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KickStarter Dead State Pre-Release Discussion [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

Self-Ejected

Davaris

Self-Ejected
Developer
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Messages
6,547
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Idiocracy
This is a review of the first 10 seconds of the game. During character creation, the default sex for characters is female, which is rapidly becoming a pet peeve of mine. I'm all for progress and the inclusion of women (and any other demographic that so desires) in games, but "ladies first" is hardly inclusive or progressive. Putting men first here, while also unfair, is at least traditional -- like "ladies and gentlemen." Do the devs expect that most players will be female? Or perhaps that most characters will be?

The rest of the game may be really good, but I've stopped supporting developers who are so eager to be seen not to be unfair to women that they never consider that it's possible to be unfair to men. I'm putting this up for people like me.

Review from steam.

:hero:

Is there a not man or woman option?
 

kain30

Cipher
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
543
Location
spain
i cannot stand people whinning about sex role in a videogame... come on it´s only entertainment, nothing educational. stay out of my games!
 

likaq

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Messages
1,198
This is a review of the first 10 seconds of the game. During character creation, the default sex for characters is female, which is rapidly becoming a pet peeve of mine. I'm all for progress and the inclusion of women (and any other demographic that so desires) in games, but "ladies first" is hardly inclusive or progressive. Putting men first here, while also unfair, is at least traditional -- like "ladies and gentlemen." Do the devs expect that most players will be female? Or perhaps that most characters will be?

The rest of the game may be really good, but I've stopped supporting developers who are so eager to be seen not to be unfair to women that they never consider that it's possible to be unfair to men. I'm putting this up for people like me.

Review from steam.

:hero:

Is there a not man or woman option?

I don't know.
Here is his/her account:

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972382849/
 

taxalot

I'm a spicy fellow.
Patron
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Oct 28, 2010
Messages
9,613
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Your wallet.
Codex 2013 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
Below early twenties, most entertainment is preparation for the massive decrease in intelligence that occurs when most people get a job and are too lazy when they come back from work for any activity that requires a brain.

Although this generation is probably the first that decided this would now start in grammar school. It's like the entertainment makers of today were afraid of a medical condition from the sudden drop in IQ, like when you start physical exercise in your 30s. Instead, they have decided to make everyone dumber from the moment they were born. Much safer.

It's like that thing that guy said

 

NotAGolfer

Arcane
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Joined
Dec 1, 2013
Messages
2,527
Location
Land of Bier and Bratwurst
Divinity: Original Sin 2

yes_scotland_flag_round_car_magnet.jpg

:bravo::yeah:
 
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Trash

Pointing and laughing.
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Messages
29,683
Location
About 8 meters beneath sea level.
Last patch shows they're moving the right way. Exploring the maps really has a UFO vibe to it. With more AI scripts and the zombies becoming more of a threat this will only get better. My biggest gripe so far is something I really had not expected. Where are the other factions? Where are the neutral npc's? Where is the all important interaction with other survivors outside my own group? The ever npc is either a zombie or hostile or a recruitable character thing really isn't working for me. Are they still implementing those? Have I somehow missed them?

Only npc I found that was truly neutral was a survivalist who warned me not to enter his house. Nice moment. It was however the only neutral one I found and there was zero interaction.

They responded that they haven't implemented a lot of npc encounters yet but are certainly planning to. Including lots of neutral and faction ones. Beta is a beta and all that. Good news.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
4,065
I did find a neutral town of shorts where everyone was armed with bows. I also found an empty army base, maybe something will be found there later?
 

Korron

Cipher
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Joined
Apr 27, 2013
Messages
288
Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Don't underestimate the fact that the most avid, casual ME/Skyrim fans had their start in their teens with BG. I love the IE-games, but most of the worst "RPG-fans" of today had their start with them and idolize them, those being the oldest games they've played.
Why back in my day! Come on!!!! How old do you think this hobby is? While I grew up on sega and nintendo, I'd say the original IE games were some of the first crpgs I played. That doesn't mean I have a shrine to David Gaider in my closet, and a tattoo of the elder scrolls on my left ass cheek..... It's on the right, and I worship Casey Hudson. Yeeesh. Also, I tried that original Wasteland when I got it for backing WL2. People can talk about the good old days all they want, but by today's standards that is a shit experience.
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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Copenhagen
Why back in my day! Come on!!!! How old do you think this hobby is? While I grew up on sega and nintendo, I'd say the original IE games were some of the first crpgs I played. That doesn't mean I have a shrine to David Gaider in my closet, and a tattoo of the elder scrolls on my left ass cheek..... It's on the right, and I worship Casey Hudson. Yeeesh. Also, I tried that original Wasteland when I got it for backing WL2. People can talk about the good old days all they want, but by today's standards that is a shit experience.

