StarDrive is a new real-time (pausable) space 4X strategy game developed by Zero Sum Games and published by Iceberg Interactive. After being in beta on Steam for about six weeks, it’s now officially out and available for purchase on Steam. Iceberg announced that StarDrive will be available on other digital gaming portals on Apr 29th. The boxed version will release in European retail stores on May 24th.
StarDrive’s principal features include hands-on real-time ship combat, ground combat, modular ship design and races customization, among the usual features to be found on 4X games, like diplomacy, research and economic development. Check out our hands-on beta preview for more information.
This game was the vision and the labor of love of one man, Daniel DiCicco, which at some point on his life decided that what he really wanted to do was to develop a space game, in particular a space 4X game.
Dan has come a long way. Went to Kickstarter when the crowdfunding platform was still on its infancy. Then, looked at Desura as a good place to put his game under alpha-funding. Eventually, he was found and picked up by Iceberg Interactive. Today, as Dan himself has put it, he has “gone from the guy with the dream to a guy with a game.”. StarDrive is out now, so, Dan has officially achieved his dream today.
We were aiming at getting a review up at release day. But, that proved unfeasible as Dan has been working intensely on his game till the last minute. So, we need a bit more time with the official release build for a proper review, to make sure we don’t miss any eventual major change. The review should be ready early next week. So, be on the lookout for it, to understand how good StarDrive really is.
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I am very disappointed in how the developer handled his Alpha funders, who arguably put him on the map. Once he made the transition to Steam, he stopped updating the Desura version and did not provide a way for his Desura Backers to get a steam key.
Now that the game is released, I have news, and now I guess I am suppose to pay for the full version?
The worse handling by far….
But he did provide a way to get a steam key for his desura backers. You have to message him on the forum asking for it, and he’ll give you one if he can see you have the game on desura.
Isend him a personal message on desura, at the forum, i even mailed him (including prove that i bought the game). NO reaction and NO key. The game version on desura is still 1.06S, a beta version from several month ago with gamebreaking bugs for me! it’s great to be treated that way as one of the customers who gave their money way before the game was even beta. it’s definetely the last time i pre-ordered / alpha-funded one of his games!!! and i would advise everyone to give this men / company any money in advance for the next time.
1.06S is a beta from April 11th, ~2 weeks ago. Historically Desura takes about two weeks to publish updates sent to them, that’s not something under control of the developer.
The changelog on Desura clearly states the day that was released. I wonder if the rest of your post is as accurate as your “beta from several month[sic] ago” statement.
Check your email/spam folders, my key was sitting there as of about 1430 CST.
I was a Desura backer and had no problem getting a Steam key. I PM’d him my Desura and Steam account names and e-mail address and he sent me a key and I was in.
Of course it’s possible that he ignored and forgot some people or just got too busy towards the end to send out more keys. If so, that sucks. He did update the Desura version on occasion but part of the problem is Desura takes a long time to process those updates. There was one period where they took approximately 3 weeks to put out one of his updates before he switched to Steam.
Zero is very kind. He made official statements many times about getting a steam key. –> Just ask him. You´d know that if you had just asked one single person on the forum or desura.
Desura did not accept or transfer his updates and had many delays afaik, there were problems, thats why it wasn´t updated.
I got the steam key with no problems
It is great for those that got keys, however it adds nothing to the conversation. The fact is Zero dropped the ball for those of us who paid for Alpha, then was Lett behind when it was green lit on steam. I know this problem is not my bad luck only,http://www.desura.com/games/stardrive/forum/thread/steam-key#828524 as the forums and comments on the Desura game page and Zero forums as well.
Add on top of this it officially gets released and those who bought on Steam get to play while those WHO DID NOT GET A KEY EVEN THOUGH WE FOLLOWED THE PROCEDURE are shafted. All I am going to add to this horrible let down. I will not buy it twice and I will never buy from this dev again.
I hardly feel sympathy for you. As most people have already stated, Zero was very clear about how people should go about getting Steam keys for Alpha funders. It’s how I, and many other people, got keys….
Your frustration is misplaced. Your boycott is silly and quite frankly, your loss.
Thanks for your needless trolling, I am happy you got a key. As I mentioned many times in this thread I followed procedures and never heard anything back. There are others like me as I referenced in my link, which you obviously failed to notice.
So please take your fan boy trolling somewhere else, and remove DevilDog from your name as you do Marines everywhere a disservice.
Robert, It would seem you have a VERY biased opinion in favor of StarDrive and Dan as you enjoy a special status at his forums as a moderator – (you don’t want to piss off the boss or he’ll take away your privileges, eh?) Whether you agree or not, Kyle does have a very valid point. He was an early investor and…it is his job to chase Dan around to get him to honor his word to the early backers?!? No, your objectivity is misplaced. When you put out your hand and ask for early backers’ and investors’ money, you don’t forget them when you’ve reached the finish line. Chasing around someone you have invested in to remind them of how you helped and what was promised to them is a recipe for considerably less support in the future, especially if Kyle decides to share his story on social media and reviews sites that will be full of new reviews because of the game’s official release.
Best of luck to you, Kyle, in getting what was promised to him.
I’m not biased. I don’t believe Zero is perfect and honestly, I’m not sure that Stardrive was ready for prime time. I just think that Kyle’s anger is misplaced. Being one man, it’s probably very difficult to code a game, frequently communicate with the community, update Desura owners with Steam keys, and live a life.
Kyle, I’m not a troll. I don’t do ‘marines everywhere a disservice’ (you have no idea who I am). Had you reached out to us, or me in particular, on the forums, we would have made sure you got a key. Complaining here about something that seems rather trivial is what I consider to be the actual trolling, hence why I chimed in.
devildog, serveral people opened threads on the forum and asked for their keys, no reaction…the threads are obvious and can’t be overlooked…then why did you not answered and gave some keys?!
why do we need to search the internet for the convenient person who can help us get our game which we paid for or rather invested in!!! it’s NOT our responsibility! so don’t blame the customers / investors for being not active enough in their pursued to receive their game, blame the develper for not keeping their promise and letting down his people who have backed him up!
do you even read what peope said?! we did what was asked to get a key!!!! i even used more communication channels to adress him but no reaction and no key!!! it’s good for you that you got your key, but many people didn’t receive one! it’s his responsibility to get the people who gave their money in advance at FIRST their finished game! it will be the last time he get some money from me!
@DevildogFF: i have the same opinion that the game needed some more time to develop and was released a little bit too early! but being just one man isn’t an excuse for releasing a game unfinished and surely no reason for letting his own investors down!
he should have delayed the relase and gave his customes and investors the steam key first and also update the game version on desura. you are still able to purchase the game on desura but will get a way outdated version!
you can buy the game on steam and get immediately access to the beta, why not keep up this state for at least one or two weeks, finishing the game and giving the customers their keys?! there is no reason! people who gave their money wheir PROMISED early access (!!!). i don’t think early access just means you can play the unfinished game but also get the game FIRST!
I definitely replied on the Zero forums under the Steam thread and he never replied on that thread. As I mentioned earlier I also messaged him all the required info directly on Desura. If you two managed to get a key you are the lucky ones.
The fact that we are even discussing this just proves that Zero mishandled his first supporters, and as I have backed many other Alpha projects, never felt betrayed by a company that never updated on Desura.
Also I really doubt it was Desura that is the problem when other games on there update weekly.
@Kyle – I see you are not the only one having this problem of ‘being forgotten’ or ‘falling through the cracks’ regarding early alpha-funding. I’m seeing complaints about this exact same issue on Stardrive forums, Facebook and Metacritic. Oh well, that is what social media and review sites are for – to bring to light when customers are not being served appropriately.
http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4609
“I am going to send Dave Traeger at desura the keys he needs to upgrade you guys” – Zero
Wowzers! I went to the link you posted, which is the same one I found earlier and was referencing. Looks like Dan is really sticking his foot in his mouth by telling people, basically – ‘I never promised you Desura people keys, but I am doing you a “favor” by giving them to you. I don’t have time for this crap, I have other things to do’ (paraphrased, of course)
YIKES!!!
