For the small number of people on this site who might have wondered where I have been. Well, it's a bit of a long story, but this connects somewhat to my previous post regarding my gripes with the game. I was working on a Skipjack-class submarine when I ultimately gave up in rage and uninstalled.
I loved this game, I loved what was possible with it, I loved what it can do. Yet ultimately I loved more of what the game was capable of than the quality of the game itself. An overall unfinished and unpolished builder has finally put me to the breaking point. I don't want to build with this game anymore, I just don't have the insane willpower of many of the builders of this site.
I simply can't handle trying to wrangle the game with all it's flaws to try and make something unique. The deeper I got in this game the less I liked it, and ultimately I just don't want to play anymore. And with Jundroo focused more on it's KSP wannabe it seems like there's little hope this game will get much better. I might be simply pessimistic though.
In the end, I've come out of this game with more disappointment than anything. Disappointment that Jundroo's seemingly trying to copy KSP rather than copy the work ethic of its Devs. Disappointed to see a game with as much potential as simpleplanes being left so unfinished and unpolished so long after its release. Disappointed that instead of loving the game more the deeper I got into it I eventually started loving it less.
I've played this game for just over 1300 hours, but the later hours were turned into me being frustrated enough not to enjoy it but enthralled with its potential and my ideas to keep building. In the end, that frustration won out.
Maybe I'll check back on this game whenever they update it, but with how the game is three years on I'm somewhat pessimistic. Feel free to think me wrong, or these complaints as little more than complaints. I'm terribly sorry to those who looked forward to more submarines, or seeing anything else from me. I hope better builders can provide in the near future, but I am done. Whatever cool things I could think of building, I just don't find it worth the frustration.
In the end, I've come to dislike the building system. I like a lot of the features, especially the gizmos and fuselage pieces. But overall between bad and often clunky design features and partially or even completely broken elements (the undo-redo feature most notably) I've come to dislike it. And that's with Overload and the Fine Tuner mods, which seem necessary in order to have a decent building experience. A lot of my issues can be found in my ramble post about my personal issues.
I've got two more uploads I will put up tomorrow, one being a functional sub and the other being that unfinished Skipjack. After that, I'll be done building in this game. Those 1300+ hours have left me unsatisfied, frustrated, yet wistful. I'm likely going to switch to KSP, in hopes of finding a more polished and enjoyable building experience. Especially sorry if that peeves many of you. I enjoyed my time with SP, until I didn't, and until I hated it.
@SledDriver A smooth shape generator? Hmm, well some of the comments here have made me rethink on the idea of wholly leaving building. Might consider making things on occassion, or at least wait and see what the next update brings.
@MintLynx I agree with you in that both the building UI and the sandbox need a major overhaul, and that after 4 years, the game should've been much more polished. But keep in mind that it's only the second game by the developers, and their first 3D one, and so the codebase is probably a mess and very hard to change.
The performance problems and flaws with rotators/pistons are pretty bad, I agree, but the developers are hamstrung by the game engine. The problem with building your game on a third-party engine is that the engine will never be able to do some things you need it to do. The only way to have full control is to create your own engine from scratch like, say, the developers of the Sniper Elite series did, and Jundroo just doesn't have the resources for that.
Having said that, I haven't yet found a building game that has progressed beyond the "add a block to another block" method of building. KSP, Minecraft, Brick Rigs, Trailmakers, Avorion, they're all like that. The great thing about SimplePlanes, though, is that they kept the file format open, which means players can build their own tools to create and edit builds. You seem to build a lot of submarines, so are you aware that there is a tool out there that can let you create the kind of shapes you need in minutes?
You can't do that in KSP (or in any other building game, to my knowledge). Every KSP build I've seen has been blocky and clunky. SimplePlanes is currently the only game where it's possible to create builds with smooth curves that fly exactly the way you want them to.
Ultimately, I don't blame you for leaving, but SP just needs a few things changed to be a truly groundbreaking game. I hope the developers can make that happen.
You guys might be right, note that despite the frequent uploads I wasn't rushing any projects. Mostly finished them quickly due to them being most simple creations built on a similar concept. Maaaybe I spent a bit too much time on it though, and got impatient.
I upload every 3 days@spefyjerbf
What you have to understand is that of course the Devs are more focused on SR2, that’s how they make a living. Yet, they do seek to give SP another update after the Christmas break. And if you are looking for a more polished version of SP, SR2 does so quite nicely actually. Sure there’s a lot that’s wrong with SP, but sometimes just taking a short break between builds or spending more time on them will reduce levels of frustration.
I think that the challenge of building is what makes this game fun! I enjoy putting a lot of effort into a plane and then having the satisfaction of seeing it fly.
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"The insane willpower of many builders on this site"
Many of the most prolific builders only upload once a month, at most. You appear to upload daily, which is an easy way to get tired of SP. Most things in life are best when they are in moderation!
I understand where you are coming from, but I think that your building habits are responsible for what you are feeling.