Boleskine
Arcane
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KickStarter BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION - isometric post-apocalyptic adventure from STASIS developer
- Thread starter Pyke
- Start date
Pyke
The Brotherhood
Pyke Don't be disappointing by the anemic reaction.
It's not because the game is not good but I guess everyone is waiting for the final release
codex doesn't do beta testing
Oh not disappointed at all! We sort of expected about 10% - 20% of the beta backers to actually play the beta, (we had around 500 people who were in the backer tier) and probably only a small handful of those to actually finish it. We are roughly right with those numbers.
Its hard to expect someone to play a beta of a narrative game that they are going to have to start again when it's released in a very short time. Honestly, I wouldn't play the Beta if I was in the same boat!
Our main concern has been compatibility and running specs, and the info we've gotten with that has been amazing. Luckily we ironed out MOST (all?) of those issues with CAYNE, and haven't had any compatibility issues with Desolation over the people playing.
Until then, we just get back to playing the game over and over and over again. :D
lightbane
Arcane
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There's one random question I have about the backer beta: Is there a time limit to play it, or do we have access to it until the final version is released? Just to be sure. I remember that Carrion demo that looked awesome and that I wanted to play... Only to realize it was only available for a few days, and then it was gone. 
Pyke
The Brotherhood
We don't have any plans to stop access to it, but we will probably stop updating it with any fixes. I think the last update we did (yesterday) was the last one we will do. I know I'm back on the main branch for testing already.
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https://ink.mostepic.win/beautiful-desolation-launching-in-2020-an-interview-with-the-brotherhood/
Beautiful Desolation launching in 2020 — an interview with The Brotherhood
After roughly four years in development and three years after a successful Kickstarter, The Brotherhood is getting ready to launch Beautiful Desolation.
Officially, Beautiful Desolation has been in development since February 2017 when its Kickstarter ended with $138,457 pledged. The Brotherhood’s goal was to raise $120,000.
However, the Bischoff brothers posted about the game on the Make Games SA forums as early as September 2016. The post contained a video, animated GIFs, and still images to showcase the visual aesthetic they were going for with Beautiful Desolation.
The cinematic they released with their Kickstarter campaign contained a few nods to South Africa. This included a scene showing warships in the bay in front of Table Mountain, and a rifle with the word “Knobkierie” written on it.
Beautiful Desolation is set for release in “Early 2020” on its Steam page, while GOG has it listed as “Coming soon”.
Nicholas Bischoff, who is half of the brotherly team that heads-up the studio, told Most Epic Win that they will have a firm release date in the next few weeks. He said that they are waiting on feedback from beta players to ensure the game’s release is smooth and bug free.
At The Brotherhood, Nic handles the programming and his brother, Christoper, handles the art.
For the music in Beautiful Desolation, the two brothers roped in Australian composer and sound designer Mick Gordon. Gordon has composed music for Doom, Prey, and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Most recently, he provided additional music support for Borderlands 3.
In addition to working on Beautiful Desolation these past three years, the brothers have been helping Brian Fargo at inXile Entertainment with the visuals of Wasteland 3 since 2016. Wasteland 3 is slated to launch on 19 May 2020.
The team recently released a new trailer and a fresh set of screenshots from Beautiful Desolation as they gear up for release.
The Interview
We interviewed The Brotherhood’s programmer, Nic Bischoff, over e-mail. We talked about their influences, the use of South African languages, whether there will be a branching storyline and, of course, when the game will be out.
Most Epic Win: How is development on Beautiful Desolation progressing? Will you make your “Early 2020” release date?
Nic Bischoff: We hope! We are waiting for feedback from our Beta players, to ensure the full game release is smooth and bug free.
Can you give a more specific release window than “Early 2020”?
Not at this moment, but we will have a firm release date in the next coming weeks.
The language in the trailer sounds like Zulu (I caught “manje” and “hlaba”). Is it Zulu?
Yes! Mackson Maluleka, our consultant, used his beautiful voice for the trailer. He did it in Xhosa, Zulu and Tsonga but we thought Zulu best portrayed the emotion we wanted to achieve in the trailer.
Will other South African and/or African languages feature in the game?
Our leads both have South African accents, and a large portion of our voice actors were local. We tried to use as many local talents as possible. But you’ll also be in store for several ‘made up’ languages featured in Beautiful Desolation – which each have selected words from different languages and dialects.
Are you considering full translations into local (and other) languages?
