Spacebase project lead on 1.0

[JP]

When we started Spacebase a year and a half ago, we knew that its continued development past Alpha 1 would be contingent on things partly or wholly outside our control. Spacebase had a strong launch in October of last year and while sales remained steady for a while afterwards, earlier this year it became clear that we would have to work towards wrapping up development. As project lead I can honestly tell you that we’ve done everything we could to keep making the game the best it can be. We pulled out all the stops we could for Alpha 6 and we’re proud of the depth it has added to the game. I believe the Goals and Tutorial Mode we’re adding for 1.0 are also a large missing piece that will lend the game greater unity and direction. We were careful not to make promises about anything on the old dev plan page, even as we hoped we’d someday get to implement all of it and more. Again this came down to time and resources, factors beyond my control.

To everyone who has supported Spacebase since or after its genesis in Amnesia Fortnight 2012, to everyone who has provided feedback, and voiced constructive criticism or even disappointment: you have my deepest thanks. With the dev time we have left we’re going to do the best we can to create something worthy of all that. This didn’t end up being a decade-in-development odyssey, but I hope you’ve enjoyed the process and find the end result fun to play.

[Xander]

"Double Fine is not a random fly-by-night indie dev and we are not going to silently pull the plug on Spacebase or any other in-development project. Doing so would be disastrous for our reputation and it would kill us emotionally "

This does not seem to match up with what was written above sir. This is a quick end after a large steam sale with the game at a discount. A sudden discontinuation. You are going from alpha with multiple features planned to a quick cut ended 1.0.

Why are you going back on your word above? That or, why tell people this if resources had been becoming a problem? Why the disconnect between the two?
Also, what about peoples requests for refunds?

[Tasty Mushroom]

i can't belief you keep on saying this with a straight face.
i don't want your deepest "thanks"
you have been lying for months and don't even want to admit that you are quitting.
your game is not "done" , you quit!
there is a difference...
no amount of editing,merging and deleting can fix that part, your dishonest behaviour.

[BlackWolf1170]

dude...

[Nathos]

Since you are giving out LUA code for modding, I hope you guys add STEAM WORKSHOP SUPPORT at least. Would make our life easier, if ppl ever bother to do mods at this point.

It was a risk I took with Early Access and I'm ok with that part. LACK of TRANSPARENCY and COMMUNICATION is what BOTHER me. (Even Notch when he worked ALONE would communicate better and be more transparent, leave alone updates every week.)

Game could be a lot more if management and some decisions were different, maybe better communication would have helped and if LUA code was out earlier for ppl to make mods would help some too. Anyways, if you manage to fix the bugs and AI and polish it some and add Workshop support, it won't be that bad I guess.

[Ḷцсᶖаᶇ º¹]

tl:dr we're cutting and running

[Hobbes]

On the contrary, I do not find the end product even fit for purpose. In the UK that means you've contravened the sale of goods act. You move this out of early access, I'll be immediately demanding a refund. Thanks for your time :)

[I'm Your Dude]

yea sure I bet the caviar and champagne were really good

[BlackWolf1170]

Originally posted by I'm Your Dude:

yea sure I bet the caviar and champagne were really good

lol

[Vilusia ♥ Stinktier]

DF is a developer I will never trust again.

[Stronkie]

"Double Fine is not a random fly-by-night indie dev and we are not going to silently pull the plug on Spacebase or any other in-development project. Doing so would be disastrous for our reputation and it would kill us emotionally "

This does not seem to match up with what was written above sir. This is a quick end after a large steam sale with the game at a discount. A sudden discontinuation. You are going from alpha with multiple features planned to a quick cut ended 1.0.

Why are you going back on your word above? That or, why tell people this if resources had been becoming a problem? Why the disconnect between the two?
Also, what about peoples requests for refunds?






We should post this in every th read of this board.. LOL I will do it

[BlackWolf1170]

Originally posted by AGSStronkie:

"Double Fine is not a random fly-by-night indie dev and we are not going to silently pull the plug on Spacebase or any other in-development project. Doing so would be disastrous for our reputation and it would kill us emotionally "

This does not seem to match up with what was written above sir. This is a quick end after a large steam sale with the game at a discount. A sudden discontinuation. You are going from alpha with multiple features planned to a quick cut ended 1.0.

Why are you going back on your word above? That or, why tell people this if resources had been becoming a problem? Why the disconnect between the two?
Also, what about peoples requests for refunds?






We should post this in every th read of this board.. LOL I will do it

hmmm... ok lol...

[skitchss]

Thank you for stopping by to address us directly. That means something to me.

Unfortunately, Double Fine's credibility with me has been squandered because off this.

You may have been careful not to make promises about implementing all or even part of the old dev-plan features, but you did indicate that we should trust you because you were Double Fine and wouldn't leave your fans high and dry by suddenly ceasing production. While it is true that you're not just dumping the project, and while the bug fixes and demo do add something to the game, I still feel somewhat high and fairly dry.

I understand the realities of game devlopment mean that games are often left unfinished and developers left in the lurch, but please don't say, 'you can trust the Double Fine name' and then make it all about business.

Games come and go but your reputation is forever.

[Hobbes]

Originally posted by JP:

Originally posted by Xander:

Why are you going back on your word above? That or, why tell people this if resources had been becoming a problem? Why the disconnect between the two?

I realize this does nothing to satisfy your wish for an epic sim game, but: I cannot predict the future and I do not make every decision that influences the future of my project.

Except you've made this one. And this one seems pretty fundamental. At this point in time I'd say it's on you and DoubleFine to figure out what the next move is. Personally I'd say Valve would be well within their rights to suspend sales of your game knowing full well that they just did a weeklong sale of your product and you've decided to jump from alpha 6 which is, not being funny, a mile away from being a "complete" product, regardless of however far you and DF might want to imagine you can move the goalposts, to final release. That's like saying you can go from prototype to gold simply "Because I say so". It doesn't work like that in any other industry.

If they did I'd have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for you, or your Dev Team, or DoubleFine at this point in time. You've taken a significant quantity of money through various channels and essentially squandered it on what translates to little more than a prototype that's barely a fraction of the "game" that others in the field are, and they manage it on much tighter budgets.

If you can honestly place this next to Prison Architect and consider this to be of comparable quality with a straight face, then I would sincerely like to find out what they put in the water over there in San Francisco, because believe me, the two are not comparable. One is a fully fleshed out sandbox experience, the other is a shell that you've decided to bugfix, and whilst you say you're releasing the source, even this is in part untrue - you're releasing the LUA scripts, not the full engine source and the guts of the game.

The only acceptable course of action from you, the developer and DoubleFine, the publisher, at this point in time, is to offer anyone who requests it, a full and unconditional refund of the ammount they paid at the time of their purchase. Regardless of the financial damage that inflicts upon you or DoubleFine. You broke it, you bought it, as it were ever thus.

[Spooky Womble]

This is appalling. You've killed my faith in your company and what little faith I had in Early Access. When I bought the game under the alpha terms I accepted that it might not be as good as I hoped. What I didn't accept and what no paying customer should ever accept is a wilful, unforced end to the game's development after just 6 meaningful updates. I sincerely hope you offer us a full refund and hope that early access is finally abandonned as a terrible, scam-friendly concept.

[放っといて]

If you had pulled that move in any other industry, you would not have gotten away that easily. Luckily for you this industry is a joke and scam is rewarded (Kickstarter, Early Access). All I can wish is that people will not forget about your actions. See you at your next KS/EA scandal, because obviously it's more profitable for you to do that rather than making REAL GAMES for real publishers where you got at least some standards to meet.