Plead to developers.

[Gasboy]

Im complaining because I spent money on a game that is falsly represented.

In what way?

 

[Deserea]

Im complaining because I spent money on a game that is falsly represented.

Funny, the game is exactly what i thought it would be, unfinished, unpolished, and with some barely working aspects. Exactly what an alpha game is. Which coincidentally, is what stage the game is in.

I dont know what you where expecting, but i am curious?

 

[jayman38]

I have observed that one of the finer, and more difficult points in the art of game-making, (or any software), is the valuable skill of limiting scope. AAA games have to limit scope in order to release on a schedule. AAA development houses can expand scope with each new game they build, because they have a larger base to build on, using tools from the previous game.

I'm not sure if Schine is interested in limited scope. The concept of Starmade is basically to simulate everything, everywhere, an entire universe. He could probably move to Beta in a month if he limited scope largely to what the game is now, and developed it more. Starmade as it is now, but with some bugs, incomplete features, and exploits fixed, could probably make a nice little "real" indie game, from which Starmade 2 could expand. The downside to that is that customers, fans, and critics would demand more features, more realism (or more of the same art style), and a tighter schedule with each subsequent release. (Well, Starcraft 2 was an obvious exception, having taken so long, but Starcraft 1 provided the goodwill needed to build a sequel game for so long....)

So it might simply be better for Schine to take things easy on this first game, take his time, and release a much bigger, more stable game. I don't know if he's interested in sequels, but if a sequel were made (and who doesn't want to make more money?), it would benefit greatly from a bigger, better first game, to build from.

Here is hoping that the results of the long Starmade development saga will be more reminiscent of Starcraft 2 ( ) than Duke Nukem Forever ( ).

 

[DevajC]

I get what everyone is saying about having patience with this game and that its in alpha so ofc it will take take, and that it will one day be something great in the future.

But get this, I said the exact same things 4 years ago. Maybe 5. They announced that they want to build a solid foundation first before they can make the rest of the game, and I understood and was looking forward to the changes that might come in the FUTURE. I knew it was gonna take time. But here we are 5 years later in 2017. Does it take 5 years to build a foundation? Here are all the changes I can think of: shipyards,texture pack,beams, half baked npc factions. I really cant think of anything else that has been added in those 5 years. When were the last TWO updates that released new blocks? And not just something like hazard stripes. This game has no direction. Alpha can only be am excuse for so long. Schine didnt choose to sacrifce the playerbase to move in whatever direction they wanted, they LOST the playerbase. Players dont matter much in Alpha, but they do if the game has had rises and falls in popularity while its still in Alpha. I dont even know what point im trying to make honestly. This is a complaint thread. Im complaining that this game is going nowhere, very damn slowly. I am confident that the power update will be the only new blocks added this year, because the trackrecord so far can back that claim up. If they atleast added some real tutorials and explainations to what all the game breaking settings do id be happy. What happened to space whales? They need to narrow their scope and add something that players can actually enjoy. There are alot of people disappointed with this game. Imagine a whole YEAR where you see your favourite game stagnate and get boring while everyone in the forums talks about potential and how great it'll be in the future, then multiply by that by 4 years!!

 

[HorribleHedgehog]

You forgot rails.

 

[ZombieMouse]

First off, do you have proof that there are less players?

So, I checked this out. And yeah, there is a site that tracks this stuff:

StarMade · AppID: 244770

Over the last couple of years Starmade has gone from ~940 max concurrent players online to ~120 max.

 

[Sachys]

So, I checked this out. And yeah, there is a site that tracks this stuff:

StarMade · AppID: 244770

Over the last couple of years Starmade has gone from ~940 max concurrent players online to ~120 max.

That only accounts for players using steam, with the steam client in online mode. As starmade doesnt require steam to run, nor be online to run, this discounts a large % of people.

Steam stats are also notoriously squiffy - just like hours logged in play.

 

[kulbolen]

So, I checked this out. And yeah, there is a site that tracks this stuff:

StarMade · AppID: 244770

Over the last couple of years Starmade has gone from ~940 max concurrent players online to ~120 max.

while i see what youre sayng, 2 things:

1, that site only tracks a portion of the users, lots of people dont use steam, and others dont play mp. the older the game gets the more people migrate to standalone launcher too. this of course isnt an argument against the game losing playersm its obviously going down.

