next step please

[Makhil]

I have seen all kind of nice suggestions on these boards, they all end up in the same forgotten drawer.
Couldn't it be possible to assemble a small team in charge of listing the best suggestions, iron them out, figure out the coding involved... and ultimately test them on a beta platform ?
Of course the first question is, what does the game code look like ? is it an easily adaptable code or a bunch of patches accumulated over the years making it impossible to add anything without creating all kinds of bugs.

Isn't it time for PA to add real depth to the game and stop playing around with stats just to fight the boredom of a round. I mean picking a target, sending ships, scanning the target, landing/recalling will always become boring after a while especially with alliances taking care of most of it or if you're not fighting for a top position.
The core of the game would of course remain the same, as Photoshop CS is evolved from Photoshop 1.0, extra features but still the same principle.
I think all the cosmetics and marketing tricks will do nothing if you (we?) don't start widening the scope of the playability.
Random events, political systems, missions, non playing planets, heroes... there are so many possibilities to improve the game without betraying its spirit.
At least let's open this drawer and see what could be done for real.

[Monroe]

Makhil,
Theoretically what you suggest is what already happens. There is in fact a group of us who read all of the suggestions and discuss them, and theoretically the best of the ideas from here and other places make it into a short list of things to be added for the next round or so. Unfortunatly in practice this isn't how it works. As to why this is there are three main reasons, time, money, and persistance. No one has been willing to take the time to workout a coherant plan, mostly because there isn't money to fund it. Also it is hard to be motivated to be persistant and purposeful in developing a game when there is very little money involved (and therefore lack of motivation) as well as experiance in how to actually design and run a software company (which theoretically PA is). So while none of these answers are really satisfying I feel they do accurately reflect the current state of affairs, as to what to do about it? You guess is as good as mine.

[Rocko]

i was gonna make a thread similar to this one :P,... the last 3-4 ideas posted around here have been very good,.. and if implimented together possibly could and would change the game dramatically,.. ,...
but your saying there's not enough man power and resoureces to do that...
your on a downward spiral then im afriad, and it's not going to be easy to get out. If your putting off changes to improve because you can't find the time to code it, or the money to get the job done, then these changes won't happen, or will in a very simplictic way, which won't be any good.

As it stands the game WILL stagnate,... unless your still hiding some major change which i remember being promised around about the time of the free round a while back,.. then this game will stagnate, and peter out.

So what to do about it???
Someones gonna have to take the plundge up there and decide it's now or never. The longer you leave it, the harder it'll be. Completly re-work planetarion with all those great ideas. Planetarion 2.0,... as apososed to 1.20 which we're about to have,..
First round free,.. it's practically a new game on offer, and on the market,..

But hey, im not the person who has to take those risks,.. but if you the game to improve,.. and regenerate a larger populas for the community,.. then it's going to have to be done at some point,. before it's to late.

[Makhil]

Monroe, i understand that keeping your motivation when you're not getting any salary for your work is nearly impossible, that's why I suggest to put together a new team with a new motivation for a temporary mission, but only if the choices they make have a chance of being implemented in a beta version (coz I believe that worse than working for peanuts is the feeling to be working for nothing). This team should include a coder... for the rest, dedicated players with a positive attitude would do, maybe one professional whinner too coz it's always useful.