Dev Blog Starbound on the Discord Store

Discussion in 'Dev Blog' started by Katzeus, Oct 16, 2018.

  1. DarthTrethon

    DarthTrethon Spaceman Spiff

    Very Soon?! Stop using those words....just stop...and stop lying. Back in bloody April you said, and I quote: " We’ll provide some specifics on those changes and a date when to expect that very soon!" in regards to the Xbox One release....but here we are....in December!! And still no release date and still no word about 1.4. And now it's been another moth and a half since you AGAIN promised "Our focus has shifted back to PC in the past few weeks and we’re planning to have an update ready very soon. We’ll share a post detailing more about that update shortly!".....but have you announced ANYTHING? No.....nearly seven weeks now, seven bloody weeks....this does NOT qualify as "very soon" or "shortly".

    Why won't you just tell the bloody truth? You don't care for Starbound anymore and have about stopped development and moved most resources to other projects....at least we'll know not to expect anything anymore. But whatever you do: Just. Stop. Lying.
     
  2. Xylia

    Xylia Tiy's Beard

    Wow, dude, chill...

    You should know the routine by now. Just take some time, sit back, relax, play something else for awhile, and when the update comes out, it'll be nice and fresh because you've not done anything with the game for awhile and you can enjoy it again.

    Also, it's posts like these that likely give them pause in posting anything on the forums, considering every time they do, they get set upon by players acting like a pack of rabid wolves.

    They are not obligated in any way to post on the forums, and people like you are abusing the privilege.
     
  3. Ickura

    Ickura Big Damn Hero

    Chucklefish can continue posting news, but they really need to stop giving us the blue balls. Teasing us with something like its coming only to have it delayed, removed, or never mentioned again. I think we can all agree that word "soon" basically lost its meaning by now.
    And I dont blame people if they are having trouble moving on to different games. Starbound is pretty addicting, especially with mods. I have 1,375 hours on it for crying out loud!
     
    DragonsForce likes this.
  4. MidgetLover

    MidgetLover Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    you should try a totally different game then, one that can't get you addicted like.. idk.. Skyrim or Fallout
     
  5. Ickura

    Ickura Big Damn Hero

    Waaay ahead of you, I just got oblivion, spore, and fallout new vegas last black friday. They're old games ik, but wouldnt hurt to try.
     
  6. Xylia

    Xylia Tiy's Beard

    New Vegas I can personally vouch for being a ton of fun. I hope you got the GOTY because the addons, especially OWB and Dead Money are top-notch. But do heed the in-game warnings about suggested levels... especially for Dead Money. You will need lots of skills in the Sierra Madre. I also want to strongly warn you about needing decent Intelligence/Perception/Charisma stats (and/or buff items) and good Speech/Barter skills in OWB and Dead Money. Those tend to oftentimes be neglected and it will bite you in the butt if you don't take at least some of those skills (50+), especially if you want the "good" endings.

    Oblivion.... I hope you know your way around modding, that game will not run well whatsoever on a modern computer without tons of mods to fix the various problems. Go find a tutorial first. And Spore? Eh, it's been long long time since I played that. Just got Fallout 4 myself last week and I've been enjoying that.

    But yeah, do try other games in the meantime, it's good to mix it up now and then.
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2018
  7. Daikon Ocelot

    Daikon Ocelot Spaceman Spiff

    :mwahaha: Oh my God, you make me laugh, man. I just had a TERRIBLE week full of examination at school!!! But after I read your post, I can't stop laughing. Thanks, man. But really, don't take it personal, I don't mean to offend you or mock you. I understand what you feel about it, and sometimes it get on me too. Sorry if I offend you, and thanks again for making me a little better. :)
     
  8. Magius96

    Magius96 Void-Bound Voyager

    Not to excuse his demeanor, but to explain why the XBox fans are justifiably upset:














































    Date Quote Link
    08/04/2015 Starbound coming to XBOX ONE on XGP this winter! https://playstarbound.com/starbound-coming-to-windows-10-and-xbox-one-via-game-preview/
    11/12/2015 We’ve got a new programmer onboard – say hello to Ian! He’s working on preparing Starbound for Xbox One Game Preview https://playstarbound.com/12th-november-grand-theft-automato/
    05/09/2017
    Lots of people have been asking us when Starbound is coming to Xbox One, and while we don’t have a release date for you yet, we can confirm it’s still a thing that’s happening! We’re working with the super talented folks at Blitworks on the port, so it’s in good hands. We’ll let you know more as soon as we can!

    https://playstarbound.com/9th-may-bless-this-spess/
    02/02/2018 "We announced Starbound was coming to consoles a while ago, and the team at Blitworks have been doing really amazing work. We’ve been playing it on the Xbox in our office, and while a lot of things have needed adjustment to get it working just right for consoles, we’re very nearly there.

