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Starbound Beta Thread - Begins December 4th!
- Thread starter Retro
- Start date
I don't think it's enough lol.
Nice update. I dont have this game (yet). But ive enjoyed reading this thread and wondering who doesnt understand what word beta means in games truly.
One thing is to feel annoyed by the wipes but at this point you're just shit posting and spreading FUD, seriously. It is 2 wipes in a 24 hour time period and both wipes are related to a completely new system of armor and damage. Why was the second wipe needed? Most likely because, as you say, we are testing things but how can we possibly test the new armor/dmg system when we have a sword from the starter world that could one shot anything currently in the game?
And no, betas are not to find smaller bugs and unusual ones, you'll normally find a lot of obvious and glaring ones in the process. What do you do when you find them, whine? No, you report them.
What you and others don't seem to understand, is that we are part of the process of finishing an unfinished game. Testing things out and if they dont work, test the new thing out that replaces the old one. Is not a pretty process but we do it because it's fun and we want to give feedback to make it a better game.
If you don't like the idea of it, guess what? You can wait for those of us that do to test shit out for you and when the game comes out officially you'll get to play a polished game.
Dinosaur Tamer
Member
You strike me as an expert on software development cycles.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
You know, I've been in dozens of alphas and betas over the past fifteen years, and balance issues aside Starbound is one of the more complete and stable "betas" I've ever played (excluding Blizzard betas of course, because they have a ridiculously high standard for their betas). Wipes are to be expected. You can't test game mechanics if said mechanics are broken, and yeah they fubbed up some of the DPS values for weapons. Why would they want us to keep them? They are game breaking.
I don't know why some of you bothered to buy the game so soon. What did you think, that when they said "expect regular wipes" they were kidding?
I don't even know why this is up for argument. It's not the developers that are the problem here, it's some NeoGAF'ers reading comprehension skills...
I don't think the weapons affected (Steel series) are procedurally generated, so messing with the weapon random generation wouldn't do much.
Personally I'd like a technical explanation why a wipe is necessary, meanwhile I'll probably put this game down to make sure there isn't a wipe every other day.
HappyBivouac
Member
Guys.
A beta/alpha/gamma/omega/chicken/dishwasher/hamster/anyotherwordyoucanthinkof version is whatever the hell the developers want it to be.
Point is, it's an early access game. Steam states that early access games are unfinished, and by playing them, we are supporting them and testing an unfinished version of the game. There. End of discussion.
A beta/alpha/gamma/omega/chicken/dishwasher/hamster/anyotherwordyoucanthinkof version is whatever the hell the developers want it to be.
Point is, it's an early access game. Steam states that early access games are unfinished, and by playing them, we are supporting them and testing an unfinished version of the game. There. End of discussion.
shysaursoft
Member
ITT: A lot of people who've never programmed anything, and have no idea how software development works.
It might have to do with the weapons stat been randomly generated, therefore if you have a world you already spawn those weapons already have stats on them, so they wouldn't be able to change the stats on the weapons already generated. Thus the wipe to ensure all weapons are generated with the fixed algortihm. Thats my guess tho.
a Hamster test sounds pretty cute.
I feel like you're trying to tell us something, but I can't quite put down what it is. Well, maybe I'll figure it out after playing this completely finished, bug free, entirely permanent, retail version of Starbound.
I'm going to miss this unabashedly literal shield I found today.
"Duuuuuuddeee, I can't kill you!"
Zabant
Member
It is
GazzaScotland
Member
Like I said, all that is true and I have no issue with it, because I expected it all. All I would want is for them maybe to put a note on the early access bit on store page that wipes are to be expected so people not following the game know the score.
indigo-cyclops
Member
Very good times...
No ETA on this next update. Remember, they're on London time, so the poor bastards were up at 8AM getting this last update out. What lazy developers, amirite?!
Sgt.Pepper
Banned
I haven't updated. HOW DO I SAVE MY METAL STATION
Really this is just another issue with Steam Early access. Because you get to buy the game and play it immediately there is a sense of entitlement (not unjustified) that comes with it. Even if it's feature incomplete, you expect a level of playability that goes with your money.
There have been plenty of closed betas I've been involved in which featured frequent wipes, scheduled playtimes and horrible gamebreaking bugs. But these were not games I paid money to play. I may have pre-ordered the game but that was because I believed in the game it was to be. If Starbound released an early beta to pre-orders with an update schedule and planned wipes I think it would be a completely different ballgame.
Steam Early Access, despite all the warning, are still billed like full retail games you can buy and play. There's no promise of update cycles or completion dates and the screenshots/movies you see attached to the game page can be horribly misleading. You don't see Walmart selling half finished products like Steam.
I know it was a little bit of a side complaint with the whole Early Access thing but I think that's half the concern with Starbound.
There have been plenty of closed betas I've been involved in which featured frequent wipes, scheduled playtimes and horrible gamebreaking bugs. But these were not games I paid money to play. I may have pre-ordered the game but that was because I believed in the game it was to be. If Starbound released an early beta to pre-orders with an update schedule and planned wipes I think it would be a completely different ballgame.
Steam Early Access, despite all the warning, are still billed like full retail games you can buy and play. There's no promise of update cycles or completion dates and the screenshots/movies you see attached to the game page can be horribly misleading. You don't see Walmart selling half finished products like Steam.
