Release date?

[MusclePig]

Any chance the game will release in full soon? On the store page it says it will be in early access for about a year + feedback. It's been three full years now.

[Frogzulla]

Why does it being "released" matter?

[tochuck123]

I think the dark fog was a major hurdle and now that is pretty much out of the way, I think it will release within the year or so. It’s a small team so probably pretty easy to misjudge your timelines.

[Kyrros]

Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, the DSP devs could quit today, and I'd still consider this a 'complete' game - even before the Dark Fog update.
Yeah, it's been a 'while' that the game has been in early access - but the amount of functionality and polish that exists in the game (even VERY early on) has been phenomenal. I wish every EA has run as smoothly as this one - they didn't put out a very rough alpha on day one then grow it over time to what it is now, they had already been working for a year or two BEFORE they even released the game into Early Access. They've made very conscious choices through the entire EA to make quality of the updates more important than the quantity or speed of updates - and I will always support that kind of decision-making - even if the impatient children among us will cry "OMG, NO UPDATE IN 2 WEEKS, DEAD GAME! ABANDONED! THIS SUX! WHERE'S MY REFUND?!" (It hurts my heart for those individuals to know they live in a personal world-view like that, yet it also brings me a small amount of joy via schadenfreude to see them act that way)

At this point, calling it 'Early Access' is really just a formality while they go down the development roadmap they've set for themselves to hit before 1.0.

... and I am here for it, whether they actually get there or not. Honestly though, I see no reason at this point why they wouldn't. They take their time to put out a quality product - and that quality product attracts players who appreciate that quality and thus, are happy to keep waiting patiently for more quality to arrive. DSP has been doing EA correctly, and should serve as an example of how other EA games should be.

[Michael Cimino]

Sounds like they've got 3 more years to go.

[AaronLibra]

What exactly are you wanting to know about the game to ask that? You can buy it, you can play it, it isn't broken or clunky and works better and is more feature rich than most games that get released these days...even by large studios with hundreds of employees (which, shockingly, those are typically the worse when it comes to quality assurance and that's completely unacceptable -- that's a whole other conversation though).

[Loser]

Originally posted by Kyrros:

Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, the DSP devs could quit today, and I'd still consider this a 'complete' game - even before the Dark Fog update.
Yeah, it's been a 'while' that the game has been in early access - but the amount of functionality and polish that exists in the game (even VERY early on) has been phenomenal. I wish every EA has run as smoothly as this one - they didn't put out a very rough alpha on day one then grow it over time to what it is now, they had already been working for a year or two BEFORE they even released the game into Early Access. They've made very conscious choices through the entire EA to make quality of the updates more important than the quantity or speed of updates - and I will always support that kind of decision-making - even if the impatient children among us will cry "OMG, NO UPDATE IN 2 WEEKS, DEAD GAME! ABANDONED! THIS SUX! WHERE'S MY REFUND?!" (It hurts my heart for those individuals to know they live in a personal world-view like that, yet it also brings me a small amount of joy via schadenfreude to see them act that way)

At this point, calling it 'Early Access' is really just a formality while they go down the development roadmap they've set for themselves to hit before 1.0.

... and I am here for it, whether they actually get there or not. Honestly though, I see no reason at this point why they wouldn't. They take their time to put out a quality product - and that quality product attracts players who appreciate that quality and thus, are happy to keep waiting patiently for more quality to arrive. DSP has been doing EA correctly, and should serve as an example of how other EA games should be.

:sphere:

yeah before dark fog it was pretty much completed but now they need to finish space combat. I also want the space stations they promised.

[kaelsidhe]

Originally posted by Frogzulla:

Why does it being "released" matter?

I don't buy EA games. Ever. There are a number of reasons including game state, completeness, and confidence. I know there are a lot of people who don't seem to care about any of that and I wish you all the best. I'm simply not one of those and my philosophy works for me.

I do acknowledge that this game appears to be a bit different in that nearly all of you guys are saying it's freaking amazing just as it is. Based on those claims I might break my 'no EA' rule if I actually knew the devs had a target release date.

