Game News Age of Decadence heading for the Big Leagues

[Naked Ninja]

You're missing the most important part weasel, multiple programmers vs 1 programmer

 

[MetalCraze]

"The Easy Company s.r.o. is a game development studio, founded in Prague, Czech Republic, on 19th September 2007."

http://www.mobygames.com/company/easy-company-sro

Shit 1 year man. To turn Ogre into full engine and make the complete game. For an indie team with budget low enough to not use actual "full" engine and use freeware "just-a-render".

Now all you need is to use "there is a hundred of 'em working on the engine" argument.

 

[Naked Ninja]

All you need is a brain, perhaps the wizard will give you one.

Follow the yellowbrick road Skyway.

 

[dagorkan]

Battle of the Weasels.

 

[Vault Dweller]

It's impolite to talk about things you don't understand.

But I do. From what I know and saw Torque is very limited and you had to rewrite bits of it anyway to better suit your needs.

Skyway, you just don't understand much about engines. That much is clear to everyone.

Any engine would have to be tweaked to suit one's needs. Gamebryo, for example, was used to make Oblivion, Civilization Revolution, Freedom Force, Warhammer MMO, and Earth Empire. Do you think they were built using an out-of-the-box engine?

"The Easy Company s.r.o. is a game development studio, founded in Prague, Czech Republic, on 19th September 2007."

http://www.mobygames.com/company/easy-company-sro

Shit 1 year man. To turn Ogre into full engine and make the complete game. For an indie team with budget low enough to not use actual "full" engine and use freeware "just-a-render".

A) http://www.theeasyco.com/press-releases.html - it says that they worked on it for 14 months before they founded the company. Not 1 year. They started in mid 2006.
B) do you see the difference between experienced, professional, "industry veterans" game programmers and people like Gareth and I who are learning the trade as they go? It's not an excuse, it's a simple fact.
C) What exactly did these guys do in 2 years? A sandbox game where all you can do is drive a car? It has a complexity of fucking Minesweeper.
D) http://www.theeasyco.com/projects.html - "# Game runs on our own custom Vampire engine", i.e. not on an engine built from Ogre.

Take a break and have some cereal, skyway.

 

[hiver]

Comedy gold hehe

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Knowing that VD liked the terrible piece of shit that is Fallout3's gameplay and looking at the horrible visual design (not graphics/not amount of polys but how they place... you know... objects) I have big doubts about AoD being a good game. You make games according to your standards and VD's ones appear to be low right now.

While it's nice you're keeping the flame lit as far as Codex universal skepticism goes lit, your argument is a little flawed. See, while VD liked the game, he never praised anything all that much, so you can't really argue his standards are lower. He also made it quite clear he had more than a few mental blocks set up to enjoy the game, which while I find a little goofy for an entertainment product with a decent amount of good enough substitutes, definitely shows he wasn't lowering his standards, just making a lot more effort to derive enjoyment from it, which is his choice. You can't attack his design philosophy like that. Doesn't work.

Plus, object placement? That's an art feature, not a level design one unless AoD got a cover system I don't know about (and from an aesthetic perspective Oscar is doing a superb job...just don't do too good please, I want to be able to run AoD....).

Edit: Thanks for the encouragement, folks. Regardless of any deal made with publishers, the game will be sold through our own site and we would be able to ship a limited edition copy produced with love, care, color manual and map anywhere in the world (although we may charge a bit extra for the postage).

Cool. Is the limited edition still set around 50 US dollars? And would just about any payment option be accepted (debit/check)? Paypal kinda doesn't work for me for some reason, and I'd rather not charge.

 

[Elhoim]

But then again there is this dungeon with empty corridors and fort's yard that has nothing besides tower.

I think that when you say fort you mean the archelogical camp, with the entrance to the mine. Yes, that place and the palace can use some more items.

But I don't get which one is the "dungeon with empty corridors". If you refer to the renders of the petra interiors, yes, they look like crap, but that's almost a year old work. Can you link the pictures of this place?

Plus, object placement? That's an art feature, not a level design one unless AoD got a cover system I don't know about (and from an aesthetic perspective Oscar is doing a superb job...just don't do too good please, I want to be able to run AoD....).

Sure, those fuckers take quite a few FPS even if they are low poly. I'm working on optimizing them so we can show some detailed and object plenty levels.

 

[MetalCraze]

Skyway, you just don't understand much about engines. That much is clear to everyone.

