[OpenMaw]

Forge, on 03 March 2018 - 04:38 PM, said:

So you're saying he refunded the game because it lacked 'boob physics"?
It all makes sense now.

Well, their absence is Inexcusable.

[TerminX]

Nah, just that it's incredibly immature to respond with "hurrrrrrrrr fat" during nearly any discussion about anything. I guess adult discourse isn't for everyone.

On a brighter note, thanks so much for all the support for the game, guys. I remain blown away by how positive the reaction is!

[MusicallyInspired]

Mark., on 03 March 2018 - 07:00 AM, said:

After watching Musically Inspired's walkthrough video he was really struggling with pushing an object to where he needed it. "Carrying" would have been better.Although, maybe MI is a spaz and nobody else had trouble pushing things.

Hah I was in such a mood to destroy everything that I destroyed the barrel that was already down those stairs/escalators where the toxic sludge was. I didn't have to drag those items all the way down there (which I have deduced is impossible). All the other secrets that required chairs and such were quite easy to get so I forgive that one.

Doom64hunter, on 03 March 2018 - 07:59 AM, said:

Is the portable medkit the only inventory item in the game? I didn't see any "Inventory left/right" buttons in the controls, which is surprising considering every Build game had those.Also, I want to reinforce that the eduke32 control setup needs to be changed so that you can only map a key to a single action. The big issue right now is that the previous keybinds aren't removed whenever you set a key to a new action.For example, when I set e to crouch, the use function isn't unbound from e. This behavior has been a pet peeve of mine for ages, but I decided not to complain about it since eduke was only volunteer work and the issue was admittedly minor. Now with Ion Maiden as a commercial product however, I feel like it's finally time to bring this up.

I agree with the need to unbind old keys when you use the same key on another action, but I'm not against alternate binds. They can be handy.

Bruno Mattei, on 03 March 2018 - 11:56 AM, said:

Whatever you say. Whatever you want to believe. I don't really care and don't feel like defending my point of view against of bunch of obese neckbeard sycophants.

Aww do you need a hug? Our neckbeards are nice and soft, you'll see.

[Zaxx]

Bruno Mattei, on 03 March 2018 - 11:56 AM, said:

neckbeard sycophants.

I don't get the Amish hate on the internet these days... THEY ARE NOT EVEN ON IT!

[Micky C]

Zaxx, on 03 March 2018 - 06:13 AM, said:

And as for a more useful feature the way I see it a lot of the secrets rely on pushing objects like chairs and trash cans around so Shelly should really pick those up with the use button and carry them to make things faster. You know, like in Half-Life 2.

You can actually pull things like chairs but holding 'use' while looking at them. That should fix most of the issues regarding their use in secrets. As others have said, I think picking them up would be a step too far. Pushing/pulling is a natural extension of how their physics behaves with regards to explosives. Not to mention they're on wheels so pushing makes sense. Once you introduce the concept of picking items up, then this introduces a huge contrast in interactivity, and it becomes quite noticeable when you aren't able to pick up other objects that you'd expect to be able to. The key to fun interactivity, and it's clear that IM has had a lot of thought and effort put into this, is being consistently interactive across all objects uniformly across the entire game. You should be able to pick everything up or nothing up, and for several reasons it makes sense to go with the latter.

This is the problem with interactivity in DNF. Sure, it's impressive if you can use a fully-functioning pinball machine and so on, but this led to isolated pockets of interactivity, with the bulk of the main game being quite rigid. They also had the "picking up" problem in that you could pick up barrels, and the occasional item to throw, and yet you couldn't push over a few boxes that were blocking your path.

TerminX, on 03 March 2018 - 05:05 PM, said:

On a brighter note, thanks so much for all the support for the game, guys. I remain blown away by how positive the reaction is!

You and your team have clearly put a lot of heart into the game, so you should be (but don't let it get to your head too much ). As a mapper who has worked for many years on arguably one of the most ambitious Duke TCs, I'm still trying to get my head around some of the effects, even ones as simple as flipping the toilet lid. In several cases I can only assume that you're physically swapping out sectors. I remember reading about a sequence in RR where a gas station explosion is achieved by a similar method. I'd be a very powerful and flexible effect if you've managed to pull it off.

