So, is this game even actually progressing? (Long)

Asking a question where there's no answer that will satisfy you sets you up quite nicely. I've never seen someone that came into the forums unnecessarily angry, leave, and think "oh, now I know what's going on. Now I'm 'in the know.' Cool."

 

lol it's an endless cycle, the wheel in the starbound keeps on turning

 

"That only matters to the people on the rim"

 

I agree with your posts but that Terraria update was just a bunch of added items, mobs and blocks. It wasn't anything special to the core game. It's not like in Starbound where there is talk of a counter attack system and blocking being added to change combat instead of just 300 new items. Starbound has fallen completely off the radar of a lot of its followers, and that's a shame, but the problem is with us. The hype generated for games in the last 5 years has been unhealthy for the entire gaming industry, indie or professional. We hyped Starbound to no end (partly Tiy's fault for bragging about the 500 features it'd have that it does not at this time), we hyped Watch Dogs, we hyped Destiny. We layer hype on top of hype and set our expectations unreasonably high and then the devs release a game the best they can and we sit and whine ungratefully that the game isn't as good as we were promised. Yeah, no ****, we set the bar too high - nothing can meet our expectations at this point.

These are games, we need better things to worry about.

 

Actually I do have a programming background. I'm well aware of how much work it takes. But again I reiterate in my post. Saying 'it's too much work to train a new person so we won't hire someone' is an incredibly lame excuse, and considering how long it's been since a stable update they could have hired and trained at least one person by now. I learned how to code in C++ in four months. It's been SIX since any real update on starbound. And I also pointed out that other companies work across timezones/country barriers just fine. Re-logic does it. Plenty of major video game companies also do it. So I did use my head, and my head points out all the glaring flaws in their reasoning.

 

First off, I am also a strong critic of the Chuckefish team and their lack of speed.... but your points are already being addressed.

So I'll point them out for you. And again... I was also like you and not happy with the lack of progress.

They announced that progression would be branched off into different paths, one as a farmer/gatherer, one as a landlord, and one as an adventurer. Now, if we still have to combat the same bosses to progress... that may be a different story.

Yes pixels are used with too much stuff for the time it takes to gather them... however, once we can sell to npc's, farm and rent properties, I think this problem will go away.

They have, mostly. It is already in the nightly build. Though it is a bit clunky right now, but it is now much more engaging in combat.

And atmosphere.... don't forget that. The biomes will be plenty diverse as they add more mini biomes to the mix. I just want LESS F*ing PINK PLANETS! Every dam planet that could work as a homeworld in size and type ends up with some dam pink tree or fauna. Can I get some rustic planets please?

Well, they moved into an office, compiled their team together to work faster, actually hired a modder, and now release a nightly update with the days current work. So they have been busy.
The AI is a core feature, it is necessary to repair and use your ship. Stargates are also a core item, for that is the link to the new outposts, which is where the branching of trades will occur. So you see, they are actually working on core items, it's just enhancements as well.
Though, being and indie team, they fell into the PR trap. It is always better to under promise and over provide, then to over promise, and put your foot in your mouth.

But I do agree, they are starting to take too much input from the community... they just need to work that punch list down, and deliver on their product. And it should be by the end of this year.... no excuses.

 

Well then, let's just compare the outcome using "wild guess" variants of your timeline. Four months to train someone to help with Starbound, and in that time any work on the game itself is slowed to a crawl. So that's four months where they make 1/10th the progress they would of otherwise made, and two months where they would make 1.5x the amount of progress made.

Thus one extra person added and two months to work would not pass up the current amount of progress made in the allotted time, considering the impact it would have for those four months of training. This is of course being extremely generous, since "learning to C++" and "learning a giant code base" are two entirely different ballparks.

Also, just because working across time zones is "possible," it doesn't mean it's as effective as working in the same office.

 

This is key, and I speak from experience.

I've been working with the same guy for over a decade now on many, many creative projects, and we've developed a good rhythm, but we're still in different time zones and thus work together online.

And while we do good work we like to think... the amount of creative energy we put out when working together in-person is astounding. Frequnt phone calls can capture some of that (talking out loud on ideas works better), but nothing compares to that face-to-face interaction.

 

http://playstarbound.com/chucklefish-are-hiring/

Edit: I should also add that that's way out of context. People weren't asking why they don't hire "another" programmer; they were asking why CF doesn't hire, like, an army of 10000 programmers using all the preorder money and finish the game in two weeks. That kind of question. And their answer is the truth, it just doesn't work that way.

The truth is that they HAVE hired and oriented some programmers, just not a whole bunch of them at once. @metadept for one, and there's another listed in the new team page (palf ?) whose name I didn't recognize, so I guess he's new too. Beyond that, we have no clue the exact number nor do we have a need to know. But the fact that they haven't hired any programmers is definitely false.

 

I think the biggest mistake chuckle has made so far is that they opened up alpha/beta to so many people—they opened it to the mob, and the mob is fickle. This is aggravating because the whole team has been so receptive to player suggestions so far. I've gotten tired of seeing these kinds of conversations happen day in and day out, so I've stopped keeping track of the game and it's progress. It's a shame: a community can really ruin a good thing.

 

These threads are the reason I check this forum daily.
Be it someone voicing discontent, concern or even just speaking their mind, its always interesting. The state of the game is mute, the forums will feed us entertainment and we will drink it up, mwahahahahaha!

 

I think the next update will do a lot of good in terms of calming people down some when it comes out.

Or maybe it won't. I'm not a psychiatrist.

 

You might want to check out "The Mythical Man-Month" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month ) if you haven't already. One of the key aspects, as the book points out, is communication. Adding more people to a project increases the lines of communication exponentially, and working with a team that's split across time zones or even countries/continents makes communication exceedingly difficult. Most companies, given the choice, will refuse to do that. At my most recent job, they paid me a $10k relocation stipend to move from out of state rather than deal with the problems of a telecommuting programmer.

While it's possible they can make up the time loss in the long run, nobody can predict the future. It's highly likely they underestimated the amount of remaining work when they made that statement, especially since they have hired additional people as previously pointed out.

 

Funny example about adding people and communication.

Look at how a lot of the community felt about CF's communication once they were moving. For awhile, news was spread out amongst different mediums, but mostly present in Reddit. These forums pretty much had no official news at all.

I'm not entirely sure how to tie it together convincingly, but I'm trying to say that CF added a significant number of customers / stakeholders (NOT STOCKHOLDERS) to the equation and suddenly their communication process broke down and became unacceptable. This is on a significantly larger scale than if they add a couple programmers, but it's still a good example of how adding extra people can create communication problems.

 

Uh oh.... It's happening...

There goes my entire career.

 

Yup, it seems to be taking forever. The wait really is pretty disappointing! But I think it'll be an amazing game whenever it's finally complete.

 

Serious question for you. Do you guys get paid to post this? I mean there is one a month with the EXACT points, same misinformation, same state of rage. It's clear you have not played nightlies, its clear you have not kept up with news. This is just a waste of your time bro.

 

This is actually a very important point. I would urge the developers to release interim builds more often, so that the general public doesn't lose interest. FWIW I love Starbound, but am also slightly frustrated by the lack of releases that contain some sort of progress. I'm not asking for you to finish the game by next week, but throwing us the occasional bone would help to maintain enthusiasm.