Game News Wasteland 2 Kickstarter Update #53: The End Is Coming; Huge Beta Update on Steam

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Chris Keenan; InXile Entertainment; Wasteland 2

Wasteland 2 just got a huge 5 GB update on Steam Early Access, and a Kickstarter update (penned by Chris Keenan, the project lead) to go along with it.

Before we get into the fun stuff, a quick note on the release date. It’s pretty likely that we will slip into the first or second week in September due to fulfillment of the physical goods and discs. We will give an exact date as soon as we know it.

New Code Update Live For All Backers
In Kickstarter update 51, we announced that we were opening up the Early Access version on Steam for all backers. Some of you jumped in and started playing, others said they want to wait until it’s complete before experiencing it. Whichever camp you’re in, the code update has been pushed to Steam and is patiently waiting for you. This will be our last code update before the game is finalized. Quite a bittersweet moment for us…

We are still improving the game on the way to our release date. So with the update after this one, you’ll get all of the fixes and polish that is ongoing, which will have a day 1 update for physical disc backers. If you’re receiving your copy in a digital format, the first download will be for the day 1 update and final game.

What’s New in this Build?
When we pulled the changelist from our source control (since the last update), it was 551 uncurated PAGES of bug fixes, polish and iterated features. This list has been reduced down and can be read in its entirety (but why would you want to do that?!?) here. Some of the main things you’ll notice in this build:

• Huge balance pass across all elements of the game
• Enemy AI/Enemy Stats/Damage/Weapons/Dropsets/Skill Use
• Added a mini-map
• Lots of new optimizations to memory and load times
• Tons of new UI improvements (visual and functional)
• New audio added across the board (weapons/enemies/ambient/player events)
• Large visual effects pass in all levels
• Oh-so-much general clean-up/polish and iteration

There's also a new screenshot in the update -- the Hollywood loading screen:

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Click on the image for higher resolution.

Aside from that, Chris Keenan says this should be the last Kickstarter update before the game's released. Not too long left to wait now.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

It's literally the longest changelist inXile has posted on Wasteland yet. Like how they hide some entries under a "massive" label.

 

[Turok]

¿Release date?

 

[StaticSpine]

¿Release date?

It’s pretty likely that we will slip into the first or second week in September

do you even read?

 

[Sensuki]

Performance is mostly fixed for anyone who's wondering.

I went from 25-40 FPS in the opening area to 90-120FPS, ~105FPS solid at highest zoom.

Still some lag in certain UI elements though.

 

[Achiman]

So, can someone clarify for me, is the game actually feature complete now? Or is there some massive end game location that will be added upon release?
If the game is gtg except for final release day patch for some misc bugs then I might fire it up!

 

[Infinitron]

So, can someone clarify for me, is the game actually feature complete now? Or is there some massive end game location that will be added upon release?
If the game is gtg except for final release day patch for some misc bugs then I might fire it up!

Wasteland 2 has two acts, Arizona and California. The Early Access release only has Arizona.

So yeah, a "massive end game location" consisting of half of the game.

 

[tuluse]

Wasteland 2 has two acts, Arizona and California. The Early Access release only has Arizona.

So yeah, a "massive end game location" consisting of half of the game.

Over half. Arizona is supposed to be smaller than California afaik.

 

[Brother None]

Over half. Arizona is supposed to be smaller than California afaik.

Nah, it's about the same. The pacing and location style is so different so a direct comparison is difficult.

 

[Roguey]

When you’re seeing message after message saying “I’m not sure how I can pay rent next month, but I needed to get an NPC in this game!”, it adds a level of intensity to the process that I can’t imagine finding anywhere else.

Kickstarter backers are some of the stupidest people on the planet. This goes for a few Eternity Project backers as well.

Also dumb: the steamtards who want inXile to release the digital version in late-August anyway even though an extra week or two will result in fewer bugs/better balance.

