Game News My Time at Sandrock tools to Early Access

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: My Time at Sandrock; Pathea Games

My Time at Sandrock has hit Early Access on Steam. It's a follow up to My Time at Portia, which was a fairly well polished crafting, farming, fighting, digging, scavenging, levelling up little game available on nearly everything. This side-quel takes place in a new location, but is essentially the same idea only with a planned multiplayer aspect and a desert setting.

My Time at Sandrock-Just like My Time at Portia, My Time at Sandrock takes place in a wholesome post-apocalyptic world 300 years after the Day of Calamity destroyed most modern technologies.

After accepting a job offer to become Sandrock’s newest Builder, you’ll arrive in the wild and rugged city-state, where it’s up to you and your trusty tools to restore the community to its former glory. Gather resources to build machines, befriend locals, and defend Sandrock from monsters — all while saving the town from economic ruin!​

I played the first one for a little over a week and had a good bit of fun with it once I figured things out. It's not bad for a casual game and there's a heck of a lot of things to do.

Oh, and watch this video and then think about what Bethesda did with Fallout 3. What? A new area of the world having different critters roaming around? Who would have thought that might be a smart thing to do. But, I guess when you're creatively bankrupt, just doing what someone else already did, regardless of if it makes sense, is the best you can do.

 

[Maxie]

Saint_Proverbius once a great newsman and poster ( easily in top 10 best) now reduced to this thing that is promoting steam vapid shovelware on codex....
I guess that the longer you are on codex the more codex-like you become...

if you purport yourself to be such an oldfag then drop excidium's avatar immediately and don't test my patience

 

[Eisen]

GOTY?

 

[PompiPompi]

This game is oozing from casino gambling company turned into mobile company.

 

[Arthandas]

Saint_Proverbius once a great newsman and poster ( easily in top 10 best) now reduced to this thing that is promoting steam vapid shovelware on codex....
I guess that the longer you are on codex the more codex-like you become...

 

[jac8awol]

What the fuck, what the actual fuck? Some kind of mobile trash-tier shovelware with cutesy black cuckold diversity art is frontpage news? RPGwatch died and rightly so, but does the codex really have to carry the torch for shit like this now?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I see a lot of people using the word, "shovelware" for this, which means a good chunk of you faggots have no idea what the term means. The time between My Time at Portia and My Time at Sandrock is three years, five months. Shovelware is something you whip together and dump out. For example, see all those unity hentai games, those are shovelware. Shovelware games don't bother with things like day and night behaviors for the mobs in the game, or creature-type specific behavior, or environment based behavior. All that stuff takes time. In fact, that's something most AAA game developers don't bother with. But hey, one faggot uses the word, and some of you guys just have to fall in line and use it as well because you think it's edgy and have no idea what it means.

Pathea actually makes some pretty decent games. Their first game, which was obviously a learning experience for them, Planet Explorers, was developed shortly after Minecraft became a thing and they took that concept and tossed everything they could in to it. Smooth voxel terrain before it was mainstream, vehicles with physics, melee and ranged weapon creation and crafting, and even colony sim elements towards the late game.

Also, people who want to bitch that there's an android version of My Time at Portia have no idea how powerful phones and tablets are these days. If you can emulate a PS/2 on a phone/tablet that's several generations old, then the argument for something having an android version has aged like goat milk in the sun. The Snapdragon platform that a lot of the higher end devices use are more than capable enough for a complex game. Hell, OpenMW was being played on phones several years ago. The stereotype of what a "mobile game" is hardly as limiting as you think. And fun fact, if there's a Switch version of something, chances are that it will run on a phone these days.

But hey, keep shitting on indie developers without having the first clue about anything.

 

[covr]

What the hell, are you serious? I thought posting this is some kind of internal joke.

 

[thesecret1]

I tried Portia. It was a pretty shit take on a life sim, tbh. If you want something much better and fun, grab Graveyard Keeper.

Anyway, why is this posted in the news section? The game's definitely not an RPG.

 

[Dr1f7]

bad music direction, should have gone with this

 

[Late Bloomer]

I actually liked Planet Explorers. They never quite got ahold of its performance issues though. My Time at Portia was a somewhat entertaining game. It was a bit restrictive. Clumsy UI got tiresome. The character models were changed during Early Access to become even more abominable because a few loud people wanted them changed. I got tired of My Time at Portia around 20 hours in.

That thumbnail should be more than enough information anyone needs before making a purchase. If not, here are some videos to help you make the best possible buying decision.

