I would definitely hope not. Not even the lofty goals of this game appeal to me. The funding system seems to be large microtransactions before the game is even released.
This seems to be the type of game that should be released in pieces, anyways. What you guys describe as expansions to Elite sounds like the right direction to go. Make a core game, sell that game, then sell more stuff to attach to it.
I am one of the older backers of the game and occasionally bump my package with a little larger ship.
I have flown my ships around a bit, I know this is a process and that most of this process is usually hidden from the end users. It is ambitious and I full well realize that the $250 or so I have invested in the game could very well be wasted. Some people buy expensive gym equipment and use it twice before letting it collect dust in the garage.
The last couple months have been seeing alot of progress with flyable ships and filling out of features. I think it will work, I am not holding my breath for any given release date or demanding my current ship (Constellation) be 100% ready.
If they don’t make a decent working game, it isn’t because they are not trying. They have sufficient funding and not all of the funding is coming from the crowdfunding. Chris Roberts was by no stretch of the imagination broke when he started this whole thing.
The “damning article” from the escapist is pretty much parroting Derek Smart, a developer who failed to make a similar game many years ago. Google “Battlecruiser 3000AD” for a lovely tale of disaster 10 years in the making. Maybe he is speaking from his own failed experience, maybe its just sour grapes. <shrug>
As far as the price tags, like many things in life, you can pay for experiences. Packages offering spending a day at the studio, lunch with Chris Roberts, etc are common to KS campaigns and many of them are not cheap options. Those of us not working in game development might like such options just as much as someone who partakes of $1K bottles of champagne in a fancy nightclub.
The bump prompted me to check up on the game’s progress. Apparently they released 2.1 of their “alpha” today. A mere $410 will net you the two-ship Aegis Fighter Pack.
At this point, I honestly don’t know how this game will ever live up to its own hype train. It’s certainly earned its place in history, for good or ill.
I think there’s a circle jerk against this game in a lot of the gaming media because it’s so ambitious and so obviously bucks the trends of gaming through rehashing, unambitious development, short turnaround games pumping out iterative franchises, dumbing down, consolization, etc.
And there are a lot of console users who resent technically ambitious games they’ll never be able to play and instead just try to bash it.
Why anyone gives the slightest fuck what Derek Smart thinks I have no idea.
I’m still cautiously optimistic.
The basic ship packs are still $45. That fighter pack is by no stretch of the imagination required to play.
The pre-purchased ships can be earned in game…however many of those ships will take a long time to earn. There are no “super duper bulletproof” ships, and the biggest player controlled ships are a handful of frigates that could be defeated by a skilled squadron of $45 starter players if they are not supported. The guy who pays for the massive ship packages does not have the ability to conquer planets or anything.
I agree, I think there is way too much focus on “high twitch” gaming and looking for the “optimized” method or ultimate sniper perch to rack up kills.
The folks like that hate the game because characters can be killed. Combat centric occupations like piracy will be dangerous and loss of ships and advancement are real possibilities. The insurance program basically hands a cash payout to your “heir” < a fresh character> if you are killed.
Being smart, choosing your battles wisely, and knowing when to run or not bite off more than you can chew are valuable. This is the exact opposite of high twitch meat-grinders like Battlefield or Call of Duty. Rumors of bounty systems for players killing characters in ejection pods and such are popular ideas. A large chunk or players are looking to operate as ambulances, tow trucks, and field repair services. Being a pirate in a crippled ship and being worth more in bounty than as a repair client will not be a pleasant place to be.
The ship packages
the ship I have at the moment.
Well… no, I don’t think so. I think it’s more that Chris Roberts’s Kickstarter, the subsequent fundraising, and the way money has been spent has been viewed by a lot of folks (console users and reasonable people both, natch) as hubristic and spendthrift. Obviously this isn’t the case for many if not most of the of the backers, who remain very optimistic.
The Escapist’s article was much more interesting for the ex-employee interviews than for the Derek Smart bits, which had already been documented elsewhere.
Maybe those employees were lying - time will tell.
Isn’t the fact that it’s been in development for so long and is still only in alpha (a very expensive paid alpha, at that) enough reason to hate it? And the last few months have seen a lot of progress in flyable ships? What does that mean, that they weren’t flyable before? That they’re still not flyable, but they’re closer to being flyable? If you’re this far along in development and you’re still making progress on something that fundamental, there’s something seriously wrong.
Vs
Diablo 3?
Fallout 3
Half life 2
Neverwinter Nights
Team Fortress 2
Warcraft3
Spore
Many of those had much longer development and were sequels with existing lore, gameplay structure, graphical styling, and in many cases dev teams that had worked on the prequels.
I expect a good game to take 3-5 years to happen, we are just past 3.
Wha? You’re mad that they’re taking time to craft an incredibly ambitious, large, and detailed game? Would you rather they be like Ubisoft and crank out another assassin’s creed game every 9 months?
3 years is not at all a very long development time for a game. Even mildly ambitious games are a huge amount of work.
If you’re mad that you can only fly this or that, then obviously crowdfunding this game isn’t for you, and you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) have done it.
I would much rather have the most ambitious game of all time after 5 years than shoveled shit after 2.
I am also expecting huge things but I am willing to wait for them. If CIG pulls off a significant percentage of its promised game it is going to be groundbreaking on several levels.
I am a die hard space gamer, Cosmic balance, the wing commander series, alliegance, freespace, XvT, pretty much every space x4 title in existence, ST:O. I have always craved more detail.
Until the recent burst of visible progress, it was easy to get the impression that they were spending more time producing $200 microtransactions than the game.
We’re in year 5 right now - the game’s been in development since October 2011.
Even the current release of “end of 2016” puts it at the 6 year mark, and that release was, I believe, set before the pushback of certain other goals like the Star Marine module. Drachillix can correct me there if I’m wrong.
…
So you’re saying it’s totally not Pay-to-win because “the biggest ships can totally be taken down by a skilled squadron” if no one is around to protect them?
I think it would be a different conversation if Elite: Dangerous hadn’t come along and got itself released last year.
a $450 team being able to take out a $2500 ship does not sound like PTW. I would tend to define PTW as game breaking. The hundred or so frigates and corvettes out of over a million players is not.
There will also be plenty of players out there looking to prove themselves by killing or capturing those ships, making them popular targets for pirate groups.
I’m confused as to what $2500 ship is being taken out by a $450 team in this scenario. Are you perhaps referring to $2700 package of ships and equipment?
There are a couple larger ships which were available for limited sale namely the Idris Frigate Which if I recall correctly was offered for sale standalone for $2500.
Having a big bad ship is not in and of itself any guarantee of invincibility. Larger ships will be able to take immense amounts of punishment before being destroyed but can be rendered combat ineffective without being destroyed. Targeting of and damage to critical subsystems like turrets, engines, powerplants, is a valid tactic. An opposing pilot who knows where the power systems/avionics/main power conduits/etc. on a given ship can focus fire on that area hoping that a shot that penetrates the hull will destroy/cripple the system leaving the ship disabled but minimally damaged. The amount of planned damage possibilities is huge and is one of the time issues with ship creation is they are not just modeling a frame and skin, they are placing pathing for power, data, fuel lines, locations of sensors, thrusters, and a broad variety of ship systems that can be individually damaged both by ship to ship weapon fire or in some cases small arms and grenades in boarding actions.