So... I do see where this could go poorly. It also might not. I imagine the devs have thought things through, and are prepared for the worst case scenario. Lord knows they have enough practice with how the often the poison comes out on this forum with every update and small or large change. I'm at about 1500 hours on this game. I tend to jump around a bit with my gaming habits, but there are a few games that I'll come back to once, twice or thrice a year. Skyrim - 134 hours Fallout New Vegas - 187 hours Mount and Blade Warband - 469 hours Now, these three games, you could probably double, triple, maybe even quadruple those times. Steam doesn't seem to track things super well between installs, and I've had those games on disk. When that was still a thing. If you quadruple the numbers, Warband is pretty much even with Empyrion, and it's been around a HELL of a lot longer. Empyrion is an awesome game. Eleon could stop dead in their tracks right now, and I would still come back on a regular basis for a new playthrough, to build a few new ships. They've more than earned my money. If they start up a new project in the future, early access, crowdfunding, whatever, you can bet they'll be getting some more of my money. They've earned that trust, that even if I don't agree with every decision, they have what it takes to put out a fun game. Something that damn near every triple a company seems to have forgotten. It might be a roll of the dice, but I wish y'all the best of luck Eleon.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing how Jim Sterling reviews this. I think I'm going to need more popcorn though.
Merde si vous appelez ca, un jeux fini vous n'êtes pas difficile "Damn if you call that, a finished game you are not difficult"
Hey everyone! I think many on this thread are worried via the uncertainty. So I wish to settle nerves and offer a soothing update. I just want to let everyone know that it is more of a cultural difference that you are reacting to. No need to fret. They are just thinking about the "checking off of the boxes" in a more mechanical sense. I sought out a response from one of the dev's and this is what I got: " Nothing changes. After the release of 1.0 we will still work with the same dedication on this project as we do now. Just the number top left in your screen wont Say Alpha anymore. Steam Store Page wont say Early Access Anymore. Thats all We all still will work with lots of love on this game. WERE NOT DONE AFTER 1.0 " So really, the game we love continues. <- this is what really matters.
I'm a newbie (and will always be) but I agree that EternalHeathen that they earned my money already. Sure it has its flaws and it's far from perfect. But it's highly playable and there is a lot of people on Steam with thousand of hours of play time. So it's not unplayable as some of us are stating. Many cRPGs provide 80 hours of fun and that's it. Here we have thousands of procedurally generated fun. I play only SP so I may be missing a lot on these arguments. But I've never been so engaged in a game as I am right now. They stated that they'll keep working on the game. If they keep adding or fixing stuff until it becomes a huge beast like the team behind No Man Sky is doing, I will continue to support Elleon.
As will I, however the nature and surprise aspect of this announcement, coupled with the expectation that comes with "release" and the limited details, should not make the negative reaction unexpected
Its been an interestingly fun 8k hours. Much entertainment you guys provided me with. I have done absolutely zero single player but I am sure its great. I feel I am going to have to go back to therapy for my abandonment issues soon. Grab that money before them other games come out! The Galaxy is fun to explore until you are 20 minutes in and realize its the same 6 templates. Are there people that have over 1k hours in just single player? I suppose exploring the galaxy could be considered single player even if you are in a 200 pop server.. Anyways, its been fun.
Project Eden helps with that. You should get it now before the it gets DMCAed, or whatever the German equivalent is, and the Project Aden DLC comes out for $49.99. I kid of course. At least I hope so... ...yes
It is good to hear this. It would be best to hear it straight from the development team as this would alleviate quite a few concerns. Several unanswered questions. Too many patterns are emerging and this announcement can go sideways very fast. I personally don't wish for failure. This game has sparked a wonderful community in the server I play in. We do not want to see our home destroyed.
German programmers translating improvised public relation statements might not be better than what we got... no offense intended.
Beta.... hmmm....I hope there will be HUGE refinements to combat, trade and the economy! I really hope this doesn't mean the dev team is settling with the incomplete tech demo, that EGS is right now. Let's hope this still means we get some ship to ship trading with npcs, npc companions that can be assigned duties and perform remedial tasks and walk around our vessels, and also fleet mechanics with hired npc crews operating your vessels and ability to assign Npc's a trade route or autopilot for you to be able to walk on your ship.
I am a new player. But what from what I have seen... This game isnt in a position to leave "Early Acess" or Alpha. The game is incredibly unpolished. Unless your next announcement is that you will be fixing almost everything that is currently unpolished.
