This community is dying. WE NEED TO ADRESS THIS.

[MinerMario2]

Now, listen Starmade devs, you have NOT abandoned your game in any way shape or form. You have been focusing on DEVELOPING this game. now, it may be time to take a pause and look at the tiny amount of servers.

At any point in time can the owner of these servers stop being interested in the game due to lack of people, and a LOT of work into this game, and if you want this to pay off, you need more players, means more money for you, and overall, a more happy community. I think starmade doesent have little kids as a community, more of 18+,

but who knows, maybe the 13 year old making this post asked his dad for this game around 2 years ago. this game was amazing, and the servers were AMAZING. lots of people to make enemies and friends, fight together, or against. Adress this issue, PLEASE.

Suggestions
TEMPORARILY make this game FREE TO PLAY, kids usually browse there for something to do.

ADVRETISE. I have no idea wether or not you have enough money for these sorts of things, but if you do, ADVRETISE.

MAKE OFFICIAL SERVERS.
on rust you may see a lot of official servers that have tons of players in them, lots more than the community ones.

TRY TO RESPOND TO THE COMMUNITY.
the community, everyone, likes to have their favorite developers respond and adress and issue in their game. I havent done enough research to know if you have alrready done this, but if you havent been keeping up to date with this stuff, try to more often.



Thanks, Miner Mario

 

[Tsnonak]

This issue has already been Adressed, Schine is aware of the current state of affairs and has stated they are/were happy with the amount of players from the initial "Alpha" release.

You seem to be missing some Infos...

1. StarMade is still free to play

2. It is a known fact they have been holding back with Advertising until the game is in a better "state" and will when they are ready.

3. there are 2 "official" servers + 1 for streams StarMade-Servers.

4. Schine does interact with the community directly on Discord

Rest assured, things are moving along slowly, but they are moving forward...

P.S. It may currently seem like daedgaem, but it is not a"dead game".

See you in Space!

 

[JinM]

There are not alot of Shine members interacting in the forums, they all use the Discord chat.

On the one hand team Shine doesn't like if people talk rude on the forums - and ultimately left it in favour of discord, on the other hand they didn't had the guts to moderate them in a strict way.

 

[happahappa]

"Everything is fine. Just as planned. You only got the wrong impression." .... right :D :D :D

On the official servers, that's were all the adventures are happening, because admins are really invested and excited about doing stuff there.

Oh, on discord, you couldn't imagine how passionate Schema and his Schine Minions are engaged in discussion about StarMade. You can really feel how they are reaching out to the community and are working hard to make Starmade great again.

Forums are just so old school. And some people were rude for really unknown reasons, so some devs ran away to discord, the new happy place, where they won't shut up.

Development may be slow. But only because they develop so carefully. That's why all the past major updates had such high quality.

It isn't really a dead game, there is still the the three of us, who are true believers to the end. "3" is a good number as community size. Schema is completely aware of this. He wants it to be this way. It's better for alpha testing, because it's like friendship, quality over quantity.

(Sorry, but this really required a sarcastic commentary)

 

[Captain Fortius]

To be serious for a moment though,

Low player numbers are due to the game not being very fun to play right now.

Goodness, just try to use cannons...

Or have a go at killing a ship with this core-drilling 2.0 system; Even SysHP made more sense than exclusively shooting the reactor apart.

Or watch in dismay as the nonsensical "reactor stabilizers" take up the room you wanted to use for something else. They don't do anything, they are just an arbitrary requirement to be fulfilled!

Or realize the ""chamber"" (ptoooey! Just call them modules! They are not rooms!) system works on fixed percentages, and there's only so many effects you can add to your ship; Maybe the maximum number of supported modules could be a dynamic amount, dependant on the relation between your ship's and reactor's mass.
Yes, you could build two separate reactors with different modules, and switch over to the one you need, but that'll give your ship exactly half the power it'd actually need to function.

Maybe take twice as much time adding shields to your ship because now you need to keep them grouped.

And even if you look past all these and other problems, and invest your time in playing on a server, it just gets wiped in a few weeks because the game is unstable and performance is dropping.

