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Incline NEO Scavenger: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival RPG

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,805
So for sake of example: We have some XYZ game it has some basic crafting.

It requires you to double click to hold item, mouse has ton of lag, UI is unresponsive where you often need to again click something because first time didn't work and it looks like web page from 97.

Removing problems with all above would improve a lot user experience. Even how close some icons are near each other can also improve it without changing core concept which can look cumberstone and tedious at first.


IMO for me NEO has awesome UI (especially in therm of grid inventory) though i would change a bit battle system windows so that execute command would be near or straight under actions
 

snoek

Cipher
Joined
May 5, 2003
Messages
1,125
Location
Belgium, bro
I dunno, I was really into it until
I reached "the glow' trying to not give too much spoilers here. Didn't really feel like being sent out again.
Still, logged more than 10 hours on it so I got my money's worth.
 

MicoSelva

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dcfedor for me it would be great if crafting screen automatically showed you what can be crafted using items present in your location (and your skills), and also displayed what will be used up when making the new item. Dragging everything to another grid is just pointless busywork (especially when I am playing on a tablet, using virtual mouse, it is a huge pain in the ass).

I would also prefer range to be more specific, maybe diplayed in meters/yards/feet instead of just an abstract number. I had no idea what range = 5 means until I read this thread.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,805
dcfedor for me it would be great if crafting screen automatically showed you what can be crafted using items present in your location (and your skills), and also displayed what will be used up when making the new item. Dragging everything to another grid is just pointless busywork (especially when I am playing on a tablet, using virtual mouse, it is a huge pain in the ass).

I would also prefer range to be more specific, maybe diplayed in meters/yards/feet instead of just an abstract number. I had no idea what range = 5 means until I read this thread.

remove tablet version. PRoblem solved
 

MicoSelva

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remove tablet version. PRoblem solved
I can either play on a tablet, or not at all, so there.

My third character is still alive (and even has both right and left shoe, and a lighter!), although I suspect that will change soon, since I drank not-purified water...
 

Multi-headed Cow

Guest
1.05 patch is out

New changes include:

  • Changed DMC guard loadout to only have one firearm, to prevent bug where pristine pistols are littered everywhere.
  • Changed loading screen to only launch browser if logo clicked, not whole screen.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the player to freeze to death if imprisoned at Saginaw.
  • Fixed a bug that caused player to be automatically re-exiled after exile period expires.
  • Fixed a bug that caused modded items with "ignore subgroup stacking" property to stack with any modded item.
  • Fixed a bug that caused modded campsites to all be the same.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented master volume settings from being saved.
  • Fixed a bug that caused modded ingredients used in modded encounters to get mixed-up.
  • Fixed a bug that caused NPCs to give food reward with blinkies inside soup cans, and soup without containers.
  • Fixed a bug that caused skill/flaw totals not to be visible in Small UI mode after player dies once.
  • Fixed a bug in Main Menu small button highlight update code.
  • Fixed a bug that still mentioned "bag lady" in Red Gnome Diner.

This is a smaller patch that mainly addresses minor balance issues, rare bugs, and some more significant modding bugs.

As always, if there are any issues with the new build, let me know on the forums!
 

Jimmious

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 18, 2015
Messages
5,132
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Got this now, it evaded me for some time. Died 2 times already in like minutes. I love it.
 

Jimmious

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 18, 2015
Messages
5,132
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Survival Time: 2 days, 5.71 hours.


Final Moments:

Player is exposed to easy attack for a moment.
Player passed out from unbearable pain.
** End Turn **
Player is bleeding.
** End Turn **
Player is bleeding.
** End Turn **
Player is bleeding.
** End Turn **
Player is bleeding.
** End Turn **
Player is bleeding.
** End Turn **
Player is bleeding.
Player: ...zzz...
Unknown Assailant attacks Player...and hits!
Stranger crushed Player's lower chest with a glass bottle.
Player has a fractured rib.
Player is bleeding internally.
Player has a fractured rib.
Player died due to acute bleeding in the lungs.
** End Turn **

Basically, I died in my sleep in a tall building somewhere. I don't even know who killed me.

This game is serious :incline: but not for people that get butthurt easily!
 

dcfedor

Blue Bottle Games
Developer
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
111
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
"crushed Player's lower chest with a glass bottle."

Sounds like one of those overwrought liqueur bottles with the fluted sides and heavy base!
 

Jimmious

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 18, 2015
Messages
5,132
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
"crushed Player's lower chest with a glass bottle."

Sounds like one of those overwrought liqueur bottles with the fluted sides and heavy base!
If you are really the creator of this masterpiece, really :greatjob:

Amazing how such ideas can get you so immersed with minimal graphics.
 

