[TerminX]

It fixes a bunch of stuff. The biggest user facing change is that the player input is now no longer locked to whole units as far as the player's resulting .ang and .horiz are concerned. This means that the player's view angle can be at values in between the engine's traditional .ang and .horiz units. It's way smoother!

[Perro Seco]

TerminX, on 06 March 2018 - 01:18 PM, said:

What Lunick posted is correct. We don't plan on adding a lot of content to the preview but we do plan on fixing the important issues that have cropped up!

Will the system requirements lower in upcoming versions? Sorry for insist about that; I really want to play the game but only have an old computer with 32-bit system.

[NY00123]

It's about one night since I've completed the IM preview under the "Ultra Viscera" difficulty in "Bombardier Trial" mode; I've also taken care of the secrets, although there's this one secret (in the first hub) that I haven't exactly found on my own.

The above play-through has possibly been a bit unusual, in the sense that I've had technical difficulties while attempting to record a video of it (mostly the fault of me not doing this often).

If you're curious to see, there's a segmented play-through of the 2nd hub atm, including all secrets: http://youtu.be/SzGho1r1GCw


To add further comments from my preceding post on the topic:
- I did see these bombs in at least one screenshot, but it was surely a surprise to realize their role as bowling bombs!
- It actually took a little while to get how are they used. I think that originally, I didn't even take advantage of them so often, or at least not the expected way.
- In case I had any doubt, "Bombardier Trial" surely taught me how to use them!
- There's something to say about the music, say the end-game music. There are cases it feels similar to something from a different game - and I'm not talking about a Build-based game at all. Might just be the style and/or the fact these are XM module tracks.
- I've had these few occasional stutters, mostly while games are being saved, but not only. I do suspect it's due to the usage of an HDD drive, rather than an SSD. (The PC in question is soon to be 7 years old.)


I shall mention that I've gotten an Early Access copy of the game!

To finish, do I recommend this preview? You can probably guess, heh.

[Micky C]

TerminX, on 06 March 2018 - 01:59 PM, said:

It fixes a bunch of stuff. The biggest user facing change is that the player input is now no longer locked to whole units as far as the player's resulting .ang and .horiz are concerned. This means that the player's view angle can be at values in between the engine's traditional .ang and .horiz units. It's way smoother!

That's interesting. I wonder if it'll make aiming with a sniper scope in the AMC TC smoother; atm it's incredibly jerky, possibly due to this issue.

I've tried a few minutes of Bombardier Trial. It's fantastic for replay value as it completely changes the gameplay dynamic. Although, is it normal that I have to look really high up to throw a bomb slightly above horizontal? I would have thought that at least with the chargeup on maximum, the bomb would be tossed where the crosshair is pointing, but it's tossed much lower.

[Zaxx]

Yeah, I think that's normal behavior for the bombs. When I started playing at first I was like "wut, this is weird" but once you get the hang of it you can aim pretty well with them. Guess the angle of the bombs was made like this because they are supposed to be bowling balls and from the hand animation it seems like she is throwing them like bowling balls. Nice, unique touch and combined with the physics it makes the bombardier trial pretty fun.

[Sanek]

Will there ever be a 32-bit version of the game?
How about 486DX compatibility?

[Micky C]

Sanek, on 06 March 2018 - 04:21 PM, said:

Will there ever be a 32-bit version of the game?
How about 486DX compatibility?

32? Why stop there?

https://forums.duke4...ducing-eduke16/

Btw, while I was initially concerned about the 25 HB in BT mode, it turns out that enemies tend to drop a reasonable amount of armour shards which helps toughen you up a bit which is great.

Edit: I think I found a bug. I was playing Bombardier Trial, then I loaded a save from regular mode. I then climbed up the ladder to the boss area with a level load screen, and suddenly I was stuck with the bowling bomb weapon. Using them decreased their ammo count, so it looks like it was stuck somewhere between the two modes?
I could provide the log if that'd be useful.

[xMobilemux]

So I finally managed to finish the whole preview and I really enjoyed what I played and eagerly await the full version(I bought of 3DR to fully support the devs).

From what I played here's what I liked, didn't like and some suggestions.

What I liked:

- The Music.
Especially that first track, really took me back to the Stalker theme when I played Total Meltdown for the first time.

