KickStarter Dead State: Reanimated

[Zombra]

We are working on some new stuff that was never planned for the game.

Nice to hear. I expect we will see some strict balancing measures as well

And yeah, are there notes up on the IT forums or anything? I guess I should get off my ass and check things out over there.

 

[Elhoim]

We are working on some new stuff that was never planned for the game.

Some hint?

Not yet! :D

 

[Sizzle]

We are working on some new stuff that was never planned for the game.

Some hint?

Not yet! :D

(dead) cock tease! :D

 

[naossano]

Nice to hear. I expect we will see some strict balancing measures as well

.

And scavenging feeling less repetitive & boring.
(from what i read. I am yet to play it)

 

[Zombra]

I expect we will see some strict balancing measures as well.

And scavenging feeling less repetitive & boring.
(from what i read. I am yet to play it)

Ahhhh, scavenging is fun - will become less repetitious naturally when zombies are scary again.

 

[Abu Antar]

I will wait for the "final" update before playing. I haven't done that for any other Kickstarter game I have backed. I just play them when they release. (Don't regret my pledge or anything.)

 

[Necroscope]

scavenging is fun

As fun as drawing magic in FF8, even similar in a way.

I forgot to uninstall this game so looks like I'm goona give it one last chance.

 

[naossano]

I expect we will see some strict balancing measures as well.

And scavenging feeling less repetitive & boring.
(from what i read. I am yet to play it)

Ahhhh, scavenging is fun - will become less repetitious naturally when zombies are scary again.

Well, as some others said (in way too harsh way), balance is not everything.
It makes some features more meaningfull sure, but the issues of repetitiveness of activities/scenery is harder to fix. (if it is there)

 

[Zombra]

Well, as some others said (in way too harsh way), balance is not everything.
It makes some features more meaningfull sure, but the issues of repetitiveness of activities/scenery is harder to fix. (if it is there)

Yeah, it's even possible that if combat becomes too hard, scavenging will become even more of a repetitious drag. But I think if they hit it just right, searching every sector will become more tense and fun - every building with no zombies in it will be a relief, and every one you have to fight through will be a satisfying thrill - either way, finding that bag of flour will be a lot more exciting.

Balance isn't everything, but it will have a major, major impact on how the bread and butter of the game (fighting, sneaking and scavenging) plays.

 

[Mexi]

"Thank you for paying full release price for our alpha release!"

Good post. I pretty much agree. Seriously, this game is very frustrating. The last patch didn't feel like it did much. Supposedly, the oil refinery is still a clump of bugs.

 

[DarKPenguiN]

"Thank you for paying full release price for our alpha release!"

Good post. I pretty much agree. Seriously, this game is very frustrating. The last patch didn't feel like it did much. Supposedly, the oil refinery is still a clump of bugs.

-Agreed.
I honestly feel a bit ripped off.I didnt purchase an "early access"game. Game still plays like a beta and its march.

 

[Infinitron]

Dead State postmortem on Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/..._State__Controlling_scope_in_an_indie_RPG.php

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Dead State postmortem on Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/..._State__Controlling_scope_in_an_indie_RPG.php

Impressive lack of awareness from the developers.

 

[Roguey]

If the Noise system hadn’t worked, our combat would have been a lot less exciting, and the zombie apocalypse feel of the game would have been lost.

Good thing we have the armor system for that.

If we hadn’t improved our level pipeline, the game would have had much less content, and the overall design would have suffered.

And yet a common complaint is that it has too much content given how quickly your parties become unstoppable.

it’s difficult to justify making a sequel or another RPG in the near future considering the amount of time and team size needed to produce one that satisfies the expectations of hardcore fans and press.

Well, see ya. Enjoy the indie hipster audience you clearly want.

 

[Kem0sabe]

They are self deluded is the only conclusion I took from that article.

 

[Zed]

it’s difficult to justify making a sequel or another RPG in the near future considering the amount of time and team size needed to produce one that satisfies the expectations of hardcore fans and press.

*points at Serpent in the Staglands*

the Mitsodas are so out of touch it's sad.

 

[Zombra]

it’s difficult to justify making a sequel or another RPG in the near future considering the amount of time and team size needed to produce one that satisfies the expectations of hardcore fans and press.

*points at Serpent in the Staglands*
the Mitsodas are so out of touch it's sad.

Is Staglands getting good press?

 

[Roguey]

*points at Serpent in the Staglands*

the Mitsodas are so out of touch it's sad.

Haha yeah they got significantly less Kickstarter cash than the Mitsodas too.

Peter Principle here. Brian can be a competent writer, but his attempts at leadership and game design were disastrous. To his credit, not totally disastrous since they did ship a product that functions.

 

[Zed]

it’s difficult to justify making a sequel or another RPG in the near future considering the amount of time and team size needed to produce one that satisfies the expectations of hardcore fans and press.

*points at Serpent in the Staglands*
the Mitsodas are so out of touch it's sad.

Is Staglands getting good press?

Pretty much no press AFAIK.
But they have a strong "hardcore fans" backing and I'm sure it will receive largely favorable reviews when the time comes.

 

[Davaris]

it’s difficult to justify making a sequel or another RPG in the near future considering the amount of time and team size needed to produce one that satisfies the expectations of hardcore fans and press.

*points at Serpent in the Staglands*

the Mitsodas are so out of touch it's sad.

Brian should have married an underpaid low life coder. That way she could do all the coding for free.

And 2D engines are much easier to work with, especially if you write them yourself.

Disclaimer:
"underpaid low life" is a joke from the Grimoire thread

 

[Elhoim]

"Thank you for paying full release price for our alpha release!"

Good post. I pretty much agree. Seriously, this game is very frustrating. The last patch didn't feel like it did much. Supposedly, the oil refinery is still a clump of bugs.

