KickStarter Underworld Ascendant is a disaster

[Curratum]

It's definitely not the worst game but when you're making relatively informed decisions about games you can't run into the most awful games of all time.

UA is definitely the biggest lie / scam / fraud in gaming so far, though. That will be until Chris R. finally has to face the music and has to tell people in plain words that what they have been promising for a decade is simply not happening.

 

[MasterLobar]

Aaaaaand....drumrolls. OS will pitch a brandnew unannounced project to publishers at E3 2019.

We’ll be at E3 but not presenting anything publicly! A few of us are going as an opportunity to talk to more publishers about SS3 as well as pitch the unannounced project we’re working on.

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/otherside-alle3-2019/10081/2

 

[Steamboat Willie]

Talk to more publishers? I thought every publisher on earth was already knocking down the gates to get the pleasure of publishing SS3?!?

 

[Glic2000]

WTF is their unannounced project? They have time/money to work on ANOTHER game!?

Is it going to be a pay-to-win mobile game based in the System Shock universe? Because that's about the size of the slap in the face I'm expecting at this point.

 

[Nyast]

Aaaaaand....drumrolls. OS will pitch a brandnew unannounced project to publishers at E3 2019.

We’ll be at E3 but not presenting anything publicly! A few of us are going as an opportunity to talk to more publishers about SS3 as well as pitch the unannounced project we’re working on.

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/otherside-alle3-2019/10081/2

It's kind of baffling; UA was a disaster, SS3 lost its publisher, but they're... working on a new project ?

 

[Child of Malkav]

In a December 2017 update I think, one of the viewers asked about Thief and the bald guy said to keep an eye out for news. So........idk. But if they fuck up Thief like they did this, I'm gonna be pissed.

 

[Infinitron]

It's not a big secret: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...dant-is-a-disaster.124859/page-8#post-5885274

As I've argued many times, it's the game they should have made from the start.

 

[Nyast]

WTF is their unannounced project? They have time/money to work on ANOTHER game!?

Is it going to be a pay-to-win mobile game based in the System Shock universe? Because that's about the size of the slap in the face I'm expecting at this point.

Nah could be worse, they could put their hands on another classic franchise like Thief.

 

[toro]

Spoiler

 

[MasterLobar]

???

"It takes a couple of months to make assets for, place, test, develop and integrate even 1 creature into the Abyss." (emphasis added)

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/i-would-love-to-find-chuckles-carcass-in-the-underworld/10076/20

 

[Katana1000S]

WTF is their unannounced project? They have time/money to work on ANOTHER game!?

Is it going to be a pay-to-win mobile game based in the System Shock universe? Because that's about the size of the slap in the face I'm expecting at this point.

Nah could be worse, they could put their hands on another classic franchise like Thief.

FFS, as if Thief 4 was not was not bad enough they may want to kill off the Thief franchise completely too? I've never seen such wanton vandalism in the gaming industry, ever, there should be a governing body to prevent *has been* clowns like these from working in the industry again, whatever talent they had has long since evaporated ... give them jobs at Macdonalds or something.

 

[Infinitron]

???

"It takes a couple of months to make assets for, place, test, develop and integrate even 1 creature into the Abyss." (emphasis added)

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/i-would-love-to-find-chuckles-carcass-in-the-underworld/10076/20

She means one creature type, obviously

 

[Efe]

i think lobar has unrealistic expectations from developers.

 

[Metro]

It's not a big secret: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...dant-is-a-disaster.124859/page-8#post-5885274

As I've argued many times, it's the game they should have made from the start.

It's clear to me these people should not be making any games at all.

 

[Sacibengala]

What I think is unbelievable is how these scammers get away with this.

 

[LESS T_T]

Otherside Boston hired a new Senior AI Programmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gareth-cox-2308835/

Previously worked at Rockstar New England over 11 years:

I primarily worked on the animal behaviors and animation for Red Dead Redemption. I worked on enemy AI combat and animation for Max Payne 3. I implemented human locomotion avoidance and vehicle navigation for GTA 5.

Somehow they've been hiring much needed experienced and specialized programmers.

 

[MasterLobar]

i think lobar has unrealistic expectations from developers.

