Hey folks patiently waiting for Drifter to hit 1.0 so I can release on iOS Just wanted to keep you up to date with progress on the game! We just released Drifter 0.6.3 and 0.7.0 will be hitting soon! Featuring a number of quality of life improvements, new icon artwork, and a number of bug fixes you can get the details of whats new and fixed on the wiki: http://celsiusgs.com/drifter/wiki/Current_Build_and_Known_Bugs Drifter 0.7.0 and Beyond Thank you for your continued patience as we work towards 0.7.0. Despite my attempts at trying to increase the frequency of updates we have fallen behind in that regard and I apologize for that. The good news is we have been able to focus on finalizing all of the design work for Drifter 1.0 over the last few months and I feel like theres finally a clear path for finishing the game. Drifter 0.7.0 should be finalized in the next few weeks which will finally see the replacement of the placeholder planet textures with procedurally generated ones, the introduction of the Material Synthesis system, and the introduction of the frequently-hinted-at spatial anomalies which will add a new element of exploration to the game. Once Drifter 0.7.0 is out, I feel like there are maybe 3 or 4 major updates left before we hit 1.0 and the game is finished. With the major design work out of the way most of what is left is implementation, and were going to push for a major update every 4 weeks. I realize its been difficult for us to maintain a consistent schedule but I really want to get the game to 1.0 and properly released and the only way to do this is to keep pushing for it. That said, Drifter 1.0 is not going to mean the end of development on the game because theres still a lot of things Im hoping to add to the game post-release but I feel like this is a necessary step and its been a long time coming. In the meantime, enjoy some concept art Sven has been working on for three new station facilities were adding leading up to 1.0!
Currently playing Stellar Wanderer (having exhausted GoF2. Again). Honestly? Loving Stellar Wanderer - including the elements of inertial movement and fully 3D movement - but just really looking forward to the scope and scale of Drifter. It's hard to keep my enthusiasm going but Drifter will still be instabuy when it lands.
I was greatly anticipating Drifter. I think that by now, it's time to move on. It's been years. It's never coming out. It was a great concept, but obviously it was beyond the developers ability to go from concept to reality. Perhaps the developer could sell the game to a publisher with more resources. That seems to me the only realistic shot of seeing this on iOS.
I'm not sure that's entirely fair. By the looks of it CGS is a two person studio and a large part of this thread is CGS updating everyone with progress. The game as it stands and it's updates are available via Steam Greenlight. They're just waiting until v1.0 until releasing to iOS because there is no equivalent 'Greenlight' on the AppStore. Drifter does not appear to be in 'development hell', rather, the time taken is a reflection of a small team making a big game with all the relevant due diligence of a big team. My enthusiasm is waning but the evidence in no way suggests that it's 'never coming out': quite the contrary.
eat this guys. http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/14/11224596/long-delayed-space-trader-drifter-will-be-completed-this-year-says
4 years later and umpteen promises later... I get that it's a 2 man team, but that doesn't really excuse 4 years. 80k on a Kickstarter, plus all that bought the game to get beta access? Seems with that much paid upfront, they could have hired someone. I know my opinion is the in the minority, it's just frustrating. This is a prime example of why I no longer support games on Kickstarter. Too many examples of unfulfilled promises. I know if I had contributed to the Kickstarter, I'd be irate after 4 years.
There wouldn't have been two people working on the game if it weren't for the Kickstarter or the Early Access money. Making games is expensive, even with just two people. Luckily our costs are low and what we have been fortunate enough to have has lasted this long. Certainly Drifter wouldn't exist at all without it and we are immensely grateful for the support. I realize it's taken much longer than anyone, especially myself, had ever anticipated but all I can say is that I'm not giving up and it will eventually see the light of day.
Keep up the good work. I have faith it will be an excellent game when it's finally released. I would much rather have a late but excellent game then a early underwhelming game.
I have a question: after 5 years in development, which will the minimum device & iOS be? When development began, I guess an iPhone 4 and iOS 5.1.1 or similar were targeted, but now? What minimum devices & iOS are you aiming for?
It's still probably going to be iPhone 4S/iPad 2 level or similar, roughly speaking. I haven't given much thought to the iOS version but I'll try and support as low a version as I can.
Thanks Colin, I own a 4S and iPad3 both with iOS 7.1.2, so I can still dream about this one working on my devices
My iPad 2's still running iOS 5.1.1 (VERY stable); it still runs big games like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Mass Effect: Infiltrator, Galaxy on Fire 2, etc. really well.....can't say the same for an older device running iOS 9. So, support iOS 5.1.1 and higher, or if the game requires more than 300MB RAM to run, then you'd have no choice but to set the minimum required devices to iPad 3/iPhone5/iPad mini 2 and higher, likely with iOS 6.0+/iOS 7.0+ required. If the game runs below 300MB RAM (likely), you may as well support iPad 2/iPhone4S/iPad mini (first gen) with a minimum iOS requirement of iOS 5.1.1+ or 6.0+.
This, exactly this. Not everyone out there has the combo "iPad2 + latest iOS". There are many of us who own old devices with old iOS versions and the devices are very stable and run games very fluently. I own an iPad 3 with iOS 7.1.2 and games such as XCOM run perfectly. I also own a 4S with the same iOS, and I've read many articles saying that iOS 7 runs way more fluent than iOS 8 and 9 on a 4S. Therefore, if Drifter doesn't need more than 300MB RAM and if it doesn't use special game libraries which are iOS8+ or iOS9+ only, IMO it should be allowed to run on those devices. I know some devs restrict old devices by setting a minimum of iOS8+, but I don't think that's the way of proceeding. With a simple "minimum device specs" in the description it should be enough.
I know you guys are going to think I'm a jerk for saying this but I would rather see a developer target newer devices with better specs. I know you can target a wide range of devices (old/new) but you often wind up with an inferior outcome. iPad 2 are coming up to their 5th year of existence. It's time to start putting that old girl out to pasture.
