#11 Golden Skull Level

[GOTIL0N]

It was already tried. And surprise it lead nowhere.

This topic itself turn into this subject because the lack of news about the initial announcement and because though the update was promissing, a lot of other issues need to be addressed and people started giving suggestion about what can be improved/modified at the same time. So no the post stopped being about skull a long time ago.

Also the main critisism is about the 9 months delay for a almost empty update, talking about other issues was just bonus. By simple math on the 7 paragraph (6, the last two line can barely be considered as such) that you read, 4 of them were about this specific update. So no it's by all point the perfect place for it is indeed here.

Seven paragraphs where you complain that the update comes "empty" with new mechanics, new units, a new in-game interface, new models (thanks to StickMan), new items, and all of this done by a team that's barely five people (maybe even fewer), and they're the same five people who also create content for their other game, DinoStorm

Hey, I think you're complaining a bit too lightly if you think all this can be done so easily. You must be a game programmer, I assume. And even though this post hasn't received any new updates in nine months, that doesn't justify changing the original topic. With that same logic, I could start talking about my high school life here

In any case, I will stop responding unless I have a question about the update myself, to allow other people to ask their questions and not have to read me or you talking about your book

 

[Fission]

It was already tried. And surprise it lead nowhere.

This topic itself turn into this subject because the lack of news about the initial announcement and because though the update was promissing, a lot of other issues need to be addressed and people started giving suggestion about what can be improved/modified at the same time. So no the post stopped being about skull a long time ago.

Also the main critisism is about the 9 months delay for a almost empty update, talking about other issues was just bonus. By simple math on the 7 paragraph (6, the last two line can barely be considered as such) that you read, 4 of them were about this specific update. So no it's by all point the perfect place for it is indeed here.

Hi @Alinoe ,

I went through your 121 forum messages to better understand your perspective and see if there was any feedback we may have overlooked. From what I could see, many of your posts have generally been critical of the game's direction, aside from your participation in the weekly Competition Posts.

Since development resumed under the Dev Shack in 2016, the game has received hundreds of quality-of-life improvements, as well as significant additions and revisions to existing content. Over the past decade, we have continuously worked to expand and refine the game with the goal of improving the overall experience. As with any long-term development project, not every change is perfect on its first iteration, but we do take constructive feedback seriously and make an effort to implement suggestions whenever they align with the goals and vision of an update.

At the same time, not all feedback can be implemented. In many cases, different players propose solutions that directly conflict with one another, which requires us to carefully evaluate the broader impact of potential changes.

We encourage you to share constructive feedback on areas you believe could be improved. As some community members have already suggested, it would be helpful if different topics were discussed in separate threads whenever possible, as this makes it easier for both the team and the community to follow, discuss, and evaluate individual suggestions.

The purpose of this Dev Shack is to gather feedback and hear opinions related specifically to the Golden Skull major development cycle, so we kindly ask that discussions remain focused on that topic whenever possible.

With that said, we're pleased to have delivered this update sooner than you expected. I noticed your profile status from May suggested that only a teaser would be released in approximately eight months, so hopefully this update came as a positive surprise. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on the update itself!

Best Regards,
Fission

 

[Alinoe]

Hello Fission,

I went through your 121 forum messages to better understand your perspective and see if there was any feedback we may have overlooked. From what I could see, many of your posts have generally been critical of the game's direction, aside from your participation in the weekly Competition Posts. I also noticed that your forum account dates back to 2022, which is why I would like to better understand what you mean by "very old feedback that has always been ignored."

To be more precise, my game account is from 2019. didn't make forum account at this time. It wasn't my first game account I discovered the game during the game Facebook era, I was surprised to see the game still somehow alive and I started again bringing some friends (and actually only one of them was a sucessfull recruit since most of them just gave up because of the gameplay loop).

I was always critical as far as I remember about I was always constructive about issues. I like this game that why seeing it in such state is awfull. And the absence of communication from staff behind don't help.

I don't rembember talking direclty about really old feedback, but here was I previously pinged in response to Highway before:

What about other concerns about the state of the game that you ignore?