Beautiful Desolation will be launching in English, German, French and Russian. We would love to translate into even more languages but the cost per translation is very high – especially as there are 75,000 words in the game and most of it is voiced. Although, we have made the process to create any future custom translations easy.
The trailer mentions choosing between peace and bloody warfare. Does this mean a branching storyline with multiple endings?
You have a keen eye! I don’t want to spoil anything but you are on the right track.
Can you give us a rough idea of the extent of the impact of choices in the game? For example, how many endings do you currently have?
The conversations and how you treat the characters you encounter definitely matters! It has an emotional impact on the way the story plays out, how you bond with your companions – and ripples through the game.
Is Beautiful Desolation a pure adventure game, or does it have RPG mechanics?
Beautiful Desolation is a classic adventure game, with a unique twist on the genre. We do not have stats, so it isn’t a traditional RPG.
(Giving away my age here, but) From the new trailer, I’m getting Planescape: Torment mixed with Fallout 1/2 vibes. The combat scene reminds me of games like Septerra Core. What were your influences for Beautiful Desolation in terms of the art style, sound design, story, and game mechanics?
We played all of the games you mentioned! And admittedly, I think a little of each has rubbed off on us. Chris and I had the opportunity to work on the new Wasteland and I think this inspired us to see a post-apocalyptic world differently to how games in the genre have been portrayed in the past. A large influence on the base mechanics for Beautiful Desolation was Star Control 2.
The story itself is simple - we chose to tell a character-based story about two brothers and a robot dog, flung into a strange world. They need to deal with the demons of their past and forge a way home.
The Story
Based on the first cinematic posted on Kickstarter, Beautiful Desolation takes place in an alternate history South Africa.
In the 1980s, on a slow Tuesday afternoon, a structure called the Penrose appeared over Cape Point.
The Penrose is an object of untold technological abundance that advanced civilisation on all frontiers. Hunger and disease were eradicated, energy was mastered, and mortality was conquered. For a fleeting moment, mankind forgot about its differences and progressed as one.
But peace would be short-lived.
Humanity would wage war… and desolation would ensue.
From the official blurb:
Mark, a man out of time, searches for his lost brother Don, in a far-flung futuristic era ruled by highly advanced technologies which are both revered and reviled.
Your surroundings hold echoes of a desolate past, and glimpses of a dark future that has yet to be written by your actions. Be prepared to face many tough choices that will shape this land long after you complete your journey.
The inhabitants of this world will help and hinder you, as you make new discoveries and navigate the spectacular African-inspired landscape. Negotiate your passage with local leaders, healers and warriors, or find yourself embroiled in a battle against nanite swarms, enormous scorpions and rocket-equipped robots.
From thriving villages to crumbling cities, petrified forests and bone-dry ocean beds, this strange new world holds a multitude of terrains to uncover, beautifully rendered in 2D isometric art.
The Kickstarter
Beautiful Desolation raised $138,457 in pledges on a Kickstarter. The campaign launched on 24 January 2017 and ended on 18 February, with the game’s original estimated release date given as October 2019. The release date was firmed up as December 2019, and then pushed out to February 2020.
The Brotherhood has been communicating regularly with backers for the past three years, with 39 updates posted just on their Kickstarter page. Here is their most recent post from 3 Feburary 2020:
These extra two months grace from our planned release date has resulted in a huge amount of additional content and polish. We know it will be well worth it! Thank you for your patience.
We are aiming for an end of February launch (isn’t that exciting?!), although this entirely depends on any show-stopping bugs that may pop up. Rest assured though, we’ve already had our internal testers complete the game - and are personally testing it to the limits in studio.
The Pricing
The Brotherhood has announced standard and deluxe editions for the game.
In US dollar terms, the standard edition of Beautiful Desolation will sell for $19.99. The deluxe edition includes Mick Gordon’s soundtrack, an art book, and wallpapers for $29.99.
For those who earn South African rand, the localised pricing on Steam will probably work out cheaper than on GOG.
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lightbane
Arcane
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Alright, some more comments from the beta:
A fast-travel system, if there isn't one already, would do wonders, if only for the maps that are adjacent to each other. Areas in the game are BIG, but quite empty, so it takes a while for the protagonist to run from place to place. Speaking of, as it is tradition for the main characters of The Brotherhood, the MC has slightly superhuman abilities. In his case, despite being a former cripple, he can move thanks to certain sci-fi harness that not only is very small and unobtrusive, he can run REALLY fast without tiring himself. Useful due how big these maps are. They're cool indeed, but still quite big.
Hmm, I just noticed: The MC has a brother, the company is called The Brotherhood, and the main programmers are two brothers... Nah, it's probably coincidence.