Any engine would have to be tweaked to suit one's needs. Gamebryo, for example, was used to make Oblivion, Civilization Revolution, Freedom Force, Warhammer MMO, and Earth Empire. Do you think they were built using an out-of-the-box engine?

Where did I say the other thing? Strawman again?
" From what I know and saw Torque is very limited "
is separate from "and you had to rewrite bits of it anyway to better suit your needs." that's why and is used. Lern2read - nowhere did I say something about "omg out-of-the-box engine can be used". Even the contrary in my battle with NN.

A) http://www.theeasyco.com/press-releases.html - it says that they worked on it for 14 months before they founded the company. Not 1 year. They started in mid 2006.

2 years. Whatever.

B) do you see the difference between experienced, professional, "industry veterans" game programmers and people like Gareth and I who are learning the trade as they go? It's not an excuse, it's a simple fact.

The fact is also that you can build a game engine out of Ogre if you know what you are doing in a reasonable amount of time. No matter pro or no pro.

C) What exactly did these guys do in 2 years? A sandbox game where all you can do is drive a car? It has a complexity of fucking Minesweeper.

No! Mindsweeper is more complex than the game of the different genre aka Rally because you also have to use a strategic thinking while playing it.

D) http://www.theeasyco.com/projects.html - "# Game runs on our own custom Vampire engine", i.e. not on an engine built from Ogre.

"# Based on ingenious Ogre engine"
VD you are deadly correct as always. What's your secret?

Take a break and have some cereal, skyway.

Awesome pic.

@Edward R Murrow:
I never said that AoD will be a bad game. In fact I still hope it will be a good game, but I have my doubts.
As for the object placement/level design/whatever - I've already said why I dislike some locations - they feel too clean for something PA and also lack vegetation. F.e. early winter trees fit PA setting well and add to atmosphere greatly - see D3, HL2, Stalker. AoD locations really need them as well as other smaller objects like damaged junk lying here and there - it will add to PA atmosphere greatly.

 

[Longshanks]

As for the object placement/level design/whatever - I've already said why I dislike some locations - they feel too clean for something PA and also lack vegetation.

Unsure if you're already aware of this but...

Centuries after the fall of the empire, the world still rests in an uneasy balance, where even myths and fables deceive. A name on an ancient map brings back the memories of the distant past, turning a myth into unclear reality, and casting the player into political games built on years of discontent and ignorance of the past. Exploring both the legends and the land, you will have an opportunity to learn what truly happened in the past before the war turned civilization to ash or remain ignorant, believing in what you are told.

The game is post-apoc, but the apoc happened centuries ago, and people have been living in the world since then. Any reason to think they would have left plenty of junk lying around? Or that much of it would have survived the ravages of time?

I still wouldn't mind adding more "damaged/used" objects to maps that will add to the atmosphere of PA. Why am I talking about visual design? I haven't seen how dialogues and writing -really- work, so I can't judge that.

So, you haven't read the let's play or the Merchant opening?

AOD was always a game that focused on gameplay over graphics or even art design. Do you remember the early shots of the game? It's never been marketed as having "thousands of objects on every screen!". It's draw has always been gameplay, particularly choices and consequences, so it is strange that in your "concerns" over the game's quality, these do not even rate a mention. There have been many examples given, and they seem very promising, you should take a look sometime.

The game looks a hell of a lot better than I ever expected it to. Your criticisms may have some merit, for some maps, but it's not something I've particularly noticed.


This talk of AOD's game engine may have been productive were ITS just starting out, but the game's been in development for four years. A decision was made on the engine back then weighing up many factors, with graphics not a high priority, quibbling over it now is pointless.

 

[hiver]

Clearly Skyway hasnt read anything on IT forums.

Its enough just to visit IT forums and see many threads discussing particular ways of playing the game with options and consequences revealed, often accompanied with a lot of suggestions and comments from the posters there.
Same are made exclusively for that like Lets play thread.

And Oscar is constantly showing his good works, new versions, updated areas and places and accepting suggestions he thinks he can pull off.
Really, watching how some areas progressed because of that kind of input and ideas Oscar accepted and his talent was - is awesome.

 

[Blind Eye]

I see Skyway is useing the DU Witcher EE stratagy. Just keep spewing bullshit untill everyone else gets tired of talking about it, and (in his mind) he'll have won the argument. Sure you come off looking like a complete moron, but a WINNING moron.

Nice job Skyboy.

