KickStarter ATOM RPG - Wasteland Soviet style! - now with Dead City update

[D!!]

See, that's the thing. The potion is an average potent hallucinogenic substance. But it's called "Potion that makes you talk to animals". It's name gives a suggestion for your hallucinogenic trip and your wacked out mind falls for it. Like, imagine giving some good stuff to a first-time user, but saying "It's a See Dead People Come At You Serum"! My money's on he will actually see dead people. See, how deep it all goes!

Then I agree with comrade Luckmann. You should make this more obvious because now it looks like you have a world where plain fantasy magic exists. Otherwise game is great, having a lot of fun with it.

 

[Whisper]

Sure there is. There's a toadstool in the recipe. You'll hear animals and various objects talking even if you eat it raw. Everything paranormal you experience in the game can be explained either with hallucinations, or with people acting really strangely for a reason of their own. The goldfish is probably just a mutant of some kind!


See, you might think that if the only thing you recognize in a reference is the name. You really think Hexogen is our Mary Sue? Come on, dude. Did you even play the game? Hexogen is like the last person anyone would want to be. And his stats are like that, because most testers found him while being around level 10, so he needed to be on par with the player. I'm not even getting into the rest of the debate. Although far from just namedropping, my (I'm just one of the writers, not talking about all of us) references are a collection of things I like and want to commemorate. It rarely has any additional artistic or didactic value, and there's just enough of them mixed in with stuff thought up on the spot so they won't seem obnoxious. "Mutant clown with the belly mouth raped a child boy who is a walking joke with retard strength and a future in porn..." for example, was made up on the spot, and has no ties to anything I'd like to make a reference to. Yet you still seem offended. Did it wink at you as well? Some people...


Nice thinking! Also, can't find the post where you ask for switch to change character in a barter menu. This is a good idea and I'll introduce it to the team!

Doesn't do much now... Lowers aim for 10% and some other distance related stuff, but that's it. Thinking of nerfing it tho!



That's really strange. I never spend more than a minute looking for the marked gang. You're talking about the one the KRZ militia chief sends you after, right? We'll look into it. Nice thinking btw, the sequel will most probably take you to a much colder place, just to get rid of all the yellow we got going :D But I think (and actually hope) we'll do a completely different game before making part two of Atom. A huge stand-alone DLC might come out some time soon, tho.

Гексоген - это Господин Гексоген. Проханов.

Зачем так вы над патриотом издевались? Добавлю, что мерзопакостные буржуины не поймут юмора, они с Прохановым не знакомы.

 

[Whisper]

Ughhh, you will be missing non-magical explanations for cuthulu possessions as well. And for gold fish. And.
Its a comedic reference theme park. With a try hard intro and broken combat.

Another problem about the writing is that the references are reddit level. I know that name!
They dont pay homage to what they reference. They just repeat the names.

"Possesions" are actually have scientific explanation, you can read about it on Wikipedia. Golden fish is an obvious Easter egg with specific Luck requirement. "Talk to animals"-potion without even really stupid "muh radiation" or "muh mad scientist experiment" explanation is just awful.

See, that's the thing. The potion is an average potent hallucinogenic substance. But it's called "Potion that makes you talk to animals". It's name gives a suggestion for your hallucinogenic trip and your wacked out mind falls for it. Like, imagine giving some good stuff to a first-time user, but saying "It's a See Dead People Come At You Serum"! My money's on he will actually see dead people. See, how deep it all goes!

И зачем над религиями стебетесь. Та же Мария Дэви Христос.

И над альтернативными идеями (Плоская Земля, Рептилоиды и т.д.), которые противостоят официальной науке.



А с продавцом бутылок получилось хорошо. Кто составлял текст? Или это взяли откуда-то?

 

[razvedchiki]

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Atomboy

Adding a combat speed slider was fast, good work man, also good work on the 1.06 patch.

Are there any plans on revising the starting traits (distinctions) and ability points?
At this point im about 50ish hours into the game, enjoying it immenselly, but i got a few suggestions about things i noticed in the game

DIFFICULTY - hard difficulty should not penalize the number of ability points or XP gained tbh, it should make encounters harder and difficult to avoid (leave the same tools to the player, but make him think how to utilise em

TRAITS / DISTINCTIONS
- child prodigy should be buffed to give stronger bonus (for example +1 to all stats) or have the 50% xp malus reduced or changed to something like - 10 to all skills (at this point diplomat/lucky one just blow it out of the water, for example technophobe gives you 2 stat points and a - 30 malus on 2 skills (60 total), of which one (tinkering) can be completely avoided
- lone wolf should give bigger bonuses (for example bonuses to stats and AP) AND prevent sidekicks from joining you at all - that should make a completely different playthrough
- stuff like cannibal seems interesting but at this point is kinda rubbish since meat is plentiful - maybe change it so that you get less nourishment from eating animal meat and regular food, maybe change it so that only the human meat can sate your hunger proper

RED FIGHTER - getting the underground bunker sorted is nice, but maybe make some upgrades to the village outside - defo add a option of getting a wall built around the village withbarb wire n shit, making it a proper ATOM fort and populating it with merchants and trainees, etc ...

