So when is Tynan returning?

[keylocke]

the first question i have is : "why six months?"

and my speculation is that tynan went up in the mountains to train with jedi vodoo warrior monks to upgrade his leet skillz into an "uber-god who's your daddy now?" skills.

back then people kept requesting stuff like water dynamics, z-levels, multiplayer, etc.. but back then i didn't think this game architecture permitted such things..

iirc, this game was developed in unity3d, but just like every other sdks, new releases offers new features and all that jazz..

so why six months hiatus?

he's probably upgrading the game's architecture from the ground up to better utilize new sdk features... either that or he was surfing and found a mad tidal wave which brought him to a strange island where you need to press a red button periodically to prevent the world from ending, while listening to songs by mama cass..

[JimmyAgnt007]

He didnt want to get burned out.  Presumably he has a life outside of development he wanted to get back in touch with.  Other things like family might be involved.  He did some traveling as well.  6 months does seem a bit long but if he was planning on doing a steam release then he needs not only to recover from previous development but also ready himself for the insanity that comes with developing a game on steam.  Im thinking that a month after Rimworld on steam he will be grateful that he didnt do it before a nice long break. 

[keylocke]

nuuu... don't ruin my jedi voodo ninja monk kick-fighting fantasy of mad level-up skillz!!

hahaha.. 

kidding aside, any new cool mods around you guys can recommend?

[RickyMartini]

I have the impression that is reasonable for people to get stressed when the game doesn't get updated for 6 months.

He didn't vanish. He made the 6 month break clear beforehand.

Now I'm not accusing you of something and I'm truly sorry if that's the case, but I find it a bit amusing to see so many new accounts (1 total comment) regularly chiming in into this already heated thread and almost always posting similar arguments and generally having a similar opinion.
The guy who said Tynan should starve only came into this thread once and then vanished. Maybe throw out some IP-bans, mods?

[Austupaio]

If you check the post that Ramsis is replying to (on page 2) you will note that the poster is quite petulant. Having concerns is one thing. Spouting off some hysterical hyperbole is another. Starvation is not something to wish on someone, least of all for the perceived "abandonment" of an indie game. That is idiotic ranting.

Yes, I see that now, however the ban threat and insults were prior to the death wishes and all that non-sense. While the guy in question is probably an angry child or a troll, I still take umbrage with the game's public representatives threatening to ban people for criticism, even if it strongly worded or poorly founded.

Frankly, if someone does post inflammatory remarks then a temp ban is an option open to a moderator, provided that they explain why the ban is being given. Threatening a ban if a poster doesn't alter their behaviour is a reminder that this forum has rules and that the moderator will enforce them.

Sure... except that the original post was not inflammatory. It is not inflammatory to say that Tynan may abandon the game, it's a concern.

I'm all for presenting a friendly face to customers, as long as they in turn respect the forum rules and don't jump on some bandwagon claiming that the end is nigh or other such doomsaying.

While doomsaying and making a big fuss over the end of the game is an over-reaction, I'd say that's mainly just 'cause it's a video game and not because it's unreasonable to have an attachment to your purchases.

Anyway, I just thought that Ramsis came off nearly as over-excited and inflammatory as the other guy, which bothers me more because he, like all of you moderators/administrators, is basically Tynan's personal mouth-piece as long as Tynan is off in Neverland.

[antibodee]

I appreciate all he's done, but at the same time, I would have liked there to be some natural ending to it all.  The ship is kind of a cop out if you can't at least take those people to start a new colony.

[wbonxx]

Skissor, you are a bit on the aggressive side as a moderator, you should chill a bit.

A lot of people came here posting disappointed because it is not reasonable not to update for 6 months a kickstarter founded game (and every one that bought the game in alpha is somehow paying for his 6 months holidays), it is a bit ridiculous.

A 6 months vacation is impossible in 99% of the companies, even if he feels like, at least there should be someone else posting a new alpha release every 2 months.

When crowd-founding people should start posting how much vacations are they gonna take, I don't wanna be in my 70s when a game I have payed for is finished.

[falcongrey]

With the info Tynan stated in his last Blog post, I suspect when he returns (which should be sooner than Later I hope) there is going to be a game breaking update due to the amount of content he will be adding, changing, updating. I was going through the source files and such and realized, he has the Steam Workshop system partially in place. This makes me believe this next update, besides adding Steam Workshop support, is going to be either the Steam release or a massive just before Steam release so we can help work the new content and polishing bugs out. As Tynan pointed out back in November;

So far, we've added:

• Self-reproducing, spreading underground insect hives
• Social relationships with friends, rivals, family, chats, arguments, and fights
• Many more animals, some of which will hunt people
• "Components" resource used for machinery and electronics
• Ground-traveling trade caravans from other factions
• Character records which keep stats on each character like number of kills, injuries, surgeries, etc.
• Extreme desert biome

This makes me feel he is fleshing out this project quite a bit. I can't wait for this up coming update. Even if it was only this, it would still be a massive update. I suspect better end game aspects are going to be added in this update as well.

