KickStarter Mechajammer (formerly Copper Dreams) - cyberpunk RPG from Whalenought Studios

[rusty_shackleford]

mechatranner bros... we got too cocky...

 

[Contagium]

This is real disheartening. Had this on my wishlist for the longest time and that's where it'll stay at this rate. Did Whalenought make any decent games before this?

 

[Terenty]

That reminds me, it makes no goddamn sense if it works like how it SOUNDS like it does.

Yeah, the system works(if it works at all) in mysterious ways. If 6 is the threshold of success then how come i can't do anything with my die and +3 from pips?

Another hilarious thing is how bribes for rumours work: Instead of giving you an option of either rolling a speech check to get info for free or paying money, you have to first pay money and only then roll a check. So in my case i pay money and fail check lol. Nobody gives you money back as far as i know.

Also, my sword has durability 100/100 and it hasn't decreased no matter how many crates/doors i broke and ppl i killed, not sure what's wrong with that.

And there's smth suspicious going on with respawns. Crates respawn every time you load, but i have a feeling at least some enemies do as well. Like i sit in a room and there's a lot of baddies outside. One of them enters the room every time i load the game, even though i just killed him and saved. I think it's the same one every time

 

[MightyHoax]

Bought it, played the tutorial and started a normal game for 39 min. Asked for a refund.
Can't say the game is bad, but the setting killed it for me. I have to just acknowledge that I hate cyberpunk -- too complicated for a simpleton like me. Give me a +3 longsword in a fantasy setting and I'm happy.

 

[Ninjerk]

That reminds me, it makes no goddamn sense if it works like how it SOUNDS like it does.

Yeah, the system works(if it works at all) in mysterious ways. If 6 is the threshold of success then how come i can't do anything with my die and +3 from pips?

Another hilarious thing is how bribes for rumours work: Instead of giving you an option of either rolling a speech check to get info for free or paying money, you have to first pay money and only then roll a check. So in my case i pay money and fail check lol. Nobody gives you money back as far as i know.

Also, my sword has durability 100/100 and it hasn't decreased no matter how many crates/doors i broke and ppl i killed, not sure what's wrong with that.

And there's smth suspicious going on with respawns. Crates respawn every time you load, but i have a feeling at least some enemies do as well. Like i sit in a room and there's a lot of baddies outside. One of them enters the room every time i load the game, even though i just killed him and saved. I think it's the same one every time

I left Three Hands' area before killing him and all his guards respawned when I came back.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

This review was actually quite informative!

1) There's no handholding so play the tutorial first. Otherwise you might quit the game out of frustration.
2) There are bugs but they will be fixed. Reload seems to resolve issues when the game is bugged.

 

[wishbonetail]

I have really high hopes for this game, so you beta testers better do your job. I want it polished.

 

[thesheeep]

Why do people keep releasing games in such a state? I just don't understand.
For indies, such a terrible start (50% of the first 40 or so reviews) is nothing you can seriously recover from. People are just going to see it, go "nah" and never look back.
And it's pretty much all just due to bugs - bugs that are so glaringly obvious they must have been aware of them. Lots of people can't finish the tutorial because of bugs - imagine that

I'm really confused about this.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

To be fair to Whalenought, they did have to recently endure a HARD PASS. That rivals a FATWA.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

To be fair to Whalenought, they did have to recently endure a HARD PASS. That rivals a FATWA.

Fatwa is just a lifetime hard pass nigga

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Hannah and Joe worked on this for so money years, they need some income to keep delivering. Just buy the damned game and rate it positive on Steam. Let them have some income and then hopefully we will get some more games.

e: how will they be able to fix the game if they have no sales?

 

[HoboForEternity]

Hannah and Joe worked on this for so money years, they need some income to keep delivering. Just buy the damned game and rate it positive on Steam. Let them have some income and then hopefully we will get some more games.

Still you cannot ignore how badly managed it is. Multiple system revamps (remember the grandia system, the tick system, then whatever is in between then and the current) multiple artstyle change etc.