Chances are one of the two brothers won't make it to the end of the game in one way or another, as the rules of drama dictate.
Anyway, dialogues use the classic Fallout screen, alas the characters are not as expressive nor make exaggerated facial gestures, sadly. To compensate, dialogues are realistic as in you can only choose a few dialogue choices exclusive with each other, and people aren't willing to talk with you forever.
The voice-acting is... Uuh, I dunno how South Americans speak English, but it sounds a bit bad IMO. Other voices though, especially the non-human characters, sound awesome though.
The game even has collectible artwork pieces that do nothing but look cool.
Lastly, this is a minor spoiler since it is already mentioned in the game's description, but unfortunately the game turned out to be an isekai story all along: The protagonists are moved to a new world that they cannot recognize, complete with non-human creatures. Catgirls, slaves, Demon Lords (TM), the protagonist becoming insufferable as well as overpowered and the overuse of "Analyze" skill, as many other isekai stories do, may show up later.
Note the last part is purely an anime joke and not meant to be taken seriously. See below for more info:
Hmm, I just noticed: The MC has a brother, the company is called The Brotherhood, and the main programmers are two brothers... Nah, it's probably coincidence.
Chances are one of the two brothers won't make it to the end of the game in one way or another, as the rules of drama dictate.
Anyway, dialogues use the classic Fallout screen, alas the characters are not as expressive nor make exaggerated facial gestures, sadly. To compensate, dialogues are realistic as in you can only choose a few dialogue choices exclusive with each other, and people aren't willing to talk with you forever.
The voice-acting is... Uuh, I dunno how South Americans speak English, but it sounds a bit bad IMO. Other voices though, especially the non-human characters, sound awesome though.
The game even has collectible artwork pieces that do nothing but look cool.
Lastly, this is a minor spoiler since it is already mentioned in the game's description, but unfortunately the game turned out to be an isekai story all along: The protagonists are moved to a new world that they cannot recognize, complete with non-human creatures. Catgirls, slaves, Demon Lords (TM), the protagonist becoming insufferable as well as overpowered and the overuse of "Analyze" skill, as many other isekai stories do, may show up later.
Note the last part is purely an anime joke and not meant to be taken seriously. See below for more info:
lightbane
Arcane
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- 10,208
Okay, I think I'm close to the end of the demo. I retract my statement about the maps, they look cool, but somewhat empty. I suppose that's the point though. Beautiful Desolation, after all. Many NPCs speak gibberish, except for the few ones that still talk English somehow. There's a blatant reference to Harold from Fallout 1, or at least that's what I thought. There's also an alignment system if the Simulacrum thing is to be trusted, but I'm not sure how to interpret it. In any case, I'm stuck:
One thing that is quite different from Stasis is that the MC, despite being in a dangerous land, is so far unable to be brutally murdered if you step into the wrong place, even though you're warned multiple times that the whole place is dangerous. Is this intentional, or will we have over-the-top death scenes here too?
I got Buddy, the drone companion of our bro, but I don't know how to repair it. I also got info that I have to fight in the arena to get the mask of N-her-name-is-too-long, but I don't know how to "make a sacrifice of bone and blood". I have a spare femur found in that graveyard filled with kickstarter names, but I cannot use it. What else do I need? The protagonist refuses to mutilate himself to participate. He should take notes from John from Stasis.
How am I supposed to fight against cyborgs and such when the protagonist is clearly a weak being of fallible flesh, anyway? The only one that seems capable of fighting is the dog, which is a recon drone anyway. I cannot advance further.
Also, will you be able to get gold pieces in the game enough to buy all the ship upgrades? I don't think so, but so far they don't seem necessary. Also, can you intentionally leave your brother behind? The few changes I saw is that you can be rude during dialogues, but not much so far. I got not-Harold convinced that his brother doesn't hate him but instead died to be more empathetic to him, but he mentioned he would take out his eye and that's it.
There's also that guy at the Hanuya or whatever is called village asking me for Herbs, which I dunno where to find.
How am I supposed to fight against cyborgs and such when the protagonist is clearly a weak being of fallible flesh, anyway? The only one that seems capable of fighting is the dog, which is a recon drone anyway. I cannot advance further.
Also, will you be able to get gold pieces in the game enough to buy all the ship upgrades? I don't think so, but so far they don't seem necessary. Also, can you intentionally leave your brother behind? The few changes I saw is that you can be rude during dialogues, but not much so far. I got not-Harold convinced that his brother doesn't hate him but instead died to be more empathetic to him, but he mentioned he would take out his eye and that's it.
