Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Radical Heights - Cliff Bleszinski chases the next fad...and goes bankrupt, RIP

Ezeekiel

Liturgist
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
Messages
1,783
VV2v0O3.jpg

Are game designers ever going to realize that:
1) A human being usually comes equipped with 2 eyes
2) How aimpoints and similar optics work and are used

The opaque optics blocking out the area around the middle of your screen were annoying in COD MW in 2007 and they're still annoying as fuck today.

Then again, if you're dealing with somebody with one eye and bad vision, maybe that explains the rest of the game's graphical prowess :roll:
 

Irata

Scholar
Joined
Mar 14, 2018
Messages
304
The 15 USD founder pack is currently in Steam's top 10 sales chart (at least in NA) at number four. I read that the streamer who made Fortnite popular was playing this today so I imagine his fans probably tagged along. Publishers probably love seeing this. Instead of tons of advertising just pay some popular streamer to play your game.
 

mbv123

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
917
Location
Lettland
The 15 USD founder pack is currently in Steam's top 10 sales chart (at least in NA) at number four. I read that the streamer who made Fortnite popular was playing this today so I imagine his fans probably tagged along. Publishers probably love seeing this. Instead of tons of advertising just pay some popular streamer to play your game.
Well, as soon as the Streamer's check cashes in, he stops playing it and so do the rest of the people. Kind of reminds me of some other game....
:troll:
 

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,235
This guy getting his just desserts again for unleashing Gears of War unto the world!

Edit: Damn, just read sales aren't abysmal like the previous game.
 

Durandal

Arcane
Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
2,117
Location
New Eden
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
This is the kind of game which once you end up releasing in public kills your morale and/or integrity.
All that work on Lawbreakers and only three people are still playing it nowadays, whereas releasing some no-effort F2P BR clone nets you tons of players and possibly even more profits than Lawbreakers. When pushing putrid shit on the Steam Market and following the latest trends is more profitable, why do you even need to try anymore? *cough* Hi-Rez *cough*

 

Snorkack

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Messages
2,975
Location
Lower Bavaria
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I bit the bullet and tried Radical Heights, because I want to know what all this BattleRoyale fuss is about, without having to pay 30 bux for PUBG.
It is EXTREME early access alright. The glitches and missing textures you can see in this thread's screenshots are not the exception but the rule. What can not be seen in the screenshots but is actually worse: Everything feels absolutely dead. There are hardly any sound effects and there's no music whatsoever. When the 'show host' suddenly starts talking with some 80's rock background music every 3 minutes or so when quadrants are locked down, that is even more irritating. There's (almost) nothing in the world that moves, so if you spot any movement, it is another dude you'll have to shoot. Anyways, that's kinda what you should expect from EXTREME early access.

The gameplay however...

Are people retarded?! This is the kind of game that attracts more players than dota, cs, and whatnot? Here's how my games went:
-1st game: I start at the corner of the map. Nobody can be seen. I loot a few buildings, get a few weapons and equipment. I stroll through the world, trying to escape dead zones. At one point I spot someone else on a bike in the distance. But I figure I won't hit him with my shotgun or pistol, so I don't bother. Fast forward, nothing else happens, everything is going to be locked down, only 5 guys left, we're required to get to the tiny final shootout area. I try to go there, sneaking through the trees. Boom, boom, two shots and I'm dead before I could even react. 25 minutes game time, not a single shot fired.
-2nd game: I drop next to a house and want to enter it. Damn, someone else got there few seconds before me, found a pistol, hunted me down and shot me dead.
-3rd game: I spawned near an appartment complex (that's what I think at least, hard to tell without textures and decorative objects). I enter it, find some weapons and gear. I notice someone else is in the complex, too. I manage to surprise and kill him. Before I could loot his shit, game dropped me out because disconnection?!
-4th game: Again disconnection while waiting in the lobby.
-5th game: same as game 2: Got murdered before I could hide and/or find a weapon
-6th game: got careless, got spotted in the open and shot 10 minutes in.
-7th game: Similar to the 1st. I got spotted once and almost shot but could hide and heal up. Arrived at the final shootout circle and killed a camper who unfortunately camped the wrong direction. Anyways - I was in a building and didn't know the playing area would continue to shrink and I got stuck, cornered by the dead zone. Finished 2nd in a very anticlimactic finale.

So yeah, I played for 115 minutes, killed 3 enemies and probably fired less bullets than in an average round of counterstrike. I'm probably going to try again with a friend, but I have a hard time understanding the hype around this type of games.
 

