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Dustbowl - Fallout'y Adventure

Atavismus

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Thx for your feedback Toro, pros and cons (because it's important to listen to players to improve our games).

The story is interesting. I'm actually hooked on it.
It's the most important to us. :)

Food and water price is too high. One pistol is worth two sodas
Food and water are expensive in purpose: postapo is about shortages, especially consumables (still, maybe weapons are not enough expensive).

Never hit the special middle line during combat. I don't think I will ever hit it.
You should train in the fire range room. It's easy when the needle goes from left to right. When it goes from right to left, it seems some people experience sometimes a kind of one pixel glitch.
(Mind, you have 5 times before loose your turn.)

C4 quest from HUB is bugged. I could not get the reward from Moore (if there is one).
That bug has already been fixed. What version do you play?
Btw Hunter gives the reward of this quest, not Moore.
But maybe it's another problem: can you give me more details please?

Respawning mobs are annoying. I cannot move between 2-3 rooms without a fight. The subway is still not "safe" even if theoretically I've installed the turret.
Respawning is a choice (and it's randomized): a postapo world is dangerous and never safe.
Still I understand what you mean (especially in that case).
We are thinking about a way to balance this or make it useful (level up system maybe).

The world map implementation must be fixed. Jumping from one screen to another is absolutely no-go.
Initially, the map was only one big room (roughly 4000x5000), but it was unstable: the engine we use (AGS) is made for point n click and doesn't like big rooms.
So in the last update, we splited the map. Transitions are not that good, but no more crash, no more lag and we made the map bigger (6x 1500x1500).

What is the difference between hitting different body parts?
At start, enemies have no armour, so it doesn't matter (except it's easier to make critical on torso). But it's important for enemies with armour.
For example, Beetle has a strong shell, better hit somewhere else. ;)
(Mind, we don't display enemy's health and armour in purpose.)

Is the game speed influencing the speed of hunger and dehydration?
Yes, otherwise it would be a way to cheat a bit.

Are you planing more updates?
We already added content in v1.2 and v1.3.
A kind of sandbox is planed in september.

Edit: Don't get me wrong. This game is good but it needs some polishing.
Thx, good to hear. Np, as i said, we want to improve Dustbowl and progress for future games so all feedback are welcome and interesting.

I hope that I answered to your "questions" and that you'll finish that damned game. :D
 

toro

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... snip ...

Thank you for the answers. Sorry for replying so late but I did not check this thread in a while.

Note: Please use @user in order to summon someone.

I will check the updates.

Edit: One stupid question - How do I check the game version in Steam?

Edit2: I see it in game v1.3.1
 
Last edited:

toro

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And I'm done with the game. Steam counter says it took me 21 hours but in reality it was more like 12 hours (I've slept while the game was idle).

Pros
- Story is awesome. Coherent quests. Quality dialogues. Fitting ending.
- Atmosphere is bloody good. The sound design and the pixels are matching perfectly the post-apo world.
- Multiple solutions quests. Funny random encounters on the map.

Cons
- Travelling on the map. This stuff is single handedly dragging down the entire game experience. I understand that it's an engine limitation but it still annoys me.
- Enemy respawning. Sometimes you get an encounter in each room but then there is no encounter after reloading. Too much variation in the game flow.

Mentions
- Finished the game and never hit the special attack. I think this is a bug. I watched the little cursor and it never went over that special line.
- Weapons damage should be calibrated. AK and Military Rifles are too close as damage compared to the bearings weapons. This doesn't compute to me. The damage for these weapons should be increased and the ammo quantity for them decreased.
- Artefacts are quite useless as of now. Maybe you should consider adding damage increasing artefacts.
- Armour repair kit is overpowered. It should repair only a certain amount of armour damage.
- There should be more armour sets. Basically the end armour is 3 times as powerful as the next available armour. Or maybe I did not finish all the quests !?
- It happened that I could loot the same house twice or for infinity.

