You Have Failed Us

[JinM]

I still stay at and want to reword my first statement again, it seemed not very comrehensible:

If you can tell one sandbox scifi game, that does a better job at ship-to-ship pvp and the corresponding build meta, be my guest, point me to the game and the meta-part they do better.

Last time I checked Space Engineers, Empyrion, Skywanderes and Interstellar Rift were all inferior in this regard.

No evolved recon/stealth, shields, own built turrets, fleets or easy rail stuff. In most of them core drilling is still a thing (yes you "core drill the reactor" in SM too atm but its not a single block as in Empyrion). Scale is smaller and most of them don't have plans to evolve in the metioned matters.


And all the other features the other games have right now, from survival to physics or quests, will not hide away the simple fact, that the core mechanics of pvp and empire building are more shallow than in Starmade. And the core principle of a game, and how it's interpreted by its programmer, is one of the most important keys to having fun in it.

So you will go to the other games, take a break from Starmade. And that's just good because every game gets boring after a while. And then most of you all, who now say good bye, will eventually come back.

And just understand it please, that playing the same game and repeating the same tasks every day ingame...it is somewhat bad. Humans need variety. So please go and get some new input! Make some experiences in the other games, that's a good thing!

 

[The Judge]

I'm surprised that so many resources were sunk into this update despite the obvious protests of the community, and quite frankly we'd be better off without it.

 

[Top 4ce]

Is the game dead?

No. In fact it's evolving.

Is it dead to those who didn't think the changes were a good idea?

Mostly yes. They were an informed, small, and vocal group. I think they raised good points, and as much as they think they were ignored, they helped shaped the recent changes to the system (multi dimensional distance). Yet I can't ignore that they feel like there was little communication from the Dev team, and that's not even mentioning the SMD drama.

Will the game survive this?

Yeah, it's not the first time large changes happened that left a small group upset, might not even be the last.

 

[Mered4]

Is the game dead?

No. In fact it's evolving.

Is it dead to those who didn't think the changes were a good idea?

Mostly yes. They were an informed, small, and vocal group. I think they raised good points, and as much as they think they were ignored, they helped shaped the recent changes to the system (multi dimensional distance). Yet I can't ignore that they feel like there was little communication from the Dev team, and that's not even mentioning the SMD drama.

Will the game survive this?

Yeah, it's not the first time large changes happened that left a small group upset, might not even be the last.

Calling ~half the currently active starmade community a small group is a bit of a stretch doncha think?
EDIT
And every single one of its veteran builders.

 

[Top 4ce]

Calling ~half the currently active starmade community a small group is a bit of a stretch doncha think?

Small relative to the base overall, and just because people agreed to points being raised, doesn't make the on the same wagon of those leaving upset.

 

[Nauvran]

Not all vets completely hate the new power, most are just sceptical about it. at least I am :u

 

[Mered4]

Small relative to the base overall, and just because people agreed to points being raised, doesn't make the on the same wagon of those leaving upset.

To what base are you referring to?

 

[Capnode]

The time I've wasted on beta testing games that were worse of a state than starmade's alpha.

I certainly appreciate the new power system, beyond the old one we had. I'm getting better power, better shields, better armor, better overall everything and that empty space? Shove in some armor! Who said it had to be empty? Shove some thrusters in there. Integrity is easy, stack em. no creative freedom? I have no issue updating old ships to the new system and they turned out better?

I am starting to think these 'veterans' forum members speak about, is possibly one or two people who never picked up an atari game in their life.

You want a game to progress and catch up to the competition, but the old power was messy and complete garbage that definitely slows it down. The fact that people are complaining that it changed, Is most likely the reason why it's been so slow in development all these years.

Maybe perhaps they do care about our opinions, but they have to dig through all the "it's all garbage and I'm leaving" threads. With no evidence of why. Makes just as much sense as makings laws to change the color of tide pods.

Im wanting the new updates now, I want weapons. I want a better universe. More tools if anyone has read through chambers in the config file. That is something to talk about.

