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

Dhaze

Cipher
Joined
Apr 1, 2022
Messages
527
Location
Belgium
You know what? In a way Mechajammer (the final product, not the myriad pre-release iterations it went through) puts me in mind of Bioshock Infinite. In that both are games would have been markedly improved, had they been developed with the same core ideas but into an entirely different genre of game/gameplay.

By all standards Bioshock Infinite is a mediocre shooter, and its story and tone stand in absolute disharmony from its gameplay. But make it a stealth game akin to Dishonored, and you've got something cookin'. Same for Mechajammer, which could have been an excellent point&click—and I say that as someone who rarely enjoys point&click games, save for Full Throttle, Sam&Max and Deponia.

Man I'd forgotten how good that alpha looked. What could have been, eh?

If one day I learn that at some point during the development of this game, the developers were kidnapped by aliens and, for some unfathomable reason, replaced by impostors intent on sabotaging every bit of work previously accomplished, I'll go, "Yeah, I believe that; that pretty much explains it all."

I was also rather annoyed by all the useless skills. I swear that, at the very least, half of them didn't have any practical use.

Yet another collection of truly bizarre design decisions. Too many separate skills, and not nearly enough dices/pips awarded at level up (I know there is a sort of learning chip item you can find in the wild that adds +1 pip to a skill of your choosing, but during my playthrough I stumbled upon one and one only).

So we have 17 Studies/Skills.

One-Handed Edge
Two-Handed Edge
Impact
Pole
Throwing
Chained
Slug Guns
Laser Guns
Plasma Guns
Unarmed
Blocking
Organics
Chemistry
Social
Burglary
Hacking
Repair

Fuse One-Handed Edge and Two-Handed Edge into one category; these have no reason whatsoever to be separated. In the same vein, fuse Impact and Chained, as well as Laser Guns and Plasma Guns.

Throwing is nearly useless. Its only use is to throw grenades accurately, but as they are grenades are barely functional; throwing one on the ground works—I think—as intended, but throwing one bullseye-like straight into an enemy's face will cause it to not explode and not release its fire/acid/grease payload, doing about as much damage as a pebble.
And Pole serves only to wield a spear. So I say fuse Pole and Throwing (since spears can be thrown, though that is also hilariously broken) and make Throwing augment the damage caused by your spear when thrown.

Burglary is also nearly useless. Almost all locked doors or windows can be broken, and though this makes noise it has never attraced an enemy to my position during my playthrough. What doors cannot be broken are usually only unlockable with a specific key, thus Burglary is useless on them; or have a target of 50 to be successfully lockpicked, forcing you into a massive dice investment, for miserably unexciting rewards (usually a shitty piece of armor and a few bucks).

Chemistry is useless. I think it only serves to create grenades from puddles of spilled chemicals, but grenades are plentiful and cheap to buy.

Blocking, I've honestly no idea.

Organics is used for... what? Not healing yourself, since using a Health Kit automatically succeeds. Not healing drones, since they roll for Organics (and not Repair, for some reason) with their own stats. Healing companions then. Ok. Not exactly riveting stuff.

Social is also nearly useless. My character did not have any points in Occult and Social for most of the playthrough, but I did try it a bit before going for the ending. I had a three dices worth of pips still waiting to be attributed, and I put them all into social then prowled the city trying to gather rumors from vagrants. Rumors are hilariously useless; they only add flavor. So Social's only use is to recruit companions, I think.

Repair is the clear winner. Almost mandatory skill, provided you want to use a weapon.

One day we'll get a good open-world cyberpunk game, but this wasn't it.

By any chance, do you know if Cyberpunk 2077 is in a good state now? Haven't checked it in a while. I know they've patched the game numerous times, and I think added quite a bit of stuff, but I'm still very much on the fence as to whether or not to buy it.
 

AdolfSatan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
1,871
Let's not forget the Learning skill, which only translates flavor text on the street and nothing else.

Even my norme friends who enjoy GTA and Skyrim thought that, bugs aside, CP2077 was a piece of shit. I wouldn't know because I'm using an integrated GPU, there's no chance I could run it.
 

