About the release date(not psychological pressure words

[Cytoxx]

@Kodey If I watch a recently recorded stream - which means up to two hours or more of real-time footage how a player interacts in SB, I certainly see what's working. Of course each stream is just a slice of the whole cake.
After watching about 30+ streams, I think I got a pretty good idea how things are standing. I'm not that interested how "complete" SB is, my priority lays if I can get enough enjoyment out of what already is there - and that's certainly the case.

By the way, Dusty mentioned already the issue with the FB videos, and it was duly noted.

 

[Walord]

@Cytoxx you said it yourself, the game in its current state may work for you and thats great, i want you to experiance it yourself (but thats not up to me), but it if it has enough content comes to the individual gamer to decide, and i wouldnt want people to be bored by a game that came into early access to early, cause lets be honest, a lot of people dont care if the game isnt finished, they will play it as soon as they can and they will treat EA as the full game, first impression matters. As i said before, a lot of the content will come from player interaction (thats only my speculation), so if a lot of people stop playing early on, its gonna be rough

 

[Cytoxx]

@Walord You may be right. Myself, I always (never mind what I'm purchasing) doing research before making a decision, so very rarely I'll be disappointed.
I'm having a hard time understanding customers who just buying a product without getting (barely) information if it fits what they're looking for, and afterwards starting to complain...

 

[Cavilier210]

@Walord That's why it's called Early Access (incomplete, bugs, etc), and not Beta.
By the way, you're stating "There's a wide gap between playing the game and watching it" - if I like what I see, what would stop me doing the same?

In any case, the question should be: is there enough content to keep you occupied? That depends on the individual gamer. As for me, it's just fine and would keep me entertained.

Let's be honest here. No one see's early access this way. You see the story over and over about how a game went to EA and never finished, because people expected a complete game with no bugs, and instead got an incomplete game with bugs. Their bad reviews killed the games before they were even finished. Its better to finish the game to where the devs want it to be, than finish it to the point where the very vocal, but generally ignorant, nontesters think it should be.

We get surveys often. We interact with the devs even more often. Every change brings more bugs. Sometimes more bugs than were fixed.

Edit: Hell, I just found a bug where the SSC changes the angles on beams for no reason, and spent the last 2 hours trying to figure out what went wrong with my beam alignment.

 

[Kodey]

Edit: Hell, I just found a bug where the SSC changes the angles on beams for no reason, and spent the last 2 hours trying to figure out what went wrong with my beam alignment.

Adding to this, this is a very, VERY common bug is you try to do any angle that isn't an increment of 5. even the main selling point of the game, the SSC, is broken

 

[shado20]

Let's be honest here. No one see's early access this way.

then why have early access at all?
if your worried about charge backs. then make it a nonrefundable donation that will grant you access. EA dose not need to be a grand standing announcement about this game, players will flood in and play even at the current state knowing it will only get better. and with more players running around. new players wont feel alone and that this game is dead.

 

[Verbatos]

then why have early access at all?
if your worried about charge backs. then make it a nonrefundable donation that will grant you access.

Frozenbyte has built up a reputation in the community for being reliable and honest to people who love their game, doing something like this would INSTANTLY KILL any goodwill they had. Remember this is the same thing that Bethesda did with Fallout 76, which was widely criticised.

 

[shado20]

ok so what is needed for a game to be able to open access then?
can you make money - yes there are jobs to start you off
can you build ships - yes
can you buy ships- yes
can you mine - yes
can you sell your mining- yes
can you pvp - yes outside the safe zone
the basics are here to work with!
what dose Frozenbyte need to put in to satisfy early access for you guys?
be specific...

 

[Verbatos]

ok so what is needed for a game to be able to open access then?
can you make money - yes there are jobs to start you off
can you build ships - yes
can you buy ships- yes
can you mine - yes
can you sell your mining- yes
can you pvp - yes outside the safe zone
the basics are here to work with!
what dose Frozenbyte need to put in to satisfy early access for you guys?
be specific...

- Netcode can be buggy at times.
- Mining only has the basics so far. So it can get a bit tedious at times.
- Lots of equipment required for large ships is not in the game yet.
- The SSC has VERY strict size limits. Notably, the pipe limit is rather restrictive. Ships cannot be built larger than a medium size.
- I don't think you can sell your own ships yet.
- PvP only really happens in events, I have not encountered any PvP myself or seen it reported outside of these events. Although if some other tester would like to chime in here I'd appreciate it.
- A slew of bugs.

As you said, we have the basics here, but there is a degree of depth still to come, I am 100% onboard with what Frozenbyte is doing and I am really hoping this game can be as successful as it can be. But I just really don't think it's ready for release right now, what I would like to see is them opening pre-orders sometime, I think they could use the little bit of money to help them along with development. Also I know there are some people more than willing to donate

If you want to experience the game as it is, make sure you put in a request to join the Alpha, and check your emails to make sure you haven't already gotten a ticket without noticing. The best ways to get access are to be active on forums, active on discord, help out in the community by making a tool, showing engineering prowess with the ship parts in blender, helping out with information on the wiki, and just generally engaging with the community in a positive way, Just complaining that the game isn't released yet won't get you access, and it certainly won't get Frozenbyte to listen.
I myself posted regularly on the forums, created wiki articles, (notably the Player factions article) and interacted and asked questions on the Discord. I don't know if this helped my chances but I would like to think it did. And it could help yours too.

