Game News Legend of Grimrock Sells over 600,000 Copies, Developers Promise "New Exciting Things"

[Excommunicator]

When has a suddenly-successful indie-developer ever delivered on the promises of incline or even followed through with using those resources in an ideal way? Mount&blade? Minecraft?

I don't know what it is but they tend to lose their drive when the success hits. Maybe it's fear of losing it, maybe it's appreciating having money suddenly after all that time of not having any, but I've yet to see an indie developer have sudden success and go on to achieve equally good or better things

 

[Infinitron]

When has a suddenly-successful indie-developer ever delivered on the promises of incline or even followed through with using those resources in an ideal way? Mount&blade? Minecraft?

I don't know what it is but they tend to lose their drive when the success hits. Maybe it's fear of losing it, maybe it's appreciating having money suddenly after all that time of not having any, but I've yet to see an indie developer have sudden success and go on to achieve equally good or better things

Here's a start:
http://www.grimrock.net/2013/02/01/everything-is-scriptable/

 

[felipepepe]

Grimrock's bigges problem to the modding community is the insanely high standars they set up with the 3D. Recreating Chaos Strikes Back or similar with the dungeon editor is very easy, I recreated the entire first floor in an hour or so... but who is gonna male a 3D model of CSB creature that fit's well with LoG?

 

[Kahlis]

In spite of better documentation and more intuitive tools than we had in the old days, it's really hard to produce content of consistent quality with the base game these days unless you're a really good modeller. I miss making elaborate brush-based architecture...

 

[Mother Russia]

Grimrock's bigges problem to the modding community is the insanely high standars they set up with the 3D. Recreating Chaos Strikes Back or similar with the dungeon editor is very easy, I recreated the entire first floor in an hour or so... but who is gonna male a 3D model of CSB creature that fit's well with LoG?

Isn't it actually easier to make and then animate a 3d model today, than a hand drawn 2d model from the early-mid 90's when these types of blobbers were in their peak?

Sure most cannot match the quality, but surely a few could, and those few could combine forces to make multiple monsters for all players/modders. Or, you could combine forces with multiple fans and pay someone to model many creatures for you.

 

[Infinitron]

You can buy models on the Unity store and try to convert them.

 

[felipepepe]

Isn't it actually easier to make and then animate a 3d model today, than a hand drawn 2d model from the early-mid 90's when these types of blobbers were in their peak?

I'm not a expert, but I doubt it... it took me like 40 minutes to turn the "anunsmonster" illustration into this:

Obviously, I do have way better technology at hand, but even so...

 

[Mother Russia]

Isn't it actually easier to make and then animate a 3d model today, than a hand drawn 2d model from the early-mid 90's when these types of blobbers were in their peak?

I'm not a expert, but I doubt it... it took me like 40 minutes to turn the "anunsmonster" illustration into this:

Obviously, I do have way better technology at hand, but even so...

Ah yes, I forgot one detail, the monsters of yesteryear were very limited in animation. However, do note that you took an already drawn anusmonster and colored and animated it. You still have not added walking animation, turning animation, getting hit animation, getting burned with spell animation, etc etc.

@Infintron

Great idea. Should be easy to do, no, considering that Grimrock is made in Unity?

 

[felipepepe]

You still have not added walking animation, turning animation, getting hit animation, getting burned with spell animation, etc etc.

Nope, I didn't, and neither did most of the blobbers.

 

[Mother Russia]

You still have not added walking animation, turning animation, getting hit animation, getting burned with spell animation, etc etc.

Nope, I didn't, and neither did most of the blobbers.

Wizardry didn't true, (unitl wiz 8) but the real time blobbers did (LoL had the best animation at the time. EOB was not far behind. etc etc)

 

[Elwro]

Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed with LoG. I didn't think exploration was rewarding and there were few puzzles I felt glad I figured out. The only challenge in combat came from the need for waltzing around. Now, I remember old blobbers also used to demand that in some respect, but most of the truly good ones managed to convey the atmosphere of slowly unravelling some mystery, with interesting bits and pieces of lore here and there. LoG seemed to lack this. Well, maybe it begins later on, but I simply got bored with it. The need to click on the small spell icons wasn't the brightest decision, too. In Dungeon Master they're at least big and it's not difficult to target them quickly. And in DM you can experiment and find spells on your own, whereas in Grimrock even if you find the proper combination you will probably not be able to cast the spell at all.

 

[Mother Russia]

Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed with LoG. I didn't think exploration was rewarding and there were few puzzles I felt glad I figured out. The only challenge in combat came from the need for waltzing around. Now, I remember old blobbers also used to demand that in some respect, but most of the truly good ones managed to convey the atmosphere of slowly unravelling some mystery, with interesting bits and pieces of lore here and there. LoG seemed to lack this. Well, maybe it begins later on, but I simply got bored with it. The need to click on the small spell icons wasn't the brightest decision, too. In Dungeon Master they're at least big and it's not difficult to target them quickly. And in DM you can experiment and find spells on your own, whereas in Grimrock even if you find the proper combination you will probably not be able to cast the spell at all.

I think that's a bit unfair. I found the icons to be of a fine size and have no trouble licking on them during combat and even while manevering with my other hand. Also, you an find spells on your own, you just need to have enough points in the relevant skill in order to cast them. This actually makes more sense, as otherwise what is the fun of being able to cast the most powerful spells from the getgo? BUT it would be even more fun if there were lots more spells to cast at every 'level'/skill barrier AND around 50% of them would have no scrolls of combinations in the game, that way you could experiment and find out those spells and be rewarded for your experimentation. Also, utility based spells are awesome anyway. Grimrock only has attack spells and a couple of weapon enhancement spells.

But I guess they were limited in their budget and other resources. Hopeflly this is rectified in the sequel. Shapeshifting spells would be cool, as would levitation (damn pits) teleportation, summoning, etc etc.

 

[Metro]

Started playing it today and put in a couple of hours. So far it is exactly what I expected it to be: a casual but polished throwback to the blobbers of old. The puzzles are not overly complex, the combat isn't particularly challenging, finding secrets is fun though not 'zomg rewarding,' but... none of that matters to me. I wasn't looking for a deep and complex experience. Had they tried for that they ran the risk of both: 1) being overly tedious; and 2) making it too niche as to alienate their potential audience. Game is a success because they kept it fairly discreet and delivered enough on every major design aspect to make it enjoyable. More indie developers should follow this model for first projects.