Not a question or anything

[AaronLibra]

Just wanted to note that the FAQ can be updated devs :) I'm sure you're aware, but I also wanted to give you all a pat on the back and a high five! I've had the game since almost day 1 and have been checking in every now and then to see the progress and just, wow. These last few updates have been incredible! I've played about 20 hours over the last 4 or 5 days and I'm completely hooked now. Keep'em coming! Going back though, so many of the answers in the FAQ are either issues or features that are fixed/implemented -- which is excellent :)

I even streamed it last night for a friend and she couldn't stop watching as I was showing her around and all the things we can do...and just now she went and bought it. Didn't even want to wait for it to go on sale (lol). I'll probably have to help her out with questions alot in the beginning since starting out with nothing is a bit of a task, but I don't mind.

Anyway, that's it basically. Just wanted to show my appreciation :) Much love!

[AaronLibra]

P.S. On the topic of friends and helping them out, co-op when? haha (you don't have to answer that lol, it's the one question all devs get 1000 times a day on amazing single-player games with the potential to be better with a buddy)

[dhitch89]

The devs can't read Steam discussions, as China firewalls the site for various law-related reasons IIRC. They're on the DSP discord though

Also, the devs stated in a recent blog that they have no intentions for multiplayer period, as they view DSP as a single-player game. And even if it were to be considered/added (speaking for myself, not them), this would likely be well past the game's final release - especially since they're a team of only 5 people - which we're nowhere near atm.

[AaronLibra]

Yeah, I'm aware that Steam forums are blocked in China (95% of the Internet is). I thought they had a mod here though that would collect relevant posts to show them, since even though VPNs do work, it's a crazy risk and if they get caught then that means prison, sadly...or does the mod arrangement not happen anymore?

[Andros]

They could very well double if not triple the average current players with adding multiplayer

If you compare satisfactory, factorio and Dyson sphere program Dyson sphere has the lowest amount of players by far and I guarantee you it’s because of lacking multiplayer the games core gameplay is better or on the same level as the other 2

I think as a game design decision not having multiplayer or plans is a mistake especially for this genre and day of age, they are shooting themselves in the foot with sales and current players

[dhitch89]

Originally posted by Andros:

If you compare satisfactory, factorio and Dyson sphere program Dyson sphere has the lowest amount of players by far

I imagine part of that is the fact that Factorio/Satisfactory have been out longer (years even), while DSP is still in EA, rather than specifically because of multiplayer tbh.

Regardless, in the end it's the dev's choice, not ours.

[AaronLibra]

Well, in the case of Satisfactory and DSP, Satisfactory has only been out 6 months longer and both are in early access. Factorio, well, we won't even count that one since it's been out for ages and is quite shallow in terms of gameplay when compared to both of the other two, by all measures...

In my opinion, DSP has the most potential and even with not even being close to v0.5 yet. Satisfactory has maybe 2 more major updates until full release. The current depth of DSP is astounding and the possibilities seem almost endless for the directions they could take it. Sure, adding multiplayer would be a huge task to get right, but creating this entire game is a massive undertaking. People value being able to play stuff with their friends. There are plenty of games out there that I won't get just because I have enough single-player games of a certain type. It all just kinda becomes more of the same at a certain point.

Essentially, it won't damage the current community if they don't add multiplayer because those of us that already love it can only love it more as it continues to grow. They'd just be missing out on a huge segment of the market for people that might be on the fence because they don't want to play alone all the time.

I'm all-in either way :)

[cswiger]

Originally posted by AaronLibra:

Well, in the case of Satisfactory and DSP, Satisfactory has only been out 6 months longer and both are in early access.

22 months: Satisfactory launched March 2019 and DSP launched Jan 2021.

[AaronLibra]

I went by the dates on their respective Steam pages :)
Satisfactory: June 8, 2020
DSP: January 11, 2021

[cswiger]

Originally posted by AaronLibra:

I went by the dates on their respective Steam pages :)
Satisfactory: June 8, 2020
DSP: January 11, 2021

That results in being off by a year, since Satisfactory was an Epic exclusive for 12+ months before coming to Steam.

