Development Update 4 - September

[CMD Worbly Blorble]

Considering the "vocal minority" right now consists of console players wanting some reassurance that we'll be able to play EDO and, from what I"ve seen, have only been critical of what they see as steps taken that do not get us closer to that goal, I think we're talking about different groups.

While I love odyssey I think there is room for improvement. I think their steps of improving its core are more important than shoveling the existing content to consoles. They are doing some pretty major changes and having to manage them for multiple platforms would inevitably create more overhead and ultimately hinder progress. Also on PC release people flipped out about it being unfinished. Its better for the health of the game that they polish it into a gem before pushing to consoles. The game still has mostly negative on steam. The changes to conflict zones, the multicrew, the 2 person SRV, these are things that make a huge difference to the gameplay experience. They also said they will be improving mission diversity which to me is very promising. They seem to be taking feedback to heart.
Edit:
I think its fairly reasonable to predict that when the reviews shift upward we will see a more steady push towards console crossplay.

 

[Red Anders]

Combat SRV, just what I personally wanted as I have run into those tough base defenses where they hover, fire loads of missiles and have strong shields and very strong armour.

Mentioning armour, how about a paint job kinda like this?

Needs stick-on googly eyes.

 

[StarTux]

Needs stick-on googly eyes.

Like this?

 

[Red Anders]

Perfect. You can tell it's late, I'd usually have been all over that on google before posting but I'm sleeeeeepy

 

[CMDR KCalo]

While I love odyssey I think there is room for improvement. I think their steps of improving its core are more important than shoveling the existing content to consoles. They are doing some pretty major changes and having to manage them for multiple platforms would inevitably create more overhead and ultimately hinder progress. Also on PC release people flipped out about it being unfinished. Its better for the health of the game that they polish it into a gem before pushing to consoles. The game still has mostly negative on steam. The changes to conflict zones, the multicrew, the 2 person SRV, these are things that make a huge difference to the gameplay experience. They also said they will be improving mission diversity which to me is very promising. They seem to be taking feedback to heart.
Edit:
I think its fairly reasonable to predict that when the reviews shift upward we will see a more steady push towards console crossplay.

It took Hello Games about 5yrs for their NMS review to change to "Mostly Positive", so I think it's gonna be a while if it's the reviews that determine when we might see consoles back in the mix.

 

[CMD Worbly Blorble]

It took Hello Games about 5yrs for their NMS review to change to "Mostly Positive", so I think it's gonna be a while if it's the reviews that determine when we might see consoles back in the mix.

The reviews are steadily climbing if you check them. I don't think its that far off.

Edit:
I think there is sort of a feedback loop and as the tide turns people will come back and update their reviews. I think a shift is coming soon. Its just speculation but most of the people I play with or have talked with about the expansion seem to be more and more interested in it given the new features that are being implemented and to see how things are being changed. Even the negative reviews on steam are often updated and you can see the tone starting to shift.

 

[CMDR Astraea Astralis]

This update is possibly the most exciting one yet. Kudos CMs and devs o7

 

[varonica]

More interiors and and FC interiors, interesting, wasn't expecting the FC interior but I was expecting some new interiors, glad I wasn't wrong about everything! Although we will have to wait and see about FC interiors, will you be able to jump the FC while in the social areas, will multiple players be able to be in social area when it jumps, will there be windows, what services etc. I wonder what the layouts will be, it can't possibly be the same as the ones we already have, different structures altogether!

Now all they need is to implement Orbis and Ocellus ring station gardens and I will satisfied!

 

[Sysmon]

More interiors and and FC interiors, interesting, wasn't expecting the FC interior but I was expecting some new interiors, glad I wasn't wrong about everything! Although we will have to wait and see about FC interiors, will you be able to jump the FC while in the social areas, will multiple players be able to be in social area when it jumps, will there be windows, what services etc. I wonder what the layouts will be, it can't possibly be the same as the ones we already have, different structures altogether!

Now all they need is to implement Orbis and Ocellus ring station gardens and I will satisfied!

And pool bars. Must have pool bars.

S

 

[ZeroBR]

I hope they fix the 32 button limitation though.

