Hey, it's still work, as long as they spend time recording (and fixing) bugs they come across in game play and listen to the people complaining about annoying issues in game. >3
I did read that part, which makes me eager to play. I'm just hoping it's not a subtle hint that the beta might be nudged back a little because it's not ready yet. But as a word to the developers, keep testing on the clock, even towards the end of the development cycle. It's your job to test, test, test, so you're not really slacking on the work. The more you play, the more you'll notice that "hmm, this doesn't work right, I should fix that." Just make sure it's play with us so we ca
Yes, DotA can be quite harsh on the community side of things. There are AI maps available in the DotA forums which I often play because I'm tired of dealing with people leaving or calling each other noobs. I'm just there to play and have a good time, and if they can't shut up about it and "be pro" rather than "acting pro," I'd rather avoid them altogether. DotA isn't that predictable most of the time. Your item and skill progression tends to be the same for the same heroes, but how you play
What worries me is the 60 days comment. I'm just hoping it reads as, "We'll be implementing most of the features over about 60 days, and then it'll get really fun."
The basic idea of DotA for those who haven't played is pretty simple. As said, there are two opposing teams of up to 5 players each. Both teams have a base at opposing corners of the map with 3 lanes exiting along the two sides of the map and the middle. 6 "unit" buildings (two per lane) serve as protection for the main objective, the World Tree (for Sentinels) or the Frozen Throne (for the Scourge). Marring passage to destroy these unit buildings and eventually the goal are 3 towers per lan
We frequent different MUDs then, I see ASCII art pretty often. >D I won't comment on whether I'm better or not, but at least I got past stick figures a few years ago! Addendum: Which is to say, I've improved in my artistic ability. I didn't think it at the time, but that might seem to say I'm a better artist. I can't say either way, and don't really care if I am. >)
I think the hill giant model (Tiny) is around 600-700 polys because it's suppose to be big, and you aren't typically allowed to make a lot of them.
No doubt. >D Warcraft 3's like... What, 500 polygons or less? Most modern games are 1-3k for the [link="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mook"]mooks[/link] (definition 7) and 4-6k for the important people or close up models. Definitely no contest. But I was simplifying things a bit for my comparison. Definitely liking the models in play at present, and hope to see more in the coming months before release. >)
As I hear it, the old school way of game design had programmers burning out in their 40s. I'm TOLD game design has matured a lot and programmers aren't pressured into final month crunch times with little sleep and too much Bawls. As a trained game programmer (I gots mah skoolin' sir-tiff-e-kate) I have to say the "magic" has gone in gaming. Where once I would look at a game like... Mechwarrior 3 and say, "Wow, the graphics are amazing, and I love the ambiance!", I now find myself saying, "Hm
Given the amount of submissions they'll get, I'm willing to bet there will be some kind of contest for the top X entries to be made into characters. IF they're going to accept community suggestions for characters. I don't see why they wouldn't, but it's equally possible that they'll open it up so that the community itself can make however many characters they want. Then the game might be modded beyond its initial tally of characters into a whole other game, like TA which still enjoys fan made
For once being unemployed is a boon! >.> [size="1"](as an aside, is GPG looking for a talented programmer?)[/size]
Linden Labs, the people behind Second Life, run a public [link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jira"]JIRA[/link] which is a bug tracking system. Residents can submit bugs to the system, and apparently there are pencil boards which cycle through recently added bugs in the LL offices. This way, bugs can be submitted with a defined format and most likely are put into the right categories (no UI bugs in the Game Play section for instance).