Wishes
- Ending slides for the locations would make it more Fallout-ish.
- Except quests stuff, generate all the encounters and loot at the beginning of the game. Maybe you are using loot tables or something but there is too much garbage loot. Probably I'm rambling about this. There is space for improvement but you know better how to do it.
- Spice up the combat. The opponent loses one turn if he gets an critical to the head. Stuff like this.

Questions:
- I got several Strange Root plants. Do they have any purpose? I've kept them until the end of the game.
- Do you plan a DustBowl 2? Cause I would buy it without hesitation however you should change the game engine.

Conclusion:

I honestly did not expect this game to be so good. I love it.

For reference, I would put this game up there with Primordia.

Atavismus Congratulations! You have something special here.
 

Atavismus

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WOW! Thx a lot for the good words and the detailed review (I'll answer asap to the different points).
I'm really glad you "love it" for the (imo) good reasons: story and atmosphere (because that what we wanted to do).

You have something special here.
Such sentence means a lot to us and strengthen us to become indie game dev.

Please, consider writing a review on Steam, we need more, especially such positive. :D

Thx again and see you soon for a more detailed answer.
 

toro

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WOW! Thx a lot for the good words and the detailed review (I'll answer asap to the different points).
I'm really glad you "love it" for the (imo) good reasons: story and atmosphere (because that what we wanted to do).

You have something special here.
Such sentence means a lot to us and strengthen us to become indie game dev.

Please, consider writing a review on Steam, we need more, especially such positive. :D

Thx again and see you soon for a more detailed answer.

Wrote the first steam review. I think you will recognize it :)
 

Atavismus

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- Enemy respawning. Sometimes you get an encounter in each room but then there is no encounter after reloading. Too much variation in the game flow.
I understand but it's random for each room and it's the way we saw it: the world is not safe, enemies are wandering everywhere, you can encounter a dangerous creature at every corner.

Mentions
- Finished the game and never hit the special attack. I think this is a bug. I watched the little cursor and it never went over that special line.
- Weapons damage should be calibrated. AK and Military Rifles are too close as damage compared to the bearings weapons. This doesn't compute to me. The damage for these weapons should be increased and the ammo quantity for them decreased.
- Artefacts are quite useless as of now. Maybe you should consider adding damage increasing artefacts.
- Armour repair kit is overpowered. It should repair only a certain amount of armour damage.
- There should be more armour sets. Basically the end armour is 3 times as powerful as the next available armour. Or maybe I did not finish all the quests !?
- It happened that I could loot the same house twice or for infinity.
All your mentions are interesting and we'll "study" them.
About special attack: once you get the good timing, you can easily get one.
But it seems some people had issue to get it when the needle comes from right and goes to left.
You should train in the fire range room.

Wishes
- Ending slides for the locations would make it more Fallout-ish.
- Except quests stuff, generate all the encounters and loot at the beginning of the game. Maybe you are using loot tables or something but there is too much garbage loot. Probably I'm rambling about this. There is space for improvement but you know better how to do it.
- Spice up the combat. The opponent loses one turn if he gets an critical to the head. Stuff like this.
- What do you mean?
- Garbage is in purpose: Dustbowl is a postapo game, it means a world of shortages, not prosperity. (Remember the book/movie "The Road"?)
You get a lot of junk and try to recycle them yourself (craft) or sell them for nothing to people able to recycle them.
- Spice up combats: I would like to add more attack items (we did grenades, we could add daggers, tactical knives, etc).

Questions:
- I got several Strange Root plants. Do they have any purpose? I've kept them until the end of the game.
- Do you plan a DustBowl 2? Cause I would buy it without hesitation however you should change the game engine.
- Root plants are "magical" (I guess some recognize the shape): they heal and can be sold at good price.
- We plan a Dustbowl 2 but we don't know when.
Not sure what is the best time to release it. As a second game is maybe too early.
We are discussing about that second game, nothing fixed for the moment, we have tones of ideas that mostly converge to a same point.
It's more and more ambitious, so maybe we'll have to keep it "humble" for a second game.
Mind, we'll open a discussion (on steam I guess) about it when we'll be more fixed.
The idea is to include players in the game making.
Of course we decide, but as I already said here, players opinions are important to us.

