Are there any plans to boost the game?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Jorhoto, Jul 2, 2018.

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  1. Meccanica

    Meccanica Avatar

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    That is probably true, and I tend to agree with you, my expectations may be set to high. I am not having any problems with the machine as Brugas continues to insist. It may be how the engine is being handled, but for example turning on and off peripheral lighting (Which to the developers credit has a stern warning about performance impact) has a massive hit on frame rate, but was a feature they touted when SOTA came out. And as Woodchuck has said its because I refuse to dial it back, that is true. I feel like the scenes should be fully rendered at this point in the software life-cycle and I should not have to sacrifice quality to play the game. BUT you guys are solely focusing on ONE of my complaints with re-gaurds to the frame rate.

    I also mentioned wall clipping, for example I get out of a chair and am stuck in a wall (still after years? this is BS I should not have to deal with), or my son's machine which is significant as well, crashing multiple times yet he runs tons of other titles without issue. Look guys, I am not a hater, as I stated I literally grew up playing these games and they are an important part of my childhood, into young adult hood even. I also mentioned the game-play itself, which many people have commented on, its slow, quests take way too long to complete, etc. My point was not to bash on the game, nor defend my preference to have it run as it should on serious hardware. My point is to state as an enthusiast and someone who has played every game from the beginning I am pretty disappointed. [​IMG]
     
  2. Floors

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    I certainly understand how you feel, because I too am an Ultima fan, and I've certainly had waves of disappointment because of this game and certainly experiences with others. I've also met many of the people behind this game and know they're good people with the best of intentions for it and the same passion we have.

    Your comments about dialing back things are a little confusing - you know peripheral lighting is a feature that is designed to work with you know, lighting up peripherals like keyboards (the Razer keyboards that light up the keys and other mice, etc) and nothing to do with the graphics quality ? You should definately turn it off if you don't have a lit up keyboard that supports it.

    Honestly, the game's graphics don't really look too much different with various whistles. I think shadows make the most difference... and beyond that resolution, to a point. there is very little difference between 1440p and 5k and 1440p and 1080p anyway. Anti-aliasing also looks to make little difference to me and it doesn't cause much of a hit to me either.

    Clipping in Sota is pretty bad at times but it's not like other games don't clip. I've seen clipping in alot of games - they're 3D games, it's a limiation they have. Worse are bugs I've seen like your encumberance not caclulating correctly, the game slowing down after extended play, crashes, and I swear I was crafting today and not gaining experience.... but perhaps I don't understand the reason behind that. It's a complex game. You just use /stuck when it happens and the devs hopefully fix those areas.

    Anyway I wish you the best on this holiday weekend and finding a game that you can truly enjoy.
     
  3. Blackghost

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    You nailed it.
    As of EP2, the game doesn't have a good reputation outside this forum. So I doubt they would be able to get a successful Kickstarter for EP2 , plus the small player base that SOTA have wont be enough to support an another chapter and honestly , I don't know how they can fix the situation.

    First step would be a post from the devs, explaining what's the plan for a near future.
     
  4. Meccanica

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    You too!! Just one correction, as I mentioned I have a full razer setup (everything lights up and works with lighting, mouse, keyboard, even custom desk lighting). Perpherial lighting works when on, but crushes graphic frameratre (known issue).
     
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  5. Jorhoto

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    17M budget is not indie at all. Indie budget is like what you could obtain after mortgage your house to do the development.
    Regarding engines, there are plenty of AAA engines for free (Unreal/Crytek), where you just pay a royalty after benefits.
     
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  6. Lord Tachys al`Fahn

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    Yeah, no.

    If this game were developed 5-6 years ago and released in 2014, you could consider it a triple a budget (assassin’s creed). For something that started development for years ago or a little bit before that, and was released now, 17 million is pocket change.
     
  7. DeadnGone

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    Nope, still an indie game. All that money wasn't there at the beginning. The money was used gradually over the years as they got it to pay for the game, each developmental part of the game and payment for staff. It's been posted before for transparency. There are no big publishers or promoters either. Unreal/Crytek isn't free... as per your statement. Still a 5% royalty on gross revenue per quarter and that offer wasn't available til 2015. CryTek had there affordability plan come out in 2016. I'm pretty sure they chose what they could afford prior to this. I would love to see this game in an Unreal/CryTek engine, but they'd probably have to rebuild it from practically scratch.
     
