Starmade being overtaken?

[Captain_Boroski]

I don't like the prefab weapon system, it works for small scale stuff like sentry turrets but not for ship-to-ship combat.
Top-notch A E S T H E T I C S but the systems and combat are nearly non-existent compared to starmade.

 

[Sen OTS Tier]

Keep in mind that Starmade is in alpha, and Skywanderers is in pre-alpha (no idea about the others). If we're lucky, both games will undergo drastic changes and additions as time goes on. Making judgements about the two as they are now is rather fruitless. Maybe Starmade 1.0 will be much better than Skywanderers 1.0, maybe the opposite, or maybe they'll each veer off into their own paths so that comparing the two is just apples and oranges.

To try and answer your question about which game will be a better time investment for the future, the answer is, we don't know. We can make assumptions, write down our hopes, etc, but at this stage in development for these games, we can only guess.

And when you post this type of question in the forums of only one of those games, you're going to get mostly one answer, cause we have a bias towards Starmade. This type of question would be much better suited to a more neutral forum.

 

[Gasboy]

My question is will Starmade be worth my time in the future or am I better off investing in theses newer games?

How the hell would we know? We're not you. Whether a game is worth your time is SUBJECTIVE, and entirely based on you.

As for trailers, go back and look at the original NoMansSky trailers, and then look at how much wasn't in the game at launch. Read through the NoMansSky subreddit and take in the disappointment and anger. Now tell me that every last single game trailer ever made has ACCURATELY reflected the final release of a game. You want to compare a trailer to a GAME that's already been going for a while? I've got some great bridges in New York City for sale, want one?

You're in the StarMade forums. What game do you think we might have a bias for? I'll let you get both hands and a flashlight to figure that one out.

 

[jayman38]

With the original question being "What will Schine do to deal with mounting competition", my opinion is:
Starmade was always Schine's scratch to satisfy their itch for a voxel space game. While they may copy some neat ideas, they probably won't really do a lot to directly address competition, because then they will be constantly chasing the 8 ball. Instead, they will probably continue to scratch that itch, and make their own game at their own pace. If they lose players to other games, they probably aren't worried about that.

 

[Gasboy]

With the original question being "What will Schine do to deal with mounting competition", my opinion is:
Starmade was always Schine's scratch to satisfy their itch for a voxel space game. While they may copy some neat ideas, they probably won't really do a lot to directly address competition, because then they will be constantly chasing the 8 ball. Instead, they will probably continue to scratch that itch, and make their own game at their own pace. If they lose players to other games, they probably aren't worried about that.

I think that you have probably hit the nail on the head. StarMade will keep rolling on.

All the other games coming out basically have to "prove" themselves when compared to StarMade.

 

[Raiben]

Raiben ! Did you build that giant unfolding ship of death?! I swear I saw you build the exact same thing,it is you right?!

Aye, that was me, I enjoy StarMade quite a bit, as I'm sure everyone knows, but I also like other games SkyWanderers is currently more like SM when it was first put out just on the site. It has a lot of potential, and I like competition, and SW (SkyWanderers) is less like starmade and more like Elite+Space Engineers. It does fit in the general "voxel space builder" but edges toward the exploration instead of what SM seems to be going for (empire building etc).

If you guys want me to answer what questions I can about SW, I will do my best. You can either PM me or make a group message here, or catch me on my stream as I'm not sure how comfortable I am discussing the particulars of SW here on the StarMade site.

Edit: What I will say for competition or how StarMade will respond etc, I think, after playing both games, and seeing where both games are tentatively headed, they will be similar, but with fundamentally different gameplay goals. Personally, I will be "investing" in both as I'm a huge voxel space nerd. Currently SW isn't on steam, and is very pre-alpha. It's very pretty, as the dev has spent a lot of time in unity working on the shaders and graphics, but the game-play isn't there yet, and will take some time to get there.

Again, I'm happy to talk about the game in comparison etc, but I would rather not do it here on the official starmade site. Thank you all for your time, remember both StarMade and SkyWanders are different games, and one is significantly further along than the other, reserve judgement on both until you see more. I for one am very interested in the future of both StarMade and SkyWanderers.

 

[MacThule]

No one plays only one game - we all have lots of games we play.