-Apart from that last issue, my list could be comfortably fixed in a week, yet the team would rather focus on convoluted and useless stuff.

Example; NPC update! NPC factions and fleets for the game!
-Effect 1; Asteroids are eaten up everywhere.
-Effect 2;

Full throttle, Jerry! Don't mind the lag!

 

[OfficialCoding]

Yeah I know. The Universe Update will hopefully address a lot of gameplay issues. Hopefully that will bring a lot of players back or draw in new players, and when Schine believes the time is right they will stat advertising this game. However they don't want to bring players into an unstable game and then have them all rage quit.

 

[Crashmaster]

"The 'X' update will bring players back." What has this opinion ever been based on? I'm here trying to remember a previous update that brought in players who stayed as opposed to driving players away.

 

[BDLS]

Don't worry starfrens, the game will have tens of thousands of players once it's in beta! It's alpha, you retards! Just a testing phase! Soon!

In actuality, multiplayer could be popping if Schine supported community drafted vanilla configs, despite all the bugs.

 

[JinM]

if Schine supported community drafted vanilla configs

Yeah if they supported it correctly it would work. For example with giving (maintaining after getting suggestions from player made configs) like 4 different main configs, one for pvp one for lets say...creative, one for pvp version 2 and a 4th one idk.

 

[Ithirahad]

Now, listen Starmade devs, you have NOT abandoned your game in any way shape or form. You have been focusing on DEVELOPING this game. now, it may be time to take a pause and look at the tiny amount of servers.

I'm sure they have already. However, there's really no magic wand they can wave to address this. Likely the best thing for them to do is finish "DEVELOPING" (with community input, hopefully) the core gameplay, polishing some things up, and then start looking more at community outreach and the like once the game itself is less unstable, incomplete, and... to be quite frank... hostile to prospective players in several respects.

TEMPORARILY make this game FREE TO PLAY, kids usually browse there for something to do.

It already is, though they could perhaps make that a bit clearer. IDK.

ADVRETISE. I have no idea wether or not you have enough money for these sorts of things, but if you do, ADVRETISE.

Advertising the product in its current state is... not advisable. Better to get the universe overhaul/AI revamp/etc. done, polish things up, then start advertising in a year or two, when they can be a bit more confident that most of the players they bring in won't just immediately leave the game.

MAKE OFFICIAL SERVERS.
on rust you may see a lot of official servers that have tons of players in them, lots more than the community ones.

That's a can of worms that I can understand why they don't want to get into. Moderating and managing the potential mess that is a major official StarMade server is not and should not be their priority right now.

TRY TO RESPOND TO THE COMMUNITY.
the community, everyone, likes to have their favorite developers respond and adress and issue in their game. I havent done enough research to know if you have alrready done this, but if you havent been keeping up to date with this stuff, try to more often.

For better or worse, most meaningful two-way communication with the community (not only since the Discord was deployed, but pretty much ever) has occurred on the StarMade Discord. With it being so central as both a hub for what active community SM has left and as the primary medium for communication between us and Schema/Saber/Kupu, it should probably be more prominently featured on this site, but eh...

Also, to others here: Say what you will about the move, the Discord format has generated some of the most productive discussions and exchanges between the playerbase and Schine that I've yet seen. Even the bug reporting process seems to be more efficiently run informally via Discord support channel and DM's than formally via Phabricator.

"The 'X' update will bring players back." What has this opinion ever been based on? I'm here trying to remember a previous update that brought in players who stayed as opposed to driving players away.

Maybe the galaxy update? Either way, a large fraction of past major updates (fleet, NPC, even to some extent power...) have largely been half-hearted window dressing and some random small game features on top of technical changes that are needed for future development and don't really help gameplay much as they are. The NPC and fleet updates would have brought players back had they been packaged with release-quality front-end behaviors, gameplay tech, and assets, but as it turns out that wasn't feasible because that would've required an AI rewrite and several other things, which would've required new systems to already have been implemented, which would've required the months of underlying work for that to have been done... etc. So, instead, as usual, what we got was the NPC faction framework and the fleet framework that are sufficient for them to move on with development that requires those things to be functional, but a buggy and not-particularly-useful set of physical features we as players can work with. The universe update is supposed to include more fleshed-out player-facing features along with several changes and features that are desperately needed to slow down player attrition (factory/industry revamp and faction/empire building being the major ones), but we'll see. If it does, it should give player retention something of a boost.

