Yet another "a couple of questions thread"

[kof91]

I just stumble upon AVWW today, download the demo and so far it is very impressive.

I did a search on the forum and found that existing user that buy within the beta period will be able to move to steam if Valve is willing to have AVWW. That is certainly another plus point for me to buy.
What if I buy from Gamersgate but not direct from Arcen Games, will I still be able to move over to steam?

Just how big is the generated world in terms of game play hours? I didn't see any option to select the size of the generated world., nor any option to select customization of the world.

Will you add more character? female charater? right now I think I can only select male character?

(I think these questions is probably answered before elsewhere but since I am asking might as well)

[tigersfan]

First off, welcome to the forums! I'll try to answer some of your questions.

I don't know about the gamersgate question, I'll leave that one for Chris, the lead programmer.

As far as how big the world is, it's infinite. The world is broken up into continents, and as you defeat the overlord on one continent, another one is created. There will always be more continents if you want to keep playing.

We do plan to add more characters, that said, there are female characters in the game now, and many different looks/types now. But, in order to use them in-game, they have to be unlocked. This is done usually by rescuing NPCs during missions in the game.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

[Terraziel]

We do plan to add more characters, that said, there are female characters in the game now, and many different looks/types now. But, in order to use them in-game, they have to be unlocked. This is done usually by rescuing NPCs during missions in the game.

I will also note, because it's not implicit in what tigersfan said, the characters you get to choose from are a random selection, so there is no guarantee of you being able to choose a female character, nor a male character for that matter.

Edit: because I'm here.....

Just how big is the generated world in terms of game play hours?

As tigersfan said continents will keep spawning for however long you wish to play, but as a more basic point depending on how you play each continent can take a 4+ hours to complete, emphasis on the "+" I imagine. I've been enjoying the game to much to question how much time i have been playing.....

[kof91]

First off, welcome to the forums! I'll try to answer some of your questions.

I don't know about the gamersgate question, I'll leave that one for Chris, the lead programmer.

As far as how big the world is, it's infinite. The world is broken up into continents, and as you defeat the overlord on one continent, another one is created. There will always be more continents if you want to keep playing.

We do plan to add more characters, that said, there are female characters in the game now, and many different looks/types now. But, in order to use them in-game, they have to be unlocked. This is done usually by rescuing NPCs during missions in the game.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

Infinite? Then how do I win the game? or just like any sandbox.. there is no real "win"? 
I presume that each continent unlocks it gets progressively harder.

We do plan to add more characters, that said, there are female characters in the game now, and many different looks/types now. But, in order to use them in-game, they have to be unlocked. This is done usually by rescuing NPCs during missions in the game.

I will also note, because it's not implicit in what tigersfan said, the characters you get to choose from are a random selection, so there is no guarantee of you being able to choose a female character, nor a male character for that matter.

Interesting ways of choosing character. So to choose a male/female character I have to start a new game and hope that it was randomized? I tried again seems to be giving me the same list of character, maybe I have not unlock any character yet. I am still playing the demo as of now. Waiting for the answer regarding the Gamersgate purchase.

Thanks for the answers, I hope to join the "beta" bandwagon real soon

[Terraziel]

Technically you could keeping just abandoning your character till you get one you want, rather than the world itself.

Whilst not getting harder as such there is content that isn't unlocked until you have played through X continents. for example some regions don't exist until you are on your 2nd or 3rd continent.

[kof91]

Edit: because I'm here.....

Just how big is the generated world in terms of game play hours?

As tigersfan said continents will keep spawning for however long you wish to play, but as a more basic point depending on how you play each continent can take a 4+ hours to complete, emphasis on the "+" I imagine. I've been enjoying the game to much to question how much time i have been playing.....

That's where Steam comes into play to track the hours.

Technically you could keeping just abandoning your character till you get one you want, rather than the world itself.

Whilst not getting harder as such there is content that isn't unlocked until you have played through X continents. for example some regions don't exist until you are on your 2nd or 3rd continent.

Thanks, I will definitely try this method next time.

[tigersfan]

Technically you could keeping just abandoning your character till you get one you want, rather than the world itself.

Whilst not getting harder as such there is content that isn't unlocked until you have played through X continents. for example some regions don't exist until you are on your 2nd or 3rd continent.

Actually, it does get harder. As you move to each continent, more mechanics are unlocked, and, for at least the first four continents, there is more to do on each one, making each one harder.

[Terraziel]

Actually, it does get harder. As you move to each continent, more mechanics are unlocked, and, for at least the first four continents, there is more to do on each one, making each one harder.

