SBS faced plenty of backlash after last week's infamous "mood piece".

Then they faced further criticism in the now-locked thread after the cancelled shiny this week. Much of the criticism has been coming from the same audience.

I think at this point people are generally going to be unhappy until we start to see evidence in-game of the interesting mechanics from CoE's vision. Or at least more frequent videos of their forays into the actual client.

Until that's possible, the weekly shiny schedule is putting SBS in an awkward, damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of place.

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Personally I don't care whether there is a shiny or not. But the presence of just concept art this far into development simply looks bad. The more all they can release is concept and unfinished models just creates more issues for them as a company that mainly relies on word of mouth. Telling someone that wants to see the game you told them about in 2016 and them literally still only having concept art that is public access releasing lately looks terrible.

They can only show us for the most part concept art and gifs but at the same time can give me a 15 minute lecture about how different ph levels affect the soil and other mechanics that they aren't close to implementing. To me, looking from the outside in, that looks like they are spending way too much time trying to get each little detail instead of making core parts of the game.

That's why for me, I don't care for the shinies. To me, at best they are just something so the masses dont rip there heads off and at worst a telling that this games progress is just stunted.

I agree that some might find the Shiny of value. I do believe it started due to a Player suggesting the concept? (think it was King Em, I could be wrong).

I like the concept BUT I think it's at the point now, three years later? (correct me if i'm wrong) and we're still seeing concept art.......that is a concern.

In regards to the common comment of people saying "Games take time". I 100% agree and I really know nothing about the process and how long it takes to make a game. SBS and I seem to have that in common.

@lukespyro as a heads up; whether I agree or disagree with your post this thread will fall victim to the same point counterpoint all the other threads about SBS spiral towards. No matter which end of the pendulum you’re on feeling wise towards SBS I feel that passion is the only thing keeping this game afloat. I’ve lurked for a good bit and only recently started posting and while my post probably seem extremely critical I in no way want this project to fail. Not because of the loss of money I put in but because the dream game I’ve been lead to believe can come true seems to get further and further away by the month. Each month I’m hoping SBS will turn the corner and drop some legitimate progress content and each month is met by silence or concept art or worse yet, new promises about how things are shaping up nicely but none of it can be shared.

To point 3, you are right . Caspian could shut this all down tomorrow and nothing is owed to us. We have all kicked in money on an idea knowing it was a risk. But......I don’t think Caspian started this journey to go half way, that being said the low fuel light is on and if this project doesn’t get refueled it won’t just make it there on hopes and dreams. The fact investors can’t be secured is a bit alarming. I know it’s talked about that SBS has chosen to go it alone to maintain control and not have to implement feature like loot boxes and micro transactions, but that stuff is creeping in. It’s disguised as advent calendars, cardinal bees, herding dogs, catapults, arenas, legendary taverns, etc. Its constantly brought up that gaming development is tough, that it takes time and we should all just settle in for the long haul. Yes, it does take time but there needs to be displayable progress towards a goal. I would love to know aside from SBS anyone that has a job that you can show no progress for 3+ yrs and stay employed.

I do not expect for SBS to come on the forums or discord and defend themselves against each and every critical thread but it would be nice to know they aren’t just locking the door and closing the blinds hoping we will magically all feel better about the lack of perceived progress. The couple of post AshKain has put out we’re a nice change of pace but I just hope he doesn’t turn into a broken apology record. Ultimately the ball is in SBS court on whether the game is a success or failure and I firmly believe 2020 will be a breaking point one way or the other.

I really feel SBS should do what Hello Games did after NMS launched. Just completely disappear from everything, put their heads down and work on the bloody game. Then wow everyone many months later.

Stuff all these stupid events and release Pre-Elyria to A1 people. I see them still spending so much time on discord, answering the same stupid quests that people have been asking for years. It's a waste of time.

Now because the State of Elyria post has been delayed to after Settlers of Elyria is done. We don't know anything. Which seems we won't see that post for awhile, since whoever smart idea it was to add more features to an already delayed event. I get that it's good to make the map awesome. But all anyone new will see, is an delay on a delay. Then them taking even more time, even when the community at large is getting frustrated with how long everything is taking.

Which really, I'm only more annoyed at the delay. Because I was looking forward to this State of Elyria post. Now I guess we will see it in March?

Posted By Barswain at 12:02 AM - Fri Jan 17 2020

@lukespyro as a heads up; whether I agree or disagree with your post this thread will fall victim to the same point counterpoint all the other threads about SBS spiral towards. No matter which end of the pendulum you’re on feeling wise towards SBS I feel that passion is the only thing keeping this game afloat. I’ve lurked for a good bit and only recently started posting and while my post probably seem extremely critical I in no way want this project to fail. Not because of the loss of money I put in but because the dream game I’ve been lead to believe can come true seems to get further and further away by the month. Each month I’m hoping SBS will turn the corner and drop some legitimate progress content and each month is met by silence or concept art or worse yet, new promises about how things are shaping up nicely but none of it can be shared.

To point 3, you are right . Caspian could shut this all down tomorrow and nothing is owed to us. We have all kicked in money on an idea knowing it was a risk. But......I don’t think Caspian started this journey to go half way, that being said the low fuel light is on and if this project doesn’t get refueled it won’t just make it there on hopes and dreams. The fact investors can’t be secured is a bit alarming. I know it’s talked about that SBS has chosen to go it alone to maintain control and not have to implement feature like loot boxes and micro transactions, but that stuff is creeping in. It’s disguised as advent calendars, cardinal bees, herding dogs, catapults, arenas, legendary taverns, etc. Its constantly brought up that gaming development is tough, that it takes time and we should all just settle in for the long haul. Yes, it does take time but there needs to be displayable progress towards a goal. I would love to know aside from SBS anyone that has a job that you can show no progress for 3+ yrs and stay employed.

I do not expect for SBS to come on the forums or discord and defend themselves against each and every critical thread but it would be nice to know they aren’t just locking the door and closing the blinds hoping we will magically all feel better about the lack of perceived progress. The couple of post AshKain has put out we’re a nice change of pace but I just hope he doesn’t turn into a broken apology record. Ultimately the ball is in SBS court on whether the game is a success or failure and I firmly believe 2020 will be a breaking point one way or the other.

I am not trying to argue for or against anything and simply want to voice my opinion: "nobody can be happy". The entire post could actually just be the first sentence, but I thought to include some points that lead me the sentence so I don't get blasted for not understanding the depth of the issue.

I am of the "if a game ever shows up, then its a win" camp. I don't really care about progress updates, etc. They are nice but I am perfectly happy with nothing and then dealing with understanding mechanics etc. if the games comes out. Others have different desires and as a result are subjecting themselves to various negative emotions whenever something may go awry.

PS - I do understand that there may be complex points of view such as the idea that "promises were made" and thoughts parallels to such, but I think that sets you up for pain when it comes to the gaming industry.