Dead State [ex Zombie RPG]

bragut · May 21, 2012, 12:41pm

Ci siamo persi l'update di metà maggio con uno screen dell'interfaccia di looting/inventario. Me gusta

As we grow ever closer to launching our Kickstarter, here’s a work-in-progress look at our looting GUI to keep you excited about the forthcoming videos.

We’ve got a pretty simple layout for our inventory. The player’s inventory is on the left side, where the container or body is on the right side. The tabs at the top are toggles to quickly find items by category. You can sort through your entire inventory by advancing each page. Most supply items, thrown items, and ammo will stack. Selecting an item will show a description of the item in the 3x5 at the bottom of the screen.

Your carry weight is determined by your strength. On the whole, when you factor in the weight of your armor and weapons, your own inventory space may not be many pages long, especially if your character isn’t strong and likes to wear heavy armor and carry shields. Allies can hold excess inventory, which can be done in a trade interface outside of combat.

Additionally, we would like to tweak this inventory screen to be used for a barter interface, when we have the time. Essentially, NPCs that want a certain item will weigh that class of items higher than of an item they do not want or have too much of. Bartering isn’t common in Dead State, though you may find a few folks who will trade surplus supplies.

Also, you may notice we have toned down the colors in the GUI based on the forum feedback. The inventory screen is no different – let us know what you think.

bragut · May 31, 2012, 5:18pm

UPDATE

Per i più pigri ecco l'intervista:

Spoiler

The extended interview with Brian Mitsoda, Founder of DoubleBear Productions and developer of hardcore zombie survival RPG Dead State, from the PCPP#204 Indie Special – On Sale Now!
What is your view of Kickstarter as a means for bringing niche or “dead” genres back to life?

At this point, it’s a proven necromancer of dead genres. Old-school adventure games? Turn-based RPGs? Rise from your grave! It’s fantastic that fans of these kinds of games can resurrect them with their enthusiasm/funds. It allows fans to rally around a project that gives them exactly what they might have been asking for on company forums for years, and make them the heroes of that genre’s return. It’s really exciting, as long as FMV games don’t come back…

With Dead State at its current state in the development cycle, what would be most beneficial for you as developers from a successful Kickstarter campaign?

For us, it allows a lot of the team to quit their day jobs and dedicate all of their time to Dead State, which as you might imagine, gets the game done a lot faster. It also allows us to expand the team and bring on either long-time contributors or staff positions that are difficult to fill without full-time funding. And as I said, it rallies a lot of old and new fans around the project and channels that energy and enthusiasm into the momentum of the project.

Do you have plans for alternative funding if the Kickstarter campaign is unsuccessful?

We do. I mean there are always other solutions like allowing for pre-orders, but having a definite budget to work from and schedule around is more preferable. One of the reasons we’re using Kickstarter is to get the game out faster – it’s better for the project and the community that we’ve already organized around the game.

What is your opinion on the future of Kickstarter and crowd-funding – is it the future of indie development?

I would like to hope that Kickstarter is always going to be there for teams with great people, projects, and enthusiastic communities to get them the funding they need. I’m slightly worried that it’s going to burn people out on crowd-sourcing because of the time it takes to see the end result or that it’s going to become similar to the publisher process where the most hype or prettiest concept art wins. Kickstarter’s research suggests that the popularity of any project will bring more attention and funding to Kickstarter projects overall, and I hope that’s the trend for years because the patronage system is an absolute benefit to both gamers and developers.

The greatest legacy that Kickstarter may have is allowing studios to break the publisher cycle. What I mean is, once developers own their intellectual property, they own that project forever and benefit from it financially as long as it sells, which will allow them to both profit from their old work continually and channel that revenue into new projects. This will not only pay them for their work on one project, but give them funding for additional projects, which after a few decent to successful projects could really help keep that company kicking and growing for years after their Kickstarter is successful.

TucoBenedicto · June 6, 2012, 8:31am

Kickstarter live: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/70755535/dead-state-the-zombie-survival-rpg

Larios · June 6, 2012, 8:36am

bene, si sa se aggiungono altra roba interessante se superano la soglia?

Crius · June 6, 2012, 8:38am

pledged

bragut · June 6, 2012, 8:54am

Strisciato la carta, e ora la scimmia è in fase di decollo

Larios · June 6, 2012, 8:56am

delivery estimate Dec 2013

snakebyte · June 6, 2012, 8:58am

estimated

Lucasart · June 6, 2012, 10:41am

TucoBenedicto · June 6, 2012, 10:51am

Certo che lanciare il Kickstarter nel mezzo dell'E3, con i media di settore che stanno già affogando nel mare di roba da riportare da più fonti, è un'idea un pochino stronza.

acct-eliminato.62 · June 6, 2012, 12:02pm

Intervista, leggetela: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/06/just-survive-dead-state-interview/

Mi girano tantissimo le palle dover aspettare ancora così tanto per la release, ma per quell'uomo lì e per il progetto decisamente coraggioso un "shut up and take my money" ci sta tutto.

