Topic: Miners Wars Beta

[karx-elf-erx]

Login problem solved.

I have played the game in story mode. Not much of a story here, but the game has come quite a way since I've last played it months ago during my brief time as MW developer.

Now what can I say? Probably a few lines that could easily serve as punchlines:

- If this project will be brought to a good end, it will be a more than worthy successor to Descent 3.
- Descent 4 as I always had dreamed it up.
- This game conveys space in the most gritty, tangible, convincing way I have ever seen in a space game
- If the outcome of this project solely depended on the devs getting enough funds to finish it by throwing a low-cost pre-release at the public, by all means go get the pre-alpha and let them finish this game!

A few details.

The game looks a lot more polished than the version I had played months ago. There's a lot more detail. Space representation has been improved by quite a margin. Asteroids look better (too metallic for my taste, but yet). There are huge artificial structures you can even enter - to find yourself in a Descent 3 style "interior" level (i.e. hallways and rooms).

There's still a lot to be done in the area of texturing and modelling, but I wish and hope that Keen Software House will be able to pull this off the way they envision it - and I regret that Marek and I couldn't get along better (although our last e-mail exchange has sobered me up pretty much - after months he still felt the desire to leash at me). Oh well.

[Pumo]

Mmmh, that sounds really nice and makes me want to try that pre-alpha. I will see if I can buy it later on.

The thing that brings my attention mostly now is that there are artificial structures on it similar to D3.

[karx-elf-erx]

I would like to detail my "punchline" "Descent 4 as I had always dreamed it up".

Everytime I had been thinking about Descent 4, I had been desiring that was more than the same old formula of fly around in (underground or wherever) tunnels and hallways, accomplish missions which basically follow the "get or do something here to be able to access the area there" formula.

Minerwars is exactly that, because besides offering the Descent formula gameplay (true first person 3dof) it adds two entire dimensions: Economy and diplomacy (factions/alliances). Actually it adds another dimension by (hopefully) allowing tactical and strategic warfare between rivaling factions.

Maybe you have heard of or already seen one of those "4D" movie shows, where you get to see a 3D movie (using polarizing lenses) and on top of it get real wind, rain and snow effects inside the theater.

Well, in an analogy I would call Minerwars a "6D" game.

[Scyphi]

Foil hasn't sparked a flame war at all - and if, then it wouldn't have been his fault. He has been sticking to facts as he sees them, giving them the weight he sees fit.

If anybody takes so much offense in that that he'd feel inclined to start a flame, then it would be the fault of that person, and that person alone.

Okay, poor choice of words on my part, my apologies. You're right, weren't that close to a flame war at all. However, I will state that it could've gone in that direction if we had all reacted differently. But yeah, we didn't so no need to dwell.

Your review of Miner Wars of how it stands at the moment Karx is very promising. I too certainly hope Keen Software pulls off the finished product.

[Kaiaatzl]

Me too.  I'm still waiting for my eCheck to go through...

[PyroJockey]

I have played the game in story mode. Not much of a story here,

I can't help but wonder if I'm the only one missing something in the "story mode".

• You start in an asteroid.
• You are impervious to damage.
• You have unlimited fuel.
• You have 2 weapons.
• You have limited ammunition.
• You Encounter and destroy 3 or 4 enemy ships.
• Your secondary weapon, while great for blasting rocks, has no effect on your enimies.
• Your primary weapon has no effect on rocks but will destroy enemies.
• You have a "friend bot" that will follow you around and tends to get destroyed by your enemies.
• You can mine ore.
• You can dig tunnels.
• There are several mother ships that you cannot yet dock with.
• There is what appears to be a space station you can enter and fly around in, but nothing else.
• There are several other ships that just fly around in space that cannot be destroyed but do nothing else.

So what is the story? What's the objective?

• Destroy enemies?
• Acquire friend-bot?
• Mine ore?
• Enter space station?

[Scyphi]

It's a pre-alpha. The story is still probably in development.

[NUMBERZero]

The ore that you mine NOW gets turned into money when the full game comes out. The money is saved on the server when you exit the game.

