I personally have fun blowing your vessels out of space. And i think those I fight also have fun.

But, I cannot get new players, and so I think that we must face the fact that RipSpace will never achieve many/any more players.

Any comments?

Well, I suggest advertising on quality wargaming websites such as Webgrognards and Boardgamegeek or at websites of quality Browser based games such as Chosenspace, Battledawn or Supremacy 1914.
I can come up with more of those if needed.

I also tried to attract many other players, since I enjoy this game immensely, but didn't have much success.
The main complaint was about the design. It seems that most people dislike having that many colors on the map. It doesn't bother me but it really puts off many people. Maybe instead of different colors there should be different shades of the same color.

Colours on the map puts them off. Hey ho. The problem with that kind of feed back is without artists on the team (ie only me) it is very very time consuming to come up with something that looks good and also works - ie the gravity wells are vital, and have to be distinguished.

I think the game needs at least 20 or 30 of us to really fly. And it is stable as it is, ie no growth in players.

I did advertise - but the costs really mount up fast and I'm not willing to put in another £500.

Well if you think another 30 players would be enough, than advertising definitely isn't the answer.

In that case we could try another approach. On many wargaming forums people use images in signatures to advertise their projects (mostly for modding games).

Maybe something similar could be done for Ripspace. A clickable image (link) that everyone of us could embed in our signatures on the forums we regularly visit.
Since the game is now completely free that wouldn't be advertising and shouldn't be frowned upon by the admins of the forums.
Especially not on the forums of Browser based games of the SF genre.

It is a good idea. I have to fix the code to remove the free player limits, maybe tomorrow.

Once I have done that we could give it a go. But if that fails then I'm going to give up!

I hope by that you don't mean discontinuing the game.

Well, there are fixed costs. And I really don't want to stop it, because I think it is great. But, there is a reality here - time reward really.

These games need players to be real fun.

I've sent several invites to people I know form other online games I played before. I will send a lot more.
If every active player of Ripspace did the same, there ought to be some results.

This is very kind of you. I should have realised, now that the games are free people may be more enclined to do this kind of thing.

Cheers,
Jonathan