There's also that guy at the Hanuya or whatever is called village asking me for Herbs, which I dunno where to find.
One thing that is quite different from Stasis is that the MC, despite being in a dangerous land, is so far unable to be brutally murdered if you step into the wrong place, even though you're warned multiple times that the whole place is dangerous. Is this intentional, or will we have over-the-top death scenes here too?
Pyke
The Brotherhood
You can't die. Our original idea was that this is more of an Indiana Jones adventure!
Buddy you can't fix him in the Beta, but you can just sell him.
For the blood offering, in the Sangoma tent (robot doctor at the Kettle), there is a machine in his store room... give it a try.
The seeds are at the Chiznyama homeland (the airport) next to the drugged out sleeping Hanasi in the 'makeshift greenhouse'.
To grow them, take them (once you've soaked them in the mothers milk) to the Kettle Maiden in the garden in the Kettle.
In regards to the languages, in SA most people speak 2 - 3 languages here. When speaking amongst themselves, many people use their 'home tongue', and will often switch to English if talking to someone who they don't know (English is the most widely spoken language here, although its mostly considered a second language).
It's actually funny, because I read a 'plot hole' of District 9 that said that when Wikus talks to the Prawns he uses English, and they reply in their language. But in SA that happens in probably 50% of the conversations I have. :D
Buddy you can't fix him in the Beta, but you can just sell him.
For the blood offering, in the Sangoma tent (robot doctor at the Kettle), there is a machine in his store room... give it a try.
The seeds are at the Chiznyama homeland (the airport) next to the drugged out sleeping Hanasi in the 'makeshift greenhouse'.
To grow them, take them (once you've soaked them in the mothers milk) to the Kettle Maiden in the garden in the Kettle.
In regards to the languages, in SA most people speak 2 - 3 languages here. When speaking amongst themselves, many people use their 'home tongue', and will often switch to English if talking to someone who they don't know (English is the most widely spoken language here, although its mostly considered a second language).
It's actually funny, because I read a 'plot hole' of District 9 that said that when Wikus talks to the Prawns he uses English, and they reply in their language. But in SA that happens in probably 50% of the conversations I have. :D
lightbane
Arcane
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No deaths for the main character? Then I bet one of the endings will have the brother die or worse. In fact, is it possible to progress WITHOUT rescuing your brother if you happen to fuck-up and don't buy a medikit for some reason?
As for the language thing, it's a good way to justify gibberish even with real-world examples! It's quite surprising that English withstood centuries without changing much, but details.
Now then, I'm stuck again: I got into the arcade, but I don't know how to get a token. Cannot start combat without tokens and no idea how to get a token. I got a necroficier thing from the doctor and the matron asked me to find her sisters in exchange of planting these seeds, but no idea where they are said sisters, or how to proceed. I asked the slave to tell me about Topic 3, but that was for naught and the poor bastard lost his tongue for nothing. How do I proceed? I found a token oblation thing, but no idea what to insert as a token. I think I explored everything else available. I haven’t bought anything for the Buffalo, because I wish to buy the military base transponder if possible.
As for the slave, it has some awesome voice acting, but I think you meant "sapient" instead of "sentient" in his introductory lines. Everyone is sentient, even animals. Sapient means we have higher brain functions, such as that poor bastard does. Also: Could you have it that the name of the person you're talking to is shown somewhere? Even if it's hidden in the "review conversation" menu, unless it's there already and I didn't notice, I saw there are pics, but names seem to be placed in the PDA's dialogue log section.
Lastly, the Knowledge bit of said Slave should be capitalized. It has a type by being defined as "knowledge Slave". A very minor issue though.
Another thing is that the scroll down function for the save/load menu doesn't work, forcing you to click down the arrows to see which slot to use. It's really a shame I cannot name my saved games, it would help a lot to remember which save is which.
Oh, one more thing: I'm surprised the big bro doesn't complain when I coldly sell his precious robot buddy in front of his face, I expected a complain or two, but nothing.
As for the language thing, it's a good way to justify gibberish even with real-world examples! It's quite surprising that English withstood centuries without changing much, but details.
Now then, I'm stuck again: I got into the arcade, but I don't know how to get a token. Cannot start combat without tokens and no idea how to get a token. I got a necroficier thing from the doctor and the matron asked me to find her sisters in exchange of planting these seeds, but no idea where they are said sisters, or how to proceed. I asked the slave to tell me about Topic 3, but that was for naught and the poor bastard lost his tongue for nothing. How do I proceed? I found a token oblation thing, but no idea what to insert as a token. I think I explored everything else available. I haven’t bought anything for the Buffalo, because I wish to buy the military base transponder if possible.
