0.24 Thoughts thread (split)

[JohnnyTazer]

The bar really is that low isn't it?

[Musclethorpe]

I'm sorry, what? The only thing I had to potentially look forward to in .24 has been removed from it?

[Lethys]

34 minutes ago, Musclethorpe said:

I'm sorry, what? The only thing I had to potentially look forward to in .24 has been removed from it?

UPDATE 0.24: MANY FEATURES INCOMING

 

There’s a lot of great stuff on the way! You can get the scoop in these devblogs about new features slated for 024, though some -- like the Mission System that we highlighted in our previous newsletter -- may appear in a later phase of the update. 

 

https://www.dualuniverse.game/news/february-newsletter

 

Yup, may appear in a later Phase of the update, whatever that means 

[blazemonger]

 

I'm still amazed some seem to translate the above as it being possible the mission system will not be in the initial 0.24 patch and may come later.

 

I get NQ tends to really have a knack of being vague and using language that raises more questions than it answers but their wording to me indicates that Mission system (more than likely) is not going to be part of the 0.24 patch and may (or may not) arrive at a later stage during the 0.24 cycle (as in somewhere between end of March when 0.24 arrives and end of June when the next patch is expected.

 

As it stands, 0.24 seems to be a mediocre patch at best..

[Musclethorpe]

3 hours ago, Lethys said:

UPDATE 0.24: MANY FEATURES INCOMING

 

There’s a lot of great stuff on the way! You can get the scoop in these devblogs about new features slated for 024, though some -- like the Mission System that we highlighted in our previous newsletter -- may appear in a later phase of the update. 

 

https://www.dualuniverse.game/news/february-newsletter

 

Yup, may appear in a later Phase of the update, whatever that means 

Things look more dire each month. The mission system was going to be the only reason I began moderately playing again. How are they supposed to pull off the PvP revamp at any point this year if this is troublesome?

[Musclethorpe]

2 hours ago, blazemonger said:

 

I'm still amazed some seem to translate the above as it being possible the mission system will not be in the initial 0.24 patch and may come later.

 

I get NQ tends to really have a knack of being vague and using language that raises more questions than it answers but their wording to me indicates that Mission system (more than likely) is not going to be part of the 0.24 patch and may (or may not) arrive at a later stage during the 0.24 cycle (as in somewhere between end of March when 0.24 arrives and end of June when the next patch is expected.

 

As it stands, 0.24 seems to be a mediocre patch at best..

Mediocre? The mission system was the flagship feature. It's now been reduced to jetpacks, trees/rocks, and a new way for scumbags to rob orgs blind.

[blazemonger]

yes, which is why mediocre _at best_ ..

 

[Fra119]

Let's call it 0.23.2 and we can move on.

[Musclethorpe]

1 hour ago, blazemonger said:

yes, which is why mediocre _at best_ ..

 

I am saying you being too generous. With the fiasco that was .23, because the gameplay loop infrastructure wasn't in place for it, a gutted .24 straight up flirts with disaster. 

[Fembot68]

With the way the game is right now so few people are playing the market is overflowing with goods with very few people buying. ore prices are falling with over supply because bots are gone.  Last but not least, people are so sick of mining they are leaving the game.     We have a community of coders and 3d modelers  why not take advantage of "Free" help making stuff for this game ??   I would be more than happy to make assets for new stuff.   Many players have expressed the same about other things in the game. 

 

We need  another loop  ASAP  pick form a list. 

• Asteroids : should be easy enough as it was in Alpha  so the code "should" still exist
• NPC missions
• PVE ships that attack or are there to be hunted.    

Quality of life stuff 

• XL atmo engines 
• L wings 
• Clean glass or maybe some Windex taken to the ones we have 
• Glass voxels 
• Markets accessible from 1 or 2 KM away  from the terminal  Or  cleanup system around them that removes all the junk. 
• feel free to add a few things here 

[Musclethorpe]

15 minutes ago, Fembot68 said:

With the way the game is right now so few people are We need  another loop  ASAP  pick form a list. 

• PVE ships that attack or are there to be hunted. 

How about we keep it simple, as npc ships that can interact with the player's custom ships is a big technical challenge apparently. Just create more derelict ships to scavenge. Lesser value ones on planets, and high value ones out in the PvP zone.

 

They have already done both of these things in two different events, so it's nothing new. Also it adds the benefit of emergent PvP gameplay outside of the safe zone by giving people a reason to slow-boat around out there. 

[Fembot68]

I don't think it would be very hard with the Lua code that players have so far in game. It would be some simple changes to make them lock guns shoot and follow.  we are not talking huge perfect NPC combat just something, anything.  

Agreed  scavenging ships would be fine as something to do but with the LIMIT of one xl engine you can pick up its not really worth hunting them.  

 

 

[Musclethorpe]

6 minutes ago, Fembot68 said:

Agreed  scavenging ships would be fine as something to do but with the LIMIT of one xl engine you can pick up its not really worth hunting them.  