<salt>

Development is slow because... well, development (especially with just one person) takes time, and the updates are 'low-quality' for reasons more or less explained above. I don't know what you're expecting w/r/t/ dev communication; they obviously can't spend all that much time on Discord or the forums and regardless player/dev communication post-Discord has gone from almost nil to... surprisingly decent, actually. The game is certainly more or less 'dead' as far as player population goes; Schine is indeed aware of this, and while obviously not great, it's kind of inevitable. Large official servers would be a massive can of worms that I can definitely understand why they would not want to open.

Don't get me wrong, Schine (and for that matter the moderation staff) have done some things that are pointless at best and laughable at worst, but y'all are picking strange targets.

 

[OfficialCoding]

I'm sure they have already. However, there's really no magic wand they can wave to address this. Likely the best thing for them to do is finish "DEVELOPING" (with community input, hopefully) the core gameplay, polishing some things up, and then start looking more at community outreach and the like once the game itself is less unstable, incomplete, and... to be quite frank... hostile to prospective players in several respects.

It already is, though they could perhaps make that a bit clearer. IDK.

Advertising the product in its current state is... not advisable. Better to get the universe overhaul/AI revamp/etc. done, polish things up, then start advertising in a year or two, when they can be a bit more confident that most of the players they bring in won't just immediately leave the game.

That's a can of worms that I can understand why they don't want to get into. Moderating and managing the potential mess that is a major official StarMade server is not and should not be their priority right now.

For better or worse, most meaningful two-way communication with the community (not only since the Discord was deployed, but pretty much ever) has occurred on the StarMade Discord. With it being so central as both a hub for what active community SM has left and as the primary medium for communication between us and Schema/Saber/Kupu, it should probably be more prominently featured on this site, but eh...

Also, to others here: Say what you will about the move, the Discord format has generated some of the most productive discussions and exchanges between the playerbase and Schine that I've yet seen. Even the bug reporting process seems to be more efficiently run informally via Discord support channel and DM's than formally via Phabricator.


Maybe the galaxy update? Either way, a large fraction of past major updates (fleet, NPC, even to some extent power...) have largely been half-hearted window dressing and some random small game features on top of technical changes that are needed for future development and don't really help gameplay much as they are. The NPC and fleet updates would have brought players back had they been packaged with release-quality front-end behaviors, gameplay tech, and assets, but as it turns out that wasn't feasible because that would've required an AI rewrite and several other things, which would've required new systems to already have been implemented, which would've required the months of underlying work for that to have been done... etc. So, instead, as usual, what we got was the NPC faction framework and the fleet framework that are sufficient for them to move on with development that requires those things to be functional, but a buggy and not-particularly-useful set of physical features we as players can work with. The universe update is supposed to include more fleshed-out player-facing features along with several changes and features that are desperately needed to slow down player attrition (factory/industry revamp and faction/empire building being the major ones), but we'll see. If it does, it should give player retention something of a boost.



Development is slow because... well, development (especially with just one person) takes time, and the updates are 'low-quality' for reasons more or less explained above. I don't know what you're expecting w/r/t/ dev communication; they obviously can't spend all that much time on Discord or the forums and regardless player/dev communication post-Discord has gone from almost nil to... surprisingly decent, actually. The game is certainly more or less 'dead' as far as player population goes; Schine is indeed aware of this, and while obviously not great, it's kind of inevitable. Large official servers would be a massive can of worms that I can definitely understand why they would not want to open.

Don't get me wrong, Schine (and for that matter the moderation staff) have done some things that are pointless at best and laughable at worst, but y'all are picking strange targets.

That about sums it up.