Wow!! I sure hope Dan makes beaucoup money on this game as he seems to be alienating alpha-funders and early investors for future releases.
Way to completely mischaracterize his post. Here it is:
Guy, I really want you to know that is a freebie that I am providing to give Desura users Steam keys. When you bought the game on Desura, you bought the game on Desura. There was never any express or implied promise that I would get you Steam keys. I WILL get you Steam keys, but it’s not a simple process. I have to give a bunch of Steam keys to Desura and hope that they do it.
I don’t even have a list of Desura users. I have no idea how many they are. But I think it’s close to 300 or 400, and after a while those PMs just stack up and I have other crap that I need to do.
At anyrate, there is a solution and it’s all lined up. You just need a little patience and it should come.
His primary point is that you purchased the game on Desura, not on Steam. Giving Steam keys to Desura purchasers was never promised and he’s not abandoning Desura updates. Desura just takes a long time to process updates sent to them (generally about two weeks).
I am very much looking forward to the review for this. When I saw the animated diplomacy screens reminiscent of Master of Orion, I almost bought it without question, but I’m still wary after heartbreaks from past games.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
I don’t know about this. I see that performance problems are still there. My laptop is okeish(cpu+ram) but my gpu is not that good.
I see players with PC configs way better than mine with big problems, especially end-game. Slideshow..
I have not tried this game; but what puts me off right away is the image of some kind of Samurai grizzly bear in vaguely space-age armor. This tells me the developers have no insight or imagination. The rest of the aliens in the trailer look utterly absurd.
I like the animals aliens and especially the grizzly. It’s a little bit comic style but still futuristic in the design. Looks a little bit like the alien commications pictures in Star Control 2.
You obviously have not had much exposure to the older space opera games. I remember there being an Ursoid race in almost all of them Heck even Star Wars has and Ursoid race in it. There dress very Tribal and yet are a space fairing race…. Shrug personally I like the “Samurai bear” lol it does justice to all the Ursoid space fairing races that have come before it. As to the other Aliens in the game for the most part they seem to fit the descriptor very well. That is they all look Alien to me :)
Hes going for a tribute to past games. No insight or imagination? That seems a bit harsh..world of warcraft has similar samuri bears and its got zillion customers
Zillions of flies can’t be wrong, right?
This is exactly what David said: lack of insight or imagination. Master of Orion admirers or witless trekkies – does not matter, they all are unending source of crispy green paper. They see an idiotically looking cosmic bear and they say like “oh, it reminds me that good old game I played at my grandma’s chalet when I was eight”…
Flawless marketing method.
No. I see a space bear and think – Thank GOD someone is listening. We really do just want moo2 with better graphics after years and years of other efforts falling flat. Its not about being creative – its about comfort levels. Sure one can come up with plenty of different “unique” races, but you take the risk of them not appealing to your audience. The game is 4x..not roleplay theater..its better the customer base have something they are comfortable with rather than take a risk on some new race concept and have it be a detraction.
bah, loving the samurai bears >:D
A couple years ago I followed the development of Distant Worlds very closely. Both DW and SD are similar in that they are detailed grand strategy space empire games with real time strategic and tactical movement. I never purchased DW because of the persistent problems with out-of-memory errors, CTDs, and late game slowdowns (and Matrix’s extortionate pricing.) I rechecked Matrix’s DW forums today and the same concerns are present, although not as serious as before (delusional pricing remains the same.)
I’ve also followed StarDrive carefully, and it had, and has, the same OOM, CTD, and slowdown issues as DW. I’m aware that there are many enthusiastic supporters of StarDrive, and not everyone has had game-killing problems, but according to a poll on the SD website almost half of the beta testers have experienced these issues.
I suspect the culprit in both DW and SD is the real-time strategic and tactical play: just too many things for the game to track particularly as the game develops.
I wish Zero and StarDrive well, and will continue to keep my eye on the game, but I’ll take a pass until I’m comfortable that the game is ready for prime time.
The game have same problems, like DW have while relase date.
We have experienced problem with non-english language windows with DW… Now, SD have exactly same problem. Some of the Non-english Windows make the game crash while starting the game.
I do not get late game slowdown in DW and I play on 1000 star maps.
i agree in the point, that distant worlds is a grand strategy space game, but right now stardrive feels more like an space rts game. it has light diplomacy, a research tree which has some decent variation but very little depth in regards of technology development. in combination with the researchable technology, another problem is the variation of buildings you can place at your planets. their is only a handful.
one of the complaints or more of a request was to further add some technologies or even just some weapons / armors / engines / etc. which are an improvement to the previously one (same with buildings)….no reaction. overall the game has potential, yes, but right now it’s a pretty lightweigted space rts game with some 4x nuances.
so far as a small review :).
After having watched Totalhalibut’s “WTF is…” of this game I really like the look of the actual game but still won’t actually touch it unless I know that the horrible bugs shown in that video have been taken care off. If they haven’t, then I won’t buy it until/unless they are fixed. Don’t care how good the game is if it lags like hell or constantly crashes.
Yes, the WTF video review was very telling. And I agree, as it is my standard rod for determining what is worth my money and what is not – eye-candy and nice music is appealing but if the game crashes, lags, has memory leaks and is missing components promised during a Kickstarter campaign, it’s not ready for prime time.
I love the game so far. As far as performance issues go, pay attention to the threads Zero puts up in regards to whats causing a lot of it, he shows what he thinks the problems are (aka, Lasers are more of an issue than projectiles which he explains very well). 2 weeks ago I was getting lots of stuttering, but the patches he put out has fixed it for me, now the game runs pretty smooth.
Also, make sure that you are opted in to the beta patches, the actual game didn’t update frequently unless you were opted in to the beta patches which fixed a LOT of stuff.
The only issues I have so far are design decisions for the time being, like management of fleets and zooming out and to hotspots are hard to do (Sins of a Solar Empire got this spot on). But I know he’s always working on it and has tons of stuff in store for the game. I wouldn’t give any large company any leeway with their games in general, but this is ONE guy, I am willing to cut him a lot of slack. Considering I blew $60 on that worthless POS SimCity that I can’t even play (the whole design was a mistake and they aren’t ever, ever going to fix it, hackers have better fixes for it than the devs…that says a LOT about EA), I don’t have any issues with waiting longer for this guy to fix a game that I only spent $25 on. So far I have gotten far more hours out of playing the BETA to this game than I have the released SimyCity.
’nuff said.
My VERY early gut reaction to this official release – mehhhh… :-\
I thought I was being unrealistic with my expectations but when I went to the Stardrive forums, I saw TONS (14 pages, to be precise) of people begging Dan to put off the release until it was truly READY. Some were even pushing for him to wait 3 months to work out a lot of the still-present bugs and unfinished components.
Anyway, a few of my peeves with it so far:
-no official demo to draw in potential customers
-no interactive tutorial that guides you through early play and then cuts you loose – a la Anno or Civ-style tutorials (and no, watching play-through videos is NOT a tutorial)
-limited resolution options at the beginning
-smallish fonts make it border on “almost unpleasant to play” as you have to sit so close to the screen
indeterminate final version numbers (as others are raising this issue on the forums). Is 1.07b the final release version? It is very unclear
-no multiplayer
It may have been better for Dan to put off the release until it was 100%. First impressions are lasting impressions.
My very early recommendation to those that have been chomping at the bit waiting to buy this – wait a bit longer until he has this fully ready and fully polished, so you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth.
Oh I agree with their sentiment that he should hold off making it officially released until it was ready in most areas (multiplayer can wait down the line after release because thats a lot different than single player, especially for a single dev).
Looks like the game and its developer are not without flaws. As i prefer boxed games, i can sit back and wait a month how the whole thing develops and how favorable reviews are. RTS is not my first choice for games but I am interested in this game, probably one of the first game of the “games you shouldn’t miss in 2013” list.
