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Topic: Project6014 demo release (Read 68993 times)
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Draxas
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No thanks to being out of town for a while, and then sick after that, I finally dowloaded and started playing 6014 last night.
First thing first: Cedric, and everyone who has been working on this with him, you guys are all awesome and I love you in a totally platonic way. What I've seen so far has been seriously impressive (though not without its share of problems, but I'll get to those in a bit), and I applaud you guys for the immense amount of effort it must have taken to put this together.
I haven't finished the demo yet thanks to a particularly nasty bug which I'll discuss in a bit. But what I've seen so far is great in its entirety. I'll start spoilering things now, just incase there's someone else even farther behind the curve than I am (which is doubtful).
I love most of the new comm screen artwork I've seen. Yeah, even Moosey, as awful as that particular joke is (reminds me a bit of Wubula from BEL). I've seen all 3 new Syreen portraits, the new Human captain pic, and the new Shofixti captain. I've not seen the Lurg yet, but I'll come back and remark on them once I have.
The new dialog is mostly well written, if a little more sparse than I expected. Other than Hayes (who has always been a big ol' blabbermouth), I think the most talkative being I've run into ties between the Slylandro and Kohr-Ah-Rath; something about that strikes me as a little off, especially considering the Kohr-Ah's previously brusque manner. I've also encountered a few typoes here and there, but I didn't have a pen and paper at the time so I forget where I spotted them. I'll take better notes next time I fire it up.
The new intro slideshow is very slick and a nice touch.
Now for the bad parts:
I've encountered several bugs. You already know about the issues with the Melnorme, so I won't bring those up again. However, I encountered a bug that killed all of the music except the song that plays in a solar system and planet orbit (so no Hyperspace or comm music would play anymore). It popped up after I bumped into a second Penetrator captain after talking to the first one with no issues. That wasn't the worst of it though: the reason I didn't finish the demo was because of a game breaker when I encountered the Kohr-Ah-Rath. First of all, they were swarming around Epsilon Gruis; I don't know if this was intentional or not, since I didn't get a chance to chat with the Spathi before I bumped into a ship, but it would make sense within the narrative. However, after a lengthy discussion with them, we (of course) got ready to fight. I selected my Jugger escort, and the game immediately dumped me back to the main menu. I have no idea if this is related to the Syreen bug above, but I was still playing the game in that state when it happened. Other, more minor things: Something about the Syreen ship captain artwork seems off. It's hard to describe, maybe something about her face? Not really sure, I'll take better notes the next time I play. On that note, the comm screen for Gaia has some rather unnatural animations, but I know you guys know this already. The Human captain looks pretty snazzy. However, I think the Freighter should have someone different looking at the helm to better distinguish the two comm screens; I did see the ship graphic differences on one of the monitors, but that's a pretty subtle difference. Related to this, and echoing the sentiments of several others, the Human ship comm music is too loud compared to the other songs. It's a neat piece, though. The Shofixti captain looks pretty good, especially the two different colored eyes. However, his blinking animations are unnerving since he blinks each eye at different times; I don't think I saw both eyes sync up a single time, and it's a creepy effect that makes him look a bit psychotic (which may be the point, but I don't know). Random item that I couldn't figure out: you are able to scan both Earth and Procyon II, but can't land on either. Why not just make them send you to comm screens like all the other homeworlds? I also noticed the Orz are still hanging around the Taalo homeworld, though their dialog is the same there as everywhere else. The little message on Unzervalt was cute, but I was expecting more somehow. Then again, I was also expecting to see more than there was on Alpha Cerenkov I, Pluto, and the Moon, so maybe my nostalgia is getting the best of me. 
Overall, though, a stellar demo from what I've seen of it. I'll definitely come back with more commentary once I've finished the main content.
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Cedric6014
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Gidday Elerium, thanks for playing thru and the providing some comments
The Explorer, now it in itself is a decent ship design but it seems too Chenjesu, the Chmmr usually have metallic streamlining. As for the Melnorme confuse burst, I'm not sure about the Melnorme would sell their trade secrets relating to the weapons they use on their ships or that the Chmmr would have some basic understanding of how they worked unless it was through combat (but then, why would they attack the Melnormes?). The forward crystal weapon seems a bit out of place for the Chmmr and more Chenjesu, as the Chmmr are more into bold, upfront and personal conflicts. The design of the Avatar is certain of this method of attack.
Personally I'd have the Explorer as some sort of large heavily modified Avatar derived flagship. It cannot serve as a battleship, but there's plenty of room for more of the sciencey gizmos and stuff onboard.
Perhaps the Explorer gets a few Zapsats of its own, especially when you're told you might be up against Kohr-Ah and whatnot.
Yeah we were a bit hurried with the weapons for both the new ships. The explorer needs tweaking. The zap-sats arent a bad idea! altho not very original. No less original than a confusion ray though, but as I say we had to hurry to make the 30 Sept deadline so we just slapped some weapons on. We'll do a patch in the next month or so that will address this issue and all the bugs that folks have spotted.
