Looks Like Stars is Star Dust

Tenryu · #1 June 13th, 2002, 02:36 PM

Yeah. I check their site about once a month. I think they have been screwed for money. Getting development cash is always incredibly hard, the past year or so, darn near impossible.

Really, hope they find an angel somewhere. The quality of their work is excellent.

[ June 14, 2002, 03:27: Message edited by: Tenryu ]

Baron Munchausen · #2 June 13th, 2002, 04:16 PM

Well, we could always try the 'email campaign' thingy on them. Everyone keep emailing and saying something along the lines of "Self-publish = get small returns, Don't publish = get zero returns. Your choice..."

chewy027 · #3 June 13th, 2002, 05:51 PM

or we could just wait for something better to come out

Tenryu · #4 June 14th, 2002, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chewy027:
or we could just wait for something better to come out

Ya. But, ya'll wait a while, I'll warrant.

LokiOne · #5 June 14th, 2002, 01:53 AM

Don't discount the power of the little people. It appears that the multitude of supporters for the Jagged Alliance games has caught the attention of STRATEGYFIRST. They are going to take up the reins where SirTech had to drop them and run with it. Hope they let Urban Chaos get finished and released. The JA:UB and the spun-off mods are great fun if you are into tactical man-to-man games (IMHO).

Tenryu · #6 June 14th, 2002, 03:08 AM

LOL! Well, used to play AH's Squad Leader, long ago, but I still LOVE, strategic level war games.
Perhaps, we are a dieing breed.

That said, still, sick bastard I am, i love the micromanagement in SE4. LOL!@@@@@!

Shadowstar · #7 June 14th, 2002, 07:43 AM

There will be MOO3...

I heard about Stars SNG 2 years ago and have been waiting for it ever since. Actually, that's not true. I gave up waiting for it a few months ago. I think it would be an excellent game, but it can't be any kind of game if it never gets released. My Starscape universe was born in Stars! and still lives and thrives in what I like to call "The Stars! Engine", but in my mind, Starscape deserves something that won't limit its possibilities. Stars! does, and it looks like, from what I've read, Stars SNG will to.

I know, of course, that it will always be limited until the day that I can develop it into its own game, but because I am a wealth-less mail-order-office-grunt with no programming talent whatsoever, I know that my dreams of creating the ultimate 4x game will have to wait for now.

Until then, I seek out new 4x games to transfer Starscape to, always grasping for that extra little bit of control that is so essential to my ability to run Starscape games. As the game tends to resemble an RPG in some ways, as the host or gamemaster, I need lots of power over the universe, the players, the characters, and what happens in the universe. Stars! limited me a great deal until I figured out how to alter the host files. Even then, the changes I can do are chancy and don't always work. But I try.

I swear, I've spent more directed energies on running Starscape consistently for the past 3 years than I have on anything else in my life, expecting nothing in return because I simply enjoy running the game and listening to what the players have to say about it. It's gotten to the point where I am paying $10 a month to keep Starscape running, expecting nothing in return, and charging nothing for the players to play it.

That's how I know that developing this universe from its current mod form to a full-fledged game is my calling. My final plan for Starscape is to develop it into a massively multiplayer game that combines RTS, 4X, Space combat/trading, FPS, and RPG all into one. I've already got ideas about how this will work but the first game I will ever release (assuming I get that far) will be a basic 4x. It will have new features of course, but it will be simple and easy to produce (as it will be my first title). Later on, provided it does well, I can think about working on the massively multiplayer ubergame sequel.

So, after all that, you can see how I'm not so worried about one 4x development effort going under. I'd hate to see S:SNG die, but I'm keeping my eye on the big fish, like MOO3, SEIV, and SEV (and yes, I consider the Space Empires series to be big fish, because I look at games in terms of how fun they are, and nothing else.)

I refuse to base my opinions on hype.