To put a check on your ego, another criticism ; no slower-moving energy projectile weapons (for both the player and enemies), but I assume these will be present in the full version.

[Mr. Tibbs]

PC World really love the game (though in the video they get quite a few things wrong - such as release date estimate, developer, etc...).

Quote

3D Realms is making a new game in the Duke 3D engine the same week Washington D.C. starts complaining about video game violence? It's like 1997 all over again up in here.

The last game 3D Realms put out was Bombshell, and it was terrible. So terrible, that when I first heard 3D Realms was back with another game I was...skeptical, to say the least. And yet I’ve played a bit of Ion Maiden, released into Early Access this week, and it’s surprisingly great.

Maybe that’s because it plays to 3D Realms’s strengths? Despite starring Bombshell heroine Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison again, Ion Maiden ditches the isometric view, the engine—basically everything from the previous game—in favor of a retro-inspired ‘90s shooter that’s (even better) built in the Duke 3D Build Engine. Very cool.

[Zaxx]

Micky C, on 03 March 2018 - 05:49 PM, said:

You can actually pull things like chairs but holding 'use' while looking at them.

Yeah, I know but that sucks now because the game defaults to autorun (as it should) while you can only pull objects effectively if you're walking and sometimes even that doesn't work. For example if you want to pull a chair sideways you have to crouch too so you have to press and hold Ctrl + Shift + E + A (or D) or press Caps Lock then press and hold Ctrl + E + A (or D) and press Caps Lock again after you're finished with your professional chair displacement operation. Even pressing and holding something like E + D at the same time is challenging because of how the buttons are placed.

I realize that picking up and carrying objects could pose a problem because if the feature is implemented without the maps supporting it then people will just carry stuff where they are not supposed to and start jumping off the maps the next day... but the current system is still not good enough. A "picking up objects" feature does not necessary have to be that literally, it can be just locking onto an object and pulling it in a way that the object simply moves next to you while you're walking around. An example: you go to a chair, press the use key, a small icon appears in one corner of the screen indicating that you're in "pull mode", the game automatically slows you down to walking speed and the chair starts moving with you once you start moving.

I really think that the "old school" way is not good enough here since climbing ladders is awesome and I think I even noticed that I made some jumps I should have missed so it seems like the game even has a system implemented that simulates "landing on one foot" when you miss a jump just by an inch. I just don't want the game to end up like ROTT 2013 where the base gameplay was awesome but the game got a lot of criticism for its terrible platforming mechanics: the same can happen with IM if moving objects is a chore.

[TerminX]

That's definitely valid criticism, and something I've noticed myself. I'll see what we can do to make moving objects feel more natural.

[Zaxx]

As for Micky C's concerns regarding moving objects other than the "bigger ones": that already works, it's just hard to do because you're disconnected from the object almost instantly because of your movement speed:

Shelly would be a terrible waitress.

[Player Lin]

I completed the game again for finding secrets on UV difficulty, but sadly not 100% because an enemy on level 1 or 2 never spawns for some reasons(when I noticed this on end of level 2, I try go back to level 1 but found no enemies, I know it's already happens on eduke32 or maybe DOS Duke but just feel frustrated when it happened...).

At least I got 100% secrets!

https://steamuserima...4DF05A1183E1C4/


Thanks Errol for his nice "Dick's Secret Stashes" guide.(Warning : Spoiler inside, of course! )

[NightFright]

Finished the preview last night. Levels 2 and 3 seemed shorter to me than the first one, but that's probably because I cared less about secrets this time.

In total, I love the game, its atmosphere and general art design plus its emphasis on secrets and references to other classic games. Also I need to say shading in some areas was superb - e.g. if you managed to get into the clothing store just before the boss fight.

