This game will be DoA if they charge money for it. As it stands, everyone just looks at the game and think it's a Fortnite clone which they can play for free. Don't make the same mistake Battleborn and Lawbreakers did.
One of the devs already said it will not be f2p in Discord. I talked about how I have some skeptic friends but they said the steam refund feature is easy to use if they end up not liking the game. /shrug
I also wanted it to be f2p. I don’t mind buying but I know my friends will.
That's unfortunate because I already had extreme difficulty getting my friends to play with me (none except for one did) during a F2P weekend.
So the fact that its going to cost money will ensure my friends will never play it lol.
I know how you feel. I feel like I’m going to have to be the one fronting the cost for them just to have them play with me and it sucks. I really want this game to thrive and grow but I think this may have been the wrong choice - especially when a portion of the playerbase hearing about us is going to already be playing with giants, PUBG and Fortnite. Fortnite is doing great with it’s cosmetics and Battle Pass. Pubg costs money but had great success with advertising and hype through word of mouth & influencers playing the game. (streamers). So far, we don’t have that yet — with the exception of being featured on a couple influencer streams on Twitch.
I will not even bother myself to buy a game to try it, telling myself i can get a refund xD If i can't test the game for free, i don't buy it. Mostly, i try games on friend's account, in example. Or cracked, aka subnautica, i tried it, then i bought it cause it was great.
this game is completely different from fortntie. I hate the fact that ppl just assume it's a fortnite just because it's cartoon. I think when people are making more videos about this game, they will start to see it's a different game with a different gameplay.
it looks absolutely nothing like a fortnite clone, and it plays nothing like a fortnite clone... do us all a favor and quit your angel dust habbit.
- no guns
- crafting
- 10 players
- a director that messes with the match
- no loot crates F2P monetization
...do I keep going?
Read what I said. **I'm** not saying it is a Fornite clone. I'm saying that it's what most other people will think at first glance; they're not gonna bother to look into it any further. They are gonna see BR game with cartoony graphics and think Fortnite.
I received an [e-mail](https://www.dropbox.com/s/f6gaajn9w81h9gd/Screenshot%202018-03-01%2011.23.51.png?dl=0) today stating it will be $14.99 and releases March 9th.
i wish them to make the right choice : to compare with another game releasing, Dauntless : 800.000 unique people who registered for beta, 15k on their reddit. Now the hype is over, player base rapidly decreased, only 100 concurrent viewers/daily when it was thousands when hyped. The game still cost 40$, they try some 50% sales to make people coming.
On the other side, we have 19k unique players on the open beta, for 1200 reddit followers. We already found ourself playing with same people on regular basis, 900-1000 concurrent players on a hyped open beta wee-kend.
IMO this question is still the most important in order to know if we keep waiting for this game or move somewhere else.
What a fantastic game I loved it so much!
I have a few questions/suggestions such as:
1)Will you bring in a way to craft healing supplies?
2)Will deer be the only animals we can hunt down?
3)Would you consider having tracking limited to the zone an item has been found in? or maybe a limit around 200m?
4)Could you implement dead spectators being allowed to vote? (I only ask this because a twitch streamer used the voting system, it was super fun, but he was the only one out of the 15 hours I played)
5)Have you been trying to implement new obstacles in players paths something like hail storm, blizzard, or something along those lines?
6)Maybe you could make it so the director can drop an arena around players and the arena doesn't go away until the director says or a life is taken.
I hope to see your game on steam soon!
Thank you for the good words!
1) We're always experimenting, but we haven't found a way to implement this and maintain the tension in the game.
2) I'd like to see more robo-animals, but for now the deers are it.
3) I think the way they are presently gives a more dynamic game.
4) That could be a possibility for sure, it's a good idea.
5) It's a good idea.
6) I like the way you think! :)
The game comes very very soon indeed.
turkfoot, i think a way to heal yourself is need. but to keep the heal packs more awesome. i think a craftable bandage that like stops your bleeding and heals you slowly over time would work. so that the more rare healthpack is still that quick heal solution,
Hi, big fan of the game! I just have a few questions to ask:
1) since this the last open beta, when is the game planned to release or enter early access?
2) how much is the game planned to cost and if it's going to be f2p how do you plan on monetizing the game? Will there be loot boxes?
3) I feel as though biggest thing that needs be looked over is the problem director, some measures already have been done about cheating , but lots of people don't like that director can directly affect the outcomes of fight and that the rating system is subjective so is there plans on working that out or any big changes ?
Will there be hostile animals such as bears (mechanical ones, as bears are extinct)? It would be fun if the show director could spawn those to chase players out of a specific zone.
Hi, thanks for doing this AMA!
Will there be a Challenges/Missions system implemented?
Similar to Fortnite where completing objectives progresses you to unlock better rewards. Really looking forward to all the different cosmetics items possibe in this game and a great way to keep me personally interested is having many challenges making me use all the different items and power ups possible.
I like the idea, there is often a huge sense of euphoria for performing these feats to achieve something in the game. Right now we are focused on presenting the core gameplay to you guys, but at some point we like to look into these ideas too.
Hello! Just want to say that I love your game already. I have played games all my life, maybe only 3-4 games I have played for years at a time without getting bored. I feel like your game will be one of these for me.
Anyway! onto my questions.
1) Ranked matchmaking! I understand the game is only just releasing but is this aspect being considered? Can we expect to see this in the future?
2) Right now the mechanics of the melee combat and the bow are amazing and what I like most about the game I think. I hope you are not but, can we expect these features to be changed in the future?
3) Last question, how does one become a moderator? I'd love to help out on a more advanced level if possible.
Thanks! We put a lot of love into the game. :)
1) We are considering it, yes.
2) The axe and bow combat is a system we tweaked a lot, I think it feels very good right now. We'll be careful if we iterate on it.
3) Come to our discord and talk to us. :)
Are you worried that you will not get an enough large player base. According to steam database your all-time peak was just 3,707.
Although I loved the game and I played as much as I could trough the open beta these numbers don't seem too good currently.
There is a leaderboard with Official Rating that resets weekly if you like to see how you perform. :) Also, since we have the Private Match feature, our fan community on Discord are often keen to organize Darwin Project tournaments, do hop in to hang out! https://www.discord.gg/darwin
Here are my questions, thanks for answering!:
1: What are your plans for skins and character customisations if any? Things like animated show director skins would be amazing.
2: Do you think you would ever add a map creator for people to make maps and play them with their friends?
3: What are your coolest ideas you have thought of adding to Darwin Project? (The ones that you can tell us about)
4: Is there ever going to be a cinematic or something like that explaining the backstory of Darwin Project?
5: Are you going to be able to start private matches without needing to have 10 players, because then you can 1v1 your friends, do challenges, do 2v2s etc.
6: What are your thoughts on adding even more powers to the show director? Something like start an arena fight with 2 people if they are close, spawn snow storms, spawn lootboxes etc.
1. We definitely want to reward players for playing our game for a long time, and I think skins and character customisations is a good way to do that. No plans to share at the minute though as we are dedicated to build the foundation for the gameplay first.
2. It could be a possibility if the game becomes really popular. Modding on Source SDK is how I get into the industry anyway, so it is something special to me. But it is hard to do right now.
3. Hard one to answer. Because the coolest ideas made it into the game anyhow! ;) Well, personally, I like to play mind games, so I feel a way to keep certain abilities/mechanics secret to everyone else (SD, Viewers, Other Players) could be cool. If executed well, I like the player to reveal it like a trump card midway in the match to create dramatic moments. No concrete ideas how it could work yet though. ;)
4. We actually have some silly videos. But if you are interested in the backstory, here's a funny blog post from a while ago ;)
http://www.scavengers.ca/the-what-why-and-who-of-the-darwin-project/
5. Yeah, we've been hearing that alot. Let's see if we can do something about that.
6. We like to add more powers. Yes, that will be cool.
Only got to really play one day of the beta, but here are my shortform thoughts and questions:
* My favorite aspect thus far is the emphasis on picking up arrows from the ground mid/post combat - you're not just dumping whole clips at enemies without a care like other games. Maybe you're good enough to kill people with 3 arrows (or they you) but for anyone else conserving those missed shots is important.
* Pacing mostly feels good, though there are times when the director feels strangely impotent or predictable - and when even a 'good' director interacting with people gets shoo'd away for 'giving out their location', even when giving them buffs - complaints the glowing drones reveal them or 'they just used their own powerup', etc. It's not always clear when you can be heard, or vice versa.
* The electronics really feel like they tend to decide the game - whether you get them from the actual fought-over drops or randomly get them from chests/deer.
* Resource starvation is definitely a thing - it feels like there is some RNG in tree/chair/chest placement, but there was a clear difference between some spawns that had more/more accessible resources than others for the same amount of time and running. I am thinking specifically of the treehouse village - how much running you had to do for the few rewards within it.
Okay, now questions:
* Do you plan on implementing an emote animation system in game? Basic gestures/emoji/something that the player can trigger. Aside from fun in the lobby area, this would give people who play without microphones a way to respond to the director and each other.
* Do you plan on allowing the Director to go invisible or have their voice chat with a player be 'selective' - i.e. so players don't have to feel interacting with the director inherently 'gives away' their location? Similarly do you plan to have a 'loudspeaker' option the director can toggle to speak at all players simultaneously?
* Do you plan on giving the Director more powers, and if so will they have to choose their 'set' of powers similar to players? I would definitely encourage more options for them (and have ideas for such), but I'd keep all things available as you never know what a match may need.
** Example powers include fog, releasing a herd of deer, releasing aggressive mobs (e.g. mechanical wolves), releasing a LARGE more dangerous mob (e.g. mechanical Yeti), player teleportation, Melee or Range restriction (e.g. bows temporarily disallowed, melee temporarily disallowed but infinite arrows), Meteors/Mortars (explosions within an area, possibly semi-targeted on player locations), Chest Gift, Remove Electronic, Supercharge Electronic (makes it worth 2 instead of 1), Deep Freeze (temporarily makes whole map colder, drain players faster), Thaw (temporarily disables cold drain on all players), Thunderdome (deploys a larger arena around a player (or region) that vanishes when only one inside is left alive, possibly heals the victor)
* As the above list of suggestions highlights, there are lots of things the director SHOULD be able to do - but right now the drag-and-drop system is a little clunky. Are there plans to support picking and targeting director abilities via keys? There's already 1-0 to pick players, and something similar for map regions should work.
* Especially near the end of the beta when some players had become better known as threats, the problem of people dropping out of lobbies became rampant. Do you plan on implementing a penalty/cooldown/something for those who repeatedly quit out of lobbies?
* Do you plan on adding NPC traps (not placed by director or players) to the maps? something so that traps show up more than just when a dedicated trapper player elects to start slinging them around. Naturally occurring tripwires, bear traps, etc.