Besides Lands of Lore, the IE games were my first rpgs as well. What's your point? Unless you're defending current age BioWare or Bethesda I'm sure why you think we disagree.
 

Korron

Cipher
Patron
Joined
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Messages
288
Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Besides Lands of Lore, the IE games were my first rpgs as well. What's your point? Unless you're defending current age BioWare or Bethesda I'm sure why you think we disagree.
Eh I just I guess read too much into your post, and have felt like (maybe more so in the past) that there is an attitude around here that if you didn't grow up on the gold box games then fuck you.
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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Messages
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Copenhagen
Eh I just I guess read too much into your post, and have felt like (maybe more so in the past) that there is an attitude around here that if you didn't grow up on the gold box games then fuck you.

Some have that attitude, sure, not me. Hence the disclaimer that I loved the IE-games. However there is so e truth in the fact that alot of people speak about the old RPGs without having tried them. A lot of them are more user-friendly than you think and you get used to the graphics after handling them one hour.

I played many of my favourite RPGs after coming here and discovering them. Like Wizardry 8. Or KotC.

And Dragon Age :troll:
 

Wirdschowerdn

Ph.D. in World Saving
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34,462
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Clogging the Multiverse with a Crowbar
Just demoed the Beta..... wow, what a refreshing little game. Slow, eerie, no hand-holding, tons of l00t, compelling writing. B. Mitsoda & Co. know their shit. This is probably the closest thing to Fallout 1 in spirit we'll ever get.

:takemymoney:

Sorry B. Fargo. I never really liked Wasteland 2 much anyway.
 

Jedi Exile

Arcanum
Patron
Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Messages
1,177
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Just demoed the Beta..... wow, what a refreshing little game. Slow, eerie, no hand-holding, tons of l00t, compelling writing. B. Mitsoda & Co. know their shit. This is probably the closest thing to Fallout 1 in spirit we'll ever get.

:takemymoney:

Sorry B. Fargo. I never really liked Wasteland 2 much anyway.

It's too cheesy and closer to Fallout 2 in tone. Dead State is more like Fallout 1 (which is my favourite).
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,655
Dead State ought to include an encounter where you see a woman on the roof of a fortified building who tells you to go away. If you're the kind of jerk who refuses to listen, she'll use a megaphone to draw hoodmen zombies to your location. When you make it the roof, she surrenders, and you're given the choices of (kick a puppy) destroying her megaphone, (kill a puppy) giving her a quick death for the trouble she caused you, or (flay a puppy alive) throwing her off the roof into the cluster of zombies below, with the appropriate negative or positive reactions from your companions.

Of course the chances of this happening are zero.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,4798.0.html

For this Monday Update, I'd like to address some common issues, complaints, questions, misunderstandings as quickly as possible so I can get back to work.

When is Dead State being released?
Fall 2014.

Very obviously from the demo, we're still in production, but are quickly implementing the last bits into the game internally and will be polishing up the game as much as is possible. We want to release the best game possible and will postpone release to crush critical bugs and finish major polish tasks, but at a certain point, we need to release the game. We will, however, continue to support Dead State with content and fixes/polish after its release for a good long time. We have no plans to dump the game on Steam as-is.

Why don't your game's graphics look as good as <bigger budget indie/RPG project>?
We chose to make our graphics functional over detailed because it's a big game with lots of locations, items, and characters. To make it easier on ourselves, we went with a low-poly approach because with so many assets, we needed to turn them out at a higher rate. Doing detailed graphics takes a lot more time and requires a bigger team to divide tasks between. Given our budget ($300,000) and scope, I'm pretty impressed with what the art team has managed to do given the time, size, and budget of the game.

