We believe the update will be out sometime in the next month, possibly a bit longer. We are sorry we could not finish it in January as we previously estimated.
A few things came to pass that slowed things down:
- One of our programmer's finished his internship here and went back to school as he was in the middle of a 4 year degree when he first joined us. He has been working part time through the last month. Since he handled the multiplayer, things had to wait sometime.
- The physics movement took longer than expected to finish, and we are still ironing out a few kinks here and there. This is important to give everyone the feeling of very tight jumping and movement.
- Our optimization on the cube combining is also taking quite some time. Cube combining is when you add or remove cubes in the game. It has to combine a bunch of objects in real-time based on LOD's to help run the game smoother. But this step produces some lag. In a multiplayer game, this was a critical area where we couldn't afford any lag, so we had to rewrite it from scratch to use multiple cores and be more optimized. We are still not finished rewriting it as it is fairly complex to do.
- Since we are hiring on full time 2 programmers, we also needed an office space as our apartment no longer could fit us. This took some time to find a space, secure it, and now it will take some time to set up and move in. Never mind all the other work that goes on behind the scenes to keep a business running (accountant, insurance, contract work, taxes, market research, press relations, budgeting, etc.). Every bit of this takes time especially when your hiring. And then once your hire you have to train. But once this is done, future expansion will be a breeze.
- Forward thinking. We always try our best to set things up for the long term. Since the IndieGoGo campaign we have started working with a concept artist and LoudCore. Our concept artist is currently finishing 2 desktop illustrations, and then will be moving on to fleshing out the entire world of StarForge. And LoudCore is planning the soundtrack with us and will be producing it over the next year.
- Customer service also took a good chunk out of our time as well, we've now pushed through over a few thousand emails and still receive about 20 a day. Running a campaign on IndieGoGo was a great success, but it also took a lot of time to sort out when it was done, and we still have work yet to do on delivering it's physical prizes.
- Making a new game mode is a learning process in of itself. You can only pre-design so much, but it's only when you actually program the components do you realize certain things are fun and others not so much. Then you add things and take things away to make it fun and addicting all the time.
- Making games always seem to take 2x as long as you first estimate, especially multiplayer games with new tech. When you program games, there is so much more behind the scenes that isn't apparent to the user in the end but is still needed to keep things running smoothly.
We want to do our best job with this update and make a great first impression on the multiplayer. Even once we finish we want to spend time balancing everything as Fort Defense is a new gameplay experience. We also try to find and eliminate any causes of lag and slowdown. Once we feel it is ready and we have fixed all the bigger noticeable bugs, we will release it.
This is why we put a blanket statement on release, because from past experience, putting and missing an exact date is very upsetting to our fans and very stressful on us.
We will always try our best to let everyone know how things are going via our Twitter feed. We enjoy the interest and it always keeps us motivated, we really do love what we do, and all the amazing support we've gotten. If we could get back to every email and every question we would, but that would stop finishing the update completely, lol. So we thank everyone for their patience and understanding.
The good news, it's a huge update, and it is becoming really fun to play. Here are a few screen grabs from our latest version. The level art is just a placeholder. You will notice how the pallets and resources are becoming integrated into the main system.
Looks like it is worth the wait!
Posted by: PoorlyDrawnHero | 01/29/2013 at 01:26 PM
Do what you gotta do! I've enjoyed playing the game in its latest incarnation, can't wait to see the next one!
Posted by: Taylor | 01/29/2013 at 01:33 PM
JUST RELEASE IT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM ABOUT TO GIVE UP ON THIS DAMN GAME!!!! D:
JUST DO IT!!!!!!!! :'(
Posted by: Luke krentz | 01/29/2013 at 01:36 PM
This is the best possible way you can handle having to delay an update! I applaud you on your honesty and for being upfront with us about the current state of affairs. If only more developers were like this ;)
We, of course, shall wait patiently and continue to support you! The update looks and sounds awesome.
Posted by: deadering | 01/29/2013 at 02:02 PM
You Gentlemen are creating the game of my dreams. Astounding.
Posted by: Kroxigor | 01/29/2013 at 02:20 PM
Thanks for your understanding guys. We believe in communicating to the best of our ability, although it can be scary at times because we felt like we let everyone down. But it seems most are on board with us finishing things properly, so we are happy to see that.
We are also answering some other indepth questions here:
http://www.forgeforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2969
Posted by: Will | 01/29/2013 at 02:20 PM
I like how you're being honest here, but you have to see from the consumers point of view that we understand that it's not finished and I believe I speak for most of us - we don't mind playing an unfinished product. I mean that's all we're going to play until the first release and that's part of the fun.
