Messages

1

A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: (Valley 1) Un-suit-able

« on: February 26, 2013, 08:49:06 PM »

Wow, 55 views and not one of you could be bothered to reply.

With a usergroup like this it's no wonder the sequel sucks so badly, or why Google searches barely even know Valley 2 exists.

Thanks for nothing. I'm outta here.

P.S. Here's your chance for some indignant fan ranting, now that it's far, far too late.

Perhaps out of those views no one knew the answer? That was the category I was in.

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: Valley 2 Official 1.001-1002 "Mouse Aiming For Those Who Stood And Fought" Relea

« on: February 20, 2013, 04:32:38 PM »

I wouldn't worry if AVWW2 is or isn't featured on Steam very much. I have found that most "popularity" system are a bit too "capacious" to accurately reflect quality.

I would rather judge for myself.

That's great for a discerning video game player with a refine palette like all us Arcen gamer types are but more exposure = greater chance of sales, which I would imagine would be of great important to the people who use the money to pay the bills!

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: Valley 2 Official 1.001-1002 "Mouse Aiming For Those Who Stood And Fought" Relea

« on: February 20, 2013, 12:33:31 PM »

Let me give some quick feedback regarding controls for the game.

I'm a diehard PC gamer, I don't play on consoles and in general can't stand to use gamepads (although I do own one). For someone like me coming to AVWW2, it was very jarring not being able to use the mouse; it just feels natural to have one hand resting on the keyboard and the other on the mouse when sitting down to play a PC game. I did adapt by setting WASD to move and triggering abilities via mouse buttons, but then my brain had to adapt a bit to the fact that my mouse wasn't actually controlling aiming. After 15 minutes, I had settled in just fine, but it was definitely a bit jarring to what I'm used to in games. I've had a few friends bring up the same thing mentioning that they "just wish I could use the mouse". But it's not free aiming they're looking for, just having the ability to play the game with it's current mechanics but being able to angle via the mouse.

This position has just been reinforced multiple times (anecdotal, of course) from the 4-5 people I've spoken to about the control change. Free mouse aim wasn't what they want, they just want to be able to fire angled/upwards shots via mouse movement. Considering this approach doesn't "break the game" like free-form aiming does, I would think this is the better way to go?

I know it's always easy to armchair quarterback, but I really think adding free-form mouse aiming is just going to kick the can down the road a little bit. You'll mollify the reviewers and users who wanted to be able to use their mouse, but I think the complaint is that the game is going to be "too easy" and the spells are "too samey" or whatever.

Look, this is your baby and you know better than I do, but now that I've had a chance to chew on this change a bit I'm really starting to think it was too drastic. I understand your situation with early impression and sales, but the current option is going to be popular because it's how people are used to controlling the game and despite the warning I don't think they'll understand that it's at the cost of completely torpedoing the game design.

If it's at all technically feasible, having angled shots handled similar to a radial menu would really be a better approach in my opinion. As I said above this is all just my opinion and you all most likely know better, but I just couldn't let this go without posting my thoughts because I think it's a mistake.

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: Valley 2 Official 1.001-1002 "Mouse Aiming For Those Who Stood And Fought" Relea

« on: February 20, 2013, 01:04:59 AM »

Oh, I gotcha.  Well, yeah, that's one thing I had considered, but I figured that would not really appease people.  Since I already didn't agree with the change, I figured it's best to go whole-hog with what they want.

If it's not a lot of work and if you ever get around to it, that'd be my preferred method to play, honestly (I had I read via a second-hand post that this was not technically possible back in the beta!). I like the restrictions regarding the angles shots can be fired but being able to set those angles via mouse would be nice. Not necessary, I adapted to using keyboard or gamepad, but +1 vote for wanting a scheme like that.

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: [Blog Post] Valley 2 1.0 Hits Steam, GamersGate With Launch Discount

« on: February 18, 2013, 11:37:45 PM »

Very nice! This may already be known, but the trailer above is not what is shown on Steam currently.

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: Is there any way to change the font size?

« on: February 08, 2013, 04:16:23 PM »

Nope, there's not and can't be -- that causes all manner of problems in terms of sizing the GUI.  What are they having trouble reading, though?

I figured as much, but it never hurts to ask - I'll let them know. Regarding what they're having a hard time reading, I don't know specifically but I imagine it would be most of the text, if you're playing across the room on the couch or whatever.

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Is there any way to change the font size?

« on: February 08, 2013, 04:08:53 PM »

Had someone ask me if there was a way to change the font size so that they could play this from the couch via controller. I wasn't able to find an option in game, so thought I'd ask here.

Thanks!

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / I'm a fan of AVWW2 and Arcen Games, so I had an idea.

« on: February 02, 2013, 11:47:52 AM »

So, I bought A Valley Without Wind for something silly like $10 back in beta which is the cost of lunch at my local deli. While the sandwiches from that deli are indeed delicious, it only provides me under an hour of enjoyment whereas AVWW provided many multiples of that. What I'm trying to say is, it was an amazing deal for what I paid.