Got more ideas, but will write em down later. Great game!

P.S. ETA on the next patch?

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Atomboy almost forgot - if you havent already, i strongly suggest you guys check out the crafting system in Age of Decadence and UnderRail, some really good stuff there that would further improve your game as well.

 

[Luckmann]

So is there any way to fuck the girl with daddy issues in Peregon?

Asking for a friend.

 

[Atomboy]

Sure there is. There's a toadstool in the recipe. You'll hear animals and various objects talking even if you eat it raw. Everything paranormal you experience in the game can be explained either with hallucinations, or with people acting really strangely for a reason of their own. The goldfish is probably just a mutant of some kind!


See, you might think that if the only thing you recognize in a reference is the name. You really think Hexogen is our Mary Sue? Come on, dude. Did you even play the game? Hexogen is like the last person anyone would want to be. And his stats are like that, because most testers found him while being around level 10, so he needed to be on par with the player. I'm not even getting into the rest of the debate. Although far from just namedropping, my (I'm just one of the writers, not talking about all of us) references are a collection of things I like and want to commemorate. It rarely has any additional artistic or didactic value, and there's just enough of them mixed in with stuff thought up on the spot so they won't seem obnoxious. "Mutant clown with the belly mouth raped a child boy who is a walking joke with retard strength and a future in porn..." for example, was made up on the spot, and has no ties to anything I'd like to make a reference to. Yet you still seem offended. Did it wink at you as well? Some people...


Nice thinking! Also, can't find the post where you ask for switch to change character in a barter menu. This is a good idea and I'll introduce it to the team!

Doesn't do much now... Lowers aim for 10% and some other distance related stuff, but that's it. Thinking of nerfing it tho!



That's really strange. I never spend more than a minute looking for the marked gang. You're talking about the one the KRZ militia chief sends you after, right? We'll look into it. Nice thinking btw, the sequel will most probably take you to a much colder place, just to get rid of all the yellow we got going :D But I think (and actually hope) we'll do a completely different game before making part two of Atom. A huge stand-alone DLC might come out some time soon, tho.

Гексоген - это Господин Гексоген. Проханов.

Зачем так вы над патриотом издевались? Добавлю, что мерзопакостные буржуины не поймут юмора, они с Прохановым не знакомы.

"Издеваться" - это совсем мимо. Мы любим необычных, эксцентричных людей и даём им возможность выговориться через нашу игру. Я очень увлекался книжками Проханова, поэтому когда понадобился необычный и интересный персонаж, я основал его речь на подражании моим любимым строчкам из его статей и книг. Вышел такой вот интеллектуальный, регулярно заговаривающийся странными, цветастыми, запутанными фразочками, падкий на гиперболизацию, но в целом добрый и верный напарник. Именно таким я его представлял в поздние 90-ые. Если бы мы думали о том, что оценят или не оценят западные игроки, мы бы сеттингом игры Неваду сделали, как другая команда поклонников Фолыча, которую кстати в недостатке патриотизма, тем не менее, не обвиняют... Вообще это странно, что "издевательство над патриотом" которого не было - было замечено, а точно такой же, только ещё более странный, немного чокнутый дедуля излагающий "либеральные" идеи обнаружен не был, хотя он бродит по КРЗ, клянёт кровавую гэбню которая выплачивает ему пенсию, и молит всевышнего о НАТОвском вторжении... Я знаю, в это тяжело поверить, но единственная политика в игре - это та, которую проецирует на неё игрок.

