Game News Wasteland 2 Kickstarter Update #31: OMG DISTRIBUTION DEAL, also new HUD screenshots

[villain of the story]

The thing that strikes me about the WL2 UI designs is that the artists seem to be complete consoltards with no sense of function and form and instead go about thinking "what would be cool". And we've seen the videos; most of the developers were rather young, relatively speaking. I think Fargo desperately needs some design veterans on the team.

 

[Excidium]

You don't need 20 years in the game industry to make something better looking and more functional than that.

 

[Jaesun]

Roguey being a fucking retard again. and Brother None's example of the finished product proves it The in game footage shown so far looks really good, stop shitposting.

Click here to improve your Codex Experience™ by 100%.

Odd choice for them to used Deep Silver as a Distributor.. But at least it will solve the problem plagued by other Kickstarters that didn't have one lined up (and do not have a "gateway" into STEAM). But I don't care either way, they are just a Distributor. At least it's not fucking EA.

 

[tuluse]

InXile already has a self published game on Steam, The Bard's Tale.

 

[Cynic]

Click here to improve your Codex Experience™ by 100%.

But the retardation also brings me lulz so I am torn.

 

[Seerix]

Paper descriptions look really off to me, another CRT screen for them would be fine. Icons look like they were taken from some 'generic icons for all your generic needs' library. All those cables and other details are unnecessary and do not match the actual hud elements. Ascetic HUD made from translucent ms paint boxes and rectangles with customization options would be much better than this.

 

[Lancehead]

Yes, but Deep Silver aren't going to do that for free, are they? They would be getting some money besides for making and distributing physical stuff.

This should be clear from even a high school (if even that) knowledge of economics: Scale and infrastructure. Deep Silver already has manufacturing facilities ect and can make a box and DVD (and maybe a manual or whatever feelies WL2 and ToN offered) much cheeper than InXile could ever hope.

That was always clear. The purpose of the question, which you seem to have failed to follow from the conversation, is to know whether any backer money was going to Deep Silver.

 

[deuxhero]

Of course it is. No one expected InXile to print the physical rewards from thin air. If you asked any rational person donating how they think physical rewards would be produced, most would have guessed IX would pay a company with manufacturing facilities to do it. I highly doubt any rational person would see this as some great betrayal.

 

[Lancehead]

You should read my posts more carefully. Here's my first post in the thread:

@dropkickpickachu Deep Silver gets money for sales from copies they distribute. They do not get any money from the Kickstarter budget nor any money from digital sales.

What about the distribution of physical copies of the backers? Who's paying Deep Silver for those?

The two points you were eager to teach me - that it costs less for Deep Silver to manufacture, and that InXile would need to pay them - are not what I was seeking. Because BN said (in the quote I quoted) no backer money was going to Deep Silver, I asked for a clarification on which money was going to them (them being a publisher).

Of course it is. No one expected InXile to print the physical rewards from thin air. If you asked any rational person donating how they think physical rewards would be produced, most would have guessed IX would pay a company with manufacturing facilities to do it. I highly doubt any rational person would see this as some great betrayal.

Where do you read "betrayal" in my posts? Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

 

[jewboy]

DOF in games in general is a crime against humanity. What worries me even more than the DOF itself is that someone actually thought that this was a good idea. I hope it wasn't Mr. Fargo because he can't be fired. I am immensely relieved to hear that it will be optional.

I agree that the UI is ugly, but I don't mind the overal idea of minimalist modularity. I do prefer the UI of Fallout 2 and most of the IE games. I think the UI of FO:NV was decent as well. Why not throw together a few different styles and let the backers vote on them? Or even better ship the game with more than one style of UI if that isn't too much work.