Goral

Arcane
Patron
The Real Fanboy
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Messages
3,552
Location
Poland
Yeah, I've bought it few hours ago along with Serpent in The Staglands (30% discount). Now I'm waiting on Age of Decadence to appear on GOG...
 
Joined
Jul 26, 2015
Messages
1,350
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
It is worth the full price IMHO. But more sales for this is a good thing.
I'm excited for whatever their next project is going to be. I've tried to poke around for details a while ago but turned up nothing, haven't really checked in a month or two tho.
 

dcfedor

Blue Bottle Games
Developer
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
111
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys! The 50% deal is indeed the best chance yet to try the game with minimal risk (apart from the free demo, of course). Note, however, that the $3 Indie Piñata does not include a chance for NEO Scavenger. It'll be a while yet before I discount to -80% :)

I'm excited for whatever their next project is going to be. I've tried to poke around for details a while ago but turned up nothing, haven't really checked in a month or two tho.

Me too! And to be honest, I'm still kind of working the "next thing" out. I have a rough idea of what I want, but how it'll work exactly, if it'll work, or whether it'll be any fun at all, has yet to be seen. I'm fairly open about the project on my daily devlog, but it's admittedly interspersed with a lot of non-dev news.

The elevator pitch I'm telling myself is "Prison Architect/Rimworld meets FTL/Starflight, but in NEO Scavenger's universe." Namely, some 2D ship-building and tweaking component that lets me feel like I'm building a fully-functioning ship from Lego, and a ship-and-crew-simulating component that lets me relive Firefly and Cowboy Bebop episodes. All within a cold, harsh atmosphere of NEO Scavenger.

Like NEO Scavenger, hard(ish) sci-fi will be the rule, and ship components will each serve a purpose. E.g. instead of magitech like shields and teleporters, I want to focus on things like HVAC, STL thruster tech, white/gray/blackwater systems, radiation shielding, and the infuriating coffee machine in the galley.

And assuming one can get their ship design out of dock in one piece, I want them to have a hell of a time making ends meet, keeping the ship running, and the crew from unraveling/perishing. I want crew to have chafing personalities, unprofessionalism, greed, and other drama-producing features. And since I don't want to write a million lines of dialogue, I want to see if I can abstract it a bit and make it procedural.

This all takes place in NEO Scavenger's universe, where a fledgling Solar System economy was established just as Earth "went dark." I have to figure out the logistics of this, too. What kind of system economy could exist in the near future that simultaneously makes for fun, blue-collar Firefly drama and still survive without any more reliable Earth contact/supply lines? And what role, if any, does NEO Scavenger's supernatural overtone have beyond Earth? The cosmology of NEO Scavenger is pretty wild, as some of you may already know. Predicting system-wide changes is a bit harder than Michigan-wide changes :)

For those wondering, this isn't a direct sequel to NEO Scavenger as much as a "...meanwhile..." story. I still want to continue Philip's story in a NEO Scavenger "2," I just needed a break from that codebase to play with some new ideas. Space is a setting itch I've been wanting to scratch for as long as post-apocalypse, and now is a good time to take a stab at it while NEO Scavenger gets ported to a more multi-platform-friendly codebase (Haxe, a.k.a. "not Flash") by a contractor dev (in anticipation of a tablet-friendly release). Once that tablet version is done, I could start work on a NEO Scavenger sequel using that new code. The question then is: will NEO Scavenger "IN SPACE" be too much fun to put down by then?

Time will tell :)
 

Jaesun

Fabulous Ex-Moderator
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37,241
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Seattle, WA USA
MCA
MOAR turn-based Space themed RPG's are most welcome (they are so few). Looking forward to hearing more on the new project. :salute:
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,228
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
http://existentialgamer.com/interview-dan-fedor-of-neo-scavenger-blue-bottle-games

INTERVIEW: DAN FEDOR OF NEO SCAVENGER & BLUE BOTTLE GAMES

Dan Fedor is a nice guy who wants to kill you. Over and over. In his excellent post-apocalyptic rogue-like, NEO Scavenger. I liked the game so much I decided to corner him, improvised shiv in hand, to ask him some questions about his career working on Dragon Age and Mass Effect for Bioware, why he went indie, and the probability of an IRL apocalypse. Turns out he’s a pretty nice guy. Too bad I needed the meat to replenish my hunger bar.



TEG: The apocalypse (and what happens afterwards) has become a prevalent trope in gaming. What attracts you personally to the end of the world, and why do you think others are fascinated by it?

DF: Personally, I think I enjoy the opportunity for adventure that it creates. It’s a way to blend frontier or explorer life with a contemporary level of technology. And it allows us to tell stories about mankind as the underdog, which I’ve always enjoyed.

When I set out to make NEO Scavenger, it started as a list of things I wanted to be able to use in the world. I wanted a setting where humans were once again at the mercy of nature and the unknown. Where I could simultaneously feature technology from now and the near future with supernatural elements, as well as exploring ruins, salvaging junk, repurposing items, and solving mysteries.

