Age of Decadence Roundup

Morbus

Morbus

Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
As you may know if you visit their forums, Iron Tower Studio has been showing off quite a few appetizers of Age of Decadence. Besides the Armors and Clothes, the Town Districts and the New Weapons threads, all created by Oscar, Vince D. Weller (aka VDweller) has also recently said something about their team:<blockquote>Nick is our programmer. He's 21 and when he isn't working on AoD, he's studying some computer related crap in a university. He is a brilliant programmer, even if I do say so myself, and before I snatched him he was writing some software and tinkering with databases for different companies. He was under the impression that chicks dig successful and rich programmers, but after I explained [massive persuasion check] that poor, indie RPG (nerd alert!) developer is what every girl wants, he was happy to join my elite crack team.

Oscar is the visual guy. He's also very talented (just look at what the guy does) and passionate about games and RPGs in particular. He's 25, got a Masters Degree in some unrelated-to-RPGs crap, a boring daytime job, and a his ex-girlfriend's cat. It's a long story. Before we lured Oscar with fake promises, he was tinkering with games and mods, improving visuals of Oblivion, Rome: Total War, and Civ 4. Oscar's efforts were noted and his units made it into Civ 4: Beyond the Sword, which is kinda awesome.

Rami creates models out of pictures I show him, and Ivan animates them. Ivan's 26 and he is a tech support guy who hates his customers. Rami is 23 and he is in a construction business, working for his uncle. [Italian accent] It's a family thing. [/accent]

As for me, I'm the designer (i.e. if you don't like the story, quests, dialogues, characters, game systems, game flow, you send me an angry letter). I'm 37, married, two kids. I run sales - Vice-President, Sales & Marketing - for an advertising company. I tell you what cars to buy and what shoes to wear. If it sounds like fun, it's not. I'm responsible for 2 mil/month revenues and I'm sick and tired of that. If AoD sells enough, I'll start making games full time.</blockquote>We’re all hoping it does. And since nothing’s ever enough, Vice also posted a snippet pic of AoD’s upcoming trailer:

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Nice. AoD looks really promising, though I don't really like the whole Roman Empire, knights and swords type thing.
Will definitely buy it anyway :)
 
Bah, I trust VD. From what I've heard, it'll be amazing. Gonna pre-order it if I have a chance.
 
repbomb said:
(...) though I don't really like the whole Roman Empire, knights and swords type thing.
Click to expand...

Just like me.
I'm more into futuristic restart of life. Or something with humanoid cyborgs or robots or.. meh.
 
i dont like the playmobil-ish graphics style...

just look at the characters, they look very amateurish.

the whole game looks amateurish... but it still could get a really cool game. looks like the gameplay will be good and that's an important point.
 
Well....yea, it looks amateurish. They're using an engine that hasn't been updated since about 1996. Even by the graphics standards of two or three years later, it looks pretty crappy, and they acknowledge that in one of the sections of AoD's website.

Regardless of the graphics, it looks great, and I really do hope they pull it off. If they do, I'll buy a copy. Despite the fact that I've got a Mac. It's just a good idea to help out people who are actually trying to make interesting turn-based RPGs.
 
While I don't think the 3D is that bad, the interface designer certainly needs a little bit more education when it comes to graphical contrast.

Intentional or not, the lack of visual distinction between some of the interface elements and the background is an eye-sore.
 
When I look at those screens, a one, important question comes to my mind...
Will it work on my computer?
Does the author expect me to drop all items from my dreaded shopping list and go and buy myself a new graphics card, or some other similar shit instead?
 
Considering what we have seen of the graphics so far, it shouldn't eat through your performance like crazy.

Bad programming can go a long way -- C&C Generals wasn't much of a looker, but it ate memory and cycles like a starved catwalk model.
 
These screenshots look like they could benefit from pure renderer improvements,i.e. shader effects. Since the engine is 3D already, some research in shader post-processing could make a huge difference in displaying the existing assets. One thing that comes to mind is reflective floors... but I am sure there are other touches that could be eventually applied.

In the end, however... it's all about gameplay.
 
shihonage said:
In the end, however... it's all about gameplay.
Click to expand...
Yes it is. What do reflective floors matter when they are talking about personallity stats and how camera should work and stuff like that? I mean, damn! I think I'm a bit "spoiled" because of bethesda's hate towards every single person that plays games, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised to see actual developers work and talk and argue with the community.
 
Ashmo said:
Considering what we have seen of the graphics so far, it shouldn't eat through your performance like crazy.
Click to expand...
I hope :) ...

Hmm...
Could someone ask someone from their forum staff to activate my account, please? I haven't got the activation email even after asking for resending...

Ashmo said:
Bad programming can go a long way -- C&C Generals wasn't much of a looker, but it ate memory and cycles like a starved catwalk model.
Click to expand...
Heh :) ...
Last version of Omega Syndrome was a nightmare - it's excruciatingly slow even on my mothers dual core with 1GB of Ram XD .
People should really pay more attention to making the games work as fast as it's possible.
 
shihonage said:
These screenshots look like they could benefit from pure renderer improvements,i.e. shader effects. Since the engine is 3D already, some research in shader post-processing could make a huge difference in displaying the existing assets. One thing that comes to mind is reflective floors... but I am sure there are other touches that could be eventually applied.
Click to expand...
I think I remember Elhoim pointing out the lack of support for specular maps in TGE 1.3, the version they're using. I suppose it isn't too likely it'd support shaders either, then.
 
Morbus said:
shihonage said:
In the end, however... it's all about gameplay.
Click to expand...
Yes it is. What do reflective floors matter when they are talking about personallity stats and how camera should work and stuff like that? I mean, damn! I think I'm a bit "spoiled" because of bethesda's hate towards every single person that plays games, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised to see actual developers work and talk and argue with the community.
Click to expand...

As gamers, WE don't care about reflective floors. As developers, THEY might care about ideas which satisfy both of these requirements:

a) don't take much time to implement, because they're all done by the renderer, as opposed to redoing existing art assets
b) improve the overall appearance significantly

The reason they might care as developers, is because the little time spent on the improvements may pay off as throwing a bone to the publishers, most of whom, let's face it, judge the book by its glossy cover first and contents second.

EDIT:

pkt-zer0 said:
I think I remember Elhoim pointing out the lack of support for specular maps in TGE 1.3, the version they're using. I suppose it isn't too likely it'd support shaders either, then.
Click to expand...

Okay then, I guess it's not happening. It doesn't make a difference to me - the game I've been playing recently the most is Battlezone from 1998, and it's as fun now as it was then :)
 
Right. Because glossy always looks better.


I am amazed that so many people complain about the graphics, but I guess this isn't a Spiderweb fan forum.
 
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