I didn't get much time with Planetbase before beddy-bye (damn commute) but enjoyed what I got. I have some of the same concerns about longevity, but then I never reached that issue with Banished (~140 hrs). Looking forward to some serious weekend time with it.
One problem I'm having a hard time overcoming is the wonky camera. I can't recall a game of this type where the camera rotates about the axis at it's location rather than at screen center. It creates the need for excessive panning to get what you were looking at back into view. The dev responded to my concern with the explanation that it was more like FPS controls where you move and rotate simultaneously. I didn't ask why he would choose FPS controls for a game of this type.
Also, at least some vertical panning would be a big help. It's hard to plan with any orderly approach without a steeper viewing angle.
Really jonsing for the ability to pause and look around too. But interface issues are trivial. I think the gameplay seems pretty strong in my limited play time. I would recommend to fans of the genre at $17.
Planetbase just became a no-buy for me.
The developer asked his fans to start downvoting a negative review because he didn't agree with it. I'm not a big fan of censorship and I find behavior like that to be utterly despicable. I simply will not support someone who engages in such behavior.
a) That's not censorship.
b) Surely he had a reason other than "I don't like that review" to ask for downvotes. Although, I guess, I have seen that kind of behavior from other developers, like Brad Wardell, for example.
Okay, I did a little reading, and it seems the developer gave this guy a beta key, and he played it for 62 hours and then decided it was boring. And he gave a thumbs up to an earlier prerelease version of the game.
Sounds to me like everyone involved is being sh*tty.
This game looks a lot more promising than Maia, which I had on my wishlist for a long time but just seems to have too many issues. I'll probably pick up Planetbase instead. Even at full price it's cheaper then what Maia wants me to spend.
a) That's not censorship.
b) Surely he had a reason other than "I don't like that review" to ask for downvotes. Although, I guess, I have seen that kind of behavior from other developers, like Brad Wardell, for example.
Okay, I did a little reading, and it seems the developer gave this guy a beta key, and he played it for 62 hours and then decided it was boring. And he gave a thumbs up to an earlier prerelease version of the game.
Sounds to me like everyone involved is being sh*tty.
If you don't believe that a dev asking fans to downvote a negative review to bury it isn't a form of censorship, we're going to have to disagree on the term.
Oh man! Sounds even more fun after tboon's AAR. But I just bought Cogmind and since I still haven't sunk much time into Banished like I want to, I'd better hold off for the sake of my pile o' shame. What a shame.
This is typical of how the game is going for me: reach equilibrium, decide to do something, miscalculate its effects, scramble to recover, reach new equilibrium - with the odd disaster thrown in to keep things interesting. Rinse, repeat.
Sounds like the early learning curve in Banished.
If you don't believe that a dev asking fans to downvote a negative review to bury it isn't a form of censorship, we're going to have to disagree on the term.
Censorship requires someone to be silenced against their will. That developer has no power to silence anyone. All he can do is ask people to help him with what he considers an unreasonable review. The reviewer posted their opinion, the developer posted their opinion, and now the unwashed Steam masses can post their opinions with thumbs up and thumbs down.
That's not censorship, that's freedom of expression *working*.
Granath wrote:If you don't believe that a dev asking fans to downvote a negative review to bury it isn't a form of censorship, we're going to have to disagree on the term.
Censorship requires someone to be silenced against their will. That developer has no power to silence anyone. All he can do is ask people to help him with what he considers an unreasonable review. The reviewer posted their opinion, the developer posted their opinion, and now the unwashed Steam masses can post their opinions with thumbs up and thumbs down.
That's not censorship, that's freedom of expression *working*.
The attempt to use a position of power and authority to suppress a viewpoint is most certainly censorship. If someone is giving a speech, you're the town constable and you ask 20 of your friends to start screaming at the top of their lungs in a blatant attempt to prevent others from hearing that speech, that's not "freedom of expression". That's censorship and that, in essence, is what happened here. Feel free to believe what you want even though you're wrong.
I suppose the developers do not agree with you either. They apologized, which was the right thing to do. So feel free to return to a discussion of the game and not yet another discussion of a developer acting badly.
I need a Like button for BadKen's post. It may have been a dick move, but nobody's speech was taken away.
The game does look cool. The second of those two Quill videos raises some potential AI issues when it appeared that some starving biologists just gave up and did nothing rather than try to address some veggie-growing problems (even if it was too late at that point to recover the colony). I'm cool with that, though. It's obviously a small dev game, so expecting Skylines Centauri is a bit much. Very promising on the whole. Hoping I can find some time to check it out (maybe a holiday flyer).
That's censorship and that, in essence, is what happened here. Feel free to believe what you want even though you're wrong.
I suppose the developers do not agree with you either. They apologized, which was the right thing to do. So feel free to return to a discussion of the game and not yet another discussion of a developer acting badly.