• Energy routine breaking the flow of the game, because we love advantage on competitives activities like conquest, reactors and now (because it's gonna have a purpose) the ladder competition,
• Penalty system against AFK in conquest, that ban players who are actives or don't adapt to situation where teams are so unbalanced that there is almost no fight for 40 minutes, the damage control behind to revoke the unfair ban is just insulting for players investing themselves on the game,
• Asked for years, the inability to transfer the character to another server, players don't care about technical reasons, all they see is that they must restart a fresh character to play with people, so you cannot transfer data or you just don't want to do find a solution about people that already made character to other servers?
• This topic, where players complained about the boring game loop, the non-rewarding gameplay, the absence of existence itself of the game preventing potential players to discover the game, wasting time of players for nothing, recycled shitty events.
  
  Cool the ladder competition now have a purpose, because you will need to compete to aquire the skulls needed to unlock to blueprint... Well, people without job will just dominate the ladder, but guess who have more money to invest on the game?

And some of the point mentionned have direct or indirect impact on the update. Especially when ladder competition will have a purpose.

The main complain that created these reactions today, this update was teased 9 month ago, we almost got no communication for months and to finally have annoucment with almost no real new content (because TC items are Sirius variants, nothing more). But I wait with impatience for the bloodbath during the hunt of these enemies.

Since development resumed under the Dev Shack in 2016, the game has received hundreds of quality-of-life improvements, as well as significant additions and revisions to existing content. Over the past decade, we have continuously worked to expand and refine the game with the goal of improving the overall experience. As with any long-term development project, not every change is perfect on its first iteration, but we do take constructive feedback seriously and make an effort to implement suggestions whenever they align with the goals and vision of an update.

Yes, the change of Sirius about planet number were welcomed since Sirius was (still) a boring time prison that could take like 6 months to complete, it still boring but at least the suffering is shorter.

The purpose of this Dev Shack is to gather feedback and hear opinions related specifically to the Golden Skull major development cycle, so we kindly ask that discussions remain focused on that topic whenever possible.

I won't talk anymore about these issues here after this post, however you should check this topic especially regarding the invisibility of the game that prevent new players to discover the game, which is a critical point for a F2P game and would be a good start on importants issues to fix.

With that said, we're pleased to have delivered this update sooner than you expected. I noticed your profile status from May suggested that only a teaser would be released in approximately eight months, so hopefully this update came as a positive surprise. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on the update itself!

Yes and no, the server were I was playing is dead, and since there is no tranfer option I won't be able to access the new content anytime soon anyways. The joke between friend was about what will release first between Star Citizen, TES6 or Yandere Simulator and the skull update.

 

[Sleep]

Hello Fission,


To be more precise, my game account is from 2019. didn't make forum account at this time. It wasn't my first game account I discovered the game during the game Facebook era, I was surprised to see the game still somehow alive and I started again bringing some friends (and actually only one of them was a sucessfull recruit since most of them just gave up because of the gameplay loop).

I was always critical as far as I remember about I was always constructive about issues. I like this game that why seeing it in such state is awfull. And the absence of communication from staff behind don't help.

I don't rembember talking direclty about really old feedback, but here was I previously pinged in response to Highway before:



And some of the point mentionned have direct or indirect impact on the update. Especially when ladder competition will have a purpose.

The main complain that created these reactions today, this update was teased 9 month ago, we almost got no communication for months and to finally have annoucment with almost no real new content (because TC items are Sirius variants, nothing more). But I wait with impatience for the bloodbath during the hunt of these enemies.


Yes, the change of Sirius about planet number were welcomed since Sirius was (still) a boring time prison that could take like 6 months to complete, it still boring but at least the suffering is shorter.


I won't talk anymore about these issues here after this post, however you should check this topic especially regarding the invisibility of the game that prevent new players to discover the game, which is a critical point for a F2P game and would be a good start on importants issues to fix.


Yes and no, the server were I was playing is dead, and since there is no tranfer option I won't be able to access the new content anytime soon anyways. The joke between friend was about what will release first between Star Citizen, TES6 or Yandere Simulator and the skull update.