You're told the Shofixti got wiped out, but where? I'm told to go, but no indication where they were last?
You'll need to ask around . There's clearly quite a lot of content you haven't seen
Orz wormhole, on approach I think it would be better to have the Captain having some sort of trippy mind programming put there by the Arilou saying Beware! etc, like (From the back of your mind you hear a calming unknown voice).
Ah you found it. Nice job! The Arilou warning is a demo-specific thing, to protect some excitingness that we're saving for the main release
As for the Ilwrath, maybe have them around but with some sort of cloaked pirate base somewhere, which serves as a sideplot or something. I just find it hard to believe all of them would have died out, same with the Thraddash who might now be the equivalent of space biker gangs that now drive around the universe.
Everyone seems to want to have them come back as pirates. We'll see.
Oh and finally, the Slylandro piloting Kohr-Ah ships. I had to go back a bit and say lolwut.
Nah, I like it
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Twurckle
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Finally had some time to play, great work, here's some feedback:
good:
I love the new artwork, not only the new commscreens but also the intro end ending movies, I can see a lot of time was spend on those.
The races all acted very well in character, most discussions about plot lines for sequels on the forums end in bitter disputes about how the SC2 races should act, and everybody has their own opinions, Most people however seem to be happy with the result here, you should take that as a big compliment.
other comments:
As some others mentioned: Meeting the Lurg right at the start may be a bit of a steep learning curve for new players. Another issue that unbalances the game the other way is that the player has access to a lot of powerfull ships right from the start (Utwig, Chmmr, Yehat). Also in the text it is implied that he will have unlimited resources too. It may be difficult to rewrite the plot so that the player is a bit more restricted in his options, and has to do some actual work to unlock the more powerfull ships, but it would be more fun.
You already mentioned that dialogue for some races needs editing, The VUX could probably throw a bit more insults at you, and should probably be a bit less cooperative. The slylandro should probably mention that the universe feels like a pretty hostile place, with everybody out there trying to kill them.
Anyhow, great work so far!
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Draxas
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All right, I'm back now that I've completed the demo. Definitely a great start, thanks again for all your hard work.
Unfortunately, I ran into the no music bug again. This time it happened after speaking with a second Shofixti ship. I saved, quit, and reloaded the game before I ran the risk of hitting the game-breaker, and that fixed the music.
Also ran into another bug others have mentioned, where unrelated SOIs pop up when speaking to various aliens. I got the Yehat sphere after speaking with the Syreen, and also got the Human sphere after speaking with the Orz.
How many new bioforms did you guys add? I saw 3 in my travels (red spineback, mud spitting plant, flying eyestalk), and all of them looked great.
The Yehat mention that the Shofixti are trying to set up a colony at Beta Gorno, but I saw no ships nor any sign of a colony there; the only system I saw Scouts in was Delta Gorno. Typo? On a related logical note, while Beta Gorno is incredibly inhospitable, Alpha Gorno I seems to match the surface conditions of Delta Gorno I rather well...
Saw the oddity at Alpha Vulpecluae, and spoke to the warning darkness. I assume the Mycon music is simply a placeholder, just like the Freighter music.
Speaking of the Freighter, I saw it in-system at Sol this time around, it's pretty neat looking. It's not in Super Melee, though; any plans to add it in?
Finally spoke to the Spathi, since the Kohr-Ah-Rath decided not to set up shop around their homeworld this time. Of course, they didn't have much to say since I didn't have the cypher; shame, that.
The Lurg both look and sound awesome. Kudos to everyone who worked on them, comm music and victory ditty included.
Played around a bit with the Prawn in Super Melee. The ship handles very strangely; I think this is because the turning axis is far forward from the engine, which makes it turn jerkily. Was this an intentional effect?
I suppose that's all I have to add to my previous commentary. Once again, everyone involved in this has done a tremendous job. |
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dczanik
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All right, I'm back now that I've completed the demo. Definitely a great start, thanks again for all your hard work.
Thanks! I appreciate it! It thrills me that people just want to explore and find everything they can. It seems you've certainly played the heck out of it. I'm the art guy so I can't speak on everything, but I'll answer your questions best I can...
The music bug is still a bug. Reloading the game should help. I can't speak to why it's happening. Same with the SOI stuff.
Not sure if the Yehat dialog is something that will be included in the full game or just a typo. I'm sure somebody else on the team can answer that. 23 bioforms I think. As many as the original. You may have to travel a bit outside 'known' space to get to them. I'd love to see a list of planets where you can find some of them. Music is a placeholder for a few things, yes. I'm not aware of any plans to add the freighter in. I'd imagine freighters to be slow and not as powerful as an Earthling battleship. The Spathi Cypher. Well, it's just a demo. I can't speak on what will happen with the Spathi. The Lurg music and voice was done by the infamous MisterCat. I did the Lurg art and animation. Thank you! Of course, I didn't come up with the original design The Prawn is a little weird with its axis. We're still working on it. We're still tweaking and its abilities. Same with the Explorer ship.