When I heard about AVWW2 I was pretty excited. When I heard it was going to be given to me for free, I was shocked. It shows what a stand-up group of guys Arcen Games is that they're giving away their sequel to their fanbase for free, but at the same time I wanted to support this project with my money! After playing around a little bit in the beta, it's definitely something I would have bought were it not given to me for free.

So after pondering the subject for a while, I've decided upon a course of action for myself. Since I'm getting AVWW2 for free despite already getting an amazing deal from AVWW1 and given the fact that the purpose of this project is to reach a wider audience than the first game, I have decided that I'm going to purchase AVWW2 at release and gift it to a friend. If my friend finds it to be a fun game they would have spent the money on, I'm going to ask that he "pay it forward" if he/she feels so inclined, and keep the cycle going. If not, no problem.

Would anyone else care to join me in my little project?

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: Valley 2 Beta .723 "Clinical Study Of Laser Spiders" Released!

« on: February 02, 2013, 11:39:08 AM »

Working on a Saturday, I see. Good luck guys!

(Sorry, I know this isn't contributing anything useful to the thread, but I think you all should be called out and thanked for your hard work every now and then)

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: Soundcloud Player: Valley 2 Theme Song - To One Who'll Stand And Fight

« on: January 31, 2013, 01:03:11 PM »

That's really a fantastic track. Well done, Pablo!

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: AVWW2 - Controls

« on: January 03, 2013, 02:34:00 PM »

As far as the controls being bad, that's part of testing. "These controls are bad, I quit playing" isn't useful information beyond the fact that you were personally put off the game in its current state. Why not go into the options menu, experiment with the controls and see if you can configure them in a way you like? If you can, share what you've discovered. If you can't, again share what you've discovered and give reasons why.

Because, honestly, I'm not trying to be a beta tester for the game, I just poked in out of curiosity. Thanks for clarifying your previous post for me, as someone who just  jumped into the thread (and the forums) after being absent for a while I didn't understand the context of who/what you were referring to, but I do now (and I agree).

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: AVWW2 - Controls

« on: January 03, 2013, 01:45:41 PM »

Eh, who cares about them? Nothing makes that kind of crowd happy once they get going.

If anything they're gonna raise even more hell now. They'll accuse Arcen of removing more options from the game instead of "just fixing it" with mouse controls. Anyone who comes at this beta with an air of entitlement has nothing to add to the discussion in my opinion. Changes should not be implemented to try to bring them in on the game. They've made up their mind and I'll be shocked if anything changes it for them other than just giving them the control scheme that they demand, regardless of the impact on gameplay.

So what are you saying, that there weren't problems with the controls or legitimate criticisms being made in that regard? Honest question, I just jumped into this thread and I'm not trying to put words into your mouth or attack you. I tried the beta only briefly, but the "briefly" part is solely because I found the controls pretty wretched and a big turn-off. I understood why the mouse aiming was done away with and I was okay with that, but the controls were bad. There's no way I would play the game like that, and if Arcen is looking to broaden the appeal of the game over the predecessor that's a pretty important thing to get feedback on, isn't it?

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / All Quiet on the Arcen Front

« on: October 31, 2012, 05:06:20 PM »

Alright, Happy Halloween, you hooligans!

Now that November is right around the corner, do we get any news/updates/tidbits/teases/infodumps regarding AVWW2 beta? Don't give me any silly excuse like you've been busy with the Ancient Shadows release or Shattered Haven development, that'd just be ridiculous and silly. I know for a fact that Chris and Keith have split their brains into multiple VMs that are working non-stop on all these projects, even when other portions of the brain are sleeping, so no excuses!

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: A Valley Without Wind 2 - a full sequel free for existing customers - is coming.

« on: October 22, 2012, 11:59:34 AM »

This is a much more directed title. I wonder if you will find any buyers, or if you have done any focus group work for this. Anyone that was likely to have purchased this kind of a title probably already did with your first version, and for your second version, it's going to be hard to convince people who may have already tried the first version demo and didn't like it. I don't see the return value here, just a fantasy of what could have been.

Move on to shattered haven.

This isn't meant to be a dis, but your comment strikes me as very myopic. There is a veritable sea of potential customers that wouldn't give the game a chance due to the art style - that alone justifies this. As for the gameplay changes, that seems to me to be an evolution and improvement of AVWW1's gameplay, at least from Arcen's eyes (obviously no one else has seen it so we can't judge ourselves yet).

So, much better visuals and improved gameplay - those two bullet points alone don't strike you as substantial enough for a new project, especially in this day and age? I'll be honest, I'm kind of at a loss from where you're coming from on this one.

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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / Re: A Valley Without Wind 2 - a full sequel free for existing customers - is coming.

« on: October 16, 2012, 10:19:24 AM »

Is there another infodump planned, or are you just bundling everything together as a big surprise for the Beta?