You gotta understand one thing, its their game, you can suggest and complain all you want but you don't see the problems behind doing what seems so easy for you to do
i don't see you putting money on ads/servers, because not every company has bottomless pockets to do so on a game that's already been running for long, investors would look at a datasheet of the playersbase, revenue, etc and i doubt much money would be put into it without making it an insanely money hungry mmorpg
easiest thing to do now is to run your own game if you can do it better
You don't know what's the scope they have for the game, or the aim with it
Did you even question yourself if the game is a hundred percent made for profits?
because how mmorpgs are today they could be way way more money hungry with the updates
have you even considered if they keep supporting the game because they love the community but it is not their main source of income?
Could be the case, could be that they don't have full time availability
but yet, they still manage to drop quality content
9th slot was asked for a long long time and they listened, they are working on it
Skins, they are working on it
and endgame content for Tau Ceti is not a contentless update
But you do you, never be happy with anything, keep complaining at everything.

 

[Alinoe]

You gotta understand that this mentaility push the game to stagnate during years. SplitScreen is not a independent guy that work on a passion project it's a company that operate (barely) 3 games and where people working on it are paid to do it. Steel Legion is dead for years now but who care?

i don't see you putting money on ads/servers, because not every company has bottomless pockets to do so on a game that's already been running for long, investors would look at a datasheet of the playersbase, revenue, etc and i doubt much money would be put into it without making it an insanely money hungry mmorpg

I don't see the point of this argument. Failing to renew playerbase is a critical issue for mmorpg. We're not talking about ads, we're talking about is visibility of this game through social media or simply on a game platform that would potentially allow people to discover it. Pirate Galaxy is a quite unique game that people cannot even aknowledge the existence because it's nowhere to be found.

If you wanna continue on this specific subject, I'm gonna ask you to respect the request of Fission, create a discussion topic to explain why I'm wrong, I'm gonna be there to read and respond.

Could be the case, could be that they don't have full time availability

But you're right on a point, they probably see the game as a passive income source.

and endgame content for Tau Ceti is not a contentless update

It's almost empty because it's just reskinned version of something already existing, the Sirius variants.
The real added content is the news enemies, but that's disapointing compared to development time.
I would really pleased to being wrong about the delay that we will have between this and the second half of the update, but we cannot see the future and can only hope for more communication regarding state of the current development.

I wouldn't have issue if they didn't go silent for months.

But you do you, never be happy with anything, keep complaining at everything.

Complaining and explaining about issues and previsibles futures issues is litterally what must be done to avoid or repair it in the first place.
Though I seems really harsh about the game, the slow descent of it into oblivion is something neither of us want.

 

[Vishnu]

All I see is a dude crying about random shit when we are getting updates. Not saying to glaze the devs but like damn.....
Sure server merge and energy increase would be cool and all but spamming that you are not getting what you want in this thread ain't gonna get you anywhere but make you look like a toddler crying for his favourite snacks

 

[leo]

shut up you ruin my game pirategalaxy

 

[Jackal]

Give good real ideas instead of utopian ideas that would destroy the company if implemented.
The game needs a revenue, do not forget that.
Also this game always relied on word of mouth to get new players even in the facebook era, adds don't have the same impact 15 years later and they won't make any justice to the game (games nowadays are flashy, full of dopamine shots and instant rewards), we are a niche playerbase in a niche old game and it can be overwhelming at the beginning.

This is the main reason why the game needs an "endgame" like this, repetitive but not boring gameplay that can give players a clear progression path without being mandatory to enjoy the game (like cortex, pvp, and now skull carriers), instead of only new systems that just moves the playerbase leaving all the others empty.
We have enough systems, and enough vertical content already, we need other ways to play the game.

It is true that I'm a little bit worried about the 9th skill balance wise... because I do really think the game is in an incredible state right now, with only 1 or 2 small things unbalanced, and this 9th skill can destroy the balance completely, but I'll wait and see what they are capable of, and I will try to give my feedback when the time comes.

 

[Alinoe]

Give good real ideas instead of utopian ideas that would destroy the company if implemented.
The game needs a revenue, do not forget that.

Which part of what I said was utopian? Energy system? It's needed I told the guy who openned the topic that it won't change because the game rely on it to keep the server running. I just raised concern about competitive activities where membership has impact.

Membership is the best-seller of all booster avaliable. Getting rid of it is straight up stupid.

Also this game always relied on word of mouth to get new players even in the facebook era, adds don't have the same impact 15 years later and they won't make any justice to the game (games nowadays are flashy, full of dopamine shots and instant rewards), we are a niche playerbase in a niche old game and it can be overwhelming at the beginning.

