Oolite Bulletins

<Smivs looks out from the old codgers home, chuckling at the lively banter of the youngsters...>

spud42 wrote:

happy Birthday... nah your just a baby.... im almost twice your age...lol

Seconded.. I'm exactly twice Pleb's age..

Pleb wrote:

I feel old...27 married got a 2 year old and another due in march...time to get the pipe and slippers!

Don't worry Pleb.. you're not officially over the hill 'til you reach 30!

Atleast when you get the pipe and slippers you also get to own a Jag

Mike Evans wrote:

I don't think any of the design team has ever played Oolite so I guess it's just a coincidence that the mechanics turned out similar.

<chortles>

Umm... I have.

TBH there isn't much positive to read at the FD forums now. I would be very interested to know what some veterans of this forum (and Oolite veterans of course) think of Gamma gameplay wise. Especially on the fun aspect. Does it give as much fun as playing Oolite?

I've seen a lot of vids from Alpha to Gamma and I know it is pretty yet it feels something is missing. The Ooniverse feels more alive in terms of npc interaction.

Cody wrote:

Mike Evans wrote:

I don't think any of the design team has ever played Oolite so I guess it's just a coincidence that the mechanics turned out similar.

<chortles>

<chortles>

what? where?

Zireael wrote:

Cody wrote:

Mike Evans wrote:

I don't think any of the design team has ever played Oolite so I guess it's just a coincidence that the mechanics turned out similar.

<chortles>

<chortles>

what? where?

See this thread; "ED is OOlite".

Edit: Hmm.. an interesting, and not entirely happy-making thread, that..

pagroove wrote:

TBH there isn't much positive to read at the FD forums now. I would be very interested to know what some veterans of this forum (and Oolite veterans of course) think of Gamma gameplay wise. Especially on the fun aspect. Does it give as much fun as playing Oolite?

I've seen a lot of vids from Alpha to Gamma and I know it is pretty yet it feels something is missing. The Ooniverse feels more alive in terms of npc interaction.

I'm probably in a minority, but I have tried the gamma (had connection problems, though everything else on my internet connection was OK) and thought very pretty, but its just maybe not for me... I prefer oolite. I think my Elite memories are still back in the 80s when I first bought Elite for my Amstrad CPC6128 and I think oolite is more in keeping with those memories. I am not too worried about so many billion places to visit in our galaxy, I am happy with the ones here and the immediacy of the game.

I am sure will give it another go some time... That Hotas X52 pro I ordered will need to be used some time!

Commander Doppler wrote:

That Hotas X52 pro I ordered will need to be used some time!

I've no doubt it would be pretty kick-ass used with Oolite, too.

I'm always wishing my present 'stick had more buttons, etc..

More from Mike, engendered by that thread, methinks...

Mike Evans wrote:

At the end of the day we're the final arbiter on what is missing or not in the game. If we decide to not implement something then as far as the players are concerned that feature wasn't supposed to be in the game unless we say otherwise. For example we could be thinking about adding remote moisture farms that you can deploy to those desert worlds to acquire some extra income. We might decide to talk to the DDF about such a feature and come to some agreement on the features requirements. From there we might even start working on it but then at some point we decide that moisture farming doesn't really fit in with the rest of the game as well as we'd first thought and decide the best thing to do is drop it. That is not then a missing feature! If however we were super excited about it but for whatever reason we were finishing development on Elite and there was a single update left to do and it just didn't fit in with the deadline we might turn around and say it was a feature we wanted to do but we just couldn't in time. That would be a missing feature. Right now we're firmly in the former camp of development with no end in sight. If something doesn't get implemented doesn't mean it's missing and should be added as we might not want to add it, ever! It's our game after all. It also doesn't mean it won't ever get implemented either. We're under no obligation to have to finish every feature we planned or mentioned or eluded too for release at all, it would be nice if we could but given that we're just going to continue working on it anyway there is no rush to try and squeeze everything in (which would be impossible anyway) or officially drop the features forever. The feature we want the game to have will come in time. The major features are pretty much all there as a solid base to work from anyway.

Quick cim, implement Moisture Farming.

The thread that quote came from, FD designer admits "bare minimum" to core feature. what else is bare minimum?, quickly devolved into 2 camps. Those who understand the big picture and those who believe they own the game and have a right to all the features they could dream of.

I'm glad no one makes those demands of cim and the rest of the Oolite dev team.

Tricky wrote:

Those who understand the big picture and those who believe they own the game and have a right to all the features they could dream of.

For a Kickstarter based game I find it a bit worrying when the designers use phrases like "It's our game". I don't like the vibe it gives off.

In fact, it makes me think of politicians… It's a tad impractical to run a country based on everyone having a say on every little decision, so we elect people to do it on our behalf. It's just that some of them instantly forget who put them there the moment they're in office, and only seem to remember when the next election looms.

CheeseRedux wrote:

I find it a bit worrying when the designers use phrases like "It's our game".

To be fair, they have said all along that they are making the game 'they want to play' - right from day one, pretty much!

CheeseRedux wrote:

Tricky wrote:

Those who understand the big picture and those who believe they own the game and have a right to all the features they could dream of.

For a Kickstarter based game I find it a bit worrying when the designers use phrases like "It's our game". I don't like the vibe it gives off.

In fact, it makes me think of politicians… It's a tad impractical to run a country based on everyone having a say on every little decision, so we elect people to do it on our behalf. It's just that some of them instantly forget who put them there the moment they're in office, and only seem to remember when the next election looms.

David Braben on the Kickstarter page wrote:

We’re using Kickstarter both as a means of test-marketing the concept to verify there is still interest in such a game that extends beyond the individuals who regularly contact me about the game, and raising the funds to do so. There is also the fact that as long as we hit the threshold, it commits us to making the game.

The fact of the matter is that it has always been FD's game, not the Kickstarter backers. All we (the backers) did was give them the initial push to make the game that had already been on the back burner.