KickStarter Underworld Ascendant Pre-Release Thread

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Center-of-the-universitis can be chronic. Enjoy.

 

[Aenra]

Man this dude is really something..
I don't have any degree you retard and i ain't ashamed of saying it. Already have in fact, quite a while back.

This is just you getting your anus prepped up for insertion all by your lonesome, saying one dumb fucking thing after another. Including this here part, about university. Projecting a bit, are we? :D
Soothe that ass doc, go on. We'll be right here, no rush. Just make sure you come back with some game-related arguments for once.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

University, yeah that's it.

 

[Aenra]

University, yeah that's it.

That the best you can do huh? Feeling all better? :D
Here, let me help:

I don't have a univerSity degree. You can quote that again if it helps. Bad spelling, all arguments solved.

Now again, give me a game-related argument or STFU

Edit: I remembered another one. You can 'save' that for the next time i rip you a new one and you got no argument to come back at me with! I once typed 'destribute' rather than distribute. Keep it doc, am betting you're gonna need it. Probably right after your next reply, way you're going ^^

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

OK this isn't sporting.

It's all good Aenra, go in peace.

 

[Zep Zepo]

I don't have a univerSity degree.

English, probably not your first language. He was calling you a special snowflake..ie: You think The Universe revolves around you. (Nothing to do with college)

Zep--

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Bastard.

 

[Aenra]

I still don't see it tbh, lol.. just think way too differently. I'll take your word for it though and call it a very good pun. Well done ^^

It's all good Aenra, go in peace.

Likewise dude. Like i said, i want this game out as much as anyone else. Just can't change my thinking about what they're (not) showing me; not yet anyways. And i'm definitely not the kind of person that stays silent if i got something to say.
If i misunderstood your intentions, my bad. Got the impression you were butthurt and had held on to it. If you were trolling me this wasn't the case, as stated, my bad.

edit:

English, probably not your first language

It is, lol.. ain't ever held me back though, no sir.

 

[agris]

i find Unkillable Cat's point a fine humanitarian point of view, but the fact that the team seems unwilling to level with their fanbase is a problem. They clearly don't have a schedule, or a concrete vision of the game, at least until very recently. Like a lot of things in life, it's what you say and what you do that matter - and it seems this team isn't interested in giving their fans a realistic status update. Hopefully that'll change.

 

[Aenra]

Yeah.. the only reason i'm not at Zep Zepo's levels yet is the devs' past. Can't fucking dismiss that.

edit: and hope, lol. The bitch dies last.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Holy shit imagine being this deluded. I laugh at people like you.

Explain.

No, really. I want to hear this.

You seriously believe in "taking their time to have no crunch time". Like you said yourself they're all old people with families. Their time is worth more and unlike those 20yo kids they won't agree to survive on instant noodles + powder juice to reduce development costs.

I said taking their time to avoid crunch time, not eliminate it. If push comes to shove they'll crunch like so many others before them.

Next time re-read a post before rushing to hit that quote button to sneak in a one-sentence comment, like you do far too often.

I also like Infinitron jumping in and saying they're taking so long because they've been at it longer than the "standard" Kickstarter development time, as if that's something sacred that holds meaning. That's gamer privilege rearing its ugly head again.

but the fact that the team seems unwilling to level with their fanbase is a problem. They clearly don't have a schedule, or a concrete vision of the game, at least until very recently. Like a lot of things in life, it's what you say and what you do that matter - and it seems this team isn't interested in giving their fans a realistic status update. Hopefully that'll change.

If you have an idea that isn't fully formed, do you rush out and tell everybody what it is, or do you sit at home and work on it some more first?

If you don't know them already, then I suggest you check up on the development histories of both Ultima Underworld and Thief: The Dark Project, especially the part that describes what these projects started out as, then compare that to what they eventually became. The only difference between those two examples and UW: Ascendant is that the latter is a sequel, so some parts of the "idea" are set in stone, but others are not. It's those other parts that have taken so much time, because they've been spending so much time figuring out what they can actually do with the Unity engine, and how that can possibly can work in an Underworld game. (The fact that I brought up those two games in regards to this is not a coincidence BTW.)