Секту Деви Христос я бы религией не называл чисто из за небольшого охвата, но даже над верованиями её секты в игре издевательств нет. Ни один постулат секты не упоминается. Высмеивается противоречивая природа самой Марии. У нас в игре она читает речь против алкоголизма, а потом идёт бухать в кабак. В реальности она выступала против абортов, а сама по слухам аж десять штук сделала. Но даже больше чем подтрунивания над Марией в этом образе размышлений над нью-эйджем и гранью между деструктивной сектой и религиозной движухой. В итоге связанного с ней задания, ты можешь сказать, что она не представляет никакой опасности и у тебя нет никаких претензий к её религии. А можешь убить. Всё от игрока зависит. С Г.П. Климовым мне посчастливилось аж месяца два состоять в дружеской переписке, и его манеру общения я передал довольно аутентично. Он, и другие сторонники альтернативных теорий у нас в игре выглядят как чудаки и эксцентрики - это факт. Но: 1. Разве в реальности они не эксцентричны? 2. Разве их теории как-то осуждаются или опровергаются в игре? 3. Разве ты можешь показать в нашей игре персонажа, который не был бы хоть самую малость несерьёзным и чудаковатым? Кто у нас объект для подражания? Только, может быть, Джульбарс, потому что он говорить не умеет.

Продавец бутылок вышел оттуда же, откуда и все остальные тексты. Рад, что понравился! Мой совет - как тут чувак уже написал одному - don't forget to have fun!

 

[Technomancer]

it looks like you have a world where plain fantasy magic exists

Fallout was mystical too in places. The world of atom has magic in it. I don't like it but it is so.

- You can summon an eldritch horror with an occult book. He is tangible and can attack/be attacked by your allies and leaves a permanent corpse.
- You can have a luck blessing with a sacrifice to an idol (second evidence of working ritual).
- You can be possessed by a demonic entity.
- You can meet a wish-granting fish: fabled fantastical creature from russian tales.
- Your luck can affect the events in unplausible ways.
- You can find evidence of supernatural events (the cursed dead man).

Some versions of events give multiple ways to interpret them but some are clearly fantastic. They should really choose one approach and stick to it. I like how it is implied that the pig ran away from the possessed because he hit her. You can see this situation both ways. It should be expanded to all supernatural stuff with subtle hints. The possession could be hinted further to be worm assimilation. Or like when the fish grants you a stat there could be a line that says you got stang in a hand with something...implying the fish is mutant that just gave you a mutagenic injection. Or when you fight Shog make it fight only with the player character and add the ability to shoot it with a toy gun (because the weapon says it has a bonus versus imagined things, lower the bonus damage in this case though) and make its corpse disappear on next visit. When the satellite drops on the head of an ambusher...make a hint that the satellite still drops somewhere nearby if your luck is not high enough and you killed them the usual way. Like a line when you go in the truck: "Just when you are prepared to leave you hear a loud bang somewhere in the forest...whaterwer it was you don't have the time to check it out". So the satellite crashed anyway, you were just lucky enough it crashed on your enemies. The difference is small but substantial. In one case your luck influences events already transpiring in your favor. In other (how it is in the game) your luck calls satellites down from the skies to save you).

 

[Atomboy]

it looks like you have a world where plain fantasy magic exists

Fallout was mystical too in places. The world of atom has magic in it. I don't like it but it is so.

- You can summon an eldritch horror with an occult book. He is tangible and can attack/be attacked by your allies and leaves a permanent corpse.
- You can have a luck blessing with a sacrifice to an idol.
- You can be possessed by a demonic entity.
- You can meet a wish-granting fish: fabled fantastical creature from russian tales.
- Your luck can affect the events in unplausible ways.
- You can find evidence of supernatural events (the cursed dead man).

Some versions of events give multiple ways to interpret them but some are clearly fantastic. They should really choose one approach and stick to it. I like how it is implied that the pig ran away from the possessed because he hit her. You can see this situation both ways. It should be expanded to all supernatural stuff with subtle hints. The possession could be hinted further to be worm assimilation. Or like when the fish grants you a stat there could be a line that says you got stang in a hand with something....implying the fish is mutant that just gave you a mutagenic injection. Or when you fight Shog make it fight only with the player character and add the ability to shoot it with a toy gun (because the weapon says it has a bonus versus imagined things, lower the bonus damage in this case though) and make its corpse disappear on next visit. When the satellite drops on the head of an ambusher...make a hint that the satellite still drops somewhere nearby if your luck is not high enough and you killed them the usual way. Like a line when you go in the truck: "Just when you are prepared to leave you hear a loud bang somewhere in the forest...whaterwer it may be you don't have the time to check it". So the satellite crashed anyway, you were just lucky enough it crashed on your enemies. The difference is small but substantial. In one case your luck influences events already transpiring in your favor. In other (how it is in the game) your luck calls satellites down from the skies to save you).