To those who haven’t purchased it, I guess an Asian Space Bear is already reason enough to get it.
Seriously though I love how stardrive gives me that MoO and Distant Worlds feeling at the same time. Never tried the released version yet.
One mans awesome is another mans silly cheese.
LOL…or in this case ‘stinky cheese’.
Break out the Limburger and Roquefort! :-P
You know what is more scarier than a bear? an asian bear in space with a spaceship and a sword so yeah they are cool. As for that female only race with holo projectors, I am scared of female only race like them and Mass Effect’s Vasari(? whatever Liara was). Too bad the distant worlds equivalent is not that intimidating but as for the others, they are pretty intimidating.
@kylerees
Just to let let you know that when the game went over to steam I contacted the dev by pm’ing him at desura and he replied with a steam key for me. I too purchased stardrive when it was first release on desura, for about £10, i think. That was well over a year ago. Why don’t you just calm down take a deep breath and pm him like i did at desura explaining your problem and I am sure he will provide you with a steam key. I am afraid ranting and raving gets you nowhere in life, learn that quickly my young friend.
the dev (or anybody) used their desura account (zer0sumgames) since 22nd april….so how can we get our keys by pm’ing his desura account if he doesn’t even go online?!
many other people including me contacted the dev via desura, e-mail or the official forum but up until now no reaction and NO KEY! many people sit and wait for their game! it’s really sad, those which helped him fund his development now are biting the dust!
I did the same procedure some weeks ago and still haven’t got my key. i see no further reaction of the developer and thinking that i just don’t care what his original customers want. i’m very disappointed
Yup I am one of the shafted Desura customers who followed what he said about PM him in Desura, because as any Desura user knows you can easily see other users game list, which is how he verifies you owning the game.
This in reply to many of the fan boy Steam customers of the big headed Dan. Many fan boys retort that “Desura customers” should just shut up and take it easy, it is not Dan’s fault that Desura never received updated builds since late last year, when oddly enough Dan abandoned Desura for the greener pastures of Steam.
It would be funny to see how these Steam Fan Boys would flame if they bought a game in Alpha/Beta on Steam, then stop receiving updates and would not get the final version because Gamersgate would only get the final builds.
There is a strange “zoom out and crash” problem. Only non-english windows users are experiencing this one. So they cant play the game. This is a “english language users only” game.
game is still unfinished (feature / content and performance wise)!
the developer failed to give his early customers / investors / alpha-buyers access to the release version and doesn’t react to any mails send via desura, e-mail or forum pm!
clearly the game was rushed out and needed some more time!
(@ devildog or fanboy-mod: i hope not all comments which are not positiv about this half-scam game as how many backers have a RIGHT to see it, will be deleted because of some fanboy feelings again!… there are some missing!).
Desura is a digital distribution like system to buy games. In fact it competes directly against Steam. From everything I read it’s an attempt at a “better” Steam that’s community driven (though it appears to be based outside the US).
Why do you think you can buy it on Desura, yet you are entitled to having it free on Steam? I get it that you believe yourself to be an early supporter and taken care of, but if the game is available and being updated on Desura (even if the updates are slow) you aren’t really entitled to have it on Steam as well unless that was part of some purchase contract. If the author wants to provide that access that’s cool but you act like he’s screwing you over by not giving you a free key to a completely different distribution system.
I simply don’t get this entitlement BS that’s posted a bunch of times on here. You bought it on Desura, not steam. I think the developer is being a genuinely nice guy even giving you keys that probably cost him time AND money. That you would go on forums and facebook and lambast him and call him names for not immediately bowing down and giving you access from a system you didn’t purchase it from teaches us a lot about what kind of people you are. Frankly, I think you should be ashamed of your behavior.
@rahvin ouch man, that was harsh… It does seem like a lot of complaining over 20 bucks..
Rahvin you are an uninformed idiot. First of all as paying customers on Desura you are ABSOLUTELY right that we deserve all of the same builds as any other platform. NO WHERE did the Desura Stardrive pre-order state the following,
“You are buying an unfinished product in a state of Alpha. Your purchase DOES NOT entitle you to the final product or future updates. You are only entitled to updates and the final release when Desura feels like it because it is their fault in this situation.”
How many customers would support a project like that?
Fact of the matter you country bumpkin, is that other developers on Desura have NO PROBLEMS updating their games, AND
updates for Desura were absent for about 3 to 4 months and was always lagging behind Steam updates, and now of course the supposed “release”.
Please take your fan boy idiocy somewhere else.
Insults, or implied insults (same thing really) are not acceptable Kyle. Please, don’t repeat that in the future.
I wouldn’t ask for steam keys if Dan hat uploaded the release version earlier at desura! it’s his responsibility the make sure his customers who bought the game earlier have access to the product on the official release date! every other company can fulfill their release date even with boxed version! why? because they start the needed process early on to make sure it happends in time! you can’t blame desura for having it’s USUAL procedures and dan knowing that, he simply didn’t care for the desura users or at least it seems to be that way! it’s also more of an ethical obligation to give the people who gave early on their money to be among the first who receive the finished product or don’t you understand this?!
So you think that the Publisher should hold publishing on other platforms and give it to Desura 2 weeks before Steam to ensure it hits retail at the same time on both platforms? That would be pretty stupid on his part. He can’t control the delay on Desura nor is he responsible to delay it on other platforms to equalize the delay.
When you purchased the game on Desura you accepted the limitations of that system. Blaming the publisher for that just points to childishness. As I said before you should be ashamed of your behavior. You’re acting like spoiled children having a temper tantrum because there was a delay in getting you a toy.
@rahvin
“Blaming the publisher for that just points to childishness. As I said before you should be ashamed of your behavior. You’re acting like spoiled children having a temper tantrum because there was a delay in getting you a toy.”~rahvin
Again, a condescending/insulting attitude is not acceptable. Please, don’t repeat that.
@rahvin
“That you would go on forums and facebook and lambast him and call him names for not immediately bowing down and giving you access from a system you didn’t purchase it from teaches us a lot about what kind of people you are. Frankly, I think you should be ashamed of your behavior.”~rahvin
This kind of condescending attitude is not acceptable. You made your point about how the Desura/Steam access should be handled but there was simply no need to offend people with the above paragraph. Please, don’t do that in the future.
@Seraph
“(@ devildog or fanboy-mod: i hope not all comments which are not positiv about this half-scam game as how many backers have a RIGHT to see it, will be deleted because of some fanboy feelings again!… there are some missing!).”~Seraph
For your information, all comments on this thread were accepted or approved, by me. There’s no comment missing, although probably some should not have been approved in the first place.
Uh, oh, I smell another Kickstarter fiasco. It’ a shame though, as I had really wanted to like StarDrive. Check this out:
“Ok, here we go again. Yet another game that “has potential.” I encourage everyone to read the forums. If you do, here is what you’ll find:
1) The game is literally unplayable in late game for the vast majority of players. It either crashes or the FPS rate drops to 1 or 2 because the engie the engine can’t process the data. Not a good sign.
2) There are multiple threads of people begging the developer to push back the release date. Also not a good sign.
3) Again, from the forums, if you want to win any game at any difficulty level just spam space marines and bombers. Space marines are cheap to build with no maintenance. Zerg rush and you win.
4) Helpful tips from players advise NOT to build any planetary improvements. It slows down your economy. Again, just spam marines and bombers and it’s an easy win.
5) Ship building is a brief fun novelty but it’s worthless. There is no need to use it. But if you do, don’t bother with anything defensive. The weapons are overpowered and armor or shields just add to the cost of the ship. Just add more weapons.
6) The developer is a one man show. He used to be a divorce lawyer who decided to make a video game. For whatever reason, ego, greed, or both, he has refused to bring on any fulltime staff to help him. He might be the nicest guy in the world but clearly he is out of his league.”
