Overgrowth, the vaporware bunny homicide simulator - no longer vaporware, too bad it sucks!

[dnf]

So here we are, six years and still counting.

Went on and checked the latest alpha video.

Still some minor tweaks in combat. Not a word on the actual single player campaign.

Does someone still think that this game will be finished one day?

How do you expect them to release the game if they didn't make their kickstarter yet?

 

[Hornawkawk]

Six years? Grimoire's got a superdemo after 17 years of development. Learn some patience.

 

[Infinitron]

DOGS:

 

[asper]

Impressive as usual, especially since it's just two people making this. I've read that this engine coder is some sort of prodigy. But they still have to create all the actual game content. 5 years more of work, if not more.

 

[SCO]

i feel the fat rabbit is some sort of subtle commentary

 

[Haba]

Descriptive thread titles for the fucktory.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/last-overgrowth-alpha-vid-made-me-queasy.63733/

 

[SCO]

 

[Infinitron]

Released on Steam Early Access:

 

[Bradylama]

Better spear combat than AoD?

 

[Zewp]

It's still in alpha? Holy shit.

 

[Bradylama]

Slowing down AI to match human reaction times?

This could be the closest thing to a real martial combat simulator.

 

[SCO]

missing the wiimote control scheme. BTW, all fighting games AI are slowed down. Otherwise, players would freak out about 'cheating'... which they are doing, that is, they know you've pressed a button when you press it.

 

[Machocruz]

Foot Sweep: The Game

 

[Clockwork Knight]

SCO is right. For an example of what happens when the AI isn't slowed down, see any Mortal Kombat battle against the AI on hard.

fake edit: lol, doesn't even need to be on hard. Just found this.

Mortal Kombat 2 Arcade - Rev 1.1 - IMPOSSIBLE To Throw The A.I.
Give it a try. By pressing LP, it's an instant trigger for the AI to throw YOU!

 

[Bradylama]

So I shelled out the bux for the Alpha and I'll give my impressions here:

This is the most playable Alpha I've ever seen, not because there's an actual game per se but because the engine is so modular, easy to work with, and well designed. The Overgrowth Engine is the kind of stuff that could give Source a run for its money in terms of modability (assuming that it ever becomes popular).

As far as what can be done in the Alpha, there are a few challenges set up (no objective recognition) and a Gladiator's Arena where the opponents are procedurally generated based on your skill level, with both armed and unarmed fights. Other than that the real core of the gameplay is fiddling with the level editing tools and fooling around with the core combat & parkour gameplay.

Doing more requires getting involved with the modding community, and even being able to setup fullscreen or change the settings necessitates a 3rd Party program called SUMLauncher. Getting SUMLauncher involves a convoluted process where you have to create a Humble Bundle account (purchases not necessary), then use a Steam cd key with your Humble Bundle info to authenticate on the Overgrowth website and use the resulting Overgrowth verification key to authenticate with the SUMlauncher. Even being able to see the modding or Overgrowth subforums on the Woflire forums is impossible without going through this authentication process.

SUMLauncher is a neat utility tool that gives access to a lot of impressive and not-so impressive community content. Right now it's mostly just maps, characters, weapons and other objects. Anything like a full conversion is going to be a distant future thing. Now if only the program would let me lower volume settings so I can listen to podcasts while bunny punching.

Foot Sweep: The Game

It's actually very diffiicult to pull off a foot-sweep properly because the AI does a really good job of blocking or dodging the sweeps. Because the fighting system is contextual, it can be fairly difficult to pull off the exact kind of attack that you want, and crouching down to pull off a footsweep is a huge red flag for the AI to respond to.

Damage modeling is also a skeleton-based system as opposed to any kind of HP modeling. You can take a lot of unarmed blows and a few slashes from bladed weapons (if you're lucky), but anything that would break your bones, snap the neck, or stabbing attacks are fatal. What will really get you or an opponent is getting smashed into a hard surface. It's possible to break your neck just from flipping at a low altitude. Getting hit while you're not in a stance or blocking will ragdoll you. A roundhouse kick to the face is Goodnight Gracy.