 

[Jeff Graw]

I see Skyway is useing the DU Witcher EE stratagy. Just keep spewing bullshit untill everyone else gets tired of talking about it, and (in his mind) he'll have won the argument. Sure you come off looking like a complete moron, but a WINNING moron.

Nice job Skyboy.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I've been summoned! I see Blind Eye and Jeff Graw are using the Polish Witcher Fanboi Tactic™. Don't actually add anything to the thread, yet surreptitiously claim you won anyway while discounting it all as a waste of time that's beneath you.

Nice job boys. A+ for effort.

I have made a game engine from scratch ( and that was one that was far simpler than Torque)

Is that the one that's now proudly spinning tits and asses?

 

[The_Pope]

I'm working on a game using ogre and we're making good progress. However, it isn't a particularly complex game (we want to do a simple puzzle game first rather than awesome vaporware), so that might be skewing things a bit.

 

[Blind Eye]

1. I never said I won anything.
2. Not a Witcher fanboy.
3. I may not have contributed to the subject at hand, but that is because I, unlike Skyway, realize that I don't know shit about game engines or making games from scratch. Therefore prefer to let people who do know what the fuck they are talking about, (VD, NN) speak on the matter.
4. Have a nice day.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Is that the one that's now proudly spinning tits and asses?

Nah, that's the companies engine, completely different.

 

[MetalCraze]

The game is post-apoc, but the apoc happened centuries ago, and people have been living in the world since then. Any reason to think they would have left plenty of junk lying around? Or that much of it would have survived the ravages of time?

Junk or no junk - it is still too clean. And lack vegetation.

AOD was always a game that focused on gameplay over graphics or even art design. Do you remember the early shots of the game? It's never been marketed as having "thousands of objects on every screen!". It's draw has always been gameplay, particularly choices and consequences, so it is strange that in your "concerns" over the game's quality, these do not even rate a mention. There have been many examples given, and they seem very promising, you should take a look sometime.

It isn't enough for me to read about the gameplay, I want to see the gameplay. And notice that I don't judge it. I only judge what I see - and somehow because of it you're thinking that I'm making a great deal out of the lack of detail.
But I just think that how you present the world is also an important thing. I surely don't ask for much detail, but exploring empty streets/dungeons is kinda boring, don't you think? There are nice locations in AoD - like the indoors of that eastern-themed castle with columns, plants in vases - but the streets around it are basically walls and earth.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Personally, I wish they'd stuck with the original graphics. It'd feel very :Spiderweb Games:

Based on the shots I've seen though, I've been assuming the "emptier" levels will be filled in as time goes by. EG: Turning them into something like this or this. The only ones that feel empty to me are a handful of the earlier ones and they just look like incomplete "work in progress" shots anyway. Though adding in people to places like that plaza would likely fill it up a lot (given a plaza would mostly be clean and empty anyway). I certainly can't say I have any complaints against the graphics.

but the streets around it are basically walls and earth

Take a look through the gallery. Are there any in particular you're talking about?

 

[MetalCraze]

http://s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii15 ... 8_0191.jpg

But Elhoim already said that he will fill it with more objects.

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii15 ... 8_0267.jpg
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii15 ... 8_0266.jpg

Some boxes and/or eastern-style bins will do the trick. Also some vegetation - in vases f.e. It doesn't feel like a palace district you know - more like some unrealistically clean slums - in contrast with this:
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii15 ... 8_0268.jpg

 

[hiver]

Trees dont grow well in the desert or places that have been through the worst battles in the big one.

- just a note.

 

[MetalCraze]

You don't build castles in the empty desert - just a note.
Besides I don't ask for them to grow (and I didn't mean only trees, I meant detail), but if to speak about trees - then it is more along the lines of dead trees or remnants of the trees in a case if I suck at lore and it wasn't a desert before the battle. Also it didn't stop trees from growing inside the throne room when guys used vases to decorate it. Why not "decorate" the -palace- district then a bit?

 

[hiver]

Next time just stop by the forums and suggest away. No need for pages of screaming and being spanked and all the drama ese.
Plenty of threads just waiting for that.

and say thank you to Oscar.

 

[cares]

Personally, I wish they'd stuck with the original graphics. It'd feel very :Spiderweb Games:

damn, haven't seen this before...but i like it better than what they did with their 3D engine...

 

[St. Toxic]

Personally, I wish they'd stuck with the original graphics. It'd feel very :Spiderweb Games:

damn, haven't seen this before...but i like it better than what they did with their 3D engine...

Seconded. Looks alot more appealing.