Because of the recent code rewritings and the fact that I don’t have a graphic artist I decided to cut-down features and focus on releasing a working game as fast as possible. By the end of the calendar year.
Written by MM. Posted at 4:45 am on October 12th, 2009
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You know we all want to hear that. Just don’t rush it, ok?
Uff… good and bad news.
You could start looking for a new graphic artist and still release a working game?
isnt there anyone in this fkin blog who can make backgrounds, tiles, and sprites???? ffs….
That’s sad news. Instead of polished in all aspects game we’ll get another Soldat. Years to make it what it should be.
Michal it would be great to see another post containing the official planned features list for the early 2010 release. Also I bet that with enough tools to modify the game the community would make new textures and maps
I can also offer some help with gfx since you put it like that. I’m pretty busy with my own projects but I’ll defiantly have time to create high quality characters, weapons and vehicles. I’ve seen the concepts so I feel it, and my style is also gritty and pseudo-realistic. Up to you.
If you release the basics of the game, and maybe describe the theme that you want, I’m sure you could get some people handy with making graphics to create something for you.
Why cutting down the features? 😐
As long as you can implement those features later this is good news.
@mman: you’re the best!
And when will The Game be the way you wanted it all the time?
Well, curious has put it the right way, I guess. Lucks!
How do I include images in posts?
I want to include an “Unrealistic expectations” demotivator.
Not so much for you, but for me personally. You know, the whole two worlds thing, hacking, classes and stuff. Even if you start using amphetamine instead of sugar and work 24/7 you won’t release anything half as good as Soldat.
I’m sorry if I burst your bubble, but this is going to be the third unreleased game of yours in a row. After that 3d plane game and the funny little arcade platformer.
Yeah, as far as I remember L-D was supposed to be an objective oriented, class based, multi player team game with vehicles in post apocalyptic world.
So far what we saw wasn’t anywhere close apart from the “might lightning effects” vid which got me interested. Now it’s some pink fag running around tiles, jumping, climbing and shooting. Soldat pretty much delivers better.
I think that you should rethink your new ‘plan’ because if you not going to do something good it’s better to not do it at all. I thought you wanted to actually earn some money on it, so far it’s not shaping to a product I’d buy. So what ARE you plans?
what we all want to know: what features are you cutting out?
Are you allowed to use the graphics that Sigvatr finished before you split?
@TLD I can, but I’m too f’n busy atm. 😛 and
I’m currently doing artwork for another project, which I’m just barely capable of doing because my 9-5 job is overwhelming.
If this goes the way of how Soldat was released, I’d say that’s a very good thing. Most of Soldat nowadays is community created. I think I rarely ever play on an original map anymore on the servers. Plus there are oodles of mods as well.
Link-Dead is just like Soldat, it won’t be a finished product right off the bat. It’s going to involve the community and the L-D community will help shape L-D into what it’s going to be. That’s what I see anyway. The more moddable a game is, the more appealing it is. Michal just has to make sure what he releases – no matter how it is modded – won’t change the play style of the game, and the core rules of the game. Everything else, from sprites to textures to props – can be up to us.
When I’m finished the artwork of my current project, I’ll move on to producing content for L-D, since I’ll definitely be part of the L-D community.
You guys should be happy and overjoyed that he’s going to try and release the game by the end of this year. We’ve already seen what the engine is capable of, and his concept is solid – not to mention cool.
I think we’re all going to be quite surprised.
Snow you forgot that the full game was supposed to be finished a year ago. This doesn’t mean that this ‘faster release’ will happen.
I didn’t wait this long to hear “cut-down feature”
Give us full game or give us a break.
God, some of the people here are dicks.
niko šveikovsky: “what we all want to know: what features are you cutting out?”
Was there ever an actual feature list in the first place? All anyone ever saw was concepts.
Snow: “If this goes the way of how Soldat was released, I’d say that’s a very good thing. Most of Soldat nowadays is community created.”
Soldat got user created content because it was released as a fun, working game that was able to attract a community. Sure, MM has fans, but they’re not going to magically finish the game unless it has enough worthwhile elements to inspire them.
Remember that back in 2002 Soldat didn’t even had CTF, but then it grew, I want to do the same again.
I want to release a working game without all the polished features like thousands of tiles and maps, interpolated animations, tons of guns. I will create that later. Maybe with the help of the community, cause this game is planned from beginning to be a community effort. So the full-featured game will be next year.
Snow you forgot that the full game was supposed to be finished a year ago.
Why supposed? This is the first time I ever mention a release date.
Are you allowed to use the graphics that Sigvatr finished before you split?
We only did one map (with the old map technology) but Sigvatr never wanted to show it. It was all normal mapped with cool lighting. It looked really awesome, but I’m not gonna use it. If you nag Sigvatr maybe he’ll let me show you.
early 2008 interview from indiegames.com
“One thing I’m positive about right now is that there will be a playable version of Berserker this quarter and Link-Dead will most likely also be playable this year but some time later”
This looks like an estimated release 2 me.
“This looks like an estimated release 2 me.”
The interviewer’s question was “How close are we to a TECH DEMO for Link-Dead?”
It says nothing about the release time of the final game.