As for the slave, it has some awesome voice acting, but I think you meant "sapient" instead of "sentient" in his introductory lines. Everyone is sentient, even animals. Sapient means we have higher brain functions, such as that poor bastard does. Also: Could you have it that the name of the person you're talking to is shown somewhere? Even if it's hidden in the "review conversation" menu, unless it's there already and I didn't notice, I saw there are pics, but names seem to be placed in the PDA's dialogue log section.
Lastly, the Knowledge bit of said Slave should be capitalized. It has a type by being defined as "knowledge Slave". A very minor issue though.
Another thing is that the scroll down function for the save/load menu doesn't work, forcing you to click down the arrows to see which slot to use. It's really a shame I cannot name my saved games, it would help a lot to remember which save is which.
Oh, one more thing: I'm surprised the big bro doesn't complain when I coldly sell his precious robot buddy in front of his face, I expected a complain or two, but nothing.
Pyke
The Brotherhood
You can get the med kit in other ways, and you can get relatively far without rescuing your brother, but eventually you gotta get him!
You'll get the tokens as you go through the game, depending on who you help. Help the Hanasi and they will give you a token, same with the Chiznyama. There are other ways to get the tokens, and some hidden ways to get at some of the rare ones.
In the BETA I believe there are only 2 tokens to get.
I'll pass on that other stuff to Nic! Thanks!
You'll get the tokens as you go through the game, depending on who you help. Help the Hanasi and they will give you a token, same with the Chiznyama. There are other ways to get the tokens, and some hidden ways to get at some of the rare ones.
In the BETA I believe there are only 2 tokens to get.
I'll pass on that other stuff to Nic! Thanks!
lightbane
Arcane
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- Dec 27, 2008
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That was a fast response. Thanks!
Sadly I don't know how to proceed, I don't know where said sisters of the matron are, and I cannot help the Hanasi without getting inside first, which requires giving the herbs to the entrance guard, which requires the former. I think I explored everywhere I can, but there are obvious places I can't go yet, like the garden protected by a red force-field that has a terminal that seemingly requires a key or something.
One more thing: Do you have to buy one or more of the Buffalo upgrades to progress in the demo? So far I'm saving for the transponder, since I didn't find an use for the anti-shocker and anti-heat upgrades.
Sadly I don't know how to proceed, I don't know where said sisters of the matron are, and I cannot help the Hanasi without getting inside first, which requires giving the herbs to the entrance guard, which requires the former. I think I explored everywhere I can, but there are obvious places I can't go yet, like the garden protected by a red force-field that has a terminal that seemingly requires a key or something.
One more thing: Do you have to buy one or more of the Buffalo upgrades to progress in the demo? So far I'm saving for the transponder, since I didn't find an use for the anti-shocker and anti-heat upgrades.
lightbane
Arcane
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- Dec 27, 2008
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- 10,208
Okay, I'm reaching the end of the demo, so far it is awesome. Voice-acting has its high and downs, with some examples that are awesome, others that are better, and others that are... Somewhat bad.
I found some minor errors where the MC doesn't say his line and it skips directly to the NPC's answer, but I tihnk it was a minor bug, since I couldn't replicate it afterwards.
As for my comments.
WARNING! SPOILERS BELOW!
EDIT:
Will RPGCodex members that did that fund-raising for the game get a mention in-game, or at least a mention of the Codex, or nothing at all? From the places where there are obvious references to backers, I didn't see my own nick. Or perhaps it's here and I didn't notice yet.
I found some minor errors where the MC doesn't say his line and it skips directly to the NPC's answer, but I tihnk it was a minor bug, since I couldn't replicate it afterwards.
As for my comments.
WARNING! SPOILERS BELOW!
So, I finally got to fight something. For good or bad, it turns out that in the dark far, far future of Africa, ritual battles to the death are done with... Arcade machines. 
Even better, that seems to be one of the few reasons why you would bother to rescue your brother, since he doesn't seem to do anything else so far, and you can even call him out about that.
Of course, they're quite grimdark and seem to be made with the purpose of being as unsafe to the user as possible, but it does look cool. However, I don't know how the minigame works yet. Worse, when you choose your units, you only know their armor and HP stats, not their combat abilities until combat begins.
A pop-up explaining their main abilities would be a good addition.
