Apparently, StarForge is out

[JimmiG]

This was going to be *the* ultimate survival sandbox when it was announced. At first, it looked promising. However, progress soon ground to a halt and the developers fell silent.

Since then, there has been very little progress but this summer they announced that the game was now in "beta" and getting very close to release. Well, the game has now reached version 1 (1.0.1 even). The biggest changes from the very first prototype is that they have removed almost everything that made it interesting.

This is the reason I will never again buy into any kind of "early access" or Kickstarter or Greenlight or whatever. I only spent $15, but I know those who spent hundreds of dollars on this. From now I will let people who actually get paid for their work do the beta testing, and leave it to a reputable publisher to decide whether a game is ready for release.

Games like ED and Star Citizen look promising. I look forward to reading the reviews and maybe buying the *finished* games for a reasonable price. But I'm not paying to become a beta tester or buying something that doesn't exist yet.

The original Indiegogo Page:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/starforge

An article about the game from 2012
http://www.destructoid.com/indie-game-starforge-looks-too-good-to-be-true-228387.phtml

A video review of the completed game, 2 1/2 years in the making:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBbgI9q0arY

 

[EDUSAN]

really? Finished?

and the devs said it was finished? or they said they had to release it but its not yet finished?

cause i bought it when it was like 75% on the last sale and played it for like 40 minutes like 2 months ago and it was super laggy and super unfinished

i wonder if they were able to fix all that in 2 months...

 

[SLU Aequitas]

really? Finished?

and the devs said it was finished? or they said they had to release it but its not yet finished?

cause i bought it when it was like 75% on the last sale and played it for like 40 minutes like 2 months ago and it was super laggy and super unfinished

i wonder if they were able to fix all that in 2 months...

Watch the video and lol.

I feel bad for whoever got swindled with this POS.

 

[PowerYoga]

I don't know what people are expecting with a funding goal of only 75k. That's like, what, salary for 1 full time programmer for a year tops?

 

[Fallen Kell]

Not even that. A good dev will cost $140k+...

 

[PowerYoga]

140k in the gaming industry though?

 

[Father Torque]

Kickstarter early access dribbleware is the worse thing to happen to gaming.It is becoming the norm to expect a PC game you buy to be in a pre Alpha state. This is bad !

The best thing that can happen is if Star Citizen fails and everyone who backed it gets burned.That would be the best chance to kill early access.Unfortuneatly,its most likely here to stay.

Its only a matter of time before Sony and Microsofts quality control dips to Steams level and this infects the consoles.

 

[chimaxi83]

Kickstarter early access dribbleware is the worse thing to happen to gaming.It is becoming the norm to expect a PC game you buy to be in a pre Alpha state. This is bad !

The best thing that can happen is if Star Citizen fails and everyone who backed it gets burned.That would be the best chance to kill early access.Unfortuneatly,its most likely here to stay.

Its only a matter of time before Sony and Microsofts quality control dips to Steams level and this infects the consoles.

Yup. Early access and paid beta bullshit can fuck off and die in a fire.

 

[QueBert]

Programmers are lazy and expect too much money! Atari made ET is a like 4 days for a couple cases of beer, some beef jerky and a few porno mags. Yeah the game sucked, but these new games suck too, even after they raise all this money.

 

[Red Storm]

The best thing that can happen is if Star Citizen fails and everyone who backed it gets burned.

Speak for yourself. Without crowd funding there simply wouldn't be Star Citizen at all. The big name publishers only know how to cater to the lowest common denominator, while small budget indie games only target a small niche. It's up to each individual gamer to decide whether or not a game is worth backing.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Kickstarter early access dribbleware is the worse thing to happen to gaming.It is becoming the norm to expect a PC game you buy to be in a pre Alpha state. This is bad !

The best thing that can happen is if Star Citizen fails and everyone who backed it gets burned.That would be the best chance to kill early access.Unfortuneatly,its most likely here to stay.

Its only a matter of time before Sony and Microsofts quality control dips to Steams level and this infects the consoles.

Yeah...umm...how about no? Without Kickstarter/crowdfunding, the space sim genre would still be dead. Instead the early success of the SC & ED campaigns have caused a resurgence of this genre.

404, Reason for Grievance not found. No one is holding a gun over your head to grab an early access game...just ignore them if they're not your cup of tea and run back to the finished, cookie cutter publisher games or the ultra niche indies.

 

[smackababy]

But, guys, Kickstarter is so great! Taking the risk away from the publisher and putting it directly into the hands of the consumers is exactly what the industry needs! Down with EA!

 

[SLU Aequitas]

But, guys, Kickstarter is so great! Taking the risk away from the publisher and putting it directly into the hands of the consumers is exactly what the industry needs! Down with EA!

People that don't understand how to read or understand the concept of risk probably shouldn't be on Kickstarter in the first place. I threw 300 down on Star Citizen because: 1.) I love the genre -and- 2.) I can afford the risk.