As concern the engine, we'll probably move to Unity.

Thx again for your good words, your interest in Dustbowl and your steam review.
Spread the word! ;)
 

JudasIscariot

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Atavismus

So I played version 1.3 from Humble, did all of the main and side quests (I think I got all the side quests...) for the HUB and I guess I am ready to go to Fort Union.

Positives:

- the postapo atmosphere is great as it gives me that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. vibe.
- the quests are pretty decent even if a lot of them do end up being fetch quests at times.
- the Humble version works great with WIne and I didn't need to build AGS or anything to play the game

Negatives:

- being locked out of places that I didn't completely loot is a pain especially since I am kind of a loot hoarder and kind of kills the need to explore abandoned places knowing that if I don't take everything I will be locked out forever...
- no map to mark things meant I was traipsing all over without a sense of direction and the only way I found my way back to the HUB was by accidentally finding the gas station where the missing son was and hearing the gang tell me that the HUB is south east
- the combat is a bit wonky for me but ehh it's manageable but I do wish for a run away button as some fights cost me more in resources than I get back via drops
- crafting seems limited at the moment unless I can find other recipes elsewhere??

Also, I noticed that some houses are bugged. For example one house just to the north of the HUB allows you to walk into it just fine but when you walk out you are immediately irradiated AND you can't move nor is your character visible. The funny thing is that the radiation is minimal at that house but gets spiked as soon as you walk out. As of right now I just save before I enter a building and if the game bugs out I reload and not enter that building ever again.

All in all, I am glad I bought the game and I hope that it gets the house bugs worked out, some additional crafting (if possible) added, and I think it will be perfect.
 

Atavismus

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:salute: hope that give you at least a few more views/sales.
I'm sure it did. ;)
Thx for your support!

JudasIscariot, thx for buying and playing Dustbowl and for your feedbacks.
I'm really glad you feel the atmosphere. :)

About "Negatives":

- being locked out of places that I didn't completely loot is a pain especially since I am kind of a loot hoarder and kind of kills the need to explore abandoned places knowing that if I don't take everything I will be locked out forever...
- no map to mark things meant I was traipsing all over without a sense of direction and the only way I found my way back to the HUB was by accidentally finding the gas station where the missing son was and hearing the gang tell me that the HUB is south east
- the combat is a bit wonky for me but ehh it's manageable but I do wish for a run away button as some fights cost me more in resources than I get back via drops
- crafting seems limited at the moment unless I can find other recipes elsewhere??

- What do you mean?
- No map is in purpose.
- A run away button is planed.
- No more recipes sorry.

About the bugged houses, version 1.3.2 should have fixed the issues.

Thx again and please, consider writing a review on Steam.

Next time I'll post a screenshot about a new feature we are adding : a level up/XP system.

Cya!
 

JudasIscariot

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I'm sure it did. ;)
Thx for your support!

JudasIscariot, thx for buying and playing Dustbowl and for your feedbacks.
I'm really glad you feel the atmosphere. :)

About "Negatives":



- What do you mean?
- No map is in purpose.
- A run away button is planed.
- No more recipes sorry.

About the bugged houses, version 1.3.2 should have fixed the issues.

Thx again and please, consider writing a review on Steam.

Next time I'll post a screenshot about a new feature we are adding : a level up/XP system.

Cya!

- I mean that I can go into a house loot SOME but not ALL of the things in a house then leave. The house gets marked with a big red "X" and the player character remarks that "I just recently searched this house." and he will not go back in once it has the red "X" mark on it.
- no map on purpose, well, guess I'll just live with that :P
- good to hear about a runaway button :)
- too bad about the recipes but it is what it is :)

As for the review on Steam well errrm it wouldn't look good for a GOG employee (I work for GOG) to be leaving reviews on Steam, no offense meant :)

Is version 1.3.2 up on Humble?

As for the level up/XP system, cool, can't wait to see that :)
 

toro

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Atavismus Come on man! :)

Each week I'm checking the steam page to see if there is something new. Give us something. Throw a bone. Anything.

