Weekly Update #2

If you like that you should check out some of Andre’s other work:

http://andreroux.com/

He’s an amazing artist.

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Never seen those before! He’s so passionate about Infinity.

If they could only get that damned contract sorted out…

Regarding the patching issue from the latest dev post. I think probably nobody will complain if the automatic patching comes a little later. I would be happy to download new files constantly in order to play the prototype. Star Citizen makes people download 20gb files, I think most would have no problem with 3 gb files.
Also a first playable build would keep us busy, IMO I wouldn’t be sad if regular updates followed a little later and at first we only had a single build to play.
Those people that backed at dev access or above a big fans and it would baffle me if somebody of us would not be happy with manual installations as long as we get to play it.

Maybe a little poll:

  • download patches and game files manually and play sooner
  • I rather wait for proper patching instead of playing earlier

0 voters

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I’m torn. A few years ago I would certainly choose any alternative that prevented me having to download a lot, because here in Australia (and I believe in Canada also) we have fairly pathetic usage limits. Recently I’ve gained a higher limit, but if it had to be re-downloaded practically every day it might be an issue.

With that said though, considering the work required to implement proper patching is necessary as a foundation for the final game, then I have to complaints about taking the time to do it right and save a lot of hassle in the long run.

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I think even with automatic patching we still would have to download these files anyway. With automatic patching it is just a lot less hassle.
And releasing the first dev access build without it doesn’t have to mean that we get patching much later, it just means that we have it in time but without proper patching. People that don’t want to download files manually can wait for the first build with patching, for them pratically nothing would change this way anyway.

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I’m happy to wait until the installer can be done properly. Having players manually update their own files is asking for trouble. I’d rather the dev team deal with real bugs instead of dealing with people that have messed up their installations in some way.

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Question tho: do we NEED 200k triangles? I know it’s a given budget (and very nice!) but that doesn’t mean ships should take 200k just because there’s a budged, right? A small stocky bomber/scout could have 90k-120k just fine, right? I do think that the big capital ships to, maybe, have more than 200k, yes?

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Yup! If we can make it with less we will use less.

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I’m in agreement with this. It eliminates one cause of error, and helps develop the installer more quickly.

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I’m for releasing the prototype with or without an updater.
It was updated once during Kickstarter and it wasn’t even mentioned by most of the people showcasing it.

Also. Just don’t update the launcher if it crashes for people. Do one big update max. twice and by then you’ll have the auto update version anyway.

This isn’t even alpha. It doesn’t have to work for everyone.

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I suppose it is up to the dev’s discretion. If the installer is a massive headache to develop, then just skipping it for the alpha is quite acceptable. However, I’d imagine that eventually it’ll need to be implemented, especially as beta happens.

The installer and patching is already in developement, it’s just probably not ready by the end of this month. I think dev backers can do without for another few weeks. I just want to play the game already. :yum:
I think supporters that invest 250 $ to gain early access are probably hardcore fans that understand that dev access doesn’t mean we get a finished product without bugs or expect tech support at this stage.
The mentioned arguements against releasing a version without patching are very good but I think are probably more suited when looking at an alpha or beta release, not a dev access prototype release that is limited to a lower number of die hard supporters.
I think our community could probably help those of us that have troubles installing etc…

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I was for releasing the prototype last month, with minimal authentication, no patching and no bug reporting. Then a month was allocated for this task with reasoning that these system are in fact vital to the functioning or the prototype, usability and the work flow at INS.

There are still basically two weeks left of this month, delivering on all things that were quoted for the last delay would be good for INS. As for my personal opinion, I really don’t mind waiting another month or even two, latency issues are probably gonna be so bad with me being on the end of the world that I’m probably not going to be able to play much anyway.

Worry about what the public will think, rather than a few us fanatics, what is better, a immediate release with reasoning why the things that justified the last delay were not implemented, or a short delay until the patching is implemented with a release of all things that justified the last delay. Neither is pleasant, pick the one which will do less damage.

It depends on how they’re spent. If they just pile on 200K triangles for static detail, it’s a waste of my electricity. If they use them for landing gear, animated launchers, turrets, interior functionality and so forth, then that’s something else. Elite:Dangerous and Star Citizen both model ship interiors, bumping their triangle counts far beyond 200K. The Star Citizen cruiser is apparently modeled with 7M triangles. Of course, that’s a city-sized ship, so you’d expect a city-sized budget.

Hey take it easy JB, @JoergZdarsky asteroid is ~7mil tris. :earth_africa: :slight_smile:

One big question for the development team is how often do they envision patching the game in the early stages. One worry is that the number of bugs overwhelms the team, so that they don’t have the time to fully release the patcher. There is also the bandwidth cost if the initial game client is large. Infinity doesn’t have the money of SC to afford hundreds of GB downloads per month.

I would tend to think that completing a patcher now is better than releasing, because the patcher is a core system function which will be needed for everything.

One last consideration, once Infinity has an early release, I can see people buying it in large numbers. The game is going to be very compelling and early twitch streams could sell a lot of early access positions. If that is the case, having a patched would make it much easier to handle the player loads.

Whatever the case is, having a patcher before alpha is a must.

I really want to play the game again, and I imagine other dev backers want to play it just as bad (they payed a lot of money to play as soon as possible). If it has no downsides for Inovae, other than hosting the files, I think its the right choice. If it causes problems [for Inovae] down the line, then obviously: no.

I honestly never expected the dev access prototype to have anything other than the bare basics, and I was very happy when I got to play it in its early form. Anything beyond that is a luxury. :smile:

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LOL :joy:

Lets keep the details, you see 31 asteroids in that scene, the one asteroid in front is just 4.4 mil triangles.
And other, than the Star Citizen ships, its worth every and each triangle :wink:

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Egoistically, I’d like to get the prototype as soon as possible. I have a good Internet connection and am not particularly bothered by long downloading times.

Now, as for what would be best for INS, I’d hesitantly say release it, with the usual big “This is not even an alpha!” and “There isn’t an automated updater yet, it’s OK to not bother until then” disclaimers. So people who want it have it, and you show the world what you’ve already done.
This is assuming, though, that this wouldn’t significantly delay the automated version for those who don’t want to manually re-download it each time.

Also, I want to see humoristic gifs of Hellions bumbling around with amusing captions. Physics + overpowered engines = surprising potential of fun, and I’m surprised no-one particularly exploited during the campaign.
(I did try to make an example gif from a stream, but it ended up crashing the entire forums to me each time I tried to upload)

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