Anyway, I’m not calling this game dead and buried yet, and I’m anxiously awaiting the official reviews. I am far from optimistic at this point though, and glad now I didn’t succumb to the fanboy hype.
If he follows the trend from beta, he will have a lot of bug fixes coming quite quickly.
Time will tell ofc.
The game is still unfinished, it’s missing content, features and performance. many backers or alpha-buyers still wait for the release version. ratings are dropping on metacritic and the developer doesn’t seem to react to any mails, forum posts or pm’s he receive. great start position!
What do you mean he doesnt react?
I find he is very responsive and answers to as much threats as he can, much more than other big development teams do..
Just check the forums and you will find a lot of posts done by him in the last half hour. Or did you look in the wrong forum maybe?
Also if you check the 0 rating comments on metacritics, you can clearly see that those are all done by 1 guy!!
Look at the names:
Xerberus85
Azariel86
Horus80
Zeraph86
Seraph86
Someone who bought the game on desura and is clearly frustrated he didnt get the steam key, although he had no right to get it
(check here http://www.stardrivegame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4609&start=20)
Is it you perhaps?
“Guy, I really want you to know that is a freebie that I am providing to give Desura users Steam keys. When you bought the game on Desura, you bought the game on Desura. There was never any express or implied promise that I would get you Steam keys. I WILL get you Steam keys, but it’s not a simple process. I have to give a bunch of Steam keys to Desura and hope that they do it. ”
This answer right here shows Dan’s absolute failure in what he did to Alpha funders. Maybe Alpha funders WHO PURCHASED on Desura do not deserve a Steam key, and should be ‘blessed’ for having to beg from Dan for a Steam Key.
HOWEVER, it is implied that Alpha funders would get a final copy, and then this asshole Dan sees the greener pastures of Steam and then totally abandons Desura updates while Steam user get immediate updates and the final version. Complete BS.
WHO THE F*%^ treats their customers like that? No amount of fan boy ism can ignore what I just stated.
It is also very curious how he is now immediately locking all Desura threads, when that platform gave him his starting funding.
He has NOT abandoned Desura. As I’ve stated multiple times in comments on this article the Desura updates take around 2 weeks for Desura to publish them after the developer sends it to them. The Desura version is currently ~2 weeks behind the Steam version due to this. He’s likely already sent the release version to Desura and the delay is on their end AS USUAL.
Dude, you’re the pot and you’re calling the kettle black at this point.
Self entitled much?
@Kyle Rees
Kyle, again, no personal insults please. This doesn’t help raise the quality of comments, or the site in any way. I can understand your frustration, but insulting people is just not acceptable behavior. Moreover, I doubt you would say what you wrote if you were talking live to the person in question. But, the person will be hurt by your insult in any case.
Let’s keep the discussions about everything around games. Insult games if you want, but let’s keep people out of the equation as much as possible. I hope you understand my position.
He finally responded to me and sent me a new key for Steam to “upgrade” from beta.
It took him about 24 hours to respond/react to the issue but at least he has.
He did say in his forums that he passed out (literally) after launch and then after he woke for dinner. He then celebrated (apparently still avoiding/oblivious to the issues) and finally responded the next day.
Either way, I now have my final key so Steam is downloading the launch client.
I heard that the game performance was kind of bad, was it changed now during the release?
According to Total Biscuit the game got quite laggy during the lategame and you had to reload to get rid of it. Also there were some occaisonal crashes and minor bugs. Although that was the beta.
When I looked at the requirements I was quite shocked how much Ram it needs. I only have 2 GB which is not that much but it the game even recommends 4 and says that 3 is the minimum. So I don’t want to buy a game that runs like crap.
Wow, reading your short reviews puts a lot of doubt in me about this game. I just hope that M.O.R.E. will not be like this, full of bugs at the release stage…
Bad news on the MORE front. I am a Kickstarter donor, and received periodic email updates on MORE. About 2 weeks ago, I got an email from the developers advising that their team had been squabbling over money and content, and that several members had left the project. Replacements were being recruited.
The email was not reassuring and the whole episode seems uncomfortably unprofessional.
I’ll be surprised if MORE is completed, and if it is, even stunned if it is successful.
I guess there is always Star Lords and Predestination…
I backed MORE but had my doubts they could deliver. What they’ve outlined in the Kickstarter is very complex.
Star Lords has been going very slowly and is currently extremely bland. I hope it turns out well in the end but it’s not promising either currently.
@Jeff I am also a backer and got their last update. I agree with you that it is a bit unprofessional. Maybe they should not tell us about their inner problems, especially giving the exact sum of money which one guy wanted:). But maybe such honest attiude will bring something good.
Are you referring to the Kickstarter update from 2013-04-23? I don’t think it sounds too bad. Some minor problems, except the legal & money thing. In projects you have always to include the possibility that some team members drop off for whatever reason. There is always some fluctuation even in the most professional managed projects.
More is looking very dodgy in my opinion.We had a small text update suggesting internal issues and nothing about gameplay for months.I am thinking they could vanish in the near future.
Star Lords is getting updates and Predestination also seems to be an actual game.Horizon is looking interesting but we need to see some gameplay in action.
I am sad to hear that MORE has run into these complications. I hope for everyone’s sake that they either follow through on the project or refund money to all those who helped kickstart their project. I didn’t help kickstart this one, as I was somewhat suspicious of its lofty ambitions, but I held out hope that I was wrong and they would someday deliver the game everyone has been waiting for.
Ok, because I am a sucker for these kinds of games and because it only costed 20 bucks I decided to ignore my better judgement and just buy it. My first impressions are mixed. On one hand, almost everything in terms of actual game mechanics looks awesome. The only real major problems are bugs. I have currently been struck my a possibly game breaking bug (I used the word possibly because I asked about my problem on the game’s forums and some other guy told me he suffered from the same problem, but I don’t 100% yet of this is an actual bug) where transport freigthers that are vital to the economies of many planets just float around and do nothing instead of transporting supplies to other planets causing such nice things as mass starvation and no production on your worlds. I personally haven’t encountered any of the lag or crashes some people have mentioned though. Though that could just be because I started my game on a tiny map with only 1 other player while learning how to play the game.
In addition, while there is some in-game help and a couple of tutorial vidoes, its very bare bones and not always as helpful as it could be. I personally found the StarDrive wiki on the net more useful then the stuff in-game.
My opinion on the game at the moment is: Looks and plays awesome, but is probably too buggy to be properly playable at the moment. So long as the worst bugs are fixed I would say that this will be a great and a fantastic game, because unlike many games that don’t fully work on release, this game’s only real problems are technical in nature.
Did you turn on freighter/transport automation by clicking the AI button next to the mini-map and enabling that feature? You either need to do that or select the transport and hit Q (I believe that’s the order button) and tell it to transport goods or population. Once that’s done they’ll only transport goods if there is a planet with goods in storage with goods set to export and other planets with goods set to import with non-full storage.
As the other said you can automate it, but if you don’t set import and export of production and food on worlds there isn’t anything to move. You need at least one world exporting and one world importing or the freighters will just sit around and do nothing. The import/export buttons are on the colony info screen.
besides the bugs and the performance issues, some of the events aren’t finished yet and the tech tree and building variation looks very lackluster. the ai of course has it’s usually lightheaded mind^^. this are more or less the main issues for me personal of the actual game.
well, I got another steam key today, I think people should be a little more patient. It’s really a lot of hard work to deliver a game of such scope and complexity, especially if done by a sole guy, and considering all the dependencies involved. I am pretty sure the game will still need some time to be feature complete and bug free, but Dan will continue to work on it. I’m glad to have backed this, since in the end, we gamers, need people like Dan to make the hard work to produce the games we want to play, otherwise there will be none at all. Of course there is a risk that such a project may fail, but as long as the effort is done honestly, I’m ok with this. After all, what is the alternative? No game at all.
