Back to Starship?

[Paladin]

[pip12345]

I'm onboard with this, always liked the idea of Starship.
Still hoping we'll get some form of local server hosting if Haxus decides to officially discontinue the MMO.

[jakbruce2012]

Welcome back Haxus? Server space lease up soon?

[laser50]

Welcome back Haxus?  Server space lease up soon?

They're at his own property... But good try nontheless right.

[QuakeIV]

so yea though, any chance of letting somebody else carry on with the mmo

[laser50]

so yea though, any chance of letting somebody else carry on with the mmo

I feel the issue with this, and releasing the server/hosting files in general will end up the same way; A lot of people playing on their own server with their own people, as soon as hosting Hazeron becomes a thing it would lose this MMO status very quickly and end up with a lot of servers fighting for people to join.


But my server is up for hosting this stuff any time of day :P

[Haxus]

The servers are not being dismantled. It was too much work and too expensive to throw away. Instead they will go into hibernation in their little climate controlled room in town. The computer hosting my web and email servers will remain online.

That will cut my expenses by more than $2000 per month. It also eliminates a lot of stress from my world. 

The code is structured such that little effort is needed to keep the server code alive. I’ll do that as long as it’s easy.

Each worker server only loads the portion of the universe assigned to it. No server loads all of the data in the universe; it’s too big. This makes access to some data complicated to acquire, by a worker, the server your client spends most of its time talking with. 

Conversely the solo game loads the entire universe. All data is instantly accessible in the computer’s memory throughout the game. The temptation to cheat will be difficult to resist, especially when it comes to storyline. That will break the MMO but it would not preclude a single-server hosted network game. 

I like the idea of keeping network playability. The game cries out for it. The feature would require a fair bit of coding and testing. 

Then cold hard reality sets in. 

Hazeron Starship is currently configured to sell for $9.99 on Steam. Considering the million plus dollars I’ve already put into this project, it might have to sell quite a few copies before I get interested in investing much more. 100 copies? Nah; I carry that much in my pocket for spending money. 1000 copies? Ho hum. 10,000 copies? Now I’m interested. I do not know what to expect. Many games were kind of rough in version one, sold a lot of copies, then got a major facelift in version two.

[Haxus]

Where’s that starry eyed wealthy investor with a team of young eager programmers and artists when you need them?

Here I am Great Pumpkin, waiting for you to shower me with money. Lol. I have the most sincere game for you, cheap; it can be a brief shower.

[Rockinsince87]

Conversely the solo game loads the entire universe. All data is instantly accessible in the computer’s memory throughout the game. The temptation to cheat will be difficult to resist, especially when it comes to storyline. That will break the MMO but it would not preclude a single-server hosted network game. 

I would not worry about cheating honestly. It's an up hill battle that even the best AAA games have hard times stopping. Like you said, if it's single player it doesn't really matter. If it's a hosted game it depends. It's something that can be addressed if it becomes a serious problem. 

I like the idea of keeping network playability. The game cries out for it. The feature would require a fair bit of coding and testing. 

Yes, the game's best aspects are the ability to play with others. Crew a ship together, interact in a whole universe. That's something that will sell quite well. 

Hazeron Starship is currently configured to sell for $9.99 on Steam. Considering the million plus dollars I’ve already put into this project, it might have to sell quite a few copies before I get interested in investing much more. 100 copies? Nah; I carry that much in my pocket for spending money. 1000 copies? Ho hum. 10,000 copies? Now I’m interested. I do not know what to expect. Many games were kind of rough in version one, sold a lot of copies, then got a major facelift in version two.

So I'm sure you are aware but most games like Hazeron ended up going the route you are taking. The developers end up releasing hosted versions of their game and the devs no longer host their own servers. The community takes it from there. The devs then spend all their energy on development instead. There are quite a few big titles that have done this. Hazeron would be no exception. Regular updates and a face lift overtime would keep the community thriving. 

Look at Dwarf Fortress. It's been free for 20 years. It was an ASCII graphic game that had amazing depth. Yes it had a specific player base due to it's graphics but the base stuck with the game because of it's vision and great game play. They just released the steam version on 12/6/2022. The steam version is just a massive UI facelift with actual graphics and not ASCII. They sold 160,000 copies in 24 hours and as of now I believe it's close to 500,000 copies. 

I'm not saying Hazeron is going to do that in 24 hours or even a week or two but with proper discovery, transparency, and people playing this on youtube, people will buy it and people will talk. I'm not saying you should do this but I "suggest" you might want to think about making a roadmap page on your website. People will invest (buy) the game if they know what your vision is and what they can expect as Hazeron grows. 

If you do add the ability to host, I think $19.99 is not out of the question. It's possible to ask for more even but there would have to be a ton of transparency to the player base. I'm willing to spend $20 or $25 right now. I'm willing to do this because I've been playing Hazeron for 12 years now and I've seen it evolve despite you not sharing your vision with us. I like where it's going and I love your game. If new players can make the same connection, Hazeron will thrive.

[Haxus]

I've seen it evolve despite you not sharing your vision with us.

Much of that evolution was driven by the players. I appreciate all of you for that. 

Not intending any disagreement, I have shared my vision many times. Read through the Welcome Traveller topic. 

About charging more money. I don’t actually need more money. However nobody wants to feel like their time on this planet was wasted. A nice chunk of cash would be a welcome reward. 

A bigger reward than money would be the winning of some award, as a public affirmation of my achievement. 

A large enough chunk of cash would enable me to ramp up development by hiring programmers and artists. I just turned sixty. Do I want to go through that again? Possibly. It WAS a lot of fun. Due to the Yin and Yang of things, that also means there were times that were a lot of unfun. Those things make me crabby anymore.