Recently, developers System Era Softworks took to Astroneer’s official blog site to go over how the game will release on Early Access in December, and how the game gets compared a lot to Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky. System Era Softworks will release Astroneer for PC this December, and will also release the game for Xbox One.
I’ll admit it, Astroneer is a game that grabbed my attention when it was first announced. The game sported a light and fun looking voxel space adventure atmosphere that seemed promising. Given that I have a great fascination for space, and seeing Astroneer covers planet discovery, finding life and uncovering oddities, I was curious to see what System Era Softworks would do with the game in the future.
Well, they recently took to their blog to go over how the game will be and what people can expect from Astroneer now, and when it releases:
“Recently we announced details for the launch of Astroneer and that’s something we’re super proud of. Now that the information is out, there’s been two important topics that come up in discussion amongst the team. How will our game be perceived and are we setting the correct expectations?”
To explain what the devs want to do is communicate with their fans more so that they can deliver a product that’s honest to what the game will be, instead of false advertisement. Additionally, the devs go on about their game and No Man’s Sky:
“I don’t enjoy writing about the missteps of other developers, but in the name of transparency I think this is an important point to make: The controversial release of No Man’s Sky fuels a lot of discussions about the development and marketing of Astroneer and more importantly the reaction the gaming community had to it. A lot of the press coverage about Astroneer links the two games together and we’ve seen a lot of talk amongst our community about those connections.”
One user by the name of Steven had summed up perfectly what devs should do when they want to add a feature(s) but do not follow up with it on release…
“I think if you just give honest, realistic statements about your intent with the game content you’ll be fine. If you want to talk about something you want to put in the game but isn’t in it yet, make sure you point that out.”
So it seems that System Era Softworks put together a list to explain what players can expect when Astroneer launches in December for PC via Steam Early Access:
The game’s core designs will be playable, but some will be fleshed out more than others.
There will be art that looks incomplete, very rough, or too simple.
The multiplayer will hitch and probably act weird (hilariously so).
Audio be missing or trigger in the wrong spots. Or maybe the music playing isn’t appropriate for your moment.
You may even experience a game-breaking bug that will force you to start over from scratch.
This now brings us to the written part that fans can expect from Astroneer when it releases on Early Access, which continues the above problems listed by the devs while covering more.
“You’ll load the game up for the first time and almost certainly experience and form an opinion about at least one of those things. That’s exactly the reason we want you to check out Astroneer while it’s in early access. We have a vision for the game; a direction we’re taking it in, and we need to know what you think as early as possible. Astroneer is not an aerospace simulation game, nor is it a completely science-fiction fantasy game. It’s something in-between. The best thing about releasing the game early is the feedback we’ll receive from you, the community, and evolving the game from there.”
However, the devs note that what will be present on release is exploring and surviving on uninhabited planets, 3D printing items and resources, discovering abandoned ships and restoring them, using the Deformation Tool, and four player co-op/online play.
Hopefully the devs don’t put a high price point on Astroneer while it’s in Early Access, and never get around to finishing the game or squashing any of the bugs. I see too many times devs promising content/fixes and abandoning ship, leaving backers and fans astray, stuck to waddle in the mess they made.
Lastly, I hear that the devs want to release Astroneer for Xbox One. They better not release the game while it’s in Early Access for Xbox One and try to juggle console certifications (which can take up to a week or a month to seed) while publishing PC updates. Juggling things like that can get messy really fast, especially seeing that they are an indie team.
With that said, Astroneer is set to hit PC via Steam Early Access this December. For more information on the recent blog post you can visit blog.astroneer.com. You can also find out more about this game by hitting up the main site, or watching the trailer below.
