Unfinished: Muffled Warfare 05/06/2018

shhhhhhhh

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Thanks for checking the game out! :)

Genuinely interesting mechanics, if I had one thing I noticed it felt like the bots seem to be almost binary with whether or not they can see you past a certain point of sound visibility, and it seems super low (they can see you very easily). While I guess that's not a huge issue, the game is an indie game so it may end up being that if you wanna play you gotta fight bots so hopefully they can get the bots feeling "good" as it were.

@ilseroth: We are actively working on the bots! :)

"Pwned" was definitely around before DotA. My first experience of it was from the original Counter-Strike beta days, which would have probably been around 2000.

I've heard the same "Pwned" story, but the game was Starcraft, not Dota. Popular custom map had the "typo"

I hope we eventually see some games and other mediums about actual blindness as opposed to echo location-based games and heroes. I realize that’s not what the dev is going for here, but someone exploring digital beep ball or an adventure game based completely around sound and tactile cane traveling with controller rumble would be neat.

@rockaholica@engineno9 "Pwned" is from far before DOTA, Starcraft, or Counter Strike. The first time I saw it used was back in the Quake II days.

I love the concept of this game but it doesn't seem like it's being used to its full potential. Right now it seems like the entire map is revealed 90% of the time. I was picturing a darker and slower paced shooter.

"frag" was a casual military term, but it was a casual military term for "murdering your own officer", since that was often done using a fragmentation grenade.

i doubt it's really used all that much in that context anymore, given its popularity in video-game spaces to refer to any sort of killing.

we use to say "pawned" (chess pawn) in Jedi Outcast alot back in the day of MSN Zone. I always thought pwned was a typo of that.

This looks like it could be really fun with more content and balancing. I'll be keeping an eye on this.

@shagge: thanks! hope to see you around the game!

@sparky_buzzsaw: yeah for sure! We've been talking about a pure binaural game on and off. We'll keep exploring until we find a good way to do it right.

@gattaigames: Cool. In the meantime, from a legally blind perspective, I like the easy visibility of this. White on black is my preferred reading method, but in games it can sometimes be too busy. This seems to avoid that. Really dig this style,

This seems like a pretty sound idea.

Congrats on getting Quick Looked! I can only imagine that getting a bump like that is a huge relief for games that otherwise risk getting lost in the Steam avalanche. Especially MP-focused games.

@sparky_buzzsaw: thanks. We've got this feedback a couple of times, and I'm hoping we can support y'all. I can't guarantee we can do it with our current resources but I'll try.

@shagge: Hahah yeah! For sure! It's doing a slight bump for us, hoping for more to push it past the edge! I'm personally quite invested in the idea, but will need more sales to justify the team's additional work to add a ton more content!

I'm mostly just happy the game didn't break during their playthrough and they seemed to enjoy it!

@so1337: *tips hat*

@sparky_buzzsaw said:

There was In The Pit on XBLIG.

Not enough teabagging emotes 0/5

this looks really neat, hope they expand on it.

btw ben, I think Chambara is the b&w ninja game u are thinking of, I think they did a quick look a couple years ago.

This is just counterstrike!

@jazzcatte: and then it was used by Id in "Doom" as a term to keep track of your kills in multiplayer, and I assume they called it that because you are 'killing your friends". :)

Why would vision that's based on sound be hindered by smoke?

I can tell you that in the early to mid nineties, PWNED, hax0r, etc., were common "leetspeak" or "1337" 0r wh3r3 s0m3 a55hH7 W0u1d d0 sh17 l1k3 7H1s" with random capitals and numbers doubling as letters. The was most popular on #hack on dal and efnet. It then got popular with "script kiddies" and then was used for the hacker culture as a way to poke fun, sardonically, against lesser skilled hackers. So most of the shit people use such as FTW (originally Fuck the World, not For the Win) lol, pwned, etc., all comes from BBS and IRC hacker culture.

That concludes today's lesson.

Man, why would you bring up that trash-fire of a game when there's a better audio-only game out there: Real Sound: Kaze no Regret for the Saturn/Dreamcast.

@jivemind: Just what I also came to comment!

This game sounded a lot cooler when described on the bombcast.

