No Single Player offline Mode then?

[Ccrazed]

<snip>

It was never promised, it was given as an option. Time and money have been spent on that option to find it's not feasible without infinite time, money and resource - something a commercial project does not have.

To suggest "FD pulls [its] finger out" - what do you think they have been doing for the last few years?

<snip>

Of course I am ignorant in the ways of software development, that is why I am not in that business, but in another business. I am sure software developers are ignorant of the business I am in (and would not want to be where I am). The fact is, there are plenty of online games that have an offline "mode" and this one was promised (yes they made a statement that there would be an offline "mode" or option if you like and as such that is a promise). They based their kickstarter figure on the features of the game and one of those features is an offline mode/option. I.E. they calculated that they can include the offline mode/option with the £1.2 million required pledge amount, which in the end turned out to be just over £1.5 million, so what happened?

Well, did they pull finger out? They have just told us that the offline option will not be available just before the release. Do you not think they would have figured it out a lot sooner if they were "pulling finger out"?

Refund, no....at least not until I have actually played the game.....which is still downloading after a couple of hours (at 15% now) due to my very poor internet connection.

 

[Cathy]

What does "from time to time" mean? Once a session? Once a week? An optional once a month/year to download a data update at your friend's house, stick it on a USB stick and take home to upload onto your desktop so you can enjoy the content if you want?

People with poor internet access want to play this. People with no internet access want to play this; all were told they would be able to play this.

 

[Kicks]

I feel there is more to it than you're saying here. It was known beforehand that an offline mode would be static and limited. Doesn't that mean this data could be generated in advance?

More likely: Frontier realised that a static universe was an uninteresting game to play.

 

[CMDR Byrt Makklin]

EXACTLY! If people are complaining about their internet or lack of, they will most definitely complain when their computer catches fire trying to run a client and server for this game.

Don't you think it would have been nice for FD to have told us this rather than try and sneak it past us in a newsletter?

 

[SJT]

I.E. they calculated that they can include the offline mode/option with the £1.2 million required pledge amount, which in the end turned out to be just over £1.5 million, so what happened?.

We're getting 5 extra ships for £300,000. What more do you want?

 

[Jigsaw]

One of the few voices of reason here.

Doesn't change the fact that they kept quiet, while people on the forums kept telling others that there would be an offline mode, instead of speaking up and saying that it isn't so. You don't believe that they somehow missed reading all those instances and that the decision was only made this week, do you?

 

[zhaith]

More likely: Frontier realised that a static universe was an uninteresting game to play.

hmm was elite on the bbc boring....no
elite plus......nope
frontier....nope
first enounters......nope

An offline version of ED....guess thats a no as well

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

More likely: Frontier realised that a static universe was an uninteresting game to play.

This ^^^.

Problem is, offline mode if introduced would be actual feature of the product, and lot of people not very keen on having static universe would try it offline. It would end up with angry feedback that offline mode is "worthless and pointless", etc.

 

[beelbeebub]

You plan a day out in London with some friends:

• Pub lunch
• Open top bus tour
• Dinner at a fancy restaurant
• West End show

All goes well until halfway around the bus tour there's a traffic jam caused by an accident. Unless the bus tour can get moving soon you are in danger of not being able to have the fancy meal and make the show. You wait hoping the bus will get moving but it finally becomes clear that you have to make a choice between the two activities. As most of your friends are theatre nuts and only one is a foodie you decide to tell them that dinner will now be at a burger joint then you can see the show.
-
The foodie flips out accuses you of being a dishonest, demands his money back for all the activities, claims you only put the fancy dinner in to get his money and that you could include the dinner if you really wanted to.

 

[Malisane]

Heck, the sun could flip out and kill all electronics on the planet tomorrow, sure. Or we could be invaded by tiny green men (a bit more unlikely, I'll admit). But honestly, there are still servers running for games that came out in 1992... So chicken littleing over a server shutdown that might happen sometime is not that logical...

And I have a shelf full of MMOs that do not work, I bet all of those companies wanted to keep the servers running for years as well eh?

 

[SJT]

More likely: Frontier realised that a static universe was an uninteresting game to play.

Didn't stop people playing Frontier. Some still play it now. Some would quite happily play it with ED graphics.

 

[mbpoblet]

More likely: Frontier realised that a static universe was an uninteresting game to play.

And yet Braben got an OBE just for making an even more static universe (and selling millions of copies of it).

 

[PrometheusDarko]

Indeed. And if it takes 6 months or a year to do it I think people would be willing to wait. Unfortunately it seems that the players who want offline are in a minority and it won't make financial sense for Frontier to invest the time and money.

This isn't it at all... The technology is limited. For the sake of all that is holy, people are whining that missions don't feel dynamic enough, now they are clamoring for a stripped down version?! There's just no pleasing some people... (That's just what Jesus said, sir!) /recycled joke

The Point is that DRM-free meant that you can Install a Game and Play it without an Account or any Need to Login! DRM-FREE
Why should i Play Online? The Openplay sucks! The Missions are static and the Trading is static too. No Background-Simulation.

