I would like to add that “not in active development” doesn’t necessarily mean the project is dead. It could theoretically still continue at one point, maybe in a similar, maybe a bit different form. We still haven’t really figured out how to continue yet, plus most of us are rather busy with uni and work right now, so things are kinda slow going.
Thank you very much :) Maybe one day indie dev will resume, or at least some dabbling with tech that could make interesting videos. (VR/AR is pretty damn fun)
@@DubstepCoder oh ok, im just playing soa sometimes, other games too like teardown, MEORS and so on, keep it up, i want water and other liquids to spread faster and be faster
Ben, It's unfortunate that you don't have the resources to continue your project. But thank you regardless. You came a long way and we appreciate it. Would you mind giving the game to people that *can* develop it? Because honestly, we really want to see a finished product. Please.
I think people will surely underestimate the code :p (get ready for some intense refactor) but I am personally inclined to open source it yes. I'll bring it up with the team, and if we open source it I'll make another video.
It certainly is a shame but thanks for the honest update, I think its always best to know whats going on for the followers. I think it would be worthwhile investing time in a proper postmortem on the project (even if only for your own use) to best learn from any mistakes.
I don't think its likely, since the core problem is lack of development resources (No funds, no time). The community has been amazing and passionate, but due to the scope and age of the game, any future of this codebase seems bleak. It has been a learning experience though. This same tech could be reproduced for a smaller scoped game, in another engine, much more rapidly. Personally I have been looking into unreal 4 and unity a bit to see how they work and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As fun and powerful making your own engine is, it just takes WAY longer to make a 3D game. I wouldn't go back and change it though, since building the vorb engine and SoA is the foundation of my knowledge.
I was responding under the assumption you were referring to non direct support. If you meant we open source the game and the community takes it and potentially turns it into something or at least learns from it, I like that idea.
Just post the source in it's current state on GitHub, don't even bother cleaning it up or anything just get the contributors together and ask if everyone is cool with it. Few decent codebases of this scale are freely available, and there is a lot to take from this. Cheers!
Yes what I initially had in mind was open-sourcing, I've seen many old games and applications alike being actively developed by the community years or even decades after the original developers moved on to other things. Maybe not much would come of it but I truly believe it's worth seeing what the fanbase can do with it. As Gobrosse said, it's a great place to start from and it could enrich not just the gaming community but also the developer community as well, for us to learn just as you have.
I still play it every now and then. What I find most fun is spawning (and not looking) and then try and find an ocean. My longest trip was 30km until I finally found one. Only after 25km walking I could see the ocean after climbing a massive mountain. :D
Thumbs for the update, sad to head its dead would have liked it to move to an open source for learning before death. But honestly even open source it probably wouldn't have progressed, full time work kind of kills that for everyone.
Hey Ben, do you plan on continuing your C++ Advanced tutorial series? Maybe get into a bit of 3D? Your tutorials were a massive help for me. I'd be glad if you started doing them again. Best regards
would letting others develop it instead be an option you would be interested in or would you only rather do it yourself? and how much hope of future development can we expect?
My personal opinion is that open sourcing this could be really cool (MIT license or something that is very lightweight). I'm ashamed of some of the code, and proud of some of it too, and it doesn't compile on newest VS. That decision isn't up to me though, since the studio as a whole owns the code and we are pretty democratic. I'll bring it up again. You should probably assume no future development for SoA. This is my channel though, and I'll be a programmer until I die, so anything I personally work on that is worth showing will inevitably end up here. I have a lot of cool ideas, just a lack of time/motivation right now.
Wow... what a "f#ck you" to the fans... well that's what happens when you develop something that's "advanced" and not fun. (Anyone cares about my not dead project?)
It's hard to stay enthusiastic and dedicated to one project over a long period of time. Especially when most of your time and effort goes to doing something else that actually pays the bills.
Thanks Ben, I am encouraged to do just that. Project like yours would "actually pay the bills" - as long as you dont have many bills to pay until it kicks off. So idk if i can relate there. I was also listening to audiobook of what Notch went through. He had to make the same choice as well and he stuck to his project obviously. Regardless of many offers trying to "buy him over".
Don't forget that notch also lost interest in developing Minecraft and started working on other projects (such as Scrolls). He also said that he stayed because "people said I was important for the culture". It is in no way obvious whether or not this game would be able to pay the bills if they continued working on it. And even if it can pay the bills, if you accept money (from investors or through crowd funding) and then don't deliver what they expected (because you lose interest in the project, get burned out, etc.), you risk hurting your reputation and future opportunities.
Well... I am personally sucking it up and I am fine working a low pay job, not investing to have a family - everything for my project and freedom to have endless fun on this awesome world of internet. Of-course Notch suffered a similar fate eventually. The doubts & his own project outgrown him - his self esteem - to make him feel free to do what he wants. AND it's really hard to know what to do with all the money that starts pouring in when you do breach success. Now Minecraft is kind of like a "zombie game" - totally reliant on the community (which is not going to be successful in the long run) - it's a weird game to compete against for sure, but I have to do it - the formula is too good to not be unchalleneged.
Never expected to see a video from this channel again. :o
Best of luck with your current and future projects!
It's a shame a good project like this dying, but good luck with whatever you guys do.
I would like to add that “not in active development” doesn’t necessarily mean the project is dead. It could theoretically still continue at one point, maybe in a similar, maybe a bit different form. We still haven’t really figured out how to continue yet, plus most of us are rather busy with uni and work right now, so things are kinda slow going.
Don't worry SOA was a nice first project
Following the development was fun
If you ever make a new indie game
I would love to follow the development
Thank you very much :) Maybe one day indie dev will resume, or at least some dabbling with tech that could make interesting videos. (VR/AR is pretty damn fun)
@@DubstepCoder can you return, are you there? Are you with us?
@@stefanopalmeri5411 Im here, im working on something new :) it does use a lot of the old code
@@DubstepCoder oh ok, im just playing soa sometimes, other games too like teardown, MEORS and so on, keep it up, i want water and other liquids to spread faster and be faster
Hey, thanks for the update. Nice to have closure. These passion projects can be really hard to maintain.
I know I may have commented a bit too much now, but I actually want to say thank you as this project really got me into coding.
NukularPotato I'm really glad it had a positive impact on you :)
Ben, It's unfortunate that you don't have the resources to continue your project. But thank you regardless. You came a long way and we appreciate it.
Would you mind giving the game to people that *can* develop it? Because honestly, we really want to see a finished product. Please.
I think people will surely underestimate the code :p (get ready for some intense refactor) but I am personally inclined to open source it yes. I'll bring it up with the team, and if we open source it I'll make another video.
Damn...
Best of luck with life. I'm sure you will probably find better projects to work on in the future that we can all feel proud of you for though.
Man, it sure does feel bad that the game is dead. Hope it gets revived or something one day. Good luck on your job!
It certainly is a shame but thanks for the honest update, I think its always best to know whats going on for the followers. I think it would be worthwhile investing time in a proper postmortem on the project (even if only for your own use) to best learn from any mistakes.
Am I dreaming? A new video by Ben? I must be dreaming even if the video is not good news.
Can the community help carry this game forward?
I don't think its likely, since the core problem is lack of development resources (No funds, no time). The community has been amazing and passionate, but due to the scope and age of the game, any future of this codebase seems bleak. It has been a learning experience though. This same tech could be reproduced for a smaller scoped game, in another engine, much more rapidly.
Personally I have been looking into unreal 4 and unity a bit to see how they work and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As fun and powerful making your own engine is, it just takes WAY longer to make a 3D game. I wouldn't go back and change it though, since building the vorb engine and SoA is the foundation of my knowledge.
I was responding under the assumption you were referring to non direct support. If you meant we open source the game and the community takes it and potentially turns it into something or at least learns from it, I like that idea.
Just post the source in it's current state on GitHub, don't even bother cleaning it up or anything just get the contributors together and ask if everyone is cool with it. Few decent codebases of this scale are freely available, and there is a lot to take from this. Cheers!
Yes what I initially had in mind was open-sourcing, I've seen many old games and applications alike being actively developed by the community years or even decades after the original developers moved on to other things. Maybe not much would come of it but I truly believe it's worth seeing what the fanbase can do with it. As Gobrosse said, it's a great place to start from and it could enrich not just the gaming community but also the developer community as well, for us to learn just as you have.
As a current college student and a full-time software engineer (working during college) I think I could learn a lot about this software.
I still play it every now and then. What I find most fun is spawning (and not looking) and then try and find an ocean. My longest trip was 30km until I finally found one. Only after 25km walking I could see the ocean after climbing a massive mountain. :D
001Peaceman the cellular automata is still really fun to play around with!
In other breaking news: water still wet, and the sky is still blue...
Thank you for the update
I hope SoA gets posted to github. I could learn an awful lot from this project.
RIP
Thumbs for the update, sad to head its dead would have liked it to move to an open source for learning before death. But honestly even open source it probably wouldn't have progressed, full time work kind of kills that for everyone.
Will you upload the source to github or something?
josh Katz if we decide to do that, I will make another video.
Ben Arnold thank you for this!
Hey Ben, do you plan on continuing your C++ Advanced tutorial series? Maybe get into a bit of 3D? Your tutorials were a massive help for me. I'd be glad if you started doing them again. Best regards
I want to make more videos again, I just need to find motivation and time.
would letting others develop it instead be an option you would be interested in or would you only rather do it yourself? and how much hope of future development can we expect?
My personal opinion is that open sourcing this could be really cool (MIT license or something that is very lightweight). I'm ashamed of some of the code, and proud of some of it too, and it doesn't compile on newest VS. That decision isn't up to me though, since the studio as a whole owns the code and we are pretty democratic. I'll bring it up again.
You should probably assume no future development for SoA. This is my channel though, and I'll be a programmer until I die, so anything I personally work on that is worth showing will inevitably end up here.
I have a lot of cool ideas, just a lack of time/motivation right now.
If the development is stopped, is there any hope of seeing the repo on github?
Haha, the website doesnt exist anymore.. :(
The download is….
kill
@@DubstepCoder huh?
Can ya at least put fire into the game like the progress video
Is it safe?
oof
:(
:(
Rip
Wow... what a "f#ck you" to the fans... well that's what happens when you develop something that's "advanced" and not fun.
(Anyone cares about my not dead project?)
Yeah it never ended up being a game, just a playground for building tech. Learn from my mistakes.
It's hard to stay enthusiastic and dedicated to one project over a long period of time. Especially when most of your time and effort goes to doing something else that actually pays the bills.
Thanks Ben, I am encouraged to do just that.
Project like yours would "actually pay the bills" - as long as you dont have many bills to pay until it kicks off. So idk if i can relate there.
I was also listening to audiobook of what Notch went through. He had to make the same choice as well and he stuck to his project obviously. Regardless of many offers trying to "buy him over".
Don't forget that notch also lost interest in developing Minecraft and started working on other projects (such as Scrolls). He also said that he stayed because "people said I was important for the culture".
It is in no way obvious whether or not this game would be able to pay the bills if they continued working on it. And even if it can pay the bills, if you accept money (from investors or through crowd funding) and then don't deliver what they expected (because you lose interest in the project, get burned out, etc.), you risk hurting your reputation and future opportunities.
Well... I am personally sucking it up and I am fine working a low pay job, not investing to have a family - everything for my project and freedom to have endless fun on this awesome world of internet.
Of-course Notch suffered a similar fate eventually. The doubts & his own project outgrown him - his self esteem - to make him feel free to do what he wants. AND it's really hard to know what to do with all the money that starts pouring in when you do breach success.
Now Minecraft is kind of like a "zombie game" - totally reliant on the community (which is not going to be successful in the long run) - it's a weird game to compete against for sure, but I have to do it - the formula is too good to not be unchalleneged.