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  8. Floors

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    Indie refers not to the size of the budget, but to whether the development studio is a massive company like Electronic Arts or not, which is a large, publicly owned corporation traded on the Nasdaq.

    This game was crowdfunded, and it would not exist without us. It's not a rich game by anymeans and it boggles my mind when people still say "it's got a lot of money and should have done x thing and y thing".

    I actually know of 0 other games that allow me to do what sota does. Whether that is enough for the lofty dreams of the fanbase, well, I think we know the answer to that.
     
  9. Mykll

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    What is the exact dollar amount that a game needs to cross to go from indie game to AAA game?

    Also, one definition of an indie game is the fact that they have no publishers, or self publish. Portalarium has multiple publishers. So not indie.

    There is no single clear cut definition, black and white, on what makes a game, or company, indie or not.
     
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  10. Floors

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    Well, if you want to get into money, Skyrim was developed for 80 million dollars, and was just a SP game, in 2011. There's been 7 years of inflation since then, so I doubt you could do it for that much. But if you wanted sota to approach those levels of fidelity, etc, I would think it would take about 200 million. Star Citizen raised comparable money and we'll see what happens with them, too.

    Let's say you need a staff of 100 competent technical people and they cost on average 100,000 a year. In 2 years of development that would cost you 20 million dollars just to pay their salaries, not including the company's rent, other obligations, server costs, maintenance costs, hiring costs, etc. So it could add up quick. And some people will surely be paid more than that.

    Look at the Elder Scrolls Online:

    "ZeniMax announced today that it has recieved a $300 million USD investment from Providence Equity Partners Inc for convertible preferred ZeniMax stock. This cash will be used to fund its newly formed online division (headed up by former Mythic Exec Producer Matt Firor) plus develop and publish future games as well." -- that was back in 2012.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2018
  11. DeadnGone

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    What publishers? Their own publishing company they started up? All independent. There is no major backing from companies. All crowd funded. True there is no set-in-stone definition of indie games, but these things are generally considered part of it and that would make SotA an indie game... unless you think they are secretly getting backing from a major company?
     
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  12. Floors

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    Lol, it's like, I don't know why people want to argue Shroud is not indie, it so, so is. It even looks like an indie game. Game development is going the way of the movie industry. It's expensive. That's why there's all this consolidation and you see Far Cry like 8 times even though nobody asked for it... because tried and true works and is less risky.
     
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  13. DeadnGone

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    It's like they haven't even played or witnessed the game develop over the past 5 years...
     
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  14. Preachyr

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    Travian, Black Sun, both of which infused sizeable amounts of cash into Port in order for publishing rights in there respective territories.

    I mean... have you so quickly forgotten about Cerus? :p
     
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  15. DeadnGone

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    Lol, what "sizeable" amounts? They are small groups, small enough to be indie themselves, one catering to RU/Baltic regions for what the pay system there? I forget the details (Blacksun Games Publishing) and the other for EU/Germany? These arent major companies or putting big backing numbers. Small teams, partnerships, no major backings.
     
  16. Mykll

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    Exactly. It's like they haven't witnessed the game develop over the past 5 years.
     
  17. Preachyr

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    You asked what publishers, i told you.

    Are those goalposts getting heavy?
    :rolleyes:
     
  18. Canterbury

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    Forget Travian and Black Sun, wasn't there about 700K raised through SeedInvest which was meant to be all marketing?

    Either Facebook advertising has gotten more expensive than when I was using it to promote a blog I used to do, or... well, let's not speculate.

    Maybe someone from Port can comment? 700K is a sizeable amount of money.
     
  19. DeadnGone

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    Re-read what I said and put it in perspective. You're missing the major backing. Again... still indie, still minor, no major cash flow coming in and no major companies publishing, promoting, producing the game.
     
  20. Ravicus Domdred

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    what are you guys bickering about in context of the OP? Indie or not, who cares? What you should be worried about is the lack of players, what makes players leave, and how to get more, hence forth the OP.
     
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