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State of the beta

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by MM, Mar 20, 2013.

Mods: Auburn, Lieber, sinnertie
Page 1 of 13
  1. MM

    MM THD Team THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    327
    Hey this is MM, I haven’t posted in a while but I really want to explain a few things. We mentioned we entered private beta about 2 months ago and the testing is still going. I still keep saying its gonna be public “soon” because the game really has all content in place most of the time. So it is a matter of us being satisfied with a build to call it “done” and give it out to all of you that bought the game.

    However, it’s not so easy. During these 2 months the game design has been changed a LOT. Things you see on the videos I made a few weeks ago, a lot of that stuff has been either removed or changed to something better. This is because we are CONSTANTLY playtesting with our dedicated team of testers. We implement features, tweak stuff, release a build, play and repeat that over and over. This is very frequent now, at least once a day a new build is pushed to them. So, the things that don’t work in playtesting are put on an anvil and me and Geti smash them with a large hammer.


    We could release before it is ready if we wanted to, but we don’t. We are extremely dedicated to making this game as good as possible. This is gonna be the best multiplayer experience ever made.
    A note to you if you bought the game. The things you see on the buy page or buy poster, some of them are irrelevant now. Not because we didn’t make them or can’t make them, but because we did make them and they turned out to be crap while testing. Nobody wants that.

    For example:
    The workshops you see in classic KAG didn’t really work as we wanted them to work. So there were builds without any workshops, you had a trading post like you see on the videos, but it felt a little too spammy, like a convenience store where you could buy anything without upgrading at all. In recent builds we replaced workshops with factories that produce items. This turns out to be the best idea we had and I hope they will stay.


    Farming as you see on the video I made (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwufFZ8zvgE) was fun the first few times you played it, but right now none of the testers wants to farm - it tends to be too boring. So we are replacing it with a more straightforward way of farming which doesn’t require tedious tasks. We’re keeping all the fun elements like destroying the enemies crops to prevent them from having food and make them spawn longer.

    A bolt-throwing machine that you see on the buy page has wheels and can be driven by 2 players. So its much cooler in reality than on the page.

    The ram is something you’d expect from a medieval game, but in reality using the ram in a tile based map was very tricky. We wanted it to require a lengthy run, so that you actually rammed it into a door or wall. But its too hard to have a straight runway in KAG. Having the ram work by just clicking at the wall is boring and something you might find in EA games not my games. We won’t do that, so we just removed the ram. In place we introduced a hand held drill that heats up, steams, and hurts enemies, which is much more fun. We just need to make it more balanced cause it is quite overpowered :)

    The canopy was never introduced because we are in the opinion that standing with a canopy to protect your team mates is the most boring thing in the world. We want the game to be dynamic and focus more on attacking than defending. We just made the boats give ample protection from incoming arrows, and rely on builders to construct more permanent cover during a siege.

    There are more examples where this has happened during testing, but the core thing to understand is that if something is missing, it’s missing because it wasn’t as fun as we needed it to be, so we put something better there instead.

    We can’t wait to share the beta with you guys, so you can see for yourselves how much the game has been expanded and refined.
    MM
     
    MM, Mar 20, 2013
    #1
    MrError, Jamez, remoomar and 49 others like this.
  2. delankski

    delankski Horde Gibber

    Messages:
    435
    We the non-testers can't wait for the release also :D
     
    delankski, Mar 20, 2013
    #2
    SlyStalker, inactive_account and Cirom like this.
  3. hans_02

    hans_02 Ballista Bolt Thrower

    Messages:
    19
    We understand :)
     
    hans_02, Mar 20, 2013
    #3
    delankski likes this.
  4. Sniips

    Sniips Haxor

    Messages:
    9
    This is F*CKING great to read it MM ! Keep working, you made me happy for the week !
    You are doing good job, carry on, Steam community is waiting for KAG too ! :rollseyes:
     
    Sniips, Mar 20, 2013
    #4
    amgtree, SlyStalker, Cirom and 2 others like this.
  5. Reactorcore

    Reactorcore Shark Slayer

    Messages:
    155
    Will zombie fortress be included in the new KAG too?
     
    Reactorcore, Mar 20, 2013
    #5
  6. delankski

    delankski Horde Gibber

    Messages:
    435
    Not "new KAG"
    It's the updated version of King Arthurs Gold ;)

    What do you get in FULL KAG?​

    [​IMG]​
    Zombie-Fortress Mode​
    In my opinion. Yes, it will. :)
     
    delankski, Mar 20, 2013
    #6
    Classic likes this.
  7. HardPenguin

    HardPenguin Horde Gibber

    Messages:
    310
    *pukes rainbows*
    I put my faith in KAG dev team and I think I won't regret it. Good job, keep on polishing, testing, don't lose the distanced view to see what makes KAG so great. Everything to make this little video game gem come true!


    But duuude. MM just posted that some of those informations are outdated/not relevant anymore. If you have premium account the best way to know is to browse the premium-only subforums.
     
    HardPenguin, Mar 20, 2013
    #7
    Mazey likes this.
  8. delankski

    delankski Horde Gibber

    Messages:
    435
    But do they have plan(s) of removing Zombie Fortress mode? :( I love that one.

    Cause Reactorcore asked
     
    delankski, Mar 20, 2013
    #8
  9. HardPenguin

    HardPenguin Horde Gibber

    Messages:
    310
    This I don't know and I am not really interested in keeping this mode alive, but:
    + the current KAG will be still available to play so you will keep current zombie mode :)
     
    HardPenguin, Mar 20, 2013
    #9
  10. eamono

    eamono Arsonist

    Messages:
    498
    I'm happy that you guys are working hard to release a complete product, I think it's better to release a great game once then release a bad game and fix it later, like how MvC3 launched without spectator mode, or how halo4 launched very unbalanced.