Dhaze

Cipher
Joined
Apr 1, 2022
Messages
527
Location
Belgium
You're right. All things considered, Learning might actually be the worst offender in the whole game, by a large margin. Let's forget about the fact that any dice in Learning adds a dice to rolls with Chemistry, Hacking, and Repair; that just boils down to putting a point here instead of there.

Learning | Improves ability the decipher other languages.

The better part of the game is spent finding clues about a language, decoding which is mandatory to complete the game. And not once does Learning help with that.

As well:

Occult | The mind's stability in the face of unknown forces.

How in all the hells does that not come into play at all in a world wherein the most powerful syndicates have psionic weapons? How? At that point it goes beyond the simply bizarre and incomprehensible, and instead finds firm footing into the territory of freakish and grotesque. It's almost as if they did everything in their power to not realise even a modicum of their game's potential.

It reeks awfully of ideas they had, but could never materialize.

Ok I have to stop thinking about that game; it's bad for my health.
 

Alienman

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
By all standards Bioshock Infinite is a mediocre shooter, and its story and tone stand in absolute disharmony from its gameplay.

I think Bioshock Infinite would have been a decent point & click adventure, or something similar in that style. Like you say, as a shooter the gameplay is totally disconnected from the narrative with the amount of people you murder, and how everyone in the setting is a lunatic ready to murder and throw their life away for whatever reason. The magic powers make no sense either storywise, but I guess they make sense gameplay-wise. It's such a mess of a game.
 

Diggfinger

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
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Belgium
Quick notes: according to the Steam Reviews, I count roughly 10% of players having played more than 10 hours.

Wish Joe would come out of hiding and answer some questions on the codex, especially about whether bugs will ever be squashed

I've not tried to contact Whalenought yet. Honestly I'm hesitant to do so.

On one hand I don't want to annoy them, and they owe me nothing. On the other hand, I can't help but think that if they're not traumatised for life after what they endured with this game (and I hope they're not), they might—with truly tremendous and prolonged effort—have a chance to recoup their losses and even gain something if they squash the myriad of bugs and refine a few things.

I mean, it's terribly rare, but a couple of games have recuperated from some of the most monstrously botched launches. Brigador is a fine example. Excruciatingly bad launch. But now? Man, mowing down entire city blocks aboard an Aetos equipped with a Bishop (short-barrel version of a cannon designed for frigates) and König (brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) is amazing stuff.

I talked to Joe regarding a dystiopian Sci-Fi book I am about to publish.

TOFU BRAINS: LIFE ON ZEETA 21


He mentioned there being issues with the publisher, and things not going smoothly towards release.
So I took the liberty of making him aware of Dhaze and his ramblings. Mayhaps he might get back with more insights.
 

Dhaze

Cipher
Joined
Apr 1, 2022
Messages
527
Location
Belgium
I think Bioshock Infinite would have been a decent point & click adventure, or something similar in that style. Like you say, as a shooter the gameplay is totally disconnected from the narrative with the amount of people you murder, and how everyone in the setting is a lunatic ready to murder and throw their life away for whatever reason. The magic powers make no sense either storywise, but I guess they make sense gameplay-wise. It's such a mess of a game.

I find the powers in BioShock Infinite interestingly dumb from a pure design perspective, and perhaps they reveal a bit of the devs' mindset.

In BioShock 1, the Plasmids make sense—well at least for the most part. Rapture's society is unhinged, and, moreso, untethered by ethics and morality. Deep down, Incinerate is a circus spectacle; it's really like a magic trick, and if a real-life scientist was creating something like Plasmids, I can absolutely see Incinerate being the first one on the list. Plus, it has practical uses: the bottom of the ocean is a cold place where ease of lighting a fireplace or a stove is more than useful, and with the whole 60's vibe, wanting to be able to light a cigarette with a flick of the fingers makes sense.

Then in BioShock Infinite, we have Incinerate's equivalent, Devil's Kiss. And it doesn't really make sense to me. I just don't see Columbia's society creating something like that, making it readily available to one and all, so that every citizen might, what, create a magma trap on the ground?