I have bought the game and was very surprised. The game mechanics are well thought with an incredible ship editor. I like the streamlined gameplay. You can run a space empire with full micromanagement in real time and you have all the interesting fine details: buildings, ground combat, espionage, events and anomalies.
This is a good game for every gamer, who likes Master Of Orion
looks like, kickstarter project from the “amators” is a gate to the industry. The game is OK. Bugs are not as deadly as “legend of pegasus”. But content is thin. Technologies, cinematics, story, are not enough.
I belive, we’re living in an era that young game producers are just showing themself. Now, they’re just stepping into the industy with the firt game from kickstarter but they will make more successfull games in the future.
I hope they add more content into the stardrive with new patch in near future.
But, I’m really starting to wait Star Drive 2 with a real programmer team and real publisher support.
Also, I belive, Kickstarter is a gold mine for industry veterans like Chris Roberts or David Braben, and while the young game producers fails, these old wolfs will create really legendary games with the support from kickstarter.
The vitriol on display here by the entitled Desura Alpha-Funder set is truly shocking. I don’t know what else to tell you folks except that your FREE Steam keys have been delivered to Desura, which is pretty much run by one guy, and he’s going to sort out getting keys to folks. Take a moment to think about the fact that there are people on every end of this problem. I’m not text on a screen. I’m a dude with tons of responsibilities and I have to meet them one at a time. And when I need to rely on other people like the folks at Desura, they are also people. And they are not living their lives solely to deliver keys to THEIR COMPETITOR’S DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION SERVICE.
So take a big old breath folks, and realize that it takes a little bit of work to get that kind of thing arranged. If I could press a button and make it happen right this second, I would. And some of you guys just want to string me up for not having that button.
Hello Zero,
I am a little confused by your wording, which on first read sounds like Desura is a one man operation? Or are you talking about how Dan is a one man dev at Zero? Since your name is Zero are you claiming to be Dan? Please clarify that.
First of all, you mention vitriol on display, but who would dare call their customers ‘entitled’ Desura set? For all the blunders EA and Maxis had with Simcity they never once called their critics hackers or freeloaders or what ever other name. So the fact that you call your Desura supporters ‘entitled’ is very telling.
Second of all, don’t you think it is fair to get the same support as your other customers, I guess we can call Steam customers ‘Gratefull’ because they got all the updates and final release on time, as opposed to Dan trying to blame Desura for causing all the trouble?
Third of all, thanks for setting an industry standard in providing Steam keys to your ‘entitled’ customers, oh wait it WAS already pretty much the standard to provide original backers during the hardly functional Alphahase by almost every other indie developer.
I think your attitude towards customers is the worst I have seen for an indie dev, and your reply here obviously shows it by labeling those of us who did not recieve a steam key. Because you somehow did manage to send some Steam keys to forums regulars or lucky “Desura Entitled Set’. So did a half lazy attempt to serve your original customers and blame you laziness on our attitudes, Desura, and the fact your a one man team. Hey news flash, customer support is just as important as all the other stuff.
Keep your steam key and just make sure Desura test releases on parallel with other platforms, that is ALL we ask for,
About the only way he can ensure Steam and Desura versions are released at the same time is to send his release to Desura first, wait for them to actually publish it (it has been delayed up to 3 weeks during holidays) and only then make it available on Steam. Delaying releases for the majority of his customers, which are on Steam, so a few customers on Desura can feel better about it is ludicrous.
A long term solution would be to work with Desura for a better (preferably automated) method of publishing releases on their platform. However, that’s not going to happen overnight and it may never happen. The developer has no control over Desura’s processes.
However, you’ve shown it’s pointless to even discuss this issue with you as you’d just prefer to be pissed. No point in bothering to reply to your future ravings.
How can I argue against such a thoughtful indictment of my poor customer service? It is clear that you have caught me red-handed in my attempt to drive the long rod of injustice into the backsides of my supporters. The fact that you have discovered my deep contempt for the people who helped my lifelong goals become a reality has shaken me to my core. Obviously when you alpha-funded the game on Desura, there was an implied contract created that said you would receive a Retail Steam Key the moment it went live on that competing digital service. In fact, maybe it was an express contract! I’m sure it’s somewhere there in the Desura terms of service that you get a Free Copy of the game on Desura’s competitor. And me? I just ignored it. I just ignored that contract that we signed in sight of the world, and you have caught me.
The world needs more people like you, Sir. More Indie Games policemen to help the downtrodden nerds of the Internet who aren’t getting free software everywhere. I salute you.
Your contempt for customers is truly amazing. You obviously ignored my last statement in requesting that the updates be paralleled with Steam. However, you still refuse to accept the fact that you failed in that simple solution.
As another replier mentioned in this heated discussion, if Desura is a known problem then shouldn’t you be arranging to update with them as soon as possible? I know for fact that updates for Desura were not a matter of a weeks but months.
Then add to the fact that you haphazardly sent out keys to Desura “entitled” customers, so some got keys and some did not?
I am done discussing this with your trolling fan boys, and your lack of simple business skills such as taking care of your customers.
Instead you make the same excuses and continue to berate your customers.
Hi Dan, is it so hard to understand that the point of asking about steam keys is not because they are more shiney, it’s because we FINALLY want to get the “release version / gold version” (or at least the beta version which is called that way).
every other company can hold their release date, even if they deliver boxed versions! why? because the know how long it takes for the factories and logistic partners to deliver the product into the stores! have you ever encountered a company which only send the software to the factories at the release date and blaming said factory for not instantly delivering the product on the shelfs?!
you hammer your opinion on the fact that we asked for a steam key and declare us “ill minded” or other nice pronounciations, but you fail to understand that the point isn’t that we want a steam key but rather the game in general!
at your kickstarter campaign you can still read for the starting pledge, that you promise to “deliver a copy of the game upon its release” …. well, the game was released and two days later you wrote at the forums that you have sent the keys to your backers!
if you didn’t want to delay the release of stardrive then why not upload the game two weeks before the release date to desura so that you can make sure that your desura customers receive the release version in time? it’s because the game STILL isn’t finished and you wanted more time to work on the game and because steam has an greater audience and a playable (not finished!) release sells better, so you completely ignored your early funders at desura!
but go on, just pick the sentence “we want a steam key” completely out of context and call us idiots, game policemen oder othe nicer things, but don’t think for a second that you fulfilled your obligations!
Dan, really.. you are better than this. This sort of knee-jerk reaction can very much accomplish, what the all the kyles of the world could never do by themselves, no matter how much they whined on forums.
You are a lawyer if i’m not mistaken, so you should know better than to let your emotions and feeling appear in what you say, especially when directed towards the public.
Zero,
I really don’t think you should lower yourself to engage people like this. Sure, Kyle is just an entitled asshat who doesn’t seem to understand the basics of the situation, but when you respond like this, you lower yourself as well. I understand your frustration, as I can only imagine what it would be like to deal with people like this. However, just bite your lip, shake your head, and keep going with it.
Kyle,
Two basics here:
1. You bought a game on Desura. There is nothing that guarantees you a Steam code, though you will be receiving one.
2. Since your game is on Desura, its updated status depends on.. Desura. Desura’s open-ness and lack of DRM are great and all, but, beyond that, it sucks. As someone who has followed Xenonauts for a while, it’s becoming blatantly obvious that Desura’s update practices are both crappy and out of the hands of developers. The only possible way for Zero to time the Desura updates to be the same as Steam’s is by nonsensically delaying all updates until Desura finally gets moving. That’s insane.
All he can do is attempt to give all Desura people Steam codes.. and he is. Asking the updates to be parallel is just ridiculous.
Oh and, for the record, I have neither purchased Star Drive nor am I a “fanboy” for it. I’m just paying attention to what’s happening as a potentially interested neutral party.
@Killias
Ok so you are an ignorant fan boy. Seriously why comment on an issue you have no idea about?