I've fixed all of the issues with the refinery for the next update.

 

[ST'Ranger]

Impressive lack of awareness from the developers.

I was sincerely interested in the post-mortem not only because I find such topics fascinating in themselves, but also because of the amount of criticism, polarization, and drama surrounding the game. I have to say I was quite disappointed.

Throughout the writeup, there are small hints that form a preponderance of evidence that the author is more concerned with shaping and softening their image than giving a full and honest (and possibly very interesting) breakdown of the important problems the game experienced. The irony of this concern over PR is underscored by the complete absence of "Attacking The Player Base" and "Censoring Undesirable Opinions" in the What Went Wrong section, though those are admittedly smaller problems when all is taken into consideration.

But that's unfair of me. It would be very hypocritical of them to place "Attacking the Player Base" in the What Went Wrong section of an article in which the author passive-aggressively blames the player base for their failures.

 

[Elhoim]

The new update is out. Main highlights are Iron Man mode, crawlers, loot KO'd Characters, new levels, and AI improvements.

• Added Iron Man mode! A true test of survival! All saves are disabled except for a daily autosave and a resume point when you quit the game. Whatever happens, happened. No take-backs.
  • See our design notes below the changelog about separating Iron Man mode from difficulty settings and player infection.
• Added new undead type: crawlers! Seems some people got pretty messed up before they turned. These mangled dead dudes and ladies have a nasty Trip Attack, so keep one eye on the ground at all times.
• Added movement and activity to the Shelter! Everyone in the Shelter now moves around to different locations when assigned to work. If you forget where to look for someone, remember to check the Shelter summary screen with the ‘H’ hotkey or double-check the job board.
• Added custom portrait editor! You can now create your own unique portrait by selecting hair color, hair style, eye color, facial hair, tattoo, and more. We’ve also added a couple nifty features we felt were missing from the typical portrait creator: loading a previous portrait to work from, and undoing changes you’ve made.
• Added looting of KO’ed characters! Want to knock somebody down, steal their stuff, and leave them for the undead to finish off? Now you can!
• Changes to Parisa!:
  • Added new discussion topic options in Shelter
  • Added new dialogue
  • Added new character perk choice
  • See our design notes below the changelog about the changes to Parisa’s storyline.
• Changed noise-activated spawn behavior. Adjusted likelihood of spawning an undead at different noise levels, and undead spawns from noise become more likely over time.
• Balanced the distribution of items required for upgrades.
• Added five new levels.
• Improved grenade and molotov code.
• Added Fortify skill on Riot Shield. Now you can end your turn early for a +10 AC boost to your defence.
• Fixed several combat AI related exploits. Enemies will now chase you around corners and through doors, and combat will no longer end if line of sight is broken temporarily.
• Improved undead mobbing behavior, added a mob bonus to undead grapple attack when in groups.
• Fixed human AI to make KO’ed enemies the lowest priority target for humans.
• Fixed an issue where humans-turned-undead did not drop weapons.
• Fixed an issue where Doug sometimes disappeared for a while before waking up.
• Fixed an issue with Shelter inventory ignoring maximum weight.
• Fixed a bug that allowed characters to equip stacks of items from Shelter inventory.
• Fixed exploit to bring dead characters back to life in combat.
• Fixed an issue where Survival bonus was lost on area map when travelling from a map other than the shelter.
• Fixed a bug with Unity perk.
• Fixed cases of recruiting dead allies again.
• Fixed cases of being unable to attack neutral NPCs.
• Added appropriate SFX to car gates and roll-down doors.
• Fixed issue where Chemist perk cancelled Unity perk.
• Fixed some bugs related to Team Effort and Unity.
• Fixed issue where Pumped and Aimed status were not applied if the job carried over into the next day.
• Improved some maps.
• Adjusted nailgun stats.

So Iron Man Mode is here, yay! However, it’s different than what we originally had planned. We’ve decided to split up Iron Man, Hardcore difficulty, and Player Infection rather than have the latter two be grouped into Iron Man’. You can see all three of these options when you start a new game now, although Hardcore and Player Infection aren’t implemented yet and will be in a future update. The reason we decided to separate these into three options on a new game was that we wanted to allow players to choose their own experience. Hardcore and Player Infection require a ton more internal testing before we release them into the wild, thus why they’re not in the current patch. Furthermore, we are planning a pretty big balance pass and AI adjustments for a future Patch, so the way Hardcore difficulty works will be greatly influenced by those changes. In the meantime, we hope you’ll start up a new Iron Man mode and challenge your skills!

We added in a bit more resolution for Parisa's storyline - which was never intended to be an ending - plus some more zesty character development. If you'd like to know more about this particular aspect of the game, here's a link to where it lives on the forums (and beware, it contains SPOILERS!): http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,6303.0.html

 

[Zombra]

Looks fuckin' great, Elhoim. Iron Man alone is a big deal; I was starting to think that devs everywhere were just going to abandon the concept of save restrictions. Zed mob bonuses also sound fantastic - does that include a damage bonus to penetrate armor, or does it just make knockdown easier? Finally, I'm delighted to see that human enemies will no longer prioritize shooting at a knocked out target when another dude is winding up to hit them in the face with a crowbar. I didn't mention that in my review, but I hated it. Will be really cool to see people moving around in the Shelter, too.

Very much looking forward to details on the upcoming Hardcore mode as well. It's wonderful to see this level of postrelease support. I was worried which way it was going to go, but it looks like Dead State has a real shot at realizing its potential. I don't often think, "I just saw something uplifting on the Codex!" but it's the best word for how I feel right now.

 

[Necroscope]

(...)

What about quests bugs - I mean some quests not checking off?