 

[Kaelani Revyruun]

lol my gaming network (Novus Galaxy) is operating a starmade server such that it won't simply die off like other servers on the game have. We're also working on making our config more noob-friendly, but the biggest hurtle is getting the configs to stick through updates. Once we get that nail hammered in then we'll have a solid foundation for carrying the game. I'm also looking into diversifying my server offerings though, but now that I've got a system in place for it, I don't have to worry about whether or not I can afford to host all the servers, cos well... We're expanding as I have the money long-term.

And as for "TEMPORARILY make this game FREE TO PLAY, kids usually browse there for something to do." in the suggestions... Uh... It IS free to play if you download the standalone. Through steam you pay the "donation" price for the game.

As it currently stands though, the game is for all intents and purposes, a dead game. I saw upwards of 60 players on a single server before the power 2.0 update dropped... Now? You're lucky if you see 10 people on a single server. Until the devs either A: completely rollback the power 2.0 update ob B: remake the way the power works again, the game will not be noob-friendly... And server owners like me who have fond memories spanning years on the game will have to learn how to code basically jsut so they can make our servers noob-friendly to bring in new players.

I myself am starting to drift away from the game, but if/when it gets better I'll return.

Shameless plug, but if you wanna check out my network (we're getting a minecraft server sometime around july), just go to discord.me/novusgalaxy and join the discord :3 All of the information I believe is useful for players to know is publicly available, no matter the server.

 

[Tsnonak]

the biggest hurtle is getting the configs to stick through updates.

Try using the intended CustomFolderStuff!
It is there just for that reason!

 

[Sachys]

Through steam you pay the "donation" price for the game.

Or download the demo for the full game:

"PLAY THE FULL ALPHA FOR FREE THROUGH THE DEMO!
We are currently offering the full version of the game for free on our demo. This will be throughout Alpha as we believe a user wanting to purchase an open alpha game, should get to try out and test the current full state of the game first. We also need as many testers as possible, your reports, feedback and input is invaluable!"

 

[Alphajim]

Until the devs either A: completely rollback the power 2.0 update ob B: remake the way the power works again

Both of these won't happen ever. And we don't need it as P2.0 isn't the main problem here. Weapons balance, missing and broken features are more important problems IMO. And as far as P2.0 can be weird, I think it's still better and open to change than P1.0.

 

[Kaelani Revyruun]

Or download the demo for the full game

Lol the "demo" is just the version you can download FOR FREE on the official site... Difference is, you don't need steam to run it. Also, notice that I stated that on steam the "full" version is actually the "donation" price. There's 2 types of registry account here: upgraded and not upgraded.

we don't need it as P2.0 isn't the main problem here.

If Power 2.0 isn't the problem then please, explain to me why as soon as the update dropped, I saw servers that had upwards of 40 players on *during the quietest hours* suddenly drop to at most ~20 players at PEAK population time. This is BEFORE the weapons update, as well, mind you... So if p2.0 (aka the power system the entire community told schine we didn't want) isn't the main issue, then why did the community implode as soon as that update dropped?

 

[Alphajim]

If Power 2.0 isn't the problem then please, explain to me why as soon as the update dropped, I saw servers that had upwards of 40 players on *during the quietest hours* suddenly drop to at most ~20 players at PEAK population time. This is BEFORE the weapons update, as well, mind you... So if p2.0 (aka the power system the entire community told schine we didn't want) isn't the main issue, then why did the community implode as soon as that update dropped?

Maybe because people seem to dislike deep changes ? And maybe because of the stupidly huge amount of salt dropped during these months from both of the sides ?

Idk why I would still argue here about old and finished battles. There won't be any deep change in power, regardless what you can think of it. It's too late for them to change it anyway. They're close to begin the Universe Update, which needs basic game systems to be set, for example to properly integrate the universe events with ship functions like sensors affected by nebula and defensive chambers used near stars.
I think (and hope xD) there will be more people interested by the exploration and PvE content of the next major update than what we lost with these updates.

 

[Tsnonak]

Maybe because people seem to dislike deep changes ? And maybe because of the stupidly huge amount of salt dropped during these months from both of the sides ?