 

[Darkzone]

I agree with Roguey on her last statement, but not on her language. I think that Wasteland 2 still needs at least 2-3 months, but the last update has certainly brought some very good changes. Even the Radio Tower map has become much better with the added Gates and the sniper position. So inXile should not listen to some steam people who want to play the whole game as fast as possible. But ensure the best quality they can deliver and take the time to do it right. While there is sill cash in the Wasteland 2 pot. There are certainly many many things (mainly content) that can be still added and changed for the better.

From my side i have to add, that the game has become playable on the Supreme Jerk level and without Angela Deth.
And the little things like the little jokes, hidden in the content like: What is in the crate a treasure or some junk. Do add a little more nice sarcasm.
Overall based on the little bit that i have played, i have to say that it has become way better over the time. But if it is over the necessary bar, is currently not possible to determine for me.

 

[Roguey]

I think that Wasteland 2 still needs at least 2-3 months,

Well, that's troubling.

I doubt inXile can afford to fund Wasteland 2 past September, partially because they really need those people on ToN, partially because they've already spent double what they got on Kickstarter and I imagine that well's drying up, contrary to statements from their PR guy.

 

[tuluse]

I think that Wasteland 2 still needs at least 2-3 months,

Well, that's troubling.

I doubt inXile can afford to fund Wasteland 2 past September, partially because they really need those people on ToN, partially because they've already spent double what they got on Kickstarter and I imagine that well's drying up, contrary to statements from their PR guy.

Double the original budget, not quite double the original ks.

 

[Darkzone]

Hmm. Wasteland is around the 60th place on steam the whole time. The team is smaller than 10 people, if only half of them works on T:ToN.
$50k- $100k per month for the development. I have guessed that D:OS has 8k-10k sales on steam per day, so Wasteland 2 should have around 30-120 sales.
$25 x 900 | 3600 Leaves us around 20k - 90k per month. (pi x thumb rule)
Yes slowly they should see the bottom or the end line of the development. But they have a nearly ready product, so they can lend some money, at least in europe.
I have heard that Larian has some.

 

[Infinitron]

The team is smaller than 10 people

??? No it isn't.

 

[StaticSpine]

The team is smaller than 10 people, if only half of them works on T:ToN.

TToN preproduction team was already something about 20 people (including artists & writers, but still). WTF are you talking about?

 

[Invictus]

I hadn't played the beta since almost new years (I am not a backer but one of my friends is) and the difference from that build to this one is simply astounding; the UI, the new textures, effects and combat its like night and day.
It still needs some tweaking (especialy on optimizations; it taxes my videocard more than Wolfenstein) but everything is simply...there.
I was thinking that perhaps I would get in during the Hollidays but what I have seen so far it is a Day one purchase for me on GOG and with still about 6 weeks to go we should see still some improvements, but seeing how Larian took the lessons learned from the beta to create a better game I really think this game will be as good as Divinity

 

[Azrael the cat]

Hmm. Wasteland is around the 60th place on steam the whole time. The team is smaller than 10 people, if only half of them works on T:ToN.
$50k- $100k per month for the development. I have guessed that D:OS has 8k-10k sales on steam per day, so Wasteland 2 should have around 30-120 sales.
$25 x 900 | 3600 Leaves us around 20k - 90k per month. (pi x thumb rule)
Yes slowly they should see the bottom or the end line of the development. But they have a nearly ready product, so they can lend some money, at least in europe.
I have heard that Larian has some.

So even just with pre-orders, these indie studios are still many orders of magnitude more culturally relevant (in terms of sales) than Robin Thicke's current album.:D

 

[Sensuki]

If you make a music video with topless hot chicks with great tits and include it on the CD, people will buy.

 

[Darkzone]

Infinitron
I thought that inXile has around 16-20 employees for the programming, content and assets creation. (I do not include the people working around the whole thing, like: Brother None, Sea, QA team and etc .)
Do you have a number on their current team working on Wasteland 2? And how many have moved on to T:ToN? Even better do you have their sale numbers for EA on Steam?

