Space Sector Preview For Distant Worlds - Universe

[NovaCameron]

Will there be more ship types or possiblity of modding more ship types?

Will there be a 'Build Fleet' option so I don't have to manually build fleets?
or can I add the new ship types to the AI fleet balencing? Both would be great.

New planet types? (or can you mod new planets already.. I'm not sure..)

Systems with multiple stars? ( might be hard for how planets are done...)

Only a month away and I must know! xD
It is awesome anyway.

[Osito]

ORIGINAL: NovaCameron

Will there be more ship types or possiblity of modding more ship types?

Will there be a 'Build Fleet' option so I don't have to manually build fleets?
or can I add the new ship types to the AI fleet balencing? Both would be great.

New planet types? (or can you mod new planets already.. I'm not sure..)

Systems with multiple stars? ( might be hard for how planets are done...)

Only a month away and I must know! xD
It is awesome anyway.

You can already mod the planets in the game editor, but of course you have to redo it every time you start a new game. You can't mod the planet types, though, not even in the game editor.

I have a question on your "systems with multiple stars" suggestion. Are there any real multiple star systems in which the stars are within planetary distances of one another?

Osito

[Cauldyth]

ORIGINAL: Osito
Are there any real multiple star systems in which the stars are within planetary distances of one another?

Yep. From Wikipedia:

'Planets that orbit just one star in a binary pair are said to have "S-type" orbits, whereas those that orbit around both stars have "P-type" or "circumbinary" orbits. It is estimated that 50–60% of binary stars are capable of supporting habitable terrestrial planets within stable orbital ranges.'

[Ralzakark]

Actual example of exoplant orbiting a binary (part of a bigger system itself) here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20755453

And you can download the full paper describing it as a pdf here: http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.3612

[Osito]

Interesting - I hadn't appreciate that binary stars could be that close to one another.

[Icemania]

Since you are lurking can I ask if there anything new coming soon on SpaceSector Adam?

[Ostwindflak]

Just wondering if there is a date set for release or an approximate date?

[Tcby]

Approximate date: late first quarter.

[DevildogFF]

Your marketing strategy is CRAP, Matrix. Why haven't we heard a FREAKING THING about Universe?

If it weren't for Distant Worlds being really good, I would write you off. Why must we pry and pry!?

[whiran]

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF

Your marketing strategy is CRAP, Matrix. Why haven't we heard a FREAKING THING about Universe?

If it weren't for Distant Worlds being really good, I would write you off. Why must we pry and pry!?

Because they are comfortable doing what they are doing and they are okay with how it is working.

They, apparently, see no need to increase communication or marketing efforts. And, really, if they are okay with it then that's the end of it.

This game will remain relatively unknown, it'll have a continual trickle of new buyers that bring in enough income to keep up development, and they'll go to sites that they are familiar with.

Besides, what more can they say about Universe? It doesn't appear to be a huge update or anything like that. They are adding some mod stuff (whatever that really means) and they'll offer a unified Distant Worlds bundle as a single product. Probably for $99.99 USD to not upset current owners (I kid on the price front - it'll probably be 49.99 or 59.99).

Who knows, maybe they'll release Universe on Steam...

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF
Your marketing strategy is CRAP, Matrix. Why haven't we heard a FREAKING THING about Universe?

If it weren't for Distant Worlds being really good, I would write you off. Why must we pry and pry!?

Because we're not ready yet - I understand the anticipation is hard from where you are sitting, but you wouldn't be happy if we released more information before we were ready. We will give enough notice and preview information before the release to make sure everyone is informed about it.

With that said, I'm not our marketing department but I do see from this side what's going on and they are not sitting on their hands, they are getting ready for the various announcements and other PR related to this release.

Regards,

- Erik

[CyclopsSlayer]

While I mostly agree, they could still have a Teaser screen shot of something. New tool, new Government type, tech tree modded, most anything.

I have seen many other Developers drop an un-commented Screenshot just to spark discussion which in turn sparks enthusiasm. For Example; Just a screen shot of a tech tree with Rail Guns renamed Tom's Spitballs. Silly, but it would demonstrate a capability without giving away the full depth of the changes possible or the tools used.

[Erik Rutins]

Sure, I'd love to oblige but I'm under strict orders to keep the lid on until they are ready. I'll see if I can get that lid to open a little bit though.

[tjhkkr]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Sure, I'd love to oblige but I'm under strict orders to keep the lid on until they are ready. I'll see if I can get that lid to open a little bit though.

Can you guys consider a contest of some kind like we had for Return where we did monsters/creatures?

[Spidey]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Because we're not ready yet - I understand the anticipation is hard from where you are sitting, but you wouldn't be happy if we released more information before we were ready.