Along with this, to 'own' (in my 90s efnet experience) was to root, etc someone's computer or krad T1 box - you could then say that you now 'owned' them. Eventually that became pwned, and came to mean to beat someone at something or other and be much less impressive

I always wonder what the endgame is for these multiplayer-focused indie games, specifically in such heavily occupied genres like shooters and fighters. Not a criticism or anything, just genuinely curious. Is the goal just to gain some experience? Or is to take an idea, turn it into a game, sell a few copies, and as long as you create a dedicated playerbase, no matter how small it is, consider it a success? Or do some of these developers specifically try to go out and make the next big thing?

I only ask because it seems like such a risky move for an indie studio. Not only because of server costs, but also multiplayer-focused games obviously require other people to play. A year or two from now, regardless of price, why buy it if no one is playing? Whereas a single-player game will theoretically always be playable.

Probably would be better as a mode in a better game, however isn't interesting enough on it's own.
And early-access multiplayer only is just instant no from me, i predict this game won't have any online scene in a few months and might not even come out of early access, like so many other games like this one.

I've always been hoping someone would make a DareDevil game with this kind of mechanic.

@babychoochoo: we know it's risky, but we took the risk to bring something unique to the table. And yep, MP is heavily reliant on its playerbase and that's a big thing we're trying to build, and if we can't do it, we'll take it that the gamers have spoken.

We live and die by your choices, and I think EA is the best way to minimize risk. We put in a product players can try and give feedback on, if at the end of EA we can't build something compelling, we walk away knowing we've done our best.

@vampire_chibi: appreciate the honesty. We'll do our best to convince more players that we're worth taking a chance on, but if we can't, then we walk away knowing we've tried and the gamers said no.

@gortonimo: just waiting for Marvel to hit us up!

@ripelivejam: oh no :<

@jivemind: we've never set out to make "echolocation" scientifically accurate and with the smoke, it's a way to add another dimension to the game where your sight lines are obstructed.

@hunterd78: We are actively working on it! Hope you join us for the ride!

A developer commented above that they're looking at improving behaviour for the bots. If that can be sorted out, then an ability to host your own server (if it's not yet possible) would be next on my to-do list. Either way if the bots are improved then from the perspective of someone who likes Q3 Arena this would be fun.

the pistol reminds me of the HL2 pistol, i think it's the fire rate

not that that is a bad thing. it's not like valve is using that pistol for anything

@benpack I think the game you were trying to remember the name of was Black and White Bushido

Id also wagger something else. What if the idea is so unique like most indies and the idea gets picked up by a bigger company. OK STICK WITH ME>>>>ever heard of a funny game called i dont know....PORTAL 2 and 1. One idea from a little demo pushed into the game of the year. THis idea could be used in halo 6 for a dark level where your stealthing your way around. This idea is great even if its not gonna make fortnite numbers. Also i think if every creative developer thought the way we critcs think with all $ no heart they would never make games unless its AAA and includes the latest trend. Same reason normal dramatic movies exist where MARVEL INFINITY WAR Makes 1 billion in 11 days. Thats as much as 100 successful comedies make in 1 month. Why ever make anything but blockbusters...sadly bad example since most hollywood is more the cash grab we unfairly label games as cause they are copying marvel and only funding action franchises.

I know the joke but If they had the resources and from what i read probably not but this would be a good idea for battle royal since people in battle royal purposely try not to shoot that much and also forcing you to shoot or make noise to see is a good give and take. Plus the last 2 left in a closing circle where everyone is trying not to move or make noise is cool.

Everything chases Battle royal for a quick buck so i see this team not wanting to do that. Dedicated creativity i can respect. I especailly feel this is a passion project and the team believes in the merits of their game among thousands of shooters and juggernauts like PUBG. All the best to the team.

It seems like this needs a different mode than deathmatch because in deathmatch you have to move quickly to get the most kills. If everyone has to move quickly, then the hook to this game doesn't work. Maybe a limited lives mode.

@gattaigames: Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it! Again, apologies if I sounded dismissive or critical in any way. I just find the question of why developers and publishers. big or small, do the things they do to be an intriguing one if for no other reason than to satisfy my own curiosity.

Game has some cool ideas.

Visually it makes sense, but I think it would be really striking if there was more color in the game. When sound reveals things, the colors bleed in and out.

We're mostly inspired by Halo!

Possibly! As we keep working on it!