KickStarter Underworld Ascendant Pre-Prototype Thread

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Are you an expert?

 

[Infinitron]

They preemptively debunked the "this is all fake, the entire video is a scripted event!" argument by telling us that backers are going to be playing this themselves less than a month from now.

A wise move, actually.

 

[mindx2]

mindx2
mindx2 certainly did pledge enough money. ( mindx2 did you pledge $300? ) So perhaps he could do a review of the prototype for us and a video where he explains everything.

I pledged enough to get access but my goal is to actually go down to their offices again for a personal hands-on and another interview. I don't think this prototype warrants me doing that yet.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Yeah wait for late alpha

 

[Lucky]

What UA seems to highlight is that one of the things Kickstarters have stripped away from games is the degree of secrecy that actually benefits both players and publishers. Game development is something that's always full of false starts, unfinished assets, clunky gameplay and plain bad ideas being floated and hopefully shot down. With KS, there is an expectation about status updates which either encourages publishers to deceive their paying customers, or release unfinished materials which the audience nitpicks apart. UA's campaign was probably hurt by their early footage as much as their (real) marketing ineptitude. Okay, it was a result of marketing ineptitude.

Realistically, this is an unfinished game at an early stage of development. The projects aren't directly comparable, but Thief was... whatever it was early on, it wasn't the game we got in the end. It went through the dark Arthurian swordfighting game phase, the techno-mediaeval shooter phase, and the kinda-thiefy kinda-sneaking shooter phase. Not even the designers believed in it until the shadow and sound-based stealth system was put in its place at a very late stage of development.

I don't know if the end product will be good (that depends on their skill, their finances, and the ability to tie those two together), but you can't realistically expect a game that promises creative design to present a fully realised, smooth experience in what is still called a prototype phase. What we got in this demo is this, however:

• Game has a colourful fantasy look that's fairly good looking (maybe a bit too much blue and orange going on, but hey, that shit is everywhere )
• They are looking into introducing nonstandard game mechanics - like keeping a monster away from you with light manipulation, and destroying it with a massive dose of it.
• I also spotted a lame mechanical trap; they've got to work much more on that aspect.

Which is not bad.

It's somewhat comparable to the early draft of a novel, in that it likely looks like a disjointed mess early on and that even the 'demo' you send around (the first few pages with which you want to hook a publisher) will likely not even end up in the finished work. It would be extremely limiting to take those drafts and then insist that the end product be exactly what you initially promised, unless what you're writing is extremely formulaic and unlikely to undergo any changes.
That's just part of the creative process. Sometimes time and money gets wasted, even by experienced teams, because what you were going for turned out to not be as good as you'd hoped. The better the developer, the higher the chance that you'll eventually get something good, but that risk never disappears. This is the risk and frustration inherent to paying for these projects and trying to mitigate that risk too much leads to the modern 'blockbuster' games. That's why I'm okay with it if several of the kickstarters I backed fail, including this one, since the games that do succeed are games that otherwise would never have existed with the games-industry being in the way it is. Games by real developers, mind you, scams don't count, but those are easy enough to filter out.

 

[Excidium II]

What UA seems to highlight is that one of the things Kickstarters have stripped away from games is the degree of secrecy that actually benefits both players and publishers. Game development is something that's always full of false starts, unfinished assets, clunky gameplay and plain bad ideas being floated and hopefully shot down. With KS, there is an expectation about status updates which either encourages publishers to deceive their paying customers, or release unfinished materials which the audience nitpicks apart. UA's campaign was probably hurt by their early footage as much as their (real) marketing ineptitude. Okay, it was a result of marketing ineptitude.

Realistically, this is an unfinished game at an early stage of development. The projects aren't directly comparable, but Thief was... whatever it was early on, it wasn't the game we got in the end. It went through the dark Arthurian swordfighting game phase, the techno-mediaeval shooter phase, and the kinda-thiefy kinda-sneaking shooter phase. Not even the designers believed in it until the shadow and sound-based stealth system was put in its place at a very late stage of development.

Yeah, nah, it's not comparable at all. Kickstarter games naturally have to be focused from the start. It's not like they can negotiate with backers for extra resources.

What they need is to make development actually more open, you can't blame people for not having a clue when developers do everything behind closed doors and just open it to show some renders or talk about ideas every other week.

