Colony Ship Early Access Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Üstad]

lol 40 dollars. Do they actually think their games are THAT good? Their games are annoying asf you are presented wutg this traditional character creation menu but its a class based one in disguise. There really is no character customization cause if you deviate your stats and skill a tiny bit your from the recommended options you are going to have awful time.

 

[kangaxx]

$40 is but a meager amount for the MASSIVE INCLINE this game is going to bring us, my wallet is ready

I bought it for less than that on a recent sale.

The price was lower during Early Access, it has been raised several times as the game received more content.
During that low price period, the game has been on sale during major Steam sales several times, allowing you to buy it at an even lower price!

If you waited this long to buy it, it's your own fault!

Real Codexers already bought it a while ago

When's this being released? It's sitting on my HD waiting.

 

[JarlFrank]

$40 is but a meager amount for the MASSIVE INCLINE this game is going to bring us, my wallet is ready

I bought it for less than that on a recent sale.

The price was lower during Early Access, it has been raised several times as the game received more content.
During that low price period, the game has been on sale during major Steam sales several times, allowing you to buy it at an even lower price!

If you waited this long to buy it, it's your own fault!

Real Codexers already bought it a while ago

When's this being released? It's sitting on my HD waiting.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/648410/view/6163783419148384235

As we're getting closer (85% of the game is done and available on Early Access), let's go over what's left and the remaining update schedule.

1. Mission Control
   (lower levels) - released
   
   With this update we hit two major milestones:
   
   • all work on non-human characters is finally done and our programmer can fully focus on other tasks
   • all locations and level design are also done, which takes about 60% of work for every update. From this point on we'll focus on pure content (scripting quests and setting up fights), which will speed things up considerably.
2. The Grangers' Alliance, Attack on the Armory, Delivery
   - released on the beta branch
   
   
3. The Habitat's Questlines
   - released on the beta branch
   
   
4. The Pit's Alliance
   - End of Sep.
   
   
5. The Bridge and the Endgame
   - End of Oct.
   
   The level design (including unique props) is done ahead of schedule, the extensive text (interacting with the central computer) is done too, so we'll be able to focus on the endgame events. The Armory's level 3 (also done) is part of the endgame events.

Overall, we're looking at 5-6 increasingly less stressful months of work left. The hardest part of work is behind us now and we want to thank all those who supported us during the last two years. We wouldn't have made it this far without you.

 

[Jaedar]

lol 40 dollars. Do they actually think their games are THAT good? Their games are annoying asf you are presented wutg this traditional character creation menu but its a class based one in disguise. There really is no character customization cause if you deviate your stats and skill a tiny bit your from the recommended options you are going to have awful time.

Funny, cause it's not like that at all. It's a lot easier than in AoD to do "hybrid" or "weird" builds, simply because you have 0-3 other people on your team to pick up the slack. Case in point, I made a character with 0 combat stats/skills, and still beat the hardest encounters that existed at that point in the ea.

Sneaky edit: For the record I think you're sorta wrong about AoD as well, but it's more true there. When you join a certain faction that puts some stringent demands on your character. You can't avoid combat in legion, a merchant without sufficient speech skills is gonna have a bad time, etc. But there are lots of ways to build a legionnaire, assassin, thief, praetor respectively.

 

[mold]

Yeah, too expensive. I liked AoD and Dungeon Rats just fine but they're not among my favorites. Played through a couple of times and haven't touched them since. This does sound better, but 25€ is still about max I'd pay (but would be willing to pay more if there was a Linux version). The setting is really appealing, tho...

 

[Cnaiur]

That's fine, everyone should not be able to buy any game they want.

 

[just]

imagine buying a role playing rpg game and then make a character who talks good

 

[Jaedar]

imagine buying a role playing rpg game and then make a character who talks good

There are some quests and seemingly-optimal-outcomes-for-everyone-on-the-ship-but-who-knows-game-isn't-done that are only available if you can speechify people. Basically the whole habitat section has a lot of brick walls if you can't talk. Which makes sense, it's a civilized area, you can't just shoot all your problems.

There are of course also less civilized places where if you can't shoot everything that moves you're not going to get the best things.

 

[JarlFrank]

Imagine not maxmaxing with CheatEngine.

 

[Hellraiser]

Imagine not maxmaxing with CheatEngine.

Cheating is bad m'kay, everytime you cheat an orphan has to play The Outer Worlds. Think of the orphans man.

 

[Modron]

Yeah, too expensive. I liked AoD and Dungeon Rats just fine but they're not among my favorites. Played through a couple of times and haven't touched them since. This does sound better, but 25€ is still about max I'd pay (but would be willing to pay more if there was a Linux version). The setting is really appealing, tho...

So why didn't you buy it when it was cheaper than that?

 

[JarlFrank]

It's almost as if some people aren't aware you can buy a game in Early Access at a lower price, to support the developer during the game's development when funds are needed most, and then not play it until full release.

It is, indeed, possible to buy a game now then wait a few months or years before you play it.

Same with people asking "When does this come out?"

It is out. It's not finished yet, but it's out - you can purchase it right now.
If you want to support the developer, and you intend to play it on release anyway, why not buy it right now? Why wait? Go ahead, give Vince your money.

 

[0sacred]

Their games are annoying asf you are presented wutg this traditional character creation menu but its a class based one in disguise. There really is no character customization cause if you deviate your stats and skill a tiny bit your from the recommended options you are going to have awful time.

