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a lil time in alpha
aspekx
Member UncommonPosts: 2,167
i'm pretty sure i'm not overstepping my bounds with this post. if i am, i've noted that members of the CoS team frequent here and a simple response below and i will erase what's in my post.
what i saw:
the world was richly detailed.
targeting was difficult in combat, and combat was typical mmo style target and fire (which i do not mind. 'actiony' mmo does not always mean immersive fun.)
it appears to be a lobby game, albeit with an extensive and large lobby.
there appeared to be a solid variety of combat skills.
the UI was attractive, full of tantalizing things i did not end up checking out fully, as i was too busy exploring and trying to get a grip on combat.
character creation for a browser game was what you would expect in a browser mmo. there were options, just not many.
there was starter housing in the starter area, with quests related to cleaning and fixing it up, which looked promising.
the variety of starter weapon sets was a nice change. as a Gunner i started off with pistol and shield, dual pistols, and rifle.
gear stats were a bit confounding with all the +'s and -'s. but i am sure a closer perusal would have clarified things for me.
this was a bit like a more expansive Torchlight with box breaking included! (that was fun for me.)
nice back stories for the different human variants.
a unique setting for the intro/turtorial!
what i hope to see:
some resolution to the issues with targeting in combat. basically, the game is wasd + click'to'move. thus clicking on a target to shoot caused me innumerable instances of clicking and moving rather than clicking and selecting.
i loved the grime of the refugee camp. however, i hope to see some georgian/victorian architecture further into the city of Nexus.
a wee bit more steam. yes the setting is steamy as all get out. and the gunner is cool, however, i felt more like a fantasy character dropped into the middle of a gear driven world.
what i think:
this is definetly a game on my radar now. i can certainly see myself spending time in this game in between the more massive mmo's i play off and on. and for me this is perfect. its a simple, no download, fun alternative to fill in those times when loading up my typical mmo would be too time consuming an experience. just hop on, have some fun, and hop off.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Comments
Agree with a lot of your points. I liked the setting but the whole forced family was a bit odd. I would like to maybe choose my story and decide of that person will be a countryman, friend, ally, etc.
Yeah your main gripe with combat is the same as mine, they need to work on that a bit still.
The camp wasn't bad, just hope they expand like you said, get into some cities with decadence and opulence so we can see some grand designs come into play. Also the coughing and the girl crying got old after about 10 mins.
A lot of early promise though. Gonna try it at least 1 day every weekend the test goes on.
for your issue with clicking to moving rather than targetting, most games generally have an option that allows you to disable/enable click to move so try looking for that option. being that its alpha this one may not have it -yet- but im sure they will add it at some point.
my issue is the time they start the alpha. i mean this seems to be a predominantly english game. so why in the hell are they setting it off for 9-10pm EST? is it to lessen the initial influx of testers? but then i thought thats what their limiting the keys was for. so what the hell? most people are winding down getting ready for bed at that time.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
Yea I agree for a browser game (you can play full screen with resolutions) it was very polished for an Alpha. combat does need to be worked on and I did feel a bit claustrophobic in instances, but so far over all very good job, looking forward to their improvements
I only had a chance to play the tutorial, but I did enjoy my time there.
I enjoyed the combat system, I did have a hard time targeting creatures, but whatever.
Looked gorgeous.
Life is Short, Read a Book.
Hi there! Glad you enjoyed your overall experience with CoS!
As for some of the points you brought up, for one, we have no problem about you talking about what you saw in Alpha. We don't have an NDA on it, so you're free to even share screenshots and footage if you are inclined to.
As for combat and targeting, we've heard a lot of similar feedback to yours, and will be working on improving that a little; part of it was also said to be related to the camera not moving unless you make it, so we'll try to address this as well (if it's within the capabilities of the engine and our own tools for it).
Character creation, yes, lacking in choices, but of course, that's because it's Alpha. We were more focused on game performance and compatibility issues than extra options. You can expect a lot more choices come Beta!
The UI for stat effects and bonuses will be made more clear; this was simply a matter of the lack of time we had to refine it before Alpha, and higher priorities with other functions (like making sure quests worked and people didn't walk through walls or fall through floors, hehe!)
Box-breaking is also one of our favorite things! (As some may have seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1c-K7xxFFM)
As for some of the issues you brought up: Click-to-move can now be disabled from the options menu for those who prefer to move with WASD and just use the mouse to target.
You can bet Nexus, as a metropolis of its size, has many different suburbs to it, each with their own flavor and background. Only 4 are available in Alpha, but dozens more are planned.
For the setting, well, we try to draw away from calling it "steampunk" (yes, it's City of "Steam", but more in a steamworks sense than full on steampunk). We prefer to call it "industrial age fantasy", which encompasses elements from both genres. And since the world is already established from a series of roleplaying books by our Lead Designer, we have loads of lore to fall back on (so we're not pulling this stuff out of our behinds, honestly! Hah)
All in all, we freely admit the game needs more work, it's only in Alpha right now after all. But I'm glad to hear it was enjoyable even at this stage, it shows promise that we're heading in the right direction. There's still one more Alpha test weekend left (starting August 17th), so maybe we'll bump into each other in-game! If not, well, there's always Beta!
City of Steam - Fight in a land of belching furnaces, clockwork marvels, and ancient evils. Visit City of Steam on Facebook for screenshots, dev diaries, and news updates!
Yea please do improved on the combat since it is a hack and slash games.
Pardon my English as it is not my 1st language