Wow.
So, like, this isn't a very nice post and even though I agree with you both (it was especially bad form on the dev's part), I also don't think anything Ken said warranted this sort of vehemence. We aren't in P&C last I checked.
Edit: FWIW, here's what the devs said:
Initial dev response
We are not censoring anything, the proof is this post is here, we are just expressing our views the same way you or the reviewer you mention have.And later
It was obviously a mistake to publish that comment. We are a very small team (only 2 people full time) that worked very hard for the last year, and this felt really unfair, but we shouldn't have done it anyway.
In any case thank you everyone for your support, the game is doing really well and we are very high up in the Steam top list.
Thank again and I hope you are enyoing Planetbase!
The game does look cool. The second of those two Quill videos raises some potential AI issues when it appeared that some starving biologists just gave up and did nothing rather than try to address some veggie-growing problems (even if it was too late at that point to recover the colony). I'm cool with that, though. It's obviously a small dev game, so expecting Skylines Centauri is a bit much. Very promising on the whole. Hoping I can find some time to check it out (maybe a holiday flyer).
The devs specifically said they were going to fix that before release (probably in part because of Quill's video - although Quill was doomed because he tried to make things happen too fast without knowing how the underlying systems worked - he dug too deep too fast and the game bit him). If I get a sec I will try to dig that quote up.
ubrakto wrote:The game does look cool. The second of those two Quill videos raises some potential AI issues when it appeared that some starving biologists just gave up and did nothing rather than try to address some veggie-growing problems (even if it was too late at that point to recover the colony). I'm cool with that, though. It's obviously a small dev game, so expecting Skylines Centauri is a bit much. Very promising on the whole. Hoping I can find some time to check it out (maybe a holiday flyer).
The devs specifically said they were going to fix that before release (probably in part because of Quill's video - although Quill was doomed because he tried to make things happen too fast without knowing how the underlying systems worked - he dug too deep too fast and the game bit him). If I get a sec I will try to dig that quote up.
No worries about the quote. 
Garion's "spoiler" noted they only have two full time people developing this, which is monumentally impressive. I expect that a game with this much going on under the hood will have AI issues (and a long tail, in terms of fixing/improving them).
That they're owning it as bad form to try and get people to tank that review is the right thing to do as well. An easily forgivable mistake when they're willing to own it like that. Makes me want to support the project that much more.
I'll look into it more based on your recommendation. My initial take on it was that it was more tower defense than builder.
From kickstarter page:
A voxel-based city building game with a heavy emphasis on combat, fortifications, and siege warfare.
Will research further.
Wow, Timer & Stone looks pretty cool you guys.
I didn't realize it was on Steam now. I picked it up a LONG time ago. It's come a long way, but it's pretty much a one-man operation, so development has been slow, much like say, Gnomoria.
I'm going to have to take a "wait and see" on that one. Watched a few hours of LP last night on it, and I'm just not sold on if it feels "incomplete" or not. I'll let you all tell me. 
...Watched a few hours of LP last night on it...
An Oarsman after my own heart! 
UMOarsman wrote:...Watched a few hours of LP last night on it...
An Oarsman after my own heart! :D
What can I say, there's only so much you want to do when having a stomach bug.
I'm having a hard time finding reviews of Timber and Stone.
Wait, the latest patch is called "Prepare to Die" ... no thanks. Dark Souls comparison = instant lack of interest from me.
I've been keeping a distant eye on T&S, but it seems to have branched from where I thought it was going. More looking forward to Stonehearth.
I've been keeping a distant eye on T&S, but it seems to have branched from where I thought it was going.
Care to elaborate? Genuinely interested/curious.
Actually, having now watched the trailer on Steam, I seem to have my wires crossed with another game, although I was positive it was T&S. I know they drastically changed the graphical look of the game at some point during development, but I can't for the life of me find what was turning me off, about T&S.. so I must have been thinking of something else, although I don't know what.
If memory serves, T&S has been $20 up until this point (and still is, on their website), so, it being on Steam Early Access for £9 (~$14) until the 27th is incredibly tempting... Got a week to decide if I think I'll actually get any time to play it any time soon to make it worthwhile.
Ew, I didn't notice that it's still early access. After being in development since 2011? I know it's pretty much a one-person show, but...
Games are hard to make and take a lot of time, news at 11.
Four years is a lot of time for a game like this one.
The full version of Minecraft took Notch a little over 2 years.
Ok, so go and make your own faster.
It's not the dev's responsibility to follow your schedule.
Allrighty then.
Not actually a "city" builder, but hey, my thread--I can fudge the rules.
Planet Coaster is looking like the RCT successor we've been waiting for. Very charming art style and attention to individual people as shown in this first dev diary. I'm encouraged by the passion I'm seeing in these people. It reminds me of the Colossal Order folks making Cities: Skylines. Enjoy.
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