Company News More Dungeon Lords patches on the way

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Dungeon Lords; Heuristic Park Inc.

Per <A href="http://dreamcatcherinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21932">this thread</a> on the <a href="http://dreamcatcherinteractive.com/">Dreamcatcher</a> forum pool, <A href="http://www.dungeonlordsgame.com">Dungeon Lords</a> will be getting more patches to include the stuff that was kinda supposed to be in the game already when it shipped:
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<blockquote>DreamCatcher and Heuristic Park would like to thank everyone who purchased Dungeon Lords for their tremendous support of the game and for providing hints, insights and guidance on the game play for other users. The reception to Dungeon Lords has been overwhelming and we continue to receive terrific feedback daily on ways in which the game may be enhanced and improved upon.
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We are hard at work on Update 1.2 which will be made available for download in the coming weeks. Some of the items that are being worked on are the requested auto-map feature and the ability to customize your characters to a greater degree. A full game guide is also in the works which will have more information on quests, spells, locations and more.
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Again, we appreciate all of your support, patience and feedback.
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We wish you all well in your adventures.
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DreamCatcher and Heuristic Park</blockquote>
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So, there you have it. There is no auto-map.
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Thanks, <b>sk2k</b>!
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[Diogo Ribeiro]

But we'll get elven chicks with big titties. That's all we need.

 

[Shagnak]

So, there you have it. There is no auto-map.

Me confused. They're working on it aren't they?:

Some of the items that are being worked on are the requested auto-map feature and the ability to customize your characters to a greater degree.

Unless you are meaning "there currently isn't one", which is already a known.

It amuses me that the use the word "requested" is in there. It should of course be "promised", because that has always been the case before the released version.

Since demo-time there has even been a folder called "Maps". It has assets like: FargroveMAP00.bmp; PCMarker.bmp; and QuestMarker.bmp. But not much else, showing that they never finshed it.

It s incredibly obvious that their current stance that it was designed not to need an auto-map, and that now they are doing it due to "requests", is utter stinking bullshit.

 

[Halenthal]

Ditto what Shagnak said. "Requested" my ass. If they are somehow doing it because of requests, it's been requested for a helluva long time, since it's in the manual and the hotkey is listed in the game and I've seen screenshots of the automap from the beta test period. Customize characters "to a greater degree" should be real damn easy since there's zero possible at the moment, even though the files are there, the options are there (until the patch, anyways) in the menu...

Speaking of beta test-what the hell? There is no way in hell anyone can convince me that ANY beta tester could somehow miss character customization not working at all or that the automap doesn't come up. No way in hell.

Complete utter total bullshit. Hell, Wizards and Warriors was better than this.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Unless you are meaning "there currently isn't one", which is already a known.

Apparently not widely known, since there have been reports that you can buy/obtain an automap within the game currently. It's not in there at all at this time.

It amuses me that the use the word "requested" is in there. It should of course be "promised", because that has always been the case before the released version.

Wasn't the automap one of the big things they said they changed from the demo for the release? I seem to have a vague memory of that being one of the big things that would be different about the full version from the demo in that post one of the developers made.

 

[Shagnak]

Yep.
Along with right-handed characters, camping, and some other biggies. (Edit: err...perhaps r-handed chars isn't a "biggie", but you get my drift...)

I'll given them credit for one thing, camping has been implemented. Right at the beginning you can face the camp fire by the dude who gives you your first quest, press Shift, and watch as time flies by in fast forward. Then you can stomp around in glorious daylight.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I've heard that camping often results in monsters strolling in to camp and killing you in fast forward action.

 

[Shagnak]

Yeah, I posted someone's experience of just that in a previous thread. But yet to see it myself.
In fact while I am talking to that geezer (Simon?) by the campfire no monsters spawn at all.

I can only think that perhaps some spawned while the individual was away from the camp fire, and he/she started camping not realising that they were being stalked by a mob of monsters. If that is the case it's stupid really, the implementation should include some warning such as "you cannot camp right now, some monsters are nearby".

 

[Mefi]

Message on Dreamcatcher forums:

"Please be advised that the forums will be closed for maintenance and improvement. We regret any inconvenience that this might cause you. The forums should re-open the week of Monday, May 23rd. For those who require technical support, please visit our Technical Support section.."

Just too funny..

 

[germx]

I've heard that camping often results in monsters strolling in to camp and killing you in fast forward action.