I thought it left a bit more wiggle room than AoD, but yeah

 

[Athena]

It's almost as if some people aren't aware you can buy a game in Early Access at a lower price, to support the developer during the game's development when funds are needed most, and then not play it until full release.

Early access is a scummy anti-consumer practice. Paying for the benefit of being a beta tester, no thanks. It's got to the point where we have to be grateful to iron out the bugs in behalf of the devs.

 

[StrongBelwas]

Early access is a scummy anti-consumer practice. Paying for the benefit of being a beta tester, no thanks. It's got to the point where we have to be grateful to iron out the bugs in behalf of the devs.

When larger companies do it I generally agree, but I don't really see better options for a legitimately indie company like Iron Tower to figure out exactly what needs fixing and keep the lights on. It's a reasonable enough compromise.

 

[JarlFrank]

I'm not betatesting, I just bought the game and let it sit in my library until 1.0.

It's basically telling the dev "I like what you're doing, here's some money for the game you're working on". Perfectly acceptable for indie developers you trust.

 

[Lord_Potato]

It's almost as if some people aren't aware you can buy a game in Early Access at a lower price, to support the developer during the game's development when funds are needed most, and then not play it until full release.

Early access is a scummy anti-consumer practice. Paying for the benefit of being a beta tester, no thanks. It's got to the point where we have to be grateful to iron out the bugs in behalf of the devs.

You. Don't. Have. To. Beta. Test.

You just give the money to indie developer now, when he needs it most, instead of in a year or two. And he gets funds to finish the game.

Whether you play it in EA or only after full release - it's totally up to you. I promise. Nobody's verifying that.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Perfectly acceptable for indie developers you trust.

Yeah, this about the only time I find Early Access acceptable these days: if it's from a developer I already trust and has produced results in the past, and they clearly need some financial assistance. Otherwise I understand the general repulsion towards EA very well. It's a bunch of bullshit 90% of the time.

Anyway, buy Colony Ship! Then buy another copy for a friend at v1.0 to help get them visibility on their release!

 

[luj1]

Playing the demo and not really seeing it tbh

- camera is fucking weird, same as AoD. Makes the whole trip a little cumbersome
- writing is meh
- world is okay, kinda reminds me of The Expanse
- chargen is the same shit as Fallout. Don't like cheap cloning of systems a la ATOM. Try something original after 20 years of RPG design ethos ffs
- music is generic trash but who gives a fuck

TLDR feels very AoD-y and probably runs on the same engine, expected something way less derivative

 

[mold]

Yeah, too expensive. I liked AoD and Dungeon Rats just fine but they're not among my favorites. Played through a couple of times and haven't touched them since. This does sound better, but 25€ is still about max I'd pay (but would be willing to pay more if there was a Linux version). The setting is really appealing, tho...

So why didn't you buy it when it was cheaper than that?

I was having my gaming midlife crisis and not paying attention. I can wait until the game goes on sale, did not mean to whine about that. But I am in the target audience, have a passion for scifi, played the devs previous games with moderate enthusiasm and I still consider the price too high. What about everyone else outside the core group of fans? Who's really gonna pay that much for a random indie when there are so many other options at that price point? Not the people I know.

But I hope it goes well for ITS. I'd like to see them continue making games.

 

[Vault Dweller]

For the record, AoD was $29.99 on release (we gradually reduced the price over the years). Colony Ship is $10 more, which is fitting considering the engine and the licensing fee.

90% of people buy the game when it's on sale (even if the price is $4.99), so paying full price is basically buying a supporter's edition these days. There will be a 25% discount on release, so the effective price will be $29.99.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

- camera is fucking weird, same as AoD. Makes the whole trip a little cumbersome

Agreed, really needs a follow player toggle and they should probably reduce how far you can zoom out so you can't see the edges of the environment.

- writing is meh

Writing is weakest at the very beginning, there's a lot of awkwardness in having the protagonist be someone who's always lived in The Pit while still needing things to be explained to them, the overly utilitarian dialogue choices are also a bit dull.

- chargen is the same shit as Fallout. Don't like cheap cloning of systems a la ATOM. Try something original after 20 years of RPG design ethos ffs

Very few games use Fallout as a reference point, let alone cook up an entirely new ruleset of their own. I don't see an issue especially when CS systems are much more deliberate and finely-tuned than ATOM's.

 

[Elhoim]

It's almost as if some people aren't aware you can buy a game in Early Access at a lower price, to support the developer during the game's development when funds are needed most, and then not play it until full release.

Early access is a scummy anti-consumer practice. Paying for the benefit of being a beta tester, no thanks. It's got to the point where we have to be grateful to iron out the bugs in behalf of the devs.

You. Don't. Have. To. Beta. Test.

You just give the money to indie developer now, when he needs it most, instead of in a year or two. And he gets funds to finish the game.

Whether you play it in EA or only after full release - it's totally up to you. I promise. Nobody's verifying that.

While the bug reports are definitely helpful, it's more about getting feedback on the design and influence it. We tweaked and changed a lot of the game based on the player's feedback, which is even more important than the bug-fixing.

Agreed, really needs a follow player toggle and they should probably reduce how far you can zoom out so you can't see the edges of the environment.

Follow camera is on the works, and we fixed a lot of environment edges in the upcoming update.

 

[Lady Error]

Writing is weakest at the very beginning, there's a lot of awkwardness in having the protagonist be someone who's always lived in The Pit while still needing things to be explained to them

Maybe he got hit on the head and lost his memory?

 

[Takamori]

Uhh maybe he was retarded and recently they discovered some biotech bullshit that cured his retarded condition but he still need to learn shit