KickStarter Mechajammer (formerly Copper Dreams) - cyberpunk RPG from Whalenought Studios

[buffalo bill]

quick pros/cons

Pros:
+ The aesthetic feels very cohesive while playing—character head on left looks great, environment looks good, sprites are OK, everything in movement looks good. It's really time to stop iterating on graphics guys
+ Sick death animations
+ Sort of hard (but see cons)
+ Feels like there are lots of under-the-hood mechanics going on constantly
+ Interesting map with destructible elements
+ Fire is cool
+ Plasma rifles are cool
+ Drugs are cool
+ Nice descriptive text

Cons:
- Lots of unimplemented features
- UI is pretty and mostly functional, but inventory is a bit crappy to use. Cursor should also be WAY more precise
- Unclear how character development occurs, other information not clear (I assume this will improve in the real game if it ever comes out)
- Kind of a clusterfuck. Lots going on, but a bit hard to control your character. Also, sometimes it randomly switches to realtime? Like, when other characters haven't noticed you? Should always be in turn-based, 100% of the time
- there should DEFINITELY be keyboard commands for movement (hopefully I am not an idiot and not seeing them) as in a roguelike, and separate mouse control for firing. As is, movement is a pain in the ass
- AI might be OK, but hard to tell. It did kill me a bunch in one of the game modes, so maybe OK? In the survival mode, though, the enemies basically never did damage, and just ran at me to punch me. I only died in that mode when I accidentally ran through a fire that I started
- Where the hell are the cybernetics and hacking? (can file this under unimplemented features, I guess)

 

[Ninjerk]

quick pros/cons

Pros:
+ The aesthetic feels very cohesive while playing—character head on left looks great, environments looks good, sprites are OK, everything in movement looks good. It's really time to stop iterating on graphics guys
+ Sick death animations
+ Sort of hard (but see cons)
+ Feels like there are lots of under-the-hood mechanics going on constantly
+ Interesting map with destructible elements
+ Fire is cool
+ Plasma rifles are cool
+ Drugs are cool
+ Nice descriptive text

Cons:
- Lots of unimplemented features
- UI is pretty and mostly functional, but inventory is a bit crappy to use. Cursor should also be WAY more precise
- Unclear how character development occurs, other information not clear (I assume this will improve in the real game if it ever comes out)
- Kind of a clusterfuck. Lots going on, but a bit hard to control your character. Also, sometimes it randomly switches to realtime? Like, when other characters haven't noticed you? Should always be in turn-based, 100% of the time
- there should DEFINITELY be keyboard commands for movement (hopefully I am not an idiot and not seeing them) as in a roguelike, and separate mouse control for firing. As is, movement is a pain in the ass
- AI might be OK, but hard to tell. It did kill me a bunch in one of the game modes, so maybe OK? In the survival mode, though, the enemies basically never did damage, and just ran at me to punch me. I only died in that mode when I accidentally ran through a fire that I started
- Where the hell are the cybernetics and hacking? (can file this under unimplemented features, I guess)

There were some cybernetics in the a relatively recent iteration. I have no idea if they will come back as they were (they weren't terribly interesting).

 

[luj1]

It's really time to stop iterating on graphics guys

Yeah its us who are doing it

 

[ERYFKRAD]

It's really time to stop iterating on graphics guys

Yeah its us who are doing it

Think he's talking to Whalenought_Joe and whalenought_hannah, for all the good it might do.

 

[Infinitron]

Should always be in turn-based, 100% of the time

That might only make sense now when the only thing available is a deathmatch arena.

 

[grimace]

- Kind of a clusterfuck. Lots going on, but a bit hard to control your character. Also, sometimes it randomly switches to realtime? Like, when other characters haven't noticed you? Should always be in turn-based, 100% of the time

In the campaign mode (tested in alpha) watching the NPCs move around helps you plan your approach.

There was a hot key to switch between combat mode and "live" mode. This works with the basic stealth system of not being seen in enemy line of sight.

 

[buffalo bill]

- Kind of a clusterfuck. Lots going on, but a bit hard to control your character. Also, sometimes it randomly switches to realtime? Like, when other characters haven't noticed you? Should always be in turn-based, 100% of the time

In the campaign mode (tested in alpha) watching the NPCs move around helps you plan your approach.

There was a hot key to switch between combat mode and "live" mode. This works with the basic stealth system of not being seen in enemy line of sight.

That sounds OK, but why not a dedicated 'wait' button on the keyboard, or several (one key for one round, one key for 5 rounds, one key for ten rounds)? Again, as in a classic roguelike. In its present state, there is already a wait action, but it is clunky to use (has to be selected and activated like any other action).

 

[grimace]

That sounds OK, but why not a dedicated 'wait' button on the keyboard

I remember a "wait" shortcut key in a previous iteration. In current build I don't see a key for "wait" in the menu. Might still be mapped to a key and not labeled in the new graphic menu.