 

[pipvac]

ok so what is needed for a game to be able to open access then?
can you make money - yes there are jobs to start you off
can you build ships - yes
can you buy ships- yes
can you mine - yes
can you sell your mining- yes
can you pvp - yes outside the safe zone
the basics are here to work with!
what dose Frozenbyte need to put in to satisfy early access for you guys?
be specific...

can you make money - yes there are jobs to start you off
The jobs are basic introductions to core game mechanics, and are not intended to be a grind to earn the sums needed to build and buy significant items/ships. You can only sell basic ores and the economy is in a placeholder state. You cannot process anything (some minor exceptions), and the price you get is largely fixed outside of a rudimentary auction facility.

can you buy ships- yes
The ship builder is overly complicated. An issue acknowledged by FB with the current development of 'Easy mode' which is underway. Plus some of the bugs may render your build impossible, or very difficult. This is likely to frustrate and alienate your average user.

can you mine - yes
The basic ores yes. But you cannot do anything with them other than sell them or use them for repairs, for the most part. Many of the intended tools for are not yet implemented, and the current tools still need considerable balancing.

can you sell your mining- yes
See my remarks above

can you pvp - yes outside the safe zone
I've not seen any pvp outside of 'events' organised by the devs for testing purposes. Also the mechanics of pvp are laced with bugs and balancing issues. Nothing unexpected in closed alpha, but game breaking on an open build.

As a minimum the gameplay loops need to be in place, and the basic core functions need to perform as intended.

I suspect somewhere between 3 to 6 months, and FB will have this as close as damn it to being ready for EA. Their engagement is second to none, and their pace of development is sound compared to others I have experienced. One test I use is "Would I recommend this game to a friend?" Its over simplistic, but in short.... not yet. I feel they would come into the game with a set of expectations and be disappointed. A consequence of which is they will leave and in all likelihood not come back. No one wants to keep this game as their private little secret. We want a thriving multiplayer environment, with a sustained community. Players to trade with, and juicy pvp targets to pew pew!

 

[shado20]

If you want to experience the game as it is, make sure you put in a request to join the Alpha, and check your emails to make sure you haven't already gotten a ticket without noticing. The best ways to get access are to be active on forums, active on discord, help out in the community by making a tool, showing engineering prowess with the ship parts in blender, helping out with information on the wiki, and just generally engaging with the community in a positive way, Just complaining that the game isn't released yet won't get you access, and it certainly won't get Frozenbyte to listen.
I myself posted regularly on the forums, created wiki articles, (notably the Player factions article) and interacted and asked questions on the Discord. I don't know if this helped my chances but I would like to think it did. And it could help yours too.

o i would like to think it would help, but you must not be on discord much as i'm there almost every night!
im not complaining that the game isn't released yet, i see only 3 reasons why you say its not ready yet!
1 - like the free ride
2 - like the massive advantage the CA is giving you over the average player base in knowledge and wont more of the tech installed in game to make this advantage of knowledge bigger
3- has a massively higher expatiation of what EA is what what it needs to be (disagreeing with your level of playable content is not complaining!)

from the many hours i see of game play from others in discord streaming the game and talking to, yes there is sufficient content to go EA.

 

[Kodey]

like the free ride

This isn’t a reason to want EA, this is a excuse to make CA testers a scapegoat. Actually, your first and second point are just pointing to CA testers as a scapegoat.

like the massive advantage the CA is giving you over the average player base in knowledge and wont more of the tech installed in game to make this advantage of knowledge bigger

People do give out knowledge for the masses in the public chats, which (from looking at your message history as of March 19th) you seem to not participate in any sort of conversation outside of VCs, try to ask questions in those channels instead of pointing fingers.

Not only that, we lose almost everything when EA releases, except for blueprints. However, that’s still in question if we even get to keep blueprints.

has a massively higher expatiation of what EA is what what it needs to be (disagreeing with your level of playable content is not complaining!)

Yes different people have different expectations of EA, the ones who’ve actually tested the alpha know it’s not ready, and this can be seen in the streams, Kenetor’s birthday stream being a good example. However, many people who haven’t played the game and only seen it from an outside perspective assume it’s fine when it’s not.

 

[shado20]

i say this as the game is not a wildly unplayable as many of you have lead on.
and any talk about the different expectations of EA from that of CA players come with massive down talk and push back. i'm only a mirror, i just reflect back what is given!

 

[shado20]

what sort of questions can i possibly ask in forums if i already know everything from interacting on discord and such....

and i pray that FB is not wasting time on easy build mode on ships... i'm like look at dual universe, players made voxal libraries for making ship building easier. let the community build the easy mode build library.

 

[Kodey]

if i already know everything

 

[shado20]

you for got "from interacting on discord and such"

everything is a general term of what game has to offer, the mechanics and such. see how i say different opinions from CA players is met with personal attack and fire!

 

[Kodey]

you for got "from interacting on discord and such"

everything is a general term of what game has to offer, the mechanics and such. see how i say different opinions from CA players is met with personal attack and fire!

 

[dusty]

Gonna go ahead and close this thread, as I believe it has run its course.