This is something that Cloover 9 he is a developer I guess ) said: " This is important question, so I'll answer.Every decision should be balanced between "resources needed" and "effect gained". To make a widescreen support which won't look ugly we need to redraw all the graphics and rewrite all the UI part. So the cost is quite high and it obviously make better effect if we put these resources on a new game instead. New game is muuuuch easier to market, it's obvious. Would you spend significant money on repair/improve an old car if you can add a bit more and buy a new one? An old car won't be better anyway! "
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I have seen that post in that thread about Heartstone. But what exactly is happening here? Closing threads for no reason. I guess the OP in that thread thinks Heartstone is a better game so a mod actually edited his posts so it looked like he said something else?! With that kind of a behavior I really have no faith in this game.
Also they do not want to add a widescreen support because they are working on some new game?! So this game is abandoned then? You only want to take money from people and invest nothing in the game I see.
I just started playing this game and to me it seems to be a really fun and good game but I guess i am missing something since they concentrate on some new game.
Why would you not just make a remake of this game or add an option to force widescreen support. For me the game looks ok. I actually think it looks better then most other card games since The UI is so easy and everything is so easy to see and navigate. And it is nice that there are no flashes, lights, screen shakes and other visual effects like that. But those black bars do look bad. So a basic option like a wide screen support really should be a must.
Too bad, I was excited when I started playing this game but with the stuff I see happening here I guess it is not something I want to invest my money and time in. Plus, the ipad version is half the PC price?! Why cant you just use the account from PC to play on ipad. Why would you ask for money again for the same game. That is just too greedy.
You lost one customer. Bye.
Modified by Posto on 2014-10-11 22:00:31 Eurydice | 2014-10-12 01:29:47 |
First of all, do not pay much heed to that other thread. Thing turned sour very quickly and the general disscusion was somewhat lost in the confusion. It was start as a good thread with great info, but derailed. It was an anomaly, very rare. Secondly, this game is far from abandoned! Since its publication there have been several additional game expansions: League of Heroes, Truth & Beauty, Gathering of Power. These adding classes and new features to the game. Every so often the devs release new and updated balance patches, improving on the balance of the classes and game. There are also monthly Tournaments hosted and organized by the devs for the pure enjoyment of the community and player base. This feature was actually first hosted by players and then proposed to the devs and went from there. The devs are also present here forum to answer questions and offer support in certain areas. Though the development team is small (VERY small), they still devote time and care to this game. So we have several areas to show that this game is not abandoned: 1) Continued expansion release 2) Regular balance and update patches / version upgrades 3) Dev hosted monthly Tournaments 4) Devoted dev prescience and support The devs listen to the players and do all they can to the best of their abilities to please the community, and they strive to constantly improve the game. Yes the devs have other projects going on, but they have by no means abandoned this game, not at all! P.S. What is the big deal about widescreen? The way the game plays is more important than the way it appears.
Modified by Eurydice on 2014-10-12 01:35:56 FORESTRY | 2014-10-12 07:43:47 |
Just go and play Hearthstone in widescreen, shooo! Out with you!
First of all, do not pay much heed to that other thread. Thing turned sour very quickly and the general disscusion was somewhat lost in the confusion. It was start as a good thread with great info, but derailed. It was an anomaly, very rare.
Secondly, this game is far from abandoned! Since its publication there have been several additional game expansions: League of Heroes, Truth & Beauty, Gathering of Power. These adding classes and new features to the game.
Every so often the devs release new and updated balance patches, improving on the balance of the classes and game.
There are also monthly Tournaments hosted and organized by the devs for the pure enjoyment of the community and player base. This feature was actually first hosted by players and then proposed to the devs and went from there.
The devs are also present here forum to answer questions and offer support in certain areas. Though the development team is small (VERY small), they still devote time and care to this game.
So we have several areas to show that this game is not abandoned:
1) Continued expansion release 2) Regular balance and update patches / version upgrades 3) Dev hosted monthly Tournaments 4) Devoted dev prescience and support
The devs listen to the players and do all they can to the best of their abilities to please the community, and they strive to constantly improve the game. Yes the devs have other projects going on, but they have by no means abandoned this game, not at all!
P.S. What is the big deal about widescreen? The way the game plays is more important than the way it appears.
Why would I not pay attention to that thread? The OP in that thread apparently thinks Hearstone is a better game so a mod edited his post. Why would I ignore something like that? What if I play against a mod in a game and I win. What can I expect then? For them to abuse their power and ban me from the game? Developer said how they do not want to invest in this game because they are working on another game. That is a clear sign that this game is abandoned. Something like a widescreen support should have been added long time ago but apparently they were working on some other game instead of doing that.
And it is obvious they have no respect for PC players since the ipad version is half the price for the same game. Also if I buy a game on PC I should be able to use it on ipad since it is the same game and vice versa.
