KickStarter INSOMNIA: The Ark - dieselpunk sci-fi action-RPG set on a decaying space station

[Murk]

Looks great. Seems to be what Harbinger couldn't. The visuals also remind me of Silent Hill at times (rusted, old, brown, creepy). This is a good thing.

 

[Yoshiyyahu]

I really wish I could just back these projects with Paypal.

 

[Jaesun]

I really wish I could just back these projects with Paypal.

You usually can as long as they make the initial goal though....

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Is there a demo out yet?

 

[Yoshiyyahu]

I really wish I could just back these projects with Paypal.

You usually can as long as they make the initial goal though....

Yeah, that is what I am worried about :C

 

[StaticSpine]

Is there a demo out yet?

There is a demo scene
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7twsxZLCH63MWl0dXYySHlmMnc/edit

 

[majestik12]

So... 20 hour long full-fledged CRPG that looks better than a lot of modern AAA games. And all that for 70 grand?

I have strong vibes of severe budget miscalculation. Like, x10 times severe.

I love what was shown so far, and really hope everything works out fine for this project, but it is hard to believe.

 

[MrMarbles]

That looks promising. I love stories about Ark ships.

Incidently, anyone got any good Ark stories to recommend?

The Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe.

Stephen Baxter has some solid ark stuff (Mayflower II, Ark, Flood). If reading is teh hard, check out Pandorum. It's basically the imdb version of Mayflower and, from what I can tell, Insomnia.

 

[Grunker]

Is there any promise this isn't just a hack n' slash action RPG in terms of combat?

 

[StaticSpine]

Is there any promise this isn't just a hack n' slash action RPG in terms of combat?

this is from kickstarter page:

Our combat system is largely based on the real-time actions and tactics. The success of a battle primarily depends on understanding the internal game dynamics—where every action, skill or movement takes time. A thoughtful action can be more effective—and hence more time-consuming: A powerful blow would cause more damage, but it can be intercepted by a fast jab. During a fight, a character gets tired when stamina is depleted—and combat efficiency suffers. Players need to keep stamina at maximum by alternating actions and rest to avoid collapsing from exhaustion.

Much depends on the properly selected outfit. The inventory is limited. Even several cartridges in the inventory have specific weights—needless to mention a heavy machine gun—so you need to be careful when filtering the inventory contents.

You can put on heavy armor—which will protect you against most blows but will limit your ability to move freely. You will get tired faster and healing yourself in heavy armour gets rather complicated. It’s up to you to decide whether to become a slow, heavily-armored warrior with the ability to cast one or two heavy blows—or be an agile character relying on speed and freedom of movement.

The game features a variety of weaponry, with each type having its own dynamic quality. One type might be effective against the heavily armored but too slow against fast targets. Another may deal damage quickly but be virtually useless on armor

 

[Grunker]

That still sounds like a typical action rpg with some twists, honestly. If we're still clicking to auto-attack, I'm pretty sceptic. If the game is single-character, the problem is compounded.

 

[Guyduk]

So... 20 hour long full-fledged CRPG that looks better than a lot of modern AAA games. And all that for 70 grand?

I have strong vibes of severe budget miscalculation. Like, x10 times severe.

I love what was shown so far, and really hope everything works out fine for this project, but it is hard to believe.

Well, for one, the thing about that video is - well, look at it. It's a working proof-of-concept. Over this year we've assembled a competent team of people that are able to work on this full-time(and often time on pure enthusiasm), and the proof-of-concept is already there.
That means that we won't be hiring any additional staff, not on constant basis, so the only people who will get funded from those 70k are the native speaker editors and authors that will get the horrible, horrible job of adapting our text for English-speaking users.
We already have the hardware, we have the software licenses, so we don't have to cover the costs for those, we aren't renting the office space out of those funds, plus we've got our own savings to burn.
Plus, much as we loathe it, there's always Early Access.

 

[Guyduk]

That still sounds like a typical action rpg with some twists, honestly. If we're still clicking to auto-attack, I'm pretty sceptic. If the game is single-character, the problem is compounded.

Well, not going to argue, it is what it is. We are trying to take stuff in the right direction, as you've seen from the KS posts, but at its core it is an action-rpg with a cover system. The devil, of course is in the details, but the details are just that - details.

If you need some more details, though, here's a post with an example of how it is supposed to work in practice:.

 

[Guyduk]

Is there a demo out yet?

Brb testing. One problem of running a custom Ogre build is that it really doesn't like some systems. The demo should be ready soon enough, though.

 

[Sensuki]

New Update with a tech demo: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-in-a-brutal-dieselpunk-univers/posts/899179

https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B4OJjx5RdXyKSk1WVG56OVpvTnM&export=download

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Aw yiss.

 

[Sensuki]

I just fired it up for a quick test (don't have much time atm).

- Looks pretty good for an early demo (visually)
- Has Depth of Field that I would really suggest removing (why do developers always make this the default, it's sooo terrible)
- Camera controls need a lot of work, but are functional
- Inventory system needs a label on which side is the container and which side is the player's inventory
- Not sure if the mouse is a hardware mouse, feels slightly laggy
- Better door interaction (it pushes the player back in the level if he's too close which is fine, but he should perhaps maybe open it from further back to avoid that)

But yeah other than that, pretty cool for running around for a couple mins

Also I had to manually edit some settings in one of the config files - such as Refresh Rate and Resolution. It offers an OpenGL and DirectX 9 renderer, I fired up the DX9.

edit: get between 50-75 FPS on the DX9 Renderer (which is better than Wasteland 2 lol), and 30-45 in the OpenGL renderer and it's a bit choppy. Optimize the renderers and assets and get me over 120FPS bro and I'll be happy

 

[Guyduk]

I just fired it up for a quick test (don't have much time atm).
- Looks pretty good for an early demo (visually)
- Has Depth of Field that I would really suggest removing (why do developers always make this the default, it's sooo terrible)

Cause it's the default settings, duh. Haven't really messed with properly, currently debating wherther it should be off by default.

- Camera controls need a lot of work, but are functional

If you have a few minutes to specify what exactly feels off about it, I'd be grateful. Could always use some feedback.

 

[Sensuki]

Sure man, I will have a bit more of a run around in it in a couple days.

I recommend having DoF off by default, to me it always looks worse. Dunno about everyone else but I have 20/20 vision and I can tell you, stuff that's 10-15m infront of me is not blurred when I look around. The environment art is nice too, why obscure it at a distance.

 

[buzz]

The controls feel very wonky. It looks like the game doesn't know whether to use wasd or mouse clicks for controls.
Also, I'm not sure whether I can't move down in the inventory list, or I just don't have enough items for the scrollbar to appear.

 

[Sensuki]

It looks like the game doesn't know whether to use wasd or mouse clicks for controls.

Yeah same with the camera. I'm thinking something similar to The Witcher 1's low isometric style might be suited.

 

[Jools]

Looks neat to me. Will try the demo over the weekend.

 

[Guyduk]

Got two new updates here, both dedicated to the in-game factions:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-in-a-brutal-dieselpunk-univers/posts/901574
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...t-in-a-brutal-dieselpunk-univers/posts/900426

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Cool.

 

[Cazzeris]

- Direct3D9 Rendering Subsystem.
- Video Mode: 1920 x 1080 @ 32-bit colour
- Full Screen: Yes
- Renderind Device: Monitor-1-NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660

What shall I do?