 

[Brother None]

Infinitron doesn't know any of our numbers but let's just go ahead and say nothing you said in your post is even close to accurate, as far as I can tell you're just making up numbers? Which fair enough, but let's not pretend it's got anything to do with reality. Your whole premise is off in fact.

inXile's about 30 people by the way (not counting external localization and QA teams). Most of them are still on Wasteland 2, but we're around the time where people start moving partway into Torment so the split's not very easy to peg down (like I work spread over both and I'm not the only one).

 

[Darkzone]

Infinitron doesn't know any of our numbers but let's just go ahead and say nothing you said in your post is even close to accurate, as far as I can tell you're just making up numbers? Which fair enough, but let's not pretend it's got anything to do with reality. Your whole premise is off in fact.

inXile's about 30 people by the way (not counting external localization and QA teams). Most of them are still on Wasteland 2, but we're around the time where people start moving partway into Torment so the split's not very easy to peg down (like I work spread over both and I'm not the only one).

Thank you Brother None for your answer.
This was not an attack on Infinitron ( i'm above such behavior, unlike most people ), but three honest questions. And i have asked them, because of the connection that you both seem to share. Next time i will ask you directly. Or let me ask you now:
How are the current sale number for EA Wasteland 2 on Steam ?
How much did the last month cost in development for Wasteland 2 in dollars for the dev team?
My premise was based on a statement in an kickstarter update (which is also made a while ago), that the dev. team is slowly moving to T:ToN. (Which can naturally be measured in work hours.)
And naturally on the guess of Steam sales of D:OS, which per se is still only a guess, because we still lack a statement from Larian, making all the numbers useless.
And this entire statement was meant more as a joke, which has at it's end a Pointe:
Yes slowly they should see the bottom or the end line of the development. But they have a nearly ready product, so they can lend some money, at least in europe. I have heard that Larian has some.

Btw.: Say to Woolfe from me that all 4 answers conserning Light and Electricity are not wrong but not good.

 

[Decado]

Infinitron doesn't know any of our numbers but let's just go ahead and say nothing you said in your post is even close to accurate, as far as I can tell you're just making up numbers? Which fair enough, but let's not pretend it's got anything to do with reality. Your whole premise is off in fact.

I have to say that perhaps the dumbest, most boring, most ridiculous thing on the Codex is people arguing about development resources: budget, personnel, etc. I would rather read 100 discussions on the nature of RPGs than read one more sentence of that utterly clueless prognosticating. I have never seen one post re: guessing about budgets and who is hired and what they are working on that was worth the fucking electrons it took to produce it. So dumb. So dumb.

 

[Black]

Infinitron doesn't know any of our numbers but let's just go ahead and say nothing you said in your post is even close to accurate, as far as I can tell you're just making up numbers? Which fair enough, but let's not pretend it's got anything to do with reality. Your whole premise is off in fact.

I have to say that perhaps the dumbest, most boring, most ridiculous thing on the Codex is people arguing about development resources: budget, personnel, etc. I would rather read 100 discussions on the nature of RPGs.

That can be arranged.

 

[crawlkill]

Also dumb: the steamtards who want inXile to release the digital version in late-August anyway even though an extra week or two will result in fewer bugs/better balance.

You can delay products forever and you'll always have a more refined product at the end. It's not being held because they decided more polish was necessary. If that was the reason they cited, it would be much less irritating. Yes, they'll still be working on it in the meantime, but the obnoxious part isn't the delay, it's the stated reason for the delay. "We have to make brick-and-mortar douches happy with our digital product in a digital market." It's recidivist and painful to hear. The implication that -all delays are good because lol bugs- is crazy. If the product needs another two weeks in development to wipe out gamebreaking technical problems, then it needs those two weeks, and needs to budget for them in their own terms, not in terms of "oh what a relief we promised some people who don't understand about the passage of time hard copies and oops it turns out that's a logistical nightmare so we scored ourselves some extra debugging days."

I don't care when the game's released. I want them to release it when they're satisfied. I DO care about the gun that physical retail still appears to hold to the head of what should absolutely be a 100% digital environment by now. That gun is frightening. It's the past plinking away at the future because it can't cope. So yeah, that disturbs me.