KickStarter Dead State: Reanimated

[sser]

What Xcom? You do know there are a couple, dont you?

There's only one modern XCOM.

But theres also only one good xcom. So i hope you can understand why im asking.

Which one, The Bureau or Enemy Unknown?

 

[Zombra]

Where is rpgcodex location?

Funny you should mention that. I found something interesting in a storage unit just today ...

Spoiler

 

[ASTRAL]

Where is rpgcodex location?

Funny you should mention that. I found something interesting in a storage unit just today ...

Spoiler

Whoever enters that room gets instantly raped

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

GETZ, NOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Whoever enters that room gets instantly raped

So there IS rape in the game, after all...Annie, you card.

 

[tuluse]

Just saw this story that the Walking Dead has beat out Sunday Night Football in the ratings department. For non-kwans, this is huge. Football is a ratings beast, and SNF is the beast of the beast.

So, DoubleBear has not missed the zombie fad by a long shot.

http://www.si.com/more-sports/2014/12/14/media-circus-walking-dead-nfl-ratings-bill-simmons-future

 

[Bubbles]

TWD isn't really about zombies anymore, it's actually a decent show now.

 

[Ninjerk]

Looks like there's more positive Steam reviews than negative reviews, but some of the negative reviews look pretty damning.

 

[Emily]

I stopped playing, the game is just unfinished mess.
I advise anyone to stop playing after first 10 days, that is how much the game holds up, afterwards it is just borefest.
I might be back if they fix
-Armour system (i already wrote about it) but basically stop having armor as an flat damage resistance
-zombies, make them actually a threat, gee you would think that in a game about zombies the main enemy is actually a threat
-weapon system, very unrealistic and bad, wont go into details other then the pistol does for some reason 0 damage vs high level enemies which is just plain old bad
-make surviving actually feel like surviving
-make game at least 10 times harder
For the price they are asking i am actually satisfied for now, but not enough to continue supporting the company if they dont fix this mess.

 

[SuicideBunny]

Goes to show what the Codex knows about getting value for your money.

my cost per hour for dead state is 0.11$

 

[Roguey]

Looks like there's more positive Steam reviews than negative reviews, but some of the negative reviews look pretty damning.

The most helpful five are all negative. DOA, as I predicted.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

This feels like a hoarding simulator.

 

[MRY]

Looks like there's more positive Steam reviews than negative reviews, but some of the negative reviews look pretty damning.

The most helpful five are all negative. DOA, as I predicted.

Per Steam Charts, 1408 people were playing it at its peak, and it's still in the 700 range. I have no idea what the right benchmark is; Wasteland 2 had 18,500 at its peak, but Age of Decadence (which of course hasn't yet been released) peaked at 81, Unrest peaked at 77, Avadon peaked at 94, etc. Primordia, which is a totally different genre, peaked at 148 IIRC. I assume these are a decent proxy for sales figures.

 

[Roguey]

Per Steam Charts, 1408 people were playing it at its peak, and it's still in the 700 range. I have no idea what the right benchmark is; Wasteland 2 had 18,500 at its peak, but Age of Decadence (which of course hasn't yet been released) peaked at 81, Unrest peaked at 77, Avadon peaked at 94, etc. Primordia, which is a totally different genre, peaked at 148 IIRC. I assume these are a decent proxy for sales figures.

Judging by the meltdowns Brian and Annie are having (whether over piracy or a negative review), they're not satisfied with how things are going. Of course with Kickstarter and EA I imagine they've broken even, but the next DB game, if there is one, will probably be what Brian said it would be (not a RPG, some kind of online component to counter piracy) .

 

[MRY]

I haven't been following their reactions. If the negative reviews are right, and they released a game with known game-breaking bugs simply to hit holiday sales, that's pretty crappy. But barring some kind of bad-faith behavior, I certainly wish them the best with sales. Despite my hours playing L4D, zombies aren't really my thing -- but as best I can gather, Dead State isn't really "about" zombies, and they were trying to do interesting things. "No second chances" always makes me laugh as a meme, but it's a philosophy that pushes developers toward safe bets, which isn't in the interest of people who are unhappy with the status quo of RPG design.