While I agree, other than the one that threw a fit with threats...  I also agree the rest are legit worries, concerns, and complaints. I only wish Tynan would stop by the forums a little more often on his vacation so those who feel abandoned could gain a little more reassurance that Tynan is still with us, still working on the game, and hasn't gone the road that many Indie developers have. I for one feel very confident Tynan is still with us. His past actions proving he is a man of his word speak louder to me than words in a forum can. And yes, I have been burned on kick starter games and others. I'm still deeply saddened by the loss of the game Towns after the community nagging and whining that he wasn't developing it fast enough burned him out completely.

I'm also glad this is a civilized and rational conversation thread and not a hanging mob out of control!

Grey

[Sens]

I started playing games on old Commodore 64 and on neighbours Atari (already forgot those completly, were pretty "simplistic" could call them "lame" today)
Later one of my friends bought an Amiga and I still remember the games like North and South and Centurion, back in the days we found them super awesome, we played each day for hours for a looong time, 3 friends playing in turns, would i still find them awesome today? I dont think so, but back then, yeah, super addictive, we also played Mario and stuff on Family Computer and NES.
One day i visited a book store and saw an employee there play Wolfenstein 3D on shops 386 computer, when i first saw it as a kid I was like WOOOOOW incredible, never saw such detail in a game before, everything looked sooo perfect, wanted to play it at home immediately, was annoying my dad nonstop to buy a computer and he did, he got a 486 DX/2 with 64MB RAM + a cool joystick, which at that time was top of the top cpu, from then on... i played more or less every interesting game there was up to 2002 or something like that, eating them away, one by one... Remember loving Privateer, Warcraft 1, Doom, Master of Orion, Civilization, Colonization, Popolous, X wing vs Tie fighter etc, must have finished more than hundred.. (was playing way beyond the point of interest, joy, trying to get all the "insane" things unlocked, just imagine playing rimworld 500x the same level, just a bit more harder each time, for that extra star in your stats and nothing else, to show to your friends and see them be amazed, jelaous...)
Then i met Ultima 7, that game was so f...... awesome it completly blew me away, the huge world to explore, training up chars, unique amazing story, but you didnt even need to follow story, could just get into the game and play the way u wanted, could do bassicly anything and that was incredible, never met such a deep game before, must have spent endless months on it, even the side quests were deep complex and had a meaning way beyond most of games today have, was sooo "fck... awesome, started to love rpg games, loved Finaly Fantasy series, played each one several times (around 20h playthrough per FF sequel only thou) played mostly all good RPGs up to Oblivion and Fallout.
When i look back now, Ultima 7 probably is one of the best games i ever played, made the most impression on me, when it was announced that "Lord British" the author of Ultima series is working on an online version of Ultima, we all got wet pants, and i was like "a dream coming true" We waited for it for years!!!
When i see you guys "cry out" cause there is a 6 month break in news update about games creation, i find it ridicolous, i waited for UO for nearly 5+years! and all i saw in between were some images on E conventions, not even once i thought of being angry at "Lord British" i was happy someone like him existed and was making a game i knew im gonna love one day. While waiting for release, i met Duke Nukem... again blown away, was top game at that time, the graphics were awesome, the guy was cool, it even had an awesome multiplayer, me and brother at that time already had network set up and could play through LAN each day. Couple times a year we made lan parties and 6+ ppl brought computers and had awesome fun for two days - up to a week. Then came Quake 1 and again the story repeated itself... Even made some maps for it, we played it nonstop... As time passed each new year games with better graphics were coming out and you also needed better computer to play it at same time (must have bought new computer up to 4 times at least and that till age of 15, had a cool dad...) but more and more they were becoming this eye candy thing while the other aspects started to lack heavily, remember i finished Quake 2 in 5 hours after i got my hands on it, was sooo dissapointed with that short SP playthrough, althou i played online in a clan for more than a year later... Won our countries Unreal championship shortly after it came out and got one of the first dvd players. Soon the world was filled with copies of copies of copies of games and their "minor" sequels (i think EA was worst of them all, no matter if they made some of rly cool games, their sequels with not rly much new stuff added were becoming super annoying (way too few new content to call it a new game or a sequel) and sadly others followed due to their success, while people like "Lord British" - (Richard Garriot) never dissapointed and are legends for me)
So with each passing year games were becoming more and more this 5-10h playthrough thing eyecandy...
From a gamers perspective, lucky for me Ultima Online finally came out, it was as promised! It was a dream come true... was playing it nonstop, from its begginings for something like 2 years, days and nights. (became a legend on that shard i played, unbeatable, won 1vs15 battle near my end which meant alot to me as a kid) after 2 years a big part of community started to pressure about making the game less "unforgiving" like: you dont lose loot when u die etc.... safe zones... in original u could even steal someones house, aside all loot he had, if you killed him and he had keys on him, that was soo cool... althou the creator was heavily against changing it, the company that "owned" it eventually took over and made it "pussy friendly" which completly ruined the game.