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cs_Jere
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(I had to create a new account just to praise you guys.)
I just found out today about the demo release. It made my day. You guys are awesome, you've created some awesome shit, and I hope the finished product will be just as awesome.
And if you guys need any help with the non-tech department for the mod, (music, plot, dialogue etc) don't hesitate to ask. I'm a student with too much free time [but zero-skill with programming etc that has anything to do with 0s and 1s]  and I'd love to contribute some to a magnificent mod like this
Keep up the good work.
cs_Jere
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« Last Edit: October 10, 2010, 01:24:23 pm by cs_Jere »
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cs_Jere
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Well I can draw with pen and paper (and scan it) but my photoshopping/etc is pretty limited, and I have 0 experience with coding graphics into game 
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Megagun
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Allright, here's my short list of commentary.
-The humor was, at times, too blatantly obvious ("It's Funny. Laugh") whereas in SC2, a lot of the humor was phrased such that it wasn't just a joke; it also fit pretty well in the story. I know. I'm being vague here, but I'm not a specialist on humor or story. -The dialogues were very straight-on; almost all dialogue had a purpose regarding the actual story. SC2 had a lot of 'pointless but providing atmosphere' dialogue. How about introducing some random encounters with actual NPCs (like Fwiffo) that have some kind of story to tell? Or even just have a random list of encounters for Earthlings, where each of them has one specific story to tell. Go play Space Rangers 2 if you haven't, and you'll know what I mean. -The Orz dialogue was pretty bad. In SC2, the Orz dialogue was decypherable and somewhat understandable, but I couldn't figure out anything with these... -The not showing of initial Spheres of Influence is kind of meh. -I liked the limited RU you got, but it made no sense because the Chmmr said you'd have effectively unlimited RUs. I would guess that the limited RU were to give the player some limits. How about -instead- giving the player limits in the same way as the Chmmr impose limits on all other races: by not letting them get out of their appointed spheres of influence? Give the player a Sphere of Influence and unlimited RU. The Sphere increases as tasks appointed to you by the Chmmr require it. If the player goes out of the Sphere, a Chmmr fleet will appear from somewhere and kick your ass. (Perhaps have a Chmmr fleet always follow you wherever you go in the game?).. -The Syreen zooming thing was annoying, but I see the point in it. -The Slylandro Kohr-ah thing was nice, but making them appear globally on the map is silly. Perhaps make finding out the Slylandro in Kohr-Ah ships part could be some kind of task appointed to you by the Chmmr. They could tell you that there's some Kohr-Ah task force approaching $SOME_SOLAR_SYSTEM_OF_INTEREST, mark their tiny Sphere of Influence on your map, and your goal is to intercept and question them before they reach their target. Hilarity ensues when the player expects to see Kohr-Ah, but instead sees Slylandro. More hilarity than the way it is now, because the player fully expects to see Kohr-Ah from the moment he heads off to accomplish the task, rather than from the moment he notices the battle fleet is of Kohr-Ah origins. -I didn't like how I had to search every damned planet to find the Lurg. Please make it so that they appear in the solar system, too. Sure, SC2 also did this "SEARCH ALL THIS STUFF, WOO!" thing a bit, but it's a rather boring gameplay mechanic in 2010. Also, was there ever anything to be found at those other Shofixti patrol sites? -Although I think I understand that the Lurg encounter was purely for demo purposes, I would advise to put that encounter way later (and further away from the player, in terms of Hyperspace coordinates) in future versions of the game. Have a slowish list of tasks/quests the player must accomplish first, each taking about 30 minutes of gameplay time (example: "We lost a Chmmr exploration fleet in $SYSTEM! Please go there and investigate!" and when you go there you find a Slaveshielded (red) world with a Starbase around it, and upon investigation you find some Chmmr and have a chat with them, then go back to Procyon and tell the Chmmr to send a slaveshield cracker task force to that system, which then results in a minor alien race (think Supox) that might have some quests of their own later on). The added benefit of these smaller tasks is that they can be developed on their own by one specific person. |
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Habilis
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First, my thanks to all those involved in this project! Star Control is one of my favorite games of old (with Master of Magic and PS:T), and I'm overjoyed to know, that there is a chance for more of it, after so much years.
Also, I have no intentions to criticize the plot (and there is very little of it to be seen for now, anyway), but I do really hope that Chmrr will not become an "enemy masterminds", which must be stopped for galaxy to prosper etc. I don't mind if the confrontation with them would be inevitable during the game (still, I would prefer to avoid the war with allies if possible) but I hope that their intentions, at least, are not malicious or entirely self-serving.
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