I know it was a little bit of a side complaint with the whole Early Access thing but I think that's half the concern with Starbound.
I feel the same. I can name numerous games I've tested in the beta/alpha stages off the top of my head that had multiple wipes in quick succession. Some from pretty well known developers. It's expected. They literally said, multiple times, in bold, that there would be multiple wipes in this stage.
For people following the game, sure. But they didn't mention it on the steam page or in game which is going to generate a lot of backlash from the steam community.
TekGryphon
Banned
There will be. That system is not in place yet.
Do you know why? I'll give you a few guesses.
It would be nice if we laid off the snide, the inflammatory, and the implied superiority/inferiority comments.
But steam mentions that Early access games are in an incomplete state...
Not only that, but they've been saying it since October: http://playstarbound.com/how-the-beta-is-going-to-work/
A rift on this post is playing live in an OT near you, now with backup dancers.
wouln't Tiy be able to just say "Note: To see this fix you have to visit a new planet?"
It's not like the game has a shortage of new planets to generate
They don't have an argument even when they paid 15 USD since it has been stated over and over and over and over and over and over and over again and again and again.
The first boss is a lot more viable to fight now. Nice that it doesn't take nearly 100 hits to kill. Also glad they made it so you can't do damage through blocks. Some people were suggesting that you shouldn't be able to build in combat, or that building have an energy cost. Both of those would have been bad routes to go down. One of the main things I like about Starbound so far is just how fluid it feels to place and build things.
Has anyone been able to change the direction of the wooden support beams, and the other similar angled objects? For me, there's always angled bottom-left to top-right. Maybe I'm missing something.
Has anyone been able to change the direction of the wooden support beams, and the other similar angled objects? For me, there's always angled bottom-left to top-right. Maybe I'm missing something.
TekGryphon
Banned
This complaint I can agree with. I understand why Valve went the path of Greenlight/Early Access in order to give indie developers a path to success, but they really need to do a better job separating Early Access from the Retail section.
If they can make a game directory through Green-light that's separate from store pages, why can't they make a third that's for Early Access?
Keep games that are in alpha/beta development on that section and remove games, refund customers, and penalize developers who move their games from Early Access to Retail before their advertised features are present.
I agree. Still sucks.
OMG YOU LIVE
GazzaScotland
Member
Many would have got early access games though and not had to deal with wipes so rightly or wrong they would assume this is the same. To a new customer who has never heard of the game before, nothing here would suggest wipes, instead more suggesting frequent new content. I have no issue at all with the wipes as it was expected, but for those who only seen it through steam I just feel it could have been explained better in the store page? Though this could be a greater issue with early access only allowing a set space for things like this to be said?
Zabant
Member
The industry practise of making the "Beta" little more than an early access demo for preorders is to blame for the sheer level of entitlement going on here. Besides, if you dont like having your hard work destroyed, you're going to be in for a bad time when someone on GAF server finds your hidden base and is feeling malicious.
This self imposed down time gives me time to work on the GAF Crafting Bench mod anyway.
I totally thought of it first, so nyahhhh
This self imposed down time gives me time to work on the GAF Crafting Bench mod anyway.
I totally thought of it first, so nyahhhh
Such lazy developers;
How so? Character names don't work like an MMO where it's first-come-first-serve. Do you mean on the forums or something?
I find that 'aiming' towards where you want the low end of the support to be placed helps. Also, this is probably obvious but they need support at both points to be placed.
I've got it on my list of stuff to mention.
How so? Character names don't work like an MMO where it's first-come-first-serve. Do you mean on the forums or something?
I find that 'aiming' towards where you want the low end of the support to be placed helps. Also, this is probably obvious but they need support at both points to be placed.
I've got it on my list of stuff to mention.
OminoMichelin
Member
The new opengl launcher saved me a few fps, but the game still syncs with the frame rate so it's all in slow-mo.
shysaursoft
Member
And I'd like it if people didn't whine like entitled brats, but we can't all get what we want. Besides, my statement was 100% true. Surprisingly so: you'd think more people would have done rudimentary programming in highschool computer science? A little Pascal, some Delphi? Even some Visual Basic would suffice. Heck, break out the Hypercard if you're so inclined.
My statement was mostly jest anyway. No need to be upset.
Those changed direction for me automatically once I targeted a right-side corner.
I think that's my biggest issue as well.
Personally, I don't have a problem with the beta and the wipe. I've been following the development and they've been very clear from the start that there would always be this chance of wipes during the beta as they perform balances and fix bugs. But imagine if you had bought this on Steam, played it, and came back the next day with everything you had just done - gone. There is nothing stating that you might lose your progress.
I was even talking to a co-worker yesterday who saw that I was playing it on Steam, and he said he had no idea that it was in early beta. It's something that could be easily missed.
I'm just not sure if Steam is really the right platform if you still have bugs that can potentially result in the loss of everything.
For them to know that would require people to read things and pay attention.
Bitching is much easier.
Ahh. There was a light in the way on the ship last time I tried doing that. Got it. Thanks, guys.
Technosteve
Banned
So what is the eta on the wipe for the original wipe?