Game News Dead State Kickstarter Update #47: Beta Released!

[Infinitron]

Tags: Dead State; DoubleBear Productions

If you have the Dead State Early Access installed, you may have noticed that it just received an update. That's the game's beta version, which has just been released. The game's latest Kickstarter update has the details. Oh, and there's also a spiffy new trailer:

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The Dead State Beta is finally here! If you've activated your Steam key, your copy of Dead State should automatically update. If you never received your key or lost it, please message us on Kickstarter and we'll try to get back to you with your key as soon as we can.

Don’t skip off gleefully to launch the game just yet, though - read on to learn more about what you should expect when you fire up the Beta.

About the Beta

First, we want to remind everyone that the Beta is not the full game. While the Beta includes tons of new content and features, there are also content and features still missing, and most of those that are in the Beta still need balancing and optimization. There are also still going to be a host of bugs and technical issues that we’re still actively fixing behind the scenes. Similar to other prominent recent betas on Steam (Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, Divinity), Dead State’s Beta doesn’t include all the final story, dialogues, or levels, but it’s sure got enough to keep you busy for quite some time! The idea behind the open beta is to expose as much content to you as we possibly can and get your feedback on both design and technical issues before we move on to the final release.

Speaking of your feedback - we need it! The community is full of passionate, motivated, and clever people and we humbly ask you to use your powers to help us improve Dead State. On the design side, we especially need feedback about combat, supplies, loot, and dialogue. On the technical side, we especially need to know about crashes, soft locks, exploits, and any progress-blocking bugs. Of course, all other game feedback is welcome too!

To provide bug reports and feedback, please use the subforum located here: Early Access Beta. Don’t mind the old posts - we had a very small number of people helping us do internal testing of the beta, and we’ve converted the forum we used to communicate with them into the full Beta bug-reporting/feedback forum. (And most of those reported issues from that time are fixed in the Beta you're playing!)

You can also use our "Bug Reporting and Feedback” board on Steam to report issues if you’d prefer.

Please make sure to read the “Known Issues” thread first and review other people’s posts before reporting your issue; that makes it easier for the devs and mods to keep track of everything!
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Read the full update for a changelog and a sampling of the game's currently known issues, of which there are many. If you've decided you'd like to check out the Dead State beta for yourself, you can grab it on Steam, now for the price of $30.

 

[pakoito]

Is this just real life?

 

[garren]

Played for a while. I'll focus on the stuff that annoyed me and stuff I think should be fixed somehow, I try not to list any of the stuff that was mentioned in known issues. Mostly usability issues, I don't think I'll play the beta so much that I can accurately criticize dialogue or game systems or anything like that.
-the camera can get stuck near map borders, maybe increase how far you can move the camera towards the black areas
-the camera can get stuck by moving the mouse at the edge of the screen to change the view and then moving the mouse to other edges of the screen, easily reproducible by moving the mouse to one edge of the screen and circling the mouse to other edges. The camera problems are kinda annoying.
-some containers weren't lootable, only a sound played (pharmacy in burnet strip mall for example)
-also, I somehow managed to run through a wall in the same pharmacy
-is there any way to read the tutorial messages again? I accidentally missed some of those because they were cut off by me doing something, like opening a door or moving
-can you make travel be interrupted in the world map by pressing space? I dunno, felt logical but nothing happened
-mouse movement felt slightly sluggish for me, I tend to notice that stuff pretty easily in games, however it was very minor, still, worth mentioning
-you can get to the next part of dialogue by pressing space or clicking the screen with the mouse, but can you also make it advance by pressing '1'?
-it was mentioned in known issues that lootable containers will be highlighted when you do a mouseover, but are there plans for a button that highlights them also, ala baldur's gate?
-any chance to implement area maps to the game (you know, of the current area you're in)? Since you can already see the general area of the map you're inside of, there shouldn't be problems with any fog of war system

EDIT:
-I found Oscar at Downtown San Saba. As I was talking to him, a zombie interrupted our talk by wandering too near (because I had just bashed down a door and the noise attracted it). After killing the zombie, Oscar treated me like I had already discussed the issues with him and asked for a healer which I had no idea about
-(continued) I could select the option "we have someone with us who can heal" (I didn't), and Renee's portrait suddenly appeared and she said something about healing the patient even though she was back at the shelter
-There's was a gunshop in the same area that had showcases with guns inside them, and guns mounted on the wall, and I couldn't loot any of the stuff. It just feels stupid to see all the guns there and not being able to loot any of them
-bypassing random encounters is too easy. Just hug the map borders to bypass anything in the middle and continue traveling

 

[SuicideBunny]

