No Single Player offline Mode then?

[Nomadski]

And how will those same people, with bandwidth caps, enjoy playing Star Citizen more? All this push for "higher fidelity", "better textures", "forced frames", "locked experience in multiplayer" simply results in even more bandwidth useage. I can't imagine their bills will get any lighter.

I could be wrong but I believe SC has an offline mode.

At least that is what they currently say, right now who knows, it seems devs will say anything to get the cash, and then do whatever else once they have it.

 

[Hermit]

Hello, made a forum account just to comment. I am someone who bought into the 75$ Beta.

I really, really like the game, but I am getting a little worried as I feel like Frontiers rush to the finish line will only hurt everyone involved with the game. I judge this on my experience with another Kickstarter game called Planetary Annihilation, which also launched without an offline play feature, despite one being promised. When that game came out it did not function very well since the servers that the company, Uber Entertainment were running were not able to keep up with the task of maintaining an always online game. The shaky launch of that game firmly split the community in two, those upset that the game was launched in such a state, and those defending the game. It's also worth noting that the game was very buggy and in my opinion, just not very good. In the end a Offline version of the game was released, but i don't know if that helped matters since i pretty much gave up on that game entirely and so did most of the community, Uber attempted a second Kickstarter for a new game called Human Resources, but I suspect that many people distrusted them and they didn't meet their funding goal.

There was concerns in the forums prior to the games launch pointing out that the game was not ready, concerns which turned out quite accurate.

I am a little worried about Elite: Dangerous since i see a similar chain of events playing out, and I would like to believe that it won't happen like that, but still I remain cautious.

Good post, and I wondered why the Human Resources KS failed in the way it did. I didn't back Planetary Annihilation, so didn't know about it's problems. But I can understand why you're seeing similarities. That is quite worrying. Events in videogames do tend to mirror each other. Take, for example the MechWarrior Online / Transverse mess. Although that is an extreme example of how a dev company can totally disregard it's player base.

 

[Atinus]

ANYONE doing any research on this particular element would have found a lot of horses mouth evidence that offline mode would be in, and would have found NOTHING at all that it would not be included until Friday, a few weeks before release.

Sorry, please don't misunderstand me.

I am curious, actually, because I'm trying to get a read on when Frontier stopped actively promoting offline single player as a feature in its offerings, newsletters, etc.

At first I wasn't surprised when someone said it was in the online store, but when I went to look, I couldn't find it.

So, I guess my question is, when was the last time Frontier posted it as an intended feature, whether in a newsletter or here on the forums? Yes, I realize it was on the Kickstarter and here on the forums during that time. I mean after that.

 

[mbpoblet]

I could be wrong but I believe SC has an offline mode.

At least that is what they currently say, right now who knows, it seems devs will say anything to get the cash, and then do whatever else once they have it.

I think Squadron 42 will have an offline mode, but I'm quite certain Star Citizen won't, although it might have private servers (those might have been scrapped, though).

Frankly, for me offline mode was one of the main advantages of Elite: Dangerous versus Star Citizen; Now I'm half expecting solo and private modes to be gone by the next newsletter.

 

[Asp Explorer]

I could be wrong but I believe SC has an offline mode.

At least that is what they currently say, right now who knows, it seems devs will say anything to get the cash, and then do whatever else once they have it.

I'm not disagreeing with you Nomadski - but if Elite costs say $10 to push the game across a cell/mobile network a month (unrealistic but lets say), and Star Citizen boasts it has five times the visual fidelity of everything ever created and made Michelangelo weep - then it would make sense to say it would cost five times more to play based on bandwidth alone. I know that is not how it works currently, but you can bet your very last sick squid that if data carriers can find a way to charge for bandwidth - they will do so and then sacrifice your firstborn and charge you for that too.

 

[ykza5]

What is happening with game developers lately?? This year every single top game has been completely bad and those from high companies. I expected FD to put and end to this madness and I see this. Gaming industry is sinking far worst than film. Theres no trusting even the most passionate guys like DB who where once pioneers of the industry.
I have plenty of online game an Elite was going to be my go to for offline play. I share a connection with the guys I share apartment and was looking forward to have a lag free experience but get thats not the case.
For me is an inconvinience but for many apears to be not been able to play.
FD has listen to our feedback in the past, hope that hasnt stop just now

 

[Vasious]

I think Squadron 42 will have an offline mode, but I'm quite certain Star Citizen won't, although it might have private servers (those might have been scrapped, though).