I actually have pretty low expectations. How about having enemies that simply walk towards you and attack when you encounter them?

6 months after launch, you can still mow them down with magic and they are not even turning their heads. (30:15)

Spoiler

By the way, 30 year old games could do this:

Spoiler

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

They need to hurry and send my physical goods.

 

[Efe]

lobar they are shooting at another group there..
i'd understand if you complain about 1 minute later when an npc just walks over them which pushes them off the cliff instantly but skeletons shooting another group of enemies is bad since when?
u have low expectations but 1 month for a creature seems long to you (link says "a couple" though)? what i your expected time frame for such a job?

 

[MasterLobar]

Efe: The player kills several skeletons one by one and they don't even notice it. They don't take cover, shoot back or do anything. It's ridiculous.

On your second point, yes I think "a couple of months" is quite a lot of time for one type of creature, but I don't have much knowledge of programming, so I might well be wrong here.

 

[Nyast]

It depends on how much attention is given to the creature. A low-poly model with basic texturing could be a week or two, however to make a creature with a high poly model, sculpted and baked for normal maps, then fully skinned and animated, could easily take a few months indeed.

The real problem is that UA's creatures look like generic stock assets. I'm not saying they are; I'm sure they're custom. But the end result looks generic. You could go on the Unity or Unreal store and get much higher quality, fully textured and animated assets, for $100 or less. See for yourself ( UE4 store ):

https://www.unrealengine.com/market...reature&sortBy=relevancy&sortDir=DESC&start=0

 

[J_C]

Dewie_Morgan:

"[A]s I understand it, EA has been pretty firm that nothing from the Ultimas may appear in UA, period. Not even monsters that the Ultimas took from other mythoses, like goblins, giant rats, giant spiders."

Yeah, I call BS on that. How could EA deny them the use of goblins and rats? They are not Ultima specific at all.

 

[Diggfinger]

One only has to remember "Lady British" a.k.a Shroud of the Avatar to see what EA would do with Ultima......better off dead.

Wait, didn't Garriot himself make Shroud of the Avatar?
Why is it EA's fault that game sucks?

 

[Infinitron]

Dewie_Morgan:

"[A]s I understand it, EA has been pretty firm that nothing from the Ultimas may appear in UA, period. Not even monsters that the Ultimas took from other mythoses, like goblins, giant rats, giant spiders."

Yeah, I call BS on that. How could EA deny them the use of goblins and rats? They are not Ultima specific at all.

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/i-would-love-to-find-chuckles-carcass-in-the-underworld/10076/20

It’s true that Ultima itself doesn’t claim ownership over goblins, giant rats, spiders, and skeletons, or skeletons with jester hats. However, including features or characters that are distinct to the Ultima formula and not to UW1&2 would have raised a red flag and could have gotten pulled. It takes a couple of months to make assets for, place, test, develop and integrate even 1 creature into the Abyss, and at the risk of having it pulled for being too close to Ultima, it wouldn’t be worth making.

In legal arrangements, the weaker party often goes beyond what might be strictly necessary to obey the terms of the deal because they can't afford even the slightest risk of a lawsuit.

Hard to believe EA would have actually given a fuck though.

One only has to remember "Lady British" a.k.a Shroud of the Avatar to see what EA would do with Ultima......better off dead.

Wait, didn't Garriot himself make Shroud of the Avatar?
Why is it EA's fault that game sucks?

He's confusing Shroud of the Avatar with EA's Ultima Forever mobile game.

 

[JarlFrank]

It’s true that Ultima itself doesn’t claim ownership over goblins, giant rats, spiders, and skeletons, or skeletons with jester hats. However, including features or characters that are distinct to the Ultima formula and not to UW1&2 would have raised a red flag and could have gotten pulled. It takes a couple of months to make assets for, place, test, develop and integrate even 1 creature into the Abyss, and at the risk of having it pulled for being too close to Ultima, it wouldn’t be worth making.

In legal arrangements, the weaker party often goes beyond what might be strictly necessary to obey the terms of the deal because they can't afford even the slightest risk of a lawsuit.

Hard to believe EA would have actually given a fuck though.