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[Vendayn]

Saw this over at PCgamer: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/07/02/planet-explorers/
And here is a video of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWeuOqBkMY
Developer's website: http://pathea.net/
And the download link: http://www.indiedb.com/games/planet-explorers/downloads/planet-explorers-alpha-v01

It is only in Alpha 0.1 at moment, so it is brand new. Looks rather awesome, even so early in life. Free to download, but not sure if the developers plan to charge for their game or not at some point. I assume that will probably be the case.

[Xinvoker]

I played this the other day, the gameplay is already interesting, what's needed is a lot of polish and optimization, as everything feels clunky atm.

The terrain is NOT procedural, but it is already huge, and it's going to be gigantic. (I understand they've designed the whole continent, but they only uploaded a part of it to save download size)

[jocan2003]

Thats a bummer... wish it were procedural would save even more on download size and add to replayability.

Anyway so far look very very good.

[head]

Ran like shit, controls were fubar, the environment was bland and boring?

They should properly not released this.

[Gamerboy4life]

(flaming removed)

[Neonivek]

Ran like shit, controls were fubar, the environment was bland and boring?

They should properly not released this.

(flaming removed)

I've seen people and companies intentionally guard their alpha work and not release it specifically because it gives the wrong impression.

He isn't stupid he is doing the natural reaction... and frankly what did he say wrong? "This is Alpha" doesn't contradict what he said, perhaps he was refering to the alpha as in "this is such a lousy alpha why release it?"

Frankly I question someone's intelligence more if they are shown an empty box and they imagine it filled with goodies later.

[Xinvoker]

Frankly I question someone's intelligence more if they are shown an empty box and they imagine it filled with goodies later.

Why?
It's not even a paid alpha, and the empty box is a terrible analogy because all boxes are the same, you can't tell which one has potential.
With games you can.

Plus they are already getting feedback, which they wouldn't, if they hadn't released the alpha.

[cerapa]

And here I was, thinking that people here would understand what an alpha is.

It doesnt make it immune to criticism, no. But it does carry certain connotations, those being that it is stupid to be outright hostile about the flaws you find. You can bet your ass that they are already known, and saying they should not release this is sorta missing the point. It isnt gonna be released, this is just for people to see what the state of the game is.

[Neonivek]

And here I was, thinking that people here would understand what an alpha is.

It doesnt make it immune to criticism, no. But it does carry certain connotations, those being that it is stupid to be outright hostile about the flaws you find. You can bet your ass that they are already known, and saying they should not release this is sorta missing the point. It isnt gonna be released, this is just for people to see what the state of the game is.

He is right, it doesn't make it immune to criticism except when it does.

But what I really mean is... Lets move on. A Good Offense is just as bad as a Good Defense. This is what the response for "I don't think they should have released this" should have been.

"I see what you mean, they did release it in a rather raw state. Though I disagree, I like what they have currently and I have faith that they will smoothe things over" and it would have been done in one post.

Remember comments are about collections of ideas and often deliberation. It is more important to understand what someone means first then it is to defend.

[Dariush]

...Wow. After starting the game (for which I had to register), I started floating in midair, unable to move. I know that some alphas are unpolished, but this is just ridiculous.

[head]

Bah, i was tad too detached there. It's just that releasing this with negligible gameplay and a rather bland world might just come back to bite them in the ass later when they start wanting cash for it.

And what some might just remember the boring flat island with odd creatures.

I am excited if they can row ashore, especially when i saw the multiplayer button.


Nor were i not annoyingly that it was a alpha, but shit man makes it interesting and folks with stick to you, for someone who loves these kind of games i could just play it for around 15 minutes.

Not mention that nice bug i got every now and then where i would stop be able to dig/attack/doanyoing

[Toady One]

I removed some posts.  People should be more polite to each other.

[thobal]

I removed some posts.  People should be more polite to each other.

I sometimes wonder where he finds to time to mod such a large forum.


Anyways, this looks neat-o. But as an old hand at Noctis, I think procedural is the best way to go when doing large area games. It's also possible they are doing non-procedural for certain parts(i.e. the general lay of the land) and procedural for the smaller things. I think that is probably the best way to do it. I'm also glad the space game genera is getting more interest. Supposedly the minecraft guy, Notch, is working on a massive update to Noctis. The name, 0x10x is even an oblique reference to one of the old urls for the noctis website "0x44"

Methinks that this genera is about to get a huge kick in the pants.

[ductape]

I removed some posts.  People should be more polite to each other.

my post was a joke, calling Head a bad person for his opinion. I thought the sarcasm was VERY obvious but oh well.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

1: It really should be procedural. We're getting spoiled these days

2: Guys,
Alpha 1.0 means the barebones works and it's time to add content. Run a closed Beta followed by a public Beta.
Beta 1.0 means the content is complete and they fixed all the important bugs.
Release 1.0 means the public Beta test bugs (important ones) are fixed and it's ready to launch. The game won't crash, saves work 100% of the time, there are no spelling or graphical errors, and any audio errors are minor.
Release 1.3 or so has fixed any lingering important bugs and a few that just nag you.

Unfortunately, a lot of game companies seem to think: 
Alpha 1.0 means the game has a lot of bugs but oh well, go to public Beta.
Beta 1.0 means the game has all the bugs it had in Alpha but more content, ship it.
Release 1.0 means the paying customers are filing bug reports, and heck let's call it Gold Edition whle we're at it. 
V 1.9.c means most of the crash bugs are cleaned up and the servers are now online at least 25% of the time.
Six expansion packs later and we have the content.
Now release it in Diamond Edition with the expansions and patches and make more money.
The anemic modding tool we included means we can rely on the player community to extend the lifespan of the game if people like it. 

Really I wouldn't expect an Alpha 0.1 to be playable at all, so an .exe that runs and renders and doesn't crash is fine.