A few years ago when games like Elite, Star Citizen and whatever else weren’t on radar or even remotely known of, INS had nothing to lose. Back then they didn’t have this overshadowing competition we see today. Now INS have everything to lose! They only have one chance to get this right or else it could end in a crash & burn kind of scenario.
They’ve been in the methodical decision-making process for awhile and I fully understand why they chose this path for reasoning stated above. Besides, anyone with a bit of concern about their own finances will protect their greater investment.
Actually I can make a comparison. In fact if I-NOVAE had of managed themselves better they could have had equally if not more funding than Chris Roberts - that is how much potential Infinity has. But that was blown by inactivity and shortsightedness. But most of all it was blown by being secretive and ignoring fans.
I do see how a methodical decision-making process can have its benefits. But it can also send the wrong signal which it has. This could end up in a all or nothing crash and burn scenario as you stated. I certainly hope not because I think Infinity could be the future - but the future isn’t written in stone. Personally I think that re-configuring an engine not designed for space and atmospheric flight, like CryEngine, is the wrong way to go; it is a short term solution especially when you consider how fast technology is moving. Of course you can’t say such a thing on SC forums without fanboys foaming at the mouth and SC moderators toying with the ban button - but it’s true. Infinity could very well go beyond Star Citizen and I hope it does because loading screens should be a thing of the past, and will be. Hopefully I-NOVAE can achieve this sooner rather than later. But as I said, pretty graphics does not a game make and there will have to be good ship design, solid gameplay and the ability to walk on ships and planet surfaces. If Infinity meets all these requirements I may just sell all my SC assets and invest in Infinity.
Such statements smack of fanboyism. You know, the kind of people who take opinions about their preferred game personally and are more than happy to ignore potential problems.
You are not alone. Your point has been made by several people over the last year. Mostly out of frustration.
Yes I-Novae missed the train. They had an advantage and didn’t capitalize it. Yeah but … as I said in the past:
I-Novae plans to ramp up … we are comparing projects in different stages as said above. The I-Novae team hasn’t the best track record when it comes to public activity or finess, though they seem to have learned a lot about that this year. As we don’t have prove they will act differently when the Kickstarter phase kicks in we can just trust their words or not trust them. It’s up to you if you do.
I do hope something materializes but waiting on PR is the wrong way to go about it. I-NOVAE should let the fans do the talking as is the case with Star Citizen. Star Citizen has used this formula to great effect keeping expensive advertising to a minimum. That is the great thing about keeping fans engaged - they can not only become an asset but also an army of PR agents!
Contrary to Star Citizens we don’t have proof for the question that will be asked and have been asked in the past … not unlike this situation here.
I believe most of us on here will reach out everywhere we can once the Kickstarter goes online. But right now we have a problem. We as a community aren’t able to answer all the question those new people arriving here will pose. Or if we can answer them we can’t provide enough prove for them to be satisfied. Question like …
Where can I throw money at this?
Why did it take so long … what did they do all those years?
What are the plans gameplay wise?
Why is the team not as active as I wished it to be?
Most new people don’t expect or understand the situation at hand and aren’t acclimatised like most of us are.
We are in the transition phase of:
High requirements of patience
Low regularity of updates
People investing their hope
To:
A roadway to the game
Regular updates
People investing their hope and MONEY
The most glaring issue with this is that I-Novae currently don’t have a big enough fanbase to do this yes, nor is there any useful content the moment to back it up.
Scenario 1: I-Novae releases some stuff early, generating a bit of interest and slightly increasing the fanbase. However, some teeth are therefore removed from the KS and their funding is put at risk, jeopardising the future of the project and making people angry. Fanbase is then lost again.
Scenario 2: I-Novae save their big guns for an all out campaign alongside the KS, possibly converting sceptics, pulling in new fans and encouraging them to hand over their money in the “initial excitement”. Battlescape is then funded and I-Novae has the opportunity to build reputation as well as a game (Chris Roberts already had his reputation to swing around, as has already been pointed out).
I know which I prefer. As Kichae said, this discussion has happened many times before and it is all properly considered.
Yep those points can be a problem. lol. But I don’t think fans need to answer every question. For example, people ask fans all the time when Star Citizen will finally be online and the response is usually sometime in 2015. And they ask why is it taking so long and the reply is usually because CIG is making a game in unprecedented scale and it has never been done before…and so on and so on. But I have to hand it to CIG, they pushed the dream and people signed on. In fact when people signed on there was NOTHING! Just a video. So to be honest I think there is a lot to be said about getting people behind an idea even if there is little to nothing to show for it. And to be honest, people do want something to believe in and Infinity could certainly be that something.
I can tell you with certainty that players will thankfully not be able to get out of their ship. Otherwise, there aren’t too many facts known about Battlescape at this time.
What we know so far is that Battlescape will be an arena shooter (but not like any you’ve seen before). It will (hopefully) utilise a full-scale seamless solar system for matches. The devs also intend to make the combat feel “big”, inspired by Star Wars-esque battles.
There are further ideas that depend on funding, such as making the arena persistent, introducing non-combat resource roles, a basic economy and things.
Hope this gives you an idea. There is a lot more information scattered around the forum if you search for it. Look at some posts from the I-Novae team, especially Keith and Flavien.
Hmmm…you say players will thankfully not be able to get out of their ships, but if not then what makes Infinity any better than SpaceEngine? If you are going to market an engine you have to market something that another isn’t capable of; and with no first person avatars you are taking a step backwards. Sure there maybe no loading screens but a vast majority of people will put up with loading screens for the added dimension of feeling like you are actually on the planet or flying a spaceship. In fact I would never back such a project because like I said it isn’t anything that I couldn’t get out of SpaceEngine or Elite Dangerous for that matter.
There are good games with avatars and bad games. If you are going to use a crappy game with crappy avatars as a measure then there is nothing really to say. But I can predict that Infinity is going nowhere or at best will be relegated to a small group of clique players.
Massively (3 digits) multiplayer combat in physically accurate Newtonian 3-dimensional space, with the option of diving into an atmosphere for atmospheric combat (albeit in vessels designed to use thrusters rather than aerodynamics for lift).
I think I can also predict you don’t represent gamers everywhere, at least certainly not myself and others on the forum. I wouldn’t make arrogant claims about people that you have no evidence to back up with.
While walking on the planet or out of your ship may be a game breaker for you it is not for many other people. Also it sounds as though you believe you are entitled to having the devs change their entire game just because you don’t like how they are making it.
Its obvious you like SC and there is nothing wrong with that. SC is not my type of game or gameplay which is why I’m waiting for infinity. If you can’t see and respect other people’s opinions you should at least attempt to learn. Not everyone needs a fast paced fps shooter to keep them entertained. I only need my pew and my spaceships.
I have to ask, what’s your goal in coming here telling us “that while infinity sounds great its not my perfect game so you should change that.” What outcome did you expect, honestly?
Speaking for myself and alike, it’s actually even cotrary to a game breaker. Getting out of your spaceship would make the game feel childish.
Totally agree.
This has been discussed so much over the years that it’s not worth carrying on about it. In a months time another person will again come along conducting the same bs argument.