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As someone who doesn't play but has watched it through its development, I feel like the developers have a fatal weakness for shiny objects (not that anyone need

As someone who doesn't play but has watched it through its development, I feel like the developers have a fatal weakness for shiny objects (not that anyone needed me to tell them this). I'd be much more bullish on such an iteratively developed mega game if it started out focusing on an MVP and added stuff from there, instead of this discordant feature vomit. I don't think there's anything wrong with the iterative model for game development (even "boxed" games are doing it; see Overwatch, Diablo etc.) but it needs to be managed sanely and developers shouldn't be afraid to redo stuff when the standard changes or get too caught up in sunk costs.

rjbwork 8y ago
Just look at Elite Dangerous or Rim World. Amazing, fantastic games that started off very primitive, with the core of the gameplay at least prototyped. And now, a couple to a few times a year, in both games, we get an update that makes it more awesome. And those effects are compounded - both games are far superior than other games in their genres because they steadily improve and focus on the core gameplay features. Elite dangerous has had a working game for 6 years and has released at least 15 pretty big updates (with another one only like 2 weeks away). Star citizen is focusing on ice cubes and the rest of the game isn't even really a playable game. I feel bad for people who are thousands deep into SC.
- geoah 8y ago
  Difference is that a lot of people don’t care about ED just because they released a flight simulator first. So for me ED will always just be that. The promise of what SC wants to be is what is keeping people excited. 6 years in and the demos are still amazing. It’s nice to have a game to hang your hopes to. If we actually get to play it one day I’ll br even happier :p
  - rjbwork 8y ago
    That's a really strange viewpoint to me. By that logic we shouldn't really care about most things because of what they once were. The U.S. because it was an up-jumped violent militia. Linux because it was some Finnish dude's hobby project. Nintendo because it was just some family company that made playing cards. Things evolve, improve, and become far more than their initial incarnation. And they may do so for decades. Bringing it back to space sims, I'd rather a solid playable base that can be continuously improved, than a series of half-playable cobbled together tech demos. But hey, only time will tell eh? Maybe I'll revisit this comment chain and feel like a fool in a year. Or 5. Or 10.

rjbwork 8y ago

Just look at Elite Dangerous or Rim World. Amazing, fantastic games that started off very primitive, with the core of the gameplay at least prototyped. And now, a couple to a few times a year, in both games, we get an update that makes it more awesome. And those effects are compounded - both games are far superior than other games in their genres because they steadily improve and focus on the core gameplay features. Elite dangerous has had a working game for 6 years and has released at least 15 pretty big updates (with another one only like 2 weeks away). Star citizen is focusing on ice cubes and the rest of the game isn't even really a playable game. I feel bad for people who are thousands deep into SC.

geoah 8y ago
Difference is that a lot of people don’t care about ED just because they released a flight simulator first. So for me ED will always just be that. The promise of what SC wants to be is what is keeping people excited. 6 years in and the demos are still amazing. It’s nice to have a game to hang your hopes to. If we actually get to play it one day I’ll br even happier :p
- rjbwork 8y ago
  That's a really strange viewpoint to me. By that logic we shouldn't really care about most things because of what they once were. The U.S. because it was an up-jumped violent militia. Linux because it was some Finnish dude's hobby project. Nintendo because it was just some family company that made playing cards. Things evolve, improve, and become far more than their initial incarnation. And they may do so for decades. Bringing it back to space sims, I'd rather a solid playable base that can be continuously improved, than a series of half-playable cobbled together tech demos. But hey, only time will tell eh? Maybe I'll revisit this comment chain and feel like a fool in a year. Or 5. Or 10.