Frankly, for me offline mode was one of the main advantages of Elite: Dangerous versus Star Citizen; Now I'm half expecting solo and private modes to be gone by the next newsletter.

That is rather alarmist isn't it since those modes already exist and function.

Internet connection is a quality of life thing for me so I do not think I will be affected by offline mode.

However, this last newsletter reeked of self entitled market speak. It was a bit self congratulatory for my tastes. A newsletter published by the game developers should not thank the game developers for a job well done. Posting a link or a quote of someone outside the company saying "Job well done" might be in order, but really... That newsletter put a foul taste in my mouth.

I can see why people are upset about the whole "no offline thing"

Sad day when someone cannot publically praise their employees for a job well done.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I think Squadron 42 will have an offline mode, but I'm quite certain Star Citizen won't, although it might have private servers (those might have been scrapped, though).

Frankly, for me offline mode was one of the main advantages of Elite: Dangerous versus Star Citizen; Now I'm half expecting solo and private modes to be gone by the next newsletter.

Their update downloads are massive, for seemingly small changes. I think SC won't help those with bandwidth usage concerns.

 

[Nomadski]

Sorry, please don't misunderstand me.

I am curious, actually, because I'm trying to get a read on when Frontier stopped actively promoting offline single player as a feature in its offerings, newsletters, etc.

At first I wasn't surprised when someone said it was in the online store, but when I went to look, I couldn't find it.

So, I guess my question is, when was the last time Frontier posted it as an intended feature, whether in a newsletter or here on the forums? Yes, I realize it was on the Kickstarter and here on the forums during that time. I mean after that.

You might be able to get the gist of where Michael and the devs wanted to take ED by the quotes I posted. Offline was a thing to be included, but was not the intended way of playing, as they saw it, as the features of a dynamic changing universe would not be available in a screenshot offline version of the game.

Therefore it would be difficult, but probably not impossible, to find specific mentions of offline, as it would not be a 'feature' they were pushing, being an 'inferior' version of the game they were trying to make.

That said, just because they don't advertise it, doesn't mean someone looking for an offline space game would not be able to find evidence it was a thing - just type Elite Dangerous offline into google and the first link is the moderator created thread I linked to.

Outside of the bubble we inhabit, David went out and did media promotions where he also mentioned offline (and indeed how it wasn't how he would want the game to be played, but it would be possible) - http://www.edge-online.com/news/fro...ringing-elite-dangerous-to-next-gen-consoles/

”Elite will also work offline but you just won’t get a lot of the features. The whole point is that the world evolves due to the aggregated actions of the players.” David Braben 22nd July 2013

Dont take my tone in my first reply, or this one as antagonistic of you or your post, it wasn't intended as such.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I'm not disagreeing with you Nomadski - but if Elite costs say $10 to push the game across a cell/mobile network a month (unrealistic but lets say), and Star Citizen boasts it has five times the visual fidelity of everything ever created and made Michelangelo weep - then it would make sense to say it would cost five times more to play based on bandwidth alone. I know that is not how it works currently, but you can bet your very last sick squid that if data carriers can find a way to charge for bandwidth - they will do so and then sacrifice your firstborn and charge you for that too.

No, the initial download would be large due to texture sizes. Gameplay bandwidth depends entirely on how things are developed, and SC has the smaller gameplay zones right now, but has a horrible software updating system... So again I don't think either game is better right now, but for dfferent reasons concerning usage.

 

[mbpoblet]

I'm not disagreeing with you Nomadski - but if Elite costs say $10 to push the game across a cell/mobile network a month (unrealistic but lets say), and Star Citizen boasts it has five times the visual fidelity of everything ever created and made Michelangelo weep - then it would make sense to say it would cost five times more to play based on bandwidth alone. I know that is not how it works currently, but you can bet your very last sick squid that if data carriers can find a way to charge for bandwidth - they will do so and then sacrifice your firstborn and charge you for that too.

I don't think so, graphics are done client-side, after all... network-wise Elite might have to push a bit more information (positional data probably takes more bytes in Elite's much larger universe), but its networking protocol is probably more efficient (CryEngine is infamous for its requirements, which might very well extend to bandwidth), and both games have more or less equally-sized instances... so all in all their network requirements will probably be similar (although I think Star Citizen has a more centralized server-based architecture, which might cause different usage patterns than Elite's peer-to-peer-with-servers...).

 

[Tim Wheatley]

That is rather alarmist isn't it since those modes already exist and function.

Meh, not so sure they function. It's hard to make a private group actually work.