Not some old system that spoke out loud 'I'm minekreft in space' just add some blocks and ya got yerself ship mate.

"For example you got my titan class ship thingy, weights 3x the earth, travel the universe in seconds, cloaks, jams, can destroy a planet, move faster than a Ferrari, drains shields and power.... so yeah it's got basically everything."

No thanks.

 

[OmegaGame]

Not all vets completely hate the new power, most are just sceptical about it. at least I am :u

Same here. Not just skeptical though, i was upset (like many) that there were fundamental changes to the entire power mechanics so long into development which would set far more requested changes and additions back once again. It felt shortsighted considering all of the prior builds, NPC's and Stations that were based around those mechanics.. To just up and change fundamentals like that making nearly everything built up to this point practically useless. Then came the many issues with the initial release of the 2.0 update that had many, many bugs on top of it all that didnt help the situation much.

With all of that being said, i think that this new power system is shaping up to be a superior mechanic in comparison to the previous iteration. That it will ultimately become a very beneficial change so long as they become a little more lax with integrity penalties and would also like to see shields have some regen once again under fire (even if it is only a little)..

But ultimately i hope that what schema said was true in regards to these changes needing to be made to help speed up the development process, that certain issues with the old system were preventing certain problems from being fixed and that this will achieve the desired pace.. That this change will speed up the more desirable gameplay, AI fixes, Planet updates, etc, etc in the end. Here's to hoping...

 

[Blakpik]

I think many of the currently upset people will come back.

Enjoy your pause.

You gotta know everyone will take that as a challenge.

 

[Nauvran]

Same here. Not just skeptical though, i was upset (like many) that there were fundamental changes to the entire power mechanics so long into development which would set far more requested changes and additions back once again. It felt shortsighted considering all of the prior builds, NPC's and Stations that were based around those mechanics.. To just up and change fundamentals like that making nearly everything built up to this point practically useless. Then came the many issues with the initial release of the 2.0 update that had many, many bugs on top of it all that didnt help the situation much.

With all of that being said, i think that this new power system is shaping up to be a superior mechanic in comparison to the previous iteration. That it will ultimately become a very beneficial change so long as they become a little more lax with integrity penalties and would also like to see shields have some regen once again under fire (even if it is only a little)..

But ultimately i hope that what schema said was true in regards to these changes needing to be made to help speed up the development process, that certain issues with the old system were preventing certain problems from being fixed and that this will achieve the desired pace.. That this change will speed up the more desirable gameplay, AI fixes, Planet updates, etc, etc in the end. Here's to hoping...

I dont mind the change of the systems, Im just sceptical if it was the right kind of system they made and if it will work well.
But I agree, it should have been done much earlier in the development.

With some more balancing fixing and such then yes it might turn out great

 

[Rhaxus]

The new Power System is a first test. It's not bad, actually it's quite good, just very restrictive for ship design atm.

Good news: This is NOT the final version.
Here more informations, 10 days old!

• Our goal with this system is to make every entity shape equally viable.
• ...it is possible to modify this axis freely

Schine is working on it. No, they don't ignore feedback. It just requires some time for coding.
We will get our creative freedom back -> There is not much more to complain about power 2.0
Everything is better than filling a hull with reactor and capacitor blocks.

 

[NTIMESc]

Sorry for the long Post-O-Quotes, but I'm apparently not investing enough time keeping up:

Sooo "No one asked you to play so your opinion is invalid" is a correct summarization?

No, that would probably be considered a misrepresentation.

Even alpha games work towards a goal. That goal may shift as development goes on, but rarely is there a regression that annuls over six years of development. Starmade has made that regression.

What if the regression is to improve an underlying problem, that requires significant rework? Keeping a rotten foundation around because it's the second or third one you've put in and you don't want to upset the tenants again is not going to result in a stable house.

Things that were reported in dev builds still made it through to the laughably titled "release" build. Yet people still claim "everything is fine, it's an alpha game".