@killias2
“I really don’t think you should lower yourself to engage people like this. Sure, Kyle is just an entitled asshat who doesn’t seem to understand the basics of the situation, but when you respond like this, you lower yourself as well.” ~killias2
Please refrain your condescending/insulting attitude. You made your point clearly, but the above paragraph was totally unnecessary and only useful to provoke people and drag the insults on the thread.
@Kyle Rees
“Ok so you are an ignorant fan boy. Seriously why comment on an issue you have no idea about?” ~Kyle Rees
Again, another insult. Well, you know… don’t do that.
Kyle: I can’t say this any more politely – GTFO.
Your kind of acting like a spoiled brat suffering from a false sense of entitlement is exactly the reason why publishers and developers alike keep their promises to a minimum.
They know that the moment they promise something, there will be a dozen of your kind jumping out from underneath the bushes to nag them about it, so god save them from failing to meet any of your kind’s righteous expectations, because you will strike down upon them with great vengeance and furious anger and they shall know thy name is the troll.
No… if you would be my kid, you would not have to worry about those steam keys anymore as I would just tell you to forget about them, not out of spite, but to teach you a lesson in both patience and humility.
I guess asking for the same updates on Desura that Steam got is a “acting like a spoiled brat”.
Ok whatever you fan boy. Don’t tell other others how to raise kids when you are obviously one yourself. Lol
Kyle: yes, this sort of answer is exactly that of the “spoiled brat” variety.
Asking for something is not the problem. Not accepting a completely valid answer / explanation (that things take time and that desura is slower than expected) and throwing a tantrum just because you did not hear what you wanted.. that is a problem.
Oh and my earlier comment was not intended as parenting advice. I was merely trying to point out, how what you are doing is an infantile, childish thing that people usually grow out of by the age of 10-12.
As for your attempt at diverting and devaluing my opinion by calling me a fanboi.. way off target. I don’t care about your opinion of the game, what I care about is YOUR ATTITUDE towards other human beings, who in this case happens to be the developer of said game.
esebal…you criticize behavoir on which yourself act on. as Kyle and i have stated at various points, the primary goal is not to have a steam key but rather have the game upon release as under which terms we bought the game.
we bought into the alpha to get early access, meaning alpha versions AND finished version on release. latter wasn’t fulfilled by dan and has nothing to do with desura. at my company for example i work and send my list with the worked hours to the controlling department on the 15th date of each month…why? because i know thats the deadline on which i was told to do so BECAUSE it takes around 10 days after that particularly date to have the money on my bank account. now, if i would send my paper with the aforementioned worked hours not before the deadline or even just on the 25th (where i usually get my money) then i can’t seriously blame the bank for needing several days to transfer the money….I was at fault for not sending the papers earlier and thus missing the timeframe which is needed to process the money.
the same goes with stardrive and the game, even after the deadline of 2 weeks before release the game wasn’t finished and zero programmed further at the code (which isn’t the problem) but he couldn’t make sure that the release date will be fulfilled be desura. so why should desura be he bad guy?! steam keys would be like a check, it isn’t part of the work agreement but a solution to the problem.
people get angry because of that and yes, sometimes even chidish but the same can be said about some fanboys and even Dan if you read his comments. so with this comment you’re not just criticizing Kyle^^.
What is this,a chinese bear with sword over some future tech computer? This game must be for ppl under 12…
I think it is a homage to Master of Orion, but I have the same feeling as you do about it coming across as a bit childish.
They are distant relatives of the bulrathi:
http://bookofaliens.blogspot.hu/2009/06/bulrathi.html
Well, i never liked animal-based races anyway. But its 21st century, there must be some fresh ideas about… everything… especially in sci-fi genre
Yeah I have to admit that the cheesy looking anthropomorphic animal / aliens are one thing that really worried me about this game. Hopefully the game itself is a lot better. I’m going to wait for the full review before I make my decision.
Calm down people. Please, no insults to try and prove your point. It never helps really, and it only confuses the readers that are trying to understand how good this game really is. I’m sure we can keep the discussion civil, as is this site’s good tradition.
Use the place to state your opinion or to vent your frustrations if you have to, but please do your best to not cross the border of insult or rudeness.
Kyle Rees, Seraph etc…
Please block them on this website, they´re creating several accounts here and on metacritic. maybe they´re all one person, maybe two.
Please check their IPs.
It´s obviously that the metacritic 0 ratings and many posts here from severall accounts are from ONE PERSON. Please look up the IPs.
on which proof do you base this accusation?! because there are some people who don’t have the same opinion like you and thus it must be one evil person?! please, don’t make a fool of yourself!
you could aso say the same about many 10 ratings who read much like advertisement and some are mysteriously writing the same things with same details and same writing.
and why block?! everyone is entitled to have their own opinion and make their voice to be heard (or read^^). you want to ban people with a negative opinion about something but surely all the people who praise a game should be left alone?! it’s the internet and especially this site is for space (strategy) games, where people have the opportunity to write their thoughts and make them public.
i read the comments and most of the insults come from “fanboys” or at least they seem to be one.
weird as it is, dan only answered to the topic of people demanding steam keys, bashing them because they should be grateful and answering not the question why the impossibility for Zero / Dan of distributing the release version on the release date wasn’t announced! on desura you can still read “Alpha”…just at this litte detail you can see how interested he is in the desura customers and desura as distribution plattform at all!
after your and the overall fanboy logic you could also ban zero because he hasn’t anything productive to add to this conversation besides insults!
I think every suspect is innocent until proven guilty. And such accusations shouldn’t be said without some hints or proofs.
If people want the steam codes just for getting an updated version and desura is DRM-less, would it help if Dan releases a patch on his own in the forums or his own website or so?
Shame on Desura for taking so long or are they doing additional QA?
that could have prevent the disaster and give all the desura users the chance to help ironing out the ast problems. but i don’t if dan had programmed that way (generating patches or just programming at several branches) and how hard it would be to exclude some files from the architecture (but i’m no programmer).
most people including me hoped for an early steam code to bypass the waiting which comes with desura and have the game as previously promised upon release. <– that was the reason for asking about keys, not some must have freebees.
as the state of the actual game clarifies from the reports in the forums the game certainly needed the extra time before the release and still need some love. but dan knew that he couldn't possibly release the game and let it be distributed on desura at the given date (26.04.). in this situation he should have posted on desura and his forum that due the need of further improving the game and because of the natural delays of desura he sadly can't hold the deadline for the desura release. but there was no announcement before the release happend and the rage began. i don't take the gifting of a steam key for granted, but the availability of the release on the plattform i bought it and at the announced release date that i usually can take for granted.
Maybe here on this site, but the metacritic-thing is very very obvious Azrael.
“Also if you check the 0 rating comments on metacritics, you can clearly see that those are all done by 1 guy!!
Look at the names:
Xerberus85
Azariel86
Horus80
Zeraph86
Seraph86
Someone who bought the game on desura and is clearly frustrated he didnt get the steam key, although he had no right to get it”
maybe you should include the several 10 ratings from also clearly the same guy, but hold …. that’s ok ;).
Sure, that looks like the same guy, but why do you think it’s Kyle Rees?
And somehow it’s a little stupid to use the same name scheme for all those reviews. That leads to a nice conspiracy theory. Perhaps Dan is the best spin doctor alive ;) As these reviews are clearly fakes, they should be removed altogether so only good reviews remain.
….also he has NO right to get a steam key, but he had the right to receive a copy of the game upon relese, which didn’t happen. blaming desura is just a lazy way of driving attention away from the fact that even at the release the game wasn’t finished!
….also he has NO right to get a steam key, but he had the right to receive a copy of the game upon relese, which didn’t happen. blaming desura is just a lazy way of driving attention away from the fact that even at the release the game wasn’t finished!
…and because of that he couldn’t upload the release version in due time because it was at 2 weeks before release date still a game with gamebreaking bugs and has even after relese content like events which aren’t finished and still people having huge performance issues. so yeah it’s quite nice for him to have a boogey man to drive the hate towards and away from the missing parts of the game and the missed release on desura. or do you want to argue on those points too?!
yep, that’s a shame and such hostile behavour unfortunately makes most metacritic user ratings absolutely worthless
FWIW, I thought I’d show up and say I’m having a whale of a time with it.
