David Braben: Releasing the game with "fewer features"

From Newsletter #49

There is an even greater temporary emphasis on such tasks at the moment, to get the game ‘shippable’ with countless fixes, polish and tweaking and fewer features (although of course we still have some surprises left up our sleeves for you leading up to the 16th December!).

:eek::eek::eek:

Am I missing something??

Freudian slip maybe? :D :p
 
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They're focusing on polishing the game rather than adding new features. These might come later, after the game's release.
 
Well basically what was said was that originally the game development time was meant to be more 80/20 Content/Code well with time (and our relentless beta testing efforts) it shifted more in the realm of 40/60 Content/Code...

That doesn't mean they won't add content later It's just that at the time of the release they shifted their efforts more in making sure that the nuts and bolts of the system were up to speed before loading it with content. That's fine by me a lot of content with a mess of a code structure is no good, I'd rather it be the opposite.
 
I think so. There is still plenty to come by release that we don't know about and planetary landing aside we have all of the features from the previous games ( that didn't require those platforms specifically and/or didn't work with the story ) so I would say yes there is enough content to be successful.
 
I just stumbled on that part, on my second reading of the newsletter. Didn't see it on my first pass.

I'm surprised, and disappointed. I couldn't care less about the offline mode, but THIS is a problem.
 
But will it be enough content to be as successful as we all hope it will be?

There will be enough for some, but then again some are obviously still looking for being told what to do by some questionable NPC animations and getting that "Special Snowflake" moment .. .. ..

G
 
Why is it a problem?
Something about the game not being as good, interesting and fun as we had hoped maybe?

Until now, many hoped the full game would have many more features, and much more content, seeing as the beta is critically lacking in both areas, and now we learn that our hopes were a bit ambitious, and the game below its own promises.
 
Why not just delay the game until it's fully ready?

This stinks of a publisher/investors/shareholders pulling the strings tbh. That never ends well :(
 
Honestly, I don't know why so many people seem to be unhappy. Are you enjoying the game so far? Are you looking forward to the gamma/official release?
Why do so many of you guys act like there won't be any updates/adds to the game after (!) the release in december?

Ok, so:
- no offline mode? I couldn't care less. Play single player online, found a group... don't see any problem except for "ooooooh but I can't have all the resources/commodities for myself" thing

- fewer features at release than originally planned? Does not mean FDevs won't throw those features in at a later time, right?

Really, I can not understand what all the fuzz and concerns are about. I personally am looking forward to the gamma and the final (uhm... let's call it not "final", let's call it "official") release, and I have much faith in DB and his team. And no, I am not a fangirl... not old-school nor new follower. I am just enjoying what I have, and it's way better than many titles that have been out there for a much longer period of time.

*shrugs and starts E: D*
 
But will it be enough content to be as successful as we all hope it will be?

Slack, I think it depends on the individual's expectations...whether You think it is a success or not...
You got to remember, We are play testing a Beta, we are helping to iron out the bugs in the game engine. The immersive content,
storylines, depth etc, will be added, introduced ad infinitum.
As long as this forum continues, so will our input into the future of this 'Game'
IMHO....
 
Something about the game not being as good, interesting and fun as we had hoped maybe?

Until now, many hoped the full game would have many more features, and much more content, seeing as the beta is critically lacking in both areas, and now we learn that our hopes were a bit ambitious, and the game below its own promises.
Id wait till 11/20 before making that determination.
 
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Honestly, I don't know why so many people seem to be unhappy. Are you enjoying the game so far? Are you looking forward to the gamma/official release?
Why do so many of you guys act like there won't be any updates/adds to the game after (!) the release in december?

Ok, so:
- no offline mode? I couldn't care less. Play single player online, found a group... don't see any problem except for "ooooooh but I can't have all the resources/commodities for myself" thing

- fewer features at release than originally planned? Does not mean FDevs won't throw those features in at a later time, right?

Really, I can not understand what all the fuzz and concerns are about. I personally am looking forward to the gamma and the final (uhm... let's call it not "final", let's call it "official") release, and I have much faith in DB and his team. And no, I am not a fangirl... not old-school nor new follower. I am just enjoying what I have, and it's way better than many titles that have been out there for a much longer period of time.

*shrugs and starts E: D*

I do agree with that, release isn't final. It's a decision about where you are in development, financial and accounting realities and so on, but it isn't a full stop. In many ways it's an arbitrary stage of ongoing development which is 'sufficiently' done to be put out. People focus on it because it's also generally when reviews happen, and that manifestly matters. Gamma is the point where they throw everything into making sure it's stable, optimised and so on.

Up until now they've been much more focused on the next release, this was only natural as each iteration would produce its own bugs and problems. Fixing those in the current release was only a priority when it was significant enough to merit it, or simple enough that it was worth the time. In fact David Braben said a long time ago that beta was about getting the content / mechanics in place, gamma as about full bug-fixing mode. That's broadly where we are now, they want to make sure all those kinks are ironed out before general release.

After that? Back to work on adding to the game.
 
Honestly, I don't know why so many people seem to be unhappy. Are you enjoying the game so far? Are you looking forward to the gamma/official release?
Why do so many of you guys act like there won't be any updates/adds to the game after (!) the release in december?

Ok, so:
- no offline mode? I couldn't care less. Play single player online, found a group... don't see any problem except for "ooooooh but I can't have all the resources/commodities for myself" thing

- fewer features at release than originally planned? Does not mean FDevs won't throw those features in at a later time, right?

Really, I can not understand what all the fuzz and concerns are about. I personally am looking forward to the gamma and the final (uhm... let's call it not "final", let's call it "official") release, and I have much faith in DB and his team. And no, I am not a fangirl... not old-school nor new follower. I am just enjoying what I have, and it's way better than many titles that have been out there for a much longer period of time.

*shrugs and starts E: D*

The concern that the game will be released not much more advanced than it currently is, the reception that will get, the impact that might have on the future content. If the game flops (and I hope it doesn't) then how long are FD going to keep working on it? Most of us have already paid for the game and future expansions so there's no new money there, ship skins ain't going to cover it.

It's not impossible that there is no future expansions, no new content and they shut the servers down and you can't even play offline mode.
I hope that doesn't happen, I cannot say with 100% certainty though that the game will be successful enough for the developers to continue working on it. FD are a business after all.

This type of thing has happened time and time again in the gaming industry (game does poorly due to rushed release, has expansion plans, development stops as it doesn't sell enough, game dies except for the hardcore few) so it's not like there's not precedence.
 
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