* Do you plan on releasing the same map(s) divided into differently shaped regions, such that closures can take place in different patterns? Right now games either go the 'middle was closed out' or 'middle was not closed out' route - and once middle closes it significantly limits which regions CAN close so there is less pressure on players there, but they can still be a LONG way away from others. The 'teleport player' power above might help resolve that, but more closing variety would be a plus.
I'm looking forward to what this game becomes going forward! Just per the top comment be careful about monetizing it TOO heavily - dont want to drive away the playerbase.
Just to let you know. As show director out can spectate players without anyone seeing you by pressing their number. It isn’t unless you are free flying around that others can see you.
I really like all the suggestions, most notable the list of Show Director powers you provided. Thanks! I will relay all your feedback to the team, especially the ones that is not mentioned often like players dropping out of lobbies to queue dodge and differently shaped regions.
NPC Traps however I am not very keen to add because it is less interesting when the player die from non-player-interaction, rather than from another player. The lava has given us so much headache already. Hahaha. Why would you like to have them anyway?
Hey guys, must say that I have loved the hours I have put into the game. I think it's fun and unique, the combat system is for the most part super balanced because it's only bow and axe, and the crafting systems adds variety to what you use which is really nice.
Couple of questions;
1. What is the price point you are looking at? My friend and I were arguing about this today, he thinks that $30 price tag mentioned in your last AMA is fair, especially if you're committed to adding extra content for free. Whereas I think it's too much and don't believe you will have people buying your game when PUBG is the same price point for more content in base game. Even though I loved the 15 hours I played, I want some extra content in the game to buy it at $30. Is there anything extra you plan on adding before release to make the game more enticing? Like another map? Or can you promise anything specific in the future that the extra $10 will pay for? I'm sorry if I seem greedy haha but I'm very much on the fence for $30 price tag even though I really enjoyed the game. I would not be opposed to micro-transactions on cosmetics only if you need it to support the game.
2. Onto game mechanics, I find if I get into an early game fight and only just win or choose to run because I think I cannot finish my opponent, there is no reliable way to get enough health back to be competitive in the later stages of the game. Meaning that, early game fighting is a little decentivised because it's hard to compete with someone who has only been looting all game or had cleaner fights. I've only been using the scavenger axe in the recent beta to help recover health in these situations. But almost every match where this has happened, I have spent the rest of the match hunting dear to recover health and not succeeded. Then just lost the late game fight because I am too low on health or loot. Do you plan to buff how much health dear gives you? Or maybe increase how much healing the axe gives you (which would make the axe an auto-equip)? Or just add some other form of healing into the game, whether it be in world, crafting or what? I think it is something the game really needs to add.
3. Are you going to fix how the camera works while in a tree? I don't mind third person in this game, but when some steps underneath a tree, they can perfectly see and shoot you, while you cannot see them, the tree trunk is also sometimes not a solid object. If you wish to rush them they also have the ability to time their melee swing perfectly to counter your approach to them. I get that you want to have hunter and huntee aspects in this game and places to hide, but the tree is unbalanced and just not fun to play around. I know sometimes I have hid in a tree and the camera is forced inside the foliage with me so I cannot see out but am still safe. I feel like that is what the camera should be doing in this situations, and you should rely on your radar or sound to know if someone is coming near you. Not only does this make it fairer but also more tense. Do you intend to change this or any other parts of the in game world?
4. Lastly, something short and sweet, are you planning to add any sort of rewards for leveling or progression of some kind? I know there is a leveling system in-game right now but I don't think it does anything.
Thanks in advance if you answer. Can't wait to see what you guys do with this game. :)
1. Good news! We just announced the price of our game! It is going to be a steal at 14.99, which seems to be fair based on what's offered in the game right now.
2. We like that health is a risk in this game, and the tension relatively trivial if player can regain health or heal back quickly. A good player can snowball easily if he can heal to full after every fight with little risk. However, if you have suggestion on how to include healing in a way that still enhance tension in combat, please throw it at us!
3. Right now hiding in Bush is the core hide-and-seek gameplay of combat. If a player feel threatened, it is easy to run into a nearby tree to gain an edge and his opponent can see him running into a tree and know he is there. It is also fun as a stalker to wait inside a tree to get a head on someone sometimes.
4. The leveling system doesn't do anything at the minute but we might add something later. These will take less priority for us for this Early Access as the core development is focused on improving the gameplay (and intrinsic motivation of our players playing) for now. :)
Hey man, love the questions just want to throw my 2 cents at your second question.
I agree there needs to be slight tweaking to the amount of health you can find, but I feel fighting someone early and winning can give you a big boost going forward, because of the resources that they drop. I think you need to be able to get health back a little easier (particuarly going beskerer axe, since there is then no way to get health back bar health packs).
However, beleive that is the risk reward of going for an early fight. I found the more fights I won in this game, the better off I was. Gaining the resources off someone esle was far more useful than finding all of the resources myself, and I always felt that early game edge was enough to push me through if I got thorugh it cleanly.
But I agree if it doesn't go cleanly, that you are at a server disatvantage and need a little more ways to come back from it.
Exactly this, I like the way the loot seems to balance out if you spend the time killing someone as opposed to just looting. You'll generally have a bit more of an edge in the late game because you took the harder option. Except you don't because you have less health unless you absolutely crash your opponent. There has been more than a few times I have won games mostly because I had could tank one extra arrow hit. I'm not saying you should be guaranteed 100% health after a fight, but it should be more reliable to regain it.
I personally like the idea of having the berserker axe regaining say an extra 25+ health per level per kill, especially considering it cost so much. It was rare to put myself in a situation where I wasn't hit at least twice, meaning I had taken that extra 150 damage (after the +150 heal per kill) which limits the incentive that play style has.
Healing back up to full should still be a rarity in this game as it works both mechanically and thematically. Small tweaks is all I think it needs, but it is a good issue to bring up.
Hello! Love the game, especially the director feature and its interaction element which sets it apart from other similar games.
The issue is in regions like asia (where I play in), allot of players don't speak english or wont interact at all.
Will you provide solutions to this problem, maybe through language specific servers and community reach-out in the future as the game's population grows?
Either way, the game's current state is fantastic and am excited to see it grow further!
I hear you. I am from Asia too ;) The trade-off with adding criteria for matchmaking is splitting the community and often result in longer queue time. Right now, we enable Private Matches for streamers or language community to host their own games. But hopefully a better solution will come like language specific servers and so on.
Are you aware there is a bug with the "Arena" ability where if you place it by a dive-able window you can go straight through the "Impenetrable" barrier?
Any plans for bigger marketing? I really liked the game in the beta, but I am a bit worried about the player base because I feel hardly anyone even knows this game exists.
Without giving too much away, what are your future plans for the base game? Will there be huge differences that completely alter the gem that was the open beta, or minor variations and tweaks? Great game, I think you guys nailed the concept that a lot of people have been chasing after for years following the outbreak of the Hunger Games.
No way we completely alter the gem in the Open Beta. We will follow closely the community and make improvement to the game. There will be a mix of minor variations and major features coming up! ;)
Hey guys, I'm going to front this with my questions and then put my praise for the game at the end.
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1) **Fighting the Battle Royale Perception.** This game feels a little strange, because it is a Battle Royale but it doesn't have the same pull as say Fortnite or PUBG. Those games the drive typically comes down to squad based play, asking your friends if you want to play Fortnite and then suddenly you have 2 more people asking if you have space in the squad.
That drive is impossible in this game as there will, as far as I am aware, only duos coming. Which means, at least to me, this game falls closer to Rocket League, where solo play and high skill is a factor, than Fortnite, which is less about solo skill and more about squad based entertainment.
**To the question, how do you intend to combat this perception that a Battle Royale is about squads getting together and shift it to suit you more precise, solo based game?**
(relates to price of release, strength and size of player base, few other factors).
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2) **Rating the Director/ Cheating Directors**. This is a interesting issue as the only reason I bring this up is because me and my friends were so consistently able to get into the same games during this beta (Sydney server was not exactly teeming with players).
We found that if one died early on, the rating system came up and we would give a middling score (3-4) as the director had done nothing for us and didn't have a chance to so no reason to rate low.
However, we would then spectate each other (not giving player locations because that would be a dick move and take away from the spirit of the game), and on a few occasions we noticed the director being SUPER biased, on one occasion literally giving 4 powers to the same guy and deliberately telling him the location of other players.
During these situations, I, already being dead, could not change my rating of the director. Which brings forth an interesting issue.
If a cheating director helps one person, their bias can only be proved towards the end of a game, when half the people are already dead, meaning he already has 5 ratings of 3-4 stars. The person he is helping is going to give 5 stars, which leaves 4 people who probably won't all notice the bias. This would mean it would be highly unlikely for a director to get below 2.2 stars on average.
**Do you think this will be an issue moving forward? Do you have other systems in place to weed out the cheating directors? Do you think the average will stay at 2.2?**
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3) This is a question I know will spark a little debate (or simply be thrown aside because people think I am stupid).
**Headshots.** Over the past few years I feel headshots are simply being included in games because "it's a headshot, it makes sense". Critical damage for the sake of having a critical spot.
However, to me there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of point to it. For low-middle skilled players, headshots are not something you aim for in a fast paced game like this one. Every time I hit a headshot in this game it was by pure chance, and I can say that for a few of my friends as well. I got the extra damage, but it didn't feel like I did anything to earn it, just got a little lucky.
Headshots are apparently important enough for the announcer to boom "Headshot" every time it happens, but I am not certain that add anything to the game other than being a "humans have heads, other games have headshots, so we should to".
For me, I won about 5-10 games so I wasn't terrible, but still every headshot felt like a bonus, and when I had a headshot against me, I am not convinced it is because that is where they were aiming (some were no doubt, but most I doubt). Some fights we would both miss 3-6 arrow shots in a row only for one of us to then hit a random headshot.
This is not some realistic shooter with long ranged snipers based around huge levels of precision so personally, I am not sure what point it serves in the game. High skilled players will be aiming for them, but at the same time I am not certain they need that distinguishing factor. If you took away headshots then I don't think high level players would be missing much.
With all this said, I think there could be bonus damage elsewhere. Getting damage on someone who is midway though an action would work thematically and mechanically with this game, as you should always be on your toes and aware of hunters. Shooting in the back would probably be a bit much for extra damage but it would bring in the emphasis of always being aware of your surroundings while also providing an incentive AND thrill of success when you have tracked someone for 2 zones and get them when they are not paying attention.
Headshots are not something you can combat. It is not something you can fight against. As the hunted it is not my fault when someone shoots me in the head, they are simply lucky or highly skilled. For the hunter it is as stated, luck or skill, not real earned reward for half that demographic.
