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[nenjin]

The Bedrock Beta is out, backers can go to the Humble Bundle Store and get their Steam key.

I wasn't too sure what to expect with it. It's pretty primitive and not so much a game, as it is a thorough demo of the basics with most of the visuals in place. I suppose the plan is to gradually add finished features into the beta, but I sort of expected a bit more given all the updates they've done showing units and such.

[nenjin]

So I figured I'd pop in to say how the game has come along since....May?

Aesthetically it's moving forward at a good clip. The bump maps and what not that improve texture quality are in, and overall the game looks much better than it did previously. Animations are still painfully absent from a lot of things, they're all still timed way too fast and the UI is still pretty basic.

In terms of gameplay....the game hasn't advanced hardly at all. The basics are there, as they have been: there's monster gates, a few rooms that are necessary like food and lairs and treasuries....

But that's really it. There's about 5 creatures in game atm, who have no jobs and don't have very much AI to speak of. Combat is there and it clearly works....but for example, the first offensive spell they've put in game, Lightning, required over 20 casts and a crap load of guy to kill a single hero (hero gates are not in yet either).

It's just there's not a lot of fun to be had, either in terms of gameplay or dungeon design. It really makes you stop and think about much stuff goes in to a complete game experience. I'm not talking about the overarching systems and mechanics that obviously aren't in beta....but it's amazing how things like sounds, UI elements, titles and the like really contribute to the whole thing feeling fleshed out.

I'm not exactly up on WftO's timeline....but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than a little disappointed by the rate of progress. These guys put out more concept art and text updates than you can shake a stick at, but it trickles into the beta at an agonizingly slow pace. I only whined a bit about it before, but now I'm genuinely starting to wonder. This last update, which was quite a while after the previous one, was heralded as something a lot of people would appreciate for what it brought.....but for me, I see little progress towards an actual game. I feel like they did a good job polishing what still amounts to a tech demo.

I don't want to be too hard on them because what they've managed to get done in three months isn't trivial, but I expected the game to be farther along by now. At this rate it'll be mid-2014 before it feels like a game.

[Caz]

This video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22p9rbi212g shows the gameplay of War for the Overworld pretty well, I think. Yeah, it's still in beta. It looks remarkably similar to DK2 so far.

[Retropunch]

RISE FROM THE GRAVE!!!!

I just thought I'd post my thoughts here as I know they just released an update and that a lot of people were holding off until update 1.2. I was one of those people after hearing that 1.1 was a sort of 'diamond in the rough' and decided to buy it once I heard that 1.2 had turned that all around.

I'm pretty split on the game. It is a very, very faithful successor to Dungeon Keeper. It's really well fleshed out, hasn't hit any major bugs in the 5-6 hours I've been playing and feels to be of a great quality (AA quality I suppose?). The voice acting is hilarious and it's got the same evil vs good vibe of the old ones. All in all it feels pretty fantastic...

...but I just have no desire to keep coming back to it. I really don't know what it is - it feels exactly like a better, more modern version of DK2, but I just seem to lose steam after 15 minutes and want to play something else. You know the saying 'better than the sum of it's parts'? This feels like the opposite to me. The parts are fantastic, but they just don't seem to fit together into a really enjoyable game.

Anyone else played it? Is it just a case of persevering until I unlock a lot more stuff (I'm on mission 6 I think)? Does there become a point where I'll suddenly start finding it really riveting?
 

[Neonivek]

It might be that it just is rather tepid without the intrigue and little touches that made the game really fun to play.

I'd have to play it myself but I'd be able to point out what you mean.

It might be that the game is... too transparent is one possibility.

[nenjin]

...but I just have no desire to keep coming back to it. I really don't know what it is - it feels exactly like a better, more modern version of DK2, but I just seem to lose steam after 15 minutes and want to play something else. You know the saying 'better than the sum of it's parts'? This feels like the opposite to me. The parts are fantastic, but they just don't seem to fit together into a really enjoyable game.

I know your feels. Mechanically everything is in its place just like DKII and yet....after about 15 minutes of grinding through all the unlocks and you've got everything set up it just doesn't deliver. Part of it I think is the sense that the AIs aren't really living a routine. They're just kind of mindlessly wandering around and any nuance to their behaviors is lost in the visual noise.

That and the unlock system itself. When you just want to build a sandbox dungeon you still have to (as far as I remember) unlock everything. Which after faffing around waiting for those unlocks to finally start building everything, I dunno, just kinda saps the joy of building it.

Or it may just be a case of the appeal of nostalgia being way stronger than the actual gameplay it was representing. I'm not sure if I picked up DKII fresh today if it would grab me the same way.

[Neonivek]

I'm not sure if I picked up DKII fresh today if it would grab me the same way.

It... hasn't aged well all things considered.

It certainly has its charm... But there are so many missions that amount to "Possess a minion and single handedly take out the enemy" that it is dull for about 50% of the time you play it.

[Retropunch]

I know your feels. Mechanically everything is in its place just like DKII and yet....after about 15 minutes of grinding through all the unlocks and you've got everything set up it just doesn't deliver. Part of it I think is the sense that the AIs aren't really living a routine. They're just kind of mindlessly wandering around and any nuance to their behaviors is lost in the visual noise.

That and the unlock system itself. When you just want to build a sandbox dungeon you still have to (as far as I remember) unlock everything. Which after faffing around waiting for those unlocks to finally start building everything, I dunno, just kinda saps the joy of building it.

Or it may just be a case of the appeal of nostalgia being way stronger than the actual gameplay it was representing. I'm not sure if I picked up DKII fresh today if it would grab me the same way.

Agreed - I think it's just that it all seems to be working so well, but I never feel as though I'm having enough fun. I think you're spot on about the AI being a bit flat really draining the life out of it - they could really have improved it by having them have a bit more personality.

I played DK2 not too long ago (maybe 3 years ago?) and still enjoyed it - it was very 'quirky' but still immensely fun (a lot admittedly being nostalgia). I feel that WftO is probably just too dry on a mechanical level somehow - I'm still just not sure.
 

[Neonivek]

Maybe it is... too polished? if that makes sense.

The game is just so polished, so mechanically sound, that it lacks life?

Because that is always what I kind of liked about DK2 was that the dungeon felt alive.

[Zangi]

WftO design is more for the competitive fast paced pvp, rather then the dungeon keeping from what I understand.  Not my cup of tea, considering it.

[Retropunch]

WftO design is more for the competitive fast paced pvp, rather then the dungeon keeping from what I understand.  Not my cup of tea, considering it.

Interesting - I can imagine that PvP might be more exciting, but i'd much prefer it to be more about the  'keeping side of things. I'm hoping they'll add more to that as time goes on - they seem pretty serious about continuing support.

[nenjin]

WftO design is more for the competitive fast paced pvp, rather then the dungeon keeping from what I understand.  Not my cup of tea, considering it.

That's definitely one part of it, I think. Which is why AI mooks walking into your dungeon traps, and the actual management of your minions, doesn't feel the same.