    We need to clear a few more things through testing before we can confirm a date, but we should be able to make an announcement soon.

    Here’s a preview of some UI changes which have been made for the console version."
    https://playstarbound.com/2-february-2018-catch-up/
    04/20/2018 You may have heard news we’ve been showing off Starbound on Xbox at some events over the past few weeks. It was featured at a press event at GDC in San Francisco, and soon after in London. Just this past weekend we had our first public showing in the ID@Xbox room at EGX Rezzed in London. It was great to meet so many players and talk to them about our game! ... Porting the controls to console has been a huge task, and has required us to develop some radical UI changes. We’ll provide some specifics on those changes and a date when to expect that very soon!
    https://playstarbound.com/rezzed2018/
    07/22/2018 Since then we’ve had a few major updates (woo Mechs!) and are looking ahead to the future of Starbound, including the upcoming Xbox One release. It’s coming along really well, and is currently in the final QA process after the team has made a few performance fixes, and all being well the next step will be sending off for Microsoft certification before it’s ready to go live! We’ll keep you posted once we’re 99.9% sure on an exact launch date.
    https://playstarbound.com/starbounds-2-year-anniversary/
    08/31/2018 There’s a lot bubbling behind the scenes here, and we’re looking forward to sharing more news with you all about our bigger plans for Starbound 1.4, Xbox and beyond as soon as we can! https://playstarbound.com/discord-update-v1-3-4-unstable/
    10/16/2018 Lastly, we know it’s been some time since we published a Starbound PC version update – most of this year we’ve been focused on Xbox porting work. Our focus has shifted back to PC in the past few weeks and we’re planning to have an update ready very soon. We’ll share a post detailing more about that update shortly! https://playstarbound.com/new_on_discord/


    As you can see, they've clearly stepped up the number of mentions in the last year, however even those mentions are devoid of any real content. For the xbox fans, its not an issue of not being willing to wait, its more an issue of not having any real information.

    That very last mention is actually quite a bit depressing. While most people are probably reading that as, "Oh yay, its finally coming to XBox," many are reading it as, "wow, they've abandoned the XBox again."

    Sure, we see pc gamers complaining that they haven't gotten any updates in a while. And I sympathize with them. But on the retro, the XBox fans have been left out on the limb for two years after it was supposed to actually be released, with little to no updates or explanations.

    We're not looking for release dates, we're looking for an update on at least what year we can expect a release. The last we knew it would be released in 2018. Here's its December, and we're starting to feel lied to again, like it won't make it this year.

    Beyond that, we're also hoping for explanations. As a company, they promised release dates and failed to deliver. As the consumer, we have a right to know why they failed to deliver. But we don't get such an explanation, they just keep saying "Soon".

    No, I'll agree with the previous poster. You say have faith, but we've lost all faith in the company. I hang on because I really do like this game, and would really love to play it. So I keep loyally searching for new information on the XBox release, hoping that the company would say something. Yet each time they do mention it, its in passing while talking about the next major PC update.

    Go play something else you say. Unfortunately, I feel like that is exactly what will kill their XBox launch, as the people who have been waiting for it, slowly leave to play other games, forgetting about Starbound entirely. Eventually, when they do finally release on the XBox, they won't sell as many copies as they would have, and may actually consider that version a failure.

    At this point, we have to ask, will the XBox port get released before, or after the next major console is released. I don't have to tell you what will happen to Starbound's console sales if a new console is released before it is. I'm sure you can guess how far it will tank.

    Anyways, I took the stance of speaking for others in my post, but I don't actually speak for anyone else, unless they want to respond saying they agree. I'm just voicing my opinion and providing facts to support why I and others may feel the way we do.

    I have no idea why there's so much whitespace. It kept doubling as I was using preview.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 6, 2018
  9. Xylia

    Xylia Tiy's Beard

    I will admit that rumors of the PS5 is starting up, and surely there will be another Xbox coming out too, because yanno, Microsoft isn't smart enough to just funnel that energy into Windows gaming instead, and if that happens, we'll have Duke Nukem all over again, where they dumped a lot of time and effort developing for XB1 and then the XB2 comes out or whatever it's going to be called, and they gotta start all over again.
     
    DarthTrethon likes this.
  10. DDoSMonkey

    DDoSMonkey Void-Bound Voyager

    i wish they at least release some little parts of the upcoming update, like blocks and stuff. Because i don't wanna build some new base then reconstruct it all over again.
     
  11. DarthTrethon

    DarthTrethon Spaceman Spiff

    The good thing here is that both the next Xbox and the next PS5 are expected to be backwards compatible with this generation so even if CF release on current gen it will not all be for nothing.

