Can we request more communication on what is being worked on, given we have payed for an "alpha"?

DISCLAIMER : I am ultimately requesting for more communication from the development team on a longer term scale, not just the next patch. since we have payed full price and pledged to a what is essentially an alpha test marketed as a "Beta Test" , I feel that more communication would ease the minds of those frustrated by the game's current state.

You are not beta testing for free like most games, you have PAYED/Pledged/Preordered essentially funded a project here, at least defend your consumer rights and have a voice, support criticism instead of "ITS BETA ITS BETA".

DISCLAIMER 2: I am not saying it is in a bad state, I am enjoying it. However the game is essentially Terraria on a massive scale with alot more random generation, the problem here is, that the scale is so massive that "the sum of its parts" end up being boring, tedious and not something we should have to deal with long term.

I've been playing the game for a few days now and reading these forums, however there is a worrying trend of fans of the game using the "Its a beta! deal with it, don't complain, qq more" ect to pretty much everybody that brings up concerns, suggestions, criticisms and even *Justified frustration*.

I say "Justified frustration" because at the moment there are so many fundamental usability issues that have made it through to "beta (REALLY?)" and the lack of information on "whats coming" other than "3 phases and some pictures/ info every now and then" hell it took me ages to work out why there is no tree planting, while the issue is being looked at a list in one place would be nice.


You can have all the content you want, but so many missing fundamentals that I cannot find any information on like the following:


Planet Maps - such an obvious one, how do you expect us to explore and navigate planets without a map of where we have been, where we have dug? why not go the extra mile and let us leave markers or notes ect too, is this even being worked on? so important.

Universe Map markers, notes - You have given us the freedom of hundreds of planets. yet after weeks of playing, especially on multiplayer servers, how do you expect users to remember their visited planets? and whats on them? is this even planned? This imo is crucial... dont make your users manually write everything on paper, or screenshots, build it into the star map. I want to know where I have been just by looking at the map, I want information when I select a planet I have already been on.

Change "Beam-Down point" - I started on a really large planet today, took me nearly 2 hours to go across it while fighting and gathering resources.... yet one death and your back to the other side of the planet, how is this not even represented or mentioned this far into the game.


Oh I could go on... but you get the point, none of the above make the game easier, just more tolerable... yet nothing is heard of them, or at least if it is, its not in plain site. Why can't you provide us with a detailed plan of what you are currently working on, are the above features even a priority? they should be over crap little content like novakid and fossils thats for sure.

This combat patch coming up sounds great. but then there are so many issues, so many frustrations, so many obvious yet not done changes (E.G prevent damaging enemies through walls... REALLY?) not implemented that I can fully understand why so many people are concerned.


You payed for an alpha people, demand more information at the very least, instead of attacking anyone who is RIGHTFULLY concerned "This is a beta" is just putting yourself in a worse situation, why even do it? some kind of defence mechanism to keep yourselves happy? or what? why.

 

I'd say its a very early beta, as all the core mechanics are in the game.

Also, I think its worth it to wait till the next update.

 

Well, I have to say I agree with the spirit of the OP's post. I think an easy thing to implement would be a running change-log and to-do list that people could see the status of. I've beta tested some games in the past that used bug-tracking software that was open to the testers to view, so they could see what bugs were being worked on, who was assigned to the task, current status and completion %, etc., and that software pretty much auto-wrote the change-log for them. It WOULD go a long way in allaying people's concerns and fears, and perhaps reduce the number of redundant posts complaining about the same issue. Most importantly, it would make the community of players feel connected with the devs, which I'm sure they currently don't, since the devs don't get involved in these forums at all. A little pro-active info goes a long way.

 

Its a beta! deal with it, don't complain, qq more

 

Read the description of so called "beta phase one", now go read a credible description of software alpha testing.

Then go and compare the so called "Beta Phase Two" to a software beta testing description.

you will see what I mean, its all marketing, so many gaming companies are now doing it. "Beta" sells better than "Alpha". most people buying through steam probably don't realise what they are paying £13 for... since "Early Access" often means a few weeks before release, yet this is clearly 6 months of "retail polish".

Yet so many people defend this business strategy.

 

http://store.steampowered.com/earlyaccessfaq/
http://playstarbound.com/how-the-beta-is-going-to-work/

I paid for this. It's what I got. I'm happy.

 

I know it isn't much and percentages can be very arbitrary but: http://playstarbound.com/roadmap/

 

Planet maps don't seem obvious at all to me - do you really need them? Like, it's a two-dimensional world, sure you can get lost underground but that's part of the fun - and easy to avoid, leave yourself torches as markers or blocks of wood or whatever.

Tired old comparisons, but... Terraria didn't have a map system until very recently and we got by okay, ditto with Minecraft (and that game's worlds are loads harder to navigate through!) - it just doesn't seem like an intuitive thing.

 

This is a REAL BETA, its gonna be incomplete, not the usual early access nonsense you're so used to.