As for the distribution deal I see nothing wrong with it. One of the reason that I back Mr. Fargo's projects is that I trust his business decisions and his ability to get things done in the real world. Outsourcing the distribution sounds like a good idea to me. Yes, it will cut into inXile's profits but that was always going to be the case. Manufacturing and shipping physical things like boxes and DVDs and cloth maps and all the other physical rewards costs money. And yes this does seem to imply that the part of the backer funding that was going to be put toward physical distribution of stuff can now be put toward game content and hopefully a UI that doesn't look like shit. Presumably T:ToN will be handled the same way.

 

[boltrek]

I dislike how InXile even ask for feedback from fans at all. I mean it has it's uses (no social feature, derp) but apart from that holy shit, they are the designers not the fans, so go design. It's awkward and stupid. Just go make the game and wake us up when you're done and give us a game code to go download it. Pointless shit which just provokes internet armchair experts to "mock up" and pretend they are now super RPG designers (ie half of this thread).

 

[Infinitron]

I dislike how InXile even ask for feedback from fans at all. I mean it has it's uses (no social feature, derp) but apart from that holy shit, they are the designers not the fans, so go design. It's awkward and stupid. Just go make the game and wake us up when you're done and give us a game code to go download it. Pointless shit which just provokes internet armchair experts to "mock up" and pretend they are now super RPG designers (ie half of this thread).

It's going to happen anyway, man. All of this stuff would have popped up in the beta test.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Hey, I'm going to have to contrast all the "readability" and "modability" feedback you guys seem to have received to design the interface the way you did, and emphasize that some of us just want the interface to pull us into the game. I like heavy interfaces that feel like they have real weight, and belong in the game world they inhabit. Fallout & Baldur's Gate both have great UI's (first BG more than the second) by this measure.

You are an evil person and part of the problem.

 

[Hellraiser]

The UI tries to look like a gadget made from old salvaged 80s electronics, that's nice and all but some ideas just don't make sense. The LED number display and buttons branching out look just wrong. At the very least they should be attached to some sort of crude surface, they really need some background, just having them hanging there in the air looks awkward. Even just a green circuit board behind them would make it look better.

Button placement is a mess, there's no logic behind it, it doesn't fit neatly with the rest. I would rather see it in the form of a small keyboard or a keypad with all the buttons close together and spaced evenly in an overall sensible pattern. Indeed I would personally put both the AP LED display and the buttons as part of a single device supposedly operated using that keypad. It's logical to have the action buttons related to a combat turn and the AP counter on the same damn "device" with the display at the top and the buttons at the bottom and on the sides of the display. You'll need them at roughly the same point during a turn. The end turn button can be elsewhere however, more on why in a moment.

Fuck GUI modification by the user, just give him interchangeable quickslots tied to number keys for whatever skills/items he drags&drops on them. There's no sane reason why he should want to move the AP/weapon/combat turn order part of the GUI unless you put it in the middle of the damn screen by default.

Here's one thing I noticed, why do games always have the end turn button in the lower-right corner? MOO2, Civ, SMAC, Fallout, Jagged Alliance 2 the list goes on. Why do you have it in the lower-left one? Indeed notice another thing, most bottom centric GUI's for games go left to right with buttons/information in order more or less depending on what information or mechanics the player needs first and what last. Because most people in the "west" read left to right.

Fallout: text display (telling you what just happened)>inventory (use stimpak/arm yourself if shit hit the fan)>weapons+AP>HP+AC>stuff of zero importance during combat (pipboy/character sheet/skilldex)>end turn

Starcraft: minimap (what is going on)>selected units and their health>portrait/menu>unit orders

Alpha Centauri: Selected unit info+menu button>tile the unit is on info>other units/cities on tile info>central "strategic" overview info panel (which shows combat info when attempting an attack)>minimap and end turn.

You have the text printout display giving the most vital information on the right side (BTW change the font and dump the transparency, transparent paper is moronic, the frame could also use a redisign), the combat widgets on the other end of the screen and skills in the middle. As a player I would jump around from right to left to the right again after I do an attack with one of my rangers, assuming the damage done is displayed on the printout (which it should so the player can review the situation to make tactical decisions). That's tedious and indeed counterintuitive in a way. Don't reinvent the wheel here, go with Fallout's left-side printout with the combat actions right next to it. Quickslots should be in a row above or below the combat buttons, same goes for ranger portraits with HP and AP bars. Possibly place the portraits above the printout.