Perhaps the name of the "release" build should be changed to "alpha release", so as to avoid any confusion.

Here's a fact that people like yourself seem to be ignoring: the game is dying.

It is a fact that stating that something is a fact does not, in fact, make it a fact. Maybe Schine just needs an encouraging call from Ferris Bueller, not a lecture from Rooney.

This was a critical time in Starmade's development where Schine could not afford to lose any more players.

Spoiler: This is a joke, please don't burst into flames.

Concern spreading across her face, Schine's mother replied to the Dean,"Nine players? I don't recall them losing nine players."

Games are compared all the time, and for good reason; no one wants to spend money on something when they can get a superior product within the same price range. Starmade is no longer a niche game, there are many block based space games with planets and mining.

Well, then I would say that StarMade has the advantage, since the full game is free to try. As a fan of Sci-fi and building, there's a good chance StarMade won't be the only space sandbox game I play.

You can't even argue that Schema is making the game for himselve, cause he's elevated community members to Dev positions to get more insight.

Even if it's true that Schema is no longer making the game for himself, this premise is false. He could have just been lonely.

If they really wanted to make a game according to what they wanted, closed alphas are a thing. They could have easily walled themselves off and done things however they wanted.

Allowing the general public to play the game does not imply that everyone is now an official and equally valued tester. There very well could be a closed group of real testers operating under NDA. (no conspiracies, please)

I've got a Star Destroyer to finish, but after that? See ya.

This is my favorite quote of the year, so far.

 

[CyberTao]

Well, then I would say that StarMade has the advantage, since the full game is free to try. As a fan of Sci-fi and building, there's a good chance StarMade won't be the only space sandbox game I play.

You might it being free is a boon but tbh it isn't well advertised. When I first found SM I bought it cause there was no obvious signs that you could play for free, and steam does a piss poor job of showing it as well.

Allowing the general public to play the game does not imply that everyone is now an official and equally valued tester. There very well could be a closed group of real testers operating under NDA. (no conspiracies, please)

There is indeed a small group of "testers" under NDA. They filter through the reports we make and process them so its easier for Schema to understand where and why, like Lancake. However these people do not normally actively play, and instead rely on reports coming from afield. I've met a couple who only ever logged on to check a report, never to play or look for bugs themselves.

 

[NTIMESc]

When I first found SM I bought it cause there was no obvious signs that you could play for free, and steam does a piss poor job of showing it as wel

This is getting off-topic, but what about the first sentence of the developer's note right above the purchase button, and the demo button just to the right?

 

[Mered4]

I sense the sarcasm lol

 

[CyberTao]

This is getting off-topic, but what about the first sentence of the developer's note right above the purchase button, and the demo button just to the right?

The Demo button is tucked away in the stats and info that most people dont look at as it doesnt relate to us, and "Demo" normally leads us to think of a watered down version.
Also, dont even pretend that people read the developer notes, they never give any useful info.

 

[NTIMESc]

Also, dont even pretend that people read the developer notes, they never give any useful info.

I would never dream of pretending people read, but that doesn’t make it someone else’s fault.
Suddenly I find myself transported back to 1990, when my friend excitedly ran up to tell me how you could press Down and A to make MegaMan slide, and I calmly informed him that that was on page 7 of the instruction manual .

 

[Reilly Reese]

I would never dream of pretending people read, but that doesn’t make it someone else’s fault.
Suddenly I find myself transported back to 1990, when my friend excitedly ran up to tell me how you could press Down and A to make MegaMan slide, and I calmly informed him that that was on page 7 of the instruction manual .

Jokes on you, not reading the instructions makes the game more fun because you find things on your own as you play.

Something simple like that could make your friend enjoy the game far longer than you would.

 

[NTIMESc]

Jokes on you...
that could make your friend enjoy the game far longer than you would.

I suppose it could, but the sentiment relayed to me was one of frustration at trying to get over a wall when the designer clearly wanted you to slide under it.

Sliding back on topic, is anyone else abandoning the game for greener pastures?