Yeah, I agree that sometimes there's not enough subtleties, because (at least on paper) every encounter you mentioned should and even MUST have a logical explanation. Officially, magic is not allowed in ATOM. At least, when there is no explanation for it. Unless it has to do with a certain couple of deities that are sometimes mentioned - those are real beings with weird powers! Even those, though, are probably just mutant powers in the end of the day. Or cases of mass hysteria maybe?

I'll argue that the idol and the possession bits might be interpreted as cases of self-hypnosis, like - you somehow feel you did good stuff for a god, so now you believe yourself to be more lucky, or you played around with the dumb old man, and sorta learned how to act like him. At least in the Russian version. Can't really say how well it translates into English. If by cursed dude you mean the one from the Dead City, well, there are tons of text, hinting that he was always paranoid, and this was all a scheme by his buddy to drive him completely mad.

The toy gun thing, the satellite flavor text, and the bite from the goldfish however are PURE genius. Seriously, I literally slapped myself when I read it! I really hope we can pull this off in a future fix. It's very simple, yet very good. I admire you now!

 

[Technomancer]

The toy gun thing, the satellite flavor text, and the bite from the goldfish, however, are PURE genius. Seriously, I literally slapped myself when I read it! I really hope we can pull this off in a future fix. It's very simple, yet very good. I admire you now!

Oh boy, get ready then! I have a ton of suggestions just waiting on the list, I just thought they would be a wasted effort because no one would care. Not yet though, tomorrow I need to try and get a job but then I will start writing.

One thing I want to suggest now. I like the possessed and would like to see it expand. I already suggested small DR buffs to reflect the description better. There is an option to write some stuff on the idol - can you expand this if you are possessed? Like, write some occult words of power or something that defiles the idol but strengthen the demon (it could be anything, but I think removing -1 INT penalty is interesting enough).

 

[Atomboy]

Atomboy

Adding a combat speed slider was fast, good work man, also good work on the 1.06 patch.

Are there any plans on revising the starting traits (distinctions) and ability points?
At this point im about 50ish hours into the game, enjoying it immenselly, but i got a few suggestions about things i noticed in the game

DIFFICULTY - hard difficulty should not penalize the number of ability points or XP gained tbh, it should make encounters harder and difficult to avoid (leave the same tools to the player, but make him think how to utilise em

TRAITS / DISTINCTIONS
- child prodigy should be buffed to give stronger bonus (for example +1 to all stats) or have the 50% xp malus reduced or changed to something like - 10 to all skills (at this point diplomat/lucky one just blow it out of the water, for example technophobe gives you 2 stat points and a - 30 malus on 2 skills (60 total), of which one (tinkering) can be completely avoided
- lone wolf should give bigger bonuses (for example bonuses to stats and AP) AND prevent sidekicks from joining you at all - that should make a completely different playthrough
- stuff like cannibal seems interesting but at this point is kinda rubbish since meat is plentiful - maybe change it so that you get less nourishment from eating animal meat and regular food, maybe change it so that only the human meat can sate your hunger proper

RED FIGHTER - getting the underground bunker sorted is nice, but maybe make some upgrades to the village outside - defo add a option of getting a wall built around the village withbarb wire n shit, making it a proper ATOM fort and populating it with merchants and trainees, etc ...

Got more ideas, but will write em down later. Great game!

P.S. ETA on the next patch?

These things are a mess because of how tangled up they are with other stuff in the game, but yeah, eventually we will tweak them somehow. The tree itself isn't going away, but the branch structure and points will be messed with for sure. The difficulty thing - we heard a lot of complaints on Steam, but it might take some time to change (if ever) unless we find a good way to make it harder yet fair just by boosting enemy hp\damage. Lone wolf - yeah, that's the first in line for the chopping block. Cannibal is also close. However, well personally, I really don't get the problem with Child Prodigy! I mean, XP is everywhere, isn't it? I always take it when I playtest because it breaks the early game if taken with another good one! We'll talk with other testers about that one. RF, I think, will see some innovations still. We sort of hated the citadel idea at first and didn't want it at all, but now we like it!
Thanks! That was really constructive! Some of us have a bit of personal trouble, but a new fix that will at least contain bugfixes, will pop up in a couple of days. Can't say whether it will include balance or purely bugfixing yet, tho.

 

[RK47]

I gotta say though, Companions opening bunker doors on their own and initiating combat is a no-no.
Especially in high-risk areas like the Bunker in Valley of Woes.

BTW, does companion's Survival skill makes a difference in evading encounter, or just the main hero?

