Demigod Catch-All

I liked Dungeon Siege, didn't get a chance to play the second, but I'd probably have liked that too. I think Taylors games all have enough quality in them to make them worth while purchases.

More info for Demigod:

Shacknews has a new video up .

Official Website has some new info:

Greetings! With the release of Beta 1 starting to get closer (August) to all those who pre-order the game, we're starting to put together a tentative schedule.

Those of you who have been through other Stardock betas know how these things go. Below is what you can expect:

August. Beta 1. This will not be a "fun" beta. It's a stress test of the engine. Those of you who were in the Sins of a Solar Empire beta or the GalCiv betas know we're not kidding. There will be very little balancing in this version. It will also be multiplayer-only at this stage.

October. Beta 2. This beta won't be that fun either but it'll be better than Beta 1. THIS is the key beta in which players give us their ideas and suggestions. The beta process isn't just to find bugs but to let players suggestion changes to the game. There will be a series of Betas 2 (2A, 2B, 2C, etc.) that will be released in which we begin incorporating player suggestions. These will happen quite rapidly thanks to Impulse.

December. Beta 3. This may or may not be a public beta depending on how things go. What we have done in the past is give players who have been particularly helpful access to late betas so that we can keep tweaking and enhancing with their feedback.

January. Gammas (release candidates).

February. Tentative release date at worldwide retail in multiple languages.

We do plan for the game to be available at stores roughly the same time in North America, Europe, Russia, and Australia/NZ at the very least.

Users who are part of the beta will be getting something special but I am not at liberty to talk about it yet.

Interesting SP & MP mechanic, kinda reminded me of Worldshift wrote:

In classic strategy games such as Total Annihilation and in Supreme Commander the player not only had their usual units but also had a commander -- a very powerful central unit that was particularly lethal and capable of doing many different things.

Demigod, in many respects, is the logical progression of this game mechanic. In Demigod, players choose a hero to be their Demigod in a quest to becoming increasingly powerful.

In individual games that take place in arenas that, in my opinion, are a strategy gamer's panacea (even classic maps like Painted Desert in TA can't hold a candle to some of the cool arenas in Demigod), the Demigod will rise in level as he (or she) gains experience allowing for increasingly powerful abilities.

What is also cool is that outside these individual skirmishes these Demigods grow in power. This has some very important ramifications. Besides making the single player experience much more interesting, it introduces a much better on-line experience.

Let me put it like this: Demigod is aiming to solve some of the most basic problems in on-line gaming: Because your Demigod gets better in a persistent universe, experienced players have an incentive to keep with their hero and its stats rather than "smurfing".

Moreover, it creates a great deal of interesting match-making possibilities. Why not allow the option of someone who is really good at the game with a high level Demigod face off against 3 or 4 opponents online? In Total Annihilation, I regularly would play against 4 or 5 players versus me and that was on a "level" playing field. Of course, players can still opt to the traditional on-line skirmishes where everything starts on the same playing field. But with Demigod, players will have more options.

I am sure I'm not the only guy who remembers the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring (the movie) where Sauron is trashing Elven and human butt and thinking "ooh, I'd so like to be able to do that!" In Demigod you are the Sauron.


Sexy ingame screenshots

So happy that Stardock is publishing this game!

The levels/environments look really, really flat and bland. I get the sense they're setting it up like chess boards or sports arenas rather than sprawling environments that offer more than stones and water to navigate around.

Yeah. Though I thought that sort of "arena" type maps are what DoTA type games are all about? I have never played DoTA before so I have no idea

lethial wrote:

Yeah. Though I thought that sort of "arena" type maps are what DoTA type games are all about? I have never played DoTA before so I have no idea :(

There is only one DOTA map, and it isn't plain by any means. It is probably as engaging as any of the Blizzard made WC3 maps.

My thread got shotdown because I fail at search.

here is a new trailer for the game!

Here is a bigger one! According to some of the comments on the shacknews looks like if you pre-order you in the beta! Too bad I'm savuing for a house.

That's how Stardock usually works. You pre-order, you get to be in the beta.

Certis wrote:

The levels/environments look really, really flat and bland. I get the sense they're setting it up like chess boards or sports arenas rather than sprawling environments that offer more than stones and water to navigate around.

Yes, and it's awesome. Thank god a developer finally figured this out. Cut out the parts that gamers ignore after 30 seconds anyway and focus your development on the gameplay.

I really like the way the levels are done. Very cool backdrops, and then a perfectly symmetrical playing area. One of the biggest problems with DotA in serious play is that the two sides are definitely not equal. Imbalances are all well and good for casual goofing around with friends, but in any game where each team has their own side, I want everything perfectly mirrored across the center so competitive play is fair. Ever lost a ladder game in Starcraft on Lost Temple when you got the 3:00 start and your gas extractor was siege tanked from the cliffs at 2:00? Nothing fun about it.

Definitely pre-ordering this one, I had no idea it was so far along already.

souldaddy wrote:
Certis wrote:

The levels/environments look really, really flat and bland. I get the sense they're setting it up like chess boards or sports arenas rather than sprawling environments that offer more than stones and water to navigate around.

Yes, and it's awesome. Thank god a developer finally figured this out. Cut out the parts that gamers ignore after 30 seconds anyway and focus your development on the gameplay.

I agree to a point. But I'd miss environmental advantages like height, cover and such. Having a bunch of units on a flat plain wailing on each other without a lot of maneuvering could be a recipe for lots of scrums and not much in the way of tactics. We'll see.

Probably worth noting (for the title) that Chris Taylor is not developing this game.

I am more interested in seeing how Space Siege turns out. It has gotten no press and is due out in september.