Played for a while. I'll focus on the stuff that annoyed me and stuff I think should be fixed somehow, I try not to list any of the stuff that was mentioned in known issues. Mostly usability issues, I don't think I'll play the beta so much that I can accurately criticize dialogue or game systems or anything like that.
-the camera can get stuck near map borders, maybe increase how far you can move the camera towards the black areas
-the camera can get stuck by moving the mouse at the edge of the screen to change the view and then moving the mouse to other edges of the screen, easily reproducible by moving the mouse to one edge of the screen and circling the mouse to other edges. The camera problems are kinda annoying.
-some containers weren't lootable, only a sound played (pharmacy in burnet strip mall for example)
-also, I somehow managed to run through a wall in the same pharmacy
-is there any way to read the tutorial messages again? I accidentally missed some of those because they were cut off by me doing something, like opening a door or moving
-can you make travel be interrupted in the world map by pressing space? I dunno, felt logical but nothing happened
-mouse movement felt slightly sluggish for me, I tend to notice that stuff pretty easily in games, however it was very minor, still, worth mentioning
-you can get to the next part of dialogue by pressing space or clicking the screen with the mouse, but can you also make it advance by pressing '1'?
-it was mentioned in known issues that lootable containers will be highlighted when you do a mouseover, but are there plans for a button that highlights them also, ala baldur's gate?
-any chance to implement area maps to the game (you know, of the current area you're in)? Since you can already see the general area of the map you're inside of, there shouldn't be problems with any fog of war system

Might post some more stuff in the future.

post the stuff here: http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/board,22.0.html

 

[covr]

Piles of Shittenity vs Gay State which is better an why? Discuss.

Just joking, congratulations guys and girls! I hope the money will flow now like crazy

 

[kain30]

at last! let see how is the game shaping

 

[Zeronet]

I just have to say, that was a impressive trailer. Great music, well put together.

 

[thesheeep]

This is probably the first time I read the word "spiffy".

 

[Morkar Left]

I just have to say, that was a impressive trailer. Great music, well put together.

Yes, I liked the style of the trailer, too. I hope they do something similar as an introduction in the game. And Brian has a good narrator voice.

 

[Trash]

Been playing it for a few hours and I must say that I’m really enjoying myself. They nailed the whole zombie apocalypse vibe and with it the excitement of exploration and the deadliness of combat. When I played the previous release it genuinely felt too loose and empty for me. This beta actually has meat to it, although obviously with lots and lots of rough edges. Here are a few things I noticed while playing.

Environmental. The last version I played felt soulless to me because the maps where rather static with little to no interaction. While I still can’t climb over walls and fences or try to enter buildings through smashing a window there is a lot more to find now. The little quips that party members and others make help as well. I do hope we’ll see a little more reactivity here, although I doubt it. Even some lines regarding things there are too see would help. For example a car crash that would lead to one or two remarks or some painted text that would invoke a response.

Combat. What can I say? I like it. The little text blurbs make it more exciting, the difference between lumbering undead and scared guys with guns is interesting and it’s hard enough to really mess up your day when you don’t pay attention or just have plain bad luck.

Killing. The zombie genre is as much about moral questions and having humanity as its own worst enemies as it is about shuffling undead. Right at the beginning of the game you can already get into a situation where you kill other living people. Why not implement some dialogue about this back at the shelter? Killing another living being is quite a thing and most of the initial gang surely have been through a lot but I doubt they're all hardcore killers. Perhaps make it a group discussion, implement a trigger that those in the actual fight have a talk about it or anything. Not doing anything with something of the magnitude of society falling so far that you have to actually murder another human feels wrong in this genre.

The sound mechanic. Making noise spawns walkers. I like that. A lot. Making noise also attracts attention on the map. I like that as well. Shooting a pistol at a looter, killing him and then walking less than five meters to find his oblivious buddies is something I don’t like. May need more polish. Otherwise, neat.

Trading items amongst party members. Perhaps it’s in the manual or in a tutorial hint I missed but trading items amongst my party was undoable without me using a container in the game to store everything. Lame. I also did not like that my party members did not want to hold on to the better gear or items they held dear. I could imagine a guy who dislikes me not wanting to give up his gun, or a scared girl not wanting to give up her body armor.

Midnight. At midnight you’re presumed missing when still outside and the game ends. It feels kinda gimmicky and cheap and I wonder if the danger of being outside so late could be shown in another way. Big stat penalties to reflect stress and how tired people get? Unskippable encounters with lots and lots of zombies during map travel? Higher spawn chance on maps of zombies? Make it difficult and bad to stay out late. Not an arbitrary end.

Luxury items. A nice touch to get stuff to make the people feel better. Empty as it is just a stat and there is no remark about it in game. ‘Wow, awesome that you got me that toothbrush!’ would already make a huge difference. Perhaps have you actually give stuff to people? I know, it amounts to a fetch quest but still is imo preferable to how it is done now.

Zombies at the gate. Fix the fence and you get a cutscene. In it there’s casual mention about a bunch of zombies you kill at the fence. Why not let you play that out? Even the most mundane actions in a zombie apocalypse should be dangerous and full of possible peril. In fact, why not make clearing out the map regularly a genuine task? With dangers and all?