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Also an idea for higher difficulties - leave the normal ability points progression from normal but make tougher enemies beside hp bloat. Make more *experienced* foes for example - instead of common muggers send brigands, instead of lets say 5 cultists, spawn 4 cultists and 1 disciple (or prophet or whatever) who has as a EXTRA BIG tin foil hat, etc... That adds to the challenge and also adds a bit of a flair to the game...

I agree on your points about the ability tree, that requires careful balancing and i like the general layout of it, i was just talking about not penalising the ability point gain from normal/expert, that just seems wrong.

I always play games on highest difficulty (not ironman, mind you) because i like the added challenge

 

[Whisper]

dont forget to have fun

Я про рандомный эвент с мужчиной с ржавым автоматом. Да, масоны управляют миром (спиртное не пью уже лет 10), зачем явного фрика выставлять под эту идею?

Плюс книга об оккультном (которую надо ночью читать в круге из камней), там просто чушь написана, доведение до абсурда идей конспирологии.

p.s. Игру прошел соло на Эксперте. На 18 или 19 уровне. Был на всех локациях. Проходил соло (больше экспы!). Не понимаю, откуда люди берут 27 или 30 уровень. Игра достаточно легкая, если не тупить, максить выносливость и идти на автоматическое оружие и немного ружья. Сложный бой на последнем квесте для Дэна с завода. И самый последний бой. Остальные проходятся с 1го захода.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Pa dobro jebemu drzavu i ruski.

 

[Whisper]

p.s. Lone wolf отличный перк для соло-прохода. Зачем его менять (если только не понерфить чутка).

 

[Technomancer]

If by cursed dude you mean the one from the Dead City

Nah, the one in the random encounter cave. The Morrowind creepypasta easter egg.

 

[Technomancer]

I'll argue that the idol might be interpreted as a case of self-hypnosis

How do you interpret holy lightning coming from the sky giving you +1 luck :D

 

[Luckmann]

Я про рандомный эвент с мужчиной с ржавым автоматом. Да, масоны управляют миром (спиртное не пью уже лет 10), зачем явного фрика выставлять под эту идею?

Плюс книга об оккультном (которую надо ночью читать в круге из камней), там просто чушь написана, доведение до абсурда идей конспирологии.

p.s. Игру прошел соло на Эксперте. На 18 или 19 уровне. Был на всех локациях. Проходил соло (больше экспы!). Не понимаю, откуда люди берут 27 или 30 уровень. Игра достаточно легкая, если не тупить, максить выносливость и идти на автоматическое оружие и немного ружья. Сложный бой на последнем квесте для Дэна с завода. И самый последний бой. Остальные проходятся с 1го захода.

Pa dobro jebemu drzavu i ruski.

ATOM är det i särklass bästa spelet 2018 då det är det enda spelet som utforskar en utopi i vilken Ryssland har gått under i nukleär eld och terror, hell seger.

I'll argue that the idol might be interpreted as a case of self-hypnosis

How do you interpret holy lightning coming from the sky giving you +1 luck :D

Luck is in itself an abstracted and arguably fantastical stat, which can only really be rationally explained as a result of random circumstances or personal confidence. The "holy lightnig" that gives you +1 Luck can easily be considered affecting or as affected by either.

That being said, looking this close on things of this nature has an element of meaningless navel-gazing and an aura of clueless sophistry, criticizing out of some kind of principle or some misguided attempt to appear clever in pointing these things that everyone already knows out. Anyone that is genuinely upset is a fucking idiot.

 

[filpan]

Te Svedjani te Srbi.

 

[Vrab]

Google translate uništi mistiku.

 

[Luckmann]

Anyone else bummed out after going to Peregon? It's hyped up as being this center of commerce, full of immoral anarcho-capitalists, and it doesn't even seem to have a run-of-the-mill gun store, and is altogether wildly inferior to Krasnoz. I'm not sure what I expected. The fact that it's much less of a city compared to Krasnoz doesn't bother me, nor does the fact that it feels like it has a lot less meaningful content. But that it doesn't even seem to have a good selection of merchants is incredibly annoying. It doesn't even have a fucking doctor or a general store. Just a bunch of tents that seem to be used by fucking no-one, some people that sell literal junk, and three food vendors.

What gives?

 

[Okagron]

There's a weapons vendor, a blind woman. I forget her name at the moment.

Already ran into two areas where poisonous air seems to be a major hazard and i don't have a gas mask. I could try going for that perk that makes you immune to poison but i'm reaching a point where skills are getting expensive and i can't seem to find a gas mask.

 

[Luckmann]

There's a weapons vendor, a blind woman. I forget her name at the moment.

Well then I'm going to need some help, because I can't fucking find her anywhere. I've been over this place four times now.