How much do like Schema's work so far?

[Planr]

Hey guys! I've got a poll set up and an important question: How well or how much do you like Schema and this game he has made? What do you like about what he's done so far? Do you feel he has met your expectations or even surprised you with more than you'd hoped for? Are you just allergic to cats and think Schema needs to do a better job! Discuss and vote on it here!

Personally, I am very satisfied with what Schema has done so far. He's delivered on many of his promises and given us great new features, such as the weapons system (and we got something even better than what was originally promised), the dodecahedron planets, shadows, variable sector size, debris effects, player weapons, great collision and physics improvements, performance optimizations, and more! I look forward to what he has in store for the future, and I know that this is going to be one of the best space sandbox games of the decade!

From the game I formerly played called Blockland, Schema has been a much better developer than Blockland's developer, Badspot, was. Badspot's always been a jerk to the Blockland community, and i've often been frustrated with the empty promises he made to us and the poor results that he did deliver.
In 2012 he removed one of Blockland's most crucial and fun gameplay elements, terrains and interiors, and instead replaced it with "shadows and shaders" (because apparently terrains and interiors that the engine already had for the game complicated the code "tremendously"). He promised to deliver better vehicle physics, but he never delivered them, and when we asked him about it a year later, he basically shelved us and gave us the middle finger.
The community on Blockland has progressively gotten worse and worse over the years. When I originally joined back in 2009 the game was full of friendly people and cool addons and maps. You could explore the solar system on Reactor Worker's "Planets" map, or go to Jorgur's Medeival RPG or Slopes Dogfight and have a blast in the cool combat! Or you could go to Heedicalking's variety of combat maps and play a fun Tier-Tactical capture-the-points TDM. It was SO much fun.
Sadly, the community nowadays is rampant with jerks and arrogant argumentative people. I have also never seen a game with such a tightly-focused and prevalent issue of actual criminal activity. We have users who openly admit to enjoying and trafficking child porn, we have multiple notorious people who DDoS hosting services or even Blockland's master server list itself, crippling the game's critical online multiplayer capability. We have people that steal player's authentications keys, even stealing people's own credit card information. We have tons of cheaters that use client-sided radar mods, wallhacks and backdoor exploits in add-on scripts to have their way. Blockland is a cesspool of crime and dissapointment. It's like the Detroit Michigan of indie games.

So you can imagine how grateful I am to be now be a part of such a better game and community! A game where the people actually care about one another, and work together, and just simply sit back and have fun without causing a crapstorm! And best of all- The developer truly cares about his game here and he wants to make a good game, not simply a good money-maker!

 

[MrFURB]

If Schine just put the game on a table right now, called it complete, and started selling it for 15$, I would be calling for some major improvements.
Fortunately we still have many months/years/decades of fun, bugs, and features to look forward to. Helping out and seeing new things implemented is a big reason why I'm spending so much time here. Seeing the difference between Schema's first ideas and his current ideas is a huge tip for how much growth and vision Starmade has given him through it's development. Rarely do people ever get to join in on someone's first major hit and achieve hipster gamer nirvana for liking something before it's cool.

I think this game's draw on me is less based on what Starmade currently is and more upon what Starmade will beco- Wait, scratch that... What Starmade IS becoming.

 

[Gamel]

I love StarMade! Schema is a great developer!
.
.
.
But you will never know is schema a cat or not

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur...

 

[starhaiden]

I think schema isn't a cat. He has to be a Human

 

[starhaiden]

Megacrafter127 why can he not be human when humans are the only animals on this planet that can actually code a computer game, we have thumbs that can touch out pinkie most other primates hands aren't as precise and cable of doing very complicated small movements. Cats don't have thumbs so they can't type well, if they could how do they go as fast as a human

 

[ToyotaSupra]

If I see him, I owe the man a pint. Can cats drink alcohol? I think so.
Jokes aside I think working this hard and not giving up is a pretty good value, he had a dream and made it. With a dev this dedicated we could see the game done in less than 2 years.

@starhaiden It's a joke! You scared this kitty

 

[Krazykat]

Megacrafter127 why can he not be human when humans are the only animals on this planet that can actually code a computer game, we have thumbs that can touch out pinkie most other primates hands aren't as precise and cable of doing very complicated small movements. Cats don't have thumbs so they can't type well, if they could how do they go as fast as a human

The joke
^
^
^
your head

 

[Asmael]

Huh. Last time I tried coding and took a break, a cat wrote "dSDOFdf,kdsnfj dsfdf".

Not that I doubt their programming skills or anything, but...

:3

I think MrFurb said it all. That's still an alpha state, why, yes, it's already VERY good for an alpha, but I can't possibly say it's finished. Still requires a lot of balancing, debugging/else, but that's some awesome work being done right there

Because, l33t cat powa:

 

[El_Poulpy]

Megacrafter127 why can he not be human when humans are the only animals on this planet that can actually code a computer game, we have thumbs that can touch out pinkie most other primates hands aren't as precise and cable of doing very complicated small movements. Cats don't have thumbs so they can't type well, if they could how do they go as fast as a human

they just use puppets :

 

[I_is_Tinsy]

I think Schema is doing a wonderful job, Starmade has a lot of potential, and at the rate he's going, Schema will fulfill that potential and then some more. I feel obliged to write out a wall of text but I'm not going to :P

 

[NeonSturm]

The most awesome about schema is the persistence of motivation.