--EDIT--

"Criticism and debate are welcome, but . . . ."

Sigh.

 

[Jaesun]

What they should have done was make a version of the game where ALL the zombies have pirate hats, and a voice over for them that always goes "Aaaarrrr matey!". And then upload that to pirate sites. I bet most people would have laughed and gave them a thumbs up and possibly purchased the real game.

 

[Emily]

Ebil pirates are stealing muh sales, a classic.

 

[Roguey]

If the negative reviews are right, and they released a game with known game-breaking bugs simply to hit holiday sales, that's pretty crappy.

The first part of it is right, but the second is just cynical ignorance. They released it because they ran out of money. People who get mad at publishers for "rushing" developers overlook that it's often because the developer signed a contract agreeing to a milestone plan, and the developer failed to live up to their end of the bargain. Developers with no publishers don't even have the luxury of trying to bargain for more time/money (with the upside that they don't have to sign predatory lopsided contracts of course).

 

[Emily]

didnt they have a Kickstarter? :S

 

[MRY]

They got like $400k on Kickstarter, plus Early Access -- that seems like a lot of money to spend in the relatively short amount of time since the Kickstarter, though I have no idea how big the team was. I thought it was like four people?

 

[Bubbles]

didnt they have a Kickstarter? :S

Yeah, but a big chunk of that went to Iron Tower for publishing fees.

They got like $400k on Kickstarter, plus Early Access -- that seems like a lot of money to spend in the relatively short amount of time since the Kickstarter, though I have no idea how big the team was. I thought it was like four people?

Brian - Project Lead/Design/Writing
Oscar - Lead Artist
Nick - Lead Programmer
Annie - Design/Writing
Christina - Production
Eugene - Programming
Ivan - Animations
Mazin - 2D/3D Art
Kim - 2D Art
Joao - 3D Art
Jason - 3D Art
Brandon - 2D Art
Leif - Music
Zack - SFX
Jonathan - Programming
Jacob - QA / Test
Vince - Support

 

[Roguey]

didnt they have a Kickstarter? :S

Without that, it would have been canceled back in 2012 since they reached a point where they realized they needed to actually have paid employees to get it done.

They got like $400k on Kickstarter, plus Early Access -- that seems like a lot of money to spend in the relatively short amount of time since the Kickstarter, though I have no idea how big the team was. I thought it was like four people?

Who’s working on it?
Brian - Project Lead/Design/Writing
Oscar - Lead Artist
Nick - Lead Programmer
Annie - Design/Writing
Christina - Production
Eugene - Programming
Ivan - Animations
Mazin - 2D/3D Art
Kim - 2D Art
Joao - 3D Art
Jason - 3D Art
Brandon - 2D Art
Leif - Music
Zack - SFX
Jonathan - Programming
Jacob - QA / Test
Vince - Support

They raised about $332,635, minus fees it's probably closer to $300,000, with a development time of 29 months that's about $10,000/month (though I guess it'd be slightly more with EA). Beats me how it all broke down per employee though.

 

[34scell]

Leaving aside the bugs and awful balance, which are ordinary for indie devs, the problem with the release is that the game had (and still has I think) numerous buggy or incomplete questlines that they simply must have known about before release. I don't think any of the rival groups questlines and events (coyotes and the like) work properly.

 

[Bubbles]

Leaving aside the bugs and awful balance, which are ordinary for indie devs, the problem with the release is that the game had (and still has I think) numerous buggy or incomplete questlines that they simply must have known about before release. I don't think any of the rival groups questlines and events (coyotes and the like) work properly.

Are you sure it isn't meant to be that way? Not everything resolves neatly in the real world either.

 

[34scell]

No, I mean people being alive in the game despite being dead in the story, or people turning up in the story despite being dead in the game.