Just a note about what's going on with AVWW.

[Maledictus]

I'm sure this isn't supposed to be a wishing thread but as we're all wishing anyway: I'd love to see the chunks go. Meaning, you enter and travel the whole thing in one go, no loading between chunks. I suppose that would fundamentally change quite a few game mechanics and is therefore probably impossible but we can dream. It would really make the gameworld as a whole much more immersive.

[Aklyon]

Its probably less a mechanics issue (except for the major thing called 'going north/south', how do you move in those directions in a side-scroller?) and more of a RAM issue. You can only load so much world at once, and in multiplayer you need more loading of lands.

[Maledictus]

Indeed, but that can be addressed. Loads of games do that by streaming content, like Diablo, Titan Quest, etc. I do see however how that can get complicated when dealing with syncing multiplayer, given the random world creation thing.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I get the impression that it's supposed to be the way that it is honestly. I wouldn't doubt Arcen'd be capable of figuring that stuff out for a project that really matters to them, but that's not the only reason why. So much of the game is already very game-mechanic-y. If you really think about it, not much of what happens in the game is really all that immersive at all. Like, the thing I'm thinking of mostly is the idea of being invincible every first moment you have in a room. Why is that there? Well, I know why it's there from a design standpoint, but in the world it makes no sense. If people could become invincible just by passing through a door and not moving, it wouldn't be such an ordeal to survive, right? The game strikes me as being always about the gameplay and not so much about being immersive or 'realistic' even.
...maybe it's the style of the music that does that, actually. The style makes me think of NES/SNES era games that are filled with game mechanics that make no sense and little weird dividing lines in the world and all that.

On my wishlist... I think really would be more detailed customization gameplay-wise, as well (as always, with me) a complete list of everything you have done across all worlds. ALL total deaths, total survivors, chunks explored, all that nonsense. I like stats.

[x4000]

In terms of the game-mechanic-y comment, I would agree.  Immersion is sort of a thing with a game like this, but realism isn't at all.  I particularly like games from the NES/SNES era, and their modern counterparts like Cave Story and so on.  AVWW was designed to fit those ideas; the invincibility that you get from going through a door is the exact same thing that you get in Zelda 1 or 3, actually.  You're invincible in those rooms until you step further into them.  Granted we implemented it differently.

At any rate, I can say with some certainty that nobody here has come particularly close to what we're actually doing.  However, what we're doing is based on the long-term feedback that we've had from everyone.  And we're also really trying to stop, reconfigure, and get back to the original goals we had for the project -- we drifted, heavily.  And while some of the drift was immensely positive and resulted in new innovations for the game, other bits of the drift really were just showing underlying weaknesses in our first implementations of things.

For the new "mode," we're going back to the drawing board to a degree that hasn't been seen with the game since we originally switched it from being top-down.  And no, we're not switching it back to being top-down.   We have Shattered Haven for that.  But this is easily touching more than a hundred thousand lines of code for what we're doing to AVWW.  So far I'm really pleased with the result, but as noted before you'll still be able to play the old/current way if you want to.  We did a lot of really unique things with the current version, and I don't want to just throw that away.  But future development will be going into the new mode, simply because we're not going to have enough manpower to split across both while still doing anything worthwhile in either.

Anyway, it's fair to say you won't have any clue how to play in the new version until you play through the all-new intro mission in it.  Even the controls are different!  Not just on some crazy whim, but because a lot of people have made a lot of really good points about ways the controls could be improved over the last year, and we're finally collating all that.  That's one of the several big parts already done, and it's amazingly better.

And that's exactly how much information I can really reveal at this point.  I figure I owed you folks a bit more at least, but we're still working towards the bigger announcement hopefully next week or the week after.

[Teal_Blue]

  Sounds cool!  Looking forward to the announcement!  Shattered Haven too! 

[Misery]

In terms of the game-mechanic-y comment, I would agree.  Immersion is sort of a thing with a game like this, but realism isn't at all.  I particularly like games from the NES/SNES era, and their modern counterparts like Cave Story and so on.  AVWW was designed to fit those ideas; the invincibility that you get from going through a door is the exact same thing that you get in Zelda 1 or 3, actually.  You're invincible in those rooms until you step further into them.  Granted we implemented it differently.

At any rate, I can say with some certainty that nobody here has come particularly close to what we're actually doing.  However, what we're doing is based on the long-term feedback that we've had from everyone.  And we're also really trying to stop, reconfigure, and get back to the original goals we had for the project -- we drifted, heavily.  And while some of the drift was immensely positive and resulted in new innovations for the game, other bits of the drift really were just showing underlying weaknesses in our first implementations of things.

For the new "mode," we're going back to the drawing board to a degree that hasn't been seen with the game since we originally switched it from being top-down.  And no, we're not switching it back to being top-down.   We have Shattered Haven for that.  But this is easily touching more than a hundred thousand lines of code for what we're doing to AVWW.  So far I'm really pleased with the result, but as noted before you'll still be able to play the old/current way if you want to.  We did a lot of really unique things with the current version, and I don't want to just throw that away.  But future development will be going into the new mode, simply because we're not going to have enough manpower to split across both while still doing anything worthwhile in either.

Anyway, it's fair to say you won't have any clue how to play in the new version until you play through the all-new intro mission in it.  Even the controls are different!  Not just on some crazy whim, but because a lot of people have made a lot of really good points about ways the controls could be improved over the last year, and we're finally collating all that.  That's one of the several big parts already done, and it's amazingly better.

And that's exactly how much information I can really reveal at this point.  I figure I owed you folks a bit more at least, but we're still working towards the bigger announcement hopefully next week or the week after.

So long as it still supports a controller (and doesnt force the use of the cursor for anything other than inventory stuffs) I'll likely be fine with whatever it is myself.   Specifically, the bits of the controller that ARENT the analog sticks.   Always hated those things, really.   99% of the games I play dont even use them.  Keep the lock-on aiming feature, and all is well, at least for me anyway.


Other than that..... have at it, I say

Though, I'm hoping it wont all be TOO different.  I like the platforming, the shooting/dodging stuff, and the random generation.   Beyond that, I'm usually good with whatever you guys do.   I eagerly await this mysterious announcement!   So far, every major change you guys have done to this game has ended up being pretty darn great.

Gotta say, sure has been a darned good time for indie/PC gaming lately.    So much awesome stuff happening during these later months of the year.

[zebramatt]

Sounds to me like it might support a controller even better!

[x4000]

Yep, controller support is getting vastly better.

[icepick37]

Yay! This sounds awesome, Chris. 

[Panopticon]

Yep, can't wait!

[Gemzo]

Honestly I don't remember if it's been said before, but I'm predicting a sort of "story mode" or "arcade mode," personally. That's the sort of thing that could tie together so many new/revamped mechanics.

[goodgimp]

Honestly I don't remember if it's been said before, but I'm predicting a sort of "story mode" or "arcade mode," personally. That's the sort of thing that could tie together so many new/revamped mechanics.

How would an 'arcade mode' differ from what we already have?

[Hyfrydle]

I really hope the game isn't been dumbed down and any arcade mode would certainly spoil the experience for me.

[Mánagarmr]

I really hope the game isn't been dumbed down and any arcade mode would certainly spoil the experience for me.

If you don't like the new, use the old. Chris specifically said that the old way will still be there.