Evil Genius demo is out

[Seven]

Please don't turn this into another flamefest.

Shush, I want to see them fling symbolic poo at each other.

 

[Sol Invictus]

This FAQ should address all of the complaints I've seen in this thread and elsewhere:

http://www.elixir-studios.co.uk/nonflash/eg/egd_faq.htm

It's a FAQ of the Demo - about why the AI seems incredibly dumb, inattentive, bodybag issues, why there are so many agents, etc.

 

[HanoverF]

Reminds me of Lionheart:
"the demo is nothing like the game!"

So why make a demo that shows the game in such a bad light?

 

[Sol Invictus]

Use your brains, dammit. If they included the world map in the demo and cut off the campaigns or what have you they'd have to have put a whole lot more effort into it - likely something they can't afford to do.

Besides, I hardly think that it shows the game in any 'bad light'.

I don't remember Lionheart having a FAQ for the demo issues, either. Do you?

Prince of Qin had a pretty bad demo and it was a damn good game.

 

[Greenskin13]

I was promised flying cars.

Yeah, I got to say, even if the demo just gave me a fractional piece of Evil Genius, I was excited.

Still sad to hear you can't feed the bodies to your minions....

 

[HanoverF]

I do use my brains, I keep them in their jars for just such an occasion, they tell me I thought the demo stunk, they also say I'm obviously not the only one or they wouldn't have a faq defending why it stunk.

Answering why it stunk doesn't change the fact that it stunk.

Significantly changing a game to produce a demo, that is supposed to showcase the game and get people to buy it, is a really stupid idea. Every brain except the abnormal one that loves watching anime, playing WoW, and saying w000000t! shares this opinion.

Yeah Lionheart didn't release a faq saying the game is better than the demo, they just came out and said it. Tho if you can't see a comparison, I'll send you one of my brain jars.

 

[Fez]

After playing the demo I am somewhat worried it is yet another game that just gives you fun little gadgets that wear thin quickly. Much the same happened with DK2 and Startopia - very similar games. Though at least Startopia and DK2 had skirmish modes and multiplayer to extend the life a bit. Hope this isn't another 15 hour game.

Far too early to sound so negative, but I'm trying not to let myself get carried away again in hype and promising demos.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Shutup. All of you. You're not going to ruin my demo experience. Let me play it first. Then you can bag it.

 

[Fez]

It is lovely, like special candy from god, happy now?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

It's really not too bad, but honestly.. I have to agree with HanoverF. I tend to expect my guardy guys to.. GUARD.. Without really being told to guard or what to do. I was rather shocked after playing similar base builder god games like Dungeon Keeper to find that my guards really didn't seem to give a crap about guarding unless the base was on alert or I tagged someone for being delt with.

 

[Thydron]

your really supposed to hide the incriminating stuff and stop the agents finding it rather than killing all the agents straight off.
in the full game the agents leave after some time, or if you get their attention to zero.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Yeah, if you keep killing them your notoriety rating goes sky high and they send in the super agents.

The idea is to keep them out of the loop, and to make them think that you're just some harmless corporation.

 

[Fez]

If they improve the guards in the final version then I will have no real complaints, they really need to be able to have a better order system, guards on doors without banning use from all your employees and therefore making them near useless would be a winner. Otherwise I'll probably treat it with caution. I can foresee frustration with them standing watching people plant bombs and doing nothing again and again.

The worker units also seem a bit suicidal, I know they are meant to be partially cannon fodder but it would be good if you could designate a target as being purely for your security forces to deal with. As it is the workers all charge the enemy and get wiped out, leaving the base paralysed - and it will be worse if the base does indeed have more rooms requiring interaction and manning. The worst case was when the super agent came in and I saw about half a dozen workers die on a hopeless charge when I had mercs and guards just standing about smoking in the base. What a fucking waste. At least in other games I could make up for the crap AI by giving direct orders or waypoints for a guard to patrol.

I know the island they made for the demo is meant to be small so that isn't a problem, but I noticed on the FAQ that they thought it was more than enough, judging by others as well as my own opinions I think that is nonsense - so is running out of space going to be a problem in the full game? Hopefully not, but it really would suck shit if you couldn't make a neato base with long twisty tunnels every where just like a James Bond film, rather than the demo where you have to carve out the whole island hollow, just to fit what you need, and all you end up with is one crappy corridor and the rooms all lined up. No room for your own experimentation and design means boring generic games for all, and no replay value.

I read also on that FAQ that they say the units will have more to do as they shall wander the base looking for entertainment and things to regenerate, but will that mean they will just stand about looking dull as they did in the demo, but more spread out?

Perhaps in a sequel or an expansion they could use more elements from DK and other games similar to it and allow for evil genius base Vs evil genius base. Just to increase the fun a bit. A camera view through the eyes of a visitor or minion would be nice too, even if it didn't allow full control. The clickfest timesink that is tagging just seems like the worst way possible to keep the player busy in idle moments.

 

[Greenskin13]

Looking at the Evil Genius official forums, I saw some really creative ideas for base design and some tips for efficient use of space. One very neat idea for dealing with agents was creating a false base with high security doors that distracted the agents from infiltrating the real base. It actually worked very well.