I love their passion still, but like most artists, they need some kinda leash to prevent them from unstoppably adding more stuff or changing stuff. Like how even a brilliant writer need a strong, decisive editor.


I do wish the best of luck for them. I bought the game, but i will play it later when hopefully it is in better condition

 

[Grauken]

Why do people keep releasing games in such a state? I just don't understand.

Maybe they run out of food

 

[unseeingeye]

What a shame. I bought it yesterday but with no intention of playing it any time soon, as I did with Serpent in the Staglands, and as I do pretty much any of the very few brand new games I find interesting because of the now standardized expectation that games are released unfinished.

 

[Mortmal]

Why do people keep releasing games in such a state? I just don't understand.
For indies, such a terrible start (50% of the first 40 or so reviews) is nothing you can seriously recover from. People are just going to see it, go "nah" and never look back.
And it's pretty much all just due to bugs - bugs that are so glaringly obvious they must have been aware of them. Lots of people can't finish the tutorial because of bugs - imagine that

I'm really confused about this.

Worse is reading the dev answers on steam , its as if it just need some tweaking and suggestions...Oh and of course they locked the thread for "insults". This is almost in the scam area.I dont understand either, except completely running out of cash or insanity.

 

[Fargus]

What a shame. I bought it yesterday but with no intention of playing it any time soon, as I did with Serpent in the Staglands, and as I do pretty much any of the very few brand new games I find interesting because of the now standardized expectation that games are released unfinished.

I've made the same mistake with Serpent of Staglands back then, i think it was shortly before refunds on steam were implemented.

 

[thesheeep]

So, from the first few hours of playing:

- NON-REBINDABLE KEYS. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. WHY?! WHY DO DEVS KEEP DOING THIS. REBINDABLE KEYS ARE LIKE 1 OR 2 DAY OF WORK TO IMPLEMENT!!!!! FFS!!$%!&/(&/!)(&/)(ZHUOHJlkJKBLghdfjklghjhkl
- Default keys are inane. Q for quicksave, right next to the camera movement/driving keys. Oh, and there's only one slot for quicksaves. L to enter the Load menu - which is the only way to get there. Yup, ESC does not let you enter a menu that would let you save/load. Nothing is bound to F1-12 keys...
- There's quicksave - but not quickload.
- Not sure what the 2x/4x/8x entries in the menu do. I assume anti-aliasing? Not that it matters, as the game will just reset whatever you select to nothing.
- Loading a game removes all items from the ground, found that out after throwing a bunch of knives. All knives gone after reload.
- Navigating in the game is an absolute PITA: You cannot click where you cannot see (not even if you've been somewhere already). Click behind a door to walk through it? Nah. Good luck trying to open a window to jump through it without having your char walk around the entire building to go outside the window instead.
- ESC closes menus. Sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't - within the same menu. It's like ESC also needs to roll some dice to work. Very meta
- Enemies respawn at the speed of light. Don't blink or they'll be back. Makes armor entirely useless as the relentlessly respawning enemies will eventually wear it down.
- You need to roll the dice to repair an item. Which consumes a repair kit - even on failure. Did I mention there's no quickload?
- Tutorial gives misleading advice and tends to bug out.
- There's a map, but it doesn't let you add notes.
- There's a notepad - but no quest log whatsoever.
- Wasn't able to convince a single vagrant to join me or tell me rumors (despite being specced for social).
- Trying to aim at two-pixel-large body parts while enemies walk around in real-time is a wonderful experience - if you enjoy grinding your teeth on sand paper, anyway.
- Art style makes it VERY hard to make anything out. No key to highlight interactable items. Opening lockers and picking up items is SUPER fun - did I mention sand paper already?
- No combat or dice roll log. Why did you fail a hack/lockpick/charm/etc.? Game won't tell you.
- Reload to find your character suddenly surrounded by nobody, by some enemies, by like a hundred vagrants. ???
- Sometimes, your character just stops moving. That's it, time for a reload.
- No telling what chances of success for an action are beforehand. No % indicator, nothing.

