General Category > Stars Beyond Reach Beta Discussion

SBR v3 Thoughts

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Captain Jack:
When you Mantis these thoughts, consider multiple tickets. You're complaining about two different issues, the in-game reactivity, and the fact that the game isn't done. We'll be getting some feedback through text, but building damage... you know, I actually don't know if that's planned.  :o

Can't say much about optimization. Chris mentioned that Cities: Skylines helped him understand what to aim for, so I think the citybuilding aspect is going to drift in that direction. Probably with v2 style adjacency, but I have nothing to base that on.

As for NG+ unlocks... as written, what you suggest would be a punishment for doing well. Better to include more options at the start, the same way AI War does. Unlocking whole races is a neat idea for expansion content, but I don't think they're going to gate the base races behind winning the game, or give the player access to the AI races. Those guys are unavailable for a reason!

I'm curious, when you say "some of the others", what others do you mean?

The official word on modding is that it's not feasible. Arcen titles in active development update so much that any mod that a player worked on could be broken six different ways during development, and obsolete the day after it came out. Did a search and found Chris's explanation on modding AI War from *2009*. There was a thread about specifically modding SBR, and while Chris explained what could be modified on our end, I'm guessing the same issues apply.

Cyborg:
I don't care about optimization right now, and graphics are low on the list for me. My comments are describing actual gaming. What makes a game fun? What is the actual game? Fussing around with crowns is not a game, to me, because there's no point to it. You don't get anything, and you don't get anywhere by doing it. Is that because the game is unfinished? I hope so. I expect so. And it's not just me. How many posts were people complaining about not knowing how to play or what to do? People literally started this game up and stared blankly, plopping down buildings, not knowing what the hell is going on. The military aspect of it gave people something they could recognize, if only for a moment, and then it was scrapped. So now we are back to plopping down buildings and so-called "risk-style" combat? Well okay.


I'm aware of the attitude towards unlocks by Arcen in previous titles, but I was hoping that given the recent interest in binding of Isaac, they would become more open to the idea that people enjoy the feeling of achievement. There's a difference between blocking content and enhancing content, and having some sort of reward for victory isn't a punishment. Even old Nintendo games had end game cinematics or something. And this comment isn't what I consider what's wrong with the game. It's a free-form suggestion. What's wrong is a more deeply rooted issue.



I'm trying to be tactful. It's an effort for me. It seems everybody lately is describing their personal mental quirks. Mine is just as real as everyone else's, and it's definitely the ability to communicate in a way that doesn't come off as abrasive. I haven't figured out how to be honest and communicate without upsetting other people. And it doesn't take much for me to be encouraged to be blunt. So I'm going to just say it.

The entire excuse about modding breaking the game or something is a load of crap. Tons of games do it, tons of mods get broken, and they all get fixed if they are used. It's fud. I have my own suspicions on why Chris doesn't do it, but feasibility isn't one of them. It's his company, his games, and I don't get bent out of shape about it, but since we're all telling stories by the campfire here, why not be honest and put it out there that a community of creativity and content makers will be way more creative, productive, and inventive than a small company will ever be? And for a title that's clearly been a struggle like this one, he needs help. I guarantee you that adjusting crowns and efficiency is not the problem.

I've been on this forum a long time. I've been around for every major success and debacle, development debates, and so on. I may not post as much as you do these days, but I consider myself well-informed. I support this company as a fan and customer as much as anyone else does, gift multiple copies, and convince my gamer friends to buy these titles. It's campfire time. Or intermission, if that makes more sense to you. You don't need to defend anybody because there's nobody under attack.

If anything, there needs to be more critical questioning going on. I think it does a disservice to Arcen when people who are chosen to be beta testers and are not actually testing. There's being cordial, friendly, helpful, etc. and then there's a step beyond that, which is not helpful. I read these forums for the entire development process, even though it wasn't my type of game. I read them out of curiosity, and I kept my mouth shut as a select few individuals seemed really excited and appeared to understand that there was a game here, even though I never saw it. And the same people continue to claim there was a game as beta testers fizzled out one by one, including myself who dutifully reported not being able to find a game. I still don't see it. And that's why I think it's important to put that down in the forum and if you disagree- if anyone disagrees- and wants to explain to me what the game is, please do so! Someone said they put in 150 hours into this game. Doing what? What took you 150 hours to do? What did you accomplish in that time? What adventures did you have? Was it just 150 hours of loading up the game to test it after each patch? Because this game is completely unfinished, and there's no way there is 150 hours of content. Not even close.

So yes, I'm frustrated with what I see going on, from where I sit. And I saw things going on, beyond just game minutia, that I didn't like. And I guess there's no reason to air that out here because it's too late and a dollar short, but this most recent development cycle really wasn't the best I've seen here for a lot of reasons. And no, it's not that the development is on pause. I can handle that it's on pause. It's for the right reasons, for the company. I know that it's not going to be my type of game, and I don't want to waste anyone's time trying to make it my type of game. But there needs to be this period of time where everyone steps back and tries to look at what's actually here, and I think the question has to be answered, what is this game? Where is this game going? What is the actual game?

The real issues that need to be solved have nothing to do with any of the defects around crowns and efficiency. It's about the identity of this title.

Cyborg:
The formatting on my previous post took me multiple attempts, so  that's why it looks all screwed up. And missing content.

Captain Jack:
I don't feel abraided so no worries there. Instead I'm confused since it seems you're soapboxing instead of responding.

I'm actually kind too pressed for time to properly rip your post apart point by point, but I have to point out that you have the mod issue completely backwards. The problem is NOT mods breaking the game, the problem is the game updates breaking the mods. Mod makers would have to support their mods indefinitely, and it's easier just to fold anything good into the next update.

keith.lamothe:

--- Quote from: Cyborg on October 20, 2015, 10:35:13 pm ---But there needs to be this period of time where everyone steps back and tries to look at what's actually here, and I think the question has to be answered, what is this game? Where is this game going? What is the actual game?
--- End quote ---
I fully agree.

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