Said abilities are... Meh. For now they're basic melee and ranged attacks with no special effects other than more damage, less accuracy, and so on. The enemy can create a force-field, but I hope the full game has more esoteric abilities such as multi-target attacks, status effects, and so on.
I also like how your rivals are skull-faced cyborgs that insult you as you're losing. Kinda like YGO's Dark World but more hardcore.
There also doesn't seem to be much of a point of being rude to your companions and NPCs in conversations, other than altering your alignment I guess.
Even better, that seems to be one of the few reasons why you would bother to rescue your brother, since he doesn't seem to do anything else so far, and you can even call him out about that.Of course, they're quite grimdark and seem to be made with the purpose of being as unsafe to the user as possible, but it does look cool. However, I don't know how the minigame works yet. Worse, when you choose your units, you only know their armor and HP stats, not their combat abilities until combat begins.
A pop-up explaining their main abilities would be a good addition.
Said abilities are... Meh. For now they're basic melee and ranged attacks with no special effects other than more damage, less accuracy, and so on. The enemy can create a force-field, but I hope the full game has more esoteric abilities such as multi-target attacks, status effects, and so on.
I also like how your rivals are skull-faced cyborgs that insult you as you're losing. Kinda like YGO's Dark World but more hardcore.
There also doesn't seem to be much of a point of being rude to your companions and NPCs in conversations, other than altering your alignment I guess.
EDIT:
Will RPGCodex members that did that fund-raising for the game get a mention in-game, or at least a mention of the Codex, or nothing at all? From the places where there are obvious references to backers, I didn't see my own nick. Or perhaps it's here and I didn't notice yet.
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Pyke
The Brotherhood
Okay, I'm reaching the end of the demo, so far it is awesome. Voice-acting has its high and downs, with some examples that are awesome, others that are better, and others that are... Somewhat bad.
I found some minor errors where the MC doesn't say his line and it skips directly to the NPC's answer, but I tihnk it was a minor bug, since I couldn't replicate it afterwards.
As for my comments.
WARNING! SPOILERS BELOW!
So, I finally got to fight something. For good or bad, it turns out that in the dark far, far future of Africa, ritual battles to the death are done with... Arcade machines.
Of course, they're quite grimdark and seem to be made with the purpose of being as unsafe to the user as possible, but it does look cool. However, I don't know how the minigame works yet. Worse, when you choose your units, you only know their armor and HP stats, not their combat abilities until combat begins.
A pop-up explaining their main abilities would be a good addition.
Said abilities are... Meh. For now they're basic melee and ranged attacks with no special effects other than more damage, less accuracy, and so on. The enemy can create a force-field, but I hope the full game has more esoteric abilities such as multi-target attacks, status effects, and so on.
I also like how your rivals are skull-faced cyborgs that insult you as you're losing. Kinda like YGO's Dark World but more hardcore.
There also doesn't seem to be much of a point of being rude to your companions and NPCs in conversations, other than altering your alignment I guess.
EDIT:
Will RPGCodex members that did that fund-raising for the game get a mention in-game, or at least a mention of the Codex, or nothing at all? From the places where there are obvious references to backers, I didn't see my own nick. Or perhaps it's here and I didn't notice yet.
Complete the first battle, and head up the stairs of the Bulwark to the arena...
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Pyke I logged some time in the beta today and am enjoying it. I haven't hit any major bugs so far, the game is gorgeous, but there are some rough spots. In no particular order:
edit: and add some keyboard love please! if there's a puzzle that requires entering numbers, let us type them (and don't forget the numpad, lots of games won't recognize NUMPAD number input). It would also be nice to have a hotkey for the codex, PDA and radio (unless I've missed those?).
edit2: I think the player needs a bridge between the intro video (with the VW bug) and the first map. A spot of narration or scrolling text over a static image, something. Keep it simple like
<- Obviously not that, as I'm garbage at writing, but something, a nugget, to give the player motivation. Questions and unanswered things are fine, but the fact we learn all this in the first 10 minutes or so of gameplay means it isn't a great secret, so you may as well frame our motivation (big picture at least) at the start to help ease the player into the world. Going from the FMV sequences to the first map, the transition felt jarring and disconnected.
- Hot spot text. The way it is currently handled makes navigating areas with a high density of hot spots very annoying, see: the first map of the game. The fact that they expand and stay expanded until you move your cursor far enough away, or click the X, is quite uncomfortable when you're trying to navigate Mark through an area of the map with your cursor and descriptions keep popping up. This map appears to be somewhat of an edge case, as the outdoor maps don't have such a high density of hot spots, but other indoor maps make this problem rear up (like the top floor of the abbey). I don't recall exactly how you handled it in Stasis / CAYNE, but this system is worse IMO, with the exception of the spacebar to open / close all.