Then games like Lineage and WoW came out using same "friendly" principles... By then i knew its better to walk away or lose my life to some things which dont really play much role... Its not like you will remember much more than images from a game in couple years later.
So at around 15 i started going out on techno parties, smoking pot etc..., having fun, stoped playing games eventually, experienced alot of things in my life, visited more than 30 countries, was on 50+ mountains, explored nature alot, now im almost 33y old and needed a change again so in last year i picked up a game now and then, didnt even bother with those new call of duties and such and wont prolly be playing hardcore rpgs since i doubt there is much new stuff around anyway, except better physics and graphics by what i saw, star citizen looks interesting, loved freelancer, from videos, it is a game i would be wet pants about if i was younger, but that would again be just throwing life away, making no memories that matter when you get older... (my brief history in gaming etc..)

Now my reply to this conversation since i found it interesting: Was thinking about all this alot and having a chance to get a quick heads up history and stuff about Rimworld and Tynan in this thread from some of older community members, I sure hope that you "Tynan" are enjoying your life away from computer at the moment, you seem like a really nice guy from the profile picture and im seldom wrong in people, i met Rimworld at a point where i didnt rly care about games much anymore and was surprised there was one that could "force" me to stay up at nights instead sleeping, already played it for 20 times longer now than most of the games i already finished in my life and there were really alot. I too at first thought it lacks alot stuff but looking at everything more carefully, it is just a point of someone seeking perfection, which no game ever can offer anyway, as soon as something is perceived as perfect, somewhere something more perfect is born. I too would love to see alot things added, like unreasonable alot, like exploring galaxy on ship you build , but that would take your youth away to create, I think you can easily call it done, especially in the world of games we know today, although it has potentional to become "one of the best games", but for how long and at what price? Follow your dreams and dont mind the rest. Enjoy your life, you earned it. Im happy with the game the way it is. Probably wont remember much in couple years anymore, but anytime i will go and play it, the gameplay will be awesome. Find it Unique, althou similar as DF in alot, for me df is way too rough to even take it seriously. Rimworld on other hand - had most stuff i hoped it has when i played for first time already implemented and perfected, havent saw any game breaking bugs, as with every game, at first we are driven by mistery of the game we play, but eventually we learn the way things are and learn the games mechanics and most of the stuff about it and it becomes less interesting and we want more. Thumbs up and sure hope you aint wasting too much of your life behind keyboard, unless of course... that is your dream.

[uglyduckling81]

Is it Tynan's prerogative?  Definitely, that's the very definition of the word after all.

I had to go and look up the word of the day but I agree whole heartedly with your comment. It is exactly what I expect to happen.

@SENS - Mate that's a hell of a life story to throw into a forum post. I skipped over about half of it as I'm being harassed by my kids. My reply to your post is sucking up to Tynan isn't going to make him come back to work any faster it will just leave your nose smelling like shit.

[RemingtonRyder]

Hey Austupaio,

I wasn't around when this topic was being discussed, so I don't know if ZOMBIE2 is actually the person who posted that or whether it's a fake quote with stuff added. I'm leaning towards the latter.

If I had to guess I would say this game is doomed. It makes me sad because the quality of this development made me buy in after I had declared I would never support early access again.
Taking a 6 months hiatus mid development is a very bad sign. If he had taken a couple of weeks off like a normal person taking holidays I would see it as no problem.
I guess it's the problem with throwing so much money at a guy just starting out.
If I was a betting man I would put money on him starting a new project once gets home and effectively abandoning Rimworld.
Hopefully that's not the case and I invested wisely in this game but I don't have much hope.

this is exactly why I do not buy or support games until released anymore.  Taking a 6 month break while a game is in alpha is inexcusable and unforgivable. This dev will never see a penny of my money in this or any other game he  is involved with for life! I hope he starves. Devs like this hurt the entire gaming community. If you cannot finish, the DO NOT START!

But as far as I can see, Ramsis is posting a reply after the ranting, not before.