Irata

Scholar
Joined
Mar 14, 2018
Messages
304
I'd recommend Fortnite if you want a better example of the genre without spending money. I prefer PUBG with all its faults, but Fortnite is in much better shape than this game.
 

mbv123

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
917
Location
Lettland
but I have a hard time understanding the hype around this type of games.
It's Twitch faggotry and shilling. That's where all the hype is coming from.
It's a sad day of affairs when people rather watch some obnoxious numale faggot playing video games rather than play them themselves. And worst of all it's actually considered good "entertainment"
 

Big Wrangle

Guest
Red Bull did an interview with Zach Lowery about the game, if anyone gives a shit and wants to have a laugh. Don't expect substance in this one.
https://www.redbull.com/int-en/radicalheights-interview

Find out how Radical Heights is taking on Fornite and PUBG '80s style
radicalheights-screenshot01.jpg


The next game from CliffyB's studio aims to shake up the genre with new ideas, new rewards and new BMX bikes.

When a studio's first title fails to hit the mark despite superhuman levels of effort, it's perhaps forgivable that they'd choose to latch onto the next big gaming trend in order to gain some leverage. Boss Key Productions – co-founded by former Epic Games design director Cliff 'CliffyB' Bleszinski – have apparently done just that.

When a studio's first title fails to hit the mark despite superhuman levels of effort, it's perhaps forgivable that they'd choose to latch onto the next big gaming trend in order to gain some leverage. Boss Key Productions – co-founded by former Epic Games design director Cliff 'CliffyB' Bleszinski – have apparently done just that.

The company's 2017 debut, LawBreakers, seemed to have it all: fantastic graphics, an engaging premise and a variety of game modes. The one thing it didn't have was an audience – there were horror stories that the closed beta had just 7,500 players at its peak, and at launch that figure had dropped by 60 percent. Boss Key have issued a statement saying that development of the game isn't sustainable based on current revenue, meaning it's effectively dead.

"Often times as developers we say, 'Gameplay is King', and while this is true, if a game isn't fun, no one will play it," says Zach Lowery, who worked as senior animator on LawBreakers. "What we neglected is that 'Accessibility is the Kingdom.' If your game isn't accessible, players will be thrown off and never grasp the fun that exists with the gameplay."

Boss Key aren't ignoring the hard lesson they learned from the failure of LawBreakers. The studio have taken it all on board and are using the experience to shape their next game, the free-to-play shooter, Radical Heights, on which Lowery is working as Creative Director.

"On Radical Heights, we've applied a lot of focus on making sure mechanics are simplified and understandable," he says. "You want to open that giant mystery door, just stand in front of it – no complex interactions. This is something we'll continue to focus on as we move forward through Early Access, and something we'll be listening heavily to our community's feedback on."

Set in an '80s-style world drenched in garish colours and screaming, poodle-perm rock music, Radical Heights gleefully adopts what's become the biggest gaming genre on the planet in recent months: Battle Royale. With titles like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite attracting millions of participants and generating piles of cash, you can't blame Boss Key for wanting a slice of the pie. But Lowery insists that this isn't a case of taking an existing concept and slapping a new name on it; Radical Heights has its own tricks to bring to the table.

"At Boss Key, we pride ourselves on creating new and exciting game play, and trying to put our own twist on understood concepts," he explains. "In LawBreakers, you can see a lot of this in our Hero design, pushing outside of the understood tropes, and striving for unique fun that's never been done before. We felt strongly that we could develop a new Battle Royale game that was light-hearted and focused on an interesting juxtaposition of game play from what fans of the genre are accustomed to."

Lowery's love of TV game shows has been central to developing Radical Heights' zany setting. "I'm a huge fan of game shows; they're a massive part of my childhood, college life, and adult life," he says. "There's something about the risk that people take to reap the ultimate reward, and funny enough, 'Risk and Reward' was the working title for this project. When we started talking about interesting ways to flip the Battle Royale genre, we wanted to dangle risky opportunities in front of our players that would make them question, 'Do I want to run over there and grab that pair of aerobic pants, or do I want to focus on just winning?' And then, after they've made their decision, we wanted those opportunities to sparkle on screen and in their mind and make them go, 'Wait...maybe I do want that after all!'"

While it adheres to the basic 'last man standing' Battle Royale format, Radical Heights isn't a slavish clone of existing titles. Lowery thinks fans of both PUGB and Fornite will find something new and interesting in the game's colourful locales. "We don't take ourselves too seriously, and we're focusing on making sure the 99 percent of players who lose in a given round have fun and are enticed with other reasons besides 'just winning' to drop back in and play another round," he says.