The no press or hype gives me pause but its not like Dungeon Siege 2 was horribly buggy and broken. At the worst it seems like a refined or streamlined DS2 (instead of a party of henchmen and pets, its one character and one pet) in a science fiction universe. (with the whole man or machine dilemma)

Space Siege looks really cool but who knows what will happen.

I think their approach to tactics is unit-based. I have a feeling that magic and titans will be extremely powerful, meaning you have to be really careful with your infantry. I forsee a lot of baiting and/or switching. Some cats, perhaps some mice.

There was a Myth 2 online map called "Proving Grounds" that was a lot like this. A perfectly flat arena, with lots of units of different speeds, and powerful ranged. It resulted in a lot of waiting. Despite the lack of terrain variety, there was definitely a lot of finesse required to properly lure out your opponent's warlocks/mortars, or at least harry them, so they couldn't decimate your infantry. To a certain extent, level variety can muck with game balance. That can be fun by making things less predictable, but it can also detract from the pure strategy side, as sometimes the winner is just the person who happens to have the high ground when two armies meet.

Check your emails guys if you have pre-ordered Demigod

BETA IS STARTING RIGHT NOW

Stardock Email wrote:

Welcome to the Demigod Beta!

Your preorder has been processed and you now have access to Demigod Beta 1. Here is your registration information:

E-Mail: *blah*
Serial Number: *wouldn't you like to know*

Here is what you need to download and Install Demigod:

I almost missed the email myself, so just wanna give you all a heads up.

Gaming Nexus Interview

From the start we wanted to create a game that captured the essence of games like Team Fortress, Halo, Counter Strike and Defense of the Ancients.

That unpleasant squishiness you hear is the sound of a million eyes rolling.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Gaming Nexus Interview

From the start we wanted to create a game that captured the essence of games like Team Fortress, Halo, Counter Strike and Defense of the Ancients.

That unpleasant squishiness you hear is the sound of a million eyes rolling.

While that line does come off as being very cliche, I do not see what is inherently wrong with it. All of those games listed have a very competitive feel and community to them. They are the kind of games that when I play, I no longer think of them as just casual have fun games, but competitions in which I must beat the other team. I think that is the "essence" he is going for, and as such I applaud him for trying to recreate that. (Of course only time will tell if he actually did.)

Tykl wrote:

While that line does come off as being very cliche, I do not see what is inherently wrong with it. All of those games listed have a very competitive feel and community to them.

For starters, three of them are FPSs... Mostly it's the cliche, though. That's what people roll their eyes at. Cliches.

Got my beta installed and tried out a short game vs. the AI today. So far it looks promising. The engine is nice and I like the balance of the Assassin vs General unit types. This will be a lot of fun with co-op teams ala Sins.

I was on the demigod website and it looks like if you pre-order the game you can get the beta. Has anyone done this or will do this? I am thinking of it. Might be worth it if we can get some people for multiplayer.

http://forums.demigodthegame.com/339540

I have done it and it isnt bad. They did the same thing for Sins of a Solar Empire. You basically play each version of code until release of the final product and then you get the final product. The game is very playable now - both multiplayer and skirmish against the AI.

Is it worth it? Is the game a must buy if you like that genre?

I've played the latest beta a few times and it is shaping up to be a fun game. There are some performance issues - I think a memory leak as it gets really sluggish in the late game with lots of units on the map. Also, still some balance things to be worked out, but I think the final game should be good.

kazar wrote:

Is it worth it? Is the game a must buy if you like that genre?

I play DotA every once in a while, I'm not particularly good at it, but I still have fun every round.

Has anyone played DotA and compared it to Demigod? I understand they're supposed to be alike in nature, but if I AM gonna be playing DotA with a new skin, the $49.00 seem a little steep.

I play a pretty decent amount of DotA and am really looking forward to this game. One reason I'm excited right now is the gameplay video with commentary by Brad Wardell over at Joystiq. It looks like they have a pretty deep character development system and persistent accounts will hopefully deter people from leaving games which is a huge problem in DotA.

Hobbes2099 wrote:
kazar wrote:

Is it worth it? Is the game a must buy if you like that genre?

I play DotA every once in a while, I'm not particularly good at it, but I still have fun every round.

Has anyone played DotA and compared it to Demigod? I understand they're supposed to be alike in nature, but if I AM gonna be playing DotA with a new skin, the $49.00 seem a little steep.

From what I understand by briefly scanning the forums a while back, DoTA devotees have been hotly debating this very question on the Demigod forums for some time now. Here is an old but comprehensible post outlining why Demigod is not DoTA and why the author thinks that is a good thing.

Eh. I don't need it or want it to be DotA, just filling a similar niche. I'm not sure what you would call the genre, but I do feel like it has the potential to support at least a few games so long as they figure out ways to make the community a little more accessible.

Sorry, never got on board with DoTA, so I can't speak to any comparisons, but I've been really enjoying the latest beta build. The game is coming together nicely and I think they are on the right track. It will be a blast for GWJ multi battles.

jakeleg wrote:

Sorry, never got on board with DoTA, so I can't speak to any comparisons, but I've been really enjoying the latest beta build. The game is coming together nicely and I think they are on the right track. It will be a blast for GWJ multi battles.

Do they have a release date yet?

Tkyl wrote:
jakeleg wrote:

Sorry, never got on board with DoTA, so I can't speak to any comparisons, but I've been really enjoying the latest beta build. The game is coming together nicely and I think they are on the right track. It will be a blast for GWJ multi battles.

Do they have a release date yet?

Last I heard, it will be out in April. I think they have closed early access to the beta for pre-orders now so they must be getting close.

The latest 3B beta has officially moved the game into the "hell of a lot of fun" category. MP is a blast. I've tried out most of the demigod classes and they each play very differently from each other and have strengths and weaknesses that you need to consider when playing them.

Here is a video of Brad Wardell showing off some of the gameplay.