So, I’m writing this because I love this game (Space Station 14) but not Wizden. Like many others, I would very much like to see this game live on beyond their control.
That said, I have become discouraged because currently as a player there doesn’t really seem to be a way to play outside them. I keep finding myself going back to SS14 time and again because, well, that’s where all the players are.
Unless I am missing something, my two choices seem to be either go back to SS14 or choose between two empty servers on SSMV. As I prefer to play an online multiplayer game with other people and not alone (I can launch the game myself and do that) I seem to not really have any choice at all.
This doesn’t seem to be a software problem. The launcher, the engine, the game content, the account authorization system; they’re all there. What’s missing is people.
I’ve also heard rumors that Space Station Beyond (Simple Station) is also making an auth system. Yet, I have not yet seen any server using it. Do I have to create a Simple Station account to see them? I logged onto their launcher under my SS14 account and try to use their filters to search for servers using the Simple Station auth and I can’t even find a filter for it, let alone a server running it. Am I not looking in the right place?
If I’m missing something on either Space Station Multiverse or Space Station Beyond (Simple Station) please let me know. I would very much enjoy playing on servers with other people who are independent of WizdenAuth. I just don’t see any.
And, if there aren’t any, then what exactly is the plan to gather a player base?
Well said. It’s really a chicken & egg problem. Servers don’t want to move to alt hubs because no players are there, and players don’t want to move to althubs because no populated servers.
Additionally, SS14 naturally loses players over time. Even if a server did move, without new players coming in, the population would die out over time. (This is why dehubs are so effective for wizden)
So there needs to be some strategy of continually acquiring new players over time. This is a really hard problem, and I don’t have an adequate plan for it.
For Blep, I made a unique mode that can be played for singleplayer for a good number of hours to try to provide some interesting single player content for the hub. It’s been reasonably successful at that and had some good sessions. But there’s just not enough new players coming in to keep the server active and get the population continually up.
I would also understand why most developers would just use a different engine or game to build out their ideas so they don’t have to deal with Robust/WizDen and its various problems. This is something I’ve thought about a lot – if I do want to spend more time building multiplayer games, is Robust really what I want to build it in?
But I’m right there in agreement with you that it would be nice to have space station style gameplay with fully independent servers.
I haven’t tried SS:B yet, but I think it’s great they’ve started up and wish them success. I’ll leave your question for anyone else who knows.
As far as SS:B, unless I’m wrong it still seems pretty new.
When I open the launcher, are three account options. “SimpleStation” “Space-Wizards” “Custom.”
But, when I go into the launcher under Space-Wizards, I do not see any servers using SimpleStation. So, I don’t know if this is just a place-holder for the launcher until it’s made or if it’s online and no server is currently using it. When I look at filters, nothing filters for it. I see SS:MV and SS:14 servers. Nothing more.
I’m thinking we need some sort of plan or something. I’ll suggest a couple of ideas. But, I have no idea if they’re practical or if they’d even work. Personally, I find the game-play very pleasing and think the game can retain players.
Idea 1: Is it at all possible to get the game with an independent auth and launcher in front of some level of notable streamer? Someone with a viewer base that likes large online RPG games, chaos sandboxes, nostaligic art from the early days of gaming (Pixel-Art and Midis.) If the game was advertised to the right audience, it might pick up a player base. I don’t have any level of reach like this myself. But, perhaps someone does?
Idea 2: Sense we don’t yet have a stable server population in an independent ecosystem, is it possible we can schedule sessions to leverage what player base we might have? At least get them to try to all show up and play at the same time. If they have friends (I don’t have a lot) it might create a network effect and start building towards a populated server.
For me and my small community - SSMV is prepared for dark futuru scenario. Like a good auth system, and some components.
That launcher, in my opinion, is a best tool for running local servers, but not prepared for huge online in tab list.
And right, if you want use HUB - use WizDen or Beyond’s launchers. But you should know - there is no custom engines. Also SS:B dropped their attempts to make a fork of RT engine. So, they are using vanila.
I think both ideas are good; I don’t know any streamers, but if anyone did that would be cool. Maybe they could set up a server for their community or something.
Second idea is also good, I will try to schedule something for blep since it’s been a while
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256
Hi! I am also in "liking SS14 but not WizDen" territory. I left SS14 in 2022
with the following message left in WizDen forum bio:
- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256
I am "Myctai" in game and on GitHub. "Myctai_web" is my alt account for forum.
My Tox ID is DF34F4FC848F6D7730C040FBE149781EC252AAD4E0AE68BB02B6A5BE6E3B24473215F8DEEC70
All my git commits (seen only in my topic branches so far, thanks to GitHub's
squash merges) are signed with PGP key that also was used to sign this message
and hopefully seen as attachment on forum.
Great game, terrible community. Taking a break until things change for the better.
See you later!
- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iHUEARYIAB0WIQS+wt8wdUJqh+Sk1x5d2oZQOo4yRQUCYxZP0gAKCRBd2oZQOo4y
RYLKAP0evrEgu3LhKr7NGN5Q+lJESvd6E/RJ0YbBMz9uuoIUKgD/bZWA6p2nrGMq
aa5S0mviWfTdvlF1VvbHlclN4A4C8Qc=
=clWw
- -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
(said message is gone as someone at WizDen explicitly disabled "about me" stuff
from showing up to anyone after Discourse migration or later, hehe)
I was not hurt that much by interaction with WizDen staff and players, but
enough to abandon otherwise cool and technologically superior to BYOND game.
Turns out waiting for things to improve did not work at all.
Thus, the plan is to build own home. Start hanging around on empty server, make
it easier for someone completely unable to play singleplayer to join.
With some luck, it snowballs and you'd get proper multiplayer.
Personally I will just occasionally join BlepStation and mess around in faux
singleplayer. Feel free to do the same yourself. Perhaps at same time as me.
I am quite busy, so no promises on time when I am available whatsoever.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iHUEARYIAB0WIQS+wt8wdUJqh+Sk1x5d2oZQOo4yRQUCaZmXAQAKCRBd2oZQOo4y
RcECAP0S/dCcWx2m12wA+/qEw73j4Nr3TxG2gntNlIKSbTKS+AD/atcuHMgCKMwx
herLqI6tc9Z/PD1inXHx8dmRfooF2w4=
=aHnZ
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----