Yet if it was replaced with a sneak, while they are performing an action, then not only would the hunted be at fault for not paying enough attention, but the hunter would be satisfied in catching them in the act, sometimes waiting for them to perform that action to get the extra damage (I did this even though there was no bonus damage related to it, catching them off guard was better then catching them while simply running).
**My question, as I stated could easily be construed as whiny or dumb, what is what is the design decision behind implementing headshots? Are you looking at other ways to reward players with critical damage?**
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Everyone is going to ask the obvious questions about price, maps, director balance, longevity etc. but honestly I don't really care. I loved this game. For me it is better than other Battle Royale games as it doesn't have as much down time. 15 min max and every moment matters. If you are not gathering recourses then you are killing someone. If it is neither of those it is because you are being tracked and don't want to give them more of a trail to follow. Every minute has a decision and every decision is important.
Playing it felt so refreshing. Even when I got killed in the first fight, I only lost 2 minutes but even then I felt like I was doing something or could have improved. Missing axe swings which caused you to lose the fight. You risked it and didn't craft arrows. You won the first fight but didn't factor your remaining health into the next one (did this too often, berserker axe I feel needs a small amount more health regen on a kill as it is a riskier play).
I loved 90% of the time I played, which says a lot since in Fortnite it is closer to 50-60% and PUBG it sits around 20%.
Hope you answer my questions. Thank you for what you are doing. Hope to play you game again soon.
1. One thing that really works for us is having fewer players so that the Show Director and Spectators can more intimatly know each player; having large numbers of players and squads could make that cognitively harder. I think that's what we will focus on, to shift the Battle Royale perception more towards the Hunger Games kind of showmanship rather than a military/combat zone exercise where hordes of players are duking it out.
2. This is a complex discussion. The rating system is a first attempt to try and mitigate the cheating directors problem, and we can improve it depending on the intel we get. Personally, I like a system inspired by Uber's rating system where we can list reasons for voting at each Stars (1-5) so players know what we considers as bad behavior. However, we also don't want to assume we know what exactly players want from their own Show Director. Some players actually digs "unfair" directors, to which case I think we have Private Match for that to keep public matches fair. But what constitute fair and unfair, it is not really clear. Another idea bounced was to have a thumb up thumb down system instead of Stars so the player voting have less parameter to think about when deciding a vote. Anyway, these are just things in discussion at the minute, if you have ideas, we like to hear them. For sure, we love the Director role and like each Director to be able to showcase their flair in entertainment and make the game fun or challenging for the players (not to frustrate and grief them).
3. To be honest, I disagree with headshot at the start of the implementation with the exact same reasoning as you. My answer in PAX East 2017 last year to "Whether are there headshot in this game?" is "The only headshot in this game is you getting your mind blown!" ;) But in the end, viscerally it felt rewarding to get headshots sometimes randomly in combat when you are not consciously going for it. Also, when you successfully sneak up against someone who is crafting, harvesting or getting stuck in a trap, you have plenty of time to take aim and shoot their head; so in a way this is part of a reward for a successful hunter/tracker too.
Replying to your thoughts on headshots:
You mentioned that high level players won’t be missing much on if headshots weren’t awarded.
I would personally consider myself a fairly skilled/aggressive player (avg. 5 kills per game), and headshots in this game are not as luck based or useless as your post showed.
Headshots offer additional damage, shooting a specific part of the body and being awarded for it is he equivalent to shooting a target and hitting the bullseye. And the additional damage CAN be the deciding factor to a game.
An example being the normal arrow at 150/200 base/headshot damage. Upgrading your axe sharpener twice would bump the damage to 200. With this, that’s 2 headshots and a melee hit or vice verse as opposed to 4 hits. You can also factor in damage from other opponent or even the 50 cold damage received every few seconds, or even bear trap damage, the list goes on.
As for luck for low/mid players, well that’s for all games really, landing/practicing critical hits is what makes them mechanically better essentially. You track an opponent and land the headshot when they’re crafting/scavenging.
Have you thought about a competitive scene?
It’s known to everyone that this is a BR game, with competition from the likes of PUBG and Fortnite. We can learn a lot from PUBG that multiple team games from a spectators viewpoint simply isn’t as enjoyable and doesn’t work like CSGO or LoL, in fact any successful esport scene right now is a focus of 2 opposing teams.
My proposal: 5v5 mode, friendly fire off and with no other changes needed to the current gameplay. Builds, gameplay, strategies, teamwork, the potential is literally limitless.
With it being a much smaller scale to its competitors, official games can be BO5 lasting up to an hour.
Players would spawn randomly like now and can choose to group up or intercept their opponents.
I genuinely believe the large majority of healthy games, with a winning objective and a long lifespan HAS a competitive scene, I hope the team has considered this or even anything close to it.
Edit: regards to the director, essentially the director could act as a referee for the game. There could be some form of referee training program or maybe even using an achievement progress in game, with high rated referees being chosen to train and become actual refs.
As a streamer, it is exceptionally annoying and inconvenient to mute a player in each new game you find yourself in with the offending player. I reported multiple people over the weekend for abusive language. Please make the mutes stick to future games and maybe a nice visual indicator that you've muted someone in the lobby to know why other ppl are responding negatively to someone that you can't hear.
You can press Y to mute all in one go. Your own mute toggle sticks, but the other players are case by case. You would like the game to remember you muted "JonSmitthh" and re-apply that setting each game?
Did not know about mute all. Good to know.
But yes, a "sticky" mute from game to game that gets reapplied would be freaking amazing. Icing on the cake would be some visual indication that someone is muted in the lobby and not just on the list when you hit the escape key.
Thank you!
1) Are there going to be more director powers that we haven't seen yet?
2)About the director ranking system, we know that low-rank directors won't be able to use certain powers, but will there be special powers exclusive to high-ranked directors?
3) How will customization work? Will there be a Steam Workshop integration?
4) Will it be possible to watch and/or browse streams from inside the game client?
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I'm really looking forward for the next chance to play, the game is insanely fun and thanks for the attention. I know this is an AMA session but I'd like to quickly say that director powers that affect all the players equally - such as turning off gravity - are specially fun and I'd love to see more of that. I'm looking forward to seeing your game on Steam soon!
1) There will be more powers in the future.
2) That's a good idea.
3) Details to come later.
4) That is not in our current plans.
Thanks for your feedback. :)
All I care to know is if David (aka BoogerThyme) is a :robot:
Also I am truly excited for this game to be Pay-to-Play rather than the F2P model, but what will your plan be for extended earnings from the game? Micro-transactions for skins, etc.
I love this Studio and how welcoming you have all been to the Community. Keep up the good work Darweenies :D
Hello Scavenger Studios, I am loving the Darwin Project right now. My two questions are, "Will there be a contest soon for fan art and will the game support Tobi Eye Tracking in the future?"
Video Performance:
What are the plans to optimize the game at the high end? Right now with a 1080 / Ryzen 7 1700 OC'd the only consistent frames I can get without major drops is right around 80. What's the potential of optimizing so we can get 144+ without major frame drop inconsistencies?
Netcode Latency Improvements:
What's in the works to add improvements to lag compensation and specific server/client latency issues? Multiple players continue to express concern about things like hit registration with the axes and parrys mostly due to discrepancy in ping to server.
Game cost:
What's the potential of selling a deluxe edition and keeping the game F2P for all? Lots of people are already expressing concern about the pricepoint of the game and how many will not continue with the game if it is a forced buy. Is there consideration to expand the customization to allow microtransactions with things like skins, hats, weapon cosmetics, emotes, avatar badges or highlighted names to allow this opportunity?
We are always working on optimization, it's an ongoing process. As far as latency goes, the game used to compensate for up to 150ms, but that was lowered to 50ms. I can't give you a better connection if you get a large ping. We'll have as many regions as we can.
1) How do you plan to keep a consistent player base at a 15$ price point?
2) Will there cosmetic items added to the game? If so, will they be cosmetic-only (no pay-to-win) similar to Fortnite/PUBG?
3) Will the duo mode be available at the early access release date?
4) Is there going to be some sort of progression system to keep the game from becoming stale?
5) Will there be a mode available (eventually) with no show director to be more skill based?
Nonetheless a very fun game and can't wait for March 9th.
Hello guys! Great work with updating game!
Few questions
1)Can we expect duo on ea start? Finally some clothes for levels and maybe female character?
2)What kind of online do you hope to achieve? Will you pay for some advertise to streamers, i think we reallly nee that.
3)Any rewards for alpha/beta players?
As an independent game studio releasing your first game under Scavenger Studios, through what metrics are you measuring success, be it active player base, engagement time, sales, etc?
Edit: In other games, randomization is the key to bridging the skill gap between high skill and lower skill players. Gamers always gripe about rngs, no doubt you're aware of that. In my opinion, Darwin Project replaces this rng aspect of gaming with the director, which at its core is an "rng-like" player that gets to decide who gets buffs that would typically be provided as rng. Are gamers ready for and ready to accept this type of control? People seem to assume that the highest skilled inmate should win 100% of time and complain that their director was actively plotting against them and rate accordingly if they lose. What are your thoughts on skill-level vs win rate?
We read all feedback equally, good and bad. "Haters are actually sad lovers" (Darveau.S, 2018). The worse thing to have is to receive silence and emptiness. We believed strongly that an active community is key to Darwin Project's survival and success, so alot of what we like to consider success is how we engage our existing community.
Randomization is where several game developers will have competing ideology, and having these clash will be the key to ensure we cater to many different players. A competitive designer would prefer a skill-based gameplay, while someone like me will probably consider managing RNG a form of skill. I like to expand the possibility with different kinds of show directors to cater for different kind of matches; for example, a player looking for a pure skill-based victory can choose to play matches casted by a fair SD that doesn't use RNG skills (via private match or something); while someone who wanted to experience the full range of emotions of a RNG-Rigged game can join matches of that kind. For sure, I agree it felt bad to lose to an equally skilled opponent if he is aided by RNG or the SD unfairly, so we have to think of measure to mitigate that; but it is also useful to note for now the balance is such that a mechanically skilled player will mostly win against a less skilled one, regardless of RNG helping the less skilled one or not.
All I wanna know is if there's a way to become a closed beta tester.
I played the open beta for a few hours last night and fell in love with the game. Only stumbled across this AMA because I was trying to make a post shouting out the devs for such an awesome game. The Darwin Project takes the battle royal genre in a completely unique direction. Most games just add a feature to differ from PUBG and H1Z1 but Darwin changed everything. No more guns, no more looting (only for materials now), much more fighting, and obviously, the show director (which I never got around to playing because of how fun solo was). I had such a blast last night talking to the show directors. A handful even made their own game show host persona! I need more Darwin Project!
Anyways, great game. Can't wait to play it!
Game is great. Main concern is the replay ability . I can play this for a long time but I feel like eventually I would like to work towards something.
