Single Player Offline Question
Jul 30, 2015 21:32:07 GMT
Membrane_on_Vacation, templara, and 1 more like this
Post by titsup on Jul 30, 2015 21:32:07 GMT
Have they addressed the single player offline stuff yet? I bring this up because I'm wondering if it will ever even happen. So much of what they've built seems singularly focused on the multiplayer aspect of this game. It wouldn't be unprecedented for this to be dropped long into the development cycle. Elite Dangerous famously did so back in November of 2014 much to the anger of many of the those that purchased it under the belief that there would be a single player offline game. For those too lazy to click that link
Elite Dangerous was in Early Access at the time and deep into its development cycle. Like SotA, they had focused a great deal on the online world and eventually scrapped the single player altogether. An interview with David Braben after the outcry after the announcement is something I am pretty sure I could see Red Thomas copy pasting on mmorpg as an interview with Starr in two or three months.
Maybe I'm missing something, but have they discussed, at length, the single player offline aspect of the game? I haven't seen much about it at all other than Starr's forum post from February that really provides nothing other than to say that they haven't worked on it and the multiplayer sandbox stuff has to be done first and offering up some of the really cool features they will be working in: 1) You can save your games! 2) Companions 3) Spawn Rules 4) Shit to purchase in game. None of which offers any sort of tangible feeling that the single player game is anything more than a remote outline of 'stuff would like to do'.
If it is coming, when exactly do they plan on working on it? Starr said they have to "As we have stated elsewhere we have to build the sandbox first and then layer the narrative on top of that." That's fine! The game remains (as so many love to point out) in pre-alpha though. People are hoping for an end of this year release? Alpha hasn't been announced through September. When exactly is the single player going to be worked on? Have they accounted for the fact that it is entirely possible that developing the single player offline alongside the multiplayer and single player online might be more time consuming than simply "layering the narrative on top"?
There is precedent here is really my point. Elite Dangerous was funded on KS with 2.5 million dollars (if you adjust pounds to dollars) and went live as Early Access on Steam still with the promise of single player offline. Frontier Developments, the company that made Elite Dangerous, has 240 employees. While they weren't all working on the game, they clearly have far more resources than Portalarium does. Is there any reason to believe that ultimately Port will be able to pull off what Frontier Developments couldn't on a limited budget, with a far smaller team in an increasingly narrowing time period?
I've got my doubts.
David Braben angered a lot of fans last week when he announced that Elite: Dangerous, his long-in-development open world space sim, would no longer include an offline single player mode, as was initially promised. Braben’s studio Frontier Developments announced in the latest newsletter that it is now offering refunds to fans that pre-ordered the game without early access. The studio will not, however, refund those that have already been able to play the game in its alpha or beta builds.
Braben took pains to clarify the reasoning for the decision and its implications. The game will still include a single player mode, but in order to maintain continuity with the dynamic universe the game requires a low bandwidth online connection.
Braben’s vision of the game was always to make an online experience first and foremost, but initially he thought that it would be more feasible to also include an offline alternative. As development went on, it became clear that they would not be able to deliver an offline mode without crippling the central game experience of a vast, interconnected galaxy.
Braben took pains to clarify the reasoning for the decision and its implications. The game will still include a single player mode, but in order to maintain continuity with the dynamic universe the game requires a low bandwidth online connection.
Braben’s vision of the game was always to make an online experience first and foremost, but initially he thought that it would be more feasible to also include an offline alternative. As development went on, it became clear that they would not be able to deliver an offline mode without crippling the central game experience of a vast, interconnected galaxy.
"Back during the Kickstarter, we were clear about the vision, to make a phenomenal new sequel to Elite in an online world, which we believe we are about to deliver. At the time we believed we could also offer a good single-player experience, and base an acceptable offline-only experience off that. As development has progressed, it has become clear that this last assumption is not the case."
Despite this, Braben admitted that Frontier should have told the Elite community that it was struggling with the offline version of the game during the process.
"As we have developed the game and released Alpha and Beta versions, the work needed to deliver a rich online nature of the game diverged from the requirements of a fully offline game," he said.
"In retrospect we should have shared the fact that we were struggling with this aspect with the community, but we were still trying to find a solution. As features were implemented, for the best results we chose to prioritise delivery of the online single and multiplayer experiences, with a view to providing the offline version later in development. We had to make a decision for the good of the game, and that is what we did.
"We have developed a multiplayer game with an unfolding story involving the players, and groups collaborating with specific objectives and taking account of all players' behaviour. This is what the game is about. Without this it would not be the rich gaming experience that we will deliver, and would be a great disappointment to all players.
"Any offline experience would be fundamentally empty. We could write a separate mission system to allow a limited series of fixed missions, but that would still not be a compelling game, and is only the first step in the mountain of work required.
Despite this, Braben admitted that Frontier should have told the Elite community that it was struggling with the offline version of the game during the process.
"As we have developed the game and released Alpha and Beta versions, the work needed to deliver a rich online nature of the game diverged from the requirements of a fully offline game," he said.
"In retrospect we should have shared the fact that we were struggling with this aspect with the community, but we were still trying to find a solution. As features were implemented, for the best results we chose to prioritise delivery of the online single and multiplayer experiences, with a view to providing the offline version later in development. We had to make a decision for the good of the game, and that is what we did.
"We have developed a multiplayer game with an unfolding story involving the players, and groups collaborating with specific objectives and taking account of all players' behaviour. This is what the game is about. Without this it would not be the rich gaming experience that we will deliver, and would be a great disappointment to all players.
"Any offline experience would be fundamentally empty. We could write a separate mission system to allow a limited series of fixed missions, but that would still not be a compelling game, and is only the first step in the mountain of work required.
If it is coming, when exactly do they plan on working on it? Starr said they have to "As we have stated elsewhere we have to build the sandbox first and then layer the narrative on top of that." That's fine! The game remains (as so many love to point out) in pre-alpha though. People are hoping for an end of this year release? Alpha hasn't been announced through September. When exactly is the single player going to be worked on? Have they accounted for the fact that it is entirely possible that developing the single player offline alongside the multiplayer and single player online might be more time consuming than simply "layering the narrative on top"?
There is precedent here is really my point. Elite Dangerous was funded on KS with 2.5 million dollars (if you adjust pounds to dollars) and went live as Early Access on Steam still with the promise of single player offline. Frontier Developments, the company that made Elite Dangerous, has 240 employees. While they weren't all working on the game, they clearly have far more resources than Portalarium does. Is there any reason to believe that ultimately Port will be able to pull off what Frontier Developments couldn't on a limited budget, with a far smaller team in an increasingly narrowing time period?
I've got my doubts.
