Torchlight 2 release date actually announced.

[chemical_art]

Really digging this.

Steampunk is always a plus.

Multiplayer games are set up so everyone has their own loot and enemies at the start are not so strong to cause complete chaos. So you can have bands of players doing their own thing except for bosses which tend to cause team ups.

Music reminds of D2 at times a lot, and gameplay has some connections too despite being a different environment.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I hit act 2 and got some transmutation done. For some reason I'm finding inventory management loads of fun to do. I think I might not be feeling well. Or, it might be the fact that transmuting boring elemental ember into interesting super ember is actually really fun.

[Castruccio]

Really digging this.

Steampunk is always a plus.

Multiplayer games are set up so everyone has their own loot and enemies at the start are not so strong to cause complete chaos. So you can have bands of players doing their own thing except for bosses which tend to cause team ups.

Music reminds of D2 at times a lot, and gameplay has some connections too despite being a different environment.

Same composer from the Diablo series did the music for Torchlight 1 and 2:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Uelmen

[chemical_art]

Really digging this.

Steampunk is always a plus.

Multiplayer games are set up so everyone has their own loot and enemies at the start are not so strong to cause complete chaos. So you can have bands of players doing their own thing except for bosses which tend to cause team ups.

Music reminds of D2 at times a lot, and gameplay has some connections too despite being a different environment.

Same composer from the Diablo series did the music for Torchlight 1 and 2:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Uelmen

Interesting. I see the company delayed the game several times claiming bug testing. Whether the delay was for bug testing or other reasons, I greatly respect them willing to take the short term hit of a delay to ensure the longer lasting benefit of having a positive release, and is something I encourage all game designers to follow.

[tigersfan]

Really digging this.

Steampunk is always a plus.

Multiplayer games are set up so everyone has their own loot and enemies at the start are not so strong to cause complete chaos. So you can have bands of players doing their own thing except for bosses which tend to cause team ups.

Music reminds of D2 at times a lot, and gameplay has some connections too despite being a different environment.

Same composer from the Diablo series did the music for Torchlight 1 and 2:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Uelmen

Interesting. I see the company delayed the game several times claiming bug testing. Whether the delay was for bug testing or other reasons, I greatly respect them willing to take the short term hit of a delay to ensure the longer lasting benefit of having a positive release, and is something I encourage all game designers to follow.

They did have a luxury that some developers don't have though... they had enough money that they could fund their operations fully for a while without having to sell TL2 in order to pay the bills. It's really nice when devs can hold off release to get things right, but unfortunately, that can't always be done.

[chemical_art]

Really digging this.

Steampunk is always a plus.

Multiplayer games are set up so everyone has their own loot and enemies at the start are not so strong to cause complete chaos. So you can have bands of players doing their own thing except for bosses which tend to cause team ups.

Music reminds of D2 at times a lot, and gameplay has some connections too despite being a different environment.

Same composer from the Diablo series did the music for Torchlight 1 and 2:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Uelmen

Interesting. I see the company delayed the game several times claiming bug testing. Whether the delay was for bug testing or other reasons, I greatly respect them willing to take the short term hit of a delay to ensure the longer lasting benefit of having a positive release, and is something I encourage all game designers to follow.

They did have a luxury that some developers don't have though... they had enough money that they could fund their operations fully for a while without having to sell TL2 in order to pay the bills. It's really nice when devs can hold off release to get things right, but unfortunately, that can't always be done.

True, but that opens a whole can of worms of managing finances, editing decisions, etc. If you can't afford to make a game right, start with something smaller I say. Don't make it half arsed.

[chemical_art]

I'll go ahead and cite a game publisher: Paradox Interactive.

They have had a history of wonderful games for their niche, but very many of their games are released buggy, incomplete, or otherwise unpolished.

If you asked me if the choice was that or nothing, I'd choose the incomplete game.

However, their latest in house release, Crusader Kings II, is less in depth then their other games, but after week 1 or so was pretty much bug free and ready to go.

If you ask me whether the initial unpolished game or CK2 was better, I'd say CK2 is better. It has better reviews and delivers in what it promises, and its sales reflect the great game. Further updates have more fully expanded the game, but the base game runs fine on its own.

If you follow the other extreme of "getting out the game if funds run out" you get in Paradox's case Sword of the Stars 2, a game that has tarnished the publisher to this day in derision. Despite being released years ago, it still has harmed the company when it releases a game where consumers think "Is this market ready?"

Even today, Hearts of Iron 3, one of Paradox's more popular games, gets the infamy of "expansions are paid patches" for the base game did not get the attention it needed before release.

[madcow]

CK2 doesn't get a complete pass, it was a very poor case for the mac front. It's had a beta period for awhile, and was given an official mac release several months ago. It's still essentially unplayable on every almost mac (including ones well above min requirements).

[chemical_art]

CK2 doesn't get a complete pass, it was a very poor case for the mac front. It's had a beta period for awhile, and was given an official mac release several months ago. It's still essentially unplayable on every almost mac (including ones well above min requirements).

That issues a whole set of different worms:

Does a perfectly fine windows release but bad mac release = no release at all?

In my case no, I have the system made for games so I don't care, but for other people yes.

It's still better then a game being bad on all platforms though.

EDIT: The vast majority of games get beta, so I don't see how CK2 gets a pass for it did as well.

[madcow]

The mac release was well after the pc release actually. So it wasn't like it was no release at all, it was a case of porting it well after the release and then releasing the port unplayable. Not really related to your original argument, but I had a bone to pick with that example.

I agree that a company can't know ahead of time how much something will cost and that if they can't keep up development indefinitely they shouldn't just give up. That wasn't the case with CK2 port is all.

[chemical_art]

Ah that's a shame that the port was released but unplayable. That is not excusable under any circumstances. It tangentially reflects my view though: If you can't release something right, wait until you have the funds to do so. Something that is delayed a year is better then a shoddy release that is forever tainted for new games, but for ports that's a lot more iffy.

[zespri]

So with pre-purchase of Torchlight 2 a free Torchlight 1 came, which I already had a copy of. I think I can gift it (1 copy of Torchlight 1) since it appears on my inventory tab in steam (although I've never done it before). Any takers?

[Mánagarmr]

While I'm interested in Torchlight and would love to have it...I simply don't have the time, so it's better gifted to someone who will actually play it