As noted, SM clones get a massive development boost from standing on its shoulders. It's very much for the best that many SM alpha players are familiar with and understand the competition, the better to provide perspective. This player-perspective is of value to Schine, since they are quite attentive to player feedback in the forums.

 

[SkylordLuke]

Aye, that was me, I enjoy StarMade quite a bit, as I'm sure everyone knows, but I also like other games SkyWanderers is currently more like SM when it was first put out just on the site. It has a lot of potential, and I like competition, and SW (SkyWanderers) is less like starmade and more like Elite+Space Engineers. It does fit in the general "voxel space builder" but edges toward the exploration instead of what SM seems to be going for (empire building etc).

If you guys want me to answer what questions I can about SW, I will do my best. You can either PM me or make a group message here, or catch me on my stream as I'm not sure how comfortable I am discussing the particulars of SW here on the StarMade site.

Edit: What I will say for competition or how StarMade will respond etc, I think, after playing both games, and seeing where both games are tentatively headed, they will be similar, but with fundamentally different gameplay goals. Personally, I will be "investing" in both as I'm a huge voxel space nerd. Currently SW isn't on steam, and is very pre-alpha. It's very pretty, as the dev has spent a lot of time in unity working on the shaders and graphics, but the game-play isn't there yet, and will take some time to get there.

Again, I'm happy to talk about the game in comparison etc, but I would rather not do it here on the official starmade site. Thank you all for your time, remember both StarMade and SkyWanders are different games, and one is significantly further along than the other, reserve judgement on both until you see more. I for one am very interested in the future of both StarMade and SkyWanderers.

im glad you built it! its amazing! I knew it was you :DD such an amazing fold out ship

 

[Edymnion]

Yeah, SkyWanderers has eye candy but no functionality.

Eye candy is *EASY*. Anybody with even basic understanding can make something look pretty. Making it look pretty while actually functioning? Thats the hard part.

Starmade has the functionality part mostly down, and is constantly adding to it. Once all that is in place, passes to make it all pretty won't be that hard.

 

[Neon_42]

It's amazing how many people say this game doesn't function when it isn't open to the public. What I can see from the trailer is that you build ships, logic structures, and a better environment than Starmade (planets, asteroids, stars, and a realistic galaxy). The combat looks engaging, Sure it doesn't have factions but then really Starmade doesn't either. The factions don't do anything. Mechanically it looks more like a carbon copy. Giving rise to the questions what is taking Starmade so long? and what can we do to speed it up?

 

[Gasboy]

It's amazing how many people say this game doesn't function when it isn't open to the public. What I can see from the trailer is that you build ships, logic structures, and a better environment than Starmade (planets, asteroids, stars, and a realistic galaxy). The combat looks engaging, Sure it doesn't have factions but then really Starmade doesn't either. The factions don't do anything. Mechanically it looks more like a carbon copy. Giving rise to the questions what is taking Starmade so long? and what can we do to speed it up?

It's more alpha than StarMade. People say it is not functional because all we have is a trailer. I could make that trailer without having a game to back it up.

According to their subreddit, all you can do is build and craft. Multiplayer? It's not a thing yet. So the trailer is possibly bogus. Those planets? Eye candy. And they'll be eye candy til late in the beta.

So you can go do less stuff in a game that's less far along than StarMade.

Edit: Sorry, StarMade is taking too long? How do you know how long a game is supposed to take to develop? And of course, with it's fancy trailer, SW is almost done, right?

 

[Edymnion]

Yeah, note how you don't see damage being done to anything. You just see some neat lasers and particle effects, some explosions, and thats it. Nowhere do you see a ship being damaged, no chunks are being taken out, and there at the end when the big death star laser ship fires, the ship it hits just vanishes and is replaced by an explosion.

The game LOOKS pretty, but there's no actual gameplay or mechanics to be seen.

 

[Az14el]

Keep in mind that Starmade is in alpha, and Skywanderers is in pre-alpha (no idea about the others). If we're lucky, both games will undergo drastic changes and additions as time goes on. Making judgements about the two as they are now is rather fruitless.

