Yarlen Yarlen

Sins Community Update

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Sins Community Update

from Sins Forums

I want to extend our thanks to everyone who's been providing feedback so far on the Sins beta test. We've gained a lot of great information from our beta testers and from the Sins community as a whole.  This post is to give everyone an update on the progress of the game and where we're going from here. At the end of this post you'll also find two exclusive new shots from our internal builds to speculate over.

The first thing to expect in the next couple of months is a completely redesigned Sins website. The new site will contain up-to-date information on the game, new screenshots, and more. We'll also be releasing a fan-site kit in the future for those of you who may want to put up your own pages about Sins. In mid-June, everyone can look forward to the Beta 2 release of Sins. Beta 2 will remain TEC only and the focus will be on single-player gameplay dynamics.

At this point, some of you are probably thinking, "Isn't June a bit late for Beta 2 if the game's going to ship in August?" After reading everyone's ideas and feedback so far on Beta 1, Ironclad and Stardock have decided to push Sins' release back to February 2008. We realize this will be a disappointment to some of you, but the simple fact is that we all want to release the best game possible. The extra time will allow us to add more depth and features to Sins, including some stuff we had only wished we had time for previously.  This extended release schedule means there will be two additional betas after Beta 2 that will focus on multiplayer content.

Thank you all for your continued support!

Sins Shot      Sins Shot

134,593 views 132 replies
Reply #51 from Sins Forums Top
...rubs crystal ball...

i see something, ahhhh... the reason for the release delay and beta reschedule is that they want to add a completely new element to the game which originally was not going to be included. a more advanced combat system that uses tactics and formations like hw and cata...
Reply #52 from Sins Forums Top
... And critical hits, subsystems, heroes, megaships, revamped black market and pirate system and a whole plethora of other good things...
Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #53 from Sins Forums Top
@Yarlen & Kryo
I appreciate you guys pushing the release date back so that you can produce a better product. However, I do feel that you are wasting the beta testers if you do not keep giving them something to test in the meantime. If you plan on adding more testers with beta 2 as well as a general beta 2 software release you might get overwhelmed with bug reports. Remember, the more you add, the harder and longer it is to test. This is where we, the beta testers, come in. If you were to release updates between now and beta 2, a lot of bugs could be found and corrected and improvements made. The beta 2 rush would probably then be manageable. Nobody expects the game to be perfect at this stage of development, but you might as well take advantage of the resources available. Being a mainframe developer, I'm very familiar with the development cycle and sometimes find that all the testing help you can get along the way is very useful to providing a great product.
Reply #54 from Sins Forums Top
... And critical hits, subsystems, heroes, megaships, revamped black market and pirate system and a whole plethora of other good things...

like pokemon?
I appreciate you guys pushing the release date back so that you can produce a better product. However, I do feel that you are wasting the beta testers if you do not keep giving them something to test in the meantime

great point; I would be far more 'appeased' if this delay meant that us betaers would get our hands on something.
unfortunately we've been as good as wipped away from the whole beta process (bug off, we gave you the beta) so I'm certainly not 'appeased'.
Reply #55 from Sins Forums Top
@Schem - If you think pokemon is a good thing, I feel sorry for you brother. Additionally, we must speak and read different English. Because SD and IG have not "wiped" us away from the beta process. In fact they made two posts explicitly addressing this issue. Both responses of which were more then reasonable and quite frankly consistent with normal software development cycles.

On a side note, I find many of your posts in ill forum. You must have a rather vexing personality or if they are attempts at some sort of twisted humor you are failing miserable at least from my perspective.

Its OK to be down about the extension of the product cycle and to let the community know your pain. But to project and post spiteful oriented comments is rather immature, counterproductive and alienating. Such actions are a primary reason nearly all development houses simply dont include the public in the process.
Reply #56 from Sins Forums Top
great point; I would be far more 'appeased' if this delay meant that us betaers would get our hands on something.
unfortunately we've been as good as wipped away from the whole beta process (bug off, we gave you the beta) so I'm certainly not 'appeased'.

