DukeofRealms
Count Duku
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2013
- Messages
- 1,477
- Reaction score
- 1,617
Sure, and that's what I indicated in my comments about incomplete and unstable features. We know they are incomplete (and probably buggy) before release. We release mainly framework for further development, what that means is that although a significant addition might currently only add very little for the user, it allows us to weave connecting systems together in the backend. Most of the development work has gone into that feature; however, it still needs balancing, fixing and additions here and there to properly function. Plenty of these incomplete features rely on other core systems that are not yet in the game, so furthering their development doesn't make a lot of sense. NPCs, Fleets, Planets are all on their first pass (although, the current planets have been ditched for a different direction). Yep, NPC factions need a second pass to be useful to the player, as they stand, the framework is there for us to incorporate linking features.
Would I like to see features that are more useful to players on the first release? Of course, however, I have full trust in schema when it comes to how development is handled in the game. I'm not going to pretend it's the best solution for a game with an existing player base, but it is maintainable for a team of our size.
Yes, most of those were from a number of popular YouTubers covering the game. We've found it is, in fact, easier to get back customers from that period, than it is from any other. While 300,000 users might seem like a lot, it's actually quite small, the overwhelming majority of our potential market has not seen the game. I've evaluated it, and we've had outsiders evaluate it as well.
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On the power proposal, we knew there was going to be pushback. It doesn't matter how good the proposal or how much it would improve gameplay if done, some people will lose a significant portion of their work. So, of course, there will be a lot of community members who will resist such a proposal.
We expected significant push back, more than we received. We are here to make StarMade the best game it can be, as according to our vision. Now, I'm not saying we're taking the proposal or the inevitable decision lightly, completely the opposite. We've evaluated that if we create a proposal that matches what we want to achieve and does it well, we will without hesitation, go for it. We've evaluated we're willing to take whatever consequences that entails. Some people are going to get frustrated and leave; some are going to find out that the game is heading in a direction that is not for them and some are going to double down on their support for the game. We certainly would like to avoid replacing something that will destroy player creations, and that does go into how we evaluate whether a replacement is worth it.
We've been having power proposal meetings almost every day now; we're spending a lot of time coming up with this second proposal. Before we release the second proposal, we'll be releasing our end goals public document. We have an internal version which is quite wordy and refers to features/ideas that have not been made public yet (mainly because they are not set in stone), so a public version is currently being written. This document should help people see where we're heading in development. Hopefully, this will help players know where the game is heading, and assist them to evaluate if they want to stick with us. It'll be a very general document, no real specifics, but it should give an idea.
As I mentioned in the previous power proposal, it's going to take a lot of planning to get it right, if that can be done at all. We might go through multiple proposals and find that it's not worth it, or we find one that fits. We're not going to be seeing a proposal replace the current one for many months (if at all). The first stage would be a demo version, enabled by config that will allow people to test it, without interfering with the current game.
