[UNSTABLE] Update March 19, 2014

What? I think you just give them the URL.

 

Yeah, these updates have made no changes to gameplay, apart from adding the hardcore and permadeath modes (which I admit are awesome), but everything else is the same shit.

 

I admit i'm dissapointed with these updates so minimal and meaning nothing to gameplay and content. I think there's a lot to do yet and some flowers are not going to make us forget that we are waiting for those big updates to gameplay and content.

Also after been reading at what people said here i see, as always, almost 2 types of posts: those who complain like it's the end of the world without any patience and those who defend to the hilt what the developer is doing. 2 extreme positions because both have true points and false points.

I really believe that the way forward is to use less trolling and less ironic or even sarcastic comments (and similarly less fanboys) and write more constructive comments.

Yes, we paid for a game so we can claim for what we paid. Yes, we paid for a game that is under construction. Yes, we want to see more content and more 'juicy' updates. I understand we want to play to a game that promises a lot and is a game that we care (because otherwise, we would not be here bitching or loving this game)

But we need to be more constructive, we can say the same thing (if by example we are dissapointed with these update or in general) with education and respect, no need to troll all the way or to be a fan boy. And i'm not pointing to anyone, only wanted to say what i think.

About the flowers...well, less flowers and more gameplay content, please. You are always in time to add a lot of flowers or hats or whatever. You are doing a good job, but we want to see real progress - and we always want more! ;-)

Thank you and apologies if my english is not very good.

Peace.

 

well.. you asked for log.. i'm posting 5 of them on the same one.. just numbered.. if i have to do it with each one, i do it.. i just lose my character, and this is the second one. The first time this error happened, i had to uninstall the game and reinstall it. Btw, i'm playing with the steam client.. don't know if that do anything, but maybe its a know error.

http://pastebin.com/hgyU1VH2

 

This. Helpful people are helpful.
And, you are right that both sides are right. We could use more content, but we honestly shouldn't be complaining this badly. My advice is to look into more modded content, esp. stuff that is added by five different mods, such as invisible clothing (Let's admit it, the ore armor textures are kind of terrible. ) and a modded race menu thing. That way we don't have five standards for char menus. I.E., we should have two tabs under race creation: Vanilla, and Modded. Good idea, no?

 

Help me ! the game crash

http://pastebin.com/Lh8aFpdy

 

I am dissatisfied with this progress because the developers should focus on game direction and hard-core adjustments, not hats and greenhouse flowers. They should leave THAT for the mods. I know programming and coding games takes a while, but we should see updates that change the slowdown aspect in dungeons and some background/story plot, as well as the Novakidd introduction, if there is any. What about shipbuilding? An upcoming universe wipe? I know the devs may or may not see this post, but I hope they are aware that I can only do so much with the looming planet wipes, as I cannot build anything for now, and my ship has become a massive storage container.

 

I'm partially joking, don't get mad when I say this.

You should get the MadTulip Spaceship mod. It allows your ship to be an even BIGGER storage container! Seriously, though, space stations can be significantly more fun to use than a ship or even a planetside base. And it adds landing pods which can be used for easy planetside bases!

 

i don't care about anything rn i just want mobile structures

even if it's 100% impossible with the current way things work and will ever work

 

What's with the naked human?

 

I haven't tried it, but you might be able to get a block of a certain type and place it in the 3d printer. Then you should be able to craft it for pixels.

 

I know some stuff changed to be that way. Something like chert, andesite, dire stone, and a bunch of other annoyingly difficult to mine rocks.

 

Placeholder mechanics still not being evaluated and overhauled. How much weather and useless junk do we need to start asking ourselves when's the real changes coming?

 

How to update Starbound from steam? Sry for my bad english

Help me pls

 

Go into steam, right click on starbound in your library. Click properties. There should be a tab called beta near the top right side of the window that opens up. Click that. Go to the dropdown menu with "opt out of beta." Select "more beta than beta." Click ok, or apply, or just exit if neither of those options is available. Then click play on starbound. It should download an update. Gratz, you are now a betaception tester!

 

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I get lots of fog now too on this planet below. Makes constructing housing tough.

 

So I must say, unlike most, I personally like this update and other small ones like it, why? It allows us to test things the little things so that if anything is broken by this we know it is this doing it, not something else, many little updates adding minimal content allow us to get these minor things out of the way so when a larger update which takes more time is prepared we can:

1. Focus on it.
2. Not have our games corrupted or damaged by something smaller more easily missed like what is being added in these updates.
3. It keeps things manageable while testing, after all we are all testers at the end of the day.
4. It fleshes out the world and lets me enjoy the more fleshed out world without the distractions of founded quest-lines while I do personal quests to collect things for myself.

