Game News Age of Decadence October Update

[Zorba the Hutt]

VD appears to have come under attack from a couple of rather determined Steam trolls. Seems to happen to a lot of indie games on there these days.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/620696933981167011/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/620696933981167011/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/620696522002353128/

I can understand someone complaining that the game is taking a long time in development (although there is obvious progress this year and I'd say the fact that they're taking time to plot all these alternative narratives instead of just rushing to complete the game is a positive) but accusing them of only adding "combat content" after the demo seems like blatant trolling given the efforts they've made to include non-combat playthroughs.

 

[EG]

Vargas doesn't appear to be attacking anyone; just made a mistake in assuming the demo updates would be indicative of the EA releases.

People are just too used to never hearing about a game until it's released, and then never hearing about how long it takes to make something (particularly with a smaller team). So, they get upset when it doesn't appear to be "right," by this value. Any answers are then just excuses and an attempt to manipulate the "fact" that nothing is done to their standard.

Maybe LZ will be the rare learning animal in that discussion, but more likely he feels he's invested time and effort into this game (past posting history) and now you owe him a very specific kind of update, or else. *Shrug* Thus, likely to fall into a consistent trolling roll.

Game fans are weird, man.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Vargas doesn't appear to be attacking anyone; just made a mistake in assuming the demo updates would be indicative of the EA releases.

Yes, that second thread was legit, only included it to show that "LzDK" who started that 1st thread then moved onto commenting on other recent threads too.

 

[Infinitron]

Rule of thumb: Early Access players are to gamers what modders are to game developers.

 

[cherry blossom]

I wonder if a higher price point than the eventual release price might help to keep the stupid at bay.

Why doesn't a game developed by some dudes in their spare time have a perfect camera guys. I see them now for what they are: shams.

Joined: Today
Messages: 1
Diagnosis: BUTTHURT

It's always funny with immature fans; they will rush to defend even when there is no attack.

Isometric elevation doesn't work. Hard tradeoff for Fallout flatland nostalgia.

I must have missed this barrage of elevation in AOD but either way, that's nonsense. Plenty of iso games with elevation.

 

[Infinitron]

I wonder if a higher price point than the eventual release price might help to keep the stupid at bay.

Problem is that invites a different kind of stupid - price complainers.

 

[Twiglard]

Isometric elevation doesn't work. Hard tradeoff for Fallout flatland nostalgia.

I must have missed this barrage of elevation in AOD but either way, that's nonsense. Plenty of iso games with elevation.

That's beside the point. AOD has controllable camera. It's hard for me to see if the projection's a perspective or orthographic, since the difference's minor.

Isometric static camera games like Flatland: Fallout won't have elevation since the orthographic projection isn't invertible. This might confuse someones further, but what the hell.

 

[tuluse]

Isometric elevation doesn't work. Hard tradeoff for Fallout flatland nostalgia.

I must have missed this barrage of elevation in AOD but either way, that's nonsense. Plenty of iso games with elevation.

That's beside the point. AOD has controllable camera. It's hard for me to see if the projection's a perspective or orthographic, since the difference's minor.

Isometric static camera games like Flatland: Fallout won't have elevation since the orthographic projection isn't invertible. This might confuse someones further, but what the hell.

Quit being retarded and go play something like X-Com or JA2 which use different heights 100 times more often than AoD.

 

[kain30]

i wish to see a release date for AoD someday.it looks awesome in so many aspects.

 

[Twiglard]

Quit being retarded and go play something like X-Com or JA2 which use different heights 100 times more often than AoD.

In JA2 can step on roofs. Can't handle a hill ever. With the largeish grasslands, it's all levelled like in SimCity terragen.

Actually AOE2 HD has isometric elevation, guess they must clamp it as to prevent occluding too much terrain.

Note: scenery/wall/roof tile slots aren't elevation.

 

[bat_boro]

I liked that post about the game being so long in development that it's become "outdated". That could be the single most stupid thing I've ever read, especially considering the game this fool is commenting on. It's like saying a book can be "outdated" or a movie could be "outdated". What the fuck does that shit even mean?

 

[Saduj]

That first Steam thread Zorba linked was ridiculous. I like how the one tool congratulated himself for "hitting a nerve" because VD politely responded to people who were accusing him of unethical behavior and using demonstrably untrue claims to make their case.

What I did learn from one response was that all locations should be released by March 2015. Has the final release date been announced?

 

[Achiman]

I wonder how much going EA to effect cash-flow and how much ramen the devs have to live on.