[quote]But you realize that DotA heroes are essentially modified templates of a couple different types, yes? Whereas Demigods will be entirely unique in appearance, abilities, animations, etc. It's a lot faster and easier to make 91 iterations of the same few heroes, than even 12 unique ones That's not to mention balancing.[/quote] Actually to my knowledge only one hero in DotA shares a model with anyone else, and that'd be himself (Meepo). The essential "basic hero" portion
I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say we look forward to picking your UI apart with a jagged, cynical toothed comb. >3 For kicks though, try to get that happy/sad heart thing into the UI. I'd be interested in seeing just how many people ACTUALLY hate it. As an indicator of damage, I imagine sad little emo hearts is pretty weak, but an unobtrusive indicator that's immediately obvious when you've got tunnel vision is better than having none. Better than resorting to screen fla
Actually I was thinking more like a control point system, where everyone's fighting to hold locations on a map. While you hold it, you can choose to warp between other points you own (including your main base). This way you can have a massive map, but not be bogged down with having to walk for 5 minutes just to get back to where you died. The big advantage to this is that it emphasizes the importance of area control. Sure, your team could kill the other team up and down the map, but
Indeed, I've found all of the levels I've seen to be quite stunning. But I can't help but agree with Mighty-NJS' question on truly epic sized levels. Will there be levels that may take several minutes to amble across? I mean, Supreme Commander gives you humongous landscapes (albeit with mostly terrain, significantly cheaper to render than bridges, waterfalls, etc.), so the engine should be capable of something really large scale.
Less cowbell, more generals. >D Hmm, rampant speculation on hero numbers eh? Well DotA currently has 91 heroes, and since Demigod is apparently built with DotA in mind I'd have to hazard a guess that it'll have more than 12. I'd guess at least twice that, 24 heroes in total in an even split between generals and assassins. For major bonus points, the dev team can contact Icefrog and ask if it's alright to make all of the DotA heroes too for assassins/generals. Chen the Holy
[quote]Assuming there is a CE in the works, would I be able to "upgrade" my pre-order (for an extra fee)?[/quote] I'd like to echo this. I prefer a box copy, but unless I'm getting something.... more, I don't think it's worth the extra $20 or so to get it shipped out to me. Not to mention customs charges, because anything from another country could be a bomb. Or drugs. Or both.
[quote]...it's Windows exactly as if it were a standard PC, [U]so it's not slow or laggy.[/U][/quote] That's debatable. >D But they're quite right, on an Intel Mac you can run windows on the hardware natively by dual booting. If not, I [I]THINK[/I] that since Mac OS X is a *nix like operating system you can get WINE to run on it with some compiling. [link="http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=7038"]WINE will run Supreme Commander[/link] with little to no p
OpenGL ftw. Platform agnostic programming is the way to go.
Uncleanliness is next to godliness. >3 You said you haven't used Zbrush in a few years, what suite have you been using? 3ds Max? Blender (har har?)? What was the deciding point (if someone can answer) to use Zbrush over any other suites?
I'm jazzed about this game now more than ever. The diversity of the character designs shown is quite welcome, and the attacks look very impactful. I just hope you guys are designing with modding in mind. Not only would it be in your best interest for future expansions (I'm sure there will be), but I'll bet the community at large would like to answer the developers with their own creations. >) Very much looking forward to this game, and damn you all for making us wait until August fo
[quote]I like your posts - you always tell us that Demigod is fun unlike the evil Stardock people saying that beta-ing won't be much fun. (I guess thats the job of the publisher though).[/quote] Well despite what they say, beta testing isn't all fun. Games, sure. It's game development so d'uh. But not all fun. That is, unless you don't treat the beta like it should be treated, filing reports and trying to wreck the game like a responsible tester. When it enters the final beta stage
Not really, Reaver. If the bridge is made as a breakable model it'll always remain the same complexity as it animates its destruction. Of course animated destruction is lame because it happens the same way all the time. If the bridges were replaced by bridge debris at a lower polygon level, it would be easier on the engine to render a dozen or two chunks being scattered around (yay physics) before fading away when they come to a rest. After they've faded away the bridge truly doesn't impact
Sweet, bug hunting. Imma break ur game real gud 4 u. >3 Are there specific guidelines we need to follow for bug submission? Will there be an in game /bug command or a menu option that brings up a form? Email addresses? Cans and string? Smoke signals?