It's only now that the game seems to be coming together, that they have a clear(er) vision of the game and are putting together a vertical slice that demonstrates this. Being "unwilling to level with the fanbase" is perfectly fine (in fact it's quite sensible) when you yourself don't know what the game will end up being.

I think they're very close to levelling with the fanbase, with finally showing what their plans are for this game.

Whether that's something we'll like or not is another thing entirely.

 

[Melan]

Yeah, what the Cat wrote. The thing is, the rules apply to the mediocre and the unproven; the great are allowed to break them. If the ex-LGS devs want to be late with their project, or revise it until it barely looks like the initial pitch, let them take their time. They have an impressive track record of delivering great games in the end, and they have earned my trust.

If they end up delivering garbage, the trust will be gone. But not until that time. If the Codex is unwilling to pay the price of greatness anymore, now that's sad. But I stand by the LGS bros.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

The alternative is to decide we don't get to have another great UW game. If you are familiar with the LGS process (as described by them) and culture, you will know that the process we are seeing now is what it was then, minus the pressures of publishers.

Replace that instead with doomsayers and armchair legendary game designer fans who know better than the pros, have all the answers and hold the one reasonable view on how a completely opaque process to them should be playing out. The unbridled EGO and false pride, holy fuck.

 

[duanth123]

That's gamer privilege rearing its ugly head again.

Are you for real?

 

[Infinitron]

I also like Infinitron jumping in and saying they're taking so long because they've been at it longer than the "standard" Kickstarter development time, as if that's something sacred that holds meaning. That's gamer privilege rearing its ugly head again.

Hey, I'm not a hater. I was just pointing out a fact.

People should be patient and just wait to see the vertical slice.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

That's gamer privilege rearing its ugly head again.

Are you for real?

Yes. On this I'm very real. It's not "gamer privilege" in the same manner as feminists and SJWs like to portray it (and use against us) but it's still a thing and it's very real.

When it comes to certain fields related to games, gamers feel immensely entitled; that they have both the right to dictate what games should be developed and how they should be developed.

A current example is the development of the Early Access game Subnautica. It's a survival horror game set on a world that's 99% underwater. Currently it's less than 6 months away from a full release, and has been in development for at least 4 years. Right now they're just finishing adding in all the vital pieces of the game, before a thorough polishing phase and subsequent release. But the game's Early Access status has helped it immensely, the devs have listened to the playerbase and made some very good changes to the game. For an Early Access game it looks like it has hundreds of thousands of people playing it, despite it being an unfinished game. That's something.

But for some bizarre reason, a large number of the people that have bought into an Early Access game think that they have a say in the development of the game, even this late in its development. So now they're spamming places like the Steam Discussion page to express their opinions, about how the game should do This instead of That, or not do That and do This instead, and so on. And one of the biggest and loudest complaints is that Subnautica is a single-player game, and that the game would be so much more awesome if it had multiplayer support. Not like MMO-multiplayer, just 3-4 players playing Co-Op to escape from the world of Subnautica together.

Except when you're developing a game that has less than a year of development left, you don't want to feel pressure about changing a fundamental aspect of your game. From anyone. At this point you have a vision about how the game should be, and you're just ticking off the check marks that'll bring about that vision. So the developers came forth and stated something along the lines of: "Multiplayer is a wonderful idea for our game, but it's just not gonna happen, we'd have to start over from scratch to get it done. Maybe in a sequel or something."

A fair and reasonable reply, wouldn't you say?

Can you guess how the community reacted to it?

They doubled down on their demands for multiplayer Subnautica. Instead of listening and understanding, they went Full Retard. And they're not stopping.

Currently devs have to waste precious time going through various online Subnautica discussions to quash any and all discussions concerning multiplayer. They lock threads about the topic, they refer to stickied topics that detail the devs's stance, etc. Doesn't matter, more and more threads are made every day, and people dogpile on those threads with statements about how awesome multiplayer would be, yet completely oblvious to the other side of the coin: That their demands are unreasonable and out of touch with reality and therefore Will Not Happen, and that's before you get into how it may build up undeserved expectations in other players.

And this is just the tip of the fucking iceberg in these regards. Yet I'm seeing parts of this here, in this thread. People that think they have a say in the game's development, at any point in time.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Fucking Millenials.

 

[Junmarko]

They doubled down on their demands for multiplayer Subnautica. Instead of listening and understanding, they went Full Retard. And they're not stopping.

Yeah, Early Access needs an extensive proof-of-literacy test before participation is even allowed. If a user can't grasp a simple development stance i.e; SINGLE PLAYER - they shouldn't be allowed to access an Alpha build, let alone critique it.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=1379.msg21929#msg21929

Gear is something we are just digging into. The only thing I can say is we are not going the route of '+1 sword of'. It just doesn't seem to fit the interactive/improv style we are striving towards. I want to make all items 'useful' and bring gameplay to the surface. So swords that freeze, burn things, and other interesting effects are much more likely. There will of course be other kinds of loot too, but I want all of it to tie right back into the gameplay in some way.

Stats- We are not the biggest fan of numbers in games. That said, expect to at least see health and mana/whatever we will call the blue bar. There is still no hard call on if we have SIWDCCH (Str/Int/Wis/Dex/Con/Cha) but I'm really not sure we need it at all.

Dialog/decision making with NPCs is our next bear to tackle. There is a couple of ideas on how we want to go about that.

 

[Zetor]

Bug tracking with post-it notes, niiiiiice

Sounds like normal 'agile' software development to me (Kanban, maybe Scrum?)

The real question is why they thought posting pictures of their kanban board (or whatever) would be beneficial...

 

[Melan]

The real question is why they thought posting pictures of their kanban board (or whatever) would be beneficial...

Frankly, these guys are not very good at PR. Which was already apparent during the Kickstarter.[/QUOTE]

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=1379.msg21929#msg21929

Gear is something we are just digging into. The only thing I can say is we are not going the route of '+1 sword of'. It just doesn't seem to fit the interactive/improv style we are striving towards. I want to make all items 'useful' and bring gameplay to the surface. So swords that freeze, burn things, and other interesting effects are much more likely. There will of course be other kinds of loot too, but I want all of it to tie right back into the gameplay in some way.

Stats- We are not the biggest fan of numbers in games. That said, expect to at least see health and mana/whatever we will call the blue bar. There is still no hard call on if we have SIWDCCH (Str/Int/Wis/Dex/Con/Cha) but I'm really not sure we need it at all.

Dialog/decision making with NPCs is our next bear to tackle. There is a couple of ideas on how we want to go about that.

These weapons better not have shit durability then. I sure as hell don't want this to mirror something like Drakan: Order of the Flame.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Or Call of the Wild

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=1384.msg22001#msg22001

You guys scare me sometimes.

It sometimes seems right when I start digging into something, you start a thread.

Right now with Armor I'm going simple- light, med, heavy with modifiers depending on who made it or what it's made out of. As for damageable and repairable, or just damageable and better find another piece, or neither I'm still thinking about. I kind of want to go the disposable item survival route, and only named cool things can last for a good amount of time.

One of the things I see happen in RPG's is people horde and don't actually use what they find. You end up with the wheel barrel of items weapons and armor at the end and really what did that get you?

If you are in your nice chain mail, but it is partially damaged, you are going to start paying attention to where that next set of armor is coming from. Anyway, still thinking about it.

As for magical items, as I've talked about before I'm trying to stay away from modifers whenever possible. I want the cool to be visceral and useful not just '+1 Short sword'. The object needs to have an effect that is useful and is another 'tool' in the toolbox.

To give you an example that I'm totally making up

Helmet of the Batman
This helmet that half covers the player's head and is adorned with two little bat ears on top. When the player puts the helmet on he this ‘sees’ like a bat up to 30-40 feet. The effect lasts for 5 minutes total per 'day'. (To really make this ‘cool’ would be to visualize according to sound volume of objects. The louder they are the more crisp they show up in the vision.)

Better than +1 helmet right? The general rule is it needs to be useful or at least amusing.

Yeah I think -- at least as of this morning -- non named magic weapons would have the same degrade as non-magic items. The only thing I want to treat differently is the named things with a history.

how about degrade slower...

 

[Zep Zepo]

This game was supposed to be released 7 months ago...yet, they are still talking about basic bullshit that should have been decided 80% in the design doc.

I can't wait for this clusterfuck to be released...The butthurt gun b gud.

Zep--