Just go and play Hearthstone in widescreen, shooo! Out with you! Kid, when you grow up and are able to say something smart and constructive then you should post again. Until then you can "shooo" your parents because they apparently did a bad job on educating you.
"Great" community you have there. Modified by Posto on 2014-10-12 09:49:05 HeadphonesGirl | 2014-10-12 13:45:44 |
...
Why would I not pay attention to that thread? The OP in that thread apparently thinks Hearstone is a better game so a mod edited his post.
That isn't what happened. You can't tell what happened now because the OP went in and deleted all of his own posts. Forum mods also do not have the ability to ban you from the game.
Spectromancer came out in 2008 and has been actively supported for that entire time. Cooler, the dev you are paraphrasing, still hosts a well-organized tournament every month in the game. Currently, actual development resources are elsewhere, yes. If you think it is not legitimate for them to focus resources on developing a new game when this one is over six years old, I don't know what to tell you, but you're being unreasonable.
To be honest I don't think there is much point in my giving you this reply but I'm doing it on the off chance you aren't just trying to get reactions. markgil | 2014-10-12 21:54:17 |
so what's next then? there was some talk of an Astral Masters sequel but it was supposed to be released in 2014 and that obviously is not going to happen. the developers have been silent since announcing their intention with AM2 -have they decided to go back to Spectromancer instead for some reason?
HeadphonesGirl | 2014-10-12 22:27:15 |
so what's next then? there was some talk of an Astral Masters sequel but it was supposed to be released in 2014 and that obviously is not going to happen. the developers have been silent since announcing their intention with AM2 -have they decided to go back to Spectromancer instead for some reason? Who knows? I sure wouldn't complain if AM2 had evolved into Spectromancer... again. Not a fan of deck building games, myself.
i would definitely check out any new game from these devs
but hey, i think it's safe to say i'll be playing spectro too - oh the addiction!!
btw posto, whatever my voice is worth, i have to tell you: this whole thing is a huge misunderstanding. on one thing i agree with you, and that's editing other people's posts in places where they have not clearly violated forum rules. i don't know if that is what happened in fact, but if that is the case then i'm 100% with you. i have to say to her defense, that steph is a nice person as far as i know her. people sometimes flip in strange directions, especially when provoked in some way. but enough with that talk! let's talk spectro:
You only want to take money from people and invest nothing in the game I see.
this couldn't be farther from the truth. the game was released in 2008 and there were three distinct expansions released in 2010, 2011, and 2013. every expansion added 3-4 new specialty classes (with some very original designs, impressively balanced at release time) plus various improvements and new features, adding to the initial game experience. to name a few: replay recorder/viewer, league of legends (a new single player game mode), draft tournaments (interactive deck crafting before playing the duels - similar to magic: the gathering booster draft), a new campaign mode, blitz mode for online games (fast dueling). on top of all that, the devs have been observing the game and they have released minor updates in several occasions, slightly tuning the cards and balancing the different classes with each other (although of course, good and bad match-ups are inherent to the game's structure). it is indicative of their investment that they have released those balance updates based on actual statistical data that they have recorded, analysed, and even shared with the community at some points. apart from that, they have also addressed various requests / bug reports / questions / suggestions in the forum. they have actually put in the time and effort to introduce organized annual (monthly) tournaments after one such suggestion that seemed to be popular with the players. and that happened less than 18 months ago, which is five whole years after the game's original release date
of course, you are a new player and you had no way of knowing all this. you only came into contact with a specific (and very rare) incident in the forum. i hope i have helped to make the situation a bit clearer. spectromancer is a wonderful game, so simple yet so strategically deep, so fun and so replayable yet almost perfectly balanced. it seems you could enjoy the game, and it's a pity if you don't give it a chance because of a quarrel between 2 people in the forum (even if one of those is a mod). but of course the decision will be yours to make
Modified by filip on 2014-10-13 01:32:28 Wavelength | 2014-10-13 07:38:58 |
Just to clear up a few of your misconceptions, Posto, so hopefully you can relax and just enjoy Spectromancer for the great game it is:
1) As several others have pointed out, this is not an abandoned game. Bugs are still corrected reliably. Balance updates are still released every several months, and as the class statistics show, it's already balanced quite well already. Cooler even hosts a global tournament every month for the community to duke it out for glory and fame!
2) I am a mod. I don't have the power to ban you, even if you beat me in a game. (In fact, I'd like to play you sometime.) I do have the power to edit or delete your posts. I would not even consider using that power simply because you beat me in a game, or because you disagree with me, or because we're arguing about something. I will use that power if you spam, blatantly troll, or make personal affronts to other users, just as I would if someone else did so, because I want the forum experience to be good for you, too. Make sense?
3) I closed the other thread because the original poster deleted his posts, and because a lot of flaming was going on. Anyone hoping to find something useful there was going to be either confused, disappointed, or both. Like I said, feel free to open up a topic (as you did here) if there's something relevant that you still want to discuss.
