Shadows Beta

[DevildogFF]

I'd really like to be a part of the beta for Shadows. How does one "opt in"?

Really have grown quite the soft spot for this game. Currently the best released 4X game on the market. Would love to help test it out...

[Tycow]

Contact Erik to see if he can accommodate you, and then join us in the Beta lounge. [;)]

[DevildogFF]

Thanks for the response! I tried, but Erik's PM Box is completely full, according to the system. Is there any other way to contact him?

[ehsumrell1]

Hello DevildogFF. Email either him or Elliot Gibbs with your request. [:)]
Their PM boxes are constantly full until they assign a review, answer and then
empty day. But they do answer their email.

[DevildogFF]

Done, thank you! Hopefully I'll get in there and help! Crossing my fingers!

[DevildogFF]

please?... [&o]

[Sarissofoi]

What about no?
Just wait until release version will be released.
Trust me its much better for your mental health.

[Haree78]

Looks like you are beta testing Stardrive also. Might help if you say how much time you can allocate to testing DW when you apply.

[martok]

Hey DevilDog! Glad to see you finally signed up here. Good luck with getting into the beta. [:)]

[DevildogFF]

ORIGINAL: Haree78

Looks like you are beta testing Stardrive also. Might help if you say how much time you can allocate to testing DW when you apply.

Meh. I was told to wait until the official sign ups, anyway. I have lots of time. My schedule is amazing - something I feel very lucky to have.

Plus, they might be able to benefit from each other. Stardrive is definitely shaping up very nicely and DW may stand to look at what it's doing. It can apply vice versa, as well.

HI MARTOK! Good to see you here! I'm late to the forum game here, but it's good to be here finally

[DevildogFF]

ORIGINAL: Sarissofoi

What about no?
Just wait until release version will be released.
Trust me its much better for your mental health.

I think I just might. You're right about mental health being at stake

[Haree78]

I came across your videos on Stardrive. It does look interesting, the art is gorgeous. I'm a little concerned that things seem to happen very fast but I'll be keeping a close eye on it.

[ASHBERY76]

Super fast exploration with bland,uninteresting looking planetery systems,generic planet building model and the laughably bad wafer thin ground combat system in those Stardrive videos has made me lower my expectations for it somewhat.I see nothing DW can learn from a gameplay angle in my view.

I am expecting the Shadows expansion to have a realistic,slower paced ground combat model which will show the different philosophy between the designs.

[Cruis.In]

wow harsh criticisms for a game based on a video you saw. A game that isn't even in beta version yet according to its developer, as the beta version is to be released in january.

I wonder if anyone would want to play DW based on a video of it during alpha development. Since DW was pretty much trash and trashed by 90% of end users and media, mainstream or otherwise upon initial release, I doubt it.

You are comparing alpha footage, to a game which has been in development for like 6 years, and has gone through three versions and nearing a fourth.

And might I add that my initial expectations of stardrive are a bit dashed as well, and DW is awesome in its current form and would be the epic definitive 4x rts if it had 2d hardware acceleration which it could have if it used opengl.

Might I suggest looking into blitz max or unity

I think star drive is suffering from the developer's changing goals. It's a 4x rts, great ship design, but you can control your ship arcade style, now we have ground combat, now I want it to be a mod platform that people can make their own stuff with etc...

[WiZz]

ORIGINAL: Cruis.In
wow harsh criticisms for a game based on a video you saw. A game that isn't even in beta version yet according to its developer, as the beta version is to be released in january.

According to version number I doubt, that SD is in alpha now. Also I read on forums, that closed beta have already began.

ORIGINAL: Cruis.In

I wonder if anyone would want to play DW based on a video of it during alpha development. Since DW was pretty much trash and trashed by 90% of end users and media, mainstream or otherwise upon initial release, I doubt it.

I had interested by DW after reading AAR with a few pictures.

ORIGINAL: Cruis.In

You are comparing alpha footage, to a game which has been in development for like 6 years, and has gone through three versions and nearing a fourth.

No need to compare DW with addons and SD. Even original DW has much bigger amount of content. I hope, that it will be fixed in open beta for SD...

ORIGINAL: Cruis.In
I think star drive is suffering from the developer's changing goals. It's a 4x rts, great ship design, but you can control your ship arcade style, now we have ground combat, now I want it to be a mod platform that people can make their own stuff with etc...

Dev must decide faster. I looked how much ideas Zero has. And he is only one coder (?).
I think, that we can get a game with many features, but with lack of depth and complexity.

But, SD will have a great advantage (especially for me). Multiplayer!

PS. I also watched a few letsplay videos of SD. And I must agree with ASHBERY76. For now SD isn't looking so much promising.

