What if Starbound is a failure?

*ehem* Half Life 3 *ehem*

 

I wouldn't be surprised. It sounds TOO perfect with all those features. Yet devs don't know by themselves when it'll become playable (yet happily take people's money), fail to keep the list of features NOT being in game intact (final release can have micro-transactions and XP and stats as well - Nothing's Set in Stooone). At first hype made me forget, but now I remember - if the game sounds TOO good in trailers and promises, it has a great chance to be devastating failure. (like Duke Nukem Forever)

 

"Estimated release date summer 2012"

"Estimated release date by the end of 2012"

"Estimated release date 2013"

I will let you know that if the beta isn't ready for 2013 I will be very disappointed. But that is not everything.

I believe that in the worst case scenario, if the beta is pushed to 2014, then it could mean half of the pre-orders wanting refunds. Half is a lot, maybe a little extreme. But if we are going to think of the worst, I would guess around half of the pre-orders could want a refund. More likely 25 out of 100 would want a refund though. Sure Chucklefish would survive but it's really not a good thing to lose that many pre-orders.

In my opinion the game seems to take the shape of a beta version these last months, so a couple more months should be enough. I don't think that the full version of the game will make it for 2013 though, that's just a ridiculous dream compared to having a beta version ready for 2013.

So, all in all I don't think the developers need more than 4 months at most to have a beta version ready. But I could be wrong, and it could become "Estimated release date 2014". At which point I could very likely give up my hope for Starbound.

 

You forgot "Estimate release date EARLY 2013". Before getting themselves a whole year, they wanted to RELEASE the game at Q1 2013. And now it's "Estimate BETA date 2013 (hopefully)", so RELEASE date 2014 is almost guaranteed.

 

Yeah but they changed that "early 2013" estimate pretty fast, so I don't count that one. I have been waiting for this game's release date for a long time. It would make me lose hope for Starbound if the release date is pushed once again to "estimated release date 2014". And I'm not talking about the full version, a beta version would be great for 2013, then the full version could take longer.

I'm almost 100% sure that the full version of Starbound won't be released until 2014. But that beta version should be able to make it for 2013.

Beta has to make it for 2013. Serrusilly.

Don't doubt my belief, forIma Morphæous.

Edit:

Also want to add here that if I was in Bartwe's position I would have no chance in hell to make the game's beta version ready for 2013, but that's because I completely suck at programming. I have faith in you Bartwe, you can do it. And no I didn't forget you Kyren and Omni, I have faith in all the developers. Come'on guys you can do it.

 

The frustration of the community is caused by the thought that the game is almost ready, yet no Beta is available. Now, while we may ASSUME that most of the parts of the game are ready, we don't know it for true. Like common sense and other people say, they're showing us the "ready stuff". Things that are complete and look fine and dandy. Also they've declared that they've got this todo-list. After they've completed it, Beta is released.

"Then why not show us the todo-list?" Because it contains spoilers that they want us to find ourselves. Tiy himself said that (somewhere, God knows better).

It is problematic. We'd need diamond hard facts and estimations of how complete the game is, without getting spoilers. Best way to do that is release date, or Beta release date. But, like you said, it tends to lead to more pressure (to Chucklefish themselves). If they couldn't (once again) make it to their timelimit, people would grown even more frustrated than before. Still, people would at least probably still chill down for a couple of months though, waiting for the declared Beta release date.

I honestly don't know what to do. I still see the Beta release date as the most solid solution.

 

Minecraft was pretty much an unfinished mess by the 1.1 official release and it still feels pretty unfinished and lacking features, but that's one of the most top selling games and I've had a lot of fun with it.
A game is just a game, it depends on how the person plays it

 

I think that I am going to play it because I'm not overhyping for the game, and I expect something I will certainly enjoy the game for several months before getting initially bored.

The game can only fail in the fact that it never releases, doesn't get anymore support, or that something goes wrong and the community starts to shrink. While those possibilities are always around, and would make me sad if they did happen, it's literally the same possibilities with many games.

To answer the question bluntly: if Starbound fails, people will probably move on with their lives and play something else.

 

I'll go cry in a corner if this game ends up sucking.

 

Ive been joking around how the beta is going to be released the next ice age
and stuff, but as it looks now that joke is become more and more true
in my eyes. I don't think the beta is going to be out this yea, and if it
is its going to be late December. Sadly lost a lot of hope of the game.
With 1.5 million dollars and still no real estimated time of Beta...just feels weak in my eyes.
Kinda sadly regret pre-ordering.

 

You could just cancel the pre-order, wait for the game to be released and then buy it.
Would earn you some cash to use, for example, on some Steam summer sales.

That way you'll have something else to do while waiting for the Starbound Beta.

 

Remember that refunds do cost Chucklefish more than just your pre-order (fees have to be paid to transfer the money after all also it means they lost you as a fan). They should be a last resort.

 

Yes, I am aware. I haven't lost my faith in Chucklefish.

But as you can see, some people do not want to wait anymore. It is their decision, and their money (until the game is released, as in SOLD. After that, they'll have to ask for REFUND).
They paid for a product, and until they get their product, it is not unreasonable to ask for their money back. That is the risk with pre-orders.

 

That was not directed at you, more an addendum to your post for others to see. I was just relaying what I was told last time I mentioned refunds because I made it sound like they were no big deal for Chucklefish. Sorry if it sounded like it was directed at you.

 

This thread is turning (unsurprisingly, in retrospection) into a thread about the release date of the beta (and the game itself). The title of this topic is "What if Starbound is a failure", but the author himself is focusing on how the release date seems vague and so on. It isn't about the game being released and turning out to be bad, but about the game taking too long to be released and people potentially wanting refunds.

So, I wonder if this thread shouldn't be locked, in order to respect the wishes of Tiy in this thread.

 

Yeah, I think it depends on if the devs/admins/mods feel there is any merit to the topic or if they feel the topic is better served by the "release date and beta" master thread.

 

Well, I did say anyone else can try to make up a scenario of how Starbound would fail. But then everyone payed no attention to the part where I said "I want it to succeed" and "let's just discuss how it would be like if Starbound ended up as a glitchy, boring, failure." I just couldn't really think of anything and started to ramble about how the vague estimates would cause people to cancel their pre-order, causing them to lose sales and only get the sales from those faithful to it. I probably worded the thread wrong, and someone said something, causing everyone to talk about release dates and beta.

 

I apologize. I was the one that probably brought the release-date banter up.

Just forget what I said (but keep it in the back of your mind), and continue on to discuss with intelligence.

 

While you are here, can you indicate where exactly you heard bartwe say "it would be tricky to release the beta before December", please?

 

It's alright.