Some negative comment on steam:
Like Fallout 1, only boring and confusing.
 

Atavismus

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Atavismus Come on man! :)
Each week I'm checking the steam page to see if there is something new. Give us something. Throw a bone. Anything.
Hi guyz!

Sorry, I'm very busy those last times.
You can beta test the last update (xp/level up/ability points/escape combat):
http://steamcommunity.com/app/367110/discussions/0/517142892053537403/#c483366528919446898
We need your feedback about eventual new bugs and also for the balance (we had to rebalance the whole game with the xp system).
Note, the Survive mode is still wip (not playable in that beta build).

About that negative review on steam "Like Fallout 1, only boring and confusing." indeed, I don't know what to think about it... :D

I hope next time I'll come here, it will be with that update ready hehe
Then, I plan we talk all together about Dustbowl 2, coz it will be your game, made with players, for players. ;)
Mind, Dustbowl 2 could be called Dustbowl 2901: does it sound good to you?

Cya and take care ;)

Atavismus

PS: Hope you get some flesh on that bone :D
 

toro

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Hi guyz!

Sorry, I'm very busy those last times.
You can beta test the last update (xp/level up/ability points/escape combat):
http://steamcommunity.com/app/367110/discussions/0/517142892053537403/#c483366528919446898
We need your feedback about eventual new bugs and also for the balance (we had to rebalance the whole game with the xp system).
Note, the Survive mode is still wip (not playable in that beta build).

About that negative review on steam "Like Fallout 1, only boring and confusing." indeed, I don't know what to think about it... :D

I hope next time I'll come here, it will be with that update ready hehe
Then, I plan we talk all together about Dustbowl 2, coz it will be your game, made with players, for players. ;)
Mind, Dustbowl 2 could be called Dustbowl 2901: does it sound good to you?

Cya and take care ;)

Atavismus

PS: Hope you get some flesh on that bone :D

Dustbowl 2 should be called Dustbowl 2 :)
 

Atavismus

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Hi there!

I'm quiet, I'm busy, but I'm alive and still coding :D

Some news :

1)
Dustbowl has been updated with some small stuffs and most important that xp/level up/abilities system (I talked about it here).
The Survival mode is still wip.

2)
Dustbowl is 50% off during steam autumn sales: only 4,49€ (so if you were hesitating... ;))

3)
Just to let you know, Dustbowl's steam reviews are "very positive".
Those players can't be wrong. :D

Cya, take care and have fun!

Atavismus

PS: If some ppl like p'n'c I rose a team for the november MAGS (AGS monthly game jam).
(So yeah it's crunch time hehe)
 

Atavismus

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Better than sales, giveaway :D

http://thegg.net/contests/dustbowl-steam-giveaway-were-giving-away-three-steam-keys/

CWMEMxiWoAAReIO.jpg


Good luck!
 

Atavismus

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GoG release possible?
It was planed, but we sold so few copies with Humble that we "forgot" GoG.
Still, I guess I should discuss again about it with my colleague.

On my last post, I talked to you about AGS jam: we won :D
Let me introduce you Freak Chic: a fun without any pretention (still solid) point'n'click in the tradition but with some untypical features (unlinear progression, some arcade moments, etc.).
(If you don't click with such a crappy teaser sentence, you know nothing about games ^^)

And as I'm crazy, I'm also preparing an entry for the december AGS jam (this time, it's only a one room game, but with some untypical stuffs again).

Then I'll go back to Unity for some more serious projects... ;)
 

CyberWhale

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GoG release possible?
It was planed, but we sold so few copies with Humble that we "forgot" GoG.
Still, I guess I should discuss again about it with my colleague.

Definitely - I think your game will sell a lot better on GoG than on Humble.
The audiences might be similar when glanced over from a wider perspective, but the have widely different tastes and expectations.
I think your game caters more to tastes of people who buy their games on the former.
 

pippin

Guest
I get the impression that people who buy stuff from Humble do it because of the bundles, not to buy individual titles, especially when you can get a drm free copy of a game if you just simply buy it on GOG.
 

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