The leader boards are cool and all but since its gonna reset weekly I feel that would get tiring too.
Most games now have ranked play and things to work for to Appeal to that crowd. Would you guys consider making competitive mode. If not, a idea I had would if you finish top 10 or 100 you get a exclusive skin for that. Since it re sets weekly everyone will have a chance in the future.
I wouldn’t want sbmm added unless there is a competitive mode.
So my questions are
1. Will there be skins/rewards for getting a rank or spot on the leader boards? I remember in a AMA David said it could be cool and have a intimidation factor in game. Also to show off what you worked for.
2. Would you add sbmm to casual play or make it causal = anyone. Ranked = sbmm. if you guys only have sbmm then how could we play with are friends if are ELO is different. i really hope theirs casual and competitive so you can play with friends and warm up. Or if you just want to chill and try new things without it affecting your elo.
3. how will skins and progression work.
4. What do you think will make people stick to your game. I love how it plays and it’s fun but I feel like I wouldn’t of played Overwatch or csgo for how long I did if it’s always casual. Great games just after while what’s there to do or work for? With ranks it could be the same game but always something to achieve and get higher up. (Also if people don’t like that then they can play causal)
5. Will there be anything new for early access release ? Or will it be all the same as the last beta
6. On your free time what hobbies do you guys do besides gaming :)
Can’t wait until Early Access!
1. It is a good idea, we need to work on it eventually.
2. I think if we implement Ranked it should be a separate queue. But let's see. We could also add SBMM to casual play to test the algorithm first before rolling out Ranked.
3. How you like it to work? ;) I don't have anything concrete at the minute but we definitely like to release new cosmetic parts for players to customize their character's visuals.
4. Our community is our best source of strength for making people stick. Also, I feel the game right now is fun and give us a foundation to add many new content to keep it fresh.
5. Mostly the same with some important bug fixes, and we are going to add new content over time for sure. Also, the server is going to be up for longer than a weekend (fingers crossed).
6. Besides gaming and working on games, I am busy trying to survive the Canadian cold. I also learn Salsa and Bachata casually as a beginner now.
Hi! I'm in love with this game but I only really like playing as director. Are there any plans to make the map larger? Every time I play, I feel like there are too many people and not enough time for me to craft (so I'm stacked with my customization), gather materials, or even find clues and follow footsteps/smoke, which I know is a very unique mechanic and I would love to use it. But the general size of the map is a problem for me (But I don't want extra hexagons on the map, just having it BIGGER)
Furthermore, what are some plans for craft-able items in the future?
Thanks!
Tell us, do you have some ideas for new maps?
Are they planned for DayOne?
Are there Concepts without Snow?
Beta was really good! -good flow, nice community and technical fine(for me)
We are thinking of adding more maps in the future but not for the DayOne of the early access. Our current focus is on balancing the game and adding features such as Duos mode. Some other types of maps are considered but we still need to prototype them, it could be tricky with the cold mechanic. So no certainty at this point! Thanks for your support ;)
Is there going to be a shoulder swap button.
Peeps that want an advantage will always use corners for peeking.
All third person games have this problem if they don't use shoulder swap. Gears of war is a perfect example.
I hate playing ring ring a ring a rosey around buildings cause everyone want the right side advantage.
After playing some games as a director I had some stuff I missed:
* 1. A way to talk to all the players at once.**
Sometimes I wanted to relay that for instance: "Next person that kills someone will get a reward". I had to jump to each and everyone to relay that information and usually I didnt get to the end before someone died
* 2. More alternatives.
I would love to be able to drop chests, deer or just a fire instead of only being able to drop down drones.
* 3. Easier planning of closing zones.
I would love to either have a list of which zones are getting closed, or chose so myself so I can plan abit better on how I want to funnel the players.
Nice ideas. I think a way to talk to all the players should be needed (a megaphone of sorts). I like the idea of knowing which zone close too, could be a relatively cool power to gift a player the knowledge of next zone closing or pylon opening so he can go and prepare traps. Thanks and keep these ideas coming! :)
Are you gonna get rid of that gravity storm ability? Please don't. I love it, but I see it's getting a fair amount of hate. I think that's a vocal minority. I love using it as director as well as playing with it as an inmate.
The game was so much fun over beta I can't wait for release! When exactly will that be? Also are there any plans for a game mode without a director? Thank you!
Thanks for your interest ;) The early access will release on Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview on March 9, 2018. We have currently no plan for a mode without the show director.
My questions are regarding the Show Director(And all its glory).
1)This is a fairly unique idea for a multiplayer ffa, where did you get inspiration from?
2)Are there plans to make the Show Director customizable?I'd love to be able to mix and match a variety of abilities.
3)Are there any plans to have the show director have a more active role, rather then just popping in every few minutes to cause chaos?(Apart from popping around to players and entertaining them, of course)
Thanks!
1. 1st, we want to make a game that's fun to watch and engages viewers too. 2nd, hunger games. :)
2. We like to do that! We like the Show Director to have tools to make his job of entertaining the players and spectators more awesome.
3. Right now I feel like we don't want to overly load Show Director with minute tasks such that he is too distracted to properly cast a match and entertain players. But what you have in mind to make the role more active? Let us know!
Hi big fan
I have only one question. Will you plan on adding more variety to the crafting wheel?. Example: armor that can block melee but not arrow damage etc..
First off i want to thank all of you for making this game since the moment i started playing it back in the beta it quickly became one of my favorite games!.
My question is regarding teaming , so either players who team with hosts or players who team with other players.
I was wondering what you guys think about teaming in this game since (at least for me i don't know about the rest of players) hate teaming , especially when im playing vs another player and the host just calls out my every move either calling out my position or just calling out what i am crafting or about to do , and its completely unfair and the fact that the only thing i can do about that is giving the host 0 rating , which makes me feel like nothing is going to happen to him since he abused his power to make his friend win.
Thanks in advance , and thanks again for making this awesome game!
We consider teaming in solo mode cheating; especially for Show Directors as their job is not a cheating, griefing machine, but a entertainer to provide fun experiences to everyone, players and audiences alike.
http://www.scavengers.ca/code-of-conduct/
One of the things the moderators were MOST on the lookout for was teaming. Be it two inmates, or an inmate and a director.
The current stance is that if you're in Solo play, you're in Solo play. No teaming, no truces, everyone is out for everyone.
That may change in the future, and of course Duos will be another story - but that's up to the Devs to discuss.
The fog is part of the storm that come during the night, it was part of the design we wanted for this map. Beginning in the sunrise and gradually oppress the player with the night and the storm. However if you survive long enough, you will see northern lights and the storm will disappear as well as the fog that goes with it ;) Knowing this, how would you change it?
1) You know, it's pretty hard for players to get good grades for the show director. Because someone was not saved, someone was not cured. I think if you had removed the score of 5 points and instead did it, like/dislike, the show director's move in the leaderboard would be easier.
2) I had an idea suddenly came after 43 games for the show director. What if I add the ability to include music on the map? I love music 🎧 It would be very nice 😍 And also as a supplement to make while playing music funny glow.
Hello guys! Big fan of the game and the community! My biggest concern of recent is: What anti-cheat system will you be using or what measures will you be taking to prevent cheating and TEAMING? (teaming is way easier than cheating atm) One more thing: Will it be possible in the future to play on NA server from EU without extreme amounts of ms? I just met some guys on the discord i wanna play with, but they are all US :/
Hey Devs) I just have 2 questions, can you please tell me how much will the game cost and when is the release date? I really want to continue playing and i really liked it so want to know how much i have to pay, coz if you guys will put an insane amount i will stay out of it so just wanted to know will it be cheap...
With all this talk about the playerbase falling out if the game is not f2p, have you guys been discussing the f2p option with cosmetic in game purchases??
So I have made a topic about the Axe nerf which gives bonus damage to your melee attacks (costs 3 leather now but it was 2 leather in the 1st Beta).
I would like to know if your statistics showed that the nerf was actually "too much" or if it is okay now?
Cause I felt that playing that axe is just not worth it anymore :(
Yeah I felt like that too, but the hard part was that in the first beta it was like if you didn't use that axe then you were at a disadvantage because the cost of it was very efficient. I think the majority of players used it for that reason, so other axes were sort of looked over. But now it is almost too expensive to us xD not sure how to balance that
Are you guys going to make a map based on the appalachian mountains? Like make a map on each countries mountain ranges?
Can you add a frozen fish as a weapon so I can slap my enemy to track them by scent?
Hello, love the game! I cant play other Battle Roayle games anymore, thanks a lot. But I have 2 Things that I think should be changed and one suggestion.
1. You need to make it so that when someone freezes to death because of a snowball, the announcer says DEATH BY SNOWBALL instead of FROZEN TO DEATH. Because its almost impossible to get the death by snowball anymore. Also it would strike fear into your enemies because they see this dude killing everyone with snowballs :P
2. Also could you make it harder to parry snowballs? They are useless against anyone who can click within a 2 second time period which makes them ridiculously more weak and impossible to use against anyone with a brain.
3. One last thing, but this is just a though. Is there any chance we could get a cloak that could maybe make snowballs faster? Or 2 at a time?
Yes. I like snowballs. Thank you for your time and this amazing game!
1. That was a bug, it has been fixed and now it does say "Death by snowball!"
2. I've seen a lot of snowball deaths, they seem to be in a good place. But we track a lot of data, we'll see.
3. That's a cool idea, could be the start of a snowballer build.
Hey, first of all.. I LOVE YOUR GAME :)
Now here is my question:
Will you focus on the huge esport potential this game has and will there be a ranked ladder with less impact of the director?
Thank you for your answer :)
How far are we from early access and when will duos be put coming and how will duos work compared to solos will there be another map for duos or aspects etc...
The early access release date was announced today for the 9 march!
We are working hard to deliver the duo mode as soon as possible. AAt the moment it will be in the current map and for all the details stay tuned (we're still iterating on it) :)
Will the duos game mode be available on Early Access launch? (IF not how soon will it be available?)
And for those asking about price, I got an email from Scavenger Studio saying that it will release on Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview on March 9 for $15. ;D
Also for the devs: Will the price increase or decrease upon full release?
1. The price was announced today at $14.99 USD on Steam and Xbox One.
2. The duo mode will not be released with early access but we are working hard to deliver it as soon as possible :) Look out for an update on our official channels at a later date.
3. The female character should come quickly after the release of the early access.
4. We're happy with the current weapon types, but we're not opposed to adding more in the future.
5. At the moment, we have no plan for that but it's a cool idea!
6. We'll consider adding more maps in the future, clearly!
As a start, we are currently working on the Duo mode. For other modes look out for updates on our official channels at a later date.
Thanks for your interest!
Would you consider something like ranking for private groups? You would just invite who u want in private group, clan or whatever and there would be rankings only for them to see who is doing best... i think this would be a great tool for smaller communities.