Here is what to expect out of the Codex favorite part of games: Romance


And here is what you can expect your "Social" experience to be like while playing My Time at Sandrock


This is not a playable game.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

If you want something much better and fun, grab Graveyard Keeper.

I really liked Graveyard Keeper, but I never got very far in it before something else came up and I'd put it down for a while. When I'd pick it back up, I'd forgotten what I was planning on doing with it. It's definitely one of the better and more unique games along similar lines.

The game's definitely not an RPG.

Considering there's people on here that don't consider Kenshi an RPG, I'd say a lot of people have some strange ideas on what makes things "Not an RPG" more than what an RPG is. The main argument I've seen is that "Sandboxes can't be RPGs", which I can't say I agree with at all. In fact, I'd argue that they're better at what they do in terms of role-playing than most things people consider an real CRPG. For example, how many CRPGs toss at you a storyline where you have to defeat some epic, world ending event or villain that if you don't take care of it... Well, world ending, right? So, you grab your starter gear, head out, and then clear all the rats in some bakery basement, or save a cat from a tree, or several dozen other things as opposed to just going out and saving the world. The problem with a huge chunk of the mainstream CRPGs is they tell you your part in the story is to vanquish the evil thing before everything is over while at the same time, bombarding you with trivial side quests that distract you from the important main story. And there's never any time limit, because players don't want time limits. But that won't stop the developers and writers from making an overly epic story which should also be a big priority.

Sandboxes kind of skirt around this by only presenting you with things that you're close to. A lot of times, anything that pops up that becomes your main priority is something you stumbled across or personally start. Kenshi and Mount & Blade are excellent examples of this since you're just a tiny bit of the world that's constantly going on around you. You chose to get involved a lot of the time, but there's also times when someone(an NPC or group of NPCs) will come along and make you get involved. Of course, My Time at Portia kind of presents you with an antagonist in the form of a rival builder to compete with. You don't necessarily have to compete with him, it's just better if you do.

I got tired of My Time at Portia around 20 hours in.

I put more time in to it than that. I got it for the Switch when it was on sale. I had a lot of fun with it while I played it, and I didn't stop playing it because I got bored with it. Something else came up, a lot like Graveyard Keeper, and I got busy for a while. When I went back to it, I wasn't really sure what I was doing and what to do next. That's probably the problem I have with these games. I like the game, I was enjoying it, but I stopped playing for a few weeks then couldn't just pick back up where I left off and don't want to restart from scratch.

 

[Dr1f7]

If you want something much better and fun, grab Graveyard Keeper.

I really liked Graveyard Keeper, but I never got very far in it before something else came up and I'd put it down for a while. When I'd pick it back up, I'd forgotten what I was planning on doing with it. It's definitely one of the better and more unique games along similar lines.

lmao this always happens to me w/ building games
i play for like 20 hours then drop it, come back half a year later and am like "wtf's going on" and either restart completely or uninstall
cursed cycle

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

i play for like 20 hours then drop it, come back half a year later and am like "wtf's going on" and either restart completely or uninstall

Dwarf Fortress was the first game where I encountered this. I had a great fortress going, got wiped, reclaimed, and kept going. I was making a big power system using channeling an aquafer off the map and had a temporary wind powered system that was there to get stuff up and running. Played the Hell out of that game for almost a month. Took a vacation to Florida for a week. Got back, fired up the game and couldn't remember how everything was working. I played with it a bit, and screwed some stuff up so I stopped playing it and figured I'd go back later. I started to realize I'd have to pause the game and intermittently unpause it while watching it work in order to figure out what was going on.

 

[thesecret1]

Considering there's people on here that don't consider Kenshi an RPG, I'd say a lot of people have some strange ideas on what makes things "Not an RPG" more than what an RPG is. The main argument I've seen is that "Sandboxes can't be RPGs", which I can't say I agree with at all. In fact, I'd argue that they're better at what they do in terms of role-playing than most things people consider an real CRPG. For example, how many CRPGs toss at you a storyline where you have to defeat some epic, world ending event or villain that if you don't take care of it... Well, world ending, right? So, you grab your starter gear, head out, and then clear all the rats in some bakery basement, or save a cat from a tree, or several dozen other things as opposed to just going out and saving the world. The problem with a huge chunk of the mainstream CRPGs is they tell you your part in the story is to vanquish the evil thing before everything is over while at the same time, bombarding you with trivial side quests that distract you from the important main story. And there's never any time limit, because players don't want time limits. But that won't stop the developers and writers from making an overly epic story which should also be a big priority.