acct-eliminato.62 · June 6, 2012, 12:25pm

Ai controlled allies

Cmq non ha parlato nè di morale nè di "maturità" del\nel gioco, vista l'impronta decisamente realistica (skill, suvival, politica sociale, etc..) è una cosa che mi interesserebbe approfondire.

e1ke · June 6, 2012, 12:33pm

Coglione, qui lo danno per fine 2013, altro che prima di subito

Lucasart · June 6, 2012, 1:18pm

Segnalato per insulti

80f2e4faa5a9a087be7d49056af846a9 · June 6, 2012, 4:53pm

Mi hanno detto che qui si mangia bene

bustok · June 6, 2012, 9:24pm

Lucasart · June 7, 2012, 7:47am

Il video sulla pagina di kickstarter è abbastanza interessante, mettiamolo anche qui:

Larios · June 7, 2012, 11:06am

dal forum:

80f2e4faa5a9a087be7d49056af846a9 · June 7, 2012, 5:23pm

Mitsoda sembra Mercurio (Vampire: Bloodlines), bell'accento dude.

Dammi il gioco

acct-eliminato.62 · October 8, 2012, 11:17am

Incollo l'ultimo update per i curiosi che non hanno contribuito:

October Update

Update #22 - For backers only · Oct. 05, 2012 · 32 comments

It’s October, which marks the beginning of our third month since Dead State’s Kickstarter was successfully funded. Our team continues to turn out new content, GUIs, animations, and gameplay code. We’ve made significant improvements to the Shelter, including finishing all the upgrades, giving the constructed areas a “scavenged materials look”, and finishing off the basement and second level. Additionally, I’d like to present this image:

What you’re looking at may not be a “pretty” area, but it’s pretty exciting to us. That’s the starting area of the game right there. Your decisions are yet to be made, your map is blank, your allies are all still alive, and your enemies and the undead are lurking out there – this is the moment where your story begins. We’re pretty excited about this image, just because we know what’s in store for you. It’s that moment in every game where you don’t know what to expect yet, where you can’t wait to get out and experience everything. (“Experiences” that we’re working on right now.)

Design continues to work primarily on dialogue. As stated before, there is not only a lot of dialogue, but complex dialogue that spans great lengths of time and decisions rather than the length of completing a quest. I thought it might be interesting to shed some light on our ally creation and dialogue writing process. It starts with Annie and I discussing concepts for characters in the shelter. Usually, everyone we add needs to create a potential conflict or interaction with one or more other characters in the shelter, plus bring a set of skills and personality traits that are not duplicated by another member of the group. We usually try to figure out if the character is going to be more useful in combat or out of combat, or if they unlock some other potential aspect of the shelter, like a new type of job or a prized skill (like a doctor). We also try to figure out if the character is traveling alone or with others – if they’re traveling with someone, it instantly creates an interesting narrative point, but that bond needs to be reinforced throughout the dialogue and even in the gameplay.

After we’ve come up with the basics of the character, we put together a bio for the character. We use backstory for writing purposes only, to give us a more fully-fleshed out character whose life did not begin when the player met them. While you’ll never see the backstories we create, elements of their lives will creep into their dialogue, and an attentive/inquisitive player will learn a lot more about their allies over time. Sometimes you may not know about certain aspects of the character unless a certain path is triggered, like watching them die from infection or gaining enough trust from a friend of theirs. However, like in real life, you will never fully understand everything there is to know about an ally (unless you’re one of the writers).

We translate their former profession and hobbies into stats and skills. Someone who was a park ranger might have a high survival skill because they can identify plants and a higher vigor because of time spent walking trails. They may have a perk for traveling faster on the area map because they know how to lead people through difficult terrain. These are gameplay skills that may make an ally more appealing if their character’s dialogue makes them seem difficult or combative with other allies. We balance gameplay advantages and personality flaws for every character you can add in the shelter.

Before writing the character, a list of every interaction possible with the player or other allies is made. This outline is used as a guide to track all the events we need to write. If we feel there’s a lack of interesting dramatic points or decisions, we will add them at this stage or while writing. We also simplify any chains of events that seem too complex or frustrating for a player to figure out. Some adjustment may be made to pace a character’s arc out over time to make sure they continue to pop up in the story. Additionally, we figure out any random events this character might be associated with and questions that the player may want to ask them (including dialogue for resolving personal requests).

From here, it’s all dialogue writing, which can introduce even more nuances and character developments that can only come out as we are subjecting ourselves to that character’s point of view. And now you understand a bit more about the dialogue process. We’re hoping the extra effort provides an experience that you won’t find anywhere else.

That’s it for this update. Remember, you can always interact with us on the forums if you’ve got questions. If you have received a survey (anyone $21 tier and up did) and still haven’t returned it, please do. For those with Radio access, expect another update very soon. As always, thank you all for making this possible.