Also, will there be possibility for private game api, so we can gather stats from tournaments?
is the game going to be FTP like it is now or will it cost money also any release date set in the near future
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This game will be DoA if they charge money for it. As it stands, everyone just looks at the game and think it's a Fortnite clone which they can play for free. Don't make the same mistake Battleborn and Lawbreakers did.
One of the devs already said it will not be f2p in Discord. I talked about how I have some skeptic friends but they said the steam refund feature is easy to use if they end up not liking the game. /shrug I also wanted it to be f2p. I don’t mind buying but I know my friends will.
That's unfortunate because I already had extreme difficulty getting my friends to play with me (none except for one did) during a F2P weekend. So the fact that its going to cost money will ensure my friends will never play it lol.
I know how you feel. I feel like I’m going to have to be the one fronting the cost for them just to have them play with me and it sucks. I really want this game to thrive and grow but I think this may have been the wrong choice - especially when a portion of the playerbase hearing about us is going to already be playing with giants, PUBG and Fortnite. Fortnite is doing great with it’s cosmetics and Battle Pass. Pubg costs money but had great success with advertising and hype through word of mouth & influencers playing the game. (streamers). So far, we don’t have that yet — with the exception of being featured on a couple influencer streams on Twitch.
I will not even bother myself to buy a game to try it, telling myself i can get a refund xD If i can't test the game for free, i don't buy it. Mostly, i try games on friend's account, in example. Or cracked, aka subnautica, i tried it, then i bought it cause it was great.
this game is completely different from fortntie. I hate the fact that ppl just assume it's a fortnite just because it's cartoon. I think when people are making more videos about this game, they will start to see it's a different game with a different gameplay.
Kids are stupid, remember that. They will think it's fortnite anyway.
it looks absolutely nothing like a fortnite clone, and it plays nothing like a fortnite clone... do us all a favor and quit your angel dust habbit. - no guns - crafting - 10 players - a director that messes with the match - no loot crates F2P monetization ...do I keep going?
Read what I said. **I'm** not saying it is a Fornite clone. I'm saying that it's what most other people will think at first glance; they're not gonna bother to look into it any further. They are gonna see BR game with cartoony graphics and think Fortnite.
I received an [e-mail](https://www.dropbox.com/s/f6gaajn9w81h9gd/Screenshot%202018-03-01%2011.23.51.png?dl=0) today stating it will be $14.99 and releases March 9th.
i wish them to make the right choice : to compare with another game releasing, Dauntless : 800.000 unique people who registered for beta, 15k on their reddit. Now the hype is over, player base rapidly decreased, only 100 concurrent viewers/daily when it was thousands when hyped. The game still cost 40$, they try some 50% sales to make people coming. On the other side, we have 19k unique players on the open beta, for 1200 reddit followers. We already found ourself playing with same people on regular basis, 900-1000 concurrent players on a hyped open beta wee-kend. IMO this question is still the most important in order to know if we keep waiting for this game or move somewhere else.
read
What a fantastic game I loved it so much! I have a few questions/suggestions such as: 1)Will you bring in a way to craft healing supplies? 2)Will deer be the only animals we can hunt down? 3)Would you consider having tracking limited to the zone an item has been found in? or maybe a limit around 200m? 4)Could you implement dead spectators being allowed to vote? (I only ask this because a twitch streamer used the voting system, it was super fun, but he was the only one out of the 15 hours I played) 5)Have you been trying to implement new obstacles in players paths something like hail storm, blizzard, or something along those lines? 6)Maybe you could make it so the director can drop an arena around players and the arena doesn't go away until the director says or a life is taken. I hope to see your game on steam soon!
Thank you for the good words! 1) We're always experimenting, but we haven't found a way to implement this and maintain the tension in the game. 2) I'd like to see more robo-animals, but for now the deers are it. 3) I think the way they are presently gives a more dynamic game. 4) That could be a possibility for sure, it's a good idea. 5) It's a good idea. 6) I like the way you think! :) The game comes very very soon indeed.
turkfoot, i think a way to heal yourself is need. but to keep the heal packs more awesome. i think a craftable bandage that like stops your bleeding and heals you slowly over time would work. so that the more rare healthpack is still that quick heal solution,
Hi, big fan of the game! I just have a few questions to ask: 1) since this the last open beta, when is the game planned to release or enter early access? 2) how much is the game planned to cost and if it's going to be f2p how do you plan on monetizing the game? Will there be loot boxes? 3) I feel as though biggest thing that needs be looked over is the problem director, some measures already have been done about cheating , but lots of people don't like that director can directly affect the outcomes of fight and that the rating system is subjective so is there plans on working that out or any big changes ?
incase you didn't get their email today. the game will cost $15 and release march 9
Will there be hostile animals such as bears (mechanical ones, as bears are extinct)? It would be fun if the show director could spawn those to chase players out of a specific zone.
That's a great idea.
oh that is sick. if you run into a bear and get attacked.
Hi, thanks for doing this AMA! Will there be a Challenges/Missions system implemented? Similar to Fortnite where completing objectives progresses you to unlock better rewards. Really looking forward to all the different cosmetics items possibe in this game and a great way to keep me personally interested is having many challenges making me use all the different items and power ups possible.
Our pleasure. We are working on a progression system, the details will come later.
I like the idea, there is often a huge sense of euphoria for performing these feats to achieve something in the game. Right now we are focused on presenting the core gameplay to you guys, but at some point we like to look into these ideas too.
Hello! Just want to say that I love your game already. I have played games all my life, maybe only 3-4 games I have played for years at a time without getting bored. I feel like your game will be one of these for me. Anyway! onto my questions. 1) Ranked matchmaking! I understand the game is only just releasing but is this aspect being considered? Can we expect to see this in the future? 2) Right now the mechanics of the melee combat and the bow are amazing and what I like most about the game I think. I hope you are not but, can we expect these features to be changed in the future? 3) Last question, how does one become a moderator? I'd love to help out on a more advanced level if possible.
Thanks! We put a lot of love into the game. :) 1) We are considering it, yes. 2) The axe and bow combat is a system we tweaked a lot, I think it feels very good right now. We'll be careful if we iterate on it. 3) Come to our discord and talk to us. :)
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number 2) i also wonder this. i wonder if that is how you will unlock character customizable stuff
Are you worried that you will not get an enough large player base. According to steam database your all-time peak was just 3,707. Although I loved the game and I played as much as I could trough the open beta these numbers don't seem too good currently.
Any plans for a competitive gameplay? Ranked maybe? Official tournaments?
There is a leaderboard with Official Rating that resets weekly if you like to see how you perform. :) Also, since we have the Private Match feature, our fan community on Discord are often keen to organize Darwin Project tournaments, do hop in to hang out! https://www.discord.gg/darwin
How did you come up with the idea for this game? It's fantastic btw.
In a dream.
Woah
Here are my questions, thanks for answering!: 1: What are your plans for skins and character customisations if any? Things like animated show director skins would be amazing. 2: Do you think you would ever add a map creator for people to make maps and play them with their friends? 3: What are your coolest ideas you have thought of adding to Darwin Project? (The ones that you can tell us about) 4: Is there ever going to be a cinematic or something like that explaining the backstory of Darwin Project? 5: Are you going to be able to start private matches without needing to have 10 players, because then you can 1v1 your friends, do challenges, do 2v2s etc. 6: What are your thoughts on adding even more powers to the show director? Something like start an arena fight with 2 people if they are close, spawn snow storms, spawn lootboxes etc.
1. We definitely want to reward players for playing our game for a long time, and I think skins and character customisations is a good way to do that. No plans to share at the minute though as we are dedicated to build the foundation for the gameplay first. 2. It could be a possibility if the game becomes really popular. Modding on Source SDK is how I get into the industry anyway, so it is something special to me. But it is hard to do right now. 3. Hard one to answer. Because the coolest ideas made it into the game anyhow! ;) Well, personally, I like to play mind games, so I feel a way to keep certain abilities/mechanics secret to everyone else (SD, Viewers, Other Players) could be cool. If executed well, I like the player to reveal it like a trump card midway in the match to create dramatic moments. No concrete ideas how it could work yet though. ;) 4. We actually have some silly videos. But if you are interested in the backstory, here's a funny blog post from a while ago ;) http://www.scavengers.ca/the-what-why-and-who-of-the-darwin-project/ 5. Yeah, we've been hearing that alot. Let's see if we can do something about that. 6. We like to add more powers. Yes, that will be cool.
Only got to really play one day of the beta, but here are my shortform thoughts and questions: * My favorite aspect thus far is the emphasis on picking up arrows from the ground mid/post combat - you're not just dumping whole clips at enemies without a care like other games. Maybe you're good enough to kill people with 3 arrows (or they you) but for anyone else conserving those missed shots is important. * Pacing mostly feels good, though there are times when the director feels strangely impotent or predictable - and when even a 'good' director interacting with people gets shoo'd away for 'giving out their location', even when giving them buffs - complaints the glowing drones reveal them or 'they just used their own powerup', etc. It's not always clear when you can be heard, or vice versa. * The electronics really feel like they tend to decide the game - whether you get them from the actual fought-over drops or randomly get them from chests/deer. * Resource starvation is definitely a thing - it feels like there is some RNG in tree/chair/chest placement, but there was a clear difference between some spawns that had more/more accessible resources than others for the same amount of time and running. I am thinking specifically of the treehouse village - how much running you had to do for the few rewards within it. Okay, now questions: * Do you plan on implementing an emote animation system in game? Basic gestures/emoji/something that the player can trigger. Aside from fun in the lobby area, this would give people who play without microphones a way to respond to the director and each other. * Do you plan on allowing the Director to go invisible or have their voice chat with a player be 'selective' - i.e. so players don't have to feel interacting with the director inherently 'gives away' their location? Similarly do you plan to have a 'loudspeaker' option the director can toggle to speak at all players simultaneously? * Do you plan on giving the Director more powers, and if so will they have to choose their 'set' of powers similar to players? I would definitely encourage more options for them (and have ideas for such), but I'd keep all things available as you never know what a match may need. ** Example powers include fog, releasing a herd of deer, releasing aggressive mobs (e.g. mechanical wolves), releasing a LARGE more dangerous mob (e.g. mechanical Yeti), player teleportation, Melee or Range restriction (e.g. bows temporarily disallowed, melee temporarily disallowed but infinite arrows), Meteors/Mortars (explosions within an area, possibly semi-targeted on player locations), Chest Gift, Remove Electronic, Supercharge Electronic (makes it worth 2 instead of 1), Deep Freeze (temporarily makes whole map colder, drain players faster), Thaw (temporarily disables cold drain on all players), Thunderdome (deploys a larger arena around a player (or region) that vanishes when only one inside is left alive, possibly heals the victor) * As the above list of suggestions highlights, there are lots of things the director SHOULD be able to do - but right now the drag-and-drop system is a little clunky. Are there plans to support picking and targeting director abilities via keys? There's already 1-0 to pick players, and something similar for map regions should work. * Especially near the end of the beta when some players had become better known as threats, the problem of people dropping out of lobbies became rampant. Do you plan on implementing a penalty/cooldown/something for those who repeatedly quit out of lobbies? * Do you plan on adding NPC traps (not placed by director or players) to the maps? something so that traps show up more than just when a dedicated trapper player elects to start slinging them around. Naturally occurring tripwires, bear traps, etc. * Do you plan on releasing the same map(s) divided into differently shaped regions, such that closures can take place in different patterns? Right now games either go the 'middle was closed out' or 'middle was not closed out' route - and once middle closes it significantly limits which regions CAN close so there is less pressure on players there, but they can still be a LONG way away from others. The 'teleport player' power above might help resolve that, but more closing variety would be a plus. I'm looking forward to what this game becomes going forward! Just per the top comment be careful about monetizing it TOO heavily - dont want to drive away the playerbase.