EDIT: Oh and yes, put all the stuff that's nearly totally unimportant during combat and not that important outside of it on the right side. Character sheet button, main menu button etc.

 

[Rake]

inXile realy made a bad decision with the whole "modable, floating pieces of shit parts for the UI" that they promished. At least make the parts to have a common theme and look like parts of a single UI instead of 8 different ones.

 

[Smejki]

Yes, but Deep Silver aren't going to do that for free, are they? They would be getting some money besides for making and distributing physical stuff.

This should be clear from even a high school (if even that) knowledge of economics: Scale and infrastructure. Deep Silver already has manufacturing facilities ect and can make a box and DVD (and maybe a manual or whatever feelies WL2 and ToN offered) much cheeper than InXile could ever hope.

That was always clear. The purpose of the question, which you seem to have failed to follow from the conversation, is to know whether any backer money was going to Deep Silver.

Of course not. The get cut from physical sales

 

[Infinitron]

inXile realy made a bad decision with the whole "modable, floating pieces of shit parts for the UI" that they promished. At least make the parts to have a common theme and look like parts of a single UI instead of 8 different ones.

It was part of the game's pitch, and nobody complained about it then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YHEgVIMS9pQ#t=355s 5:55

 

[Rake]

inXile realy made a bad decision with the whole "modable, floating pieces of shit parts for the UI" that they promished. At least make the parts to have a common theme and look like parts of a single UI instead of 8 different ones.

It was part of the game's pitch, and nobody complained about it then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YHEgVIMS9pQ#t=355s 5:55

I know, and i don't excpect them to change it. But so far what we have seen from inXile is underwhelming as far as UI is conserned. I haven't see much praise for their UI design.

And they seem to go that road with Torment as well.

 

[Infinitron]

And they seem to go that road with Torment as well.

I suspect that's not going to be the case after this.

 

[villain of the story]

You don't need 20 years in the game industry to make something better looking and more functional than that.

True but in Fargo's case, it apparently isn't working.

WL2 needs the AOD treatment for UI.

 

[Rake]

And they seem to go that road with Torment as well.

I suspect that's not going to be the case after this.

I don't know. Even NWN2 UI had a ton of fans. Some people realy have perverted taste.

 

[Kem0sabe]

And they seem to go that road with Torment as well.

I suspect that's not going to be the case after this.

I don't know. Even NWN2 UI had a ton of fans. Some people realy have perverted taste.

I enjoyed the quick-spell menu in NWN2, also the character leveling UI was ok, the problem with the whole thing was how cumbersome and ugly the inventory and front end were.

 

[Logic_error]

To be frank, our production process was geared towards maximum efficiency, not press-readiness. That means our screenshots looked very heavily WIP, and you can still see some of that now. Polishing and finishing up art assets really doesn't make much sense while you're still blocking away, just from a pure production efficiency viewpoint. Now that things are blocked in, we're doing polish passes, fully propping out levels, etc and the game looks significantly better pretty much every time I boot it up. I don't know if people fully realized how distant a lot of the stuff we've put out there is from the final product.

That said, I thought this shot was great, if a bit blurry. We know about the objections people have against DoF and do intend to make it optional.

PS: the Damonta screenshot from a few updates back is a good example. Textures looked like shit so we kept it at a glimpse, yet a few weeks later we could put out this shot with its snazzy lighting work. Big steps now.

The textures could look way better. I assume this is still work in progress?

EDIT: Is that.. perspective projection?????

You are kidding me.. right?

 

[MasPingon]

They should offer St.Toxic some booze and hookers to get the job done right. This looks so random.

 

[ghostdog]

What the fuck did they do to the UI ??



the old one was immensely better :