Personally I expected these kinds of updates when Chucklefish said we would see far more frequent updates, why? Because a quest system or new mechanic take a while to code. Things like this? a couple of hours from concept to art work to code to finished project. People also forget that we have three things going on here with game development:

1. The game is maybe 40% at most done mechanic wise, (more than likely closer to 15%-20% if you ask others, I havent read the intended features list in a while) for things that I know will be added from previous post by Chucklefish, however mechanics are a long process to code, and are really actually quite boring for the art department, as mechanics are code, which is a longer more tedious process than artwork is. More can go wrong and if something goes wrong it can be devastating until fixed. As well these mechanics can make some serious changes to how we play the game, and as a result must be careful considered and balanced. They are slow to code, and are also delicate work so they don't break the game.
2. Chucklefish promised two things with this game above all else, an expansive world to explore and discover and then a countless number of other expansive worlds to explore and discover after you move to the next one, and multiple routes through the game, farming, exploring, building, fighting, questing, trading, whatever. Updates like this flesh out that world, they make exploring more fun and rewarding, they make me want to jump on to my ship and explore, and they make me want to dig on new worlds for new underground biomes. Updates like this allow them to flesh the world out, which most of this work is art department, not coders.
3. This is a beta. Yes I know we are all aware of it, but I am not using it as an excuse for the lack of content, I am simply stating it is a beta, and one of the main goals of a beta is the squash bugs, so while Chucklefish is working on making new features, they also need to fix issues with the old ones. That there can eat up varying and unpredictable amounts of time for every single individual bug. First it must be diagnosed, second the cause must be identified, third a cure must me found, forth that cure must be check to make sure it doesn't cause any obvious new issues, and finally fifth the patch needs to be released to us, the players. This all takes time away from developing larger newer updates which change or add new core mechanics.

Now after all that I would like to state, yes I would like new mechanics and bigger updates, but I don't mind waiting for them to be finished, I would rather wait for quality than have some half-assed finished product. To many people rush their work and people like you and I are left with garbage incomplete, unacceptably buggy, inexcusably disappointing failures. And we are forced to just accept it. However, people like Chucklefish and other indie companies have heard our cries slightly more than major companies like EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Activision, etc.. They take their time to produce the product we are promised to the upper limit of their ability. So I am ready to wait if it means I will have a finished game in the end opposed to a unfinished game.

Now in light of that I feel I must propose a compromise that Chucklefish can aim for to help please us if they so choose:

Continue with updates like this as you are, but try for a bi-weekly to monthly major update which adds larger features. This will give us something to look forward to, while also allowing time for work to be completed to an acceptable level of completion, while also allowing features to be tested in a manageable way.


EDIT: Also, people please stop pointing at mods as a solution, this kind of thing is needed in the unmodded game, as are all the features and new mechanic we want. Mods shouldn't be a fix for a game, they should be an add-on for after we have hit the end of the game and want more. Yes I know people want more features, and yes I know mods add those, but don't forget, we need to tell Chucklefish exactly what we want from mods in a mature manner, don't say "More content, less flowers!", because by definition, flowers are content. Don't just say "More mechanics!" Specify what mechanics you would like so that they know what we want.

For example, I want a more in depth system to create fuel. I would like to have to refine and prepare fuel rather than just toss some coal in my engines and fly. I would also like some level of high-tech automation, something like a sorting network that I wire together, where I put in some ore and it sends it off to one chest, or I put in some ore and it processes it for me and puts ingots in another chest. I feel with the technology available in a world like Starbound we should be able to do simple tasks like that. I also feel the game needs a means to transport items via rails, as well as a way to mine automatically.

Beyond that, I want to see a way to travel over land faster in the early game as well as more ways to defend myself on my first planet. Some form of a landing site protection system, like some quick to place barriers that are one shot only to protect against monsters with some form of vehicle that needs fuel like some kind of small personal hover craft to skim over the surface. Or a small pod maybe that does nothing more than protect you by providing a barrier from the local wildlife and comes with a small personal transport device that lasts only for a few moments before you need to recharge it. Have the first one be free, but make it so you need to craft new ones. Maybe even have drop pods that can be summoned by beacons that allow you to quickly set a new location to land on the planet at. Have higher level pods that come with turrets, lighting, and small heaters. Actually there's another thing, I would like to see some new ways to heat my base at night. Put in a heater of some kind maybe which can warm a larger area.

Things like this I feel are needed in the vanilla unmodded game, just as much as a more interesting world to explore.

 

stopped reading here. no, it is not. it's closer to 15-20%. remember that pretty much everything outside of random generators is a placeholder, at the moment. the very core of the game simply does not exist as of yet. this finished product, as advertized, is related to what we have now only by implication.

 

Edited my post to reflect what you stated here, now please, finish the post, as a good portion of what you said actually agrees with what many people like you seem to feel, and states it in a far more constructive manner. You only make yourself look like a fool if you stop reading when you come to the first thing you disagree with. Read it and please tell me what you do and do not agree with in the post, it might be the only way we can tell Chucklefish what we do and do not want from these updates without looking like a swarm of whining toddlers.