Yes this!

There won't be any deep change in power, regardless what you can think of it. It's too late for them to change it anyway. They're close to begin the Universe Update, which needs basic game systems to be set, for example to properly integrate the universe events with ship functions like sensors affected by nebula and defensive chambers used near stars.
I think (and hope xD) there will be more people interested by the exploration and PvE content of the next major update than what we lost with these updates.

Also a "big" Yes this!
"Full speed ahead Scotty!"...
with the upcoming Uni-Update, Beta-phase, Bug-fix-phase, finished Produkt, and the planned advertising, "StarMade 2020" is looking good! (imo*).
Please remember folks, StarMade is made with the intention, that you can customize almost everything!
From SystemConfigs all the way to Content, isn't that awesome!?!
What other game does this? StarMade is doing things... nobody does!

There is PVE, Exploration, and other Stuff planned, but don't forget...
Only "You", the "Players", can make each world "Special"!

... and don't forget...

Thanks for playing StarMade,
- The Schine Team
--- Updated post (merge), Aug 9, 2017, Original Post Date: Aug 9, 2017 ---
Just one thing to clarify for the forums: Reading the comments on the last blogs are often a bit discouraging. We appreciate constructive criticism, but some comments go beyond that into a more insulting tone. I know that these comments of course don’t represent all of the community as the majority is very supportive, but I feel like I need to clarify a few things:

Even though this company named “Schine” is making StarMade, it is really just all the people you see on our about page. Real people, no anonymous “the devs”. Indie game development isn’t a very lucrative job. The reason why we’re making StarMade is not for money. It’s because we love this game and want to see it done! At the same time we try to be as fair as possible to our players. That’s why we never made too big promises to generate empty hype and always kept a free version of the game to try out before buying.

As said, we are not in this to get rich. All of us are putting in a lot of hours and extra hours into making StarMade without much or no pay. I’m only taking what I need to live to make sure that even in the absolute worst case, we will be able to continue developing and finish the game.

This isn’t meant as a complaint about criticism, it is a clarification. We don’t dislike or ignore critical commentary, as long as it’s constructive. On the contrary, we think that constructive criticism is the most helpful. However, a lot of the repeating criticism is already addressed and planned for internally. The reason we don’t go public with those plans is, that even if it would reassure some of the critics, we have a principle to never sell complete promises without something to show on it.
Of course, in the long run that is sometimes unavoidable and we are guilty of doing so a few times in the past few years, but we aren’t afraid to scrap things if they turn out to be a wrong direction. This has always been our main principle and we drastically improved internal organization and planning to avoid false announcements in the future.

We will press on to finish this game with even more effort than before! Be assured of that!

P.S. Extra Linkage!
" Road-Map" hier.
Developement "Direction" hier.
"End-Game" Teil 1 hier.
"End-Game" Teil 2 hier.
"End-Game" Teil 3 hier.

INTERVIEW W/ SCHEMA

 

[Sachys]

Lol the "demo" is just the version you can download FOR FREE on the official site... Difference is, you don't need steam to run it. Also, notice that I stated that on steam the "full" version is actually the "donation" price.

Exactly my point. You appeared to not know that in your post.

 

[OfficialCoding]

As it currently stands though, the game is for all intents and purposes, a dead game. I saw upwards of 60 players on a single server before the power 2.0 update dropped... Now? You're lucky if you see 10 people on a single server. Until the devs either A: completely rollback the power 2.0 update ob B: remake the way the power works again, the game will not be noob-friendly... And server owners like me who have fond memories spanning years on the game will have to learn how to code basically jsut so they can make our servers noob-friendly to bring in new players.

lol yeah no. I know that a lot of players have fond memories of Power 1.0. I can vouch for it being extremely noob unfriendly. That stupid system where you need the shaped reactor was really hard to learn AND build with. The "everything's linear" now systems are much better imo. Also cubes are just more intuitive than lines I think. Also also a lot of people like P2.0 and there is no way Schema is reverting. Quite frankly, if you don't like Power 2.0 you are perfectly free to play version 0.199.654A.