Communication

[color98dove]

So I have been checking for news, posts, updates well pretty much anything form the dev team, and they have gone dormant like a volcano, when I started playing this game a long ways back there were periods where you wouldn't hear from them for a few weeks, well since that time much has changed, it seems there is a loss of interest in the community as well as the game in general, I know that its hard to push the updates, but what's not so hard is having a dedicated person informing the community, we feel left out, we want that information we crave it, the last news post was in July, its not the end of September. So if you are unable or unwilling to do this then you have signed your own fate. I am quite sure that given the chance there would a multitude of people with great ideas for this game, happy to make it better.....

 

[jstenholt]

I mean, just because you haven't seen a News Release doesn't mean the Devs are gone. There are streams on twitch quite often, not to mention the discord where Schema actually posts pretty regularly and also if you change your game branch to DEV in the launcher you'll see there have actually been quite a few builds in the last month.

These Devs work on Starmade part-time, and there's no real rush to finish the game or foster the community because they don't need to do either of those things.

 

[color98dove]

Well maybe someone should be caring about that community, I mean that's is where the support comes from.

 

[jstenholt]

Well maybe someone should be caring about that community, I mean that's is where the support comes from.

I'm not saying that wouldn't be nice, but the thing is, they really don't need our support right now, we're little more than playtesters.

 

[JinM]

So if you are unable or unwilling to do this then you have signed your own fate.

A game consists of core mechanics. For example in Counter Strike its using a weapon, shooting and then the enemy dies. And around that you model the rest.

If a game developer decides to leave the core mechanics of its game broken, in the case of Starmade leaving the weapons unfunctional, then I guess it's an active decission. Every game developer knows the concept of core game mechanics.

If you leave those broken, then the players of curse are unsatisfied. First they rant, then they leave.

Is the leaving of core game mechanics broken on purpose? It doesn't matter, its just not playable. Come back when the weapons are working, before this the game isn't a game.

 

[DrTarDIS]

So I have been checking for news, posts, updates well pretty much anything form the dev team, and they have gone dormant like a volcano, when I started playing this game a long ways back there were periods where you wouldn't hear from them for a few weeks, well since that time much has changed, it seems there is a loss of interest in the community as well as the game in general, I know that its hard to push the updates, but what's not so hard is having a dedicated person informing the community, we feel left out, we want that information we crave it, the last news post was in July, its not the end of September. So if you are unable or unwilling to do this then you have signed your own fate. I am quite sure that given the chance there would a multitude of people with great ideas for this game, happy to make it better.....

I'm guessing you didn't look very hard. Main dev just hates these forums. He's REALLY quick about listening to and responding to reddit users.
reddit: the front page of the internet

 

[JumpSuit]

These forums are nothing more than to ultimately start 'Flame Wars' most of the time now-a-days... There are alternatives to communicating with the Developers. Especially the DISCORD.... Considering the fact they don't post much means they got a big update planned *cough* Universe Update *Cough*. With this in mind, they don't have time to post daily/weekly update posts like they used as they changed their deployment of updates. imo we get updates like 3-6 months now. when before it used to be every 2 weeks. Real shame imo but it is what it is.

 

[Muffin_man17]

These forums are nothing more than to ultimately start 'Flame Wars' most of the time now-a-days... There are alternatives to communicating with the Developers. Especially the DISCORD.... Considering the fact they don't post much means they got a big update planned *cough* Universe Update *Cough*. With this in mind, they don't have time to post daily/weekly update posts like they used as they changed their deployment of updates. imo we get updates like 3-6 months now. when before it used to be every 2 weeks. Real shame imo but it is what it is.

Wait, didn't they mention during a livestream that they were changing from the bi-weekly update to monthly updates ( every few months ) since Scheme mentioned that they would be able to release more complete content rather then the bi-weekly update which completely broke some features until after a few 2 week updates fixed it. Overall I like the current update release times although I wouldn't complain if they released sooner but this is a part-time thing for the Devs.

 

[Edymnion]

Well, what would you have them say?

We know what they're working on, the Universe update. Do we really need bi-weekly "We're not dead. We're still doing the exact same thing we were 2 week ago. Nothing has changed, we have no updates at this time."?

They'll report in when there's something to report.

 

[DrTarDIS]

Well, what would you have them say?

We know what they're working on, the Universe update. Do we really need bi-weekly "We're not dead. We're still doing the exact same thing we were 2 week ago. Nothing has changed, we have no updates at this time."?

They'll report in when there's something to report.

Well It would be nice if they answered their last two "bi-weekly questions" threads. But really, you're right. There isn't enough "game" to this game to warrant much a community, and thus much interaction.

 

[Ithirahad]

I mean, just because you haven't seen a News Release doesn't mean the Devs are gone. There are streams on twitch quite often, not to mention the discord where Schema actually posts pretty regularly and also if you change your game branch to DEV in the launcher you'll see there have actually been quite a few builds in the last month.