Area design. Kudos here. The areas I’ve seen so far have all been interesting to explore, all had the possibility of different approaches and all held their own challenges. Do hope we’ll see some areas with traps and ambushes to keep players on their toes. Perhaps hostile outside agencies apart from walkers who would enter a map to hunt you might give some extra excitement.

Anyway, I was not expecting too much after the last build. Now I’m already having a blast. Do hope to see more polish but I’m genuinely excited to get my hands on the finished game.

 

[SuicideBunny]

Midnight. At midnight you’re presumed missing when still outside and the game ends. It feels kinda gimmicky and cheap and I wonder if the danger of being outside so late could be shown in another way. Big stat penalties to reflect stress and how tired people get? Unskippable encounters with lots and lots of zombies during map travel? Higher spawn chance on maps of zombies? Make it difficult and bad to stay out late.

post it on the db forums and you have my sword.

at last! let see how is the game shaping

pretty damn well, seems like. i'm having a blast.

 

[Surf Solar]

Composer of the trailers music listened a bit too much to the 28 days later ost

 

[Grunker]

Composer of the trailers music listened a bit too much to the 28 days later ost

That's a bad thing?

 

[Surf Solar]

Nah, I enjoyed it, was just funny that it was immedieately noticable. That trailer is very good and makes me excited for the game.

 

[Trash]

Midnight. At midnight you’re presumed missing when still outside and the game ends. It feels kinda gimmicky and cheap and I wonder if the danger of being outside so late could be shown in another way. Big stat penalties to reflect stress and how tired people get? Unskippable encounters with lots and lots of zombies during map travel? Higher spawn chance on maps of zombies? Make it difficult and bad to stay out late.

post it on the db forums and you have my sword.

at last! let see how is the game shaping

pretty damn well, seems like. i'm having a blast.

Done. Response was if I could post all the feedback in individual posts in one of the dozen or so specific seperate feedback forums they made for it. Lol is probably the most friendly thing I can say about it with 'counterproductive' and 'bureaucratic' coming a bit closer to my real feelings while still staying polite.

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,4440.0.html

Edit: Very glad to hear that they're planning for more reactivity. Writing is definitely one of the strong points I've seen so far in the beta, so the more the merrier.

Another edit: And apparently they are working on the whole midnight thing. With fatigue states and possible night travel as well. Nice.

 

[Helton]

Awesome. Of course I'm fairly busy the next few days.

Will def play a bit though!

Super exciting time to be an RPG fan.

 

[TheEntitledOne]

I had a lot of fun with this beta, but if it is representative of their current progress they will need many months to properly finish this.

 

[cherry blossom]

Trading items amongst party members. Perhaps it’s in the manual or in a tutorial hint I missed but trading items amongst my party was undoable without me using a container in the game to store everything. Lame. I also did not like that my party members did not want to hold on to the better gear or items they held dear. I could imagine a guy who dislikes me not wanting to give up his gun, or a scared girl not wanting to give up her body armor.

Right clicking on a party member (not on portrait) cycles through the following options: attack, switch place (two hands icon), special function (eg. healing satchel) and exchange items (bag icon). Right click on character until you get the bag, then left click. Brings up the interface where you can exchange items between any characters in the party. It's pretty good, one of the best I've seen in RPGs.

 

[cherry blossom]

Midnight. At midnight you’re presumed missing when still outside and the game ends. It feels kinda gimmicky and cheap and I wonder if the danger of being outside so late could be shown in another way. Big stat penalties to reflect stress and how tired people get? Unskippable encounters with lots and lots of zombies during map travel? Higher spawn chance on maps of zombies? Make it difficult and bad to stay out late.

post it on the db forums and you have my sword.

at last! let see how is the game shaping

pretty damn well, seems like. i'm having a blast.

Done. Response was if I could post all the feedback in individual posts in one of the dozen or so specific seperate feedback forums they made for it. Lol is probably the most friendly thing I can say about it with 'counterproductive' and 'bureaucratic' coming a bit closer to my real feelings while still staying polite.

Not gonna give any feedback for the same reason. I have compiled a big list of bugs and impressions after 30 hours of playing and would love to share if only to help but I'm not gonna waste my time playing bureaucratics to satisfy their autistic head-up-their-ass obsession, which, funnily enough, reflects a lot of the things in design.

 

[Infinitron]

Yo, Vault Dweller, Elhoim, tell your friends to stop being bureaucratic fucks

 

[Kos_Koa]

Not gonna give any feedback for the same reason. I have compiled a big list of bugs and impressions after 30 hours of playing and would love to share if only to help but I'm not gonna waste my time playing bureaucratics to satisfy their autistic head-up-their-ass obsession, which, funnily enough, reflects a lot of the things in design.

Post it here, I'll read it and forward anything that hasn't already been reported directly to the team members responsible. I always read the feedback from the codex (and Elhoim would likely be doing the same if he wasn't at pax right now) so feel free to post your feedback here.

 

[Elhoim]

BTW, did you guys find the Codex Store?