The most awful is that 1m^3 blocks are not made for a small fighter's interior and thus gigantism is featured very much.

• want your own custom cockpit? You can't have 100 shiny jet functional buttons :/ in this small place.

The biggest problem is the lack of quests and players (per server, not as a whole).


And the greatest potential lies in mod-ability and better hardware available on the marked.

• I hope LUA enables some RP without constant admin moderation (who knows that I have skipped this shop for RP-fuel?)

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Quests should be in the game eventually when the npc's get updated. And I can't wait 'till the ai gets its much needed overhaul to support many types of functions.

 

[Zeno9141]

I love both the game, and the way it is developed. I believe this dev team is one of the best ones I've ever seen.

And I've seen a lot.

 

[WaffulMann]

So....... Has schema ever mentioned smaller blocks (0.125 m^3 or 0.015625 m^3)?
Really if I ever get
a) small blocks
or b) better turrets
or c) 8/16 bit coloring system
I will be glad

 

[Wugg]

I think there was a problem with smaller blocks.
IIRC only one block, no matter the size, can occupy a 1^3 segment. Otherwise the game would explode, figuratively.
Small blocks still would be nice for furniture and stuff. The light rods are going in the right direction imo.

 

[takethispie]

I have a poster of Schema next to my bed.

no I'm just kidding but for me they are the best Devs I've ever seen, Schema is dedicated to his community, actually sometimes he even post messages in some topics, he work hard to give us the game I dreamt to see since I'm 5 yo, for me this game is pure joy and happiness
I don't care that the game is sometimes glitchy or don't have as much contents as some peoples would like but it's an Alpha and this game is the future ! if I had a constant money income (aka a job xD ) I would give like 10-20€/month just to say thank you but I can't so the only thing I can do is posting this message and enjoying this game of pure fun.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

The next update should be in about 4 days time...
Yay!

 

[WaffulMann]

I think there was a problem with smaller blocks.
IIRC only one block, no matter the size, can occupy a 1^3 segment. Otherwise the game would explode, figuratively.
Small blocks still would be nice for furniture and stuff. The light rods are going in the right direction imo.

IMO If any other game (see:minecraft with mods) can do it starmade can definitely do it.
Go schema :3

 

[NeonSturm]

Came up with 2 complementary ways of storing blocks in RAM

All ways have a 8 byte (= 4x4x4 bit) array for a 1-2 m block.

The header maps all global IDs to a few local available IDs, greatly reducing RAM-usage for sub-blocks.
Additional RAM is saved by storing HP for a larger entity. (1*2^n byte |vs| 1 byte + 1*n bit )

1. 2|3x 8 byte 3D-array for each ID[x]
   • Bit set = block there
   • requires 8 bytes for a matrix of set blocks [any ID], thus you need 8 byte additional.
   • Current and max HP are stored for all sub-blocks at once.
   • Wedges are generated automatically per 2x2x2 sub-blocks (maybe toggle-able in header or by ID infos)
   • Advantages:
     
     1. allows for more than one block at the same place
     2. many shapes, easier transitions (glass block<->hull wedge problem)
   • Disadvantages:
     1. less different IDs in given space
     2. lower resolution of HP-attributes.

I hope it will be possible to display(console) or render(textured) a block made of many overlapping overlays which apply only on some parts and to have both ways on the same object, switch-able by 1 bit in the super-block header.

Each choice has up-sides and down-sides. You have to make your choice wisely and be aware of consequences because everything you build depends on it.



It is all about memory management. And about efficiency (memory + cpu)

How to 1. assign textures 2. draw textures 3. do physics 4. how to assign an array or functionality.

Everything that only has to be done once is easy. You don't have to care that much about efficiency, just that the program is prepared for each case.

You have to know how to do multi-threading, how to interact with the graphic library (DirectX, OpenGL, ...), math and how to do it so that you know what something does after a year or two.



The most time-consuming part is bug-tracking. Everything that is not done correctly consume 3-10 times the time afterward.

If you are good, you make things abstract = in a way that it can be re-used with little adjustments if some part changes. (config vs code)

 

[TwoNiner]

To be honest starmade has its issues coming from someone who looks more into the PVP aspect of the game its actually seen very little improvement in terms of combat viability and frequency of battles occurring. I understand that these are very hard points to improve on especially in a sandbox game, however some of the ideas and suggestions generated by the community are as close as it gets to solving these problems. Sad to say schema isnt very active on the forums and these suggestions often fall on deft ears.

I understand that schema's main focus at the moment is implementing features which are without a doubt very cool (especially the warpgates), but what I believe he should be working is improving the meta game and game mechanics itself to keep players interested in playing the game.

As a faction that frequently draws players from outside sources such as IRL friends and people we meet from other games, Its safe to say the current lifespan of a new starmade player is about 1 month until they start to get bored and stop playing.

I really want starmade to make it but I believe the key lies in the community being able to communicate with schema and the other devs so please do take a look at the suggestions once in awhile.