    But that's besides the point....I'm less fussed about the console ports as I am about the lack of 1.4 which has taken well over a year so far and has no release in sight and by the fact they keep throwing around words like "very soon" or "shortly".....if they're going to promise something then deliver it or don't promise it at all in the first place.
     
  12. Xylia

    Xylia Tiy's Beard

    Eh, I do *not* trust console BC whatsoever, to be honest. I wouldn't go treating it as a guarantee that it will happen.
     
  13. Magius96

    Magius96 Void-Bound Voyager

    Yup, I wouldn't trust backwards compatibility either. Its great that they're making the attempt to preserve it, but its not guaranteed.
     
    Xylia likes this.
  14. DarthTrethon

    DarthTrethon Spaceman Spiff

    Microsoft for sure are doing it....it's basically the only thing that has kept the Xbox brand alive at all this generation and are thin on reasons to buy Xbox. And PlayStation are fully expected to follow suit this time....they couldn't do it with PS3 games because of nightmarish and different hardware architecture....but the PS5 will be a continuation of the PS4 and the PS4 Pro so should have no problems running PS4 games.
     
  15. davoker

    davoker Cosmic Narwhal

    Small updates would not pose so much problem, put new objects, more variety in the missions, etc (and by the way, that change how these random missions are generated, facilitate access to texts for translation, but translate it to another language is another story, the random way in which these missions are generated, by small lists in which random things are chosen to form a mission, makes it an authentic hell that fits when translated into another language, reading things in the singular when they are plural, the gender change of the NPCs of the missions, and many other things that can not be practically avoided when translating, this in English is not a problem, I suspect that this is why they have not been complicated with other languages xD)
     
  16. Daikon Ocelot

    Daikon Ocelot Spaceman Spiff

    I feel very guilty after laughing in this thread, where there are many people upset of this situation, especially to you, @DarthTrethon. I am sorry...

    It feels like SB is crumbling slowly... As one of the new player of SB, I hope I can see SB in its early development, where the game and the community looks really active and fun, but now... it looks less interesting... I still feel very guilty even now... I am sorry, guys. I shouldn't behave like that.
     
  17. Xylia

    Xylia Tiy's Beard

    Personally, the Playstation3 turned me away from Consoles for this very reason. I loved the Playstation1, and I spent thousands of hours playing it. The Playstation 2 came out and most games worked very nicely (I ran into like 3 games that didn't play properly on it: Xenogears, Grandia, and Legend of Legaia).

    Then..... the Playstation3 happened. I didn't really have the money or the mood to buy another console at the time, and I heard that there was no Playstation1 compatibility, and by the time I was in the market for a PS3, they had switched from Hardware Emulation to Software Emulation and it was nowhere as good or reliable, kinda like how the PS2 slim lacked a HDD bay which made the few HDD-based games unplayable on the PS2 Slim.

    I lost faith in console Backwards Compatibility then, and I've not seen any reason to have it restored now. Over on Microsoft's end, I did buy a 360 and yes it does play XB games, and supposedly the XB1 plays 360 (I never heard of the XB1 plays original XB , but the whole Red Ring of Death thing kinda turned me off on that.

    That was about the time my PS1 failed (which I kept around for the 3 aforementioned games) and so did my PS2 phat and I had to buy a slim. I had to get a PSOne as well, though my first PSOne was a failure because it came with a bad ODD, same problem my original two PS machines had. Sony just can't seem to make decent ODDs that don't crap out. Seriously, just put a 5.25 sata slot in it and let me buy my own or something for pete's sake....

    So now, I have to look to emulation to reliably play my Playstation 1&2 games despite the Playstations supposedly having "Backwards Compatibility" (only, not really).

    Oh, and on Nintendo's side? The Wii started out with Gamecube BC and it was great! But then they took that feature out of later releases of the Wii, removing the GC controller plugs and the GC memory card slot, and the Wii-U came out and never did add them back in. And the cartridge based consoles? Pony up $5 per game, PER SYSTEM because how dare I want to buy it once and play it on each system as it comes out, even if you already own them in cartridge form. Screw that. They could have sold an optional USB device that has cartridge slots for NES/SNES/N64 games that you can plug into the Wii/Wii-U, but they didn't. But of course not. They can't bilk you for every time you want to play one of those games if they did (and they wonder why emulation is so rampant... gamers wanna play their games but they don't wanna make that possible in a reasonable fashion).

    So, to sum this whole post up: BC has never been reliable in the past, and I'm not putting my faith in it in the future. The one and only system that has true BC, and always will, is the PC. Yes, you have to use dosBOX for 8 and 16-bit games and some early 32-bit stuff, but it is still an option and it works way better/easier than most console emulators do.
     