- The visuals.
The build engine can still outmatch even modern engines with the right mappers and artists.

- Bowling Bombs.
They were a blast to use!

What I didn't like:

- Shelly.
So far she's the most bland, generic female tough girl I've ever seen, both in appearance and in personality.
None of her oneliners cracked me up and when I heard her lines make some call backs to how Duke did his like the "Nothing there" or "I really needed that!", none of them came close to how Duke did it, Duke actually made you chuckle at those lines when he said them.
And her appearance is just as bland as I said it was a few pages back. However I did like how the Armor pick ups actually slightly show on her HUD face, which brings me to this:
Why the HELL wasn't this her main outfit? Seriously, that looks sick!

- The Shotgun.
Both it's appearance and punch. For something that looks like a Grenade Launcher, it feels like I'm firing a slightly higher caliber version of the revolver.
I'd say give it a small redesign to loose the grenade launcher look and give it a gunshot sound that makes it feel like it's got a lot of kick.

- Weapon Reloading.
It's got to go. Even Doom 2016 got this right.
Reloading in the middle of a fast paced fight brings it to a slow down and I often try switching to the next weapon instead of reloading and I barely ever use the SMG cause it's got a long reload.

Still I'm really looking forward to the full version, at it's core Ion Maiden is a damn good FPS, it just has a bland and forgettable skin.

[Micky C]

xMobilemux, on 06 March 2018 - 07:42 PM, said:

What I didn't like:

- Shelly.
So far she's the most bland, generic female tough girl I've ever seen, both in appearance and in personality.
None of her oneliners cracked me up and when I heard her lines make some call backs to how Duke did his like the "Nothing there" or "I really needed that!", none of them came close to how Duke did it, Duke actually made you chuckle at those lines when he said them.
And her appearance is just as bland as I said it was a few pages back. However I did like how the Armor pick ups actually slightly show on her HUD face, which brings me to this:
Why the HELL wasn't this her main outfit? Seriously, that looks sick!

I didn't find most of the Duke one-liners to be funny. IMO it's a good thing that Shelly isn't trying to funny like Duke is in DNF. From what I gather, one of the problems in Bombshell was that Shelly often told these really long lines that were meant to be jokes but fell flat. Here, they're short and punchy, and are just meant to give a hint of insight into what she's thinking, and what the player might possibly be thinking as well.

xMobilemux, on 06 March 2018 - 07:42 PM, said:

- The Shotgun.
Both it's appearance and punch. For something that looks like a Grenade Launcher, it feels like I'm firing a slightly higher caliber version of the revolver.
I'd say give it a small redesign to loose the grenade launcher look and give it a gunshot sound that makes it feel like it's got a lot of kick.

Apparently one of the Shotgun's alt fire modes is being able to fire grenades. When you take this into account, its design makes a lot more sense.

[xMobilemux]

Micky C, on 06 March 2018 - 07:58 PM, said:

I didn't find most of the Duke one-liners to be funny. IMO it's a good thing that Shelly isn't trying to funny like Duke is in DNF. From what I gather, one of the problems in Bombshell was that Shelly often told these really long lines that were meant to be jokes but fell flat. Here, they're short and punchy, and are just meant to give a hint of insight into what she's thinking, and what the player might possibly be thinking as well.

I'm not talking about being like DNFs lines.

I'm comparing Shelly's "Nothing There" and "I really needed that!" to Duke's "Where is it?" and "Oooh I needed that!" from the original Duke3D.

JSJs delivery of those lines made them stand out and pretty much always gave a chuckle, which made them memorable. Shelly has nothing.

Shelly is not a character worth remembering or even coming back for a sequel. They'd best kill her off and create a brand new character without the generic restrictions that the 2016 game cornered this prequel into.

[PsychoGoatee]

I like Shelly, at least this iteration, has that plucky protagonist vibe with the fun retro vibe to it. Reminds me of a 90s voiced protagonist from a PS1 game or a dubbed sci-fi anime. I would like more lines and sure some more jokes as well. She's got some flavor I think.

Whether they have notable restrictions to work with, given the established character, I'm not sure. I guess that she gets a robot arm and maybe more attitude later?