I got the game back in May and am patiently waiting for it, but when it comes out (Thursday in March 2015?) that is a sale that the proceeds of have already been spent I assume.
Pretty hard to maintain interest and "hype" (if that even exists for this type of game) when the EA period is lengthy. I would imagine that there is a danger that finally when the game is released, it's that much harder to generate sales and interest. Especially when there is pages and pages of retarded posts about the game, people check the forums on a game they don't know much about before buying.

 

[StaticSpine]

What I did learn from one response was that all locations should be released by March 2015. Has the final release date been announced?

Nope, March 2015 is still approximate.

 

[Burning Bridges]

 

[Vault Dweller]

...one response was that all locations should be released by March 2015. Has the final release date been announced?

It all depends on Ganezzar (as we're still working on it) and the feedback (how much post-release work it will require). The remaining 3 locations can be done in 2 months tops.

I wonder how much going EA to effect cash-flow and how much ramen the devs have to live on.

We sell 5-7 copies a day, which isn't a lot.

I got the game back in May and am patiently waiting for it, but when it comes out (Thursday in March 2015?) that is a sale that the proceeds of have already been spent I assume.

I hope not. If the game already earned 80-90% of its potential, then it's a spectacular failure and we won't be able to continue.

 

[t]

Vault Dweller will you be able to continue with the next project if the release and next year only bring you more or less another ~10k sales? Can you reasonably expect the next game to take less than ~5 years?

 

[naossano]

Not involved in the project, but IMO, it depends on what they have to make again.

I mean, take Shadowrun. They did the engine, the rules, the world first. Then, they released campaigns, which already use assets from the first game. They only need 1-2 years to create the new maps and scenarios as they don't have to rebuild everything from scratch.

If the game not sell enough to make an entirelly new game, but still make decent sales, they might have money/time to make sequels/new campaigns with the same engine/assets/rules/AI/mechanics. Not everyone is a graphic whore. If we liked the first one, we won't blame you if you keep the same assets for the new game. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you are doing something.

Again, not going to contribute much, but maybe if you did some interview or significant event, this could boost a little the communication around the project. I would gladly translate it for a french website if the article is worthy enough. The game could be perfect, it won't sell well without much communication. It might also be good looking for other well-known voices to advertize you better, like InXile, other indies dev (mutual advertizing), specialized website (Codex/RPGWatch/Kotaku/whatever, as long as you are seen)

 

[Vault Dweller]

Vault Dweller will you be able to continue with the next project if the release and next year only bring you more or less another ~10k sales?

Hard to say. Most likely we'll still do the dungeon crawler hoping that a pure combat game will generate enough to keep us in business.

Can you reasonably expect the next game to take less than ~5 years?

Yes. AoD took too long for 3 reasons (lack of experience, lack of engine/tools, interwoven parallel questlines - each city is 8 months of work or more, considering that it's just me and Oscar). In comparison it took us 2 months to do 5 locations from scratch.

Now we have the experience, we have the engine, the tools, the systems. I"m pretty sure that we can do an AoD-style game in 3 years (if we release the game in March, it would mean that it took us roughly 3 years to do 19 locations including 2 cities), a less complex game in 2-2.5 years.

 

[t]

Yes. AoD took too long for 3 reasons (lack of experience, lack of engine/tools, interwoven parallel questlines - each city is 8 months of work or more, considering that it's just me and Oscar). In comparison it took us 2 months to do 5 locations from scratch.

Now we have the experience, we have the engine, the tools, the systems. I"m pretty sure that we can do an AoD-style game in 3 years (if we release the game in March, it would mean that it took us roughly 3 years to do 19 locations including 2 cities), a less complex game in 2-2.5 years.

Glad to hear that. Keep up the good work and don't waste too much energy on those recent steam trolls.

 

[Rostere]

VD appears to have come under attack from a couple of rather determined Steam trolls. Seems to happen to a lot of indie games on there these days.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/620696933981167011/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/620696522002353128/

I can understand someone complaining that the game is taking a long time in development (although there is obvious progress this year and I'd say the fact that they're taking time to plot all these alternative narratives instead of just rushing to complete the game is a positive) but accusing them of only adding "combat content" after the demo seems like blatant trolling given the efforts they've made to include non-combat playthroughs.

Well, good thing Vince can always retire to the Codex when Steam trolls become too much for him, because here people are so kind, understanding and supportive of quality game development.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

I hope the very best for this game. And I only tried the old beta but I hope the roleplaying aspect is a bit more robust, there didnt seem to be many choices in the dialogues.

 

[MurkyShadow]

I'm enjoying the show almost as much as I'm enjoying the actual game.
I'm feeling well compensated for my investment.