Here's my take on development at the moment. It might be completely off the radar but bear with me. Let's say a glass cup represents the foundation for key properties/features to be implemented in Starbound. Likewise, Water in it represents filling it with content. Now, to make Starbound barely playable (the early beta in 2012 that others have requested), let's say 5 glass cups were needed. While filling it with water, the Devs realizes that it just is not good enough. They then decide to add another 15 glass cups and set a 2013 released date instead. It has been painstaking and time consuming because those cups (key properties and features) must first be built from the ground up before water can be filled in (as evident from the delay in NPC behaviour etc.). However, those 15 cups are now completed. What we are witnessing now is the Dev team vigorously filling up all glass cups with content after content. If you notice the trend these past couple of weeks, the updates are literally overflowing. Suffice to say, Beta will be ready once all glass cups are filled at least to a feasible QA level! I might be completely wrong but hey, I am just putting some sense into things from the way I see fit which, while not official, makes me sleep better at night!
You and a bunch of other people can try to argue as to what a beta is or when the game is going to be truly feature-complete, but the fact remains that it won't exist until it is feature-complete by Chucklefish's standards. That isn't up for dispute, look up the definition of what a beta is if you don't believe me. Also, it doesn't matter if the Road Map is outdated or doesn't account for everything, it is still an indicator of what is planned. A complete list maybe not, but we haven't been left completely in the dark like some people would lead you to believe. And oh no, there are plenty of people that whine about the beta weekly. The whiny tone isn't me reading it as such. When people complain about the lack of a beta, it's usually in either a whiny manner or a hateful one, which is just sad. Some people just have no patience to wait for a video game. It's not that Tiy has any understanding issues here, it's very clearly you. First off, the point of beta testing is to groom a game for full release. That means discovering bugs that the developers missed, identifying things that don't work as described or intended, and testing how the game functions in general. It is NOT supposed to be a test of an unfinished product. That is an alpha, which we are not getting. Once again, A beta is a feature-complete version of the game that lacks the polish desired for a full release. Tiy and co. are absolutely not going to avoid fixing known bugs or just tossing things into the game without making sure they function just because there's a beta planned. That's an absurd way of thinking. If there's an issue that is game-breaking or preventing an implemented feature from running correctly, of course they're going to discover it and fix it. Come on now. Secondly, we paid for a pre-order of the game, with beta access as an incentive to do so. We didn't pay to get a job. Don't misconstrue what your money went towards.
I think we all just need to take a moment and remember why we signed onto this adventure in the first place.... This game looks f*cking awesome. While the beta might be a large controversy, especially in this update topic, we have without a doubt already set this game's release in stone. And judging by how good they seem to be at fixing their own problems, a beta may not be necessary til the game is almost completed. Either way, we are going to get this game, so what's to complain about? If you notice the pre-order page, every tier that you can pay for to get this game you also get a beta invite. So to be fair, although their wording might be wrong, I think the beta for this game is much closer to what the rest of you have called early access than to an actual beta.
The wait from pre-order for this is almost as long as Torchlight 2 was... Maybe you guys at chucklefish will set a record and make us wait til next year altogether. >:\
The problem is, instead of filling a good amount of cups and handing them out they seem to want to see just how many cups they can fill while all the dehydrated fans get to watch as the cups get filled, all the while they'd be content with a few cups while the rest get filled. That metaphor actually worked a lot better than i thought it would when i clicked reply. The game will never be "feature complete" unless Tiy's promise of regular updates post release end up like Tiy's promise of Roadmap updates or Tiy's Ask us Anything thread. ... Okay now i'm worried.
They said that the matter manipulator was supposed to be like your "fists" if it was Minecraft, so why would you "fist" have durability?
Because punching trees, dirt, animals, and possibly stone with your fists is bound to hurt them. And that's why they invented matter manipulators. Ergo, Starbound is a sequel to Minecraft. Yep.
As I said, Chucklefish are going to continue to add features until a year after they release the game. Until then, the game will not be feature complete. They have even said that the main story will not be in the beta version(at least not initially). I'm guessing that's not the only feature that will wait until after or during the beta to be finished. I just looked up the definition of beta and can find no source that says it needs to be feature-complete. In fact I have found one that says explicitly that it might be missing features: http://www.techterms.com/definition/beta_software "Since beta software is a pre-release version of the final application, it may be unstable or lack features that will be included in the final release. Therefore beta software often comes with a disclaimer that testers should use the software at their own risk. If you choose to beta test a program, be aware that it may not function as expected." I'll take back what I said about there not being any whiners. Now that I think about it, I have seen some people that are unreasonably angry about the developers not releasing the beta. However, I think most people, including myself, just want to know more. I know I probably sound impatient but I've been waiting for almost a year and am really excited that it is almost here!
On the topic of durability, I think flashlights and various 'portable' electronics should have durability. this could be representative of the battery life in the items, so if the flashlight is held long enough it slowly depletes "durability" and the user has to add a fuel (like coal, uranium,...) or bring it to a charging station otherwise it wouldn't produce light. would add to the whole "be prepared when underground/at night" by making users plan inventory space for fuel or keep their flashlights ready for explorations
All done for the betterment of the game I reckon. I think the general consensus of unrest here is that fans indeed want to help Chucklefish test the game for bugs at this point in time, providing a win-win situation! However, based on whatever reasons Tiy does what he do, I would never slate the guy for purely caring about the quality of his game, period. The least we can do is try not to sound like overzealous producers rushing out a product!
Excellent answer. As always, I will continue to support Chucklefish with my quite waiting... I paid my money and I have no doubt in my mind that they will deliver a quality product, regardless the amount of time taken to do so. =^.^= I am patient...
So you just did it. We dont say his name for a reason. . . I would also like to support that idea above, about using markers, like digital beacons that you can track on a radar to mark ore pockets or loot that you couldnt pick up at the time. That would be freaking amazing!! like if your with a buddy, maybe you just go around placing beacons for him to come get teh pockets of ore, while you map out some caves. . . . SO SUPAH KEWL MY BRAH!
I would really enjoy rare items actually being rare. Those 1/20 chances are just a little to high for my liking. However finding those rare drops I believe should go up more when on a higher level planet, as the harder a planet is, the less likely anyone else visited or survived the trip to it.
I'm not sure on this, but I think I might remember reading that stuff along the lines of Flashlights use your Energy Power/Bar.