What can still be done as far as I am concerned (as mentioned before):
- Optimization of autosave slowdowns
- Keypad5 mappable
- SMG and shotgun with a bit more "kick"
- More Shelly speech
- Usable toilets (OK, I won't revolt if it won't happen, but would be a nice gimmick)
- Cutscenes and some kinda story (but it can be assumed there will be some)
- Optional statusbar for retro freaks

[necroslut]

Played through the preview a couple more times and, damn, I love it. Probably the best secret areas in any game ever; though they're lacking a little in in-game rewards due to the limited inventory - you only have use for so much armor.
It feels a lot less like a Duke re-skin than I thought it would, I'd say it feels more like Blood in many ways (gameplay-wise, not mood-wise). It also reminds me a lot of that unreleased Build game "Fate", due to the looks (color palette used, the high-res art, lighting effects) and things like pushable objects to reach vents and a slower, more Half-Life-esque feel, with fewer enemies.
Generally feels more like a what-could-have-been 1998 Build game - if Quake never came out - than a Duke throwback.

The one thing I don't really love is the enemies. Their sprites are high quality and all that, but they're a bit bland both aesthetically and gameplay-wise (compared to the Build classics) and especially the machinegunners blend into the background a bit much. Though the second part is, I guess, also related to the fact that there's a lot of detail in the levels, and I wouldn't want to change that.
The music is also a bit bland, though it fits well enough.

Really, really looking forward to the full game. Truly, even though it's short length, this is the best FPS experience released in years.

Micky C, on 03 March 2018 - 05:49 PM, said:

You can actually pull things like chairs but holding 'use' while looking at them. [. . .]

It could probably be a good idea to put this, as well as the headshots mechanic, in the help screen. I didn't realize pulling objects was possible even though I'd tried it - I guess I was moving too fast. And a lot of people seem to have missed the fact that headshots are possible the first time through.
Some of the pushable objects could probably use a slightly larger clipsize so you don't "slide off" them as easily.

NightFright, on 04 March 2018 - 12:19 AM, said:

- Cutscenes and some kinda story (but it can be assumed there will be some)
- Optional statusbar for retro freaks

There is a background story in the help screen, like in Duke 3D. A "full" status bar would be nice for people like me who still use 4:3 monitors...

An extra-hard difficulty level with more (twice?) the enemies would be great too, for running through it that 10th time...

[MetHy]

Micky C, on 03 March 2018 - 05:49 PM, said:

In several cases I can only assume that you're physically swapping out sectors. I remember reading about a sequence in RR where a gas station explosion is achieved by a similar method. I'd be a very powerful and flexible effect if you've managed to pull it off.

Shadow Warrior has it too but AFAIK it's only used once in the entire game: in Bath House the car explodes revealing submergible water

at approx 24s :



SW is like that. Tons of super cool effects that are barely used and which surface was never scratched by anyone.

[cybdmn]

Insta-bought on 3DR website, but for i had no access to a windows machine, i had to wait for the weekend. Yesterday i installed it on my company laptop, which unfortunately have just an intel graphics card, so i had to stick with the software mode. It is an older Dell Latitude with an i7 and 8 gigs of ram. Aside from the autosave slowdowns, i had no framerate dropdowns, so these seem to be opengl only.

The developers did an incredible job in creating this 96/97 feeling, pure nostalgia. The maps are well crafted, and pull every trick build is capable. the game has so far nice non-linear map designs, without real dead ends, or mazes where you easy lost your orientation. Well done.

There are of course room for improvement, at least in my opinion.

- The music is far to generic and repetive. I hoped for some midi tunes, like in the 90ies. I miss these Bobby Prince/Lee Jackson kind of classics. These kind of tracks, which burns into your head.

- As others stated here, the enemies and items blend too much into the background.

- Many of the sound fx are superb, i really love the sound when the bullets hit metal. But others, like the weapon sounds need to sound punchier, if you ask me.

- To much reloading for my taste. A fact which i dislike in other build engine games too. All these reloading stops the flow, and often you get hit, because your weapon reloads in the wrong moment. This even make crowd control more or less impossible. At least the reload should go faster.

- The enemies need more variation. At least the gun wielding guys seems to be the same, with only more firepower and health.

- The same is applicable for the firearms too. The bombs on the other side are great, with the ability to cook them, these are outstanding, and above every handgrenade like weapons in every build game.

[Loke]

I think the strongest aspect of the game is its level design. It pretty much nails the open-ended non-linear maps seen from games such as Doom and Duke Nukem 3D which seriously increases the replay value.

I haven't been this hyped for a game since HL2: Episode Two to be honest.