I scooped it up 3 weeks ago on Steam, after some friends made me aware of its prescence. It looked good, so I thought I’d try.
Personally feel I’ve really had my moneys worth out of it already in enjoyment terms. It’s better than much of the stuff people have the gall to charge full price for.
There is some work on features and bugs that needs doing, but it shouldn’t detract from the vision behind it and some awesome features that have been implemented. Ship design is particularly good.
I may have been lucky, I have a reasonable laptop and I’ve only had 3 CTDs in ~30 hours play.
Will add that I needed the net to pick up the basics, but I feel that’s normal with most bigger strategy games. EU3 took a lot longer to get the basics…
If the recommended PC spec, forum browsing learning and last bits of work aren’t deal breakers for you then I’d give it a punt! Go on! Do it!
To frame this, some half relevant games I’ve really liked over the last few years: EU3, Civ IV, Sins of a solar empire, Endless Space, Sword of the Stars (1).
Games I *really* wanted to like, but….: Elemental, Civ V, Total War.
This game is the the MoO2’s heir so much waited.
Like his ancestor, he is based on a very solid combat model & ship design system. The release version is already quite rich with lots of features often neglicted for a 4X release (fighters, relic, boarding, terraformation, spy, etc..), which is a big performance comparing to his cousin Distant Worlds for example.
There are still many areas to improve and bugs to adresses, but it is very impressive to observe that despite all the small bugs the game is trully awesome to play, even it his very young state.
In one word : with his talented & passionate developper Zero, StarDrive is probably going to be the messiah every MoO2’fan has been waiting for so long.
wow….1.) that sounds more like advertising of the company than an actual opinion of a user but ok, if it’s your opinion i’m happy that you found your gem :).
2.) i’m sorry kiddo but stardrive being MoO2’s air is not possible simply because its not turn-based and so not even in the same sub-genre.
3.) why bashing distant worlds?! please look on the great reviews on this site which are very informative! distant worlds has excluding terraforming and boarding (which comes in the next expansion which is due in may) everything you mentioned….and even more things like space creatures, dozens of resources….a far larger tech tree and lets not forget the 1.500 solar systems you can play around ;). it terms of diplomacy it also delivers a big chunk where stardrive at the moment can only dream and even sins has more.
don’t get me wrong i think stardrive will become a great game if the developer finishes the missing parts which are sadly not done / implemented yet. like events or minor races and mining which i recall was said by him.
but overall yes, it’s very onjoyable ….if you’re not a desura user :P …. oh god…. the one big minus of some indie devs are truly the means of distribution^^.
Hmm… It seems you have some ‘desura related’ grudge to empty. I would like to help you but I cant, sorry guy.
Btw, nice troll try. *smile*
^^
In which way was my post rolling?! do you even know the meaning of that word?!
the “grudge” weren’t related to desur but simply Zero been unable to finish the game in time und making sure every early investor / buyer got the game for the money.
he nicely put it that stardrive on steam for desura users is a FREEBEE or GIFT …. now you can read from several people on the forum (i haven’t tried yet) that if you install the updatet version of stardrive from desura, you actually NEED to register it to steam….what a joke!
I could sign this statement, thanks Kruos.
HFS guys, let’s all calm down here. We’re fans of the 4x genre and we’re used to getting bad games, this isn’t a bad game. Maybe we didn’t all get our keys as quickly as we would have liked, put that aside and let’s focus on the fact that the game as shipped is fun to play and has a lot of potential, I can’t think of a 4x release in memory that has been both of those.
YES…besides some minor incompleteness and some usual bugs…gamewise there is aready quite fun to be found! and the game certainly can become a classic if zero doesn’t leave the ship, but problems need to be heard and also criticism need to be comprehended.
regarding 4x games and release versions, i love distant worlds but i couldn’t play it unti the first addon. legends of pegasus was a VERY promising game on paper but a huge letdown because it was just the barebone.
and i hope sincerely that the people from desura finally get their latest version. everybode ranted about desuras fault but i also bought xenonauts and the surpass these problem by uploading rar-files with their game to their desura profile which can only be downloaded / seen by their customers.
You know, when you treat the developers like you have Kyle have been doing they decide it’s not any fun anymore and abandon projects. If Zero walks away from this game later you personally might have been at least partially responsible for that. Maybe you shoulder consider that next time you go on a witch hunt.
mistreating someone is one thing, not delivering what was purchased is the other! he simply failed to finish the game in time so that desura could distribute it in the needed time. he simply failed to complete the game until his own set release date (he should have pushed back the release at least a little bit). furthermore he publicly said to every “hater” that they should be grateful for getting stardrive at steam because they purchased the game on desura. now it seems that with the updated version on desura you NEED to register the game on steam…..funny thing to know after all his ranting.
bottom line, yeah…maybe he feels mistreated but what about the feelings of the people who gave their money early on and thus enabling him to fund his project?! should they just shut up and receive every beating with a “thank you”?!
Hi all. I’ve bought the game 1 month ago in beta. I’m a Distant Worlds fan and I loved stardrive for the first moment even if it has looked to me little than the game from matrix. But Stardrive have a very very good ships design building and a great background.
I don’t understand this hatred. Yeah, have some bug but the “potential” is very good.
I’m amazed at vitriol and negative commentary flying around in here. I understand that one can be upset when expectations, valid or otherwise, aren’t met – but my goodness.
4X games are certainly operating in a tough genre/market with passionate users, but I’m astounded by how the tone surrounding StarDrive took such a turn for worse – I suggest taking a deep breath, being patient, and being proactive and constructive. The negativity isn’t going to help anything improve.
Totally Agree with you Mez. And don’t forget that Stardrive is made by ONE develover, ONE. We’ve many example of “triple AAA” game made by 30/40 developers then become flop after the release. This game is not a flop.
While I’m disappointed that Zero stooped to the level that he did in his post, I have to say that I’m frankly flabbergasted at the utter lack of comprehension that some of the Desura gripers are displaying.
Here’s the situation:
1. Desura is taking 2 to 3 weeks to publish any updates sent to them. Zero can’t change that, and Zero can’t fix that. That’s a Desura problem, not a Zero problem or a StarDrive problem. If you’re someone who bought the title on Desura and don’t like the fact that you’re only being given access to data as it was 2 or 3 weeks ago, who do you think you should complain to? If you didn’t answer “Desura” and NOTHING BUT “Desura”, you’re missing the point.
2. Due to these delays, users who bought the title on Desura don’t have the “release” version that was finalized THREE DAYS AGO. To have that happen, Zero would have to have time-travel technology, or control over Desura. To our knowledge, he has neither. Therefore, complaining about the fact that your digital delivery service is delayed by 2 to 3 weeks from current and you therefore don’t have the latest and greatest that you “deserve”, is a complaint about the developer not being able to send the latest version backwards in time 2 to 3 weeks in order to satisfy you.
3. In an effort to overcome some of the flaws of Desura (which, to my knowledge, Zero is not responsible for), Zero has offered to take on the expense and hassle of giving free keys to the game for an entirely different digital distribution service (Steam) to Desura users who bought the game… some of which have chosen to engage in their own little entitled digital jihad because that gesture isn’t taking place fast enough to satisfy them. And Desura doesn’t even make a list of their users who have purchased the game available to him, so that’s bound to be an utterly flawless process.
the “release version” is still in beta and missing content so don’t use the word “finalized”! furthermore yeah it’s a desura problem that they take 2 or 3 weeks to test the updated software, BUT it’s Zeros fault to set the release date too early and thus not keeping his own deadline and been not able to finish the product in time! you think that’s desuras fault too?