Basically, most things in Infinite felt to me as if they were there because some equivalent had been there in BioShock 1 & 2, and if it had been there in 1 & 2, then it needed to be there in Infinite otherwise it wouldn't be BioShock. Consciously or not, I think Irrational Games trapped themselves into making Infinite a shooter for the same reason: because its predecessors were shooters, not because the genre befitted the ambiance they wanted to create in Infinite.

He mentioned there being issues with the publisher, and things not going smoothly towards release.
So I took the liberty of making him aware of Dhaze and his ramblings. Mayhaps he might get back with more insights.

Way to throw me under the bus! Come on, show some solidarity towards a fellow belgian... Now Whalenought will consider me a persona non gratin dauphinois, and I won't get access to the Mechajammer 2 beta release. My hopes lay dashed; my life in ruins.

Would like an AMA with them though. I have so many questions about the game's quirks and what I suspect might have happened that I wouldn't know where to start. I tagged who I believe is Hannah on Discord, asking about the idiosyncrasies of the save system, but I haven't checked back yet.
 

Saduj

Arcane
Joined
Aug 26, 2012
Messages
2,547
Hacking computers? Great stuff of course; always fun to have. Save for the fact that many computers and various interfaces you might want to hack outright do not offer you the prompt to do so.

Yeah, it seems like they made a decision that hacking will never help in advancing the plot. Either a computer is not hackable. Or before you get to it, you are likely to have found the note with the login and password anyway. But it is useful for hacking ATMs and lockers. That puts it far behind Repair in usefulness but way ahead of all the other non-combat skills.
 

Cyberarmy

Love fool
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Divinity: Original Sin 2
By any chance, do you know if Cyberpunk 2077 is in a good state now? Haven't checked it in a while. I know they've patched the game numerous times, and I think added quite a bit of stuff, but I'm still very much on the fence as to whether or not to buy it.

If you endured this one, Cyberpunk 2077 will feel like heaven. Just don't think it as an RPG, it's a failed GTA clone in a gorgeous Cyberpunk city.
They litterally added nothing of value, only bug fixes and optimization.

Edit: Or you can just wait for Colony Ship
 

Dhaze

Cipher
Joined
Apr 1, 2022
Messages
527
Location
Belgium
Yeah, it seems like they made a decision that hacking will never help in advancing the plot. Either a computer is not hackable. Or before you get to it, you are likely to have found the note with the login and password anyway. But it is useful for hacking ATMs and lockers. That puts it far behind Repair in usefulness but way ahead of all the other non-combat skills.

Which is precisely the opposite of what you might want to do, provided you want the players to feel that the way they develop their characters actually matters.

I know it can be a finicky thing to implement and balance. Otherwise players having invested heavily in Hacking might stumble by sheer luck onto the underground elevator, then hack its panel instead of solving the whole big puzzle thing, and somehow find their way into the Copper Face Lab before having seen ninety percent of the game.

But it can be done. And it must be done; otherwise, the Hacking skill becomes what it is now, that is a skill considered as a 'meh, why not, almost all the rest is useless anyway'.

If you endured this one, Cyberpunk 2077 will feel like heaven. Just don't think it as an RPG, it's a failed GTA clone in a gorgeous Cyberpunk city.
They litterally added nothing of value, only bug fixes and optimization.

Edit: Or you can just wait for Colony Ship

Ah well that's a shame. I'll probably pass on Cyberpunk 2077 then, or pick it up later down the line, during a huge sale.

And thanks for reminding about Colony Ship! Damn but does that game look promising.
 

Fireblade

Erudite
Joined
Mar 27, 2004
Messages
205
My physical items from the Mechajammer (née Copper Dreams) Kickstarter arrived in the mail on Friday. Just in time to get the full scoop from the only man in the world who will ever be crazy enough to actually finish the game. Amazing weekend.
 

Dhaze

Cipher
Joined
Apr 1, 2022
Messages
527
Location
Belgium
My physical items from the Mechajammer (née Copper Dreams) Kickstarter arrived in the mail on Friday.

Given the vast number of æsthetic changes made during the development, I'd be curious to know what is the style of the physical edition. I suppose it contains some artwork?