How could you think that? The beta tester suggestions and remarks certainly influenced the decision to increase the production cycle length to some extent. Of course they will rely on beta-testers again in the future and you'll got something to play with.

Reply #57 from Sins Forums Top
If you think pokemon is a good thing, I feel sorry for you brother

sarcastic joke...
Additionally, we must speak and read different English. Because SD and IG have not "wiped" us away from the beta process.

they noted that we will not have access to the new races for at least a few months, they also noted that there wont be any major updates to beta 1, they also hinted that beta two wont have multiplayer

what do you call that?
How could you think that? The beta tester suggestions and remarks certainly influenced the decision to increase the production cycle length to some extent

thats not what I said. I said we've been brushed away from the new material. yes we whined enough to get them to change a few things, but they have pretty much declared their intentions to lock up most new material for at least a few months
I find many of your posts in ill forum. You must have a rather vexing personality or if they are attempts at some sort of twisted humor you are failing miserable at least from my perspective

I am a vexing person, very hard to understand.
any more problems with me you want to let me know about?
But to project and post spiteful oriented comments is rather immature, counterproductive and alienating

yes. and I'm fully aware that I do that. here more than anyplace else
unfortunately either I've misinterpreted what the Devs have said (which sounds very clear to me) or many players are not as peeved as I am about the lack of material we are going to get.

so here:
Dev's, I apologize for being an ass about this. I probably made this stuff sound a bit more personal and spiteful than I should have. however I do have an issue with the way you guys have declared for the beta to be heading. it sounds as if, while you have moved the release back, you've also moved back the intention to release meaningful game data. I already had an issue with the timeline, but this has made it a lot worse.
so I'm sorry if my posts sounded as more than that.
Reply #58 from Sins Forums Top
any more problems with me you want to let me know about?

the list is too long j/k..... its huge...

so here:
Dev's, I apologize for being an ass about this. I probably made this stuff sound a bit more personal and spiteful than I should have. however I do have an issue with the way you guys have declared for the beta to be heading. it sounds as if, while you have moved the release back, you've also moved back the intention to release meaningful game data. I already had an issue with the timeline, but this has made it a lot worse.
so I'm sorry if my posts sounded as more than that.


we all got a "problem" with the timeline, one way or another. But atleast we KNOW there will be more stuff. And the stuff they put in, we may not know for a long time.
I guess its some sort business thing. And if i were the leader of a game company, i wouldnt either tell all my secrets before its released. Or it could be that they are trying to surprice us
Reply #59 from Sins Forums Top
lol this is funny, people are victims of their own beta feedback!

i think realistically the developers got a fright when they realised that they had to fully complete a game in about four months,

personally i know its a beta but i have gotten bored pretty quickly i hope some new units/gameplay features are on the way to spice things up
Reply #60 from Sins Forums Top

Schem - I honestly don't think you're ever going to be happy with anything that we do.

yorkie43 - As other have reiterated, there will be more updates before Beta 2. However, they will mostly be for bug fixes, as that is the point of Beta 1.

As Blair has pointed out, the team is currently working on tracking down the nastier issues that the beta testers have reported and investigating ways to fix them. They are also looking at the gameplay comments that were made and having discussions on them. These changes take time. Be patient. As was stated very clearly before Beta 1 launched, it will not be a fun process (at least not all the time). Welcome to the unfun. 

Reply #61 from Sins Forums Top
Welcome to the unfun.

Reply #62 from Sins Forums Top

Schem - I honestly don't think you're ever going to be happy with anything that we do.



Every forum has at least one person that can't be pleased...Must be an unspoken requirement dictated by the Universe!

(Omnipotent being sees newly created forum pop-up on the net, assigns random monkey with BIG wrench for "maintainance" duties!