That's what I did, bringing people. But though niche, game still has a unique vibe and gameplay that could convince players to give it a try or maybe bring back long lost players that think the game is dead. Not everyone will appreciate of course but that's the case for every game.

I would actually be interrested by a poll about how people discovered the game initially.

This is the main reason why the game needs an "endgame" like this, repetitive but not boring gameplay that can give players a clear progression path without being mandatory to enjoy the game (like cortex, pvp, and now skull carriers), instead of only new systems that just moves the playerbase leaving all the others empty.
We have enough systems, and enough vertical content already, we need other ways to play the game.

The complain wasn't about the update quality, it about the delay for the quantity and more specifically the almost inexistant communication during such long period. Like said I wouldn't have issues if staff wasn't radio silent. And I sincerely hope for more regular news and teasing regarding the next part of the update.

Except for the part about other issues it was a free taunt.

It is true that I'm a little bit worried about the 9th skill balance wise... because I do really think the game is in an incredible state right now, with only 1 or 2 small things unbalanced, and this 9th skill can destroy the balance completely, but I'll wait and see what they are capable of, and I will try to give my feedback when the time comes.

I hope you understood the main complain, that I don't have to re-explain it again.
9th item is the most anticipated part of the update. So I really hope for more regular info regarding it instead of letting us without any info for months.

 

[Jackal]

Maybe you are new to this, but having a lot of information in any update is not common, that's GM and Tester work.
Try to apply if you are interested, but you will have to sign a NDA (that's why there should be months with no new information).

Pirate Galaxy has the same developing stages as any other game, with new ideas, their implementations and the final testing.
Since there are 2 games being updated with a single and rather small dev team, expect some months without any new content being worked on.

That being said, maybe you are underestimating the effort of the devs and the entire update.
You are talking about delays but I don't know how much work has been done here and you can't know it either.
I think it's better to wait at least till the update is live to make more objetive complaints.

 

[Highway]

Beware, dont feed the bunny
Lets keep on topic and ask questsion about the changelog and what is still unclear etc.

 

[Jaax]

Something that could be improved is the amount of energy obtained from energy orbs in lower-level systems. Considering that we will now have constant PvP and PvE activity in these systems, scaling the energy granted by the orbs would provide a much smoother experience for lvl 99 players.

This is a good point, DEVS if u make me go to venar and back every time I need energy i'm going to cry

 

[Jaax]

9 months just for release Sirius variant for Tau-Ceti. Sure there is new models (but we clearly need to thanks StickManTwit great work for it, not you) and a brand new way to aquire these. But still functionnally Sirius variants, nothing more.

I like the PVP aspect added to it for the hunt of the enemies, it will create interaction between players and drama in the servers, I hope to see conflict degenerate in massive battle between clans. But again, most server are dead anyways.

The 9th item is the most anticipated feature of the whole uptate, so what, how much time? 8 more month? One year? Never?

Oh but we're saved you reworked the attack droid, scanner option and Sirius boss loot mechanic, Yay it was certainly critical topic about current state of the game, it was probably the whole reason why the game fail to renew the playerbase... Not just rushed modifications fill the void of a update that was on developpment for 9 months... Nah...

What about ALL the other issues and preocupations from players? Nah? You planned to keep your head in the sand? Nah the most important is to add another new endgame that most players won't ever see anyways because it keep whales veterans on the game...

Your game is like 17 years old. And you have the luck to have invested players (through some of them, just playing by nostalgia at this point) despite adding almost no content for years... You have the luck to still have a playerbase patient and hopefull for a game they like, because there is not equivalent of it, and clearly you're abusing it.

So... I going to repeat the question...
Are we a joke to you?

I aint reading all dat but there's 1 dev maybe 1 and a half working on the game, also from what ive heard the code of the game is spaghetti

 

[StickManTwit]

also from what ive heard the code of the game is spaghetti

Truth nuke: every single viable and useful product that was shipped for the public is full of spaghetti code. Every single one. Games, applications, programs, you name it. Even highly optimised and streamlined games and programs have spaghetti code, it's just an inevitable result of trying to make things based in reality.