 I think many authors who use the apocalypse (or post apocalypse) as a setting enjoy its precariousness and opportunity for resourcefulness. It blends the familiar with the unknown in interesting ways.



TEG: With NEO Scavenger, you wrote a very bleak and unforgiving game, but as a human being you strike me as kind and well adjusted. Do you have an inner-nihilist and if so, how does he relate to your everyday life?

DF: I hadn’t really thought of that juxtaposition before, but I agree they seem at odds. I’ve had phases in my life where I may have leaned towards nihilism, but these days I’d say I’m a mix of optimist and realist.

 When dealing with people, I try to be the person I want others to be, so I aim to be patient, kind, and respectful. In my designs, however, I think I tend to be calloused and dark, at least towards the player’s character. I appreciate games that pay attention to detail, and those that aren’t afraid to pull punches. It’s still important to treat the player with respect, but sometimes hurting their character is the best way to evoke tension, empathy, excitement, and fun.

TEG: There isn’t really an “end” to NEO Scavenger. What what does “success” mean within an open-ended survival framework of this type, and is there a philosophy behind this particular design decision?

DF: There is a sort of climax and epilogue, if one gets that far. It’ll signal the end of gameplay, and switch back to the main menu. But the game is aloof with its exposition, and very hands-off about guidance, and this is by design.

 In the world of NEO Scavenger, there are many strange things afoot. Things which defy explanation, or have multiple explanations. I am a big fan of X-Files, and one of my favorite aspects of the show is perpetual uncertainty. Viewers were always left wondering whether Scully’s rational explanation superseded Mulder’s “spooky” one. Or like the uncertainty borne of confusion in Deliverance: “What did happen on the Cahulawassee River?”
NEO Scavenger’s clues were a deliberate constellation left for the player to connect as they saw fit, which I feel is usually more satisfying than a “right” explanation.

 The lack of guidance is also by design, as I feel it’s more fun for the player to have agency than for the game to highlight the next milestone for them. There are very few waypoints or other indicators of what to do next, and it’s up to the player to notice leads they can follow-up on. I probably sacrifice some players by going this route, but I think there are enough games out there to satisfy players who want more hand-holding.



TEG: What would you do if you woke up from cryogenic sleep and heard a snarling monster approaching the door of the room you’re in?

DF: Probably hide. I lack many of the technical and physical skills to deal with that situation, so I’d probably do something as close to the “Hiding” option as possible.

TEG: As a species, do you think we’re heading towards a world like the one portrayed in NEO Scavenger (minus the fantasy elements, of course)?

DF: I don’t think we’re guaranteed to, but I also think we’re closer to this kind of a collapse than we often think. Many of the civilization-ending failures hinted at in NEO Scavenger are directly pulled from real-world events. It doesn’t have to be a nuclear bomb or asteroid that pounds us into the stone age. We’re perfectly capable of undermining ourselves in subtler yet just as serious ways.

 And sometimes, moderate disasters can mount to create something worse than the sum of their parts. For example, if the bee population collapsed, would we survive? Probably. I think we have tools to mitigate that threat, even if quality of life diminishes as a result.

 But what if we’re dealing with that problem and another one happens? Say, Kessler Syndrome from a failed satellite manoeuvre? The subsequent loss of shipping due to GPS outages might strain already weakened food supplies to the breaking point. How long until people start to panic, and turn a bad situation into an untenable one? NEO Scavenger’s universe is one where these seemingly minor setbacks have coincided in dangerous ways.

TEG: After working on Dragon Age and Mass Effect at Bioware, what drew you away from these more classic narrative structures towards the circular nature of the roguelike sub-genre? What speaks to you about this “version” of time?

DF: I can’t say it’s a complete departure from classic narrative structures. There are at least a couple routes through NEO Scavenger which can produce that experience.

 However, I think one of the biggest departures from games like DA and ME is probably the failure state. In DA and ME, it is obligatory that the player be able to finish the game from any state (apart from player death). In NEO Scavenger, it’s entirely possible to exhaust all leads and be unable to progress the plot. You can say or do something wrong, and your role in the “plot” is over, with no hope of seeing further story elements without restarting.

 To me, the importance of such a structure is that it allows for real consequence. Making a choice carries much more weight if you know the outcome could have a real impact on your progress. Like permadeath, I think this design choice can have pitfalls and can frustrate some players. But I think it can be a powerful design tool, particularly if the failure states can also be made interesting.

TEG: Cormac McCarthy once said that all good writers, in his opinion “deal with issues of life and death.” Do you think this is also true when it comes to game design?