[ASHBERY76]

ORIGINAL: Cruis.In

wow harsh criticisms for a game based on a video you saw. A game that isn't even in beta version yet according to its developer, as the beta version is to be released in january.

I wonder if anyone would want to play DW based on a video of it during alpha development. Since DW was pretty much trash and trashed by 90% of end users and media, mainstream or otherwise upon initial release, I doubt it.

You are comparing alpha footage, to a game which has been in development for like 6 years, and has gone through three versions and nearing a fourth.

And might I add that my initial expectations of stardrive are a bit dashed as well, and DW is awesome in its current form and would be the epic definitive 4x rts if it had 2d hardware acceleration which it could have if it used opengl.

Might I suggest looking into blitz max or unity

I think star drive is suffering from the developer's changing goals. It's a 4x rts, great ship design, but you can control your ship arcade style, now we have ground combat, now I want it to be a mod platform that people can make their own stuff with etc...

The design concepts for most of the topics I mention will be in release too.Dont get me wrong stardrive looks a nice MOO2 clone in real time but I see no innovations or new ideas in it so far.

The original DW vanilla was in terrible shape and almost unplayable but it looked very different to the rest of the crowd.

[DevildogFF]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76

ORIGINAL: Cruis.In

wow harsh criticisms for a game based on a video you saw. A game that isn't even in beta version yet according to its developer, as the beta version is to be released in january.

I wonder if anyone would want to play DW based on a video of it during alpha development. Since DW was pretty much trash and trashed by 90% of end users and media, mainstream or otherwise upon initial release, I doubt it.

You are comparing alpha footage, to a game which has been in development for like 6 years, and has gone through three versions and nearing a fourth.

And might I add that my initial expectations of stardrive are a bit dashed as well, and DW is awesome in its current form and would be the epic definitive 4x rts if it had 2d hardware acceleration which it could have if it used opengl.

Might I suggest looking into blitz max or unity

I think star drive is suffering from the developer's changing goals. It's a 4x rts, great ship design, but you can control your ship arcade style, now we have ground combat, now I want it to be a mod platform that people can make their own stuff with etc...

The design concepts for most of the topics I mention will be in release too.Dont get me wrong stardrive looks a nice MOO2 clone in real time but I see no innovations or new ideas in it so far.

The original DW vanilla was in terrible shape and almost unplayable but it looked very different to the rest of the crowd.

You make a lot of assumptions based on video and little else.

How do you think, or why do you think, that Stardrive is a Moo2 clone?

And while this may be a form of blasphemy on these forums, I will say without a shred of doubt that the Stardrive beta is already better than vanilla Distant Worlds. Hands down. In nearly every category, save economy.

So maybe instead of hating on something you don't understand, you should try being optimistic and open minded. No one is saying you have to buy Stardrive. But lord knows there isn't enough people trying make good 4x games. So try supporting all 4x games until PROVEN otherwise.

[WiZz]

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF
And while this may be a form of blasphemy on these forums, I will say without a shred of doubt that the Stardrive beta is already better than vanilla Distant Worlds. Hands down. In nearly every category, save economy.

How much SD fanboyism I hear from you...
SD has only better graphics and optimization. All the rest features (excluding ground combat, ship design and diplomacy) are looking simplified.

[Bingeling]

I found vanilla DW enjoyable, but I did not buy it quite at launch (a few months after reading a review, is more like it).

I don't find it surprising that this forum has a population of DW fans, and some may be burnt by other space releases not to their liking. In any case, this should not be the perfect thread/forum to argue about various games, space 4X or otherwise.

[Cruis.In]

i cant speak to dw vanilla, ill leave others to do that. i can base an opinion on their feedback, but wont do that either.

but at the end of the day two facts remain. star drive is not released, so it ain't even ice cream yet. its milk and other stuff.

dw as is right now has 5 years development behind it. If it released 3 years ago almost 4, it was in development before that.

everyone knows my wishes for DW already. Id call it DW: Ultimate Edition. Brand new renderer etc, 2d hardware acceleration, (think opengl blitzmax or something)

As for SD i wish it every success. I will try it if it has a demo on release. Since I already worship this imperfect god that is DW, I don't need another game. If SD is worth it will have to be judged by a demo. I leaped of faith with DW and no demo already and found gold, I don't need to dig for gold again

Also I think the devs should look into blitzmax. DW is 2d after all and blitzmax is the best cheapest development they could ever get for 2d. Fast, stable, feature rich and built in support for win/mac/linux. No porting needed, only have to port what they got now to blitzmax. Also blitzmax takes plug in modules. So they could plug in their C modules to blitzmax. It is just the rendering/physics/collision detection they'd need to re-code.

I dont have shares in blitzmax but i use it to create a hobby space game.