Any more tips for finding more of the secrets? I'm used to classic secrets in that I hit use on various walls and panels in case they work, and just in any vent or jumpable ledge I notice etc. And the chair moving thing.

[OpenMaw]

I would say this rendition of Shelly is much better than her BS outing. She was shackled with some badly placed angst in Bombshell that didn't fit with the other half of her persona as some kind of a heir to the thrown of old-school badasses.

[Forge]

never played bombshell, so i'm not jaded by that experience.

this "version" of Shelly is fine. The attitude and grit in the voice is fine.

Needs more lines.
That's all.

Stick your finger in your woman's ass up to the second knuckle. Record what she says.
Give the results to the voice actor.
(not liable for damages to property or person if you take this advice)

[Bloodshot]

PsychoGoatee, on 06 March 2018 - 08:39 PM, said:

I like Shelly, at least this iteration, has that plucky protagonist vibe with the fun retro vibe to it. Reminds me of a 90s voiced protagonist from a PS1 game or a dubbed sci-fi anime. I would like more lines and sure some more jokes as well. She's got some flavor I think.

Whether they have notable restrictions to work with, given the established character, I'm not sure. I guess that she gets a robot arm and maybe more attitude later?

Honestly i kinda hope they distance her from her bombshell iteration. Right now she seems like a soldier with some attitude and it gives me a kind of starship troopers or aliens vibe and I think her new design along with this make her feel a bit more grounded and likable

[Zaxx]

xMobilemux, on 06 March 2018 - 08:22 PM, said:

They'd best kill her off and create a brand new character without the generic restrictions that the 2016 game cornered this prequel into.

Have you played Bombshell? They changed Shelly a lot compared to that game, in Bombshell::

- She looked weird

- Her narration was boring as fuck.

- Her one-liners were annoying.

- The tone of her voice felt off.


Compared to that in Ion Maiden:

- She looks normal, kinda like BJ Blazkowicz in Wolf 3D or like Lo Wang in the new Shadow Warrior games and beat me with a stick if you want to but I prefer this more realistic approach. In Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior it always bugged me that my character is picking up armor but when I look into the mirror I see a guy in a red shirt and a half naked ninja warrior. Someone like Doom guy is dressed for combat and I like that they took this approach with Shelly too. Also as you've already mentioned seeing your armor type match with the profile picture is a really nice touch and guess if we'll be able to look into mirrors in the full game we'll see 3 different versions of Shelly depending on her armor type. That would be so cool and it would fix my "image problem" with Duke and classic Wang.

- No boring narration!

- Her tone and her delivery is pretty damn good and that's what sells her not-super-funny one-liners to me. You get the feeling that she likes what she is doing and her voice is a bit cute with this little "sassy lady" vibe to it and that works with the one-liners because she has something the old Build characters never really had: class. Sure, it's not laugh out loud funny, you don't get that parody vibe here like in the classics where a guy can just rock it with an over the top Chinese accent and say stupid shit like "Split personality!" after cutting a dude in half with a katana. On the other hand you get this kind of situational comedy where you're like "She's a lady, I just shot that dude to pieces with a shotgun and she was like "Some assembly required!" It's cool.

As for the gameplay: I think the reloading is good as it is, I like that that's a feature because I love reloading my guns in FPS games. Maybe the clip size of the SMG is a bit too small but I have a feeling that it is like it is because the full version will have dual wielding. If not then 25 bullets is weird, 30-35 would be better. The shotgun I like very much, at first I thought its firing rate was a bit too slow but then I discovered headshots: the firing rate is just slow enough that you really have time to place those headshots precisely so the gun becomes a headshot machine. A shotgun that emphasizes headshots? Count me in!

[Micky C]

Plus people are forgetting that this isn't meant to be a clone of Duke 3D. I don't recall Caleb's lines being funny in Blood for example.

Micky C, on 06 March 2018 - 05:09 PM, said:

I think I found a bug. I was playing Bombardier Trial, then I loaded a save from regular mode. I then climbed up the ladder to the boss area with a level load screen, and suddenly I was stuck with the bowling bomb weapon. Using them decreased their ammo count, so it looks like it was stuck somewhere between the two modes?
I could provide the log if that'd be useful.

