RPGWatch - Starcrawlers Interview

Couchpotato

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We had the chance to talk again with Elena Consacro of Juggernaut Games to get an update on the development of Starcrawlers that just released on Early Access.

Couchpotato: One change that I do want to talk about about is from your October 2014 Update where you announced the game would be going episodic. Can you talk about the reason why you decided to change how you would release the game, and how did backers react to the news?

Elena: Our beta will be releasing in episodic chapters - once the 1.0 version of the game comes out, it will contain the full story. The main reason for that decision was that we realized that we were really going to need to leverage our beta community to adequately test and balance the game's systems. With a team of five, you just can't do enough QA or get enough feedback to balance a game that is as mechanically complex as StarCrawlers. Team members get tunnel vision - they tend to fall back on the same abilities or characters and to complete tasks in repetitive ways without even realizing it. That makes it really hard to find and address every issue, even when you’re testing repeatedly.

Coupled with the fact that this is a story-driven RPG, we felt we needed to do some hard thinking about how and when the main story missions would come out. We want to avoid having players complete the campaign in a less-than-polished fashion. The campaign should be the highlight of the game and we want to control how all players experience it - even in early access. If the core mechanics aren’t totally solid while you’re playing the campaign, you risk ruining the player’s enjoyment and pulling them completely out of the story. Unlike open-ended games like Minecraft or Don’t Starve, you can’t really “get back” that feeling of discovery that’s part of playing an RPG campaign for the first time, so making sure the first time goes well is crucial.

I think most of our backers understood what we were trying to do and could appreciate it. There’s always going to be some disappointment whenever plans change, and we can relate to that. Our main focus is to make sure we deliver a really polished and worthwhile experience at the end of the day. If we can do that, I think most backers and Early Access supporters will ultimately be happy with their decision to support the game.
More information.
 
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Bad move, but they bit off more than they can chew. Environments were very generic, a mix between casual and hardcore that doesn't meld very well, and definitely needs balance and work.
 
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