DF: Hm. I guess that would depend on how one interprets “life and death.” I happen to really like games like Sim City 4, Tetris, and Prison Architect. I think these are well-designed games. Do they deal with life and death? Perhaps tangentially or metaphorically. 

I think a more important element to game design is dealing with “tension and release.” The games I enjoy most have satisfying tension and release cycles, like one gets in good music or writing, or even visual arts. As humans, we enjoy story, change, contrast, and learning. Incorporating design elements which foster (and effectively wield) these experiences will probably have more of an impact on a game’s quality than subject matter.



TEG: You were a student of physics in your university days. How did that empirical vision of the universe affect your perceptions of life and death?

DF: I think having a background in physics has made me more comfortable diving deep into subjects I might’ve otherwise felt intimidated by. The wounding system in NEO Scavenger, for example, was the result of a week of trauma research. I have no background in medicine, but I wanted something more than an abstract hit point system for health. The result was a fairly rigorous simulation of metabolism, bleeding, coagulation, pain, infection, and other health concerns.

 On a more metaphorical level, I think physics education has made me more comfortable with violating the perceived rules of the universe in my game world. Studying physics, for me, was a process of learning rules only to find that they break down outside of optimal conditions. Physics has more exceptions in it than I originally thought. Things like the effects of speed on Newtonian mechanics, and even the differences in forces and behaviors when viewing the world at scales from cosmic to microscopic.

 The deeper you dig, the weirder things get. And in NEO Scavenger, that is definitely the case.



TEG: What would be your least favorite way to die?

DF: I think, for me, the psychological aspect of dying is the most troubling. Being burnt alive or drowning seem really bad, and would definitely cause pain, but in reality, they’d likely be over before too long.

 On the other hand, being tortured to death could potentially last a very long time. The panic and anticipation of pain would last way longer, the feeling of helplessness would be enhanced, and this would maximize the suffering on both a physical and psychological level. 

So, I’d have to go with being tortured to death.

TEG: What’s next for NEO Scavenger? I’ve heard rumors of a mobile release and even a sequel.

DF: Hopefully both, if I have anything to say about it! I’ve contracted some help porting NEO Scavenger from Flash/Flixel to HaxeFlixel, which can be compiled natively on pretty much any platform, including mobile. So once that’s done, I’d like to publish Android and iOS versions. I’ve had no end of requests for them, and I agree that it would be a good format for such a turn-based game.

 I’d also like to begin work on a sequel, continuing the story of Philip Kindred as he discovers this new world. I have new places I’d like to create, and more ideas for changes/improvements than I can realistically make to the game. Work on this will likely begin after the mobile version, as I’ll likely build future PC versions using the same multi-platform HaxeFlixel code.

 Apart from that, I’d also like to release games in the same universe but with different characters. My current project is to prototype a game that takes place in NEO Scavenger’s solar system. I’d like to explore what happened to the fledgeling solar system economy when its roots (Earth) collapsed. My devlog at bluebottlegames.com discusses my day-to-day efforts in making the ship-design and crew-management aspects of this game. It’ll be a bit of a change from the NEO Scavenger mechanics, but the world is the same, and I hope to maintain the pensive, turn-based style so that people can enjoy it at their leisure.
 

dcfedor

Blue Bottle Games
Developer
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
111
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
There is! :)

Though maybe the subtext of your question is "does the save game system still suck?" And if so, the answer there is probably an unfortunate "yes," too. It still uses Flash's shared object system, which means any cookie-stealing software will yank your save game if you're not careful. It can be worked-around, but it's annoying.

All future projects are avoiding Flash, though, so this janky system should hopefully both live and die in NEO Scavenger "1".
 

Beastro

Arcane
Joined
May 11, 2015
Messages
7,938
Yeah this game is so fucking addicting (at least to me). Even though I KNOW every fucking time I am going to die (I'm still just understanding this game) after I die, I start over again. Though every run though I do end up learning something new every time which is cool. Like NEVER EVER EVER DRINK FUCKING WATER.

This is one of the batter ways to work around the chronic problems games have with difficulty. Instead of trying to balance a game well it's often best to make the challenge insanely hard and encourage people not to win the game, but lose in interesting ways.
 

Beastro

Arcane
Joined
May 11, 2015
Messages
7,938
The elevator pitch I'm telling myself is "Prison Architect/Rimworld meets FTL/Starflight, but in NEO Scavenger's universe." Namely, some 2D ship-building and tweaking component that lets me feel like I'm building a fully-functioning ship from Lego, and a ship-and-crew-simulating component that lets me relive Firefly and Cowboy Bebop episodes. All within a cold, harsh atmosphere of NEO Scavenger

If you aim for a Starflight-like game, please, please try to recapture that vast, isolating and threatening feeling the Sega version evoked.

I can't think of any other game where the audio alone scared me and put me on edge. Made every meeting with an alien ship foreboding and eerie.

 

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