The recurring alpha-fapping responses have become quite tedious: StarMade was announced almost
three-quarters of a decade ago, and has been in a publicly released "alpha" state for over
half a decade. Such a timeline essentially spans at least a generation of evolution in gaming and computing technologies. Ultimately, I fail to see how the "But! Alpha!!" responses are anything but a boilerplate excuse at this point.
However, it's clear that as of most recently, Schine is making internal changes to apply a full-force and genuine response towards a growing inventory of game defects, burgeoning discontent within the community, and very strong perceptions of an overall decline in player-base. There's even
talk of refactoring a core game mechanic...which should be interesting to watch play out. I do wonder if that'll also help address threading issues. However, StarMade isn't the only game in town anymore. There are now
very similar platforms, some already in beta and pre-release states, with published/supported mod APIs, stable engines, excellent performance, strong communities, and features far beyond what SM timelines have even suggested are possible for the foreseeable future.
I'm hoping that genuine competition is helping spur things along
I personally will continue keeping a wishful and watchful eye on SM, contributing when/where time permits, and hoping that
publicly-visible independent statistics,
take an upturn (change period to "monthly" for good illustration). In the meantime, I'm having a literal blast elsewhere: as a gamer, voxel builder, a modder, and a very low-key/low-demand admin.
