A game’s launch is usually such a happy affair, all streamers and balloons and fruit punch and jelly and ice cream and cartwheeling clowns, but it’s a little bittersweet for Spacebase DF-9. It’s not the game Double Fine wanted it to be, nor the game advertised to Early Access purchasers. DF scaled plans down last month as announced they couldn’t afford to keep making the sim space station, and would simply get it to a stable, finished-ish state then release the source code.

Spacebase DF-9 version 1.0 launched this week, also bringing players a virtual party bag containing the source and a free copy of Hack ‘n’ Slash. HnS owners were given a copy of Spacebase too.

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Last week Double Fine announced that Spacebase DF-9 development was coming to an end. The issue was that hundreds of features that had previously been listed as “maybe possibly” coming to the game were no longer to going to be delivered, replaced instead with the release of the game’s LUA codebase so the community could add content themselves.

People are understandably peeved. Tim Schafer has now commented on the game’s Steam discussion forum in response to some of the common questions about what happened.

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Double Fine have announced that development of Spacebase DF-9 is coming to an end and the development plan listing planned features has been removed. The Steam Early Access page has been updated to state that version 1.0 is due for release. It “will be its final major update”, according to the recently updated development plans page. The previous version of that page contained hundreds of features that “might possibly” be implemented at some point. Today’s update makes it clear that any future implementation will be in the hands of the users rather than Double Fine themselves, thanks to a full source code release.

… [visit site to read more]

Each Monday, Chris Livingston visits an early access game and reports back with stories about whatever he finds inside. This week, space station simulation in Spacebase DF-9.>

It’s been a rough week for my little space station. We were boarded by a squad of Kill Bots who, as you might expect, tried to kill all non-bots. A massive fire in the life support chamber nearly knocked out the oxygen supply. Now, an alien parasite has appeared, and even though my security chief easily killed it, I’m left to wonder how the bug even got aboard. Perhaps it burrowed in through that hole in the hull? The one my security chief was just sucked out of to his death? That’s probably how. … [visit site to read more]

In Spacebase, no-one can hear you scream ‘but it’s only an alpha.’Spacebase is pre-beta. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly pre-beta it is.Spacebase: the unfinal build.My god, it’s full of missing features.They should’ve sent a QA guy. So alpha. So alpha… I had no idea.

I’ve been playing Doublefine’s new strategy-management game Spacebase DF-9, which launched on Steam’s oft-abused Early Access service yesterday. I’m comfortable with saying that now probably isn’t the right time to buy it – i.e. it feels too early for early access – but I’m equally comfortable with appreciating what it’s ultimately aiming to do even if it’s nowhere near doing it yet. (more…)

Double Fine does not, cannot, will not stop. Not for me, not for you, not for Death (which is why we’ll probably never see another Grim Fandango). Recently, we’ve seen the international house of chuckles both branch out from and return to its roots in Massive Chalice and Broken Age, respectively, but let’s not forget about Amnesia Fortnight. Last year, Tim Schafer and co teamed up with Humble Bundle to let players vote on prototypes, essentially deciding which games would win a golden ticket into full-scale development. Spacebase DF-9 is set to be the first fruit of those labors, and what a delectable thing it’s looking to be. Think Dwarf Fortress, but (for now) a bit simpler, far easier to parse, and in space. Oh, and it should be on Steam Early Access riiiight abouuuut… now. Video walkthrough with project lead JP LeBreton, interview, and more below. >

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