Dying game, pre-postmortem

Locking threads within hours of creation, adding art when the core is broken, advertising features with “gameplay” videos that are completely contrived, buying A HOUSE with the kickstarter funds…yep, we got screwed.

What the heck are you talking about?

i’ll probably regret asking this but… please @Jed, do elaborate…

reminds himself this is still a democracy

I think it wants to say something, poke it with a stick it might react!

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well, his only other post was complaiinquiring about the “lack of updates”, that i ended up locking (which would explain his opening comment above)…

let’s leave this open, in the interest of all things democratic… but seeing as my colleague across the pond is the “bad cop” in this relationship, @Geoffers747 has full authority to lock this at his discretion… :smile:

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Agreed! Although to prevent further digression, he might prefer to lock it at his discretion! :wink:

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The first doomsayer! Kill it with fire before it breeds!

The only thing I could say is that I don’t think having 5 people working on fixing the engine at the same time is very productive . . Hence the amazing art/moding/trapperprep additions.

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havent the foggiest what you’re babbling about…

slowly walks away…

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Kill it! Its a witch I tell you.

Blasphemy!!!

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(To be honest I totally clicked this thread thinking it was something else. There’s this really cool/short indie ‘adventure/investigation’ game where you are Death and must choose someone to take with you and there are lots of things to find out or base your decision… Anyway, it’s a really cool game - called “Postmortem”. I thought this would be a thread about a prequel or something like that HAHAhaha I’m laughing really hard now)

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[quote=“Jed, post:1, topic:5328, full:true”]
Locking threads within hours of creation,[/quote]

It’s a matter of personal opinion I believe. I tend to disagree with some lockings too because it’s an unfamiliar approach, but it makes sense in some way. Topics that are dealt with are simply closed, therefore preventing necromancy. Since Discourse is pretty fancy when quoting different threads/posts, this isn’t too much of an issue - because most (if not all) “question lockings” I’ve seen so far happen with a quote to the answer.

[quote=“Jed, post:1, topic:5328, full:true”]
adding art when the core is broken,[/quote]

Too many cooks spoil the broth. It makes sense that only one person can (usefully) work on one feature or part of the engine at any given time. Otherwise, you would have to resolve conflicts that happen in-between - which can be a time consuming task…

I don’t know precisely what their workflow is like, but I assume that there is some of branching going on - i.e. there are changes that one dev has made which are not yet in the game, yet could be added to the current code immediately - if they were ready as a whole.

I’ll just go ahead and say there are very little trailers nowadays that aren’t a complete completely CGI. A very nice example would be SimCity’s first trailer, which was amazing with parallel building of a nuclear plant with different people and effects and all and Images not representative of actual gameplay.

That said, we actually got a good impression of the game idea back then thanks to the videos and many of the YouTube streamers that picked up the Alpha back then.

I thought it was just an office, not a house. Nevertheless, this isn’t too surprising. To work efficiently, an office is required - unless somebody’s got a big, comfy basement that could be abused as such.

The Kickstarter funds are used to create the game - of which the location is a part of. Just like paying their bills (by some sort of salary that was calculated into the required funds). How they are spent is up to them - if an office speeds up (or even enables) the development I don’t see an issue with it.


Final thought: If this is based on the seemingly “lacking” Alpha currently available, would you prefer the only way of accessing the game would be via blogs and streams? It’s still a long way to get there, but I actually enjoy messing around with the current game right now instead of just being a passive observer that has to wait until September.

I can understand why it might seem disappointing though.

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It is most likely that this guy is just a troll.

Sigh

Although a bit harsh, remember

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The game just entered Alpha. It is FAR, far, far away from dead.

Um. Those threads had a good reason to be locked. [quote=“Jed, post:1, topic:5328”]
adding art when the core is broken,
[/quote]

The core is definitly NOT broken. It is very stable and it works. Besides, the game is in Alpha.

Now this is just wrong. The gameplay videos are 100% real and not made with CGI.

They bought an office. It’s recomended that when working on large projects, you eather buy office or use your basement if it’s large enough.