Yeah, but it's not harder in the "enemies do more damage or have more health" sense of harder. Which is what i was trying to get across.

[tigersfan]

Actually, it does get harder. As you move to each continent, more mechanics are unlocked, and, for at least the first four continents, there is more to do on each one, making each one harder.

Yeah, but it's not harder in the "enemies do more damage or have more health" sense of harder. Which is what i was trying to get across.

Fair enough. This is correct.

[x4000]

Regarding keys from GamersGate or Impulse or anywhere else, we keep track of all of those and those would be part of the list we'd give to Steam if Steam accepts the game (fingers crossed on that one).  That's how it has worked for every one of our other games, all of which are on Steam.

For male/female characters:

1. There are approximately equal numbers of each throughout the game, but not on a per-time-period basis.  The first time period only has I think two female models to maybe 6 male models, and that makes it feel female-barren at first.  I aim to fix that by 1.0.

2. Some other time periods, like industrial for instance, have only female models at the moment.  So it really varies a lot.  The longer you play, and the more time periods you unlock characters from, the more likely you are to always have a female somewhere in your lineup.

3. If you start with a male and then later want a female (or vice-versa), you can use glyph transfer scrolls.  But at any rate, making sure there are adequate female starting characters at all times is definitely a goal of mine, it's just kind of random chance that's not already the case.

Cheers!

[kof91]

Regarding keys from GamersGate or Impulse or anywhere else, we keep track of all of those and those would be part of the list we'd give to Steam if Steam accepts the game (fingers crossed on that one).  That's how it has worked for every one of our other games, all of which are on Steam.

For male/female characters:

1. There are approximately equal numbers of each throughout the game, but not on a per-time-period basis.  The first time period only has I think two female models to maybe 6 male models, and that makes it feel female-barren at first.  I aim to fix that by 1.0.

2. Some other time periods, like industrial for instance, have only female models at the moment.  So it really varies a lot.  The longer you play, and the more time periods you unlock characters from, the more likely you are to always have a female somewhere in your lineup.

3. If you start with a male and then later want a female (or vice-versa), you can use glyph transfer scrolls.  But at any rate, making sure there are adequate female starting characters at all times is definitely a goal of mine, it's just kind of random chance that's not already the case.

Cheers!

Since all existing games already on steam, chance should be very high. That is very good customer service, I didn't expect that for all Arcen Games titles across distribution platform. I saw the drm requirement over at GG is "other drm". Which means it is custom drm by the developer. Even for AI War the information given is "other drm".

For no 2 and 3, the only thing left for me to do is to get the games and then play it. Glad to hear that there will be a balance of female char on the final version.

Honestly I haven't had much forum that respond so fast, from fellow gamers, administrators and even the founder. I am impressed by the passion and dedication.

Just purchased AVWW yay!

Found a bug I think, when starting demo on windowed mode, the dialog box for license key there is no text on the 3 buttons.

[keith.lamothe]

I saw the drm requirement over at GG is "other drm". Which means it is custom drm by the developer. Even for AI War the information given is "other drm".

It means that the game requires a serial key to be entered before the trial version turns into the full version.  That's the full extent of it.  But we can't literally say "none" because, well, it does ask for a serial key   But that actually lets us improve the overall customer service: this way the demo and the full game can be literally the same application, and folks wanting to try the demo don't have to wait for us to rebuild the demo version after every new update, etc.

Found a bug I think, when starting demo on windowed mode, the dialog box for license key there is no text on the 3 buttons.

Hmm, I've never heard of that one.  I just tried to load up the game to tell you which button is the "unlock" one, but my dev copy isn't loading properly right now   Josh, are you able to reproduce the blank-buttons thing?

[kof91]

Here is the screenshot http://i.imgur.com/G7aMU.jpg

But not a problem, I jus hit any button and went into main menu, then I went settings and registered it.

[keith.lamothe]

But not a problem, I jus hit any button and went into main menu, then I went settings and registered it.

It's definitely a problem in that we don't want anyone to get that as their first impression   But your flexibility is appreciated and I'm glad you were able to find a solution.  So when you opened the license key window from the settings window it looked the same as the one in the screenshot except it had text?

Chris, is it possible that the underlying image used for the sprite text of the specific font that's used on those buttons was not loaded yet?  The "Main Game License Key" text above that drew just fine, so probably not that, just checking.

[Bluddy]

Yeah there's some bug there. Occasionally I'll start AVWW and there won't be any writing in the textboxes. One time the main screen wouldn't show up. This happens to me in windowed mode on OSX, usually when I start the game, alt-tab to something else, then come back.