- Related to above: when hot spot text is open, and you hit spacebar, the open text should either a) close or b) the rest of the spots open. Neither happens. I think it should close the open text.
- When hot spot text is open and the mouse is over the text, zoom via mouse wheel is non-responsive.
- Interactions with objects / talking to people is clunky. Having to be within close proximity to actually click on something to interact with it, when you can see the icon flashing from far away, is not intuitive. The player should be able to click on the flashing interact / talk icon and, if too far from the object, run towards it and then interact seamlessly, not require another click on the now activated icon. Right now it feels as if the UI is not responsive because you want to click this flashing thing, but all you can do is path to it until you're close enough to finally click it.
- Talking to people: the fact that you need to click the icon above people's heads is a bit odd. You can keep the icon, but let us click on the person / thing as well. This goes for interaction icons as well, we should be able to click on the thing to interact with it, not just the floating icon above it.
- Speaking of the floating icons, they kinda take away from the art. I know we've talked about this before, but you've got gorgeous art and a big green polygon sitting on a lion's nose that lets me read a description of the lion kinda ruins the art you put there, or the executed soldiers.
- Zoom level: let the player zoom in ~50% more and enjoy your art.
- VO: most of the VO is good, two aren't so far. The narrator of the Penrose docudrama from the first map's TV is totally flat, without any affect. I get that you're going for dry documentary narrator but.. it's not good. The second is the mechanic on the same map as the abbey (trying to avoid spoilers). His accent and dialect are great, but it sounds like the recording wasn't done properly and his voice is clipping in the recording. It doesn't matter how much you turn it down, if it clipped during record then the player will always hear that clipping.
- Speaking of Penrose docudrama, the music that starts at the very end should have started much earlier in the video, and slowly increased in volume until it was very noticeable at the end, not suddenly faded in.
- FMV audio: I like the FMV sequences and in general how BD is presented like in a film-like manner, but the FMVs lack certain audio characteristics that, as a result, leaves them feeling flat. For example, in the helicopter. Shots inside the helicopter where you can see the protagonist(s) should have a background drone of chopper noise, and then shots from outside it have a different 'airy' sound. Different characteristic soundscapes for different shots, to frame the scenes aurally. As it is now, when we jump from one type of shot to another and the background sound doesn't change to reflect this, it makes the scenes feel flat. The first FMV in the helicopter is just an example of this, this is true also for later videos involving certain vehicles making rapid contact with the ground (i.e. that video has inside/outside shots without respective changes in the soundscape, and there's no impact sound. Sorry for the quibbles, once a producer always a producer). Watch your videos and then watch random clips from a movie where the camera goes back and forth between inside/outside a vehicle and listen, you'll hear what i'm talking about.
- Pacing - this one is hard, but I feel as if the game is offering up what to do too easily.
For example, the old doll that heavily alludes to the fact that all of this has happened before. If that's foreshadowing, it's too heavy handed IMO - if it's a red herring, then bravo and it's fine. But anyway, he tells us exactly what we need to do to get the buffalo running. Then does the same thing with the satellite array - so i'm 1.5 hours into the game and this character is basically laying out what *appears* to be a big chunk of the story, that is activating the wormhole, and telling us how to do it 1, 2, 3. It felt too pat, I wanted to discover the motivation and the solutions, not have both told to me by the creepy skeleton guy who sounds like an Ent. Similar thing with the mechanic who sends us to get the mcguffin to access the wormhole-through-radiation device. I'm going from Milkbeach (or whatever) with no clue as to what's going on in this world, to that map and that character, and I feel as if I'm being spoonfed story and motivation. I want to discover more of it, I want to wring it out of the world, not handed to me on a platter.
edit: and add some keyboard love please! if there's a puzzle that requires entering numbers, let us type them (and don't forget the numpad, lots of games won't recognize NUMPAD number input). It would also be nice to have a hotkey for the codex, PDA and radio (unless I've missed those?).
edit2: I think the player needs a bridge between the intro video (with the VW bug) and the first map. A spot of narration or scrolling text over a static image, something. Keep it simple like
Since the accident, Mark has lost the use of his legs and become obsessed with the object in the sky the night of the car crash, the night Karen (??) died. Mark hasn't spoken to his brother Don in over 9 years, and the world has changed quite a lot since then, but now fate would have it, Don is the only person Mark can turn to.
