The devs need to pay attention and learn from other more experienced Dev teams when it comes to Community and player communication. ( A open letter to NQ)

[Sarrah]

It's no secret NQ isn't that popular among most of the core player base. There's a few stragglers who will back NQ no matter how hard they kill the player base and how many bad changes are made but the lack and loss of players since beta and release is notable and a problem NQ needs to recognise. 

With that being said, I'm not here to criticize NQ on what they've done wrong. If they're not already aware of this they should be so I wont pound this in here.  

Now I want to make this clear. I love this game and its potential. It is 100% possible to Love DU and dislike NQ. The DU idea is where the love sits. The lack of NQ's understanding the game and their lack of understanding of the players is where the problem is in my eyes. 

Lets take a look at a game thats gone through a similar dev structure and situation as DU:

 FacePunch Studios was a indy dev team ( literally a modder who went pro) that had its roots from Garry who designed "Garry's Mod" and later on "RUST". When Rust first started out it was just a tech demo within Garry's Mod. It progressed to what is now known as "Legacy Rust" which was a rough copy of what RUST is today and was built on a limited Game engine. The game was extremly popular and actually eventually out played its Engines capabilities. Garry having built his success off Garry's Mod had a very solid understanding on how his community and there for player base was extremely important in his success. He realized very early on they were the reason he was where he was. Without getting too indepth on how RUST was developed it always had one major rule structure and it went something like this:

**Players First** ---> Money Second ---> Outside Investment Last. 

With this rule in mind, Garry and FacePunch knew that Legacy Rust couldn't be upgraded to fulfill what the players wanted. But they saw the opportunity and potential the game had.. The extremly hard decision was made to scrap Legacy Rust and design a new Rust from the ground up, Engine and all. This was HARD WORK, a HUGE RISK, but... it was what was best for what the players wanted and the games vision. 

Now with that history lesson complete. I'm not saying DU needs a new game engine or a redesign. What I'm getting at here is DU sits in a very similar situation business wise and in game development. Where NQ has failed and FacePunch thrived can be narrowed down to the way the two dev teams listen to their players as well as the fact that FacePunch devs were required to play Rust a certain number of hours per day to ensure they understood the game mechanics they were designing. 

With over 4000+ hours in Beta and nearly a 1000+ hours in release, having stuck around through the disastrous 0.23 update and the later mining and territory updates that all saw a mass loss of players.. Its very clear to me after having been through FacePunches success from that Tech Demo in Garry's mod all the way to where RUST sits today. NQ could learn a lot about community and how to properly make big changes to DU through RUST and FacePunch's success. 

Please, NQ if you're reading this. Take a quick look at https://www.rustafied.com/ and scroll through the games past few years of development and the early days. EVERY game change and update has been very accurately documented via Rustifieds awesome update news posts. 

Take note on the changes, how they came about and how often the player base was consulted and accommodated. I understand these two games play very differently. But the core idea stands that they both require a somewhat accommodated and happy player base to succeed. 

With all due respect. You have failed on this part NQ. The current player base and market situation speaks for itself. First things first. Require your devs to play the game. Set a required hour per week and pay them to use it. Second, from now on. Consider what changes you make and the effect they'll have on your games "FUN" game loops. 


~Sarrah ~ (8900 hours in Rust, 5300 hours in DU) 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Sarrah

[Kezzle]

23 hours ago, Sarrah said:

Require your devs to play the game.

 

Not just the devs. The entire staff should be playing. That way, the people writing the public patch notes can, from personal experience, highlight things that are important to the player about how new developments impact play, just for starters.

[sHuRuLuNi]

On 11/24/2022 at 8:31 PM, Sarrah said:

I'm not saying DU needs a new game engine or a redesign. 

 

 

But it is precisely what it needs.

 

NQ should adhere to the good old saying: The first step towards healing is admitting that you are sick.

 

 

 

 

 

[GraXXoR]

1000 hours since release?

it was released about 60 days ago. So you’ve played about 16.7 hours per day on average. 
 

Holy moly…. And I though *I* was an addicted to this dumpster fire. 

[Kezzle]

7 hours ago, Jinxed said:

1000 hours since release?

it was released about 60 days ago. So you’ve played about 16.7 hours per day on average. 
 

Holy moly…. And I though *I* was an addicted to this dumpster fire. 

Just means the machine is on and logged in from getting up to going to bed... doesn't mean eyes have been on the screen (or even the window was at the front) for all that time... 

[Sarrah]

On 11/26/2022 at 4:39 AM, Kezzle said:

Just means the machine is on and logged in from getting up to going to bed... doesn't mean eyes have been on the screen (or even the window was at the front) for all that time... 

Yeah, 18 hour Friday, Saturday's and Sundays.... since release day one.  ( 9+ hour in game week days as well as a full time job 10+ hour days in tech)

LeeRoy, Kernel and SC0tty took 3 days off work on release and didnt sleep... ( Que no life comments) 

HUGE station was the largest construct in game, Starlantis is currently holding that title. 