So Q1 is hanging in a thread, I take it? Well, if it takes a bit longer then it takes a bit longer, but some vague hints of info "leaking out" wouldn't hurt, would it? I know it's not your call, but maybe you could tell those stiffs in marketing that if they'd like some positive words for a change then all they have to do is start giving us *something*. A few screendumps, a pic of a new galaxy shape, or maybe a couple of bulletpoints. It doesn't have to be big, just something semi-official that tells us Universe isn't a figment of our imagination.

[Cauldyth]

My guess is that for Matrix to get whatever coverage they're trying to get by the gaming sites, they must offer those sites exclusive first looks. If they leak the "official" information early, then it's no longer exclusive, and those sites have much less interest in covering it.

Just a guess though.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Cauldyth
they must offer those sites exclusive first looks

How can they offer "exclusive first looks" to multiple recipients? That's like saying it's your local sofa store's "one-time weekly sale".

Or are you using some other definition of "exclusive"?

"shutting out all others from a part or share: an exclusive right to film the novel."

[feygan]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Because we're not ready yet - I understand the anticipation is hard from where you are sitting, but you wouldn't be happy if we released more information before we were ready. We will give enough notice and preview information before the release to make sure everyone is informed about it.

With that said, I'm not our marketing department but I do see from this side what's going on and they are not sitting on their hands, they are getting ready for the various announcements and other PR related to this release.

Regards,

- Erik

I have to call a large amount of bs on this. The expansion has been set for a Q1 release so far, and as we all know DW is essentially a one man show. With this in mind and taking your statement to be true you have to question if the dev knows their job or not?

Ask any trades person or professional worker to give you an estimate on a job completion time and good ones will do so, it may vary by a small percentage but other than unforseen major problems it will be pretty accurate.

Taking this fact into account you now have a clear set of issues with the new expansion marketing, either the dev hasn't got a clue and picked an arbitrary date, or they have come up on some unexpected problem, or information is being kept from release by either a deliberate act or incompetence of the marketing department.

Having followed DW from it's first release I find it extremely difficult to accept that the dev doesn't know what he is doing, this game started with many issues but he has shown both quick action and skill in dealing with them. In addition this makes me believe that with only a couple of months to go the expansion simply cannot be at a stage where the dev is sitting about making planning ideas of features to introduce or not, thus meaning everything is fairly well set on what can and can't be done and how they are implemented.

So that leaves either a major road block or bad strategy, a road block is fine we all have them in our work life and if it means the release will be delayed that too is fine if you are at least honest about it. Nothing and I honestly mean NOTHING is worse than a worker telling you a deadline then a suddenly dropping a bomb that it will not happen on the brink of said deadline. It just implies a combination of imcopetence and dishonesty. Or finally we have the issue of marketing that either your pr group don't know how to do their job properly and are not in tune with current trends and strategy. Or they believe that witholding certain information will create extra hype and demand, both of these have been proven to fail time and time again recently in the gaming industry.

So can we please just have some flat out honesty instead of all this spin wording, what is the story with DW:U that seems to have gone very silent for no reason.

Has the dev made a monumental mistake and overestimated their ability?
Has the dev hit a roadblock that will push back the release date?
Do Matrix Games marketing department have no clue about pr strategy in the gaming market?
Has Matrix Games got some grand plan designed to increase demand and hype?

If none of these four questions can be answered with a simple honest yes or no then it will leave me thinking the 3/4 options are true and as such will dictate how I inform others about Matrix Games.

Of course I may well have simply missed a possible outcome of things and if anyone can suggest other alternatives I would love to see them.

[hewwo]

pfffffff guys... it's ready when it's ready.

[Icemania]

I'll be the optimist.

Matrix Marketing has noted that they are historically vastly behind their 4X competitors in raising awareness for their product. They have asked themselves if now is the right time to raise that awareness more broadly and have long since concluded that Yes Indeed ... the Distant Worlds product is now mature enough.

Matrix Marketing has carefully considered and selected Game Review sites by checking the fairness of reviews of their 4X competitors and their market penetration. As we speak they have started approaching that shortlist to promote reviews of Distant Worlds Universe.

In the same way Matrix Marketing has carefully considered and selected social media options to approach. They realised that while Das's Let's Plays are fantastic, other options like Total Biscuit will reach an audience far more than an order of magnitude larger. They have again selected those that are likely to provide fair and reasonable reviews e.g. Stardrive TotalBiscuit Review

They also know that their community are prepared to help share the Distant Worlds Gospel around the web. As a result in the lead up to release they have prepared a constant trickle of carefully selected teasers to publish both on their Forums and at those selected Gaming sites. Those teasers have been designed to be "thought provoking and to elicit a response" as one of my most esteemed forum colleagues here once suggested.

All this said they know that Distant Worlds cannot be safety released with significant bugs and survive broader scrutiny. So they have invested in extra resources to ensure a high quality release.

I can't wait for the next month ... it's going to be awesome!!!