These Devs work on Starmade part-time, and there's no real rush to finish the game or foster the community because they don't need to do either of those things.

True enough, but I mean... when you open the StarMade web site, generally you end up on the forums. The Discord is presented here as kind of a side thing, so I would think the expectation would be that major info comes through this site while some discussion happens on Discord. Currently, more or less all info about development is coming through the Discord (or the streams, occasionally, but those actually don't matter in this discussion as nobody is going to watch through a 4-hour stream of shenanigans for bits of info anyway) while the forums are more or less being left to rot, aside from the occasional major update posts.

 

[Edymnion]

Currently, more or less all info about development is coming through the Discord (or the streams, occasionally, but those actually don't matter in this discussion as nobody is going to watch through a 4-hour stream of shenanigans for bits of info anyway) while the forums are more or less being left to rot, aside from the occasional major update posts.

Well, that explains why I haven't seen any updates here.

You couldn't PAY ME to use Discord.

 

[OfficialCoding]

Well, that explains why I haven't seen any updates here.

You couldn't PAY ME to use Discord.

Why do you hate Discord so much?

 

[Gasboy]

Well, that explains why I haven't seen any updates here.

You couldn't PAY ME to use Discord.

I, too, am curious as to why you seem to dislike Discord.

 

[Edymnion]

Why do you hate Discord so much?

Because I hate the very concept of voice chat. I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to listen to anyone else talk. See this? This is the limit as to what I am willing to do in the way of communication, text based. I'll chat with somebody all day long over text in a game, but I will not go on voice chat, nor I will not just sit on a glorified Yahoo chatboard while random people talk about random crap.

I've never had a good experience on it. Even when I was raiding on WoW (back in the day when a heroic lich king kill still meant something) and Vent was required, it never got used for anything that text couldn't do just as well if not better. It is ALWAYS just bullshit chit-chat that I have zero interest in. I don't even watch YouTube videos of people talking about things. I have my adblocker set up to disable news sites from auto-playing videos so that I can read the article in peace.

The only time I do voice chat is with people I personally know face-to-face, and I ONLY do it through mediums where no random people can join, and I still don't like it.

I don't do Discord for the same reason I send a text instead of calling someone. I don't want to talk to anyone.

 

[JumpSuit]

Because I hate the very concept of voice chat. I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to listen to anyone else talk. See this? This is the limit as to what I am willing to do in the way of communication, text based. I'll chat with somebody all day long over text in a game, but I will not go on voice chat, nor I will not just sit on a glorified Yahoo chatboard while random people talk about random crap.

I've never had a good experience on it. Even when I was raiding on WoW (back in the day when a heroic lich king kill still meant something) and Vent was required, it never got used for anything that text couldn't do just as well if not better. It is ALWAYS just bullshit chit-chat that I have zero interest in. I don't even watch YouTube videos of people talking about things. I have my adblocker set up to disable news sites from auto-playing videos so that I can read the article in peace.

The only time I do voice chat is with people I personally know face-to-face, and I ONLY do it through mediums where no random people can join, and I still don't like it.

I don't do Discord for the same reason I send a text instead of calling someone. I don't want to talk to anyone.

I don't like you pure skeptic concept discord implores. In fact, discord in itself is more useful in multiple situations. Not Just Voice-Chat....

 

[DukeofRealms]

I've skimmed over this.

The reason the forums aren't getting as much attention (in fact, a bit neglected) as the streams, discord, smorg site etc is that I mainly make sure we're posting updates here, dev blogs, dev discussion etc. However, I'm no longer doing much community work anymore, it's limited to whenever I have the free time.

Unfortunately, that's probably not going to change any time soon. I expect to have less time to spend on SMD, the Discord and other areas of the community over the coming months.

I still think we should be posting at the very least, game updates, dev patches and such that schema has been posting on Discord. I'll talk to him about that. Discord isn't ideal for keeping a record of news.

Because I hate the very concept of voice chat.

StarMade Discord does not have voice chat, it's only text channels. It's a direct replacement of the old SMD text chat, basically the same functionality.

 

[Valck]

Discord isn't ideal for keeping a record of news.

So true. Neither are live streams.

 

[Edymnion]

StarMade Discord does not have voice chat, it's only text channels. It's a direct replacement of the old SMD text chat, basically the same functionality.

That requires me to install a voice chat program. No thanks. I would rather be out of the loop than have Discord installed.

Call me crazy, but we have a front page for news. Its over here: https://starmadedock.net/

If no one can be bothered to update it properly, that is a separate issue.

 

[JinM]

That requires me to install a voice chat program. No thanks. I would rather be out of the loop than have Discord installed.

Call me crazy, but we have a front page for news. Its over here: https://starmadedock.net/

If no one can be bothered to update it properly, that is a separate issue.

It's allright, everyone can do what he likes in his freetime. No one forces you to join anything.