Where is Frozenbyte in the Development Posses? (Theorizing)

[Fingle]

Id likes to say I'm well known in the Starbase Community for my extremely scientific prediction of when the game comes out, but if I did I would be lying.

In hindsight, my early September prediction was made with great hype and wishful thinking. As we all know, Early September has come and gone and still no starbase. So where is the Development process at for starbase?

I just recently came across a quote from Lauri discussing major development milestones:

It was back in July, but it shows us how far they have come since then.

1) Large-scale in-house testing recorded and edited video published to audience
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2) Large-scale test streamed live
Although it wasn't streamed live, the uncut video could be their alternative to the live stream? (Lauri did make this post a couple of months back so plans may have changed)
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3) Alpha in various stages opened up for selected players
It seems to me that we are here in the development stage. They are likely finalizing server and peer to peer networking to enable the first round of alpha testing
*PSSSSST hey devs, hmu wit that pre-alpha key ya? I want to make a couple of tutorials videos about starbase.*

and then of course, "after a lot of alpha"

4) Early access.

So where do you guys think we are in development? do you think they still need to stream test gameplay or are they getting ready for Pre-Alpha?

 

[mop82]

Let's take a look at some of the things they could do:

• push the EA goal into 2020
• pleasantly surprise us all and pull off what they've said they're going to do
• combine 3) & 4), and turn the Early Access purchase into an alpha buy-in part-way through

I have my doubts they can meet their 2019 EA goal if they plan do it after "a lot" of alpha. There's only about a couple months left in 2019 and I'm not sure that can be considered "a lot". Their previous games have been very solid, though, so I'm sure they know what they're doing. Despite my doubts, my bet's on the tail end of December.

 

[Fingle]

Let's take a look at some of the things they could do:

• push the EA goal into 2020
• pleasantly surprise us all and pull off what they've said they're going to do
• combine 3) & 4), and turn the Early Access purchase into an alpha buy-in part-way through

I have my doubts they can meet their 2019 EA goal if they plan do it after "a lot" of alpha. There's only about a couple months left in 2019 and I'm not sure that can be considered "a lot". Their previous games have been very solid, though, so I'm sure they know what they're doing. Despite my doubts, my bet's on the tail end of December.

I really hope we don't have to wait until some time in 2020. I for one would be more than happy to pay to get in early at the pre-alpha build.
but free is better devs, im still waiting for that key ; )

I am starting to doubt a 2019 release also. All I have to say is, We don't expect the game to be perfect at EA. As long as we have some functional, relatively stable mechanics, we are happy. Or at least I'm happy.

 

[Croomar]

Also, here's Lauri giving us info on features they still want to finish before alpha.

and

Comparing those with the Weekly progress Notes, we know they're hard at work with the Ship editor and seemingly in a stage of active testing and adding new features already. To me, it looks like they've moved beyond a stage of "it works if you know how to use it".
We've also gotten some information on the mentioned station storage tech from Week 40 and 41, with the work on UI having started in Week 42. So far, they're making good progress on that and if that was everything, I'd expect them to keep their goal of a 2019 release.

However, we havn't yet heard anything notable about the faction management system yet and I reckon the tech will need quite some time even for a bare-bones stage. And if those are the their expectations for an alpha launch, I wouldn't expect EA to drop any time before 2020 and have a hard time seeing even just an alpha to start this year.


Now if you'd be asking for my two cents, I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. With the pace they're developing this game, we certainly won't need to wait too long, and if you're looking at roadmaps of games with similar ambitions, those are making you wait for literal years for a playable stage, whereas Starbase seems to be promising enough in less than one.

 

[Kenetor]

Also, here's Lauri giving us info on features they still want to finish before alpha.

and

Comparing those with the Weekly progress Notes, we know they're hard at work with the Ship editor and seemingly in a stage of active testing and adding new features already. To me, it looks like they've moved beyond a stage of "it works if you know how to use it".
We've also gotten some information on the mentioned station storage tech from Week 40 and 41, with the work on UI having started in Week 42. So far, they're making good progress on that and if that was everything, I'd expect them to keep their goal of a 2019 release.

However, we havn't yet heard anything notable about the faction management system yet and I reckon the tech will need quite some time even for a bare-bones stage. And if those are the their expectations for an alpha launch, I wouldn't expect EA to drop any time before 2020 and have a hard time seeing even just an alpha to start this year.


Now if you'd be asking for my two cents, I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. With the pace they're developing this game, we certainly won't need to wait too long, and if you're looking at roadmaps of games with similar ambitions, those are making you wait for literal years for a playable stage, whereas Starbase seems to be promising enough in less than one.

Definitely this, the weekly reports show alot more progress than we have seen in the feature videos has been done and fairl;y rapidly i might add, ad to this the resent tests of multiplayer functions and getting backend servers running, as well as UI improvements seen in the latest feature video.
I would say they are on track for a November release for closed alpha and EA in December in time for the holiday season, probably after about a 3 or 4 weeks of testing with probably an increasing user count each week..

I would also note, begging for a key will probably fall on deaf ears, we are ALL wanting to get into this game asap, but MOST of us are happy to wait for the first public impressions (EA release) to not be a let down in any way as this would very much damage the games reputation. You can hear this from alot of the factions I have interviewed as well on my youtube channel.
From what Lauri has said, I think he knows this is important too.

So many games have fallen for this trap and for the sake of the games long term prospects, it NEEDS to go right!
BUT Lauri has consistently said there is alot of work to be done but they are on track for EA this year, trust him and his team to do the work, if the schedule slips a little so be it. They have been at this for nearly 6 years now, a few more weeks or a month passed 2019 wont be THAT big a deal.

 

[The Dungeon Master]

December 25 🎅