About the design

(Joe999) #1

Hi guys,

I’m in the unfortunate situation of having access to the closed alpha, but I don’t have the time to play it. I got the mail about a survey. So even if I can’t comment on the game itself, I can comment on my impression of the game as (relatively) “first time user”.

The design reminds me too much of Brink. Even though I love W:ET and ET:QW and see them among the best games I’ve had the most fun with, I hated Brink. I can’t say what exactly it is that makes me reference DB with Brink, but I guess it’s the textures for one and for the other that all the maps look the same.

I do understand that everything (I guess) takes place in London / GB. But I don’t care about London / GB, that’s for people who live there. It doesn’t mean that I want a map of my home town. It means that I want diversity. I want a town like Goldrush / desert like Oasis / rainy openness Radar / snowy Railgun, etc. Not everything in 1 town.

And then there’s the characters. Why do they all have to look bored or like someone died? Take eg Vassili. His face looks like he’s depressed. I’d rather like to play a mean or friendly or cool character, but not a depressed / sad one.

Then there’s stuff like explosions. It’s 2013 and we still get explosions that look like 2d Sprites.

I know it’s Alpha, but I currently don’t see what lifts this game from any other average shooter. I hope that changes.

Cheers
Joe

ps: I don’t have time to play either in the coming future. So if I occupy an Alpha slot, feel free to give it to someone who has more spare time

(scre4m.) #2

Actually the maps are surprisingly different from each other. Not mainly by their look, but what they play like. Plus with Camden and CanaryWharf we havge two maps coming up with quite a different look.

But mostly I understand your points and agree . But I guess all things you criticized like models, v-effects are all work in progress. So no big deal at this point.

(Seanza) #3

A lot of people have said to me they think this game will suck just because it looks like Brink. It’s obviously impossible for me to tell them otherwise (due to NDA), but since you’re here in the alpha forums, I can tell you that this isn’t the case. Sure the artwork is very similar, but the gameplay is entirely different and WAAAAAAAAAAY better.

As for the map location, it doesn’t really matter to me personally. It’s all about how the map plays out rather than how it looks or its location.

(rookie1) #4

[QUOTE=Joe999;444653]…I do understand that everything (I guess) takes place in London / GB. But I don’t care about London / GB, that’s for people who live there. It doesn’t mean that I want a map of my home town. It means that I want diversity. I want a town like Goldrush / desert like Oasis / rainy openness Radar / snowy Railgun, etc. Not everything in 1 town.

[/QUOTE]

Probably SD could include some maps that feel the type you likes while still in UK…Will see if they can

(potty200) #5

Because it’s set slightly in the future and a “dirtybomb” is said to of gone off it actually doesn’t look like London. Infact, you could call it any city in the world if you changed the sign posts and street names. As for Maps like Radar on ET I am sure that is based on a REAL place.

(Humate) #6

Given this is f2p, and SD will continually work on the game its probably safe to say its not the only city they will be working on.

(sunshinefats) #7

I have to disagree on the gameplay being better…I had a lot more fun with brink than I’ve had here thus far. But of course personal opinions on such matters are going to vary so we can just agree to disagree on that point. :wink:

As for the art style, I think it’s way too similar to brink. And I think that will hurt the game’s sales. I really believe that. People are visual creatures and they’re going to see the art for this game and automatically associate it with brink regardless of how different it may actually be.

If I were the art director here, I would be running screaming in the opposite direction, or at the very least, questioning the logic in going with the same overall artistic style. I would definitely make the style different before it’s too late.

In terms of the character designs thus far, I think they’re very weak. They have little appeal and little to make them unique or cool. They’re just meh.
The maps are passable, but again, have that brink visual style to them that’s going to kill this game’s sales because people will automatically associate it with brink.

(ailmanki) #8

I think the art style between brink and dirtybomb is quite different. Only both games seem to be oversaturated. I think the game would look better and more realistic with less color saturation. Less is more.
And yes give these characters some smile :smiley:

(Humate) #9

As for the art style, I think it’s way too similar to brink. And I think that will hurt the game’s sales. I really believe that. People are visual creatures and they’re going to see the art for this game and automatically associate it with brink regardless of how different it may actually be.

They would have made that association regardless, its the same developer.
But lets assume for now, most dont make that association - they would scrutinise the game on gameplay not art.

(Seanza) #10

This game will be free to play, which hopefully means people will grab it whether they think it looks too much like Brink or not.

[QUOTE=ailmanki;445191]I think the art style between brink and dirtybomb is quite different. Only both games seem to be oversaturated. I think the game would look better and more realistic with less color saturation. Less is more.
And yes give these characters some smile :D[/QUOTE]

Less smile is more smile. Right? :wink:

(ailmanki) #11

[QUOTE=Seanza;445227]This game will be free to play, which hopefully means people will grab it whether they think it looks too much like Brink or not.
Less smile is more smile. Right? ;)[/QUOTE]
Yes - slightly amused would be already better then that depressed state.

(Breo) #12

You killed his teammates/heartbeat sensor? :tongue:

Yeah why he looks so sad :frowning:

(Bangtastic) #13

well i dont think he is sad, but the last thing to be is happy and everything is rainbow and sugar.^^ “oooooh this radiation tickles me, im so happy^^”
its important to deliver this game with a certain amount of seriousness, where nuclear decay is going on is the last place for a joyful playground.

maybe some characters have their doubts, thoughts; some may dont have anything to loose etc. as long it is plausible and not overdrawn its ok.

for me the game is more interesting when there is a range of different stereotypes, not only the one badass/evil badass in 20 variations. (but everything in the borders no crazy/wacky chars^^)

(Mustang) #14

Spoilers :tongue:

(ailmanki) #15

yeah well only crazy / desesperate people would take that job…

(MrEd) #16

One reason characters look so sad is because that’s the best way to pose them for facial rigging. It’s not a current priority but the option is there in the future for us to get full facial acting on the characters using FaceFX which could be used to give the characters subtle emotions or full lip syncing, as seen in games like Mass Effect, if that was ever required.

(scre4m.) #17

Such things are on low priority for a good reason, but some day I’d like to see some nice facial features and maybe the several characters should really have a character.
One reason that made TF2 so much enjoyable for me was the nice (facial) animations and the distinctive character traits of each class. If you just take a look at the meat the team videos you know what I am talking about.

That’s something that would be really cool to have in DB.

(Joe999) #18

It’s not the facial animation that bothers me. On the loading screen there was eg a screen with all characters. They all look sad and pissed. Who wants to interact with sad and pissed people?

For “first time users” this may be a teardown.

(Protekt1) #19

[QUOTE=Joe999;447303]It’s not the facial animation that bothers me. On the loading screen there was eg a screen with all characters. They all look sad and pissed. Who wants to interact with sad and pissed people?

For “first time users” this may be a teardown.[/QUOTE]

War ain’t pretty.

(iwound) #20

well you do keep coming back what choice do we have.