Previous release date delays

Everytime, I read the updates here, I think: I WANT TO PLAY IT NOW!!! But I know that you want to develop the perfect game and are on a good way to that. So take all the time you need, there's plenty to do to distract me from thinking about Starbound... And thank you for your post!

 

Take your time! I'm sure when you guys will release game it will be masterpiece!

 

But we do have in the game already some furniture sets that aren't even supposed to be craftable by player, because material tier they are crafted from isn't fleshed out enough. I understand it's no big deal or anything, just a bunch of sprites, and what else all these artists on the team are there to do, in all honesty. It just rubs me the wrong way somewhat.

 

Unfortunately, when you put your foot through the door to step into the business world, money becomes not only a determining factor, but it turns into a vital factor. As soon as you set up a team of paid developers who all work under one name (eg. Chucklefish), you've officially started your career in business. And when you start a business, you have obligations to customers to create a product they will purchase from you. In the business world, money is the life essence of your company. If you create a poor product or pull back on your word too many times, would-be customers begin to lose faith in you, refusing to make any deals with you, thus slowly killing your business.

And I highly doubt Chucklefish is making this game out of the goodness of their heart. If that was the case, wouldn't they simply offer us the game entirely for free and work secondary jobs to pay the bills? Its wishful thinking, but you have to be realistic. They want to make a great game people will enjoy, but they're a business. Their job is to make money, and they have to stick to their guns.

 

And as far as I have seen, they have been doing so all along, working on the game. They made one mistake...yeah, that happens. Their new estimate still stands, and we haven't reached it yet. I'd say they're not out of ammo or bubblegum yet.

 

First stages of beta testing are pretty much going to be about performance and stability. First things to break will be the game. Testing is never done on anywhere close to a percent of all possible hardware and software combinations people have. Once played SWToR, had a terrible issue that just broke the game. Crashing in loading screens, terrible performance, the issue was ultimately due to an outdated sound driver. Go figure.
That is the sort of stuff that will be taking priority at the start of a beta, getting people to play the beta. After that you'll be looking at things such as balance, glitches, graphical bugs, the smaller non-gamebreaking issues.

So in that sense release beta with limited content, just for the sake of testing the engine on all different sorts of machines is not a terrible idea. It also means that when new content is slowly added, players will jump on the new things and you'll get more focussed beta testing per issue. If something goes wrong its also easier to identify at which point something must've broken.

But naturally there are also drawbacks. It means dropping frequent updates, which takes up time and workload. Time and effort not spend on actually working on the game. It might also send a really bad message on what the game is like, simply because most people think a beta is the same as a demo and have high expectations.

Another itchy topic seems about what people are entitled to. Simply put, you payed for a pre-order product. You get the game when it is released and you get Beta access.
Now for a while it was said the game would be released in 2013 and most people probably pre-ordered while this was still the idea.

We cannot ignore that last thing. Some people might very well have gone into this based on the idea that its a 2013 release. But i do believe there is the option to get a refund.
So i have to ask, i understand you people are disapointed, but why do you keep going up on the forums making a stink? If you disagree, take you're refund and walk away. You lose nothing. But this is where your entitlement ends, a refund. And with this new information you must make that evaluation for yourself.

But at this point we all know Chucklefish made mistakes when estimating release dates, no question really. However constantly, and i do mean excessively, going all over the forums and every single dev post or blog just to spread your own disapointment in the form of negativity is not going to get you the game earlier. And at this point we're pretty much at the beating the dead horse-analogy. If you are so sick of it that you reach this stage, you have a way out.

 

But the way it was worded sounded more like it was Buying time and validating all the setbacks that have occurred so far. I'm still all for beta 2013, but I'm less inclined to believe it, because it was like he was either softening the blow for the next delay announcement, or trying to gather a little goodwill that was lost form the delay announcements.

Time management, I think, Is not one of Chuckle fish Studio's strong points, seeing more fluff then fleshed out core mechanics speaks for that.

But by all means, I'm still optimistic about it, I'm just prepared for the next delay, ( if and when) so I don't get as saddened by it.

 

As long as the beta is still this year, I won't mind.

Terraria has been having some updates to keep me busy, and they are also re-releasing some games that used GFWL.

Hell, I have more games in my steam account than I will ever play in my life.

 

I know what you mean. I think Jim Sterling said it best when he said

Look at Lost Odyssey, that game is a bunch of JRPG elements that doesn't bring any new mechanics to the table. But it does them well.

