Just curious ... mainly asking Dan, but ... is this game ever going to get any further updates? I don't mean tiny new things that wouldn't last a beginner for a week, but legit updates concerning the primary complains/desires of many people?

Where is the Trading Center? Come on ... it's not that hard to make a trade feature ... it's been months ... what is going on?!

Where are base updates? We've had so many suggestions to bases ... I would almost be happy with an update allowing players to defend a base (even though I think that would hurt the system overall) JUST for the sake of anything new

Any badge updates? I've got hundreds of each badge type just building up ... really? There isn't anything else you can think of?

Mission chain updates? As in ... chains ... not mission ... the continuation of the Silthion chain just got DROPPED from coming soon, but it is not anywhere as a new mission. One mission added per month (outside bi-monthly) does not cut it ... seriously

Planet updates? We've had SO many planet idea ... make a planet that is type "Planet" and gives Abundant of each resource and is always Average size ... at least that's something



Seriously, Dan ... what in the world are you/have you been doing? Your game is crumbling and a lot of people are just flocking over to Universe Genesis. And there, they encourage and listen to suggestions LIKE YOU USED TO!!!

You used to listen to suggestions very well, Dan ... that's part of why I liked this game so much. Now, I log on and I can't help but think "I want my click back" because there is nothing new at all. I'm not even referencing high end material (which would be very nice), but even just the things you said were coming! Have you been lying to us? Is there really no Trade Center feature? It's hard to believe there is when it's been about four or five months!


I want other peoples' thoughts on the dearth of updates to this game ... but, more importantly, I WANT DAN'S COMMENT. I haven't received responses to the messages (only one or two) that I've sent through the game. Maybe I did it wrong, maybe you're ignoring them, but I want to know what is going on with this game.

As the developer, you need to develop a voice with the player base or it's going to crumble even quicker than it has recently. Or do you just not care? Your player base wants to know.

Just saw that in the other post, didn't see it before posting. Still, I see 4 achievements ... and a mention of the GTC ... is that all?

I realize I'm being harsh against Dan (maybe I am, maybe I'm not), but I'd rather take a chance at lighting a fire.

He's obviously gonna get more than 4 achievements but I agree although i'm happy with the game as it is and there's plenty left for me to do, I understand the need for new content.

Seriously if u think you could do better make your own game then, plus its not like Dan sits on a computer in a basement all day long 24/7, give him more time, be patient

Good job with that comment ...

I am not a developer, I have no desire to make a game. Dan is the developer of this game ... regardless of what you might think, that means he is to some degree performing a job. This is a for-profit game ... this is not a non-profit organization.

He's stated the GTC was coming for four or five months give or take ... how much more time does it take when we already have the essential functions in game? Also, how hard is it to make new missions? The coding is there ... he just has to cut and paste a picture for the mission and the module, think up of a paragraph for a story, and spit it out.


Do I need to elaborate further for you?

people seem to think they can just snap their fingers and Dan will jump to do whatever they say~

news flash for you~ Dan ain't your personal slave who's gonna include what YOU want in HIS game just because people are leaving his game due to "being bored" when really, it's because they whipped out their creditcards and paid their way to their position.

Ah yes but at the same time if they didn't whip out their credit cards then there wouldn't be a game and in a way that means he owes it to them to give them some new content. Personally I still have faith in him.

that is like saying "We've given you money for something in-game, you gave it to us, and now we're demanding something additional without needing to pay"

i know they don't have to pay for the content, but they can't just expect it, or think they're owed it because they used credit cards.

I see these kinds of posts in a lot of game forums. It seems to come from the fact that most people don't really understand what is involved in adding content to a game, or even what is involved in coding alone.

When creating new content for a game, you have to plan out exactly what you what it to do. Then you have to figure out if it will affect game balance in any way, and if it does if the effect is positive or negative. Quite often at this stage, you have to redesign the content to adjust how it affects game balance. Once you have that done, you have to actually code it into the game and depending on the extent of the new content this can be quite time consuming. Once you have it coded you have to test for bug. When you find bugs (and you WILL find bugs) you then have to track them down. Once you track the bugs down, you have to figure out how to get rid of them without breaking something else. Sometimes this can be simple, other times it is quite complicated.

+1.

That's fine ...

No voice to the player base = not fine and negates any "work".

Perhaps I should restate my initial post to make sure it's understood. I do not know how to code a game. I do know that it is not difficult to release SOME new content that the developer has stated will come around in a timely manner.

Take a look at most other games ... new content released at the current rate of speed would get much more backlash than Dan is getting at the moment.


Take note, as I said, it started out and seemed perfectly fine. Dan is a good guy. That does not mean that recently (i.e. the past ~6 months) he has been that great of a developer.

Where is his voice to the player base - Where are his posts? Where is the "Coming Soon" that actually resembles what actually comes out? Where is any sort of post or text that points out what is being done, has been done, is is being considered?

Both of these comments miss the essential point I was trying to make ... I don't care if it's a new game, an old game, a free game, a paid game ... although since it is a for-profit game it bears more weight.

Dan needs to talk to the player base and needs to actually release what he says he is going to release. Otherwise, what good is his word?

can you refer to original post?

One thing to keep in mind is most games probably have bigger development teams. I am not sure how big of a team Dan has, or if Dan is the team. That would have a huge impact on it as well.

As to communication with the player base, unless there is a person on the team whose sole job is to communicate with the player base, there is going to be some trade-off there. The more time spent communicating with us, the less time they are spending on working on any kind of communication.

I'm not saying you shouldn't want new content or that you shouldn't want better communication. I was just trying to give some insight as to why things may or may not be happening the way they are. I have noticed people tend to be less upset about things when they understand more about them.



viewtopic.php?p=211284#p211284

It's Dan a few other people but we have no real idea as to how many, a new artist was hired recently but we don't know anything else about this person either...

I am aware of the fact that Dan's team is not large scale (in the sense of WoW or something like that). I do not know how large it is, but ... 2 bi-weekly tiny pictures+module and 1-2 normal tiny pictures+module? That is what it boils down to for the past couple months (almost literally).

I can close my eyes, point to a random spot on the screen in the Suggestions forum, and come up with an idea for a single mission ... he's made hundreds of missions ... cut and paste ... bug shoot for a couple days ... release. Or build them up for a week and release two or three at a time.

This slow of growth is just embarrassing. I'm guessing if he sees my posts he's probably not going to enjoy them, but I'm not the only one. He either needs to choose to make new content quicker or communicate with the player base on what he's doing semi-frequently. He's already lost a lot of the big payers from what I'm aware of. The longer he holds off on decent and substantial new content, the quicker he's killing his game.


If you're not on offense, you're on defense ... PR rule ... where is his offensive to let us know what he's doing? Almost nowhere ... until the fire gets lit ... he's just playing defensive and that never leads anywhere.



As for the last quote, romanoid asked, not I (not that it makes a difference).

If you spend enough time here on the forums you see Dan post occasionally in a thread reminding us he is alive. I think his updates are pretty reasonable really, of course everyone always wants things faster, but i know just how much of a hassle coding is, and my programming knowledge is pitiful. If you really want a game that just copy+paste for its new content, try Zynga, they have farmville, frontierville, castleville, etc etc etc, all pretty much exactly the same but with different sprites. "omigosh a new update, my pigs can be blue!!! in 5 different games...."
If you just play this game casually, like a lot of the player base, come online every few hours, use your energy, help kill a boss or 2, damage a base, spend your resources, go offline again. You will find waiting on updates a lot less painful.

^^^This. +1

took me so long to rephrase my paragraph so it wasnt just flaming, but i think i got the message across.