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[simoroth]

3. When a colonist suggestion comes up, allow us to press y/n to respond. Just a bit quicker, and the other emails allow a 'y' button press so it makes sense.

This was the number one request from testing. Just never made it into the build. Probably will hotfix it in. Although people are already complaining about the popups.

[forsaken1111]

3. When a colonist suggestion comes up, allow us to press y/n to respond. Just a bit quicker, and the other emails allow a 'y' button press so it makes sense.

This was the number one request from testing. Just never made it into the build. Probably will hotfix it in. Although people are already complaining about the popups.

Pop-ups are one of those things that are hard to get right. On one hand, they're very good at grabbing player attention when something happens. On the other, they're very annoying to the player when he is doing something.

Like when I'm trying to save a colonists dying of hypothermia and I get a pop up about marking plants for destruction.

[simoroth]

3. When a colonist suggestion comes up, allow us to press y/n to respond. Just a bit quicker, and the other emails allow a 'y' button press so it makes sense.

This was the number one request from testing. Just never made it into the build. Probably will hotfix it in. Although people are already complaining about the popups.

Pop-ups are one of those things that are hard to get right. On one hand, they're very good at grabbing player attention when something happens. On the other, they're very annoying to the player when he is doing something.

Like when I'm trying to save a colonists dying of hypothermia and I get a pop up about marking plants for destruction.

Yeah. They are not entirely good at prioritising them at the moment. I will probably make it so low priority ones don't pop up if you have clicked the mouse or pressed anything other than a movement key for 20 seconds.

[forsaken1111]

Seems like a good compromise.

Any suggestions on the 'trapped in room' problem I had?

I mean eventually they did build the door, but not before the poor botanist died alone of hypothermia.

[simoroth]

Seems like a good compromise.

Any suggestions on the 'trapped in room' problem I had?

I mean eventually they did build the door, but not before the poor botanist died alone of hypothermia.

Yeah. The plan is door frames will be built. But not the functioning door. This means you can still trap people in rooms if you want that, but also can free them and it will still require building materials to complete the door.

Edit: Was actually going to have this in the update, but alas my art budget is now kaput. If we sell a few thousand copies in this sale, Ill get it in for the next update.

[simoroth]

Dumped out a shedload of hotfixes this week. http://steamcommunity.com/games/252250/announcements/detail/571221603305284554

We had 92% positive reviews before the sale. Now we are on 50% and our overall score back down to 46%. Hella demoralising.

[Gabeux]

Interesting. I might check how things are going soon.

About the reviews, on your (very interesting) blog post about all the issues you had with development of the game, you very much pointed out why you're getting such a low score.
I'd say the only way to turn the tide is to really fix the issues and just close your eyes to that and push for the release, if you're able. It'll be one of these cases in which people got tired of waiting and started getting mad, or simply saying BS due to the wait, and decided to write a bad review (or edit a positive to a negative one).

I mean..really, I'm not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but it's VERY rare for people to turn around and edit their reviews, unless you actually do good work and enough players notice that.
But if you focus on the current negativity, and focus on trying to turn those players around...things will only get worse. Fix 'dem bugs but stick to a plan.

What you got on your advantage is that you're actually trying, and actually doing stuff. Doesn't seem to me that you're ruining your life or your name.
There's a certain game on Steam that the dude took ages to finish. Initially, before Steam, the game was "finished" (and in an horrible state). He took advantage of his rather unknown status to put the game as Early Access on Steam, because it was shit. He took ages to release any patches or fixes, and then he simply slapped the "1.0" label on it (again).
In that case, I most definitely wrote a bad review, especially as the game was completely unplayable for..ever. That's how you ruin yourself.

In other words, people who are aware knows you are, at the very least, getting shit done, instead of vanishing completely. So don't let the numbers hurt you too much.
See if you can get it over with and move on, because by the tone of your writing, it might start hurting more than its worth.

[The Scout]

After loading it up for the first time, I tried to mess with the settings. One click on the texture setting just blew it up. Whitescreens after the initial loading screen, no config in the directory to change the setting back. Quite puzzled and unwilling to refund since it worked before that.

[Retropunch]

I agree mostly with Gabeux, but I also have to add in that this is kinda just a product of how Early Access works as there are no real limits on where EA should begin.

Most gamers believe that EA is beta testing - it's a pretty much a solid product with just a few bits that need tightening up and a smattering of bugs. Maybe it's a bit before that stage, but everything that's going to be in, is in. That's how it started, but it quickly drifted into basically 'support this and it'll hopefully work out'. Now I'm not a fan of that model, but I understand why developers do it - cash is tight and you set out the stall so people should understand what they're buying into.

However, there's a disconnect as most people see EA as beta testing - it's how it was meant to be to start with. It's ok if you've got a rapid content release cycle and a solid foundation, but otherwise it starts to look like people might be investing in something that isn't going anywhere.

I'm not saying you've done it wrong, just that it's very clear what the reason behind negative reviews are. Maia doesn't seem too far behind the beta stage though - just keep pushing and you'll get there. You've got a relatively low number of reviews, so once you release in full they won't matter at all!

[Gabeux]

Yep, I totally agree with EA having no real limits and no real description.

Check the game ARM Planetary Explorers, for instance. The folks just put up a completely broken pre-alpha thing, while asking the players what type of game they wanted ARM to be.
It's the most insane thing I've ever seen, and they are a brand new company apparently.

Then you have games that feel complete but in a Beta state. I finished SPAZ 2 and it felt like a basic, but complete experience. Now I'm happy to wait for their final release.

So most people, including devs, don't seem to know what EA is about. And to me, it is extremely subjective. My example of a good EA title is Empyrion. They are just three dudes that failed a Kickstarter but decided to push anyway, and their first release was barebones but polished enough to deserve the wait. Every patch adds value, and most bugs that are fixed don't come back. They make surveys asking for what people want, and they actually listen. I'm pretty sure all of my initial feedback (got it on day one on Steam) was implemented. It's a beautiful thing to see.
But you'll still see negative reviews or people complaining. You bet you will.

[Neonivek]

Ahem

Early Access is a type of Pre-order policy where the bonus is that you get to see a game be developed along the way.

---

The reason there is a confusion on where exactly early access should start is simple... Because it has been abused.

In fact a lot of games intentionally stay in early access as long as possible to defend their shoddy game... Or because they never actually want to have a complete game but really a sampling dish of whatever they want to try.

---

However the negative reviews with Early Access shouldn't matter because right there in the EA statement it states that an Early Access Title SHOULD NOT need to rely on sales in order to be developed... Yet as we know that isn't true for a lot of games.

[The Scout]

Bit of a problem on .58, colonists will keep using meat trolleys, scanners and medicine dispensers till they die. This has caused my medical bay to be filled with corpses of perfectly healthy individuals and I can't deconstruct them because of the sheer amount of injuries earthquakes cause.

Edit: Someone wanted to call a meeting and everyone was complaining about lack of communication, so I let him. Que everyone sitting on the floor until they die from dehydration. Good meeting.

[lordcooper]

Edit: Someone wanted to call a meeting and everyone was complaining about lack of communication, so I let him. Que everyone sitting on the floor until they die from dehydration. Good meeting.

Flashbacks to my last job.

[The13thRonin]

Is this pretty good yet?

[The Scout]

Is this pretty good yet?

No offense to Simon, but no. There are still some critical bugs with colonist behavior that make it impossible to actually play. It'll be a good basebuilding game once that's removed, but it's also lacking any features other than just expanding.