    We will survive with KAG classic for a long time, take as much time as you need :)
     
    eamono, Mar 20, 2013
    #10
  11. Lieber

    Lieber Is Probing Uranus Global Moderator Forum Moderator Donator Tester

    Messages:
    787
    Good to have some news on development. It's kind of disappointing to see stuff in the videos that won't make the final cut, but it's understandable.

    Keep up the good work.
     
    Lieber, Mar 20, 2013
    #11
  12. Neat

    Neat King of the Dead Donator Tester

    Messages:
    1,958
    Except.. you tested it with the testers only, that's not everyone. How do you know what is fun for the testers is the same fun for everyone? You should hold open public tests on specific days and times of the day, with these features in. People can come to the forums to discuss/vote on them afterwards. By using only a few core testers for your opinions on features, you're limiting your sample size and you don't know whats best for everyone anyway.

    For example: Holding a cover. I'd find that fun! I honestly found shielding archers from arrows quite fun, so long as I felt like I was helping. You say it would be boring, but I disagree!
     
    Neat, Mar 20, 2013
    #12
    Snowhead23, DrZaloski, LetsplayCmansez and 9 others like this.
  13. Shadlington

    Shadlington THD Team THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    1,562

    Annnnnnnnnnd that's what modding is for :p
    Doesn't matter if things are fun for some people, the features in vanilla (i.e. unmodded) kag should ideally be fun for everyone. Mods can then fine-tune stuff to their specific audiences (or just do things completely differently :D).
     
    Shadlington, Mar 20, 2013
    #13
    NinjaCell, Sarmane, vampo and 5 others like this.
  14. UnnamedPlayer

    UnnamedPlayer Arsenist Administrator Global Moderator Tester
    1. MOLEing Over Large Estates - [MOLE]

    Messages:
    752
    I think most of the KAG fun will be on modded servers.
    A community of modders have much more free time then a few devs, and none of the worries about administration or maintenance of the core game.
     
    UnnamedPlayer, Mar 20, 2013
    #14
    Ghozt likes this.
  15. Shadlington

    Shadlington THD Team THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    1,562
    I'm of a similar opinion, but its still vital to have a very fun, well-designed vanilla game as a foundation for mods (as the majority will build on vanilla rather than being total re-writes).
     
    Shadlington, Mar 20, 2013
    #15
    Sarmane, Ghozt, UnnamedPlayer and 5 others like this.
  16. Loner

    Loner Ballista Bolt Thrower

    Messages:
    2
    This is a good attitude, making the game simply "fun to play", and not "close to our original amazingly awesome vision that we're sure everyone will appreciate" like some big companies do before releasing a pile of crap.

    Although I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed you only just now realized that farming = tedious grind, and requiring a long flat surface for something to work = extremely hard. Personally, I already expected that when you first started describing these features many months ago. <_<


    About battering rams - I don't think "just clicking" on it is that bad of an idea actually. Considering that you have to place a battering ram near an enemy structure - there will be lots of fighting going on near it. So the goal would be not simply "click on the ram # times", but protect the ram and whoever's operating it. Or if you're the one operating the ram - keep an eye out for enemies and be ready to leave the ram and engage in combat.
    Think of TF2 mode where you have to push a cart with a bomb - similar to that, except the goal would be to protect the ram instead of getting it from point A to point B. Personally, I find that to be more interesting than just adding a new "weapon" to the game. Protecting a battering ram is like a minigame within the game and is much more teamwork-reliant. Using a hand drill seems far less deep and exciting.
     
    Loner, Mar 20, 2013
    #16
    Ghozt, Anded and SirLoading like this.
  17. madcow55

    madcow55 Catapult Fodder

    Messages:
    6
    will there be any changes to zombie fortress(its my favorite mode)
    because hes been showing us siege videos there hasn't been a zombie in one vid
    :(:>:(::(
     
    madcow55, Mar 20, 2013
    #17
  18. kubasanus

    kubasanus Haxor
    1. PumpkinStars - [Pk#] - Inactive

    Messages:
    73
    You just described Chivalry : Medieval Warfare's battering ram :smug: .
    I'm so pumped for this release, can't wait to set minecrafting players on fire :fcp:
     
    kubasanus, Mar 20, 2013
    #18
    Villekille707 and ProzacK like this.
  19. CptOnmout

    CptOnmout Shipwright

    Messages:
    9
    Safed my day, MM.:) Thanks! I'm liking it, that you dont want to bring out a "non finished" game. It's better to wait 3-4 months longer than playing a game that isn't as funny as it used to be. You did well with this game, and i hope its really going to be "the best multiplayer experience ever made."
     
    CptOnmout, Mar 20, 2013
    #19
  20. VanHuek

    VanHuek KAG Guard Tester

    Messages:
    751
    A lot of things done is getting in place to allow a far wider range of people be able to create their own content and making modding servers. Even if you only know a little amount of code, you can change small things and get instant success/or failure; but either way you do not have to do hundreds to thousands of lines of code to see if it works. This is the perfect toolset for any amateur or seasoned coder, you just have to learn C++ Angelscript.

    And buildings, building, classes are more important then doing things like Zombies so that is probably why you've only seen siege equipment videos as they apply everywhere whilst things like zombies, dinosaurs and lava are added content in their own gamemode.
     
    VanHuek, Mar 20, 2013
    #20
    NinjaCell likes this.
Mods: Auburn, Lieber, sinnertie
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