A lot of developers think that innovation is some catch all defense. If Starbound is good, it's good. Just because it has some 'innovation' doesn't defend it or make it good. Look at Mirrors Edge. There was some idiot journalist who was hating on people who didn't by Mirrors Edge because it was innovative. As if because you're innovating, that excuses a bad game.

I also think he left out a fourth type of game. Games where the publisher/developer budgeted accordingly and worked towards a goal that could be reached realistically. There are plenty of games that are good and are released when they said they would be released.

Hunter C. Creed

 

The point is: Looking at all of the dissenters in this topic whose loyalties are wavering, especially from those who have been waiting since 2012, I'm very doubtful there will many people who will remain happy if another delay rolls in. And thats what a lot of people are believing, that there might be another delay.

 

I mentioned this earlier...about reading into things. Considering it is basically impossible to glean emotion from text I personally find it ultimately more efficient to read what is there and to go by what is written rather then one's impression, cause as everyone knows impressions can well be wrong, and until things actually go downhill I've been given no reason to doubt the team's work.

Most likely the reason why they do not tease about core mechanics is....what is there to tease? Lines of code? Who wants to look at those in a daily update (besides the computer techs who really really REALLY like that kind of thing, which I will never understand but hey... to each their own )

Also...always prepare for the worst and all surprises will be pleasant. I am fully aware things could happen and I could wind up with neither game nor the meager amount of money I spent to fund development. Does it make me happy? No, but there are far worse things in life. I have enjoyed the ride thus far and I have made a few friends here and that is worth more to me then the pre-order cost 200 times over. Even if things did come crashing down I would still count the devs as friends in my life, cause because through their work it allowed me to find this place, and these people and to take part, even a little in this journey. That...is priceless to me. And I don't expect anyone to agree with me on that, but its how I feel.

 

Because most of us do want this game and a refund is an absolute last option here.

On a side note. You native English speakers need to understand straight the difference between "they", "their" and "they're" and other such cases. I am Russian, for Creator's sake, don't you feel ashamed?

 

It's very shameful to see that. Speaking from a native English speaker's perspective, but I will give some of these people a pass because yesterday it proved to me that this community has a lot of 12 and 13 year olds. It is difficult to get them to use proper English, and even harder to argue with them using logic.

 

I'm completely going to dissect that all and reply to each bit. ( insert evil laughter )

I completely disagree. So much can be conveyed through text, simple things like wording, punctuation, and how the lines flow, all affect the meaning. But I also know that everyone has their own way of reading, and that leads to everyone having a different interpretation of how text reads to them.

I WANT to see core mechanics, I would like to have a rough idea of how to progress through the game, instead of bumble around for hours and only manage to dig up a pile of dirt and murder some innocent creatures that just wanted to welcome me to their nice planet. To me, a rough outline of progress would be amazing to see, and from that outline we as a community could be able to give so many more suggestions that would potentially make it into the game.

I'm a strange mix of pessimistic and optimistic, I always expect the worst, simply because that's what i prepare for, so when good things happen it's a nice little reminder that the world isn't as bad I i try and paint everything to be.

 

-Wakes up, fresh mug of coffee in one hand, pretzel bag in another, "Well hey guys, what's going on in --..," Sees nothing but a wildly frothing kettle that's boiling all over the place, "..Well alright then."

 

It seems that the items they've been working on that require new mechanics have been given an appropriate degree of priority.
Items like grapples, dash boots, etc. It seems that they're making sure that those basic set of "non-numeric-progression" items play nice with the rest of the core game.
(by non-numeric, well, think of the non-weapon powerups in something like Super Metroid. They help you get around or into places you wouldn't be able to survive before. Numeric progression is something akin to getting a shinier piece of equipment or tech)

A lot of the "fluff" people are complaining about seems like projects to give the spriters and animators something useful to do while they wait on the coders to finish other priority mechanics (especially AI, which they've been hammering out for a while now, and is rather important for basic functionality). We just see more of the fluff posted up because, well, fluff is visual and good to show in an update without spoiling much.

 

I would suggest everyone who is discussing grammar to go to the off topic forum or to talk to each other in PM's. No offense intended but we don't need this forum to turn into a grammar war.

 

I'm ok with a push back of the full game. Just realize I'd play the beta... no wait the Alpha in a heart beat. If you gave me a stick and a rock and called it Starbound I'd play it.

 

We need COD Giraffe Wars to happen...