Yah, yah, its kinda what ive always wanted to hear. The lighting and textures that you already have are good enough for me. If you ever one day find a graphic artist you can just re-release it with graphic updates i guess. Thers no doubt in my mind that regardless of the graphics, your game is going to be fun. You have proved that in your game soldat, its not the best looking game but I continue to play it regularly, sometimes instead of playing my xbox 360.
HEY MICHAL, there is a Page called BIRDDI.com, it’s a clone of Twitter although is a Latin-American version.
I say this because the Latin-Americans like me can follow you like in Twitter but in a more comfortable way.
I hope the release of the game. I remember my Soldat modding days 😀
I’m sure that I can do the same in L-D
cheers
Sorry I tried to say Could instead of can.
I think you all should trust MM with this. If Link-Dead has the potential, it will be a success. Play the first version of Soldat and look at what it is now. It would much easier for MM to work on Link-Dead with a community behind him.
Could you atleast tell us the features that won’t be there.
BTW , about the map technology. When you showed it the first time it was image-based. I liked the idea very much and the ones you showed looked very well thx to great art. Since you change it to tiles seems like this won’t work like that any more. I guess that now you place tile shape and pick a texture for them. Have you considered making an option like this:
is somewhat would work like unwrap in 3d editors but in 2d obviously. A mapper makes a map of tiles, then it is exported to an image with all tiles and their exact outlines. An artist takes the image and just paints everything on it. After importing back to the editor it cuts the image creating a unique texture for each tile and then maps them accordingly. This way only visible tiles load a texture, so you don’t have to keep the whole image in memory (around 5 mb for 10 000 x 10 000 px). That’s a great option and a joint between two mapping techs.
Very good mindset. Michal I see from your profile you’re an engineer, that must mean you’re very practical. Use that practical sense to lay down on a piece of paper what you want to release and stick to it. I mean *REALLY* fucking stick with it. If you don’t then 3 things are bound to happen
1) eventually you will run out of resources
2) we will never get to play the game.
3) a girl will come along you will get married and have kids and end up an old fart and never finish the game(lol)
This is bad. And we don’t want bad, we want good(we do don’t we ?).
@Vectorious: The THING in Soldat is it’s fast gameplay. MM himself has stated that LD’s gameplay will not be as fast as Soldat’s. I hate to say this but in my opinion LD will not be as big success as Soldat was and still is.
@Kong: Never judge a book by its cover. Wait until you open up L-D and experience it first. I’m a true Soldateer myself and will never quit playing Soldat. However, I am also quite fond of slower paced games. I like games that employ stealth and a bit of strategy. If you think of games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, probably the same pace as L-D will be and just as fun.
@Snow
COD4 is pretty fast paced with people sprinting all over in soapbox sized maps.
I hope L-D won’t be like it. COD4 singleplayer was cool but multiplayer was horrible.
Eeee… lol?
@Snow: Modern Warfare, stealth, strategy…? You really DID play it like that? I think we both played different games.
@curius: More than 10 million online gamers in CoD4 say its multi is horrible. Yeah.
But it was offtopic. The idea with publishing half-done game isn’t that bad. It’s going to be a freeware not something like CoD. So it can be the best way to gather gamers opinion and thanks to them polish L-D’s gameplay.
@ID
Just because a lot of people say it doesn’t mean it’s true especially when people play it just until another over-hyped game comes out so the flaws under the shiny graphics stay hidden.
COD 4 SP – flashy and cool looking, but run’n’gun bleak gameplay.
MP – fantastic. Best ever. Needs a lot of improvements but no other game drew me inside this much. And I play a looot of games. It’s of course everyone’s personal opinion. I only play in hardcore and even there it wasn’t slow paced. There’s always room for some tactical manoeuvres, sniping and silent kills – as in every game.
Eh, I guess wrong choice of example. I play Arma 2 as well, which I guess you can say is very slow paced at times – especially if you’re sniping… move too much and every enemy sees you. Dunno, perhaps my playing style is slow. XD None the less, I don’t mind slow paced games, and I’m pretty sure that L-D won’t be too slow. Plus, if the game is backed up by a creative community like Soldat is, we’ll be seeing a lot of cool things over the coming years.
@mman: Agreed with you with one exception: …what is MP :-/ ?
mp as M ulti P layer
MICHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL WORK ON THE FUCKING GAME AND STOP POSTING HERE
michal’s been absent for last 2 days.. he’s either wanking, drinking or secretly doing something to post about in next few days saying ha you fuckers the engine is done
@mman
Lets hope thats the case.
@Makron666: The wanking? ;P
No, not the wanking, the engine complete status.
michal shaved his hair , took white gloves , his pink whistle and went clubbing.
Why is everyone talking about COD4? What is that?
diego lemos: hey Diego, I would like that but I don’t post in spanish, so registering there sort of misses the point.
DARK_AVENGER: Can’t I use mind power to chase away all those bad things?
Could you atleast tell us the features that won’t be there.
This must be the silliest question :). Why should I answer so you can feel sad and regretful about the missing features?
We need a list so we can see what we’re going to have to add so we can play a COMPLETE version of YOUR game. And, will you add the features if we donated?
Sure, give him an idea to be even more greedy, lol