2, the devs explicitly said they dont care that theyre losing players, because the games "not ready to release" so theyre not advertising and all that crap. of course that can easily be interpreted as "we dont give a shit about our current players." which may or may not be true.

 

[ZombieMouse]

While it may be technically correct to point out that only includes Steam, a quick tally of the players online in the game server list just now showed 98 players online. So it does appear to be indicative of the general number online.

 

[Gasboy]

While it may be technically correct to point out that only includes Steam, a quick tally of the players online in the game server list just now showed 98 players online. So it does appear to be indicative of the general number online.

Did you take into account people playing in single player mode? Did you take into account people playing on servers using older game modes?

It is not indicative.

 

[ZombieMouse]

You come across a bit defensive Gasboy, I'm not bashing the game, I'm just posting facts. The number of people playing multi-player has gone down dramatically. The number who play any game mode and launch using Steam has gone down dramatically.

I did take a look at incompatible servers, and at the time, so far as I could tell, there was nobody playing on those servers.

Obviously I do not know how many people play single player who don't use Steam to launch the game. I'd be shocked if it was 800 concurrent users though, and I'm not really interested in single player anyway. Multiplayer servers will eventually close if nobody plays multiplayer.

It is not indicative.

That seems to be ignoring the balance of evidence. At the very least do you not accept that the trend over the last few years is downwards?

 

[sayerulz]

Snip

You know what, I don't give a damm about this idiotic troll thread, but I DO wonder how the hell that guy is planning on drinking that beer.

 

[El_Poulpy]

sayerulz he will open its helmet and drink it. Everyone knows that it was filmed in a studio on earth because men never went to the moon. It was an hoax made by the reptilian that controls the US government and if Trumps wants to build a wall it is to please them because they like to climb on big walls and enjoy the sun. That also why the great wall of China was built, that is common knowledge

The only real complaint i have about Starmade is concerning npc faction update and crew quarter.

Why did they made the npc faction update that required to build ships even if they don't have a beginning of crew quarter mechanic ?
Even before beginning building assets they knew they will need a refit.
Why didn't they make a beginning of the crew quarter system and then the npc faction update ? if someone could explain me this that'll be nice

 

[Nauvran]

Im complaining because I spent money on a game that is falsly represented.

thats your own fault, currently buying the game is supporting the devs. With a bonus of getting the game cheaper than when it's full release price.

 

[Sachys]

While it may be technically correct to point out that only includes Steam, a quick tally of the players online in the game server list just now showed 98 players online. So it does appear to be indicative of the general number online.

but its not. its for steam.
you are likely correct about the server tally, but dont correlate active steam users with online players, or you piss in the data pool and skew any outlook.

 

[Groovrider]

It's not like a lot of us are saying the game and its development don't have flaws. They do. it's just many of us expected it to be this way when we signed up. I see all these other space games being made now and i see them all doing SOME things really well. On the surface it does seem like other games are passing SM by but... None of those games are attempting to make a micro-macro scale universe. EA is a harsh mistress.

 

[Qweesdy]

but its not. its for steam.
you are likely correct about the server tally, but dont correlate active steam users with online players, or you piss in the data pool and skew any outlook.

Yes.

Also don't forget that there are a lot of people like me - people that aren't currently playing StarMade (and won't appear in any statistics), but who check the website regularly and will jump right back into StarMade as soon as they find out a new update has arrived.

For an extremely crude guess (based on no stable update for a while, and that major changes to the power system are planned), I'd expect that as much as 90% of the potential player base is like this.

 

[ZombieMouse]

Also don't forget that there are a lot of people [...] that aren't currently playing StarMade [who] will jump right back into StarMade as soon as they find out a new update has arrived.

For an extremely crude guess [...] I'd expect that as much as 90% of the potential player base is like this.

I've not seen any evidence to support that assertion, but I do hope you're right.

 

[ZektorSK]

You don't have to build ships... You can make logic and rail creations.

 

[Blodge]

You don't have to build ships... You can make logic and rail creations.

That's still just building.

For the moment, I'm personally content with that but a number of people who want StarMade to also be the persistent trading, empire building PvE RPG exploration game the Devs keep promising it will be are getting impatient.