No offense to anyone, though! HEHE

Reply #63 from Sins Forums Top
Welcome to the unfun.


I am keeping a chart of the lack of fun I am having...

Reply #65 from Sins Forums Top
Schem - I honestly don't think you're ever going to be happy with anything that we do.


An ominous sign of things to come I feel.

Nice graph Kosc, I expect weekly updates  
Reply #66 from Sins Forums Top
Well, I knew that in all probability that the game's release date would be pushed back. -Obey Zim!- What I didn't expect was for it to be pushed back until Febuary! -Obey Zim and no one will get hurt (well, not everyone!- Even so, I believe the important thing is that the game is the absolute best it can be (but perhapse you can release a new trailer to dull the pain?). There were no subliminal messages in this post.



"What does this button do?"
Reply #67 from Sins Forums Top
Also, I know I spelled Febraury wrong in my last post, so don't bother pointing that out. Just pay attention to the subliminal messages that don't exist.
Reply #68 from Sins Forums Top
You spelled it wrong twice, that deserves a cookie!

February !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply #69 from Sins Forums Top
Congratulations, lordkosc, you've just made my list!  
Reply #70 from Sins Forums Top
As I sit here typing this, my leutinent walks in and salutes. "Sir, the ninja assassins are in position and await you order."

"The order is given," I reply. My leutinent salutes and walks out of the room.  
Reply #72 from JoeUser Forums Top

What it boils down to really is that Sins has the opportunity to be THE space RTS of its generation.  And for that to really happen it's going to need to be able to incorporate immense amounts of user feedback in game balancing, play testing, etc.

How many games have you guys bought where the multiplayer didn't work until the first "patch"? How about games you bought where there was just some annoying game mechanic that ruined the game for you?  What we want to have time to do is introduce all the new content and have time to be able to fully incorporate your ideas and suggestions.

Reply #73 from Sins Forums Top
Schem - I honestly don't think you're ever going to be happy with anything that we do.

seriously, I like the move back. that was a positive action.
however I seriously feel like the beta is planned as far too close to release. I'm not asking for line by line of new code day by day, thats rediculous. but its also rediculous to not get even 1/3 of the units and hope for some sort of useful feedback. I realize that the beta was never in your plans to be about gameplay dynamic this early. but I fear that if we wait, we wont be able to affect that any way anyhow. frankly I'm worried about making a meaningful contribution, which will not be possible a short 4 months before release.
Reply #74 from Sins Forums Top
I am a vexing person, very hard to understand.
any more problems with me you want to let me know about?


Not that hard to understand.

No matter how hard you have tried I have gotten a pretty good image of the real world you.

Its not really that amazing, but it did have its.. uniqueness.

But to project and post spiteful oriented comments is rather immature, counterproductive and alienating.


Give him a break, geesh, I mean who are you to theorize morals and what is 'rather immatrue'

Plus, being mature is overrated. Taking peoples verbal assault without some kind of retaliation or output will one day kill you.

And its always fun to be spiteful, cynical, and sarcastic.

Dont like it, well theres always that 'button' at the button of each post.

Congratulations, lordkosc, you've just made my list!


See, you cant really put Kosc on a list, its just not done.

As I sit here typing this, my leutinent walks in and salutes. "Sir, the ninja assassins are in position and await you order."

"The order is given," I reply. My leutinent salutes and walks out of the room.


Mess with Kosc, and you mess with the Galactic Empire.

Id be careful

We have new water guns!! BEWARE!!!

Reply #75 from Sins Forums Top
it also doesnt help that you're waving the Advent mercilessly in front of us, as if to say "look what we have and you dont"

No matter how hard you have tried I have gotten a pretty good image of the real world you

a pretty false one.
circumstances breed the personality, I'm a far more reserved person in real life.
fortunately on boards most people dont take things personally. so I'm free to rant and rave.

dont postulate to know someone from a board emp, its just a bad idea.