4) I can't speak specifically to widescreen support, but having done a little programming myself, and worked alongside programmers a lot, I can tell you that redoing visuals often entails a LOT more time and effort than meets the eye. Simply changing a control type (let's say from a text box to a scroll box) in a basic windows program might require changing the whole way the input needs to be interpreted. Changing the width of a single element might require re-coding every single method that ever touches that element, if too much information was hard-coded. The Spectro team is very small and (I could be wrong about this) I believe that they had more people on staff as they developed the game. It certainly sounds easy to "remove the black bars" but I honestly think this would have been done already if it were low-hanging fruit.
5) This is a matter of opinion, but I think the price is very low for the content and depth that you're getting in Spectromancer. I've spent $50 on the game (the current "full package" can be bought for a lot less, but people who got in on the ground floor and then bought expansions as they've come out have spent $50), and played over 15,000 games online (and a significant amount of single-player) without ever getting bored. If I had an iPad, I'd gladly pay another $5 for the privilege of playing it on there. If the idea of paying twice bothers you philosophically, I understand that - I really do. Just pick one platform and buy it on there, though! You can play anyone else online no matter which platform you are using - the two platforms are not separated.
6) One more thing. I'm not sure whether you come from the Hearthstone community or what (I play the game too), but I've seen what you guys write about us, and I have to say - it's absolute bullshit. I've been here for six years and found nothing but a very kind and welcoming (and very international) community. Spectro is not the kind of game where the developers had to limit communication to six preset messages because the players will rage and troll each other. It's the kind of game where you win or lose based on your own skill and it's tight enough that people can develop reputations - and as a result of that, you find an incredible amount of maturity and class from most of its players.
Cooler | 2014-10-13 20:14:33 |
Why would you not just make a remake of this game or add an option to force widescreen support.
You may know or not, but this game IS actually a remake of our older game called Astral Tournament (www.astraltournament.com) So the storyline looks like this: Astral Tournament (2002) ---> Spectromancer (2008), Astral Towers (2011) ----> ??? ..................... Astral Masters (2004) -----------------------------> Astral Heroes (2015) In this flow each next project is more complicated and large (except Astral Towers, which was quite small and cheap). And making a remake is a pretty straight plan.
Now, about the topic question. I consider abandoned game is a game which is not supported anymore. Astral Tournament is abandoned: we don't provide technical support for it, the game server isn't running, and of course it is not selling for a long time. Spectromancer is not abandoned. You can still buy it, play it, and reach proper people to address any issue. Modified by Cooler on 2014-10-13 20:24:10 JoeChen | 2014-10-13 21:10:31 |
Everything will stay as it is now??
We will still play the tour each month??
Will there be updates anymore? I mean not just balance, also maybe the hope (Humans need hope!) for a new class, maybe the best class from class suggestions...we could all vote for it...
How about giving Astral Tournament for free to your loyal players as a link here now? (A little present for those who read Forum...)
Jeronimo | 2014-10-13 22:23:38 |
Astral Jeroes (2015)?
Great to know you are working in a new game. I wonder how will look like. Regarding Spectromancer... it's preety solid already. It's satisfying for any kind of player (casuals and competitives).
I read some comments on Hearthstone forum about this game. There are two types of commenters. Those who truly tested/played Spectromancer, and those who just googled an image from the game and based their opinion on secondary/terciary opinions.
This community while smaller than others, has nice people... and this nice people can make a little mistake sometimes, but that doesn't make them bad people. We are here always trying to give our best. And we surely will continue doing so. We <3 Spectromancer!
I wish you good luck Cooler on this next game. mamoulian | 2014-10-14 10:19:09 |
How about giving Astral Tournament for free to your loyal players as a link here now? (A little present for those who read Forum...)
It would be nice to play some astral! (: Cooler | 2014-10-14 13:29:56 |
Everything will stay as it is now?? We will still play the tour each month??
Yes!
How about giving Astral Tournament for free to your loyal players as a link here now? (A little present for those who read Forum...)
No problem! :) Here is a key for Astral Tournament: #J:GE22SWWS for name: Spectromancer Since the server is not running anymore, there would be no any problem for multiple players using the same key. Sinist | 2014-10-14 14:30:23 |
Great! FORESTRY | 2014-10-14 18:15:45 |
finally using forum paid off HUEHUEHUE
Wavelength | 2014-10-14 19:04:14 |
Astral Jeroes (2015)?
Love this! No problem! :)Here is a key for Astral Tournament: #J:GE22SWWS for name: Spectromancer Since the server is not running anymore, there would be no any problem for multiple players using the same key. Love this even more!! That is so awesome! Thanks Cooler =) --- BY THE WAY - a pretty popular series called "James Recommends" (an offshoot of the very popular game design series "Extra Credits" recently highlighted Astral Towers (and mentioned Spectromancer as well). The video has 39,000 views! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uSVq206BRE&Modified by Wavelength on 2014-10-14 19:05:02 |