Let’s clear some things up.

[Crusade]

This is purely from the view of someone that’s been playing Starmade for nearly 4 years as of writing this post. The information and thoughts written in this forum post are my own, and do not reflect the opinions and may not be in line with Schine, or other moderators and administrators.

Now, there are a few things that have been really getting on my nerve over the time I’ve been here on the forum.

1: “Can we have more bugfixes instead of features?”
Every single update, whether Schine adds features or not contains bugfixes. Even though this is how Schine seems to conduct their development cycle, the alpha stage that the game is in is supposed to be focused on adding core features and gameplay elements. Bugfixing comes in beta.

2: “The game is broken, please fix”
Schine, the community and everyone involved with Starmade knows that it is a very broken game. It is an alpha game, being an alpha game is a legitimate reason for broken gameplay mechanics and missing features. Schine is working extremely hard to get more features and fixes into the game. If you want to contribute to bugfixing or prioritise certain bugs over others, make bug reports. Sign up to Phabricator and submit bug reports here to assist Schine with bugfixes.

3: Suggestion (x)
Whenever you are making a post on suggestions, always do a search first, or take a look at the thread SkylordLuke created on the most frequently requested features here: SUGGESTION MEGATHREAD
If you still believe your suggestion to be unique, then you create a new forum post.

4: Uploading content to Community Content
Always upload images with your Community content upload. Provide details of the build/mod/config/etc in the description. Make sure these details are accurate. If you come across content that is stolen, not what the content page advertises, or is a SMEdit/3d model conversion that does not credit the original author, I expect you as members of the community to report it. Simply creating a 1-star review does not alert the moderation team.


Thank you.

~ Steven

 

[AtraUnam]

Did you invent a badge for yourself?

 

[Calhoun]

Did you invent a badge for yourself?

(basically)

 

[Crusade]

Of course I did

 

[therimmer96]

Did you invent a badge for yourself?

Was there ever any doubt that power would go to his head?

 

[Gasboy]

3: Suggestion (x)
Whenever you are making a post on suggestions, always do a search first, or take a look at the thread SkylordLuke created on the most frequently requested features here: SUGGESTION MEGATHREAD
If you still believe your suggestion to be unique, then you create a new forum post.

And what does one do if a thread exists for the topic one wishes to make, but the thread is old?

We make a new post, get told that we should have searched.

Reply to a thread we searched for, get told we're necrophiliacs.

Are we to just not make suggestion threads then?

 

[KaRe]

This may help you. (I promise no one will call you a necrophiliac if you use this.)

 

[Crusade]

And what does one do if a thread exists for the topic one wishes to make, but the thread is old?

In that case you use common sense. Such as reading warnings that pop up about threads being ancient.

 

[Malacodor]

Bugfixing comes in beta.

This might be true for a closed alpha, but probably not even there. In an open alpha there is an active playerbase, that needs to be kept active. So the game needs to be kept enjoyable, and if there are too many bugs, it simply isn't. If I find, that a certain weapon combo I want to use doesn't work as intended, I report it and go on working on another part of my current project. But if many things are bugged at once and it isn't even clear how exactly these things should actually work, then it isn't possible anymore to properly plan a ship design, and I stop playing for another 6-8 months.

 

[Crusade]

"Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the softwaredevelopment phase following alpha. Software in the beta stage is also known as betaware. Beta phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs."

Software release life cycle - Wikipedia

 

[Gasboy]

In that case you use common sense. Such as reading warnings that pop up about threads being ancient.

That doesn't answer my question. Are we allowed to make a new thread about a previous topic if the previous thread(s) are old, or do we necro the old thread?

What I consider common sense might not be held as such by mods.
[doublepost=1487774438,1487774211][/doublepost]

"Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the softwaredevelopment phase following alpha. Software in the beta stage is also known as betaware. Beta phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs."

Software release life cycle - Wikipedia

Alphas generally aren't for sale nor do they have a large population of players.

Also, if beta is where bug fixes happen, then StarMade has been in beta for some time.

Lastly, StarMade is a sandbox game. By definition it can't be feature complete.

Basically I'm saying you cannot shoehorn StarMade into the relatively rigid Wikipedia definitions.

 

[Crusade]

What I consider common sense might not be held as such by mods.

The information and thoughts written in this forum post are my own, and do not reflect the opinions and may not be in line with Schine, or other moderators and administrators.

Alphas generally aren't for sale nor do they have a large population of players.

I imagine that when Schema started development on Starmade he could not afford an alpha testing team, so instead he turned to indieDB - that's where I found the game.

Star Made Windows, Mac, Linux game

Also, if beta is where bug fixes happen, then StarMade has been in beta for some time.

Not entirely true - some features require certain issues and bugs to be resolved, majority of bugfixing, after the game is feature complete will be the beta stage.

Lastly, StarMade is a sandbox game. By definition it can't be feature complete.

Why on earth would you say that? There is an end to the features Schine will implement. It's a sandbox game, yes. This does not mean that features will be endless.

 

[Reilly Reese]

I like this thread.

 

[Malacodor]

That doesn't answer my question. Are we allowed to make a new thread about a previous topic if the previous thread(s) are old, or do we necro the old thread?

The warning text says it: "If you feel it is necessary to make a new reply, you may still do so." If some people reply with necroposter memes, all they really do is further bumping the thread, which might even on purpose.