[necroslut]

cybdmn, on 04 March 2018 - 03:12 AM, said:

Insta-bought on 3DR website, but for i had no access to a windows machine, i had to wait for the weekend. Yesterday i installed it on my company laptop, which unfortunately have just an intel graphics card, so i had to stick with the software mode. It is an older Dell Latitude with an i7 and 8 gigs of ram. Aside from the autosave slowdowns, i had no framerate dropdowns, so these seem to be opengl only.

The developers did an incredible job in creating this 96/97 feeling, pure nostalgia. The maps are well crafted, and pull every trick build is capable. the game has so far nice non-linear map designs, without real dead ends, or mazes where you easy lost your orientation. Well done.

There are of course room for improvement, at least in my opinion.

- The music is far to generic and repetive. I hoped for some midi tunes, like in the 90ies. I miss these Bobby Prince/Lee Jackson kind of classics. These kind of tracks, which burns into your head.

- As others stated here, the enemies and items blend too much into the background.

- Many of the sound fx are superb, i really love the sound when the bullets hit metal. But others, like the weapon sounds need to sound punchier, if you ask me.

- To much reloading for my taste. A fact which i dislike in other build engine games too. All these reloading stops the flow, and often you get hit, because your weapon reloads in the wrong moment. This even make crowd control more or less impossible. At least the reload should go faster.

- The enemies need more variation. At least the gun wielding guys seems to be the same, with only more firepower and health.

- The same is applicable for the firearms too. The bombs on the other side are great, with the ability to cook them, these are outstanding, and above every handgrenade like weapons in every build game.

I don't find the reloading to be much of a problem, here or in other Build games; you just have to keep in mind how much you got left and duck out for a moment to reload. Though it's a bit of a hassle not being able to cancel reloading to switch to a different gun.

Never had much a problem with spotting the pickups myself, only the enemies kinda blend together.

[X-Vector]

Forge, on 03 March 2018 - 11:08 AM, said:

You don't know how demos and teasers work, do you?

Well, I can tell from playing quite a few demos in my time (some of them even as far back as the 1990s) that this in fact isn't one.
The whole point of a computer game demo is to offer an opportunity to "try before you buy"; the only early access title that I can think of right now that fits that bill is Black Mesa and that's not altogether coincidentally also the only early access title that I've sunk funds into thus far.

Perhaps Voidpoint will release what is traditionally thought of as a demo in the future, but there isn't one at the moment.

[Player Lin]

necroslut, on 04 March 2018 - 03:42 AM, said:

I don't find the reloading to be much of a problem, here or in other Build games; you just have to keep in mind how much you got left and duck out for a moment to reload. Though it's a bit of a hassle not being able to cancel reloading to switch to a different gun.

While reloading gun may or may not problem, I hope the HUD maybe can tell me how many ammo left in the gun, to let me know should I reload Shelly's gun or not, I keep found I have to force reloading the gun in hot-battling and sometimes it caused my Shelly get killed, which isn't good...and yeah, cancel reloading to switch other weapons maybe good idea too.

[OpenMaw]

X-Vector, on 04 March 2018 - 05:01 AM, said:

Perhaps Voidpoint will release what is traditionally thought of as a demo in the future, but there isn't one at the moment.

Please, how is this not a demo?

[Player Lin]

Commando Nukem, on 04 March 2018 - 05:48 AM, said:

Please, how is this not a demo?

I guess because it's not publicly to get for free?

[X-Vector]

Player Lin, on 04 March 2018 - 05:55 AM, said:

I guess because it's not publicly to get for free?

Of course; I don't understand what's not to understand here.
Ion Maiden currently is a low content early access title and as such could actually be considered something of an antithesis of the shareware concept of the '90s games it is inspired by.

[cosmonautcowboy]

X-Vector, on 04 March 2018 - 06:14 AM, said:

Of course; I don't understand what's not to understand here.
Ion Maiden currently is a low content early access title and as such could actually be considered something of an antithesis of the shareware concept of the '90s games it is inspired by.

You can make a 90s styled game, but 90s business models have come and gone. I've seen a few people mention the demo/shareware aspect of it, but it's really apples and oranges at this point. I rarely see demos these days, what we get now are "betas" and server stress tests.