By my understanding, VekTor was not suggesting that the game was finalized but that the “release” version was (3 days ago or so). I think you already made your point clear across many (many) posts in this thread. I think you’re beating a dead horse really.
You people are unbelievable.
First is is Zeros fault that there are no keys to those who ordered on desura. We finally come to the conclusion that it is Desura being slow and not Zero being ignorant and what do you say?
Did you say: ok.. cool then, glad we solved this?
Did you say: ok, sorry for doubting your intentions?
Nah.. you said.. “well fuck you for not finishing the game faster then”
Do you even realize, that would he have finished the game faster, steam – once again – would have been faster in delivering it to those who bought it on steam, leaving us stuck on square one once again? That is.. desura customers having to wait compared to those who bought it on steam?
What makes you even think that the releases should be simultaneous to begin with.. Nowhere was it written, that you should get the game sooner or at the same time as everyone else. Release date differences occur in the industry for much less trivial reasons than technical differences in distribution.
You should not blame the developer for you being naive and should not hold him to promises he never made. Especially not when the developer tries to help you by giving you complimentary keys to the steam version.
I’m not quite certain where all this hate and anger comes from, but frankly, this thread should be about how good or bad the game really is. It should be about people wasting their lives away getting immersed in the game.
Instead this has turned into a battlegrounds for some crusade waged against Zero by an Angry few. Sad.
Awesome potential here and Zero is clearly working on his game so I think we should all say “hallelujah somebody is making an innovative play for the MoO2 crown! Awesome!” I’m very much looking forward to the future of this -hopefully- franchise.
I hate the word potential. The game is either feature complete or not, every game has potential no matter what it looks like, so “potential” is no good term. It rather means that the game is unfinished and needs more time. Everything and everybody has potential, it’s an universal term and means zero.
THANK YOU!! Finally, someone with some common sense. The “It has potential” line is the biggest crock. Anytime I see that in a review, I immediately discount that person and his review, because it is an act of desperation to prop up the product or person they are wanting to support so badly, but deep down inside they know it is unfinished or not “A” quality. And I further agree with your assessment that a product is either feature complete or it is not. Perhaps I can dig out my old Commodore 64, go to Firaxis and do some quick BASIC programming where my name gets repeated on the screen automatically and try to convince them that I have great programming ‘potential’ – hahaha. They would laugh me right out the door, probably under escort. Yes, everything has potential until it is FULLY realized and shown to be finished.
sorry, but this kind of arrogance is really annoying. This is no common sense eat all even if you may call it so. Common sense would be to acknowledge the hard work over a long time frame necessary to implement software of such a scope and complexity, and this essentially by only one man. Some people don’t seem to be able to understand that it’s thanks to people like Dan who are willing to dedicate a big amount of their lifetime to develop such games that ‘we’ are able to play them, and this just for a few bucks. I fully understand when Dan shows his feelings and doesn’t behave like a pr machine when confronted with such hostility and ignorance.
Both Candyland and Tic-Tac-Toe are feature-complete games, but neither has what I consider to be any meaningful amount of “potential”, in that I expect them to be exactly the same thing 3 months from now and 3 years from now that they are today.
So if you want to stick to only feature-complete and finished games, then by all means, that’s you’re prerogative.
I personally tend to prefer focusing on things that are likely to get better, and are not completely trivial. Both the development focus and the designed support for mods sets StarDrive apart from a great many other titles, and that represents some value to me. Others may disagree. I see it as a good game today that I expect to get better in very short order.
I use the term “potential” to describe that aspect, and therefore the term means much more than zero to me.
potential is good and fine and i also think stardrive has potential but that doesn’t mean anything nowadays if the company drops the developement of the game. it’s a risk to fund a project on kickstarter or on desura because you can’t know if the dev(s) can finish the game. it’s also a big risk to buy a game which has still lacking some features advertised or only on the assumption that it has “potential”. Legends of Pegasus was unfinished and hat great potential but the ball was dropped quickly. now i don’t want to compare SD with LoP but you can’t know if or how long a developer has the interest / will and money to further develop a product after release!
so judging a game after its potential is quite risky!
If you are uncomfortable with ever “risking” money on something that is not in its 100%-final form, then I recommend never buying any game newer than 2 years after full release. You seem deeply uncomfortable with the notion of being an “early adopter”, but that’s precisely what many people are choosing to be when they purchase (let alone pre-purchase) the first title published by a new source.
Is there risk in doing that? Might you never see the “final” form? Sure, that risk exists, but a great number of people find that to be an acceptable form of risk, and the existence of that risk doesn’t somehow render the notion of “potential” to be moot.
That’s a risk that you’ll always need to take if you want to play new games from new developers, rather than waiting until all of the dust settles and it’s all said and done.
Personally, I’d rather take that risk if it means that I get a chance to help INFLUENCE the direction and odds of success of a title while it is still in a state of being able to be changed… and Zero / Dan has proven himself to be highly accessible and very willing to implement useful changes and suggestions. I see encouraging that (by “risking” my money) as a good thing.
I’ve already garnered vastly more value from this game, even though it is not fully finalized, than most game titles I have EVER purchased, and that’s saying a lot! Compared to the majority of “finished” titles that I’ve purchased, I’ve already gotten more of my “money’s worth” of entertainment out of StarDrive in a few weeks than I have in the lifetime of those other games. But that’s me, and other people will assign their own valuations to it.
If the game not only stopped development right now, but actually erased itself from my account, I still wouldn’t consider the money a waste, because of the entertainment it has already provided.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
Gah! You’re = your
Just to update everyone, Desura has approved and post the retail version.
Thanks for the game, it’s in better shape than a lot of other 4x games that have been released. I personally got burned badly by Sword of the Stars II so I’ve been wary. There are some things I like about stardrive, particularly the ship building. There are some other things I don’t like but I wanted to thank you for the hard work and I hope you make enough money to make it worthwhile. Don’t let the children get you down, just remember there’s a lot of silent majority out here that’s happy with what you delivered.
Touche indeed. Some people on this board are even getting worked up about the definition of the word potential. Man oh man. Anyway, keep up the good work Zero and enjoy queensday!
touche
thanks for the “freebee”…one question (i’m not at home so haven’t tested it yet), it’s right that if you download and install the version from DESURA, that you NEED to register that version also on steam?!
“Again, another insult. Well, you know… don’t do that.”
When reading this, i must think of this picture:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mBjo8pDq3Os/UFHmcKRc0zI/AAAAAAAAAlk/moZmUFQ_XQ8/s1600/bad+dog.gif
*Silly cows* ;)
Please, don’t escalate this. Don’t reply or drag the moderation action. The thing is that was the second or third mention to insults to the same user. Maybe it was not the most fortunate sentence, but I was getting out of ways to say the same thing.
@All
The exchange of insults, implied insults and condescending attitude that has happened on this thread is very unfortunate.
The StarDrive Desura/Steam issue was heavily discussed, and in the end I think everyone who read this (sad) thread understood that the process was not a clean one. I think everyone proved their point well enough, except on the part of the use of insults (implied insults and condescending attitude) which never help a discussion, any discussion, and only help shun people from the discussion, thread, site.
I feel that this was one of the saddest threads that this site ever produced, and no doubt the toughest I had to moderate. There were others, but this was definitely the one which made me feel sadder. I understand people’s frustrations, but the use of insults or other offending behavior cannot be tolerated.
But, a big part of the blame is mine. It’s a sad fact that all this happened when I had the unfortunate bad luck of having limited availability (Friday – Apr 26th – SD release). So, many comments were not moderated on time to stop the escalation of insults.
But, I should have implemented commenting editing by now. So, from now on people can edit their comments. I should have done this before, but I needed to lose one morning to implement this and not work on any news and reviews. But, this had to be done. The edit function is available now. Please use it for any purpose you need, especially when/if you feel that you should change something that you later think you should not have said in the first place.
I’ll think of other options if they prove to be necessary, like a report button.
It’s tough being a moderator :/ And,… less time is left to cover games and make reviews.