This game already looks pretty beta...

You don't seem to know the proper stages of software development. How do you know what the state of the game is? How do you know what is sitting on the devs computer? From a rarely updated roadmap? From a few gameplay videos and streams?

You're acting the same way as the OP. I paid, I want. Guess what, the game goes into beta when the devs decide it is finished, but needs to work out bugs. That is a proper beta. Game companies now release half finished bullshit and call it a beta. Happens al the time.

Advice for you guys. When you pay for something, you should know what that is. In this case you paid for beta, not knowing what a beta is.

 

The game has confused "beta" with "entire development time". Beta should be the last few features and monsters being added, something like that. This game is in pre-alpha or alpha if anything. But we just have to wait, patience is all we can have for now.

 

The game's not done .They're obviously just showing things that DO work. When I read the daily updates(and look at the roadmap) I can just see a lot of stuff isn't done yet. Why would you want to play an unfinnished game anyways?
You're coming across a bit whiney to be honest. Just wait, jeez. And about about paying money, It's a KICKSTARTER. Just think about that for a second.You payed to support them and also get the game when it´s done. Being able to play the beta is pretty much an extra. A lot of kickstarters are even pretty much gambles.

 

The roadmap wasnt updated since it went online, somewhere in the last april week. Atm it´s hard to say how far they are without a updated roadmap. Check the "Roadmap" topic and compare it with the roadmap online atm. No change.

 

I too would like to hear opinions from people that think the beta is ready right now. This comment really needs an answer from those people.

 

I know, but I´ve been reading all the updates ever since.

A beta is an almost finnished game, where people test bugs before the release.

 

Hmm, i dont know if the beta is ready, but i think i gave allready some explenations why they wouldn´t announce a beta date. Don´t gonna repeat them, just take what we know so far (facts):

1. We know that there is a planned release in 2013
2. We know they planned to make a beta for pre-order people
3. We got the daily news that only shows small pieces of the game that looks finished and it is even stated that it would work and we would only see pictures because of "spoilers"
4. We got the roadmap that wasnt updated since it went live, so even with that tool, no way to know how far they are.
5. Selling seems to stabilized in the direction of 60 to 65K people max. at the end of the month from what we see.

Conclusion: We don´t know it. We don´t know if the game could be ready for a beta soon(days/weeks), could be ready allready or could be ready in 5 Months or never be ready. The only way to solve that would be some kind of reaction from the dev´s, but i think we wont get it. Either they dont care (and i rlly hope that is not the reason...), got no time (because of devolopment, server issues etc...), are in a sort of internal discussion about this or the problem itself would simply be solved by a beta that starts somewhere the next weeks. Honestly i dont think it´s a marketing strategy, they got allready the moste out of the pre-orders. The only issue is... people dont see a difference between don´t care or no time unless they say somethin. Some people think positive, some people think negative. No discussion about beta, up or down, will change that.

My opinion is to update the roadmap and give all people a overview about the progress. Daily news are fine, but it´s like a 10.000 parts puzzle. Its impossible to get any conclusion out of them about the state of the game. But this will not stop people from thinking it could be ready. Or others from thinking it will be ready in weeks, or months. All we know is (from the old roadmap in april) the game was at around 68% ~ done.

 

Just a few days ago (a week, maybe?), THEY HAD JUST STARTED ON MAKING ITEM CRAFTING RECIPES.
Seriously, they are faaaaaaar from done.

 

If they updated the Roadmap every once and a while, then everyone would be content and know that the beta is close or far from being released. But if they spent time updating the Roadmap then that's time that could have been spent on developing the game. They just can't win.

 

OP have a good point, but i'd like to clarify things up:

alpha = unfinished game, devs test it
beta = pretty much finished game with unpolished features, users test it, find and report minor bugs

for what we know, a lot of features are missing, like not all the mechs are ready, dungeon generation and protection stuff is being developed, even menus aren't done yet.
those aren't unpolished features, those are features that aren't in the game yet, wich means starbound isn't beta-ready, it's alpha

let's just wait and play risk of rain till starbound is ready \o/

 

What you did there, I see it.

 

So true. If the game is playable and all they are adding is facial expressions, more dungeons, animations, more gear, etc... Why can we not play it?

 

It's really interesting to see how self centered and uninformed video game consumers have become. It's a instant gratification parents give them everything mentality that is not really healthy.

 

Yes but with the same reason you could say that every daily news and screenshot they prepare is a waste of time, they would be better off the devolope the game. I don´t think, personaly, that this is a strong argument against a roadmap update. It is about 1 update per month, like they announced it. It would be fine too if they announce that they dont update the roadmap. But for the love of god, they should tell it the people at least. Otherwise i really understand every person that gets frustrated about the roadmap issue. And that reflects in the end to the beta issue because people take daily news as a oriantation about the state of the game. It´s all a long chain.

 

There is an english version of Falcos Der Kommissar? Naja das original is besser

 

yeah I just discovered the original today and I like them both in their own way. Though the music video for the first one is really good in a cheesy way.

 

It's awesome.

 

Okay everybody listen here:
The Beta will come when all Game Mechanics and things are straightened out. Tiy wants the Beta to have many features so people don't get disappointed. Just as some people are disappointed with the new Edge of Space.
He wants the game to be clean and perfect; which will lead to success.

So stop it with the "OH, JUST RELEASE BETA, I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE OTHER FEATURES"; but YES, you do want the other features; the more you can do, the more you'll play, and the more you play; the more you'll enjoy it.

 

Given the arguments I'm seeing on why the game is ready for beta, let me give you a quick rundown of why I think it is not ready for beta.
We've seen a bunch of different completed systems with gameplay and graphics galore. Individually, these systems all work, but individual systems do not make a game. You need to have all of the systems woven together, and there needs to be progression, or players will quickly run out of things to do. If you've been following the news, you should have seen that most tradeskill recipes weren't even in the game a couple weeks ago. The core systems are all laid down, and they've finally begun adding actual content, but the game just isn't there yet. If they released beta, we'd hop in, get to discover a few planets and a maybe be able to craft some things, and then... there wouldn't be anything left to do, since game progression hasn't been given much work. It would be incomplete and feel like a big letdown that there was nothing else to do. They're really close to having all of that actual game content put in - it's going much faster for them now than it was even a month ago, but they need that content in for the game to feel whole. And when you point out that "they" are working on facial animations, so the game must be ready, that's only 2 people on the team. 1 artist and 1 programmer. Meanwhile there are other members adding massive amounts of recipes, finishing up AI, dungeon generation, tradeskill systems, and story. They aren't just tweaking minor things, they're adding in a ton of content.

We want this to be an actual game when it comes out, as does Chucklefish. So relax, exercise some patience, and they'll have it out to us as soon as they feel confident that it will be fun to play.