Pretty sure EA/other big publishers aren't hurting in any way, and if anything, successful KS projects have been pushing them to at least pay attention to genres other than Generic FPS #34235132 (which, I actually do enjoy in moderation).

 

[xantub]

This was going to be *the* ultimate survival sandbox when it was announced. At first, it looked promising. However, progress soon ground to a halt and the developers fell silent.

Since then, there has been very little progress but this summer they announced that the game was now in "beta" and getting very close to release. Well, the game has now reached version 1 (1.0.1 even). The biggest changes from the very first prototype is that they have removed almost everything that made it interesting.

This is the reason I will never again buy into any kind of "early access" or Kickstarter or Greenlight or whatever. I only spent $15, but I know those who spent hundreds of dollars on this. From now I will let people who actually get paid for their work do the beta testing, and leave it to a reputable publisher to decide whether a game is ready for release.

Games like ED and Star Citizen look promising. I look forward to reading the reviews and maybe buying the *finished* games for a reasonable price. But I'm not paying to become a beta tester or buying something that doesn't exist yet.

The original Indiegogo Page:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/starforge

An article about the game from 2012
http://www.destructoid.com/indie-game-starforge-looks-too-good-to-be-true-228387.phtml

A video review of the completed game, 2 1/2 years in the making:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBbgI9q0arY

Sorry but if everybody did that we wouldn't have seen gems like Divinity: Original Sin or Wasteland 2. I have no problem kickstarting games. I've KSed like 20 games, about 6 of them have been released and I've liked 5/6 of them so overall I'm perfectly happy with the process.

 

[PowerYoga]

Kickstarter early access dribbleware is the worse thing to happen to gaming.

If you think kickstarted dribbleware is worse than DLCs then your opinion is not worth considering. One is completely optional to buy into and the other completely guts whole games so they can sell pieces of it to you at a 3000% markup. Gee, I wonder which one's worse.

 

[SMOGZINN]

If you think kickstarted dribbleware is worse than DLCs then your opinion is not worth considering. One is completely optional to buy into and the other completely guts whole games so they can sell pieces of it to you at a 3000% markup. Gee, I wonder which one's worse.

The problem I have with Kickstarter is that it has no liability for not delivering the product.

Consider if Kickstarter got so popular that MOST game sales came from it. You would quickly get a scenario where Developer X says 'Please give me money so I can make Amazing Wonder Game!' Then a Million people give him 20 dollars each so he can make Amazing Wonder Game. He then looks around and says to himself, 'I've made 20 million dollars at a cost of $50000 (being generous here and assuming he paid some professionals to do some marketing) if I just stop now I've made 99.75% profit! Why would I even want to produce this game?

At a certain point Kickstarter actually demotivated developers from making better games. Since most of their sales will be pre-purchesed they will be motivated to spend a little as possible to maximize profit.

 

[Red Storm]

Consider if Kickstarter got so popular that MOST game sales came from it.

For this to happen KS would have to be a very successful method for game development, which goes against what you say.

The problem with KS is not a new one, it's the same problem that plagues big AAA game releases where they try to hook people in on pre-orders and DLC and the game releases as a buggy mess.

At the end of the day what it comes down is that people need to be smart with their money. I happily pledged money for games like Star Citizen because I saw the opportunity to help fund a game that was not shackled by big name publishers and could be worked on for years and years and not be rushed. Without crowd funding there simply wouldn't even be a Star Citizen.

 

[CPA]

I look at it as an investment. All investment has an inherent risk. Some you lose money, others you gain. Some just stay flat.

 

[PowerYoga]

The problem I have with Kickstarter is that it has no liability for not delivering the product.

Consider if Kickstarter got so popular that MOST game sales came from it. You would quickly get a scenario where Developer X says 'Please give me money so I can make Amazing Wonder Game!' Then a Million people give him 20 dollars each so he can make Amazing Wonder Game. He then looks around and says to himself, 'I've made 20 million dollars at a cost of $50000 (being generous here and assuming he paid some professionals to do some marketing) if I just stop now I've made 99.75% profit! Why would I even want to produce this game?

At a certain point Kickstarter actually demotivated developers from making better games. Since most of their sales will be pre-purchesed they will be motivated to spend a little as possible to maximize profit.

Except that without the motivation of kickstarter you would've never heard about "amazing game #2 that developers stopped working on because they got their money". The exciting concept would've been pitched to a publisher, they'd say it's too risky, too novel and appeals to too small of an audience to be viable financially and refuse to publish it. Then you'd never hear about it ever again.

Kickstarter opens up options, it doesn't close them. With all things that you give your money to for investments, you win some you lose some. Dirty developers never get your money again and the kickstarter program gets fine tuned to deal with scum like those. I don't see either one being a bad thing.