"We wanted to focus on other player types and give them reasons to drop in and try it out," says Lowery. "Most Battle Royale games are focused on 'Shooter Player' types, and while we're very much a hardcore shooter, we're also playing to 'Customiser' and 'Adventuring' player types. You can drop into a round of Radical Heights and explore the world looking for cosmetic items to find and unlock.

"We've essentially laid the groundwork for an '80s fuel scavenger hunt through our world, while trying to survive the competition. Sure, you didn't make it to number one, but you found that pair of parachute pants you've been wanting – sounds like a win to me! We have some really fun ideas on how to expand this in the future."


Make sure you're the top gun

Still doesn't sound different enough for you? How about BMX bikes and ziplines, then? "Mobility is something that we knew was a big wide ocean to do some new and fun things in," says Lowery. "We've approached our design of it like a sandbox game. We want to populate our map with toys that not only provide utility, but are also just fun to play around on and can create game play on their own.

"The groundwork for the BMX bike immediately proved to be one of the most fun things to do in our world, so we doubled down on it and have a lot of plans for additional mechanics that involve the bike. But ultimately, the bike is there so you can feel much cooler moving across the map than just running for miles and miles through grass. And ziplines are there because we wanted to add verticality to our world – and let's be honest, who doesn't want to ride on a zipline?"

Even the aspects which Radical Heights borrows from other Battle Royale games have their own twist. Both PUGB and Fortnite utilise a decreasing play area to force participants closer together as the game progresses. Boss Key's take on this format is a little more free-form.

"We liked the idea of having something more flexible," says Lowery. "Believe it or not, we never even tried to do a closing circle in Radical Heights, because for a game show-inspired world, the circle didn't make sense. Instead of just doing the normal convention, we broke down what the actual mechanic was that the circle provided, and it's a pretty simple concept: it's there to funnel players into combat. If you're never funnelled towards other players, then the Battle Royale experience would just be everyone holding a rifle and lying prone in a bush. With the 'Grid' system we're able to change up the experience every single game, keep up the unpredictable nature of the end game, and keep our players on their toes at all times – we find that very interesting and a big part of our long-term plans for Radical Heights."

These wrinkles in the Battle Royale formula extend to how ordinance is procured, too. "Weapons and gear are randomly spawned around the world; items can also be found inside prize boxes and mystery doors around the map," says Lowery. "Additionally, you can find 'Cash' items – Cash being our in-game currency – and you have a choice to make with what you do with your Cash. You can use it to purchase new cosmetic items you've unlocked out of your prize room, or you can use it in-game to buy weapons out of our 'Top Gunz' vending machines if you can't find something better."


On yer bike, mate

This aspect of Radical Heights could prove to be the most interesting – do you ignore Cash and instead look for the best weapon you can find (and run the risk of getting taken out in the process) or do you lay low, acquire as much Cash as possible and purchase the biggest, most powerful firearm you can towards the end of the round? "At the start of the round, everyone begins with zero Cash in their wallet," says Lowery, "so it's always a level playing field, but as you accumulate Cash you have to make the tough choice about what to do with it."

Boss Key have been very open about the game's current 'rough-around-the-edges' status, and why they decided to give the gaming public access to the title at such an early state. Despite this, the critical reaction has been somewhat mixed since launch, but Boss Key are listening. The team made changes as early as day one, such as altering the contents of the 'Founder's Pack' – which gave buyers an advantage when it came to accumulating Cash – to make it seem less like a 'pay-to-win' situation. For Lowery and his team, this is all part of the anticipated learning process.

"When we first started pitching ideas for a new project, the team wanted to focus on creating an Early Access game, something we could build the core game play for quickly, and let our audience start enjoying it as soon as possible instead of holding onto something for two to three years and then going 'Tada!'" he says. "For multiplayer games, Early Access is becoming more and more the norm and teams want to build games with their community, making pivots and doubling down on features that players embrace, at a stage where it doesn't take months to change it, or you are in a corner and can't change things at all. For a small team like ours, our biggest strengths are speed and agility, so building an Early Access-type game is the perfect development for us to work within."

For the time being, Lowery says, Radical Heights is also staying PC-only, but once the full 'Version 1.0' release hits Steam, the studio is "open to exploring all opportunities" that could mean consoles and mobile phones.

Another aspect of the game which triggered some debate online is the lack of female avatars at launch. Given the game industry's current fight for diversity, it struck many players as an odd and perhaps foolhardy move. But Lowery insists that Boss Key aren't intentionally slighting female players, and that the studio intends to make the game as inclusive as possible.