So I quit the game, booted it up, reloaded the save of the regular mode, and again when I got to the level with the boss arena I'm still stuck with bowling bombs. Perhaps it would be useful if I provided the save file?

[xMobilemux]

Zaxx, on 06 March 2018 - 10:45 PM, said:

snip

Classic Build FPSs always had unique heroes in the lead that were as memorable as the games themselves and as the first Build FPS in over 19 years I wanted Ion Maiden to have one just as memorable as those guys.
Sadly generic tough soldier girl seems to be the best they could do and that just sucks in my opinion.

Shelly doesn't have anything unique about her other than she's a chick, which was also the problem with the 2016 game, the PMS rocket....good god.

I want a character that actually warrants the name of Ion Maiden, so far she's just standard soldier girl Shelly with obligatory oneliners.

Now on the other hand if Voidpoint has some hidden twist in this prequel in which Shelly gets her arm ripped off, replaced with an early/different cyborg arm, gets some twisted, bloody, badass cyborg look where her armor is all highly damaged, she's badly scared and bloody and that turns her into some rage filled killing machine and we get to go with her on a rage fueled massacre filled with sadistic oneliners and such, then I can see her becoming something worth wanting to see again.
The more I think about that, the cooler she becomes.

In fact what kind of character did Voidpoint even have in mind when they thought up the Ion Maiden title? Or was it just an excuse to not use the Bombshell name?

[oasiz]

Micky C, on 07 March 2018 - 12:17 AM, said:

So I quit the game, booted it up, reloaded the save of the regular mode, and again when I got to the level with the boss arena I'm still stuck with bowling bombs. Perhaps it would be useful if I provided the save file?

IIRC Mblackwell found a fix for this and it's to be included in the next patch.

[Zaxx]

xMobilemux, on 07 March 2018 - 12:25 AM, said:

Now on the other hand if Voidpoint has some hidden twist in this prequel in which Shelly gets her arm ripped off, replaced with an early/different cyborg arm, gets some twisted, bloody, badass cyborg look where her armor is all highly damaged, she's badly scared and bloody and that turns her into some rage filled killing machine and we get to go with her on a rage fueled massacre filled with sadistic oneliners and such, then I can see her becoming something worth wanting to see again.

Look, I'll be blunt but don't take this the wrong way (it's not an insult, just a basic assessment of the type of character you wanted): you wanted the stupid, they went with the smart. Bombshell actually went with the stupid (she really was the female Duke Nukem) and it was terrible so I'd rather not see that return. Maybe there is a good kind of stupid that would work but we've yet to see that.

Quote

In fact what kind of character did Voidpoint even have in mind when they thought up the Ion Maiden title?

I guess they only thought about this:
https://bombshell.ga....com/Ion_Maiden
The title could indicate that we'll see that robotic arm return.

[xMobilemux]

Zaxx, on 07 March 2018 - 12:45 AM, said:

Look, I'll be blunt but don't take this the wrong way (it's not an insult, just a basic assessment of the type of character you wanted): you wanted the stupid, they went with the smart. Bombshell actually went with the stupid (she really was the female Duke Nukem) and it was terrible so I'd rather not see that return. Maybe there is a good kind of stupid that would work but we've yet to see that.

Bombshell 2016 didn't work cause they rushed Shelly into the lead role when it was meant to be Duke and her character suffered for it.
Ion Maiden however is a chance to fully realize her in a great FPS, create something different, but all they got was generic soldier.

What's gonna happen when we get to the robot arm part of the prequel? Is it going to become something cool and badass like say the much wanted Quick melee attack in which Shelly gives a quick super punch with the cyborg arm which could be combined with some kind of power source pick up to create Ion Maiden's version of Beserker mode from Doom or is it just gonna be something basic and we see it in a cutscene at the end?

[Zaxx]

xMobilemux, on 07 March 2018 - 01:18 AM, said:

What's gonna happen when we get to the robot arm part of the prequel?

Honestly I hope it's the case of "we thought the name of the weapon sounded cool so we took Ion Maiden but that's all" and we never get to the robot arm because if Ion Maiden ends where Bombshell begins then creating DLCs or a sequel becomes hard. If IM is successful (and that's a pretty big if because if you look at something like DUSK it seems that retro FPS is not that hot when it's actually retro, the SteamSpy numbers of DUSK are quite bad) then there is potential for a cool little indie franchise here so I'd rather think of Bombshell as the 10th direct-to-DVD sequel in that franchise instead of the main attraction. But then again frak knows what 3D Realms is thinking, maybe they view IM as a possibility to give a second wind to Bombshell so that if the supposedly significant 1.3 patch arrives they can try "relaunching" that game.