[NUMBERZero]

slight bump

Check it out!
http://www.minerwars.com/ForumTopic.aspx?id=1168

Most impressive.

[SaladBadger]

To answer your question in that thread, Mars Science Laboratory is scheduled to go up in November of 2011, so it's going to be a bit before you can see the launch.

[Sidhe Priest]

I would like to detail my "punchline" "Descent 4 as I had always dreamed it up".

Everytime I had been thinking about Descent 4, I had been desiring that was more than the same old formula of fly around in (underground or wherever) tunnels and hallways, accomplish missions which basically follow the "get or do something here to be able to access the area there" formula.

You see, that's exactly why Descent 4 would never be. Not as "Descent" anyway. A new game would have to be the other way around - with freedom of movement on and around planets, a real storyline, etc. More of an RPG-like world with no fixed blow-this-get-that shooter path, more of a life of its own. Space/air-sim+claustrophobic cave-dwelling or structure-dwelling+RPGish lifelike story/world.
Then it'd be interesting.

But of course nobody would do it because such a game would be considered to have a "huge learning curve" (or what's the current euphemism for "skills and attention needed"). The technology is already there though, there's the Infinity Engine, which has a fractal terrain encoder/generator and allows transitions from space down to cities and fishies floating in sea. In fact, that's what may be the perfect engine for the next game.

[Scyphi]

I'd personally just want D4 to just be more Descenty. Preferably a hybrid of D1 and D3, with a few new twists to make it interesting. With no RPG elements. Never been that fond of RPGs (too long and complicated). Miners Wars is an exception to that in the fact that it will support single-player campaigns.

[Kaiaatzl]

For those who haven't seen yet, it seems Foil was partially (not completely, partially) right.  There has been a misunderstanding between the developers and the community, in that the MMO is actually a separate game.

You can find more info about it here as well as a special offer that the devs made to "rectify" the misunderstanding here: http://www.minerwars.com/ForumTopic.aspx?id=1382

Note that as part of the offer anyone who has already ordered will get the MMO free when it's finished as well as the singleplayer game.  The same goes for anyone who orders before December 1st.  The singleplayer/story version will have multiplayer, but it will be more like Descent's multiplayer.

@Scyphi: I'd actually want D4 to be more like D2.  I think D3 already felt too much like D1.

[PyroJockey]

I'm leaning toward Foil's point of view on this issue. I do not believe this was just a misunderstanding. between the developers and the community. All the statements from the initial press release to the current overview on the official website lead the reader to believe that this is a single game that is "a combination of single player story game and MMO".

The email that Miner Wars sent out October 8th announcing the 70% sale makes references to the MMO as an installment of the game and how if you buy it now you will get the full game at no extra cost.

we are publicly releasing the game in its current pre-alpha state at a 70% discount from the price of the final version! Every player who chooses to buy the game at this stage of development will not only be able to play the game now, but will also receive monthly updates, as well get the full game at its release with no additional charges. We will be adding a lot of content to the game as we progress. As time goes by, and we near our final release date, this offer will become more expensive for you, so now is the chance to get the game for just a small portion of the price.

STATE OF THE GAME
Currently the game has one functional sector and basic single-player gameplay. We will be adding the multiplayer part of the game quite soon with arenas for competitive game-play. We have also added an editor in which fans of the game will be able to make their own sectors. Very soon, players will be able to share these sectors online with their friends. In the near future we will also add the possibility of sharing these sectors with the entire multi-player community. The final state of the first installment will be the single player campaign with full co-op story and multiplayer arenas with deathmatch and team deathmatch modes.After the release of the first installment we will continue to work on the MMO part of the game which will contain all the advertised features along with a few surprises!

It could be they bit off more than they can chew and are now trying to back-paddle, but regardless "Don't pi** down my back and tell me it's raining".

[Foil]

...it seems Foil was partially (not completely, partially) right.

How so?

They're still claiming that the version people are paying for is going to have online multiplayer.

I said that I don't believe they'll ever release anything except limited offline demos, advertisements, and continued requests for $$.

[Seeing the MW guys cutting back / breaking up features tends to solidify my personal opinion, but it doesn't really prove anything one way or the other.]