 

[Darkzone]

I pledged enough to get access but my goal is to actually go down to their offices again for a personal hands-on and another interview. I don't think this prototype warrants me doing that yet.

A good very short review of the prototype, might even support that. And Otherside might even invite you on the next interview, if they like what they read.

 

[Metro]

They preemptively debunked the "this is all fake, the entire video is a scripted event!" argument by telling us that backers are going to be playing this themselves less than a month from now.

A wise move, actually.

We all know the backers are biased/suffering from Stockholm Syndrome like the Star Citizen backers.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Are you an expert?

Yes...yes...I am an expert on the internet...like everyone else here at the codex.

Zep--

 

[Zep Zepo]

They preemptively debunked the "this is all fake, the entire video is a scripted event!" argument by telling us that backers are going to be playing this themselves less than a month from now.

A wise move, actually.

Now Infinitron ...and Morgoth, Melan and Jaesun...are you really that gullible? You've never ever ever EVER been lied to by a developer before?

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

Now Infinitron ...and Morgoth, Melan and Jaesun...are you really that gullible? You've never ever ever EVER been lied to by a developer before?

Zep--

Stop worrying about us and start thinking about what you're going to say when people are playing a non-scripted game a month from now. This isn't smoke and mirrors anymore. They're putting themselves out there, and they're doing it soon.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Stop worrying about us and start thinking about what you're going to say when people are playing a non-scripted game a month from now. This isn't smoke and mirrors anymore. They're putting themselves out there, and they're doing it soon.

That is not going to happen, so I am not worried.

10/7/2015

Zep--

 

[Excidium II]

ITZ on.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Which is the lowest tier that they will make the demo available?

 

[mindx2]

A good very short review of the prototype, might even support that. And Otherside might even invite you on the next interview, if they like what they read.

Don't need or want to be a shill and I've already been told I can return for another interview when they have more to show.

 

[Excidium II]

Which is the lowest tier that they will make the demo available?

For this prototype, $300. For Alpha $125

 

[Zep Zepo]

Don't need or want to be a shill and I've already been told I can return for another interview when they have more to show.

Yet, you didn't get invited to this awesome "scripted demo" event, prestigious codexer?

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

For Alpha $125

That's not right: https://underworldascendant.com/store/ppstoreindex.php

Prototype is 300, Pre-Alpha is 75, Alpha is 50, Beta is 38.

Personally I'm in for the beta, might upgrade to alpha in the future if I like what I see.

 

[Zep Zepo]

That's not right: https://underworldascendant.com/store/ppstoreindex.php

Prototype is 300, Pre-Alpha is 75, Alpha is 50, Beta is 38.

Personally I'm in for the beta, might upgrade to alpha in the future if I like what I see.

So you don't like what you see? See what i'm sayin...

Zep--

 

[Bubbles]

Yet, you didn't get invited to this awesome "scripted demo" event, prestigious codexer?

Zep--

Those are only for big sites.

 

[Melan]

Now Infinitron ...and Morgoth, Melan and Jaesun...are you really that gullible? You've never ever ever EVER been lied to by a developer before?

Zep--

I gave $100 to Cleveland Mark Blakemore, and don't regret it one bit. Any other question?

 

[Darth Roxor]

grimoire is going to be less scripted than this

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=876.msg15016#msg15016

We have noted that adjustable FOV is something we should be thinking about for the playable, thanks.

 

[Excidium II]

Yeah, you should.

 

[Infinitron]

By "playable" he means the playable prototype, I think. FOV slider is not a given at such an early stage.

In other news, CyberP is in full action in that thread:

Level design is a concern too. When I think of the level design of a modern, true to form Underworld, I think of Arx Fatalis' level design but twice as expansive. This was more set-piece focused and linear.
I'm confused: how much of what was shown is exclusively for marketing purposes, and how much is part of their true vision? They do after all need more financial support, so I really don't blame any use of deceptive marketing, if any, and it is standard industry practice anyway. I'm just confused as to what their true vision for this game is, but I do know that if it is what we hope for then they're likely going to need more money or scale back on the extravagant graphics.

A bit of both. But no, it's not a linear experience, but building a WIP demo it's easier to build a linear experience...if that makes any sense.