I came into the Planeshift picture only about a couple of months ago when Molecular Blue was on the verge of release. This was partly due to me noticing it on the Happy Penguin awards for most promising game and I told the rest of my team about it and they were game.
I\'m not sure what Planeshift was like prior to this, but from what I read development has been steady and very promising. Sure the team doesn\'t have to meet ridiculous publisher deadlines but this hasn\'t prevented them from keeping pace with current technologies and improving the game engine progressively.
Importantly I think it\'s noteworthy that Planeshift is also based on other software (such as Crystal Space) which have their own development teams as well. This accelerates the development process and allows the game to keep up with the times and yet grow in features.
From successful open-source projects it can be seen that as long as there are a large group of people willing to contribute to the project, regardless of whether it is a part-time or full-time job, the project does get better progressively. Planeshift seems to be going in that direction IMO and hopefully more sponsors or developers turn up and drive development on at an even greater pace.
I\'ve also noticed that Planeshift has been consistantly ranked among the top 50 Sourceforge downloads in recent weeks. I think it\'s community support, involvement and interest that is really keeping this whole thing alive. And good for you all who are here making all this possible.