Posted by: Eddy | 01/29/2013 at 02:23 PM
We understand this viewpoint Eddy, but the multiplayer is a bit harder to put out before it's ready due to the nature of it and needing to ensure server stability. But we do keep in mind not to feature creep beyond what is needed for the gameplay of a particular update, and there will still be some smaller but less noticeable bugs even when we release it.
Posted by: Will | 01/29/2013 at 02:47 PM
I pesonally would LOVE to play the unfinished version. As it would make me (and others who agree) feel as if I had a big role in the development of the game. But I do accept that you are trying to make the update the best for us and create the foundation for more content, And for that I applaud you.
Posted by: Kai-Nu | 01/29/2013 at 02:48 PM
And also when could we expect other gamemodes then fort defence. Such as survival or maybe even a sandbox mode (this was originally planned and then you later stated that the gamemodes were going to be: Fort Defence, Survival and Fortwars)
Posted by: Kai-Nu | 01/29/2013 at 02:52 PM
Survival mode will be coming in the update after this update. Fort Wars we hope to have the first version of late this year as it requires all our systems in place to work as we envision it.
Posted by: Will | 01/29/2013 at 03:04 PM
most of us were not expecting a game over night, especially given how few of you there are at this point. I really appreciate that you keep us posted on twitter. it makes the waiting a lot easier. thank you for doing what you are doing. we shall do our best to be patient.
seriously, you guys rock.
Posted by: attackpanda | 01/29/2013 at 05:52 PM
Thanks for keeping us in the loop. I really like hearing from you guys. It reassures me that the update is coming soon.
*Turns to players*
You hear that guys? If we stop sending emails, they can get the update out faster!!! ;)
Posted by: yademco | 01/29/2013 at 06:12 PM
Yea, take the time to do things right. That's freedom!
BEST part of being independent!
keep codin', great job so far!
Posted by: Mike | 01/29/2013 at 06:19 PM
I can understand the desire to make the best impression possible, but you got to understand these delays are also an impression.
We have been squatting on what is essentially an extremely limited tech demo since October.
You are more in danger of losing peoples interest in this game not releasing SOMETHING then you are sitting on it till it's perfect.
Posted by: Basilisk | 01/30/2013 at 12:17 AM
Indeed, take your time!
I'd rather have an stable update then a buggy pre-update.
Making the game of dreams.
Posted by: Duuster | 01/30/2013 at 03:05 PM
To Taylor: Don't give up! It will be worth the wait!
Posted by: Andrew | 01/30/2013 at 05:08 PM
I think that no one is wrong here.
In one sense, people like Basilisk are correct in the fact that constant delays with seemingly no progress WILL reduce the number of people interested in the game.
On the other hand, people like attackpanda are also correct in the sense that you shouldn't release a bad first update.
My personal opinion is that as long as you are honest with us about what's going on, it all works out in the end. I personally do not mind a game being a month late as long as you are up front about it. I truly admire that in you guys more than any fancy hardware you can pump out (though I look forward to that with avid anticipation)!
Keep up the good work! But give us our moneys worth of game, says the cynic ;)
Posted by: HappyCamper | 01/30/2013 at 07:41 PM
THIS IS SOOOO WORTH THE WAITING
Posted by: ME | 02/01/2013 at 12:19 AM
I am totally blown away by how much information is in this blog post. Great job at informing the community. Thank you!!
Posted by: Sephiroth | 02/01/2013 at 03:03 PM
I think this will be the update that finally gets me to commit to buying. Can't wait to see how it turns out (actually I guess I can wait, but I don't want to).
Posted by: Gabraham | 02/02/2013 at 04:31 AM
Take as much time as you need! I dont want to play a game that has so many issues that its almost unplayable. Keeping us posted on progress should be the only priority until the you have completed a stable version!
Posted by: Chriisu | 02/03/2013 at 02:17 AM
What you guys are doing is incredibly in depth, and frankly earth shaking, you are going to a depth that Minecraft and Terraria never even looked at. Ignore your detractors, listen to those of us telling you to take your time, we are not 12, we are patient. Those of us telling you to take your time have obviously been waiting for a game like this for years, so whats another month for a good update. Just be true to your product, and don't scrap it. That's my only request.
Posted by: HeWhoWalksAlone | 02/05/2013 at 05:36 AM
Fantastic! As long as you're keeping us up to date on what's going on, I don't mind waiting at all. You guys kind of remind me of Valve, in a good way...always trying to answer the customers and delaying when necessary to make the game better. I'm perfectly happy checking in on the site every few days as just seeing you post something on Twitter gets me excited. Keep up the great work, you guys. :)
Posted by: Kariko | 02/07/2013 at 06:53 PM
Keep programming and dont stress. It takes the time it takes. Thanks for posting this log, i am sure its the time worth! Thanks alot for making StarForge at all. I know how much of the time you Guys are using on programming this game.
Keep up the good Work! :D
Posted by: djmadsiman | 02/15/2013 at 02:17 PM