Just in time to get the full scoop from the only man in the world who will ever be crazy enough to actually finish the game.

Nah, that's just being exaggeratedly laudative towards me; I know other people have completed the game. Though I wonder exactly how many.
 

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
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Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
Just in time to get the full scoop from the only man in the world who will ever be crazy enough to actually finish the game.

Nah, that's just being exaggeratedly laudative towards me; I know other people have completed the game. Though I wonder exactly how many.

One and a half.*

* You and your alternate personality spawned from the psychosis induced by playing the game. It played while you "slept".
 

Dhaze

Cipher
Joined
Apr 1, 2022
Messages
527
Location
Belgium
Mechajammer; the game in which your companions might duplicate themselves, and through which your personality might do the same. Proudly sponsored by the American Psychological Association.
 

Fireblade

Erudite
Joined
Mar 27, 2004
Messages
205
My physical items from the Mechajammer (née Copper Dreams) Kickstarter arrived in the mail on Friday. Just in time to get the full scoop from the only man in the world who will ever be crazy enough to actually finish the game. Amazing weekend.

Is it a cool package at least? I'm still waiting on mine.
Don't know what you've got coming but mine was just the book, code wheel, and figurine. There's no package really, just the items. The code wheel is a little chintzy, and the figurine is exactly what you'd expect, but the book is pretty neat. Front/back covers are thick pieces of wood with a nice veneer and stain on them, some kind of symbol carved on the front cover, and it's bound with some leather-looking material (I don't think it's real).
 

Fireblade

Erudite
Joined
Mar 27, 2004
Messages
205
Nah, that's just being exaggeratedly laudative towards me; I know other people have completed the game. Though I wonder exactly how many.
If you're just going off Steam achievements, I wouldn't be so sure. Not hard to cheat those.
 

Dhaze

Cipher
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Belgium
No, for the reason you mentionned I tend not to trust the Steam achievements about any measure whatsoever.

But talking a little bit on the Mechajammer Discord channel, I see that at least a couple of other guys have completed it. Not many though. Not many at all.
 

Diggfinger

Arcane
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Belgium
No, for the reason you mentionned I tend not to trust the Steam achievements about any measure whatsoever.

But talking a little bit on the Mechajammer Discord channel, I see that at least a couple of other guys have completed it. Not many though. Not many at all.

Seems you have a few friends on this God-forsaken earth, after all.

First Mechajamma LARP-event when?
 

Dhaze

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There are half-dozens of us! Half-dozens!

(and LARPing? I already know the location: at night, near and in the Gare Du Nord; lots of Mechajammer-looking vagrants and junkies there)
 

Saduj

Arcane
Joined
Aug 26, 2012
Messages
2,547
Found a new bug and this is the one that is going to make me quit.... If I try to repair something, there is no repair roll in the log but the sound effect is heard and a repair kit is consumed. If I try to create a drone, it is the same thing (kit is consumed but not the weapon itself). So basically it is like auto-failing every repair roll without a roll being made. Whatever went wrong seems baked into my most recent saves.

iu


Game over man! Game over.
 

Dhaze

Cipher
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Belgium
Another one bites the dust. Fallen prey to bugs, that would warrant a Bill Paxton/Starship Trooper crossover meme.

Don't know if that would help you nor where I could upload that, but I still have my last save folder if you want. Though there's little left to do in those saves.
 

Saduj

Arcane
Joined
Aug 26, 2012
Messages
2,547
Another one bites the dust. Fallen prey to bugs, that would warrant a Bill Paxton/Starship Trooper crossover meme.

Don't know if that would help you nor where I could upload that, but I still have my last save folder if you want. Though there's little left to do in those saves.

Thanks, but I'm good. Between my own game and your posts, my curiosity is satisfied.
 

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
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Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
While I still wish the game had turned out better, I at least remember the main reason I pledged: I wanted to support their creativity and evident passion for their projects. So, now that I've received the physical package, I still think that was worthwhile. Hopefully they'll move forward in some manner and be able to realize something that delivers on their creativity and thoughtfulness since that's something that's sorely lacking in the industry these days.
 

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