I dunno I'd say some important things to point out would be the engine it's developed on & the fact that it uses prefabs, two things that seperate it from starmade by quite a lot (they're still space sandboxes, but functionally this is a huge difference, block for block construction is day and night when compared to "welding" prefabs)

This isn't to automatically say that one is better and the other is worse, only that they're quite different, and that Starmade is taking on a much bigger task that goes far beyond just "minecraft in space", to call them the same is a complete oversimplification of Starmade.

 

[Sen OTS Tier]

I dunno I'd say some important things to point out would be the engine it's developed on & the fact that it uses prefabs, two things that seperate it from starmade by quite a lot (they're still space sandboxes, but functionally this is a huge difference, block for block construction is day and night when compared to "welding" prefabs)

This isn't to automatically say that one is better and the other is worse, only that they're quite different, and that Starmade is taking on a much bigger task that goes far beyond just "minecraft in space", to call them the same is a complete oversimplification of Starmade.

I don't recall ever calling them the same.

 

[Az14el]

Sorry that last part should have gone before the reply or something, i dunno im tired, that was more a general reply/clarification because i don't want people to think im just calling all prefab construction games bad.

 

[Sen OTS Tier]

Ah okay. I thought it seemed a bit out of place.

 

[_Scooter98_]

I'm fairly sure StarMade was created as a test bed for the game engine scheme was creating. So for the long development process, StarMade can only go as fast as the engine (I would think). I look forward to trying out sky Wanderers, but it looks like only eye candy at this stage.

There is an off topic forum that discusses what draws people to StarMade as opposed to other space vocal games, and what aspects we like over other games.
[OT] What draws you into playing StarMade over others in this genre?

_Scooter98_

 

[Raiben]

Ok, to clarify and hopefully stop this thread from derailing too much more in general:

1) I've played both SM and SW, I've streamed both as well, i know both of the developers, I can tell you that both games gameplay methods are different.

2) SW does have multiplayer but it's very basic and buggy currently, again, pre-alpha, if you played SM 4 years ago, you might know what i'm talking about.

3) The trailer was as legit as the official StarMade one, in that it was shot to show off the final goal of the game, sure there were likely bugs that were edited out or re-shot, but everything is in-game footage and I can attest to that.

4) If you've not noticed, StarMade is in a much more playable state currently, and is quite likely my most played game ever. I don't know that SW will change that in the end, but I've been enjoying playing and testing SW as well.

Honestly, for those that aren't part of the SkyWanderers testing group, who haven't checked out and talked with the Dev, or been watching the game much, please, don't make assumptions for either game. In the end, what SkyWanderers and what StarMade do is in the hands of their respective devs, I like the direction that StarMade is headed, it fills a niche that i like, to build a massive empire and dominate the galaxy. SkyWanderers to my understanding will be going a route more based on exploration, with close to real-scale galaxies and solar systems.

As far as I can tell here, everyone is screaming into the void about things that no one (not even me) has complete information, or even decently reliable information on. I think the prudent thing right now, is to sit back, say "I like StarMade" or "I like SkyWanderers" or (as in my case) "Both games look interesting and I'm really excited to see how both develop over time", and not scream at each other on an internet site, over something no one can possibly know properly, as a reaction to what some perceive as a possible problem sometime in the future.

Thanks for your time
-Raiben

 

[Gasboy]

Yeah, note how you don't see damage being done to anything. You just see some neat lasers and particle effects, some explosions, and thats it. Nowhere do you see a ship being damaged, no chunks are being taken out, and there at the end when the big death star laser ship fires, the ship it hits just vanishes and is replaced by an explosion.

The game LOOKS pretty, but there's no actual gameplay or mechanics to be seen.

Well, actually, there is one point where they have turrets set up on a platform, and it looks like another platform is being damaged or salvaged. But that was the only instance of it. The ship "combat" was staged.

 

[Panpiper]

For me graphics is 10% of a game's attraction, at most. There are LOADS of games out there with absolutely top notch graphics, yet the games I play most often and return to again and again over the years are virtually without exception either lackluster in their graphics or seriously retrograde. Game play mechanics are EVERYTHING to me. If a game has good mechanics, I will play it, regardless of it's graphics. If it has bad mechanics, no matter how pretty it is, I will hardly give it a glance.