[xMobilemux]

I don't see the point in continuing this franchise anyway, Shelly's return isn't gonna be in high demand with how boring and forgettable she is.
Voidpoint is making the same mistake Interceptor made that LGR said in his Bombshell review, "a character action game that seems to have forgotten the character part".
At least in this instance, the game itself will make up for it.

After Ion Maiden, Voidpoint and 3DR would be better off leaving the Ion Maiden and Bombshell licence behind and creating something new with no restrictions.

[Daedolon]

You seem to be talking about Shelly a lot for someone who is "forgettable"

[xMobilemux]

Daedolon, on 07 March 2018 - 02:00 AM, said:

You seem to be talking about Shelly awfully lot for someone who is "forgettable"

And as soon as I stop talking about her and how disappointed I am in her, will she be remembered?

[X-Vector]

Typical Ian Higton gameplay mastery at work.

[Micky C]

xMobilemux, on 07 March 2018 - 01:51 AM, said:

I don't see the point in continuing this franchise anyway, Shelly's return isn't gonna be in high demand with how boring and forgettable she is.
Voidpoint is making the same mistake Interceptor made that LGR said in his Bombshell review, "a character action game that seems to have forgotten the character part".
At least in this instance, the game itself will make up for it.

After Ion Maiden, Voidpoint and 3DR would be better off leaving the Ion Maiden and Bombshell licence behind and creating something new with no restrictions.

Why do you care so much about the character? Most people are simply concerned with the gameplay itself. The Half Life franchise is one of the most popular of all time, and the protagonist has zero character. When I think of Duke Nukem 3D, the level design, atmosphere and interactivity are among the first things that come to mind, not a guy who says things every now and then.

I'd prefer Voidpoint stick to the less-is-more approach.

I'm not even sure how you'd give her per personality without giving her a lot more lines + cutscenes, which in turn would detract from the gameplay.

[NNC]

I literally hate when Duke is trying to joke. Please, stay with a serious, "zero personality" approach.

Btw. Shelly looks good.

[xMobilemux]

Micky C, on 07 March 2018 - 02:22 AM, said:

Why do you care so much about the character? Most people are simply concerned with the gameplay itself. The Half Life franchise is one of the most popular of all time, and the protagonist has zero character. When I think of Duke Nukem 3D, the level design, atmosphere and interactivity are among the first things that come to mind, not a guy who says things every now and then.

I'd prefer Voidpoint stick to the less-is-more approach.

I'm not even sure how you'd give her per personality without giving her a lot more lines + cutscenes, which in turn would detract from the gameplay.

I care cause of 2 Reasons.

1:
Duke Nukem did not span multiple games just because of Duke3D, but because of Duke himself, he was a character you kept on wanting to see again, he himself was a massive reason as to why Duke3D became legendary as well as the level design, interactivity and atmosphere.
As for the other characters like Gordon Freeman, he may not have said anything because he didn't have to, what he was was unique enough, a Theoretical Physicist taking on a alien invasion with a crowbar as his signature weapon, how often do you see that in gaming?
Duke didn't need loads of long lines or cutscenes to become a legend and Freeman didn't need to say anything, but they have become memorable for a reason. Same with characters like Lara Croft, Serious Sam and Doomguy.

2: Because I want some more cool female leads in gaming and I was hoping a cut Duke Nukem character could become one, but a generic female soldier with obligatory Build Engine Era Oneliners is nothing.

Yeah the game itself is going to be great and it's good that they're focusing on that. But I guess I'm the only one who was hoping for more than just a one time nostalgia jolt.

[Malgon]

Anyone having the game just dumping back to the desktop with no error at all? It's happened a few times and just twice in ten minutes of playing tonight, so I thought I'd post about it in case it was a known or common issue. It seems to occur when I'm just running around a level while it's been cleared of all the enemies.

[oasiz]

There is a common crashbug that has been fixed but not updated