  18. Lintton

    Lintton Guest


    This, and the post before yours, really highlight the crux of the matter. it is not even a case of "saving something for a big update" or a shift in employee positions, as the fandom(at least on the forums) has been starved of any starbound news of 1.4 all year, despite being told to expect major updates "soon". It's really become inexcusable at this point.

    If this site isn't the place to receive news on starbound anymore, or has become too much upkeep to handle, they need to level with us about it.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 5, 2018
    Ickura and Xylia like this.
  19. Xylia

    Xylia Tiy's Beard

    I will agree that continuing to tell us that stuff is coming Soon when by now they should have some kind of realistic idea of some kind of time-table is rather ridiculous. They surely know that it's not coming out next month or the month after based on their current development speed and how much is still on the plate, and they should know that 2 months+ is no longer "soon" and that word should not be used.

    If they would instead come on here, and say "Uh guys it's going to be awhile yet...." I think that would have went over better with the players than 5 posts over a year and a half all saying "Coming up real soon!" .... a year and a half later, yeah people are annoyed and despite my voice in trying to support the game and its developers even I would have to admit that there is something seriously wrong with their management if they honestly, really thought it would be "Soon" and it ends up ballooning into a year+, because anybody with common sense would realize that one of the following is happening:

    1). They are horrendously inept at making realistic deadlines, that they keep missing every single one of them for the last 1.5 years,
    2). They are horrendously inept at time management and it is taking them far longer than it should to get anything done,
    3). They are horrendously inept at setting reasonable goals and end up biting off more than can chew and end up backpedaling constantly and getting nothing done as a result,
    4). They have no idea what the word "Soon" means to people,
    5). They just want to apply a little salve on a gaping wound in the playerbase, not realizing that it just makes it worse,
    6). They're lying.

    One or more of the above is happening, and that's plain to see. The only question is, "Which is it?" I don't like to bash the devs, and this is really not me bashing them, however I do have to take a moment and step back and admit that I do understand where players are coming from, and we really need more communication and transparency.

    I have my doubts that their entire team is on 41+ hours per week shifts that nobody can take half an hour, sit down, and type up a couple paragraphs telling us what is really going on at Chucklefish, something that actually makes sense, and doesn't feel like a token automated PR "response" of "We're working on it, it's coming out soon".

    I know Molly left and they don't have an official CM.... but guys.... you can't just go with silence either. You need to tell us what's going on or you're going to lose players and fans. They'll go elsewhere. Some might come back when something actually happens, but a lot of them will simply move on and never touch a Chucklefish game again because their trust has been broken.

    So guys.... Tiy, whoever runs the company now, you need to find a way to tell us what is really going on at the company. Even if you don't have a CM.

    Just get level with us, and tell us the honest truth.
     
  20. Magius96

    Magius96 Void-Bound Voyager

    Thank you Xylia, you managed to state quite plainly what i was attempting to convey, only you did it a little more eloquently. The real sad thing here is that this isn't the first time that there have been community complaints regarding these issues. I refuse to believe that ChuckleFish has never even seen these complains, considering how prevalent they are in my own Google search results. I mean, who really hosts a forum dedicated to their game, and not keep an eye on what is being posted?

    Take all this with a grain of salt, but during the entirety of the 1.5 years for PC and 2 years for xbox where the community has held its breath waiting for updates, there IS a community manager working the Twitter account. Just happens that the community manager isn't doing anything of real merit except hosting an occasional "show me your build" competition. Don't bother asking the person manning twitter any questions related to any issues, you'll be ignored. On the other hand, if you ask questions about the build competition, you'll get a response within a day or two.

    Also evidence to the companies slow decline is the frequency of their posts on their own blog. Back in the beginning the posts were quite frequent, now you're lucky to see one post every couple of months. I get it. As a developer myself, I get that you can get overwhelmed with work and forget to update your community. But that is where Microsoft outlook shines. Simply set an appointment, recurring every couple of weeks. Block out a couple of hours and dedicate that time to updating the community. Now, its on your schedule, stick to it by making it a rule that you MUST write something when that appointment comes up.

    Further, confounding is the fact that the Stardew Valley developer has decided to take back publishing their game to various platforms. This means that Stardew Valley will be spending less time making new features, and more time porting existing features to consoles and stuff. You have to wonder why they made that decision. The news releases I've read don't give an explanation beyond the developer wanted to. Reading between the lines, I'm convinced that there was an issue between Stardew Valley and ChuckleFish. Heck, maybe ChuckleFish asked them to do it, in order to lighten the load that ChuckleFish is having to juggle. Either way, that news release doesn't bode well for ChuckleFish in my eyes.
     

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