 

[Colossus1921]

Four-Player Multicrew
As mentioned in Development Update 3, we are pleased to confirm that the following ships will all receive an extra seat to enable four Commanders to board them: Anaconda, Beluga Liner, Federal Corvette, Imperial Cutter, Type 9, Type 10, and the Alliance Crusader.

In the arena of changes to multi-crew, a common request among friends of mine is allowing a mixture of multi-crew and wings.

Late last year, I helped a couple of my friends get into the game, and one issue we ran into was that one person had a ship that was capable of doing combat, while one player didn't. So if the three of us wanted to play together, we would have to either pick multi-crew, which was less rewarding for the player with a combat-capable ship, or form a wing, and pray that the player with a non-combat spec ship could survive.

Keeping the cap of four players total between ships would prevent issues that were raised at the advent of multi-crew, of having a dozen people in one mega multi-crew/wing mess.

Just figured I'd mention it while there was still a discussion about multi-crew ongoing.

 

[WILLIAM BILL ADAMA]

I want to save my words until "Update 8" release. But given the "Update 7", I think I should save my hope, too.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

Nice upcoming features. Really liking these development insights.

Not a complaint, but I will say Ship Interiors>FC Interiors. Hopefully that's announced as a feature in development in the coming months.

Also, obligatorily, VR on-foot. Please.

 

[GraphicEqualizer]

Great little additions, and hopeful (yet again) for the next update's performance, stutter and lighting improvements. It'll all can't come soon enough for the worst affected players and I hope for our poor console brethren soon too - but I'm glad they have not had to suffer our pain!

 

[Mersozz]

This is all welcome news and shows that FDev is paying attention and continues to believe in this project. I enjoy this game immensely (minus some of the grind which is still largely ahead of me). Most of what is announced here is quite clever in that it should be relatively easy to re-use existing code and modules to make it all happen. The biggest new promise here that I am looking forward to is the combat SRV which I think is long overdue. The game seems like it was designed to have a variety of SRVs, just like there are a variety of SLFs with different looks and abilities. This will add yet another new dimension to this immense playground, as will the many variations in mission possibilities being thought up.

I sincerely hope that performance issues are getting a hard look now. I have no doubt this game does a lot of background work to simulate what appears to be random traffic as well as an increasing variety of natural-appearing places to go. I have to resort to suspending my imagination when the screen gets jittery because the computer can't keep up with what is being asked of it. That MUST get better than it is. I also hope that a full VR implementation is still on the radar because it would be a shame not to have it, given how beautiful and complete the experience was in Horizons. I know it doesn't rhyme but "Once you go VR, you can't go back...". As for consoles, it isn't a personal concern, but I understand that porting over before the product settles into something close to final product would be a poor use of resources. I am sure Frontier is well-aware that the revenue stream from console users is important, but porting and releasing prematurely would be a nightmare far worse than what the community has already experienced.

Great post.

 

[krylite]

You're exactly right. They can't give us console players any sort of update because they are literally doing nothing more for consoles.

If I were you I'd wait until fdev say that, rather than making it up for yourself.

I don't think they're abandoning consoles. It's just going to take longer to get Odyssey console ready. For an ED historical perspective, they needed a year longer to do the PS4 port of ED & horizons, which also delayed progress on Horizons.

 

[Mersozz]

I don't think they're abandoning consoles. It's just going to take longer to get Odyssey console ready. For an ED historical perspective, they needed a year longer to do the PS4 port of ED & horizons, which also delayed progress on Horizons.

I agree. They need to get the PC experience sorted first.

 

[Fizzatron]

I think we're talking about different groups.

That, I hope we can agree on.

 

[Fosdyke]

Thanks guys! Nice to see things going forward o7

 

[muhhy]

We’ve had a lot of feedback since our August post and have been hard at work tackling your most pressing issues: not just from the Issue Tracker, but from all corners of our community.

Do you know why you have to gather pressing issues outside the issue tracker? Because we know you hardly review them, and the vast majority of issues expire without getting proper reviews, even when the issue is an exploitable issue. A lot of us have given up using it!