Is there an exact release date yet?

[Pyrobow]

I only ask because everywhere I look it says march 2016 but there is little else on how development is going.

[x4000]

Sorry about that!  I went in and corrected that to, for now, say June 2016.  Right now we're still reevaluating whether or not the game is possible at all to do in a fun way.  The approach that I was taking was fun but not fun enough to satisfy what we wanted to have happen. 

Right now Keith is going through a number of prototypes with a few very core alpha testers, and if we land on something that seems promising enough then that will be developed out further. 

How long that will take to complete will depend on what the prototype that works is, and so on.  There's also the possibility that we won't find a prototype that is sufficiently fun to pursue.  Which would be an enormous bummer for a whole lot of reasons, and that's putting it mildly.  But we're really trying to make sure that we do this in such a way that it's something we can be proud of, and not something that we just push out as "good enough."

[Pyrobow]

Thanks for the info. I really hope you are able to make this game work.

[x4000]

Sure thing -- and I appreciate it!

[crazyroosterman]

0_0 yikes the idea of you simply not finishing stars never occurred to me still I'm glad keiths on this since he seems to(at least gathering form our last barney) a good idea of what he wants to do no offence but when it was being developed before you kept changing your mind over and over again and now while that's great and if there was more time and funding available I'm sure you'd be able to find a super duper masterpiece eventually but obviously you simply don't.

[x4000]

I wouldn't say that I was changing my mind over and over again.  That implies going back and forth between the same thing over and over again.  What I was doing was iterating on an initial prototype that had promise, but never really was living up to what I wanted.  Every so often after a certain amount of iterating, I'd drop some major components of the then-current iteration and proceed with a much-revised prototype that then went through many iterations itself. 

I got the general feeling of forward movement and felt like other people had that sense as well (though perhaps that was in my head).  However, it also felt like movement toward my ultimate goal was slowing down toward the end, and I couldn't think of any other major changes that would really get it substantially closer.  And it wasn't close enough.

It's the nature of research and development, when you're doing something new.  At this point we have a bunch of knowledge on what did and didn't work and why, and hopefully Keith can make something out of that plus his own ideas.

[crazyroosterman]

I wouldn't say that I was changing my mind over and over again.  That implies going back and forth between the same thing over and over again.  What I was doing was iterating on an initial prototype that had promise, but never really was living up to what I wanted.  Every so often after a certain amount of iterating, I'd drop some major components of the then-current iteration and proceed with a much-revised prototype that then went through many iterations itself. 

I got the general feeling of forward movement and felt like other people had that sense as well (though perhaps that was in my head).  However, it also felt like movement toward my ultimate goal was slowing down toward the end, and I couldn't think of any other major changes that would really get it substantially closer.  And it wasn't close enough.

It's the nature of research and development, when you're doing something new.  At this point we have a bunch of knowledge on what did and didn't work and why, and hopefully Keith can make something out of that plus his own ideas.

fair enough I never really got to bothered about during testing(apart from the occasional worrying) since at the time I was un aware of the financial issue but though I look forward to seeing what Keith does with the game and that it achieves its full potential.

[Pumpkin]

I got the general feeling of forward movement and felt like other people had that sense as well (though perhaps that was in my head).

It was forward. Well, at least in two heads.

Nha, seriously, being a redshirt of the first days, I can assure you it was moving forward. Forward what, I can't tell but it was definitely improving with each step.

with a few very core alpha testers

Whoa. That sounds like a privilege. I wish I'll be an Arcen's "core" something, one day. Debating game mechanism on a project like that should be something! Both daunting and exciting, I guess.

Well, enough child-dreaming. I hope you "core" guys manage to keep it up in these dire times. I'm looking forward to see the result of this work.

[x4000]

It's mainly a matter of some people that Keith personally knows really well at this point and that he knows are most likely to share his vision to some extent... but also be willing to respectfully stomp it to death if it isn't living up to what he and they would want.  For that sort of thing it's mainly a matter of personal comfort I suppose, and also really not wanting too many people at an early stage.  Honestly I've not even seen it except one passing glance super duper early in that process.

[donblas]

Yeah if it graduates to the point us red-shirt "plebs" can test things, please at post here (or the beta forum).

I found the game interesting, but not captivating, last iteration. Optimizing building placement, handling tech tree, and dealing with an ever growing society was fun. Interactions with the other races not so much (felt like solitaire).

I have still have hope it can be made awesome.

[x4000]

Cheers, we will definitely post here a lot if it's coming into the promising territory.  I'm with you in terms of how I was feeling about it last iteration.  Interesting but not captivating.  Hard to say that about one's own work without emotion, but now I'm two projects away from it so that is easier.

[crazyroosterman]

yes please do its really weird for me thinking that a game I tested for so long is changing without having a clue really how.

[Jabberwok]

Please please please release this game. SR is great, and I'm excited about the raptor game, but every time I see those beautiful hex grid screenshots, a little orgasmic jolt reminds me how amazing this could be.

[x4000]

Fingers, fingers crossed... 

[Mánagarmr]

I'm still fascinated about how this game plays. I'm probably one of few who have not tested it yet ^^