Now this has gone too far. We definitly did not get “screwed”. We get to enjoy the Alpha of a great game, support it while it grows, help out many people, make the game more known, and in the end, we get to play the full game when it comes out

You’re a troll, and a bad one. Try again.

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Welcome to an involved community, in which the members are actively influencing the development of a game for which they are incredibly excited. I’m afraid we’ve all been far too informed during every step of development for any of us to take your comment seriously.

You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but I’m afraid you’ll find no supporters here :wink:

Edit: I have also yet to see a locked thread that I thought did not deserve to be locked. This is by far the best kept forum on the internet (that has more than 3.5 active users) thanks to the hard work of @SteveAdamo and @Geoffers747. Questions that have been asked and answered, threads that simply restate other threads, and threads that are dead and gone really have no place on the forum, and I fully support the Tyrannical Duo.

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I’m going to agree with you. If you want to go off hating on Stonehearth, be my guest, but you won’t find anyone on your side here, only people who like the game.

The beauty of the discourse as a platform is that it really can facilitate constructive and helpful discussion, so let me take a step back and grant you the benefit of the doubt and deal with your points in turn:

A quick browse of the “front page” reveals 4 locked threads - 2 of which are posts created and locked by @SteveAdamo and myself as they are there to inform people; discussion is not needed and can serve to distract from the original message. A third thread has been locked as it is a duplicate bug report. The fourth thread was locked by request of the original poster as his questions had been answered and dealt with.

When we lock threads it is mainly to keep the place clean, either the thread has served its purpose and is no longer needed, perhaps it is a duplicate of another thread that will benefit from a merge to contain discussion in one space, maybe the original poster has asked for a lock - we have always stated that should somebody disagree with a locked thread that they should contact us and explain why, we will always listen to these posts, and provide our reasoning for closing.

“Locking threads within hours of creation” is a rather bold and untrue statement.

Is this not a continuous process? They are a team of 6 working on their respective areas. We ARE in alpha are we not? Features have been added, and fixes have been made, that’s not to say that they are anywhere near completion, but large steps have been made since that first release - the recent overhaul of the AI is testament to ‘unbreaking’ that core.

Are you referencing that first Kickstarter video? The proof of concept video? Need I say more?

I mean, what are you actually expecting right now? A full version of the game that you can sit and play for hours upon hours with every feature under the sun? This is an ongoing process, features have been and will continue to be added as time goes on, this is the process we are involved with.

This is just untrue. They have leased an office to my understanding to enable them to develop the game as it was not feasible to house 6 people working full time in someone’s house.

Pledging during the Kickstarter was not the purchase of a product, it was the backing of an idea, how Team Radiant go about creating that idea is their business. Leasing an office with the money made through Kickstarter is showing that they are using the funds to develop the game.

Did we? None of your points back up the idea that we got screwed in any capacity.

Just because I am a moderator does not mean I am unwilling to criticise Radiant, but I believe it is a testament to how they are conducting themselves and informing us the community with how things are progressing that I struggle to find things to criticise.

I am all for open and constructive criticism, I would encourage it, but making inherently flawed comments is not a part of that process.

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I really don’t mind that progression is a bit slow(ish?), every little update is something I like to try out ^^ Patience…

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People manage their expectations differently which is as it should be.
However this must also go hand in hand with an internal process of assessing the validity of our own assumptions and therefore expectations. The ability to moderate our expectations with reality is key.

Having said all the above pompous nonsense it is worth noting that, as an often ridiculously critical person, I have found that Team Radiant have been exemplary in openness and maintaining momentum and humour whilst hammering away at the cyclopean edifice that is a new/unique game.

The OPs palpable sense of disappointment I suspect comes from either a faulty set of expectations or an acute case of internet entitlement (which is no respecter of person and can happen to the best and the worst of us).

Either way a quick check of the stated aims and commitments for Stonehearth will see that these are all being honoured to the letter all the while being accompanied with an excess of fun, modding support and community indulgence that is bordering on the heroic.

Anyway, all good

Love and hugs

T

(p.s. see you all at the live stream)

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