Where are the major bugfixes / improvements to existing things? instead of constantly adding stuff and mods to the game you should first try to fix things that are only halfway usable in the game. pets, upgrading ships, techs (especially the mech stuff), multi tech using, wires, guns and techs and the energy problem, friendly npc's running into their deaths (hostile aliens), npc guards attacking you while you try to defend THEIR citizens from the hostile mobs they are trying to run in, several low grade armors that can just be skipped.. and so on and by the way, i am really not interested in riding a bird while playing as a bird in a SPACEGAME so please, please, please, please don't add too many stolen rpg fantasy stuff from other games.. it doesn't fit in this game!
Unless your a programming savant who can code everything without a single mistake and in the most efficient matter the first time. Things do take time. Each programmer is handling a different issue. And I am not exactly sure - but I think all their programmers are currently at GDC Omnipotent Entity - lives in the same state [ as gdc ] I know Bartwerf said he was traveling - so I am guessing that would be the reason Kyren - no idea. But probably would go too
ok i'm not a programmer and i am really not impatient, but i just don't understand whats more difficult about fixing stuff than adding new stuff or how new stuff can be more important than improving old, not very usable content that could be much cooler than rather petty things like mounts stolen from other games (the chocobos..). i do not say that i don't think they will sooner or later fix the things i mean but i criticize their loss of priorities please teach me better if i'm wrong
I don't think they actually added those Chocobo-mounts to the game. Its just a mod that they liked so they featured it in their newsletter. And even if they were to add it (which is highly unlikely because of copyright laws) it would cost them less time than actually writing all that code themselves
please fix memory leaks on linux servers -.- /e: take a look at: http://community.playstarbound.com/...server-memory-leak-why-such-linux-hate.74879/
If what the guy said about GDC is true, then the content additions over the fixing of engine stuff makes loads of sense. Now, I don't know how true the following is, so take it with a grain of salt, but here's my understanding of things. They're setting up the game in a manner that makes their content creation team and coding team kinda sorta seperate. One being able work without needing to wait for the other, effectively, is the end goal. And, since content has been made rather easy to add in and such, we're getting more new content. If the content creation team were to just stop, then... Well... We'd get engine updates, yeah, but we wouldn't get them any faster. And if the content creators were to fling themselves at the engine stuff, then, we'd be likely to get sloppy code, as they're mainly artists. Of course, they may also be god-like coders, but, y'know. I'm making the blind assumption that they aren't, and that's why they're focusing on content creation, 'cause their specialty is being god-like artists. =P On top of that, we've got the mod additions which, as others have said, aren't quite as common as you seem to think. I think the only addition has been the skyrails. But, regardless, those are even easier to toss in, provided they fit, than coding and artifying all the assets needed. Thus, more content, less engine fixes. TL,DR, content and engine are seperate, your engine fixes will come in time, they're not being slowed, they do have their priorities straight because their team is specializing and making additions that they can make at their pace. At least, I think that's how it's going. Maybe! Hopefully. Someone will probably correct me if I'm wrong.
Adding new art assets to the game is quite relatively easy. It is simply a matter of drawing it out and putting it into the game. Which is why art asset updates are constantly coming up faster then the gameplay updates. The Artists can easily handle all the issues them selves as it only deals with JSON side of it. Which anyone can quickly pickup. The C++ is the real meat and bones of the game. That only a true programmer can handle. Even if you know C++ - it doesn't help much, unless you are some one who has created software before. Because it isn't just about writing the code - but writing the code in an efficient enough manner that it doesn't create wasteful functions. In programming there are multiple ways to tackle a problem - but some ways are much more better then others. The answer isn't as clear cut as it would be in JSON. Because JSON isn't exactly a language, it cannot be "run" by it self. It is a Data Interchange system. Simply a methodology of how data is stored. Which is why it is so easy to pickup. Lets take an example of something that would seem relatively simple like jump. There is no code to be like Code: player press x - make character jump No the programmer has to first decide how he or she wants to define jump. In our case it based on a sprite sheet. So the sprite sheet has to play so and so many frames during jump. But in Starbound is modding extensible. So it doesn't directly call a sprite sheet - they have to take it another level further and make it based on a JSON element which is based on a sprite sheet. But then they need to take it another step further. They have to define a set of rules for that JSON element - which handles the sprite sheet. Since each element in the game is treated differently - each one has a different set of rules. So only if it falls within those set of rules it can be calculated. Finally you can start getting to the complex formula Which is essentially partially math based - as it deals with physics [ gravity - speed of movement - other factors such as buff's ] So you can see how something as simple as jump gets complex each step of the way. Now think of complex systems how much more complicated it will become. ==== But that is just one tiny aspect of jump. The code for the jump should easily conform with other elements of the game such as the collision detection system, - be able to dynamically change movement if another element hits it while mid jump - etc. etc. Its not as simple and clear cut. Programmers are under appreciated genius powerhouses.
We need more Endgamecontent (Sorry). I is yet very seeable that more and mor epeople run away from the game, because the endgame is so empty. Not my opinion. I play it still, I say only what I see in Forums and so....
That'd be like saying, "Ok I know you normally run a jackhammer but I need you to jump in that crane cause the customer wants his building finished"
Fixing stuff is more difficult than adding new content because the framework for adding content is already created. The artists making the content are able to easily add that new content on top of the existing framework. Fixing bugs requires finding where the bug is occurring in code and then attempting to fix that without breaking anything else. Sometimes a bug fix is easy and I'm sure they hit those quickly, I'm sure. And implementing promised features is also a massive undertaking. That's building something new, which may introduce new bugs or break things that were already working. At this point, they leave new code unoptimized so that it is easier to find and fix bugs.
remember, there are 2 hours of fixing worth of JSON bugs, including much of the newest content. some of those bugs are existent back to beta release.