We had some drama after the BETA wipe announcement where a Legate we played with for 2+ years stole all of our engine parts 1500+ of each basic engine part..  He rage quit hard enough to where he didn't want the station to fall into release ---> via BP's,

Admittedly some of us didn't either. I myself stopped playing.. But because of the theft we locked the station's RDMS and never looked back. out of the 5 of us 4 came back after release and rebuilt the station in hopes it would help the game build its player base. 

For legal reasons we cant name the individual who screwed HUGE. Long simple story short, it was a former disgruntled NQ dev..  LeeRoy is not to blame here but he did rage quit after this person screwed us all ( once he was also aware of the wipe) . We had a rule to never look into other owners cores and storage. So when we lost our internal stash we never thought other owners also lost theirs. But apparently they did, 

Its come to our knowledge that some did. If you're one of those people please send LeeRoy a message on discord. He will make it right. 

This is "Starlantis" the largest construct in game atm. 

Built by three players who all work full time jobs. Without exploits. Just a ton of time and a decent amount of effective planning. 

Over 300+ cores, M, S and L. 

We are here to try and make this game what it can be through proper feedback and experience.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Sarrah

[fiddlybits]

The station looks great. How do you know it is the largest construct in the game?

[Mordgier]

On 11/25/2022 at 1:58 PM, Kezzle said:

 

Not just the devs. The entire staff should be playing. 

 

Please have some respect for the devs. Coding DU is bad enough, being required to actually play it too feels like just kicking someone when they are already down.

 

I know how many of us feel about NQ, but please find some mercy in you for the devs - they've suffered enough without having to play DU.

[GraXXoR]

Imagine being forced to play what you make. It would be like Homeland Security Officers in the US being forced to endure water boarding themselves rather than just inflicting it on brown people. 
 

but seriously though, that tale of a disgruntled former NQ dev actually fukcing over a player group almost made me lose a mouthful of premium coffee. If it’s true that would be absolutely bonkers. 
 

also, why would an NQ member of staff be allowed to even join a player group that would be a conflict of interest. 
 

even more also, why would legality have anything to do with naming and shaming. I know forum rules would likely not allow it, but what had the IRL legal system got to do with douchebag players? 
 

this game is like a shite magnet it just collects all the worst bits of gaming and the internet into one fetid ball of lose. 

[Hazaatan]

The devs don't bother to communicate with their cattle.  They never have, do not now, and never will.  They feed the cattle and leave before the moo's start.

[Wyndle]

9 hours ago, Jinxed said:

Imagine being forced to play what you make. It would be like Homeland Security Officers in the US being forced to endure water boarding themselves rather than just inflicting it on brown people. 

Hey, that's not right.  They pick old people with medical and walking assistance devices 25% of the time regardless of skin color.

 

Edit:  Or was that just the TSA?

[CptLoRes]

I would take being water boarding over airport security checks any day...

[sHuRuLuNi]

45 minutes ago, CptLoRes said:

I would take being water boarding over airport security checks any day...

 

You say so because you have never been waterboarded .... I as a muslim though ...

[Novean-61657]

At least you tried! Is all I can say, but I suspect your advise will fall on deaf ears or even if it's heard they've stuck their neck too far into the lions maw to back out now after almost 9 years of development...

 

With "**Players First** ---> Money Second ---> Outside Investment Last." this is never the actual case, I seriously doubt that ever was the case with the RUST development.

(Outside) investment is always first, but to make that work, you might show, tell, or actually do the opposite. And thus 'Players First' is born, Rust kept up a good communication game and people kept believing that. NQ sucks at communication, thus we've lost all belief that NQ/DU is 'Players First'. And honestly I doubt they could change my mind on that, no matter what they do, they've said so many things over the years and changed their mind so often, that nothing being said or published by NQ/DU I believe anymore. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that.

 

Also, would you want to depend on 'community' feedback? It's turned pretty toxic for many and even the parts of the community that aren't toxic have very little faith or trust in NQ.

 

Rust was released in an Alpha state in December 2013 and no longer got regular updates per 2014, less then a year later... And then was completely killed in 2016 after three years of existence. The 'good' version of Rust started in 2014 and was 'released' in 2018, four years of development. At this point in time, two complete 'good' Rusts could have been developed with another 'Alpha that sucks. The time frames are so far apart that NQ doing this now sounds like wealth destruction. I also wonder that if NQ actually did it this way, if they would have any players left. Another full wipe after three years or another launch on a new development branch... No thank you! Would you stay and suffer another wipe?

[Wyndle]

2 hours ago, Cergorach said:

Would you stay and suffer another wipe?

There's a long list of 'if' statements that would all have to align for me to even give it consideration.  In other news the sun will rise in the West and set in the East, and the mountains will blow like leaves in the wind.

[Aaron Cain]

11 hours ago, Cergorach said:

Would you stay and suffer another wipe?

 

At that point SE has more value add then DU and i will first try to get my money back, through court if i have to even as i don't need the cash but its now principle.

 

At the moment the only Pro DU has on its comp[etitors is the single shard Non wipe idea. If that is gone DU is not more then MS minesweeper