Get a community manager already

[borisbbadinoff]

I understand the developers are a small crew, but as a customer it is extremely frustrating to go so long without even a word of progress. The developers have admitted multiple times that community updates have been a weakness, but I've yet to see anything done about it.

You don't need to hire a new staff member. If only takes a few minutes to update the community on what is happening. Toady, the solo dev for Dwarf Fortress, manages to keep his community updated on a regular basis. The toxicity of the Starbound community dropped from botulinum levels of toxicity to mere lead-level toxicity after they started posting regular updates. If you've got fans like myself that check for updates almost every day, the best way to lose those fans is to keep them in the dark.

Please, more transparency.

[Gozer]

What if they dont?

[GlocknessMonster]

agreeed ... ive posted numerouse times on this exact topic....

be prepared to be attacked...

[borisbbadinoff]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Arzak:

What if they dont?

W-what are you trying to say? I'd expect that fewer people would be willing to support their next game. And fewer people would recommend this game to their friends because they feel like the game isn't going anywhere. Do you think it is a coincidence that every big name company and every successful green light dev puts forth the effort to interact with their community? It is good business practice. Everybody knows that. The devs themselves have acknowledged that this is a shortcoming.

I can't be too harsh on the devs because I know they aren't a big name company with deep pockets. But they know it is a problem and haven't fixed it. Why? All it takes is five minutes a day to keep us updated.

[Mtcheeeew]

Shut it and play something else, update is 1 month old, u want them to tell u when they go poop too? There is no guideline that says what and how a team should communicate, Madoc speaks to us often if he doesnt tweet his daily activities that is fine. WHen was the last info about cyberpunk 2077? U still gonna buy it so shut it and wait like us all. Brats.

[Empu]

Yeah, I got plenty of games to play while waiting, but an update about progress etc is always nice to read, so +1 on OP.

Trolls in thread need to chill. peace.

[borisbbadinoff]

Who Do, you are a butthurt fanboy. It is alright to admit when a company is doing something poorly. As I've mentioned twice now, the devs have admitted they are underperforming in this aspect. It must be hard for somebody like you to choose between pretending the devs can do no wrong and pretending the devs opinions are always right.

Maybe Madoc posts regularly on the insider forums on the game's website, but not everybody can see that. I'm not even sure if it isn't too late for me to back Sui Generis and gain access. Even if I can, the fact remains that I don't want to because of the way communication has been managed with Exanima. That's lost revenue and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I want them to to do well, which is why I am providing feedback as a customer.

[Mtcheeeew]

Your feedback sucks, feedback on progress is a gift not a requirement, here lemme give u $15 and I want monthly update on ur life for 1 year only.

SOunds silly? well they gave u a game for $15 and you want them to keep you updated regularly too all for $15. This is called entitlement. I never said the devs are perfect at communication but when you take into account when the last update was and if you actually check their most recent post dates you can actually see they do communicate, you just want some nice structured info to feed your antsyness cuz you do not understand what goes into game development and are simply self centered if you think a 1 time payment of $15 entitles you to some kind of catered info. It is gift from the devs if they decide to share info, no one goes to ubisoft and says give us update on progress or we wont buy your game. Maybe the team should charge monthly fee of $5 for monthly updates?

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]

The "What's Next?" thread basically tells us everything we need to know regarding future updates. The devs occasionally post screenshots and videos of things they are working on too, I see no need to hire a community manager.

[borisbbadinoff]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Who Do Voodoo:

You're entitled! I'm your friend, Madoc! Notice me!

I am entitled. After paying for the game, I am entitled to providing feedback. That's standard.

My feedback is well enough documented above. Their communication is poor and it makes me not want to become a return customer and sours my optimism for the final product. Perhaps irrational, but that's how it is.

With regards to your comment, I actually do know precisely what goes into game development, but that isn't relevant to the thread. I'm not talking about the gameplay or even the development schedule. I'm talking about communication. You provide no valuable feedback by unconditionally flattering the devs.

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από CMXCIII:

The "What's Next?" thread basically tells us everything we need to know regarding future updates. The devs occasionally post screenshots and videos of things they are working on too, I see no need to hire a community manager.

But they've posted literally nothing about what they are working on since the last update over a month ago. I won't go through and count how many posts actually do talk about progress, but it is pretty clear that they are few and far between, especially compared to most greenlit games.

Edit: Being clear, I'm not saying they need to make a hire. I'm saying they ought to take ten minutes a week at the very least to keep the hype flowing and provide a sense of progress.

[Gozer]

I think BM is working as hard as they can. The last update was huge.

The next update will, no doubt, be huge.

OP wants more transparency, sounds like more work to me.

What if they don't? Would you ask for access to Insider Forum info?

I'd rather they continue to complete the game and move on to SG.

[Tony]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Arzak:

I think BM is working as hard as they can. The last update was huge.

The next update will, no doubt, be huge.

OP wants more transparency, sounds like more work to me.

What if they don't? Would you ask for access to Insider Forum info?

I'd rather they continue to complete the game and move on to SG.

The Insider forum has been relatively dead lately (anyone who doesn't have access isn't missing out on much). The devs are devoting nearly all of their time towards finishing Exanima.

Lately the team has been working on improving animations and movements, improving parrying/blocking, implementing dual wielding, changing how the characters transition between movements whilst attacking to make it more fluid and natural, more arena content/improvements, adding new trainable skills, AI improvements, more in-game menu options... and lots of other things.

The next major update will focus mostly on the arena mode.

[Gozer]

Sounds good. Thanks for the info Tony.

Much appreciated.

[Cyber-John]

First of all, dang you ppl are when you want to.

Second, Hey thanks for the heads up tony!
But still, WHY NOT MAKE A REAL POST ABOUT IT?
I've lost hope and stopped checking development for this game since we barely get news anymore. Last post was like, in may or something?
also when do we get more torches

[borisbbadinoff]

Tony, I very much appreciate that information. But when somebody else checks for information, they aren't going to scan every thread. Only a few people will see what you posted. That's why there needs to be a dedicated effort to keeping the community informed.

I think there is a false choice where people think that informing the community means you aren't working on the game. While that is technically true, spending ten minutes a week writing up a brief rundown of what was worked on this week comes to only about eight hours of time in an entire year.

It is worth it to spend time to show the community that you appreciate them. We love what the devs have created and believe in them enough to have invested our money to see more. It is foolish for them not to invest in their fans. We just want to be able to keep tabs on a game we love and see our investment working. It isn't like we want them to compromise their vision for us.

(Though I think a procedurally generated rogulike alternate mode would be absolutely essential to the game's longevity-- exploration is a major strength of the game and the dungeon does get stale once you know where everything is)

[Hope]

Prehaps the Whats next thread can be replaced with a "Whats currently be worked on" thread, updated by the devs/mods or the community members that have such information.
I dont think its too unreasonable to ask that a small thread be updated.

We know the Devs arn't going to abandon this game, and that its being developed. But when the wait time between large updates can take months, I can see were one would be wanting a small update. Regardless, the title doesn't invite good discussion.