has trained me to never pay for a product that doesn't exist yet.

 

No product, no money... once they have the money in their hands and not care about having a product soon...

I will not make the mistake twice!

 

people are not asking for a rushed game there asking for the beta they paid for. ore at the very lease a commitment to a release date for sed beta.

showing of the (demo) game at I49 onliye served to frustrate more people then it helped to sell the game new people.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/30/the-next-hour-is-starbound-hour/

and as i sed before the longer it takes the worse it will get.

 

They got developers in.

Money does speed things up, but eventually it won't do any more. The devs were able to give up other jobs to work on the game, but there is only so few hours in a day and money doesn't suddenly give you a brain and fingers that move at light speed.
If I asked you to build me something that takes a week, but then threw money at you and asked you to do it in one day, would that money suddenly give you the magic powers to achieve the impossible? Of course not, even if you got others in to help you, you still had to find them, contact them, set up meetings and brief them before they even started working.
Would that money at least make you work more? Sure, you would most likely put in the extra hours to at least try to meet the deadline, but you can only work so fast, even when pushing it.

We can argue about what state the game is in all we like, but when the devs say it's NOT in a playable state, no amount of conjecture or personal opinion is going to change that. Using other games as comparison doesn't help either, this isn't cubeworld, minecraft or Terraria, so how they did their game is irrelevant. Cubeworld for example wasn't announced until mid 2011 and took 3 years to reach the most basic bare bones build with only two minor updates since release. Money Wollay got from the release clearly has done little to speed up the process and he has been a phantom of late as he tries to fix the plethora of bugs that piled up on day one, slowing his content release.

 

Actually what you say about not being able to reach november is wrong to my opinion. They can release whenever they want, it just depends on which state the release should be in. Since they promised a release in 2013, a release in 2013 we're gunna get. They kinda cannot back out from this, since it was the promise given with the pre-order start.

But that is the whole point isn't it? This game is basically waiting to be released dependent on the quality demand... not of the players, but the dev team. Which only works because they have shown us quality gameplay footage and an outstanding concept, and not to forget Tiy's reputation earned from terraria.

Which brings me to the empty shell of a release date, personally I think this is the problem of at least three of my favorite dev teams from the games: Starbound, Terraria and Cubeworld. Promises on a release date are not made out of fear for disappointing the community (I think), but what about now? The fact that there is no clear release window is actually enraging people and dropping trust.

At the end, it all doesn't matter, cuz even if everyone starts flaming, they got the money. I doubt it's easy for a pre-orderer to ask his/her money back. We just have to wait. I have no doubt the game will be great though

 

Just because this team works this way, don't loose faith in future developers like me . You see, I have also learned something from this as a hopeful software engineer to one day develop my own game and give clear timeframes in which you can expect goals to have been achieved!