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[Kaje]

Hi guys,

Another game I've been watching the development of (for what seems like forever) is being released in 'Early Access' form on Steam within the next few days.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/239840/

There's a super detailed updated Q&A here...

And a video of the updated PAX demo here...

The developers have drawn heavily from tactical games such as X-COM and RPGs such as the original Fallout games, and have created something that will hopefully echo the key components of both. A tactical combat game with an upgradeable base and branching dialogue trees which have an impact upon the survivors in your care and the direction your story moves in. Survivors are recruitable, missable and loseable and no two game experiences will be identical.

In a bit of a twist, the game apparently has no mention of the 'Z' word at all. The devs have said they've set the game in a world where 'zombie' fiction isn't abundant and thus a term for the dead coming back to life hasn't been coined.

It looks promising, the 'Early Access' version will provide the first seven days of the story and the final game boasts a 30+ hour (conservative estimate, apparently) 

KJ

[Zangi]

I believe we may have a very very old thread of this somewhere...

[nenjin]

Was originally pretty pumped for this. In the time it took it to get to EA though, probably another 5 zombie games of different genres have already managed to release in one form or another.

I'll try it out at release, but my dance card is more or less closed to EA Zombie games on Steam at this point.

[Kaje]

I did have a search for an existing thread, but I couldn't find one - so figured that it was worth creating a new one with the updated links.

It has been in development for years, but I'm still pumped for it. A 'zombie' based Fallout inspired game? Who can't get stoked for that!?

[Glloyd]

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=64720.0

Last posted in 7 days ago.

Nice to have a better OP though.

[Fikes]

I prefer this tread. Someone buy it and tell me how it is.

[Zangi]

'Not available' still.  Pretty sure I backed this ages ago.  Waiting on that e-mail telling me I can redeem this.  It is not forthcoming.  Most likely they hit a snag and it'll come sometime tomorrow...

EDIT: http://steamcommunity.com/games/239840/announcements/detail/1874924913088550710

Called it.

[Kaje]

That's fair enough, I guess.

I'd wager they've seen enough 'Early Access' backlash when games have been forced out a little too early. Rather than take the flak for a sub-standard product and have fans moaning about it being awful, they'd rather have a product they're pleased with and a few fans moaning about waiting.

Another 24 hours won't bother me, I should probably get on with some Law degree work anyway... lol

[Mephisto]

Huh...

If they didn't already have my money, I would have chosen not to support them.

From the little I played, it's not exactly fun yet. The community is full of people spouting "best thing ever", though.

[engy]

Huh...

If they didn't already have my money, I would have chosen not to support them.

From the little I played, it's not exactly fun yet. The community is full of people spouting "best thing ever", though.

I mean that guy clearly didn't read the page either.  It says "Early Access demo release" "demo/manual", and "Dead State: The First Seven Days is an early, WIP preview of the first week of Dead State's gameplay" and other things on the front store page.  You'll get the full game builds (once they actually have one.) I've been following this game since well before they did a Kickstarter.  Their lead programmers background is rough and development has been glacial.  The demo is apparently the same one that was shown off at PAX (apparently some bug improvements and a save system).

I did not back the Kickstarter.  However, I sincerely hope they do come out with a polished product as its basically exactly the zombie game I've always wanted.  I've been watching it for 5 years, I can wait and see what happens.

[Kaje]

That's all very well, but at no point have they ever suggested otherwise. The fact that Early Access buyers would get a demo has been clear from the minute the listing was posted by Steam - they have stated their reasons for it and I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea.

I remember when I would pre-order games back in the late 90s early 00s and I would receive a demo of the game in return for the pre-order. The only difference here is you're pre-ordering for a larger price (back then, you'd pay a fraction of the price to reserve the game) - it's not like they've lied to the community, or to their customers, they've been open and honest and it's been up to the individual to decide.

If they'd not have clearly stated the version received in Early Access would be a demo, I'd agree that they're liars, cheats and vagabonds - but they've been open from the start. They've done nothing wrong, and they can't be held responsible for a few people failing to read the goddamn listing!

[Sharp]

So Early Access arguments aside and all that stuff the game doesn't look that interesting to me. The style of gameplay is nothing new at all and it's similar to quite a few other games with the addition of zombies and although I am an advocate of gameplay over graphics, if your going to do similar gameplay then you should really do much better in presentation.

That being said I haven't tried it or a demo yet, only from what I have seen but it doesn't look great to me yet.

[Kaje]

It's a fine game, think Fallout with zombies and a base building element. I love the art style, and the game itself feels dark.

There are branching conversation trees, recruitable followers, missable recruits, base building, resource collecting...

You don't need superb graphics, to suggest graphics set different games aside is ridiculous - especially when you're a poster on the Dwarf Fortress forum! Without a graphical tileset, it's probably one of the worst looking games in existence - but it's amazing and provides a depth which other games - with a better presentation - will struggle to achieve in the next ten years.

I love Dead State. The 'demo' is way too short though, and now I can't wait for the final release.

[Sharp]

My point is that there are other games which are quite similar, especially in terms of combat and dialogue RPG'ness. DF is an incredibly unique game, the only reason the new DF-like games are doing ok is because they put a lot of effort into presentation. If Gnomoria/Towns/TimbernStone/etc... was ASCII I doubt it would be popular and I doubt many people would buy it because essentially the gameplay is very similar to Dwarf Fortress and when it comes to gameplay DF does a lot more. So if your going to not break any boundries in gameplay then you should do so in presentation.

Obviously though you are the one with demo access so I can only give opinion on what I can see so far but honestly what I have seen doesn't look that impressive (both gameplay and presentation)

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Not into paying 25$ for a demo that will literally be functionally unchanged from PAX.


It's not early access. It's not kickstarter. They had a demo made for PAX, kickstarted it [i.e. took people's money], and are now still selling the same demo for 25$ a pop. Wait, wait, wait, there's been save/load compatibility fixes in the last couple years, sorry.

I'll just wait for their next kickstarter when they might finally produce the game instead of scamming people.