Modding?

[=37th= minepagan]

I really want to get into modding this, is there any documentation outlining what does what and such?

[Nacho84]

Hello! Apologies it took me a couple of days to get back to you on this one. Unfortunately the game wasn't built with modding support in mind. That being said, if you are willing to use command line tools and edit text files by hand, I can share our internal tools with you. Send me a private message with your e-mail address and I'll send them along. Thanks!

[ZombieLenin]

I understand that game development was not necessarily a full-time job for you, or your team. I also, having worked in the industry myself in a previous version of my life, understand the economics of video games--particularly "niche" PC games; however, I am still profoundly disappointed that you ceased development on this game and did not follow through on promised content--which did play a role in me buying the game in the first place.

In some ways this is a compliment to the work you did. The parts of the game that are there were very enjoyable. With that being said, I still wonder about your new game. On the one hand, you have displayed that you do excellent work; however, on the other hand how can I have confidence that, should I chose to buy the game, that you will continue to support the game in a meaningful way--including delivering on content you *promise* to provide (in the case of Race to the Moon, rather assertively promised)?

And, of course, you say the game is not easily modable, but the skill of those who create (and code these days) mods pretty much makes *any* game modable. Really, while you are correct, some games are made to be easily modable, I cannot help but feel that your unwillingness to release the source code to the community is hiding behind statements like "we did not make the game easy to mod."

In any case, the TL;DR version is: you make great games, but I am still very undecided if I can trust you as developer in the future--despite your "book" about the development process of Buzz Aldrin...

[Nacho84]

Hello ZombieLenin,

Thank you for your message. Please see my answers below.

Originally posted by ZombieLenin:

I understand that game development was not necessarily a full-time job for you, or your team. I also, having worked in the industry myself in a previous version of my life, understand the economics of video games--particularly "niche" PC games; however, I am still profoundly disappointed that you ceased development on this game and did not follow through on promised content--which did play a role in me buying the game in the first place.

Notice that the future content for Space Program Manager was something that we always said was going to be commercialised separately, either as DLC for the first part or as a standalone product. And that was made clear even before we conducted the Early Access Program the started on October 2013.

I don't know at which point in time you got the game (i.e., during the Early Access Program we made on Slitherine's/Matrix Games' website or after we launched the full game on Steam in late 2014) but, in case it's the latter, here's some background information: the game was meant to be a sandbox game featuring the GSA only (i.e., no NASA or the Soviets). As a result of the feedback we got during the initial stages of the Early Access Program, we decided to add support for two new campaigns (NASA and the Soviets), a multiplayer mode via PBEM and the possibility of mixing and matching rockets and payload. We did all this without charging anything extra to existing early adopters, so I think it's fair to say that we ended up overdelivering.

I understand that you might be disappointed because the paid sequels never materialised but, in terms of value, players got a lot more for their money than what we originally promised. Those who bought a sandbox game featuring a fictional space agency in October 2013 and found out two months later that the developers were going to vastly extend the scope of the product without charging anything extra for it were definitely not disappointed ;)

Originally posted by ZombieLenin:

In some ways this is a compliment to the work you did. The parts of the game that are there were very enjoyable. With that being said, I still wonder about your new game. On the one hand, you have displayed that you do excellent work; however, on the other hand how can I have confidence that, should I chose to buy the game, that you will continue to support the game in a meaningful way--including delivering on content you *promise* to provide (in the case of Race to the Moon, rather assertively promised)?

Indeed, we're working on a new game named 'Space Station Designer'. You can even download a playable version for free here https://polar-motion.itch.io/space-station-designer-alpha, give it a go and let us know what you think. We're not charging anything for the playable build and we haven't even mentioned our commercialisation plans (because we don't know them yet, at the moment we're busy processing all the feedback and charting the rest of the development roadmap), so I'm not following you here. What exactly are you concerned about?

Originally posted by ZombieLenin:

And, of course, you say the game is not easily modable, but the skill of those who create (and code these days) mods pretty much makes *any* game modable. Really, while you are correct, some games are made to be easily modable, I cannot help but feel that your unwillingness to release the source code to the community is hiding behind statements like "we did not make the game easy to mod."

The reason why the game is not moddable is because it was created in Unity 4 and all the animation data is stored in asset bundles (more info about them here: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/AssetBundlesIntro.html). Unfortunately, the only way for a modder to create asset bundles is to have a professional license of Unity 4, which is no longer being sold (and, when it was, it costed $1500). So, even if I give you the source code of the game, you'll still have to do the following in order to be able to create mods for it:

* Contact Unity's Sales department and ask them to sell you a license of Unity 4, which has already been discontinued.
* Pay for the license (which used to be $1500 back in the day).

Luckily the development landscape nowadays is radically different than we switched to Unity in early 2012: now anyone can download the full version of the engine from their website for free. We're leveraging this opportunity with 'Space Station Designer' and we're creating tools that we're going to ship along with the game which will allow anyone to create mods for it.

Originally posted by ZombieLenin:

In any case, the TL;DR version is: you make great games, but I am still very undecided if I can trust you as developer in the future--despite your "book" about the development process of Buzz Aldrin...

I hope the information I've provided above makes you change your mind :)

[jjknap]

They are a great developer. They really listened to the community and sought feedback (as seen by Nacho still responding to the Steam Forums after all this time). I will purchase anything they sell, just to support them. I hold out hope that some day we will see a sequel that will be historical based on the many ideas for future space stations, rockets. shuttles and missions :)