[necroslut]

Player Lin, on 04 March 2018 - 05:03 AM, said:

While reloading gun may or may not problem, I hope the HUD maybe can tell me how many ammo left in the gun, to let me know should I reload Shelly's gun or not, I keep found I have to force reloading the gun in hot-battling and sometimes it caused my Shelly get killed, which isn't good...and yeah, cancel reloading to switch other weapons maybe good idea too.

I disagree - I hope they don't add a magazine counter. You just have to count your shots to know when it's about time to duck away. But being able to switch weapons mid-reload would mace "accidental" reloads much less dangerous.

[Player Lin]

necroslut, on 04 March 2018 - 06:53 AM, said:

I disagree - I hope they don't add a magazine counter. You just have to count your shots to know when it's about time to duck away. But being able to switch weapons mid-reload would mace "accidental" reloads much less dangerous.

Well, I'm totally fine if no magazine counter, it's not really big deal as I already played a lot of those games. But cancels the reloading to prevent "accidental reloads" should be nice, friendly feature.

[Forge]

I enjoy the reload aspect of the weapons. It adds a little extra challenge to combat. Keep track of your ammo, switch weapons before a reload, take cover when a reload is coming up.
I make a habit of tapping the reload key after every weapon fire or combat engagement. Even if I only shot one enemy.

Also consider that we haven't seen all the weapons yet - just the main three bullet projectile ones, the baton, & bowling bombs.
I nailed the fire button as soon as I picked up that gatling gun, it doesn't appear to need a 'reload'. Looks like it'll fire until you're out of rounds.

[Sanek]

cosmonautcowboy, on 04 March 2018 - 06:44 AM, said:

You can make a 90s styled game, but 90s business models have come and gone. I've seen a few people mention the demo/shareware aspect of it, but it's really apples and oranges at this point. I rarely see demos these days, what we get now are "betas" and server stress tests.

It would be a free demo if they worked for free...however, with a publisher and all kinds of promotional/distributional costs they've got to make it commercial already.
Besides, by bying the game in early access we'll fund it's development, and the developers can work on the game and eat at the same time.

[petrus]

Will there be some sort of quick melee attack in the final release, perhaps a well heeled mighty kick?

[KaijuTurtle]

I think a cool quick melee would be like a quick strike with the butt end of her baton in the off hand. Of course that would probably cause issue with reloading animations and weapons that are held in two hands, like the mini gun. IMO a mighty boot would be a very on the nose Duke inspiration- making it seem more like Ion Maiden is a TC of that game rather than a build game of its own. I do personally long for the functionality of the quick boot, but I can see where there would be reservations about its implementation.

[OpenMaw]

KaijuTurtle, on 04 March 2018 - 07:53 AM, said:

I think a cool quick melee would be like a quick strike with the butt end of her baton in the off hand. Of course that would probably cause issue with reloading animations and weapons that are held in two hands, like the mini gun. IMO a mighty boot would be a very on the nose Duke inspiration- making it seem more like Ion Maiden is a TC of that game rather than a build game of its own. I do personally long for the functionality of the quick boot, but I can see where there would be reservations about its implementation.

It would have to be animated quick, but having the current weapon drop off screen, the baton swipe left-to-right, and the weapon come back up would be the ideal way to avoid visual issues with the hands. (avoiding three arm syndrome, etc..)

[Poorchop]

Sanek, on 04 March 2018 - 07:44 AM, said:

Besides, by bying the game in early access we'll fund it's development, and the developers can work on the game and eat at the same time.

Why does the cost of development need to be offloaded to consumers before the game is complete? I was initially under the impression that this was just a community project and while the guys are working on this in their spare time, 3DR is publishing the game and it's the job of the publisher to put up the money for development.

I don't think that early access is ever okay but one can make a case for it when it comes to indie titles, especially ones that are being made by one or two people. They certainly didn't have to follow some archaic business model and put a third of the game out as shareware but it should've been put up for sale when it was complete. Don't get me wrong, I like the guys who are making this game and from what I've seen, it looks pretty damn good. I was really stoked about it but a publisher like 3DR putting a game out in early access really sours my attitude towards it. I don't hold it against the developers though as I plan on picking up a copy when the game is finished.