No sorry, i want my Money back. Right now this is not Elite Dangerous that announced on Kickstarter!

Nope, not at all. It's in no way a Persistent Universe game set in the Elite Universe with sandbox gameplay, 400 billion stars, and online multiplayer... Wait... *ring ring* Hello, leg warehouse, my friend here needs something to stand on. Nothing? Okay thanks so much, bye.

What does "from time to time" mean? Once a session? Once a week? An optional once a month/year to download a data update at your friend's house, stick it on a USB stick and take home to upload onto your desktop so you can enjoy the content if you want?

People with poor internet access want to play this. People with no internet access want to play this; all were told they would be able to play this.

I'd say on average, every 5-15 minutes, probably, depending on how many server query-able actions you take within that span of time...

And to correct your bold assertion, people were told it was a design goal. One that has been shown to be unrealistic given the game's massive scope. This horse has been beaten twice to death.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Doesn't change the fact that they kept quiet, while people on the forums kept telling others that there would be an offline mode, instead of speaking up and saying that it isn't so. You don't believe that they somehow missed reading all those instances and that the decision was only made this week, do you?

This decision wasn't made during summer for example either, at least that's clear for me. In fact, I guess Beta 2 was starting point when they started to try to mold game for offline mode, because they didn't have background sim before that to talk about.

 

[Zieman]

This ^^^.

Problem is, offline mode if introduced would be actual feature of the product, and lot of people not very keen on having static universe would try it offline. It would end up with angry feedback that offline mode is "worthless and pointless", etc.

Pointless speculation now.

And doesn't change the fact that a promised and advertised feature was cut off in the last minute, without any kind of reassurance that it might be included later.

 

[beelbeebub]

And yet Braben got an OBE just for making an even more static universe (and selling millions of copies of it).

He got it for services to computing and mainly for the raspberry pi stuff

 

[Quietman]

Michael and his team should have had the psychic abilities to forsee this issue and immediately correct for it, ignoring the limitations it would place on development! rabblerabblerabblerabblerabble

You keep using that word... I do not think it means what you think it means...

Yeah, and when the game was released there was no way to fix the bugs or issues, and any future development had to wait for a sequel, and we had to walk uphill, both ways, through the snow, with a boner, just to buy our game... Ah, the good old days...

This is a perfect example of someone who finds amusement where there is none, how are you actually helping this discussion, what input are you providing to this thread?

None, zero, nil, nada, your signal to noise ratio is abysmal; it's embarrassing to have to wade through these kinds of posts. You need to just stop for a minute, read some of the logical and well structured grievances that have been aired in this thread and ask yourself an extremely simple question.

If there was a fundamental feature that was pulled at the last minute that caused the game to completely cease functioning for me, how would I feel, how would I react, what would I post, how would I feel when the troll train deposited the one liner army at my doorstep and barraged me with inane and toxic drivel?

If you can picture that scenario and answer it in a logical manner, I look forward to you getting that signal to noise ratio back into the positive part of the graph.

 

[Jigsaw]

You plan a day out in London with some friends:

• Pub lunch
• Open top bus tour
• Dinner at a fancy restaurant
• West End show

All goes well until halfway around the bus tour there's a traffic jam caused by an accident. Unless the bus tour can get moving soon you are in danger of not being able to have the fancy meal and make the show. You wait hoping the bus will get moving but it finally becomes clear that you have to make a choice between the two activities. As most of your friends are theatre nuts and only one is a foodie you decide to tell them that dinner will now be at a burger joint then you can see the show.
-
The foodie flips out accuses you of being a dishonest, demands his money back for all the activities, claims you only put the fancy dinner in to get his money and that you could include the dinner if you really wanted to.

Bad analogy. It's more like the trip planner knowing for weeks that there is a construction site on the planned route and that the tour will not be possible after all, but waiting to tell everybody until the bus is stuck in traffic.

 

[S.H.A.D.O]

Didn't stop people playing Frontier. Some still play it now. Some would quite happily play it with ED graphics.

Indeed, I would for sure

My only concern now is when the ED servers get turned off, we're left with a game we can't play

 

[Ccrazed]

You can't compare Elite Offline with others. Also, you can't just turn around and say "Hey, you're a programmer! Fix it! lol". It doesn't work that way. And there is a difference between a promise and intent, and that is something that keeps getting blurred on these forums. At no point was anyone promised anything. However, they eluded intent. They are two different things, fundamentally.

I never said that "Hey, you're a programmer! Fix it!", however, I am saying "Hey, you're a programmer! find a solution and get it done, not now, but later". Why can't you compare elite with others. Ok, so if you want offline you may require better or additional hardware or whatever, but it is a game, its not some super alien thing that people particularly software developer don't understand.

Well, a statement was made such as "For those who want to play in their own galaxy offline single player will also be available." So to me that is them telling me that the offline feature will be available (intent or promise, same thing)