LOL! Yeah, I mean, if they did this, the actual in-person communique might be a little rough. Eleon has done this before - made a sudden right or left turn, and because of the cultural differences they just kinda, do it. You know, without realizing that we are not all German. And then afterwards they suddenly look up and are like, "Wait, why are you all complaining, Ja?" <- to be very very very very clear, I have been to Germany(Loved Berlin and Hamburg) and got an invitation to stay(which was very flattering and I might take because my current country of America is, well, not doin so hot... although I fully expect to arrive in Germany, have them place me in quarantine, and then poke me with sticks ) so I mean no offense. It might also help to realize that their interpretation of the "stages of game development" is also, very, very German. They see it as, "Stage one, gather materials," "Stage two, spend time in Alpha gathering features," "Stage three, polish features and make them look pretty,"(the stage we just reached) "Stage four, say 'Ja' a lot and while talking to themselves a few feet away and motioning that they should add more guns and models because 'the players like guns ja, so we should add some more ja?'" Again, I know there are many German players here so I do not say this to be offensive, but more to help people feel a sense of comedic cathartic release. This announcement was off-putting so I say have a good laugh. This announcement has already gone sideways fast. I just saw what was happening and wanted to help people with feelings of dread, doubt, and anxiety. I know it is not really my place to do this, but I am a strong believer in communication, hate it when I see others experiencing said feelings of dread, and wanted to do something about it. Eleon is not going to put this fire out, they are just going to proceed forward and then release more stuff for Empyrion. They will rely on the fact that players will see that and then think, "Oh, thats cool," and go back to recommending features.
I think many, like myself, are worried that a 1.0 version on steam will be seen as a complete product (as it should be, complete, not necessarily final version), and thus will be judged with reviews thereafter. If I had bought into this game as it is right now with a 1.0 released version. I would have given it a bad review and probably asked for a refund. It's an amazing EA game and coming from such a small studio it's even more impressive, but regardless the game has -very- rough edges on most systems ingame (as it should be in alpha, polishing up the player experience should happen during a beta phase) aswell as tons of bugs, some that's been present for several Alphas. From a suspiscious thought, if absolutely nothing changes, why not just go with Alpha 13,14,15 etc until it's time for Beta stage? If it's supposed to just be a number for us why not the same for the devs?
Feeling much less concerned about this today than I did yesterday, still have that niggling worry that there may be unfavaourable reviews. But, if it is communicated the right way that updates will continue to flow, on Steam, then the launch attention and marketing oppotunities will hopefully get more players on board to help support the future developments we all want. I know some people have a hatred of DLC, I would presonally be happy to support future game development through purchase of DLC. Hell, I will even pay €1.99 if it means I can crouch and you can't If DLC really adds story or entirely new scenarios that will eat another 40-400 hours of my time, then please take my money. If it is €/£/$5 for a hat then nope! There are people out there that will pay for a hat; I am just not one of them. Development work is expensive, good DLC is a way to support that, and as a dev myself I am more than happy to support others who make products I love. DLC to my mind should never be about core features, but a hat, [me] being able to crouch, a gun, a ship, a whole new scenario, if priced appropriatly and not unbalanced then please give me more awesome content. So, thanks for all the hard work, long may it continue, and good luck!
I guess I'm gonna be on my stand now with everyone's comments on transitioning from Alpha to public release. After Steam's green light hit the fan with the garbage half-releases and games that suffer abandoned development the word alpha or early access means little to me other than it means we just started or the game is considered too rough for public release.
So I don't hate DLC, but the game has to be reasonably bug free. The DLC should only be cosmetic and should not offer any game advantage. Then I would be happy to support the developers with the purchase of DLC if in return they continue to develop the game or add new content. But crouching from a DLC would be a gameplay advantage in multiplayer and I can't do that, I wouldn't touch the game anymore. But Empyrion isn't ready yet for personally investing money in DLC, it isn't even ready to be released. Taelyn said on Discord: Taelyn For us this is how we release the game. We are SP Developers. The founders carefully thought this out. Were currently collecting everyone feedback and tomorrow the Founders will release an answer on it Don't panic Taelyn Interesting, so your focus in V1.0 is primarily on SP and MP is not further developed, or how do I have the statement that we are SP developers to understand. Taelyn Never said MP wont be further developed Taelyn But whats there to add for MP. The majority of things we add in SP work in MP. The rest for MP is done by ServerOwners and ScenarioWriters
As far as I understand game development, the alpha phase in the game adds mechanics to the content that shapes it. Beta is a time for bug fixes, additional polishing, and content entry to finalize the product. The final version does not have to be perfect at the start, the best example is No Man's Sky, but the team's commitment to make it a game over time through major or minor upgrades that will take it from a notorious bad start to the status of an adored game. Players from a decade or more ago were not as spoiled as they are today. You will rarely find, among younger players, that someone is still dedicated to some games older than a couple of years. This is because there are typical examples of the consumer age in which we live. Growing and evolving along with developing a game is a foreign concept to them. Their only guide is, give me perfection for a little money.