[dhitch89]

Originally posted by kaelsidhe:

I don't buy EA games. Ever. There are a number of reasons including game state, completeness, and confidence. I know there are a lot of people who don't seem to care about any of that and I wish you all the best. I'm simply not one of those and my philosophy works for me.

I do acknowledge that this game appears to be a bit different in that nearly all of you guys are saying it's freaking amazing just as it is. Based on those claims I might break my 'no EA' rule if I actually knew the devs had a target release date.

For the time being, there is no stated window for a release date, potential or otherwise.

At present, we simply know that the devs have a spring update coming, and aim to expand the currently-limited space side of combat sometime later in 2024.

[Kyrros]

Originally posted by kaelsidhe:

I don't buy EA games.

I am also one of those people who avoid EA games like the plague. When DSP came out in Jan 2021, I was immediately drawn by the concept of the game. I downloaded a *cough* "Demo" *cough* copy of the game and was immediately impressed. "This is the first week of the EA?... wow, I'd buy this... now."

So, I did. I believe whole-heartedly in the method by which the Devs have been making this game, and chose to support them with my USD. They worked hard BEFORE the EA to make a quality product, not treating the EA players/customers like 'Alpha' guinea pigs. I still believe in not buying EA titles, BUT, I also understand that not every EA title lives up (or rather, down) to the stereotype. DSP has been the (very pleasant) exception to EA and not the rule.

DSP was already a 'full' game that could easily be considered 'feature complete' in the first few months it was released, even before combat was added recently.

Yes, EA is dumb and fraught with crappy titles and dev teams - but Dyson Sphere Program is not one of them. Honestly, it doesn't even feel like an EA, it never has (Except that awkward few months of the game where Blueprint system didn't exist yet and the devs were still working on it - 2D blueprints on a 3D sphere... it was difficult and they had to make some hard decisions)

Take the advice from a fellow EA hater - screw the 'release date' and GET THIS GAME. You will not regret it!

(Caveat: If you do regret it, it won't be because of the EA, it'll just be because you didn't like the game in general, and that is.... allowed... as well - but I doubt that will be the case here.)

[AaronLibra]

Originally posted by kaelsidhe:

Originally posted by Frogzulla:

Why does it being "released" matter?

I don't buy EA games. Ever. There are a number of reasons including game state, completeness, and confidence. I know there are a lot of people who don't seem to care about any of that and I wish you all the best. I'm simply not one of those and my philosophy works for me.

I do acknowledge that this game appears to be a bit different in that nearly all of you guys are saying it's freaking amazing just as it is. Based on those claims I might break my 'no EA' rule if I actually knew the devs had a target release date.

I used to be the same way once upon a time. I still have strong reservations against buying any game on actual release even since there always seems to be a load of day zero bugs and issues that need addressing for at the very least 3 to 6 months, particularly with large studio releases (as I think I've mentioned somewhere in this thread already). Otherwise, I have 1300 Steam games anyway and then others on Origin, Ubisoft Connect and so on, so I can typically wait for a sale ~someday~ and I don't mind...unless it's something that I'm highly anticipating (ie, Talos Principle 2, Atomic Heart, A Plague Tale: Requiem and a handful of others...the next Hellblade will be a fast purchase for me too I'm sure lol).

I'm a little more lenient with early access these days and gauge how much I want the game, what the reviews look like from players with playtime over 10 hours (depending on the genre) and the likelihood that I'll definitely be buying it "eventually" -- so, I do it to get the early pricing most of the time and to give my vote of support and confidence to the devs, particularly when it's an indie or "new to the scene" team doing exceptional work.

[AaronLibra]

There's always refunds too if it turns out the game wasn't what you expected, as long as you play for less than 2 hours. However, I'll also add that it can be fun to play along while games grow and sometimes how they complete change direction. If it's a game I'm serious about too, I won't play it often or to try to complete it. I'll usually start a new run everytime there's a major update and kinda play each time like that.