"We have a lot of features planned for our road map to add, and female avatars are one of our biggest priorities," says Lowery. "We're working on them and we want to make sure we do them right. The important thing to note is that all clothing items in the game will work on both males and females. Inclusion and dressing your avatar however you want is very big for us and we never want you to go 'Oh, I can't wear that because I'm 'insert gender.'"

With Fornite and PUBG taking up so much of people's attention, is there room in the market for another Battle Royale title, irrespective of how different it aims to be? And will Boss Key be content with just a small piece of a much larger pie? "Our aspirations for Radical Heights haven't changed from its inception to its launch," says Lowery. "We want to make a multiplayer shooter experience that focuses on transporting you to the light-hearted times of the 1980s, an experience where dying can be just as fun as winning, reaching new player types with enticing and interesting cosmetic scavenger hunt mechanics, and focusing on adding personality and interesting twist to the genre.

"If we hit our aspirations, then ultimately we feel we will have created something really special and our audience will respond accordingly – that's all we can ask for."

Radical Heights is available now on Early Access.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,235
Often times as developers we say, 'Gameplay is King',

To date? If that's the case it's certainly not reflected in modern titles. Seems to me that gameplay is the last thing the majority gives a shit about anymore in both the industry and the audience, and that's why I am butthurt.
 

Big Wrangle

Guest
The playerbase still hasn't dipped yet, which I guess isn't a surprise since it's F2P. However, there is Fortnite which is surely much more polished, right? This game's visual direction just tells me one thing: Radical Heights wants to be Steam's Fortnite, or as one would say, Fortnite for the lazies to go through Epic's launcher.

The interview in general doesn't have much worth other than unintentional comedy, to be honest. But hey no mention of Dark Souls so that's a plus.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,235
Where is the game industry's Hitler? We need an ethical cleansing of all shitty cash grabs and talent-less drivel (so the majority of games being made today) and let any potential actual passion projects breakthrough. Hell forget passion projects, even cashgrabs can be good if there's half-decent design behind it, but that's rarely the case these days.
 

Big Wrangle

Guest
The best way for the moment is to spread knowledge about good games through word of mouth. Which I know does jack shit compared to marketing, but it's something.

I'm still impressed how quickly they turned into cynicism. CliffyB being a pure dumbass and misaimed marketing aside, at least one could say there were some people who wanted to make LawBreakers. But with Radical Heights, you can't feel a shred.
 

Durandal

Arcane
Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
2,117
Location
New Eden
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-studio-is-taking-my-employees-radical-hei/1100-6458290/

Fortnite Studio Is Taking My Employees, Radical Heights Dev Says
Cliff Bleszinski accuses Epic of trying to "hire away my team."

Cliff Bleszinski, who made a name for himself as the creative director of the Gears of War series at Epic Games before leaving the company to start a new studio, has kicked off a public dispute with his former employer. Bleszinski is accusing Epic of poaching developers from his studio, Boss Key. Both are based in the Raleigh, NC area.

Tweeting today, Bleszinski asked Epic to stop its efforts to "hire away my team," adding that he's proud of Boss Key's newly launched battle royale game, Radical Heights--which runs on Epic's Unreal Engine 4. Bleszinski went on to suggest that Epic's reported hiring of Boss Key developers is related to the fact that Radical Heights is a Battle Royale game, and is thus competing against Epic's uber-popular Battle Royale game Fortnite.


"There's room at this genre for more than a few games SMH," Bleszinski said. In another tweet, the developer said Boss Key has "plenty" of ideas for how to make Radical Heights stand out in the Battle Royale genre, but if Epic keeps hiring away its talent, these may never come to light. "We have plenty of ways to make it our own but they may never see the light of day if they keep doing this," he said.

It is unclear how many Boss Key developers left the studio to join Epic, but the figure is apparently substantial enough for Bleszinski to be airing his grievances in public. In December, Boss Key co-founder Arjan Brussee left the studio to re-join Epic. A former online engineer at Boss Key who has since joined Epic, William McCarroll, said on Twitter that Bleszinski is out of line for calling out Epic about hiring away some of its staffers.

"With all due respect, assuming that Epic is the one starting contact / poaching is a bit presumptuous," he said. "We all had our own reasons for making the choice to leave BKP for Epic, and to act like we are commodities being stolen is a bit hurtful. We are people first and foremost."

Epic declined to comment when approached by GameSpot.

Boss Key's free Battle Royale game Radical Heights launched last week in "X-TREME EARLY ACCESS" on Steam--and it is currently lacking many important features. The studio has pledged to continue to update and improve the game over time.

"Please stop giving my employees a more stable job opportunity"
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom