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What are the actual chances of this game being any good?


Bleep_Bloop

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I compared DU to early access because its pretty much the same thing but without the access. By either pledging or buying an EA game you are giving money to support developpement in hopes that it succeeds. The EA term is pretty vague anyway since it can range from pre-alpha to beta, some games are bare bone and some are almost finished.

 

If DU doesnt cut it when it gets released then the devs might not be in a position to ask a monthly sub for it, which could pretty much kill it.

 

Also could the devs confirm if alpha access will still be available through pleges when alpha comes out?

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@Bleep_Bloop

 

If you want alpha acces just to have a fun game to play, I wouldnt spend my money. Alpha will be fun in its own way but....it might have some rough patches. But if you want to pledge to help development, go for it.

 

 

I also wouldnt compare Kickstarter Alpha/Beta to Early Acces. Without people pledging there would be no game to develop. Early Acces is a game selling acces to capitalise on the impatience of gamers and to hopefully sell enough to continue development.(best case scenario)

 

@Twerk I agree, I'd much rather see NQ adding more systems to interact with the world than just rehashing the same old stuff over and over. Its OK to introduce some new weapons or engines from time to time but its better to "just" add an extra feature to attract fresh blood players. Dont like mining? Thats OK now you can farm!

 

EVE is stale at this point, in my opinion.

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@Bleep_Bloop

 

If you want alpha acces just to have a fun game to play, I wouldnt spend my money. Alpha will be fun in its own way but....it might have some rough patches. But if you want to pledge to help development, go for it.

 

 

I also wouldnt compare Kickstarter Alpha/Beta to Early Acces. Without people pledging there would be no game to develop. Early Acces is a game selling acces to capitalise on the impatience of gamers and to hopefully sell enough to continue development.(best case scenario)

 

@Twerk I agree, I'd much rather see NQ adding more systems to interact with the world than just rehashing the same old stuff over and over. Its OK to introduce some new weapons or engines from time to time but its better to "just" add an extra feature to attract fresh blood players. Dont like mining? Thats OK now you can farm!

 

EVE is stale at this point, in my opinion.

I mean, at this point, I log into EVE when a battle is going to happen, or to set up manufacturing queues and sell orders. There's nothig else you get to enjoy out of the game other than large space battles, as PVE is a grind, big hauler companies have a lockdown on contracts. And that's what I don't want to see in DU in the end. A bottleneck into a single aspect of the game. Combat in EVE is other "non-consensual PvP" (being ganked by 10 people) or clustereff of a battle with hundreds of people. In DU, hopefully, someone will set up an arena, so in-between downtimes people could go and make money by fighting in arena (if they are one-dimensional drones who cna't play a game for any other thing than combat) or be a spectator and make money by placing bets on people fighting in arenas.

 

I mean, it's not any different in EVE. You just lay back, relax, and watch your drones doing all the job for you while they are assisting the FC on his targets of choice. I mean... certain people even place bets within their corporate chat on which healer will get popped first. I mean in my corp our benevolent dictator for life Guttertrash is even rewarding peoplew who steal kills bring glory to the corporation's killcount.

 

NQ only has to turn this thing on its head, and voila, emergent betting gameplay, "competitive" PvP arenas (in a consensual way), as well as rigged dice matches - because civilisation can't function without those :|

 

I mean, this just caused 3 branches of gameplay to emerge, where people can opt in as a "let's go shoot some people in an arena" as a means to kill time in a nice way, or focus on and become the best in it.

 

So this brings me to what you said. Adding a new weapon or armor for avatars, it just enriches existing venues of the game. It doesn't create new ones.

 

What I think NQ should consider, is splitting the game into 3 Sectors : Primary, Secondary and Tertiary - or Production , Processing and Services.

 

Primary Sector are things like mining and hopefully later on, agriculture, or animal breeding. Also, hunting, cause you can't get more Primary Sector than hunting. It's Hunter-Gatherer, not the other way around.

 

Secondary Sector are things like factories, refineries.

 

Tertirary Sector are any services, like cabbies, haulers or any RP related stuff in the context of the game.

 

NQ could try and focus on adding 1 new addition to each of these sectors individually, OR develop a new feature in a way it bleeds into those three categories.

 

Example being, chemistry. It sounds Secondary Sector right? Well, it needs a person to research new formulas, which produces a Tertiary sector need for a research to go down (hopefully, via Sudoku sort of minigames, cause smarts and stuff). But wait, it also opens up new resources to process, that a miner has to mine or a (hopefully down the line) a farmer has to produce. Or, even better for PVE grinders, a way to make rare materials dropping, ACTUALLY MAKING SENSE. You killed a giant spider wolf and you harvested its poisonous glad? Time to make some trippy druggies with that thing. Also, yes, in this context, PVErs can be either First of Tertiary Sector, depending on if they are cotnracted to kill the spider wolf, or they went out on their own volition to do so.

 

Then you got new factory types popping up. Processing plants for plants to extract the compounds needed, which brings in new jobs for people to exploit to make money and manufacturing plants for making all sorts of things related to chemistry, from battery acids of higher quality to the aforementioned druggies.

 

But that's just my opinion.

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I mean, at this point, I log into EVE when a battle is going to happen, or to set up manufacturing queues and sell orders. There's nothig else you get to enjoy out of the game other than large space battles, as PVE is a grind, big hauler companies have a lockdown on contracts. And that's what I don't want to see in DU in the end. A bottleneck into a single aspect of the game. Combat in EVE is other "non-consensual PvP" (being ganked by 10 people) or clustereff of a battle with hundreds of people. In DU, hopefully, someone will set up an arena, so in-between downtimes people could go and make money by fighting in arena (if they are one-dimensional drones who cna't play a game for any other thing than combat) or be a spectator and make money by placing bets on people fighting in arenas.

 

I mean, it's not any different in EVE. You just lay back, relax, and watch your drones doing all the job for you while they are assisting the FC on his targets of choice. I mean... certain people even place bets within their corporate chat on which healer will get popped first. I mean in my corp our benevolent dictator for life Guttertrash is even rewarding peoplew who steal kills bring glory to the corporation's killcount.

 

NQ only has to turn this thing on its head, and voila, emergent betting gameplay, "competitive" PvP arenas (in a consensual way), as well as rigged dice matches - because civilisation can't function without those :|

 

I mean, this just caused 3 branches of gameplay to emerge, where people can opt in as a "let's go shoot some people in an arena" as a means to kill time in a nice way, or focus on and become the best in it.

 

So this brings me to what you said. Adding a new weapon or armor for avatars, it just enriches existing venues of the game. It doesn't create new ones.

 

What I think NQ should consider, is splitting the game into 3 Sectors : Primary, Secondary and Tertiary - or Production , Processing and Services.

 

Primary Sector are things like mining and hopefully later on, agriculture, or animal breeding. Also, hunting, cause you can't get more Primary Sector than hunting. It's Hunter-Gatherer, not the other way around.

 

Secondary Sector are things like factories, refineries.

 

Tertirary Sector are any services, like cabbies, haulers or any RP related stuff in the context of the game.

 

NQ could try and focus on adding 1 new addition to each of these sectors individually, OR develop a new feature in a way it bleeds into those three categories.

 

Example being, chemistry. It sounds Secondary Sector right? Well, it needs a person to research new formulas, which produces a Tertiary sector need for a research to go down (hopefully, via Sudoku sort of minigames, cause smarts and stuff). But wait, it also opens up new resources to process, that a miner has to mine or a (hopefully down the line) a farmer has to produce. Or, even better for PVE grinders, a way to make rare materials dropping, ACTUALLY MAKING SENSE. You killed a giant spider wolf and you harvested its poisonous glad? Time to make some trippy druggies with that thing. Also, yes, in this context, PVErs can be either First of Tertiary Sector, depending on if they are cotnracted to kill the spider wolf, or they went out on their own volition to do so.

 

Then you got new factory types popping up. Processing plants for plants to extract the compounds needed, which brings in new jobs for people to exploit to make money and manufacturing plants for making all sorts of things related to chemistry, from battery acids of higher quality to the aforementioned druggies.

 

But that's just my opinion.

 

 

I definitely agree, I feel this game will do better to just add new features and let the players create the depth of that feature. That way they cater to all of us, wethere we just started or if we have played for a year.

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What I think NQ should consider, is splitting the game into 3 Sectors : Primary, Secondary and Tertiary - or Production , Processing and Services.

 

I am 100% behind that.

I hadn't given it a name but thats exactly how I would like DU to evolve.

It just makes sense to add more tools in those sectors to create new and fresh ways to play the game. I might say something strange to some players but I am tired of seeing all this energy being put into new and exciting ways to blow things up. Aka your average MMO where you blow things up to get bigger numbers to blow up even bigger numbers and so on until you cancel your subscription.

 

Sure blowing things up is fun, we all agree on that. And we need it to keep a sandbox economy running. Stuff needs to go in and taken out. But there is so much room for interesting gameplay in the entire ecosystem.

 

We are getting a really good framework with DU and I have high hopes for NQ as a developer. The more ways you give a player to express himself the less likely DU devolves into your average FFA. Which is something I am hoping for.

 

There is a lot of hope though.

JC described NQ as a tool and system creator company. DU is already quite diverse at its core vision.

 

(EVE...it has provided me with a lot of fun but at this point I am tired of the same names doing the same things. I kind of hope that NQ manages to add in tools that seriously disrupt the balance of power in all 3 sectors from time to time....Guttertrash thats a name I've seen before. :P)

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I'm more confident with a Dev like NQ being able to pull this off then if this was a AAA budget size dev. We've seen too many times when projects either get pushed out the door and unfinished and broken, or you get feature bloat and endless delays. 

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Having seen the progress in person from PAX West in September to GDC Dinner in February...

 

Can confirm, the game will be awesome. 

 

 

Once you see it running in person it's hard not to see how incredibly awesome it's going to be, and it's only going to get better.

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Having seen the progress in person from PAX West in September to GDC Dinner in February...

 

Can confirm, the game will be awesome. 

 

 

Once you see it running in person it's hard not to see how incredibly awesome it's going to be, and it's only going to get better.

Just a wondering did you actually get to play it?

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Just a wondering did you actually get to play it?

From my perspective across the Atlantic, I don't think so. With the amount of people there, the time required to give a play session (displaying how the mechanics work) to those who want it would replace the Q&A. Add onto the fact that DU is in pre-alpha, so many/all of the mechanics are not finalised, giving an incorrect view of the game. Also, why would you play an MMO by yourself. DU won't stand up by itself, it needs a community to stand on.

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Just a wondering did you actually get to play it?

 

At PAX, briefly, yes. But mostly I've seen JC playing it, and it wasn't scripted gameplay. 

 

It's pretty awesome to say "can you go here and do this" and "can you try this?" and he's eager to show it off.

 

We were with JC for about 45 minutes before the stream went live talking about the game while he showed us what it was like. 

 

There was never a point at which it felt he was hiding anything from us, he showed the game with all the bugs as they were, and explained the technical reasons behind why they are there, like a programmer would talk to another programmer about why something might be wrong. They weren't major bugs that would make one think the massive multiplayer networking couldn't work, they were minor things like water not rendering that were clearly going to be worked on before Alpha. 

 

I mean I can't really think of many other game dev's on a project like DU that would just show off everything without saying "oh that isn't done yet so we're not going to go there". It was pretty much the exact opposite, with JC explaining what was next to come on the roadmap when we asked to see things that weren't in place yet and what the game might look like, while also asking us for our opinion on things. 

 

 

Once you see it in person then it all kind of clicks together and you realize it's going to be huge. 

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At PAX, briefly, yes. But mostly I've seen JC playing it, and it wasn't scripted gameplay. 

 

It's pretty awesome to say "can you go here and do this" and "can you try this?" and he's eager to show it off.

 

We were with JC for about 45 minutes before the stream went live talking about the game while he showed us what it was like. 

 

There was never a point at which it felt he was hiding anything from us, he showed the game with all the bugs as they were, and explained the technical reasons behind why they are there, like a programmer would talk to another programmer about why something might be wrong. They weren't major bugs that would make one think the massive multiplayer networking couldn't work, they were minor things like water not rendering that were clearly going to be worked on before Alpha. 

 

I mean I can't really think of many other game dev's on a project like DU that would just show off everything without saying "oh that isn't done yet so we're not going to go there". It was pretty much the exact opposite, with JC explaining what was next to come on the roadmap when we asked to see things that weren't in place yet and what the game might look like, while also asking us for our opinion on things. 

 

 

Once you see it in person then it all kind of clicks together and you realize it's going to be huge. 

Good to hear.

 

Also saying "huge" is a missed opportunity. :(

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Nope, it's gonna be terrible, I know this because you can't 360 no scope 420 blaze it. 

 

I guess you didn't check the devblog, nor anything else. These people come with hard evidence and don't do halve baked end products. They even pushed the date of Alpha and Beta release just so they can squeeze in the things they promised. That alone already deserves my undying respect and a good investment of my money.

 

I don't think your rant is at NQ nor their product. I think your rant is at all the halve baked products already on the market. Unfinished games for fast profit. That's fair and I understand your fears because it's like committing treason to the good faith of gamers that believe in your awesome idea. Believe me that I laughed at NQ's promises and thought it was impossible what they promised. But they delivered proof and so I was sold.

Though I'm still skeptic at what might be the end result, I'll keep poking them with the "trust the community to solve the social issues" until it shows in their plans. ;D

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What are the actual chances of this game being any good?

 

 

To directly answer your question.

The best chances you can get these days. NQ provided enough information already to convince many of us to get into it. After all disappointments we get from some Alpha titles that put us down this is the 'last man standing'.

 

1. Because it's natural progression in games. Almost a dream game for many sci-fi genre sandbox fans. 

2. They have proved on devblog they know what they talking about.

3. The videos they share with us backs it all up.

4. They are honest, not promising miracles. But within technical constrains telling us what is possible or not.

5. They are passionate about it.

6. They are dedicated.

7. They have been backed up by large community. By us. As long as this feedback loop exist chances are rising.

 

If they will succeed with this project I see new chapter in MMO voxel based games opening up. Many genres could adapt same mechanics. From fantasy, medieval you name it. One thing proved to be effective over the time. Vision, passion and dedication to the project.

 

However, personally I believe we should stay away from direct comparison to games we know. SE, EVE, Minecraft etc. It may only disappoint people, because players coming from these games counting on DU to be an upgrade of it, those will disappointed. They may look for wrong things here, familiar things. It is more like DU will have some of its elements. But you need to get a fresh perspective on it. There is NO voxel based MMO in any form on the market yet. And this fact alone is worth a try. There is no single game when players itself can shape the gameplay to this extend including building game world itself.

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\shrug - they haven't said anything unbelievable, and have been fairly open and honest so far. And they haven't really promised anything over the top - something new, different, creative and interesting - yes - but nothing over the top, voicing and stating the limitations they would have in various interviews they did.

 

As for the "hype", that's actually my main concern - the lack of it. Or depending on what you consider to be "hype", the lack of popularity (or the number of people who know about it). Reasoning being that the project barely scraped through kickstarter to achieve the required funds to go ahead, and thank god they did, as I really want this game to go ahead; but knowing that realistically budgets almost always end up being less than the realistic cost after the fact - no matter how much you plan them - I can potentially see DU running into development cost issues. Which in turn would mean that they would need to make some very difficult to balance decisions regarding what state they would release the Alpha in when funds start drying up, as they would need to have people playing and showing off "something" to generate that "interest" (or hype, if you call it that).

 

I can think of a couple of ways they could do this reasonably successfully, and a couple of ways they could do this reasonably unsuccessfully, but when it comes to the finished product, I don't doubt that if NQ plays their cards right regarding getting sufficient incoming number of people interested in the game and willing to support it (ie, funding) they wouldn't have a problem with producing what they set out to do.

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@Volkier there is outside funding for DU. NQ did the kickstarter to show to their private investor (s) that there was a desire for the original unedited vision for the game. The reasons for "only" scraping through the KS were not really related to DU. It had more to do with the timing of the KS.

 

Remember NMS just happened, CoE was also having some issues then we had the general attitude towards KS MMO's and the fact a lot of people cant imagine NQ doing what a lot of big money hasnt been able to do for years.

 

When DU launches and it works as pitched I am very confident that people will come and check it out. Even more so because they wont have to buy the game. No upfront cost and a free trial will make many people try the game.

 

If you build it they will come. :P

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@Volkier there is outside funding for DU. NQ did the kickstarter to show to their private investor (s) that there was a desire for the original unedited vision for the game. The reasons for "only" scraping through the KS were not really related to DU. It had more to do with the timing of the KS.

 

Remember NMS just happened, CoE was also having some issues then we had the general attitude towards KS MMO's and the fact a lot of people cant imagine NQ doing what a lot of big money hasnt been able to do for years.

 

When DU launches and it works as pitched I am very confident that people will come and check it out. Even more so because they wont have to buy the game. No upfront cost and a free trial will make many people try the game.

 

If you build it they will come. :P

 

I definitely agree, and just want to add that they are still pre alpha. Those of us who are here are very very early. To do full on marketing for this game already is way too early... they will probaly not put too much effort into that until after the Beta is closed, since thats when they will know what will definitely be in final release.

 

I think we just have to wait and see, when NQ are ready to do marketing towards the general public, we will notice :P

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@Volkier there is outside funding for DU. NQ did the kickstarter to show to their private investor (s) that there was a desire for the original unedited vision for the game. The reasons for "only" scraping through the KS were not really related to DU. It had more to do with the timing of the KS.

 

Remember NMS just happened, CoE was also having some issues then we had the general attitude towards KS MMO's and the fact a lot of people cant imagine NQ doing what a lot of big money hasnt been able to do for years.

 

When DU launches and it works as pitched I am very confident that people will come and check it out. Even more so because they wont have to buy the game. No upfront cost and a free trial will make many people try the game.

 

If you build it they will come. :P

 

 

Oh I'm not disagreeing that there are plenty of reasons - many of which you have mentioned - why the kickstarter campaign didn't do as well as we have all hoped it would. And I'm aware that there would also be some outside funding. And I'm not doubting NQ's ability to pull it off with what they have - I wouldn't have invested money into kickstarter myself if I didn't think that after all. I'm simply, however, pointing out the potential issues that I could currently see them running into (ie. finances), and the reasons for my rationale.

 

And of course "if you build it, they will come" - it's what I was trying to say, just in several more words :P

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I'm simply, however, pointing out the potential issues that I could currently see them running into (ie. finances), and the reasons for my rationale.

 

And of course "if you build it, they will come" - it's what I was trying to say, just in several more words :P

Hehe. :P

Ah well there are many reasons why NQ could run into some trouble. After all they are a start up company building new technology.

 

I mean the machines could rise tomorrow, then what?! JC might be called upon to negotiate on the behalf of france making him and his team unable to complete DU. :o

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everyone!

 

I found this game only yesterday. But what really brought me here, was the fact, that it had "MMO" in its description. 

That made it immediately clear to me, that the creators have a large scale multi player deployment in mind from the very beginning.

Which was so important to me, since there are many games out there with so many amazing ideas, but they all fail when it comes to scale. 

So for me those games are more proof of concept. It seems, that the time has come, where you guys can take all those nice concepts and put them on top of a rock solid technical foundation! So you get some big thumbs up from me :)!

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