It is inflammatory to post unfounded criticism for the sole purpose of baiting other posters to reply. As was noted, the poster who chimed in had just a single post, making it very likely that they signed up just to troll.

As such, it's my opinion that what Ramsis did was justified. I'm not sure that Tynan would have posted something as obtuse as, for example, "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out" but on the occasion where forum posters are singling him out he does usually have a scathing comeback like "Recreational anger doesn't become you."

[palandus]

I may be thick, but could you point out the unfounded criticism in those posts, you quoted, MarvinKosh? As far as I can see, the only unfounded criticism is "this game is doomed".

They are right that taking a 6 month hiatus mid-development is a very bad sign. Yes I can understand the desire to avoid burnout, but at the same time, he is right, it is still technically mid-development. If the guys making Star Citizen said they were going to go on a 6 month break, as they've been working on their game for about as long (if not longer?) wouldn't that be a cause for concern? They are also right, that taking a break generally in the gaming industry or really any industry constitutes for up to 1 month tops, not 6.

As Tynan has said the game is done. It doesn't mean he won't work on it, and that doesn't mean he isn't going to return with a large update, but in his eyes it is done. Therefore, he could decide to start up a new project when he returns home. Yes that might be speculation, but I still see that as a valid concern for many people, considering Tynan himself said it was done. And as starting a new project would suck up a lot of time, it would effectively end development for Rimworld. I'm not saying that is what he will do, but again, this is still valid criticism.

As for the other post...

The guy is pointing out, indirectly, that he has been burned in the past by other independent developers likely in Early Access or from other Kickstarter projects like so many other people. He is apparently angry that it appears Tynan has "abandoned" development; clearly Tynan hasn't if you read the blog, but I digress.

He is right that taking a 6 month break while in ALPHA is generally inexcusable and unforgivable. If any of the other major kickstarter projects that have been in development as long as Rimworld has (Star Citizen, Godus, etc), decided to take a 6 month break during their Alpha stage, you'd likely be furious too. You don't stop development mid-way through; you keep at it until you have a finished product. Yes I can understand WHY Tynan is doing what he is doing, but the fact remains that he chose to do it during development which unfortunately makes him look bad.

Then the guy hurts his case by getting all melodramatic which of course causes people to glaze over their arguments and call them a troll.   

He is also right that Developers that can't finish what they started DO hurt the gaming community. I'm not saying that Tynan won't complete what he has started, but the possibility is there. A good example of this is Towns. A lot of people, including myself, really liked Towns. But then before it was finished the Developers just abandoned it. That sucks, and a lot of people lost faith in Indies as a result of that. I don't think Tynan is one of those people but still, you don't take LONG protracted breaks from development; most people are fine with 1 month; that is reasonable, as that is what normal regular people get for their holidays AT BEST. I hope in the future Tynan realizes that taking a 6 month break has made people lose faith in him and has tarnished his image. He should also look into better ways of addressing impending burnout, but that is a conversation for another day.

PS: That was longer winded than I intended, but that's sometimes what happens.

[Listen1]

Well guys, in a game like rimworld, do you really think it is possible to complete it? The best Tynan can do is to leave a very strong base to the game. Which depending of your personal opnion, it also can't be done.

For me, the game has paied itself, i am still having alot of fun with it. If the development continues (as I know it will at least until steam release) it will be great, the basis will get even stronger. And if it stops after steam release with or without the workshop, our modding community will get larger, and the game will still receive content from them.

The 6 months hiautos may raise some distrust, but for me that has been silently watching the game since Alpha 2, I see no problem for this pause.

[Fluffy (l2032)]

Some quick points;
While a month of holiday may be the best case scenario in the U.S., other countries around the world have a better work-life balance. I for one get around 2 months of paid leave a year. In addition, over multiple years I can build up a sabbatical allowing for a longer period (max 1 year) of paid leave - admittedly that would take many years to build, but still.

Second, while a developer taking such a long break mid-development is indeed a bad sign, and probably a bad idea, I personally get the impression that the break is not so much from development as it is from PR and community work. Behind the scenes, clearly a lot of work is still getting done. It's still not a great idea to be out of contact for that long, but I can only begin to imagine the amount of pressure/opinions Tynan has to deal with from being such a public figure. In most studios, developers would be kept out of the public eye so they can focus on what they do best - Tynan has to deal with all of it.

I'd say it's a well deserved rest period, and I hope he comes back recovered and refreshed. At the same time, I understand the criticism about what is probably a badly timed break. But let's not get overexcited and assume the worst, I have no reason to doubt Tynan will live up to his word - he's always done so so far.

P.S. A long break is also preferable to another possible stress relief; that Tynan calls the game done and starts another project.

[skullywag]

Ludeon Studios is still working on the game, thats all you need to know.