 

[vonFelty]

I think Squadron 42 will have an offline mode, but I'm quite certain Star Citizen won't, although it might have private servers (those might have been scrapped, though).

Frankly, for me offline mode was one of the main advantages of Elite: Dangerous versus Star Citizen; Now I'm half expecting solo and private modes to be gone by the next newsletter.

If you buy Star Citizen, you get Squadron 42 automatically. Its the same game, same engine, except you can play it offline.

 

[Hermit]

just type Elite Dangerous offline into google and the first link is the moderator created thread I linked to.

Another one was a link to reddit. Looks like news of this is already starting to spread:
http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/28ki4l/is_there_or_will_there_be_an_offlline_mode/
-
I really do hope FD think twice about this decision before the main gaming press start talking about it

 

[Thogapotomus]

This is a terrible decision. They can try to justify it however they want, but alienating our fellow commanders without (or have no desire for) constant internet access is EA level of shamefulness.

I think we all could overlook bugs here or there, and the fact the game is being released without all the promised content. But this...

I'm online all the time, so this isn't a huge detriment to me gameplay wise. However, offline was a huge bonus for playing around with and modding. Plus nobody likes DRM games right?

Even if those who can't enjoy the game now are the minority, it still doesn't make it okay for this last minute change up to happen. This needs to be remedied post haste.

 

[mbpoblet]

That is rather alarmist isn't it since those modes already exist and function.

I'd rather call it cynical, but yeah, I am a bit alarmed.

Their update downloads are massive, for seemingly small changes. I think SC won't help those with bandwidth usage concerns.

Indeed, I didn't take the updates into account. Have had to download it from scratch a couple of times myself, all ~23GB of it... I don't want to think what that would take without fiber, or with data caps *shudder*.

If you buy Star Citizen, you get Squadron 42 automatically. Its the same game, same engine, except you can play it offline.

You get them both, but they're not exactly the same... one is inspired by Wing Commander, the other by Privateer (which was probably inspired by Elite).

Completely different playstyles, Squadron 42 will probably be a bit of an interactive movie, like later Wing Commander games, Star Citizen will play much more similar to Elite.

 

[Nomadski]

Atinus - in addition, a direct answer to your question of when FD stopped promoting offline as a feature is they didn't.

Take a look at the FAQ on this very forum.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2721

This is basically a copy of the KS FAQ, and no longer stickied, but still accessible to anyone searching for an answer to offline mode in ED via a simple google search, or searching the general forums.

 

[Atinus]

Atinus - in addition, a direct answer to your question of when FD stopped promoting offline as a feature is they didn't. This is basically a copy of the KS FAQ, and no longer stickied, but still accessible to anyone searching for an answer to offline mode in ED via a simple google search, or searching the general forums.

Thanks. I see the ones from 2012, but I am more curious about what came after.

For example, I found these two posts from Sandro (23-7-2013) and Michael (22-1-2014) that are more recent, in the context of design discussions.

Hello Liqua!

Single player online is basically a group of one, so I don't forsee the requirement for preventing such commanders from changing to the all player group and back.

Barry was talking about single player offline being fenced off from multiplayer, as the galaxy will be potentially very different.

We've already stated that there is an offline single player mode in the game.

Michael

So at least as recently as January, they were still intent on offline single player. By then, we were already in the Alpha. Therefore, some time between then and now is when problems should have emerged leading to yesterday's announcement.

That appears to exclude some insinuations that were made earlier that somehow, they *always* knew it wasn't going to happen.

Trying to trace a timeline here. So, from the end of 2012, all the way through 2013, and the beginning of 2014 at least, they were committed to delivering the promise.

 

[OxKing]

I wonder if people might demonstrate for the offline mode at the release party event on the 22th.
This would be a great opportunity to force FD to take notice,
and remember them to the promisees they made to thier backers.
Would be fun to see such things at the twitch stream.
Question is how many of the offline affected backers will be there?

 

[cmdr awesome]

30 years after the original Elite was released, we can still play it and enjoy it.
As long as FD can provide some assurance of this for ED, I can't get too upset about the lack of a fully offline mode right now. I trust that those that are unable to play online will be able to get refunded too, but I can't understand why that group would have a large intersection with the beta and alpha backers that have been playing online for months.

I don't think this is a cynical move by FD, its just that getting an offline mode working will require significant effort and would result in a feature that would offer a reduced experience to a limited number of players. Right now they are better spending their time on things that will improve things for everybody.