 

I don't think they are really needed, but I'd appreciate them as well.
I don't like to compare SB with Terraria too much, but this is a nice example. Terraria worked great sans any map, but adding it was lovely.

 

Do what I do- place two torches at the beam-down point of a planet. Then, you know if you've been there. This isn't a terrible suggestion, but you can leave various markers for yourself (torches, different color dirt/stone/sand, etc.)

There's a dotted line on the starmap that indicates your travel path throughout the galaxy. More detailed information would be nice, but it's not like they leave us wandering aimlessly through space trying to find the last two planets we were on.

This one I agree with to an extent. If we can't have multiple beam-down points (perhaps crafting a receiver platform and placing it, with a limit on each planet, for example), then modes of transportation should be more readily available. There still needs to be some type of challenge and risk involved with planetary exploration, however.

Look, no one is attacking anyone who posts a valid complaint. When people post rude and sometimes bitchy comments without a hint of constructive criticism, however, then being stern is warranted. It's not like the dev team are all sitting around on the $2 million they got on preorders of the game. They've been busting their humps doing big, fast updates for this game (exactly like they said they would), and you can even see a lot of it via bartwe and others streaming the coding process. Sometimes people like yourself need to be reminded that THIS IS A BETA. The dev team made it extremely clear, crystal clear in fact, how the beta would work. They're working on things that matter the most before getting to miniscule things, and features for the full release, like the aforementioned Novakids and Fossils. If you don't like the way the beta is going thus far, I would recommend you stop playing Starbound until the beta is in a later phase, or until the full release hits sometime in 2014.

 

Nobody is forcing anyone to buy into a beta. The FAQ clearly states you shouldn't buy into the progenitor stage if you don't like bugs, missing features or character wipes.

It's fair enough to offer suggestions to improve the game (in fact, highly encouraged), but crying about the inconveniences of beta when you were warned about them is going to prompt a lot of 'qq - you were warned' kinds of responses, because that's a valid response to someone complaining about something they were warned about

"Don't touch that stove, it's hot." *touches stove* "Owww I burnt my finger!"

 

well first i have to agree, this is an alpha - not a beta by all softwear development standards. when a piece of software reaches beta state, it is feature-COMPLETE, only thing left to do is cleanup, bugfixes and balancing. i think we can all agree that this game isnt feature-complete.

now, i am not saying this is a bad game or something - hell no. just saying op is right with his/her definition.

secondly i also want to agree with op on the way the devs are communicating. the patchnotes are really really general ("fixed a ton of bugs"... really? like which? what should i test?)

i am very pleased with the speed and the dedication the development goes ahead, i just wish for clear patchnotes and a roadmap. thanks

 

TLDR; would have been usefull.

also the information the devs give on this game are amazing compared to others, id say even on the same level as earlie minecraft,
TIY is constantly relaying real time information about updates by Reddit and there chat channel,
They have a stream with people working on the game, they stream people from the company talking about implementing updates.

if you think this is bad you obviusly have never heard of cubeworld -.-... that man left after the first day of beta without communication to ANYONE for almost 2 months.

 

Thank You, but looking at that makes my fears even stronger. look at the "User Interface" roadmap. its nearly complete... and as someone who likes his UX design, this game is far from complete in terms of User Experience and the general interface design. Even worse they consider the travel map/fuel to be nearly complete but missing some animations.... yeeesh..... I hope that is outdated... there really needs to be a exploration tracking element to that map.... so fundamental. I could write an essay on other non-user freindly aspects of the overall U.I ... but I'm sure they have been mentioned by tons of people already.

Yes, I enjoy the game too, but the FAQ actually proves my point "Evolvement in the development process" there are games out there like Star Citizen for example where communication is common for even the most basic of things. which is what is being requested here. simply put how is feedback being handled, what communication is being offered in response to valid concerns.

 

I actually have started to pay more attention to the streams, IRC, and the subreddit that exists. The devs have been talking to people and have been explaining a few things as much as possible. They have been posting as often about info they are working on within these areas. Most of which is being added as news posts but they make big posts about them. So there has been a lot of communication whether you have seen it or not. Also the roadmap, I believe, is sadly outdated.

 

Well, I like how devs are handling things. Not often that you see a dev say "Ah, yeah, I'll fix that" on reddit.
In any case, voicing concerns after less than a week of open beta seems paranoid.

 

I guess them talking to us on a daily basis and getting a lot of work done just isn't enough these days, is it OP?

 

Actually you want to know what they are doing EXACTLY?

http://el.twitch.tv/omnipotententity

 

I'm sorry if someone has said this. (Didn't feel like reading the wall of text this time)
The fact is that you preordered the game, and one of the rewards for doing so was to get access to the beta. You didn't preorder the beta, you preordered the full game.

/thread

Sidenote: This is what's wrong with early access. Too many peeps expect a complete game. Newsflash: Early access usually (Never seen it NOT be so) means that it's a beta, or that the game is in a phase of development where they want input on stuff that could be better.