The engine also effectively models mass and other parameters for in-game characters, so the potential for a good action RPG is already there. Rabbits are the weakest but also the most agile, dogs are the toughest and wear the most armor, but wolves are gigantic and their attacks can't be blocked.

The AI also adapts to your moveset, so the longer it stays alive the more it anticipates what you're going to do and needs to be thrown off. Bottom line is that combat feels fresh, and could be the basis for a lot of really sweet total conversions or standalone games once the dev tools are released.

 

[cherry blossom]

Better spear combat than AoD?

That is the most engaging and convincing real-time combat I've seen in a game. Lack of HP modeling alone is serious incline.

I'm not sure what this game is intended to be, though. What will come after it? Develop a solid system and throw it to the modders?

 

[MisterStone]

Better spear combat than AoD?

That is the most engaging and convincing real-time combat I've seen in a game. Lack of HP modeling alone is serious incline.

I'm not sure what this game is intended to be, though. What will come after it? Develop a solid system and throw it to the modders?

The first game by these devs, Lugaru, had a very rudimentary story mode. WHat made the game fun was the mechanics; the various levels basically just set you up against different numbers of opponents. There were only rabbits and wolves, IIRC and a very small number of weapons. But for all that it was insanely fun. To summarize, Lugaru is fun because of the highly-tuned mechanics and the inherent challenges of them plus a decent AI running the opponents, not on extensive content.

I'm guessing this game is similar, but with even more effort put into game mechanics and dev tools. It's a very robust engine with lots of dev tools, but I doubt that there will be the tons of content (level design, character designs, cut scenes, etc.) that you find in the typical AAA title. Which is fine by me... a lot of games have tons of content but shit mechanics. Fallout 3 or similar Bethesduh games are examples of this.

 

[Haba]

And since I love watching, I took a look.

- Now ten years (!) in development (since 2005 w. 'Lugaru 2')

- Steam reviews full of disappointed customers
http://store.steampowered.com/app/25000/

- The alpha crashes all the time

- No sign of the single player campaign in sight

- Last update in February

- Switching from their custom built engine to UE4 (r000000000fles!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCTzKEfEeeg

Wanna talk about toxic ideology, Wolfire furries?

 

[Konjad]

Haha, yeah. I lost my hopes for this game. I expected it to be really good, as I loved Lugaru (as simple and short as it was, it was awesome nonetheless), but following the development I've noticed that the game will either never leave alpha or will become mediocre. However, the maker did put a lot of effort into it, I'm not saying the game is shit either, but he was too ambitious and too much of a perfectionist. He should have just make a longer and a little more complex Lugaru, not this, because it will never be finished.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Lazing Dirk]

Sweet, just another 10 years until release.

The combat does look pretty fun though, if nothing else. It's like Watership Down meets Dark Souls.

 

[TheChickenKing]

I thought Lugaru was pretty fun, so I backed Overgrowth way back towards the start of the alpha. At the time, they were doing regularly updates that were consistently improving the game so the regret didn't set in for a few years. Fortunately, it looks like they might actually finish and it does feel like the game's pretty darn fun in it's current state. It's not exactly the next great thing to come out of indie gaming, but as a modern beat-em up, I'm actually not all that disappointed with the game as it is right now.

 

[Somberlain]

Fitting thumbnail.

 

[Charles Eli Cheese]

This guy has serious mental problems, and is a cuck mangina on top of it all. I hope he dies in a fire.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

It... looks kinda fun....

 

[Haba]

Today Overgrowth is now in BETA with a full single player Lugaru campaign

THAT IS NOT WHAT BETA MEANS YOU FUCKING LYING CUNTS

Jesus...

9 years in the making, nothing to show.

We are releasing another campaign in a few months, which will be the actual Overgrowth campaign.

SURE