 

 

The limits would have to be adjusted of course, I would say removed entirely. The 100ish crashed ships they originally implemented was a painfully small number, which is why I assumed it was implemented. Even then most players never even saw one.

 

I would campaign to have much much more out there, especially in PvP space, be able to take as much as you can carry, and have some components not have their 3/3 5/5 lives or whatever.

 

Now you would have refurbished parts that you could either incorporate into your own ships or perhaps sell (on the market under refurbished) at a discounted price.

[Fembot68]

2 minutes ago, Musclethorpe said:

The limits would have to be adjusted of course, I would say removed entirely. The 100ish crashed ships they originally implemented was a painfully small number, which is why I assumed it was implemented. Even then most players never even saw one.

 

I would campaign to have much much more out there, especially in PvP space, be able to take as much as you can carry, and have some components not have their 3/3 5/5 lives or whatever.

 

Now you would have refurbished parts that you could either incorporate into your own ships or perhaps sell (on the market under refurbished) at a discounted price.

Yes 1000s or 10s of 1000s of ships throughout the whole system  that show up on radar!   Asteroids and ships in space both of these would be a good way to get people something to do.   The problem is they likely don't really read this stuff.   

 

 

[Madrummer]

Wow that is super-heartwarming.  I'm glad they did that, and it sucks that I missed it.

You know, one thing (that I know will be super time-intensive but would be amazingly helpful for people) that would be great would be a more inclusive wiki, including what schematics go to which industry producers, what talents effect what things, etc etc.

[blundertwink]

it again comes down to communication -- it'd be nice to know why nothing has been done in development in the last few months.

 

The new trees/rock assets were purchased from a third party, so really it's just jetpacks and org wallets, which seems like a couple weeks of work, not months. 

 

so...where has the rest of the time gone, exactly...?

 

have they invested the dev time into refactors and bug fixes so they can finally have a stable core that they can build on and maintain...? this is a 6+ year old codebase -- it isn't like code magically gets better as it gets older and bigger -- i'd 100% support spending the time to refactor and improve stability / maintainability...but honestly?

 

sounds like the devs are simply phoning it in. 

 

From their own NL:

Quote

The wintry February weather may be swirling around us, but we’re not letting the cold slow us down! To the contrary, development on the upcoming 0.24 Dual Universe update is heating up. 

"heating up...?" so why does this update read like it would be 2-3 weeks (at most) of work from any other studio...? Does NQ expect that updating their biomes from 1999 visuals to 2010 visuals will completely revitalize the game? 

 

TBH, i feel like NQ's devs mostly sit around and collect their checks.

 

Why should they be motivated to go the extra mile...? i've suspected bad dev morale for a long time and the high turnover, poor reviews around job sites, and complete lack of real progress supports that theory.

 

I expect management is too scared that devs will leave to crack the whip. Not like you can just plug a new dev into a 6-year-old codebase working with an engine no one in the industry uses.

 

sprinkle in work from home, crunch time, and less people needing to do more work and you have very unmotivated devs that always seem to find a valid engineering reason why things don't get done.

 

i don't blame devs for bad management, don't get me wrong -- slow dev is a symptom of a more fundamental issue...if NQ really want to release this year, 0.25 must be literally game-changing. 

[GraXXoR]

On 3/15/2021 at 6:14 AM, Musclethorpe said:

…and a new way for scumbags to rob orgs blind.

/ears perk up/

what’s this about?

[Musclethorpe]

2 hours ago, GraXXoR said:

/ears perk up/

what’s this about?

Just org wallets.

[LouHodo]

On 3/14/2021 at 8:36 PM, Fembot68 said:

With the way the game is right now so few people are playing the market is overflowing with goods with very few people buying. ore prices are falling with over supply because bots are gone.  Last but not least, people are so sick of mining they are leaving the game.     We have a community of coders and 3d modelers  why not take advantage of "Free" help making stuff for this game ??   I would be more than happy to make assets for new stuff.   Many players have expressed the same about other things in the game. 

 

We need  another loop  ASAP  pick form a list. 

• Asteroids : should be easy enough as it was in Alpha  so the code "should" still exist
• NPC missions
• PVE ships that attack or are there to be hunted.    

Quality of life stuff 

• XL atmo engines 
• L wings 
• Clean glass or maybe some Windex taken to the ones we have 
• Glass voxels 
• Markets accessible from 1 or 2 KM away  from the terminal  Or  cleanup system around them that removes all the junk. 
• feel free to add a few things here 

Npc ships is really easy.

 

NQ already has a database of everything that has ever been created in the game.  Just have a spawn table randomly choose from a core size and that is the NPC ship that is attacking you.  Now you just have to write a AI code that can use the stuff in game.

[Revelcro]

Dev's might be busy playing starbase maybe.