About the actual gameplay...
Got no clue whatsoever on how to proceed in the starting area.
I found PC to lower the bridges, but despite a char specializing in hacking, learning & social, I was unable to hack it after multiple attempts. I can only assume you need to find the password. You even need to guess the username in order to attempt hacking...
Searched the entire level for password hints, been in every room, nothing. Although I guess it is possible I missed some rooms as the graphics and map make it barely possible to tell where you can actually go... or that I missed some three-pixel-large items as there's no way to highlight what is interactable. Or that I loaded a save and the game removed some vital item on the ground.
Got to the boss - unkillable, takes no damage from anything. Or my char does not do enough damage. Who knows, the game sure won't tell you... Knockout works every time though, so he's completely harmless Doesn't matter, as he doesn't have anything useful, either.
As a small bonus: Knock out the boss and reload to have him walk to you, talk to you and initiate combat again - even if you are in another room

Yeah, I know, Serpent was also obnoxiously opaque in wtf you are supposed to do, but come on, this is the starting area.
People are going to play this, get stuck, downvote and move on to more joyful endeavors...

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Hannah and Joe worked on this for so money years, they need some income to keep delivering. Just buy the damned game and rate it positive on Steam. Let them have some income and then hopefully we will get some more games.

How much will you pay me to go dig some holes?

 

[Grauken]

Hannah and Joe worked on this for so money years, they need some income to keep delivering. Just buy the damned game and rate it positive on Steam. Let them have some income and then hopefully we will get some more games.

How much will you pay me to go dig some holes?

I will dig a hole for you without compensation

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Hannah and Joe worked on this for so money years, they need some income to keep delivering. Just buy the damned game and rate it positive on Steam. Let them have some income and then hopefully we will get some more games.

How much will you pay me for holes to be dug by an unspecific person while I take credit?

 

[BlackGoat]

Maybe they run out of food

There's always roots

Spoiler

 

[almondblight]

Why do people keep releasing games in such a state? I just don't understand.
For indies, such a terrible start (50% of the first 40 or so reviews) is nothing you can seriously recover from. People are just going to see it, go "nah" and never look back.
And it's pretty much all just due to bugs - bugs that are so glaringly obvious they must have been aware of them. Lots of people can't finish the tutorial because of bugs - imagine that

I'm really confused about this.

Kind of reminds me of Stygian, where they had a decent foundation but then stumbled right at the finish line. Like you said, it's hard to recover from a bad release (though I suppose more indies could go the "enhanced edition" route).

I love their passion still, but like most artists, they need some kinda leash to prevent them from unstoppably adding more stuff or changing stuff. Like how even a brilliant writer need a strong, decisive editor.

That's why lack of involvement with the backers is a bad sign. Backers can point out mistakes you're in the process of making, or bad directions you're going in. When developers are off on their own, it's easy for them to waste time constantly re-doing systems that are good enough (or even downgrading them with new ideas), add unnecessary systems like vehicles, or just spin their wheels while telling everyone they're working on things. See Barkley 2 for another example of where backers could have really kept the development in check, but silence let all of them burn through everything and then ghost the project.

What was needed was working on and refining what we saw in the Kickstarter pitch 5 years ago, not making a bunch of different games, only one of which was released.

KotC 2 is a good example of how important backer feedback is. Imagine if Pierre released it on Steam in it's initial state. But he took his time, tried to address backer criticism and bug reports, and now he has a game that will be much more solid on release.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Purchased the game, will play it in 2023 when it (hopefully) gets finished.

 

[thesheeep]

Purchased the game, will play it in 2023 when it (hopefully) gets finished.

That's what makes it so terrible, really.
Below all of those issues (of which I'd say 90% are fixable), there is a very interesting game.
And pretty, too - I do like the art style, but the game needs some tools to deal with its drawbacks.

From their replies so far, I get the impression that they were unaware of the issues.
Which I am at a loss of words for. Everyone is bringing up the same points, more or less. There's no way they had testers who did not bring those points up as well.

 

[Catacombs]

NON-REBINDABLE KEYS.

How is this still OK to do in the year of our Lord 2021?