[AaronLibra]

Oh crap! That's right. I forgot all about that lol It's all coming back to me now...hoards of players descended upon their Steam Discussion boards in a lame version of a boycott because they took a massive payday from Epic for a year of exclusivity and no one was going to buy their game EVER when they eventually would be releasing it to Steam hahaha Silly humans.

[Kyrros]

Originally posted by dhitch89:

[...] the devs stated in a recent blog that they have no intentions for multiplayer period

Thankfully, the Devs have been very consistent in this messaging for 3 years... yet people never stop asking, heh.

Originally posted by Andros:

They could very well double if not triple the average current players with adding multiplayer

If you compare satisfactory, factorio and Dyson sphere program Dyson sphere has the lowest amount of players by far and I guarantee you it’s because of lacking multiplayer the games core gameplay is better or on the same level as the other 2

That's a lot of conjecture, for sure - there are a lot of players out there who have NEVER chosen/not chosen a game because of the availability of multiplayer. If it's a good game, it will also be one without it. I'd rather have a singleplayer game that works well, than a mediocre one with multiplayer - too many of those out there as it is. As far as 'players' goes... the only thing that matters is sales, not concurrent players (especially since it's not multiplayer)... DSP has sold 2.5 million copies; that's not exactly small scale. You've got big name streamers like KatherineOfSky and Nilhaus who put DSP 2nd only to Factorio (and rightly so). There's always a very vocal group of people that demand multiplayer in games because 'it's easy to do' and the game will 'blow up in sales' if the Devs do. I'm sure there's just as large (or larger) pool of players who DGAF about multiplayer, but they tend to not waste time posting things like "please keep the game singleplayer", becasue they either know it won't matter or they literally don't care one way or the other so long as it doesn't destroy their own play experience.

Originally posted by AaronLibra:

Factorio, well, we won't even count that one since it's been out for ages and is quite shallow in terms of gameplay when compared to both of the other two, by all measures...

Shallow?... I am genuinely curious how you came to that conclusion about Factorio but NOT the other two? Not saying you can't call it shallow, but seemingly implying the others aren't?... gonna have to disagree there, heavily. There's a whole lot more the same about all of those titles (Since Factorio is the Grandaddy of the 'modern' factory sim genre) than different. But, yes, 'ages' is definitely accurate - they'll be celebrating A DECADE this September.

[AaronLibra]

Shallow in the sense that it's outdated and lacking in scope. It goes without question that it was the first in the genre to do it well, but that doesn't automatically mean that it holds up in today's modern gamescape. Should it be respected? Yes, most certainly. They need to move on though and make something that will compete and make use of the advancement in the industry. There's no doubt that they could if they wanted to but so far they've taken the stance of holding on to the past. Maybe they're not familiar with modern programming and game design. I can understand that. So hire a team and lead it. They could certainly afford to. I'm not crapping on Factorio, it just isn't anywhere near what Satisfactory and DSP are doing.

[cswiger]

Originally posted by AaronLibra:

Shallow in the sense that it's outdated and lacking in scope.

Maybe "outdated" translates to "using 2D graphics"?

Although I'll freely admit that having a Dyson sphere casting godrays and system-wide shadows is pretty amazing-- gameplay is more than just graphics. 2D Factorio blueprints don't need to deal with tropic lines resulting from mapping a 3D sphere onto a grid.

As for scope, it seems to me that DSP's colored research matrices very closely resemble the colored science flasks used by Factorio in terms of complexity and depth of the build chains needed. Ditto for the green, red, and blue circuit boards in Factorio which become green, yellow, and blue in DSP.

It goes without question that it was the first in the genre to do it well, but that doesn't automatically mean that it holds up in today's modern gamescape.

Factorio has logic gates and full integration of automation which is sadly lacking in DSP.
With great power comes great responsibility. (Or great irresponsibility, depending.)

You can optimize reloading nuclear fuel or you can create a media player:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kry8lbrHjeY