Topic: Game popularity and stability. The ups and the downs.
I've heard a lot of hype about "Repopulation" and having looked into it I really think Peretuum has a lot of hope.
Check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eNokCaEeHA
Look at the engine, look at the terrain (And if you want check their crafting system, really remind me of Vanguard).
If people are excited about this game and don't care about the graphics then it's the depth of a game that is important.
This got me thinking, I can't really find anything wrong with Perpetuum apart from something pretty major. The progression, or speed, at which a player move from area to area. Gamma bases, well it's a sandbox, people won't make something pretty unless it's functional so make functional pretty and you'd have pretty gamma islands.
Finally, hype. Perpetuum hype. It used to be pretty big not too long ago and then mistakes and bugs and rumoured staff layoffs and forums trolling and.. well the list goes on.
I wouldn't say it was the developers that killed the game, but I would agree with anyone who says their actions haven't helped. In a world of harshness and sandboxing the devs have been very whimsical with their attitudes on many issues. Nine times out of ten I would have rather seen the iron first of justice than the tug of war "calm down children" approach to dealing with a lot of the issues that came up.
When you make your development team look like "ordinary people" and let them interact with the game and players on both a professional and casual manner the line in the sand between person/friend/player and developer becomes very blurred. This may also have to do with the companies structure given that on a number of occasions we've been told that the developers have a number of ongoing projects.
The development team shouldn't lose their faith in this game, and if they've lost their faith in the players then they're half way to making a great sandbox game (Sandbox players should never like their developers, it just gets messy, however they should respect them).
So I was wondering what other people think about Perpetuums stability, development team (And their interactions with the players through blog posts and news feeds) and the community. There's no need to point fingers but it would be interesting to know what little niggles people have with the game and what they really enjoy doing. What keeps you coming back and what's stopping you for having a good time? What's given you confidence in the development team and has anything knocked it?
I really get the feeling that the development team feel they have a thankless task of trying to keep the wheels of this games from coming off but I wonder if being in the eye of the storms makes it difficult to get the whole picture.
P.s. Only useful posts please, trollers aren't needed here.