Wasteland The Wasteland 2 Beta Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[FeelTheRads]

Shit, right.

 

[Nihiliste]

snip

This touchingly naive perspective just made my heart break.

Try to think about this from the developer's POV. Releasing something as early access has two benefits. The main motivating one is, more $$$. The other is, you have a bunch of extra people to do QA for your game, but that value is largely offset by the inevitable distaste that the unfinished product will leave in the mouths of people who are the most central to your target audience.

What could possibly be the motivation to have people pay for beta, and then have your company spend all the extra money they brought in responding to beta testers so they can feel like special snowflakes and armchair developers?

I cannot fathom how one could expect shelling out an extra 30$ could somehow afford them the privilege of having the developer waste time responding to every marginal piece of feedback they might have to offer. Get real. I'm far from positive about this game, but one thing I'm not concerned about is whether or not inxile is hearing feedback - we know they are. Whether or not they choose to act on any specific piece of feedback is their prerogative, Kickstarter or not.


It's like buying a unit in a condo before it's built based on drawings and developer assurances - sure you might be able to get them to put a different color of curtain in your unit if they haven't already ordered everything in bulk, but what you're talking about is like getting butthhurt that they're not now going to listen to your feedback to build a pool in the common area, and thank you for the suggestion at the same time.

 

[veryalien]

What could possibly be the motivation to have people pay for beta, and then have your company spend all the extra money they brought in responding to beta testers so they can feel like special snowflakes and armchair developers?

I notice this a lot. People assume this is about vanity when it's not. All I want to know is if bug report #4232131421 I filed has been fixed or not. That way I can retest or just move on.

It's not about feeling special at all. It's just straight forward QA process. Instead we're expected to stuff a box and carry on.

Also it would not have cost them so much money to have the same internal tickets update the ones in Code center they are linked to. A simple "this is closed" is good enough.

 

[Grotesque]

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

What could possibly be the motivation to have people pay for beta, and then have your company spend all the extra money they brought in responding to beta testers so they can feel like special snowflakes and armchair developers?

I notice this a lot. People assume this is about vanity when it's not. All I want to know is if bug report #4232131421 I filed has been fixed or not. That way I can retest or just move on.

You will know it after reading all fixes done in an update.

 

[veryalien]

Is that a recent screenshot? Because the UI is a million times better that way. Really, huge improvement!

 

[DragoFireheart]

Holy shit the GUI doesn't look like an amateur game anymore!

 

[Xeon]

I think its from the first preview they showed of the game, Guessing from the picture of the little kid and the dog of the dev I think.

 

[FeelTheRads]

No, that's the first UI they had. And yeah, at least the dialog UI looked better than now.
Although that frame is weird. It feels like it's supposed to be a screen... but it's not.. it's just a frame over an area of the scene.

 

[veryalien]

Why revert it to the ugly one we have now?

 

[Xeon]

I think its because a lot of people wanted movable and sizable UI.

 

[veryalien]

I think its because a lot of people wanted movable and sizable UI.

Damn Linux users.

 

[Grotesque]

Is that a recent screenshot? Because the UI is a million times better that way. Really, huge improvement!

I made the mockup. Started with the portrait but I got carried away.

 

[Infinitron]

IIRC, the dialogue UI was changed because they hired a new UI designer who wanted to do things differently. I wonder if it's the same guy changing it again now.

I think its because a lot of people wanted movable and sizable UI.

I don't know if people "wanted" that, but it is something inXile promised in the campaign. I think Fargo just likes that sort of thing.

 

[Grotesque]

No, that's the first UI they had. And yeah, at least the dialog UI looked better than now.
Although that frame is weird. It feels like it's supposed to be a screen... but it's not.. it's just a frame over an area of the scene.

The screen could be interpreted as something like an aircraft head-up display where the NPC names appear and could be filled with other stats that affect the dialogue options and other art

EDIT:

 

[FeelTheRads]

Hah, you added the frame and the portrait. Pretty good integration. I forgot the original didn't have it and didn't notice it was added.

Anyway, the reason it feels weird it's because you can see what's outside of the frame too. It's like.. you know in cartoons when there's a TV with no screen and there's stuff happening behind it that you see through the frame of the TV, that's the kind of feeling it gives.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Instead of butthurt release, here's a press release for a change - nothing particularly new here though, and the screenshot is already old by this point too:

Newport Beach, CA – April 14 2014 – The Wasteland 2 beta has been out for several months now, and players from 181 countries have put in 26 million minutes or almost 50 years of gameplay time. Based on beta testing metrics and feedback, inXile Entertainment estimates the game will take about 50 hours to complete for a regular playthrough.

Less than half of the game is currently available in beta form on Steam Early Access, with an update coming next week that will add another major area. After that update the beta will include most of the Arizona portion of the game. Many of the game's zones have completely different states based on the choices you make.

“I felt it was important for us to exceed our Kickstarter backers' expectations and deliver a truly deep RPG,” says Brian Fargo, CEO. "There is a tremendous amount of gameplay that is either easy to miss or mutually exclusive, so while those 50 hours will suffice for a single play-through, there are plenty of reasons to go back for a second one.”

inXile Entertainment is also unveiling more of the second half of the game, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. Where Arizona contains many areas from the original and is defined by its arid desert-scape, Los Angeles features the ruins of familiar landmarks overgrown with wild plant life, crawling with weird creatures, and dangerous mad cults. There are hints of a threat from this region to not just the Desert Rangers, but all of humanity. Will Ranger Team Echo be able to find and halt this threat?

A Screenshot from Los Angeles:
http://wasteland.inxile-entertainment.com/images/press/WL2_LosAngeles_SneakPeek.jpg​

 

[Chemicals Are OK]

Hello.
It's probably too late for this, but, the thing that stopped me from playing the demo, above all other legitimate complaints, was the rotating camera. Why can't the perspective just be thought out more and fixed? I can't see any advantage to the current camera system.

 

[veryalien]

The camera is slightly better now. It rotates to fixed angles if I recall correctly.

I don't really play WL2 because it's shit. I will when they make a good game out of it.

 

[Gord]

Hello.
It's probably too late for this, but, the thing that stopped me from playing the demo, above all other legitimate complaints, was the rotating camera. Why can't the perspective just be thought out more and fixed? I can't see any advantage to the current camera system.

D:OS did just that and got complains that you can't rotate the camera...

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Brian Fargo:

We're prepping the #wasteland2 update. Expect it to go live by tomorrow morning with new maps, Linux version and much more. It's solid.

 

[Country_Gravy]

That Fargo post makes me pretty solid, too.

 

[Infinitron]

Release notes, but no update yet? http://wastelandrpg.tumblr.com/post/83039841274/wasteland-2-early-beta-update-39052-notes

Wasteland 2 Early Beta Update #39052 Notes
Early Beta Build 04/17/2014

High Profile Fixes:

The Titans have been released! A new area is available.

The vendor screen has been completely redesigned!

Tutorials have been added

New Mark Morgan tracks

Large balance pass on weapons and dropsets across the world

Large armor penetration pass on weapons and armor class pass on enemies

Many optimizations and compatibility fixes

Tons of new ambient tracks and in-world sounds added to all AZ levels

Ag Center and Highpool now unlocked from start

Ag Center and Highpool can both fall now

Reduced loading times across all scenes

 

[Infinitron]

'k, it's out now. A 4.7GB download.

 

[veryalien]

Looked through combat log and I don't see a tooltip added to show the AP cost of reloading... would love to know if it's in. Can't be bothered to go through chargen again just to find out.