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how did all you people get into the beta? 
lightbane
Arcane
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Well then, finished the demo. Agreed with the above points of agris. I also finished the arena demo and then...
Anyways, now here comes the hard part: Waiting for the gold edition to come out. And finding time to play it, of course. The demo clocked for me at 6 hours or so, quite good for a demo!
IIRC there was a fundraising here. Those that participated will be forever remembered, as seen here below:
Certainly better than being shoved into a random graveyard. Too bad Mark doesn't seem to react much to it.
That was a predictable, although fun plot-twist. However, combat still needs some tinkering. Some of the available creatures are clearly inferior to others, and exist only to fill up space. Others have redundant abilities that you won't use, ever, when there are better skills for less points.
Perhaps the full version of the game adds more variety to it, but so far there are clear winners and losers, for good and bad.
Will there be combat sections outside of the arena?
Perhaps the full version of the game adds more variety to it, but so far there are clear winners and losers, for good and bad.
Will there be combat sections outside of the arena?
Anyways, now here comes the hard part: Waiting for the gold edition to come out. And finding time to play it, of course. The demo clocked for me at 6 hours or so, quite good for a demo!
how did all you people get into the beta?
IIRC there was a fundraising here. Those that participated will be forever remembered, as seen here below:
Certainly better than being shoved into a random graveyard. Too bad Mark doesn't seem to react much to it.
Pyke
The Brotherhood
Well then, finished the demo. Agreed with the above points of agris. I also finished the arena demo and then...
That was a predictable, although fun plot-twist. However, combat still needs some tinkering. Some of the available creatures are clearly inferior to others, and exist only to fill up space. Others have redundant abilities that you won't use, ever, when there are better skills for less points.
Perhaps the full version of the game adds more variety to it, but so far there are clear winners and losers, for good and bad.
Will there be combat sections outside of the arena?
Anyways, now here comes the hard part: Waiting for the gold edition to come out. And finding time to play it, of course. The demo clocked for me at 6 hours or so, quite good for a demo!
how did all you people get into the beta?
IIRC there was a fundraising here. Those that participated will be forever remembered, as seen here below:
Certainly better than being shoved into a random graveyard. Too bad Mark doesn't seem to react much to it.
So we originally did have combat outside of the arena (you can actually see one of the other arenas at the Hanasi fortress), but decided to move it just to the Bulwark and keep it contained to that area.
You do get other creatures and races with varied abilities. Some can steal armor from enemies, heal themselves, call down orbital laser canons, have multi attacks where they can attack more than one enemy, or even do suicide runs.
If people enjoy the combat I would love to split it from the main game and make it a free downloadable minigame. Add in a PvP mode, make a cool ladder to climb, add more characters, etc.
You do get other creatures and races with varied abilities. Some can steal armor from enemies, heal themselves, call down orbital laser canons, have multi attacks where they can attack more than one enemy, or even do suicide runs.
If people enjoy the combat I would love to split it from the main game and make it a free downloadable minigame. Add in a PvP mode, make a cool ladder to climb, add more characters, etc.
Pyke
The Brotherhood
Bro! Wow! Thanks for taking the time to write all of that!
I'll go through this with Nic today at coffee. Some things we can put in, but some of the ideas would require overhauling certain systems that we just don't have the resources to do.
I do get your comments on pacing. Its a bit of a hard one. The first chunk of the game (basically until you get to the Warden) we designated as 'tutorial', so tried to be a little more literal with what to do and where to go. As the game opens up more, you get a little more lost in the world.
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Got a link to another survey on the Brotherhood website. Is this one for Paypal backers including those who pledged to our Codex fundraiser? If so I hope it doesn't get confused with my Kickstarter pledge.
Pyke
The Brotherhood
Thats just for the codex backers - its a separate list, so wont interfere with your Kickstarter pledge.
lightbane
Arcane
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Odd, I received that one, but the link doesn't work it seem. What was the survey about?
Pyke
The Brotherhood
Its just a backer name for the credits, and if you want it on GOG or STEAM.
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https://www.kickstarter.com/project...n-isometric-post-apocalyptic-ad/posts/2745809
SAVE THE DATE
Hey Backers,
Prepare for DESOLATION on the 26th of February.
if you haven't chcked out the trailer, watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDXZ_hsHUVw
See you there on STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/912570/BEAUTIFUL_DESOLATION/
& GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/beautiful_desolation?as=1649904300
Please fill in your survey before Monday 17th Feb if you want to appear in the credits.
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