I'm still upset about purchasing gratuitous space battles. I still remember the day when I thought I was going to be controlling a massive spaceship army, and all I got to do was sit there and watch. All you got to do was fiddle around with the construction screen and then hope for the best with a crappy AI commander. I felt completely misled by Cliff and his product screen on steam.
Best of luck to him if he's somebody deserving, but as a customer never again.
I don't know what the copy on the steam page said back then, but currently the second paragraph of textual description includes "In GSB, the player does not control individual ships at all during battle. The ships fight to a pre-determined set of orders and formations given to them by you before the battles."
In my case, I followed that game through its development and he was super clear about the no-direct-control (yea, we fussed about it, but he wasn't hiding it from us) there and on his website; the steam release came a while later so I didn't really look there. Was the copy significantly different before?
Not saying that changes what you should think of the game (Positech's games in general can be an acquired taste, though the same can be said of ours), but I've followed Cliff for probably 6-7 years now and never known him to practice deception, and I don't want someone to think of him as one who would.
I don't have a copy of what was originally there, but I make a good habit of at least reading the product page and watching the videos. I don't even think there was a demo (notice there isn't one for tank game either right now). The only reason you don't offer a demo is because either the game is crap, misleading, or boring after half an hour.
I'm not trying to say the guy is a snake, and I did purchase this a long time ago. I seem to recall another thread where people were complaining about this fact. I'm certainly not the only one that was blindsided by it.
The Internet never forgets:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=why+can%27t+I+control+my+ships+gratuitous+space+battlesNo more passive cinematic games(Endless Space, what gives?). You're not even playing them. It's a reasonable expectation by the player that they can fly their own ships. If I recall, I think I purchased AI war at the exact same time I bought his game, and I gravitated to this one because you can still do giant battles AND you get to control the ships!
Too long didn't read version:
I certainly did feel tricked by purchasing his product, and the lack of a demo does nothing to instill faith in his new release. That being said, I recognize you guys are friends or something, so I won't go on about it. It's just my feelings on the way he conducts his releases and relates to his customers.