Notice that R is mapped to Make Noise. Like knock in Metal Gear Solid.

Spoiler

 

[buffalo bill]

That sounds OK, but why not a dedicated 'wait' button on the keyboard

I remember a "wait" shortcut key in a previous iteration. In current build I don't see a key for "wait" in the menu. Might still be mapped to a key and not labeled in the new graphic menu.

Notice that R is mapped to Make Noise. Like knock in Metal Gear Solid.

Spoiler

The arrow in the graphical actions menu is the wait function. You select it, then right click to wait a round.

 

[buffalo bill]

Again, this is much less clunky in classic roguelikes by having 'wait one round' mapped to 5 on the numpad, and movement via the other numpad keys. Waiting for longer times is usually accomplished via a different keyboard command (like W, or Shift + W for an even longer wait). Obviously the numpad interface won't work if the game requires mouse inputs (which does seem necessary for this game), but some similar solution could be worked out using other keyboard real estate, I'm sure (e.g., I basically never used the map scrolling features, and map scrolling could be accomplished by moving the mouse to the map edge or similar).

 

[Abu Antar]

I played the mode where you control one dude, and it played fine. It was much easier to understand than the previous beta, to be honest. This will be a completely different game from what was pitched, but that's probably not a surprise to anyone. Movement, attacking and using items made more sense this time around. I lasted quite a long time in the mode I chose, but when my ammo ran out, I was toast. I'll not try the other modes for now. I'll wait for another update/art change/name change.

 

[DalekFlay]

Never even heard of this before somehow. Looks sexy now, IMO. Old version looked like ass.

 

[grimace]

The arrow in the graphical actions menu is the wait function.

Yes!

Thank you.

Obviously the numpad interface won't work if the game requires mouse inputs

There might be an option to play with a controller too.

Spoiler

 

[Abu Antar]

Controls with m+kb worked very well.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Looks sexy now, IMO. Old version looked like ass.

Which one, in particular?

 

[DalekFlay]

Looks sexy now, IMO. Old version looked like ass.

Which one, in particular?

I watched the original pitch trailer and now this new one. New one looks way better, I hate bland early 3D style.

 

[buffalo bill]

Also would be improved with diagonal movement between tiles.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Like imagine it's the '90s and you go to the old computer shop (run by Crispy) and you ask the guy at the counter, "Hey do you have MECHAJAMMER?"

Feels like I'm asking for a fuel juice box for my robot at home or something. What a fucking TRAVESTY.

DREAM THE COPPER DREAM.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Looks sexy now, IMO. Old version looked like ass.

Which one, in particular?

I watched the original pitch trailer and now this new one. New one looks way better, I hate bland early 3D style.

But which original pitch trailer?

 

[Yosharian]

I'm not gonna say the old art style was ass, it was ok, but I really dig the new style.

Still needs an actual game to be built using it though

 

[DalekFlay]

But which original pitch trailer?

The first one on the original kickstarter page. Not sure what could be original than that, but I don't pay attention to pre-release games that much.

 

[buffalo bill]

Been playing more, mostly the group deathmatch mode. Getting better at using the controls, though I still feel like they are unnecessarily clunky, and think keyboard movement would be preferable. Actually having fun playing it, though!

The beta overall reminds me of the Genesis Shadowrun, if that game were turn-based and if the combat were more sophisticated. It's a good vibe imo.

 

[Machocruz]

The beta overall reminds me of the Genesis Shadowrun, if that game were turn-based and if the combat were more sophisticated. It's a good vibe imo.

First thing I thought of during the trailer. Also reminded of Syndicate, which someone else mentioned ,and maybe a little bit of the SNES Shadowrun. Very interested in this game now.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Don't tell me it reminds you of Genesisrun or Syndicate. Don't fucking set me up for disappointment like that, damn you.

 

[buffalo bill]

Sorry for spamming so many posts on this thread, but feel like I gotta say the beta is really giving me hope for this game.

The more I play the little combat demo and get used to the controls and so-far-implemented features (e.g. the wound system, positioning advantages/disadvantages, weapon strengths/weaknesses, etc.), the more I feel like this could actually end up being a good game. I played SitS, and have defended it as a flawed gem with some really good ideas, but it ultimately was not really a fun game. Even though there were some good things about it (like spells requiring constant caster concentration), the combat was a slog, and there was a ton of combat. The combat in this game, though unpolished and unbalanced (plasma is way too good compared to anything else as far as I can tell), is already FUN. That's a really, really good thing. If there were better balance, more enemy variety, more diverse maps, more diverse weapons, somewhat better controls, somewhat better AI, etc., then this game could actually, really be good. If the non-combat parts of the game are even marginally decent (could be super minimal imo, like in the Genesis Shadowrun), this could be the cyberpunk game I wanted with the rebooted Shadowruns, but never properly got.

Hype train cometh.