Sandboxes kind of skirt around this by only presenting you with things that you're close to. A lot of times, anything that pops up that becomes your main priority is something you stumbled across or personally start. Kenshi and Mount & Blade are excellent examples of this since you're just a tiny bit of the world that's constantly going on around you. You chose to get involved a lot of the time, but there's also times when someone(an NPC or group of NPCs) will come along and make you get involved. Of course, My Time at Portia kind of presents you with an antagonist in the form of a rival builder to compete with. You don't necessarily have to compete with him, it's just better if you do.

I'm not saying it's not an RPG because it's a sandbox, I'm saying it's not an RPG because it's a different genre – it's a life sim with focus on crafting. Does it have RPG elements? Sure. Does that make it an RPG? No.

 

[Modron]

You gain experience through farming and combat, level ups raise your stamina, hitpoints, and provide skill points which you can invest how you see fit in combat, farming/crafting, and social skills. Has a main quest, lots of side quests, dungeon delving and boss fights. Seeing what passes for RPGs in grpg it would be disingenuous to say this isn't one.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I'm not saying it's not an RPG because it's a sandbox, I'm saying it's not an RPG because it's a different genre – it's a life sim with focus on crafting. Does it have RPG elements? Sure. Does that make it an RPG? No.

That's kind of like saying System Shock 2 isn't an RPG because it's an "immersive sim"(I hate this term, BTW), which is a different genre but shares some features. I would say that immersive sims, rogue-likes, and most life sims are CRPGs, just a subset of the other all term. It's like saying a catfish is a fish.

You gain experience through farming and combat, level ups raise your stamina, hitpoints, and provide skill points which you can invest how you see fit in combat, farming/crafting, and social skills. Has a main quest, lots of side quests, dungeon delving and boss fights. Seeing what passes for RPGs in grpg it would be disingenuous to say this isn't one.

That's pretty much my thought on the genre. If it has a character system that affects your ability to interact with the game world, that's a fairly critical requirement as far as I'm concerned. If it doesn't have that, it's safe to rule it out. There's certain things I would like to see in a CRPG or at least certain types of CRPGs, like dialog trees with stat or skill checks. I like a reputation system with factions. I also prefer a character system that's robust enough to give me lots of options in creating and improving the character as it progresses. This is either to work my way towards something or overcome something.

 

[agentorange]

at first i thought this was a clever satire of how infinitron is always posting garbage on the frontpage. but no its just a retard posting literal mobile game faggot shit and then writing huge paragraphs defending it. oldfags have such prestigious taste!! take my monocle my good sir!

 

[Ein Axt]

I enjoyed the first one. I was surprised at how much content the game had for what it was. I expected a mobile crafting game that makes you wait with timers but it had much more than that. Game had actually lore, a story, and other side stories with NPCs. I'd say this game is more akin to Stardew Valley, but instead of farming you are crafting.

The combat and dungeon diving was pretty shit, though. It would be a very solid game if they improved on that.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

You gain experience through farming and combat, level ups raise your stamina, hitpoints, and provide skill points which you can invest how you see fit in combat, farming/crafting, and social skills. Has a main quest, lots of side quests, dungeon delving and boss fights. Seeing what passes for RPGs in grpg it would be disingenuous to say this isn't one.

RPG stands for Really Perfect Game, the more you like a game the more of a RPG it is. That's why we can't define what a RPG is, it's qualityfluid (they/them).

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

infinitron is always posting garbage on the frontpage. but no its just a retard posting literal mobile game faggot shit

If you don't like it, you're free to leave. Here's a tutorial that should help you:

RPG stands for Really Perfect Game, the more you like a game the more of a RPG it is. That's why we can't define what a RPG is, it's qualityfluid (they/them).

This is pretty much the case. I've seen some interesting justifications for Game A being a CRPG while Game B isn't even though both A and B share similar mechanics. Look at Elder Scrolls games and their advancement system, now look at The Sims. About the only thing missing from The Sims is character levels, but the skill improvement is exactly the same. I remember a long time ago, EA announced they had an RPG in the works using The Sims 3 as a basis only with a more traditional fantasy setting, and this was after Sims Medieval, but they never released it but it wouldn't be hard to take that framework and lean more into the classic RPG genre with such a framework. It already had mechanics similar to Bethesda's much hyped Radiant AI with filling needs causing sims to seek out things in the world that cater to those needs. The only thing really missing would be NPC sims seeking out the player to get the player to satisfy a need here and there in the form of a quest.

 

[thesecret1]

That's kind of like saying System Shock 2 isn't an RPG

People think SS 2 is an RPG?

 

[MrBuzzKill]

Gotta admit, it was a surprise to see a game like this on RPG Codex front page. Is the site finally becoming mainstream?