No one can hear you cry foul in Spacebase DF-9

The good news is that Spacebase DF-9 is nearing final release. The bad news is that Spacebase DF-9 is nearing final release. In somewhat of a surprising announcement, Double Fine Productions informed fans that the 1.0 launch version of their indie space base management sim is scheduled for next month. Prior to launch, the developer plans to add a tutorial, a more refined goal system, and backer names will be embedded into the game for those that purchased early access at a higher tier. The studio also announced that the game’s source code will be released sometime after launch for fans to tinker with.

We’ll of course be sticking around a bit for bug fixing and support, but any new content for the game will now be in your hands. We’re eager to see what people do with this game!

The customer comments to the news reflect a less positive outlook. Although the current development plan page lists the modest goals noted in the launch announcement, an archive of the same page from October shows a much more ambitious set of features. Many of these have not been implemented, and it seems likely they will not be part of the release. While the archived page does state that “nothing on this list is carved in stone” it’s disheartening to see what may have been had things gone differently for this game.