Why aren't there more NPCs out in the world?
They are coming. They're easy to add and many are written, we've just got bigger priorities right now. Some of them are out there, they just aren't working as designed at the moment and are being fixed (this goes for bugged ally conversations as well). We'll be adding more NPCs, ally/enemy bark triggers, and events out into the world. Remember that many of the events in the game are spread out over the course of months. We're quickly approaching something like 15,000 lines of dialogue in the game (not counting all the other text) – there's an insane amount of dialogue in this game and we're adding little bits here and there all the time.

I have feedback, but I decided to post it on a random game forum. Does that help?
Not at all. If you really want to help us out, make sure you give us your feedback on our official forums or Steam forums. We really do want to make the game better and address the biggest issues you have with it, but we can only do that if you leave us your feedback.

The February Early Access release was too limited and rough. Is it better?
Yes, I would say so and so would many of the beta reviewers on Steam and our Kickstarter backers. We've added a lot more content and features that the original Early Access version was missing. But don't take our word for it – if you downloaded the 7 Days version, you now have the Beta version. Or wait a few more weeks for the final release. But if you really want the game to get better, play through the beta and leave us your feedback.

I haven't heard of your game. Wouldn't press cover you if it was any good?
Aside from a few interviews and PAX, we haven't pursued press as much as we should, mostly because our team is tiny and we're all working on finishing up the game. However, we have sent out updated information and trailers to press pretty often for major milestones. But it seems like there are more stories about kickstarter creators that failed to finish their game than projects that are nearing release with everything they promised in their initial campaign.

As we finish up the game, we will definitely be doing more to promote the title. For now, we mostly rely on word of mouth, so if you're enjoying the Beta, tell a friend or game forum, review us on Steam, or do a let's play about the game – the more buzz, the more likely it is that Dead State will get press.

There is a lack of resources in the game right now. Can I use a cheat or mod to fix this?
No, please don't do this. It invalidates your save and could cause new bugs, so don't send them to us to find a problem if you have modded the game. Also, we're trying to address balance issues right now, so we need to hear feedback on lack of resources. We are finishing up a revamp of the loot system/balance, so expect more resources out in the world as the game gets updated.

Is your game going to get <popular feature> before release?
Our game's scope is already off the charts – reactive dialogue, turn-based combat, base management – so it's unlikely that we're going to get to that feature before release. We're still fixing bugs and tweaking systems and AI in our existing build, so some things will change, but certain systems are either outside our scope or wouldn't fit in with our current game's design.

How do I use spoiler tags?
Enclose your text with the spoiler tag button like this:
(click to show/hide)

And please use them (also, use them for your spoiler images on Steam too!). Dead State works best when you go out into the map not knowing where everything is or what's happening with every ally and event. If you're not one of our dedicated beta testers and you want the game to be fresh, don't read anything about it and don't look at any maps while you play.

Have any of the physical Kickstarter Backer Rewards gone out yet?
Since several of them depend on the game being done, we need to wait for the final build of the game before we get them made (also, the book is being wrapped up right now too). We set aside the money for them at the start of the project. We will make this a top priority when the game goes out. Since we'll have to mail these all out by hand, we will be sending backer rewards out in stages.

Are you launching on anything else besides Steam?
Yes, we are signed up to launch on GOG as well.

What about translations?
We will look into translated versions of the game after the English version is released. With as much text as we have in the game, a translation is going to be quite the undertaking and we're going to need free time to work with translators.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,655
We have no plans to dump the game on Steam as-is.
Probably have no choice if it bombs. :)

We're quickly approaching something like 15,000 lines of dialogue in the game
That's as many as Knights of the Old Republic, and 3000 more than Dungeon Siege III.
 

Phage

Arcane
Manlet
Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Messages
4,696
I'm honestly too stupid and lazy to read this 51 page thread - so requesting some spoonfeeding.

Is this worth purchasing and playing right now, or should I wait for more updates?
 

SniperHF

Arcane
Joined
Aug 22, 2014
Messages
1,110
Is this worth purchasing and playing right now, or should I wait for more updates?

If you are interested in providing feedback and playing a reasonably playable but incomplete game then sure. I'd say there's 8 hours worth of content worth playing right now. The rest is hit or miss.

You will find maps with assets missing, entire architectures missing, no enemies, no loot, and nothing to do at all in various combinations.
 

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