Just to let you know. As show director out can spectate players without anyone seeing you by pressing their number. It isn’t unless you are free flying around that others can see you.
I really like all the suggestions, most notable the list of Show Director powers you provided. Thanks! I will relay all your feedback to the team, especially the ones that is not mentioned often like players dropping out of lobbies to queue dodge and differently shaped regions. NPC Traps however I am not very keen to add because it is less interesting when the player die from non-player-interaction, rather than from another player. The lava has given us so much headache already. Hahaha. Why would you like to have them anyway?
Hey guys, must say that I have loved the hours I have put into the game. I think it's fun and unique, the combat system is for the most part super balanced because it's only bow and axe, and the crafting systems adds variety to what you use which is really nice. Couple of questions; 1. What is the price point you are looking at? My friend and I were arguing about this today, he thinks that $30 price tag mentioned in your last AMA is fair, especially if you're committed to adding extra content for free. Whereas I think it's too much and don't believe you will have people buying your game when PUBG is the same price point for more content in base game. Even though I loved the 15 hours I played, I want some extra content in the game to buy it at $30. Is there anything extra you plan on adding before release to make the game more enticing? Like another map? Or can you promise anything specific in the future that the extra $10 will pay for? I'm sorry if I seem greedy haha but I'm very much on the fence for $30 price tag even though I really enjoyed the game. I would not be opposed to micro-transactions on cosmetics only if you need it to support the game. 2. Onto game mechanics, I find if I get into an early game fight and only just win or choose to run because I think I cannot finish my opponent, there is no reliable way to get enough health back to be competitive in the later stages of the game. Meaning that, early game fighting is a little decentivised because it's hard to compete with someone who has only been looting all game or had cleaner fights. I've only been using the scavenger axe in the recent beta to help recover health in these situations. But almost every match where this has happened, I have spent the rest of the match hunting dear to recover health and not succeeded. Then just lost the late game fight because I am too low on health or loot. Do you plan to buff how much health dear gives you? Or maybe increase how much healing the axe gives you (which would make the axe an auto-equip)? Or just add some other form of healing into the game, whether it be in world, crafting or what? I think it is something the game really needs to add. 3. Are you going to fix how the camera works while in a tree? I don't mind third person in this game, but when some steps underneath a tree, they can perfectly see and shoot you, while you cannot see them, the tree trunk is also sometimes not a solid object. If you wish to rush them they also have the ability to time their melee swing perfectly to counter your approach to them. I get that you want to have hunter and huntee aspects in this game and places to hide, but the tree is unbalanced and just not fun to play around. I know sometimes I have hid in a tree and the camera is forced inside the foliage with me so I cannot see out but am still safe. I feel like that is what the camera should be doing in this situations, and you should rely on your radar or sound to know if someone is coming near you. Not only does this make it fairer but also more tense. Do you intend to change this or any other parts of the in game world? 4. Lastly, something short and sweet, are you planning to add any sort of rewards for leveling or progression of some kind? I know there is a leveling system in-game right now but I don't think it does anything. Thanks in advance if you answer. Can't wait to see what you guys do with this game. :)
1. Good news! We just announced the price of our game! It is going to be a steal at 14.99, which seems to be fair based on what's offered in the game right now. 2. We like that health is a risk in this game, and the tension relatively trivial if player can regain health or heal back quickly. A good player can snowball easily if he can heal to full after every fight with little risk. However, if you have suggestion on how to include healing in a way that still enhance tension in combat, please throw it at us! 3. Right now hiding in Bush is the core hide-and-seek gameplay of combat. If a player feel threatened, it is easy to run into a nearby tree to gain an edge and his opponent can see him running into a tree and know he is there. It is also fun as a stalker to wait inside a tree to get a head on someone sometimes. 4. The leveling system doesn't do anything at the minute but we might add something later. These will take less priority for us for this Early Access as the core development is focused on improving the gameplay (and intrinsic motivation of our players playing) for now. :)
Hey man, love the questions just want to throw my 2 cents at your second question. I agree there needs to be slight tweaking to the amount of health you can find, but I feel fighting someone early and winning can give you a big boost going forward, because of the resources that they drop. I think you need to be able to get health back a little easier (particuarly going beskerer axe, since there is then no way to get health back bar health packs). However, beleive that is the risk reward of going for an early fight. I found the more fights I won in this game, the better off I was. Gaining the resources off someone esle was far more useful than finding all of the resources myself, and I always felt that early game edge was enough to push me through if I got thorugh it cleanly. But I agree if it doesn't go cleanly, that you are at a server disatvantage and need a little more ways to come back from it.
Exactly this, I like the way the loot seems to balance out if you spend the time killing someone as opposed to just looting. You'll generally have a bit more of an edge in the late game because you took the harder option. Except you don't because you have less health unless you absolutely crash your opponent. There has been more than a few times I have won games mostly because I had could tank one extra arrow hit. I'm not saying you should be guaranteed 100% health after a fight, but it should be more reliable to regain it.
I personally like the idea of having the berserker axe regaining say an extra 25+ health per level per kill, especially considering it cost so much. It was rare to put myself in a situation where I wasn't hit at least twice, meaning I had taken that extra 150 damage (after the +150 heal per kill) which limits the incentive that play style has. Healing back up to full should still be a rarity in this game as it works both mechanically and thematically. Small tweaks is all I think it needs, but it is a good issue to bring up.
I'd like it if the deer you kill gave you a normal health boost of +150. And then the axe can stack on that.
In response to question2 it would be cool if they add in craftable bandages that stop your bleeding and let you heal over time.
Hello! Love the game, especially the director feature and its interaction element which sets it apart from other similar games. The issue is in regions like asia (where I play in), allot of players don't speak english or wont interact at all. Will you provide solutions to this problem, maybe through language specific servers and community reach-out in the future as the game's population grows? Either way, the game's current state is fantastic and am excited to see it grow further!
++ I'd rather be matched with English players than German / French ones (Frankfurt server).
I hear you. I am from Asia too ;) The trade-off with adding criteria for matchmaking is splitting the community and often result in longer queue time. Right now, we enable Private Matches for streamers or language community to host their own games. But hopefully a better solution will come like language specific servers and so on.
Are you aware there is a bug with the "Arena" ability where if you place it by a dive-able window you can go straight through the "Impenetrable" barrier?
Yepyep we are aware of it, we will fix it as soon as possible. Thanks for the info ;)
Will there be an option to pre make crafting builds instead of having to swap in/swap out certain items?
Like to save some builds so you can quick load them?
Any plans for bigger marketing? I really liked the game in the beta, but I am a bit worried about the player base because I feel hardly anyone even knows this game exists.
When will the game be released? (ETA is good enough for me)
Early Access March, full release summer.
Without giving too much away, what are your future plans for the base game? Will there be huge differences that completely alter the gem that was the open beta, or minor variations and tweaks? Great game, I think you guys nailed the concept that a lot of people have been chasing after for years following the outbreak of the Hunger Games.
No way we completely alter the gem in the Open Beta. We will follow closely the community and make improvement to the game. There will be a mix of minor variations and major features coming up! ;)
Hey guys, I'm going to front this with my questions and then put my praise for the game at the end. -------- 1) **Fighting the Battle Royale Perception.** This game feels a little strange, because it is a Battle Royale but it doesn't have the same pull as say Fortnite or PUBG. Those games the drive typically comes down to squad based play, asking your friends if you want to play Fortnite and then suddenly you have 2 more people asking if you have space in the squad. That drive is impossible in this game as there will, as far as I am aware, only duos coming. Which means, at least to me, this game falls closer to Rocket League, where solo play and high skill is a factor, than Fortnite, which is less about solo skill and more about squad based entertainment. **To the question, how do you intend to combat this perception that a Battle Royale is about squads getting together and shift it to suit you more precise, solo based game?** (relates to price of release, strength and size of player base, few other factors). ------- 2) **Rating the Director/ Cheating Directors**. This is a interesting issue as the only reason I bring this up is because me and my friends were so consistently able to get into the same games during this beta (Sydney server was not exactly teeming with players). We found that if one died early on, the rating system came up and we would give a middling score (3-4) as the director had done nothing for us and didn't have a chance to so no reason to rate low. However, we would then spectate each other (not giving player locations because that would be a dick move and take away from the spirit of the game), and on a few occasions we noticed the director being SUPER biased, on one occasion literally giving 4 powers to the same guy and deliberately telling him the location of other players. During these situations, I, already being dead, could not change my rating of the director. Which brings forth an interesting issue. If a cheating director helps one person, their bias can only be proved towards the end of a game, when half the people are already dead, meaning he already has 5 ratings of 3-4 stars. The person he is helping is going to give 5 stars, which leaves 4 people who probably won't all notice the bias. This would mean it would be highly unlikely for a director to get below 2.2 stars on average. **Do you think this will be an issue moving forward? Do you have other systems in place to weed out the cheating directors? Do you think the average will stay at 2.2?** ------ 3) This is a question I know will spark a little debate (or simply be thrown aside because people think I am stupid). **Headshots.** Over the past few years I feel headshots are simply being included in games because "it's a headshot, it makes sense". Critical damage for the sake of having a critical spot. However, to me there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of point to it. For low-middle skilled players, headshots are not something you aim for in a fast paced game like this one. Every time I hit a headshot in this game it was by pure chance, and I can say that for a few of my friends as well. I got the extra damage, but it didn't feel like I did anything to earn it, just got a little lucky. Headshots are apparently important enough for the announcer to boom "Headshot" every time it happens, but I am not certain that add anything to the game other than being a "humans have heads, other games have headshots, so we should to". For me, I won about 5-10 games so I wasn't terrible, but still every headshot felt like a bonus, and when I had a headshot against me, I am not convinced it is because that is where they were aiming (some were no doubt, but most I doubt). Some fights we would both miss 3-6 arrow shots in a row only for one of us to then hit a random headshot. This is not some realistic shooter with long ranged snipers based around huge levels of precision so personally, I am not sure what point it serves in the game. High skilled players will be aiming for them, but at the same time I am not certain they need that distinguishing factor. If you took away headshots then I don't think high level players would be missing much. With all this said, I think there could be bonus damage elsewhere. Getting damage on someone who is midway though an action would work thematically and mechanically with this game, as you should always be on your toes and aware of hunters. Shooting in the back would probably be a bit much for extra damage but it would bring in the emphasis of always being aware of your surroundings while also providing an incentive AND thrill of success when you have tracked someone for 2 zones and get them when they are not paying attention. Headshots are not something you can combat. It is not something you can fight against. As the hunted it is not my fault when someone shoots me in the head, they are simply lucky or highly skilled. For the hunter it is as stated, luck or skill, not real earned reward for half that demographic. Yet if it was replaced with a sneak, while they are performing an action, then not only would the hunted be at fault for not paying enough attention, but the hunter would be satisfied in catching them in the act, sometimes waiting for them to perform that action to get the extra damage (I did this even though there was no bonus damage related to it, catching them off guard was better then catching them while simply running). **My question, as I stated could easily be construed as whiny or dumb, what is what is the design decision behind implementing headshots? Are you looking at other ways to reward players with critical damage?** ------- Everyone is going to ask the obvious questions about price, maps, director balance, longevity etc. but honestly I don't really care. I loved this game. For me it is better than other Battle Royale games as it doesn't have as much down time. 15 min max and every moment matters. If you are not gathering recourses then you are killing someone. If it is neither of those it is because you are being tracked and don't want to give them more of a trail to follow. Every minute has a decision and every decision is important. Playing it felt so refreshing. Even when I got killed in the first fight, I only lost 2 minutes but even then I felt like I was doing something or could have improved. Missing axe swings which caused you to lose the fight. You risked it and didn't craft arrows. You won the first fight but didn't factor your remaining health into the next one (did this too often, berserker axe I feel needs a small amount more health regen on a kill as it is a riskier play). I loved 90% of the time I played, which says a lot since in Fortnite it is closer to 50-60% and PUBG it sits around 20%. Hope you answer my questions. Thank you for what you are doing. Hope to play you game again soon.
