[Jangiri]

just as a thought i was wondering if you guys had a working multiplayer with a couple maps. if you did you could do a pre release of just a couple fighters and a map just to get the online community familiar with it before the single player release. AKA a beta test

[colecampbell666]

I doubt, they're waiting on a new engine, new AI code, interface art...

[Angelus]

What cole said.
The work required to make a quick Multiplayer version work is better spend on the "complete" game, since you need all the stuff like models, effects, balanced tables, additional code a.s.o. like in a full release.

[karajorma]

The idea was considered actually and does have some merit. There are rather big problems with doing it though.

1) One of the biggest obstacles to release of the main game is that we are waiting for at the moment is the stand alone stuff. Especially the interface. Without that we could only release Diaspora as a Freespace mod, drastically cutting down the potential audience for multiplayer and adding to the public perception that we are a Freespace mod when the real release comes around (And you'd be surprised how many people didn't download BtRL because they thought it was a Freespace mod).

2) Balancing is an ongoing task at the moment and probably will be well into the beta testing period. So we don't have a set of final tables for any of the ships.

3) We're still waiting for FS2_Open 3.6.11 Official. Without that we'd have to release with a nightly build and those have stability problems an official build wouldn't.

4) If we did release a multiplayer demo we'd have to support it. This would drag large amounts of time away from development of the real R1. If we didn't support it, the game could easily gain a reputation for being buggy and having developers who don't give a damn about the fans. Given that we've always tried to maintain a good relationship with the fans, ignoring them in this fashion isn't a path we particularly want to go down. We'd much rather not be the kind of developers who grunt stock phrases at the fans and refuse to support their own games.

[SpardaSon21]

Isn't Diaspora waiting for the final release of 3.6.10, not 3.6.11?  3.6.11 is quite a ways away from being released.

[Jangiri]

thanks for the response Kara,it was just an idea that i thought might hold some merit

[General Battuta]

Isn't Diaspora waiting for the final release of 3.6.10, not 3.6.11?  3.6.11 is quite a ways away from being released.

Well, if you'll note the name on the post above yours...  That's the man in charge.

The hope is that 3.6.11 will come out pretty soon after 3.6.10 since they're already using a bunch of 3.6.11 features.

[karajorma]

I'm not in charge of the SCP, Goober and Taylor are. But yes, the idea is that 3.6.11 will be out soon after 3.6.10 with a whole bunch of new features in it.

3.6.10 simply doesn't have the features we need for Diaspora. If you look at SVN there have been over 150 code commits since we started adding code for 3.6.11, many of them features we really need for the game to work properly.

[General Battuta]

Diaspora, I meant.

[karajorma]

Yeah, I just meant that I don't have the final say on when 3.6.11 comes out. Although if we're ready before it is we'll do the same thing BtRL did and simply branch off our own build.

[SpardaSon21]

Oh, I didn't realize 3.6.11 was that close to being finished.  I thought it was still a really long ways away.