 

[jayman38]

Just because the definition says that Beta phase means bug fixes, does not limit bug fixes to Beta. The entire software development cycle is subject to bugfixes.

Schine undoubtedly has many game features that they are actively working on, plus many more that are on the list, but are not being actively worked, plus many more game features that they don't even yet know they want. Those features that are not yet in the game but will be (or ultimately cut from the final game concept) are what keep the game in Alpha phase at this time. Plus, Beta phase is not a hard rule; games frequently get a few small features added in Beta phase or even as release patches, not to mention post-release DLC.

 

[Gasboy]

Why on earth would you say that? There is an end to the features Schine will implement. It's a sandbox game, yes. This does not mean that features will be endless.

True, but this doesn't mean that more features couldn't be added after alpha, beta or release, right? Which again pushes the definitions laid out in Wikipedia. For a sandbox game, people might expect new features to be added occasionally. For non-sandbox games, we get DLC and x-packs.
[doublepost=1487777662,1487777563][/doublepost]

Just because the definition says that Beta phase means bug fixes, does not limit bug fixes to Beta. The entire software development cycle is subject to bugfixes.

And my point was that the game doesn't really fit into the rigid definitions of alpha, beta and so on. Many games don't any more.

"It's alpha." shouldn't be used as a blanket excuse for something that's horribly borked, or when sweeping changes are made.

 

[jayman38]

And my point was that the game doesn't really fit into the rigid definitions of alpha, beta and so on. Many games don't any more.

Why not? There is nothing in the "Alpha" or "Pre-alpha" subsections of development that restrict software sales. According to the "rigid definition" of alpha as described by the linked Wikipedia article, quoted below, Starmade fits fine.

Pre-alpha
Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project before formal testing. These activities can include requirements analysis, software design, software development, and unit testing. In typical open source development, there are several types of pre-alpha versions. Milestone versions include specific sets of functions and are released as soon as the functionality is complete.

Alpha
The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing (alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers generally test the software using white-box techniques. Additional validation is then performed using black-box or gray-box techniques, by another testing team. Moving to black-box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release.[1]

Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. Alpha software may not contain all of the features that are planned for the final version.[2] In general, external availability of alpha software is uncommon in proprietary software, while open source software often has publicly available alpha versions. The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be feature complete.

"It's alpha." shouldn't be used as a blanket excuse for something that's horribly borked, or when sweeping changes are made.

Why not? Starmade does not yet have all its major gameplay features in place, so it is not yet in Beta stage. As for problematic alpha-level games, it's not like we haven't seen it before. "Sweeping changes" is almost the very definition of "Alpha". I guess we could start calling it "Early Access", which is just a semantic change.

 

[Qweesdy]

Hi,

Why on earth would you say that? There is an end to the features Schine will implement. It's a sandbox game, yes. This does not mean that features will be endless.

The old "alpha, beta, release" only really made sense back before the Internet became ubiquitous (when there was one release - the day it got shipped in little cardboard boxes and found its way onto shelves at physical shops).

It's all changed. Now; games like Starmade go from "alpha" to "beta" to "release" and nobody can tell the difference between any of these stages; then (eventually, hopefully after a very long time) the developers stop adding new things (and new bugs) and the game makes one final transition to "abandonware".

 

[splatthecat]

I have had experience of developing a program that went from alpha to beta.

The community would make feature suggestions and report bugs in BOTH stages. As a developer, and at one stage I was the lead developer, we had to balance new features and bug fixes and would have a cycle of new feature followed by a couple of bug fixes. Yes, bug fixes also come with the new feature releases.

Was it annoying when someone posted the same bug or feature request? If I'm honest, yes, sometimes, but ultimately I'd rather have been asked for the same new feature or to fix a bug a hundred times rather than have nobody interested in the software.

We are not just players, we are play testers. We all have our own ideas as to how we want to play the game, or what it should do and what bugs or niggles you want fixing first.

It is a process and we are all part of it. It seriously doesn't matter if one or a hundred people want something fixed or added. StarMade is a creative platform that may not be perfect, finished or polished but it is the game we all play and have done for various periods of time. If you are fed up with it or cannot be bothered with it, uninstall it and find something else to play.

Don't shoot down in flames someone for dreaming or being creative or having the same problem as someone else had six months ago or has some stupid glitch.

I will agree though that if you are going to post something in the community content, at least bother with at least one half decent picture and at least a couple of sentences and maybe some accurate stats or information.

 

[Gasboy]

Why not? Starmade does not yet have all its major gameplay features in place, so it is not yet in Beta stage. As for problematic alpha-level games, it's not like we haven't seen it before. "Sweeping changes" is almost the very definition of "Alpha". I guess we could start calling it "Early Access", which is just a semantic change.

No, call it "in development". It's not semantics, because games now blur and blend those Wikipedia terms. A station wagon is neither a van nor a sedan, yet it contains features of both. StarMade is not in alpha or beta, but a blended combination of both. In development works well as a term for it.
[doublepost=1487794622,1487794438][/doublepost]

I will agree though that if you are going to post something in the community content, at least bother with at least one half decent picture and at least a couple of sentences and maybe some accurate stats or information.

The website could help bridge the distance by requiring a bare minimum. A small blurb, at least one tag, and at least one image. Make it so you cannot post content unless you have these things.

It seems to me that a properly setup website could also read the contents of the sment file and automatically fill in the basic information of the ship: power, shields, dimensions, etc. If such a thing was desired.