1. One thing that really works for us is having fewer players so that the Show Director and Spectators can more intimatly know each player; having large numbers of players and squads could make that cognitively harder. I think that's what we will focus on, to shift the Battle Royale perception more towards the Hunger Games kind of showmanship rather than a military/combat zone exercise where hordes of players are duking it out. 2. This is a complex discussion. The rating system is a first attempt to try and mitigate the cheating directors problem, and we can improve it depending on the intel we get. Personally, I like a system inspired by Uber's rating system where we can list reasons for voting at each Stars (1-5) so players know what we considers as bad behavior. However, we also don't want to assume we know what exactly players want from their own Show Director. Some players actually digs "unfair" directors, to which case I think we have Private Match for that to keep public matches fair. But what constitute fair and unfair, it is not really clear. Another idea bounced was to have a thumb up thumb down system instead of Stars so the player voting have less parameter to think about when deciding a vote. Anyway, these are just things in discussion at the minute, if you have ideas, we like to hear them. For sure, we love the Director role and like each Director to be able to showcase their flair in entertainment and make the game fun or challenging for the players (not to frustrate and grief them). 3. To be honest, I disagree with headshot at the start of the implementation with the exact same reasoning as you. My answer in PAX East 2017 last year to "Whether are there headshot in this game?" is "The only headshot in this game is you getting your mind blown!" ;) But in the end, viscerally it felt rewarding to get headshots sometimes randomly in combat when you are not consciously going for it. Also, when you successfully sneak up against someone who is crafting, harvesting or getting stuck in a trap, you have plenty of time to take aim and shoot their head; so in a way this is part of a reward for a successful hunter/tracker too.
Replying to your thoughts on headshots: You mentioned that high level players won’t be missing much on if headshots weren’t awarded. I would personally consider myself a fairly skilled/aggressive player (avg. 5 kills per game), and headshots in this game are not as luck based or useless as your post showed. Headshots offer additional damage, shooting a specific part of the body and being awarded for it is he equivalent to shooting a target and hitting the bullseye. And the additional damage CAN be the deciding factor to a game. An example being the normal arrow at 150/200 base/headshot damage. Upgrading your axe sharpener twice would bump the damage to 200. With this, that’s 2 headshots and a melee hit or vice verse as opposed to 4 hits. You can also factor in damage from other opponent or even the 50 cold damage received every few seconds, or even bear trap damage, the list goes on. As for luck for low/mid players, well that’s for all games really, landing/practicing critical hits is what makes them mechanically better essentially. You track an opponent and land the headshot when they’re crafting/scavenging.
What was your username on Sydney server
Have you thought about a competitive scene? It’s known to everyone that this is a BR game, with competition from the likes of PUBG and Fortnite. We can learn a lot from PUBG that multiple team games from a spectators viewpoint simply isn’t as enjoyable and doesn’t work like CSGO or LoL, in fact any successful esport scene right now is a focus of 2 opposing teams. My proposal: 5v5 mode, friendly fire off and with no other changes needed to the current gameplay. Builds, gameplay, strategies, teamwork, the potential is literally limitless. With it being a much smaller scale to its competitors, official games can be BO5 lasting up to an hour. Players would spawn randomly like now and can choose to group up or intercept their opponents. I genuinely believe the large majority of healthy games, with a winning objective and a long lifespan HAS a competitive scene, I hope the team has considered this or even anything close to it. Edit: regards to the director, essentially the director could act as a referee for the game. There could be some form of referee training program or maybe even using an achievement progress in game, with high rated referees being chosen to train and become actual refs.
Any small tips or secrets you can give? ex: something that the game doesn't mention or tell you. Thanks for reading!!
The deers are robots.
As a streamer, it is exceptionally annoying and inconvenient to mute a player in each new game you find yourself in with the offending player. I reported multiple people over the weekend for abusive language. Please make the mutes stick to future games and maybe a nice visual indicator that you've muted someone in the lobby to know why other ppl are responding negatively to someone that you can't hear.
You can press Y to mute all in one go. Your own mute toggle sticks, but the other players are case by case. You would like the game to remember you muted "JonSmitthh" and re-apply that setting each game?
Did not know about mute all. Good to know. But yes, a "sticky" mute from game to game that gets reapplied would be freaking amazing. Icing on the cake would be some visual indication that someone is muted in the lobby and not just on the list when you hit the escape key. Thank you!
I'll keep it simple... when's the next open beta/stress test?!? Love the game the way it is don't change too much!
BZA this past weekend was the last Open Beta mate ;) There will be no other public tests until Early Access is released
BZA this past weekend was the last Open Beta mate ;) There will be no other public tests until Early Access is released
BZA this past weekend was the last Open Beta mate ;) There will be no other public tests until Early Access is released
This was the last beta, next step is Early Access. Can we have the date for that? @devs
Get some streamers and let them play your game. Ninja would be best or Doc. That would be the best marketing.
Omg DrDisRespect playing Darwin :X
The game is available for Early Access at Match 9th, let's go get all our favorite streamers to play it too! :)
Will there be tradable sets or items in steam inventory or sellable on the market?
1) Are there going to be more director powers that we haven't seen yet? 2)About the director ranking system, we know that low-rank directors won't be able to use certain powers, but will there be special powers exclusive to high-ranked directors? 3) How will customization work? Will there be a Steam Workshop integration? 4) Will it be possible to watch and/or browse streams from inside the game client? --//--- I'm really looking forward for the next chance to play, the game is insanely fun and thanks for the attention. I know this is an AMA session but I'd like to quickly say that director powers that affect all the players equally - such as turning off gravity - are specially fun and I'd love to see more of that. I'm looking forward to seeing your game on Steam soon!
1) There will be more powers in the future. 2) That's a good idea. 3) Details to come later. 4) That is not in our current plans. Thanks for your feedback. :)
All I care to know is if David (aka BoogerThyme) is a :robot: Also I am truly excited for this game to be Pay-to-Play rather than the F2P model, but what will your plan be for extended earnings from the game? Micro-transactions for skins, etc. I love this Studio and how welcoming you have all been to the Community. Keep up the good work Darweenies :D
The politically correct term is Android.
W/E you are, you don't stop
Yes David is a robot ;) The game release was announced today at the price of 15$. Thanks for your support!
Always here for support :smiling_imp:
Hello Scavenger Studios, I am loving the Darwin Project right now. My two questions are, "Will there be a contest soon for fan art and will the game support Tobi Eye Tracking in the future?"
I have no idea what Tobi Eye Tracking is. It sounds sinister.
Video Performance: What are the plans to optimize the game at the high end? Right now with a 1080 / Ryzen 7 1700 OC'd the only consistent frames I can get without major drops is right around 80. What's the potential of optimizing so we can get 144+ without major frame drop inconsistencies? Netcode Latency Improvements: What's in the works to add improvements to lag compensation and specific server/client latency issues? Multiple players continue to express concern about things like hit registration with the axes and parrys mostly due to discrepancy in ping to server. Game cost: What's the potential of selling a deluxe edition and keeping the game F2P for all? Lots of people are already expressing concern about the pricepoint of the game and how many will not continue with the game if it is a forced buy. Is there consideration to expand the customization to allow microtransactions with things like skins, hats, weapon cosmetics, emotes, avatar badges or highlighted names to allow this opportunity?
We are always working on optimization, it's an ongoing process. As far as latency goes, the game used to compensate for up to 150ms, but that was lowered to 50ms. I can't give you a better connection if you get a large ping. We'll have as many regions as we can.
How much monies for EA to be today
1) How do you plan to keep a consistent player base at a 15$ price point? 2) Will there cosmetic items added to the game? If so, will they be cosmetic-only (no pay-to-win) similar to Fortnite/PUBG? 3) Will the duo mode be available at the early access release date? 4) Is there going to be some sort of progression system to keep the game from becoming stale? 5) Will there be a mode available (eventually) with no show director to be more skill based? Nonetheless a very fun game and can't wait for March 9th.
Is there a roadmap for this game? I would love to see full support.
Hello guys! Great work with updating game! Few questions 1)Can we expect duo on ea start? Finally some clothes for levels and maybe female character? 2)What kind of online do you hope to achieve? Will you pay for some advertise to streamers, i think we reallly nee that. 3)Any rewards for alpha/beta players?
Which streamers do you recommend us to engage? :)
How will we unlock or buy crates or skins?
Will there be any amount of microtransactions in this game? Or will cosmetics and the like be unlocked through the leveling up system. Love the game!
