Age of Decadence - November Update

Vince from Iron Tower Studios has updated the entry for this game on the forums. In it, he talks about how the beta-testing is going, he also talks about designing side-quests. As always, a quote. This time about the design of the sidequest:

So, we've eliminated all 3 and focused instead of developing interwoven questlines with different options and outcomes. The outcome? There is no need to explore the towns, 'cause there isn't much to do outside the faction quests. If you want to walk around looking for spontaneous stuff to do, you're in the wrong game.
In other words, only when we skipped the mindless stuff, did we realize what it was there for. Take Fallout 2, for example. Even though it was inferior to the first game (that's just, like, my opinion, man), it was a well-rounded game with a lot of content. Sure, some quests were silly but when mixed with the good stuff, they didn't seem to bug me that much.

More information.

how about a release date instead of endlessly chasing a developers mal-vision of rpg nirvana?

Originally Posted by cptbarkey
how about a release date instead of endlessly chasing a developers mal-vision of rpg nirvana?

at first I was pretty excited about this game and always read the various developers notes posted here. Now what seems like years later, I couldn't care less about AoD. It seems like they rebuilt the game ten times over and are still nowhere close to release…

I was actually starting to forget about this game…

There is no need to explore the towns, 'cause there isn't much to do outside the faction quests. If you want to walk around looking for spontaneous stuff to do, you're in the wrong game.

Hmm.. Now that's not something I wanted to hear.

Fucking fuck this guy and his fucking vaproware. How about we call the game age of loser ?

@JDR13

What you quoted was the end result of his disdain for Fedex quests
and their ilk. Once the beta testers pointed that out to him, to quote from
the linked article:

"One by one, we added 8 - I don't know how to call them? mini quests? situations? events? something something? They filled in the town, expanded the game world and lore, and gave you a reason to explore."

Personally, I like the sound of that

Hmm… yeah that quote was taken a bit out of context.

Still I'm a bit worried that it's taking them months on end to QA the demo. How long will it take them to QA the actual game?

Originally Posted by Lemonhead
Hmm… yeah that quote was taken a bit out of context.

Still I'm a bit worried that it's taking them months on end to QA the demo. How long will it take them to QA the actual game?

We have been testing since late august IIRC, and currently I wouldn't expect the demo release before mid-late december. The demo is about 15-20% of the full game I believe (3 of 20 locations, but some of the 20 will be more dungeon-type locations). There are also basic game-functions (e.g. we are still missing the journal and crafting) still being added, and that should be done once the demo is done. So at the current pace, I would expect about a year to QA the rest of the game. It takes this long largely because of the highly branching structure which tends to create a fair share of "logic" problems.
They will be taking preorders once the demo is released, and if there are enough, they said they plan to reduce their day jobs and work more on the game, which would speed things up.

I am a bit sad to see the mood swing against AoD, although I can understand that people get frustrated with the long development and endless delays. One could argue that they shouldn't have announced the game until much later, but then I believe that having a community and interaction with it was essential to keep going for so long.

People should be aware that the game is made in the free time of a small group of people with daytime jobs. What I can promise you , as a beta-tester, is that it is not vaporware, and the demo is not that far away.

That said, I think AoD will surprise people, and not everyone will like it. It's not really a classic RPG but something new, as it relies really heavily on the text adventure mechanic. Exploration fans will probably be rather dissapointed (sorry CRPGnut). However, if you can get over that, it does excel at what it does - it has the most intricate branching plotlines I have ever seen in a game, and there is a lot of fun to be had replaying with differnt factions to see how events unfold from another perspective and to try different character builds to see how a different character can solve the quests in different ways. People who like hard TB combat, and love to carefully craft that killer-build that can survive even the toughest fights are also in for a treat.

I am sad to hear about the exploration as well, I think that is a big part of most RPG's.

Originally Posted by conformity
Fucking fuck this guy and his fucking vaproware. How about we call the game age of loser ?

Keep it more civil or don't bother coming back, thanks.

Simply put; patience is a virtue. I'm just pleased that the 'Watch continues to cover this game and update everyone anticipating its release. The over-arching design is especially interesting for Troika and turn based combat fans and so I can only express the hope that bug-smashing process is a smooth and thorough one. (All the best in this endeavour, GBG)

To me good hard TB combat and lots of replay with different character builds are what games are all about…so AoD is still at the top of my list.

I hardly think the mood has swung against AoD. I think the demo will sort out the fans from the non-fans, and that even people who don't like the game mechanics will respect the effort put into it.

Originally Posted by screeg
I hardly think the mood has swung against AoD. I think the demo will sort out the fans from the non-fans, and that even people who don't like the game mechanics will respect the effort put into it.

Hopefully. Its just that lately every newsbit on AoD has gotten comments like those first two. But yeah, the demo will have to speak for itself.

My first comment stems from this: If you are this far in, and still making comparisons of your unfinished games to the greatness of Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, I can discount any hopes of original content, or original thought. I can also further expect that there really isnt any professional direction or production value coming out of this game because it seems to be in a cycle of endless development.

I also think this game will be a product sold, therefore the excuse of "developing" on free time to me is also a poor excuse. The team took the time to put up a store selling various bits of artwork and the such. Criticism is then to me appropirate. Its not open source, its not a community developed project. Get your act together!

Until a December or January update comes along that says we now have some sort of goal of releasing this game in mid 2012 or some other *goal*, I will probably no longer be interested.