Well, i was hunted by at least 6 wolves... and had almost zero life, so i ran to the campfire (was only a few steps away from it) and i thougt i would get slaughtered to pieces... but suprisingly, time seemed to stand still for the enemies.
So with full HP, i aborted the camping and killed the wolves... (they where standing next to me, but not so that i could see them when camping)
This was in the 1.0 verision of the game...

 

[Shagnak]

Nice to know. So perhaps the original complaint was just one of them inexplicable bug things?

.....

Anyway...
You know what the thing is that gets me about this game?

It's not the dodgy combat. I have played plenty of RT combat that was just as bad.

It's not the graphics. I have played plenty of games with worse graphics. In fact, I have it cranked up and it's all looking pretty good.

It's not the bugs (at least not yet). I seemed to have avoided almost all of the ones I have heard about in the Fargrove area.

Its this:
THE WORLD IS FUCKING STERILE AND EMPTY AND ATMOSPHERELESS

Getting into Fargrove was a disappointment. Very few characters wandering around. No "living" atmos at all.
Going into a tavern was also a disappointment. Granted, it has some furniture and two people in it - which is apparently more than could be said about later parts of the game - but like every other location in the game it did not feel "alive".
Even doing the Thief 3 thing and chucking in a large number of pointlessly wandering citizens in the "safer" areas would have been good. Just to at least try and maintain the illusion.

They have the game assets with which to populate the world they have created. WTF is the point if they have not done so?
The later parts of the game are even emptier, but I can't imagine it feeling any more sterile. I'm even thinking that a few crates of beer and a LAN session with a bunch of like-minded old tossers won't be worth spending on this game. And believe me, beer and LANification has made plenty of suck games bearable.

Has any brave codexer got reasonably far into the game and would like to comment on the later bits compared to the early bits?

 

[Mefi]

The pause exploit is amusing. Downside to pausing gametime with RT combat I guess.

Agreed Shagnak. Have you tried exploring? There's nothing in between the 'set-piece' areas - once you are off the beaten track it's either the same scenary or you take your chances backflipping over mountains to see where you might land (I still haven't got a decent map - was the map in the box the same as the one on the website, because it stinks!).

The game gets progressively less and less populated. But then with the amount of bandits about, perhaps there's an ingame logic for this...

We got it working over direct IP today. Was fairly enjoyable (as all games played this way tend to be) but there are so many problems even without technical stuff, it really is just frustrating. eg zoning can teleport each player into different start locations in a new zone (usually resulting in sticking to the scenary). We played for about an hour before heading to the pub.

 

[Shagnak]

Have you tried exploring?

Not really.
Had a small explore in that dead-end area before you go into the Fargrove sewers. Found some empty shacks.
Once I could leave Fargrove, I ran all the way to Arindale. Went into a couple of buildings. They were huge inside, but empty of furniture and had only one person in each (!).

I'm not far into the game, but haven't felt the urge to explore really. It just feels so...lifeless.

Kinda liked the talking head thingy (in the mausoleum) and the "rescue the dumb wizard" (i.e. get the candles) thingy though. But it appears that any imaginative encounters like these two (and lets face it, even they aren't all that great) are few and far between.

I think some of the dungeon-bash parts might be enjoyable multi-player, but then again if the MP bugs are as frustrating as you say...
Might give it a go sometime regardless.

 

[halo112358]

Message on Dreamcatcher forums:

"Please be advised that the forums will be closed for maintenance and improvement. We regret any inconvenience that this might cause you. The forums should re-open the week of Monday, May 23rd. For those who require technical support, please visit our Technical Support section.."

Just too funny..

Yeah, I saw this too .. It seems like an underhanded way to silence all the bad press for a week or two while more suckers buy this "game"

Has any brave codexer got reasonably far into the game and would like to comment on the later bits compared to the early bits?

Honestly, they're just as bad. Some parts are really frustrating (ie: how the hell do I find the item to open the naga-queen's chamber?) and the overall lack of atmosphere just sucks. This is like diablo, but without the good music or neat-o random treasure. All treasure is basically the same after a certain point (with the exception of one or two very high level chests).

My main beef with this game is the lack of features promised in the manual. Not having scout, ninjutsu, repair, identify .. mapping, npcs, atmosphere, "a huge world with thousands of interactions and all the depth of a traditional rpg" (dw bradley) .. yeah. Not having those elements just makes this a pretty worthless tomb-raider clone without the huge boobs or nice arse, and no, the elven women won't fix that.