As an independent game studio releasing your first game under Scavenger Studios, through what metrics are you measuring success, be it active player base, engagement time, sales, etc? Edit: In other games, randomization is the key to bridging the skill gap between high skill and lower skill players. Gamers always gripe about rngs, no doubt you're aware of that. In my opinion, Darwin Project replaces this rng aspect of gaming with the director, which at its core is an "rng-like" player that gets to decide who gets buffs that would typically be provided as rng. Are gamers ready for and ready to accept this type of control? People seem to assume that the highest skilled inmate should win 100% of time and complain that their director was actively plotting against them and rate accordingly if they lose. What are your thoughts on skill-level vs win rate?
We read all feedback equally, good and bad. "Haters are actually sad lovers" (Darveau.S, 2018). The worse thing to have is to receive silence and emptiness. We believed strongly that an active community is key to Darwin Project's survival and success, so alot of what we like to consider success is how we engage our existing community. Randomization is where several game developers will have competing ideology, and having these clash will be the key to ensure we cater to many different players. A competitive designer would prefer a skill-based gameplay, while someone like me will probably consider managing RNG a form of skill. I like to expand the possibility with different kinds of show directors to cater for different kind of matches; for example, a player looking for a pure skill-based victory can choose to play matches casted by a fair SD that doesn't use RNG skills (via private match or something); while someone who wanted to experience the full range of emotions of a RNG-Rigged game can join matches of that kind. For sure, I agree it felt bad to lose to an equally skilled opponent if he is aided by RNG or the SD unfairly, so we have to think of measure to mitigate that; but it is also useful to note for now the balance is such that a mechanically skilled player will mostly win against a less skilled one, regardless of RNG helping the less skilled one or not.
All I wanna know is if there's a way to become a closed beta tester. I played the open beta for a few hours last night and fell in love with the game. Only stumbled across this AMA because I was trying to make a post shouting out the devs for such an awesome game. The Darwin Project takes the battle royal genre in a completely unique direction. Most games just add a feature to differ from PUBG and H1Z1 but Darwin changed everything. No more guns, no more looting (only for materials now), much more fighting, and obviously, the show director (which I never got around to playing because of how fun solo was). I had such a blast last night talking to the show directors. A handful even made their own game show host persona! I need more Darwin Project! Anyways, great game. Can't wait to play it!
Join the Darwin project discord and you will find all the information needed to become a tester
Game is great. Main concern is the replay ability . I can play this for a long time but I feel like eventually I would like to work towards something. The leader boards are cool and all but since its gonna reset weekly I feel that would get tiring too. Most games now have ranked play and things to work for to Appeal to that crowd. Would you guys consider making competitive mode. If not, a idea I had would if you finish top 10 or 100 you get a exclusive skin for that. Since it re sets weekly everyone will have a chance in the future. I wouldn’t want sbmm added unless there is a competitive mode. So my questions are 1. Will there be skins/rewards for getting a rank or spot on the leader boards? I remember in a AMA David said it could be cool and have a intimidation factor in game. Also to show off what you worked for. 2. Would you add sbmm to casual play or make it causal = anyone. Ranked = sbmm. if you guys only have sbmm then how could we play with are friends if are ELO is different. i really hope theirs casual and competitive so you can play with friends and warm up. Or if you just want to chill and try new things without it affecting your elo. 3. how will skins and progression work. 4. What do you think will make people stick to your game. I love how it plays and it’s fun but I feel like I wouldn’t of played Overwatch or csgo for how long I did if it’s always casual. Great games just after while what’s there to do or work for? With ranks it could be the same game but always something to achieve and get higher up. (Also if people don’t like that then they can play causal) 5. Will there be anything new for early access release ? Or will it be all the same as the last beta 6. On your free time what hobbies do you guys do besides gaming :) Can’t wait until Early Access!
1. It is a good idea, we need to work on it eventually. 2. I think if we implement Ranked it should be a separate queue. But let's see. We could also add SBMM to casual play to test the algorithm first before rolling out Ranked. 3. How you like it to work? ;) I don't have anything concrete at the minute but we definitely like to release new cosmetic parts for players to customize their character's visuals. 4. Our community is our best source of strength for making people stick. Also, I feel the game right now is fun and give us a foundation to add many new content to keep it fresh. 5. Mostly the same with some important bug fixes, and we are going to add new content over time for sure. Also, the server is going to be up for longer than a weekend (fingers crossed). 6. Besides gaming and working on games, I am busy trying to survive the Canadian cold. I also learn Salsa and Bachata casually as a beginner now.
Hi! I'm in love with this game but I only really like playing as director. Are there any plans to make the map larger? Every time I play, I feel like there are too many people and not enough time for me to craft (so I'm stacked with my customization), gather materials, or even find clues and follow footsteps/smoke, which I know is a very unique mechanic and I would love to use it. But the general size of the map is a problem for me (But I don't want extra hexagons on the map, just having it BIGGER) Furthermore, what are some plans for craft-able items in the future? Thanks!
Are you going to spend any money in advertisment?
Also I think they would be far better off in the long run making this game Free 2 Play with paid cosmetics. The cosmetic system is definitely there.
Tell us, do you have some ideas for new maps? Are they planned for DayOne? Are there Concepts without Snow? Beta was really good! -good flow, nice community and technical fine(for me)
We are thinking of adding more maps in the future but not for the DayOne of the early access. Our current focus is on balancing the game and adding features such as Duos mode. Some other types of maps are considered but we still need to prototype them, it could be tricky with the cold mechanic. So no certainty at this point! Thanks for your support ;)
Is there going to be a shoulder swap button. Peeps that want an advantage will always use corners for peeking. All third person games have this problem if they don't use shoulder swap. Gears of war is a perfect example. I hate playing ring ring a ring a rosey around buildings cause everyone want the right side advantage.
After playing some games as a director I had some stuff I missed: * 1. A way to talk to all the players at once.** Sometimes I wanted to relay that for instance: "Next person that kills someone will get a reward". I had to jump to each and everyone to relay that information and usually I didnt get to the end before someone died * 2. More alternatives. I would love to be able to drop chests, deer or just a fire instead of only being able to drop down drones. * 3. Easier planning of closing zones. I would love to either have a list of which zones are getting closed, or chose so myself so I can plan abit better on how I want to funnel the players.
Nice ideas. I think a way to talk to all the players should be needed (a megaphone of sorts). I like the idea of knowing which zone close too, could be a relatively cool power to gift a player the knowledge of next zone closing or pylon opening so he can go and prepare traps. Thanks and keep these ideas coming! :)
Are you gonna get rid of that gravity storm ability? Please don't. I love it, but I see it's getting a fair amount of hate. I think that's a vocal minority. I love using it as director as well as playing with it as an inmate.
No worries, we have no plan to remove it at the moment ;)
I think we prefer to provide alternatives for directors to use in place of gravity storm rather than removing it.
So.... It's the game going to be f2p? I really want to try it out, but I didn't even know the game existed...
The game was so much fun over beta I can't wait for release! When exactly will that be? Also are there any plans for a game mode without a director? Thank you!
Thanks for your interest ;) The early access will release on Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview on March 9, 2018. We have currently no plan for a mode without the show director.
My questions are regarding the Show Director(And all its glory). 1)This is a fairly unique idea for a multiplayer ffa, where did you get inspiration from? 2)Are there plans to make the Show Director customizable?I'd love to be able to mix and match a variety of abilities. 3)Are there any plans to have the show director have a more active role, rather then just popping in every few minutes to cause chaos?(Apart from popping around to players and entertaining them, of course) Thanks!
1. 1st, we want to make a game that's fun to watch and engages viewers too. 2nd, hunger games. :) 2. We like to do that! We like the Show Director to have tools to make his job of entertaining the players and spectators more awesome. 3. Right now I feel like we don't want to overly load Show Director with minute tasks such that he is too distracted to properly cast a match and entertain players. But what you have in mind to make the role more active? Let us know!
Three questions to ask: Any clue on preordering? Confirmed price? Any more trailers coming?
The game is available for Early Access at Match 9th at $14.99! ;) Go watch our community highlight videos on Youtube too!
Hi big fan I have only one question. Will you plan on adding more variety to the crafting wheel?. Example: armor that can block melee but not arrow damage etc..
We plan on adding a lot of stuff (powers, tools, passives) in the future. We have a lot of ideas. If you have some feel free to let us know!
It's a good idea. We wan to continue to support the game to add variety.
First off i want to thank all of you for making this game since the moment i started playing it back in the beta it quickly became one of my favorite games!. My question is regarding teaming , so either players who team with hosts or players who team with other players. I was wondering what you guys think about teaming in this game since (at least for me i don't know about the rest of players) hate teaming , especially when im playing vs another player and the host just calls out my every move either calling out my position or just calling out what i am crafting or about to do , and its completely unfair and the fact that the only thing i can do about that is giving the host 0 rating , which makes me feel like nothing is going to happen to him since he abused his power to make his friend win. Thanks in advance , and thanks again for making this awesome game!
We consider teaming in solo mode cheating; especially for Show Directors as their job is not a cheating, griefing machine, but a entertainer to provide fun experiences to everyone, players and audiences alike. http://www.scavengers.ca/code-of-conduct/
One of the things the moderators were MOST on the lookout for was teaming. Be it two inmates, or an inmate and a director. The current stance is that if you're in Solo play, you're in Solo play. No teaming, no truces, everyone is out for everyone. That may change in the future, and of course Duos will be another story - but that's up to the Devs to discuss.
How big do you plan for maps to be, plus will there be any plans for squad or even trios?
Will there ever be a chance of eSports? If so how will it pan out?
The players will decide that one. That is not for us to force.
Will the fog be staying in the game? This is my only big gripe about the game right now. I hope it's removed.
The fog is part of the storm that come during the night, it was part of the design we wanted for this map. Beginning in the sunrise and gradually oppress the player with the night and the storm. However if you survive long enough, you will see northern lights and the storm will disappear as well as the fog that goes with it ;) Knowing this, how would you change it?
How can you address having bias in-game by the Director?
Pre-teaming with your friends is a big breach of our code of conduct. But otherwise, we encourage you to charm the Show Director. ;)
1) You know, it's pretty hard for players to get good grades for the show director. Because someone was not saved, someone was not cured. I think if you had removed the score of 5 points and instead did it, like/dislike, the show director's move in the leaderboard would be easier. 2) I had an idea suddenly came after 43 games for the show director. What if I add the ability to include music on the map? I love music 🎧 It would be very nice 😍 And also as a supplement to make while playing music funny glow.
Early access when?!?
The game is available for Early Access at Match 9th at $14.99! ;)
Hello guys! Big fan of the game and the community! My biggest concern of recent is: What anti-cheat system will you be using or what measures will you be taking to prevent cheating and TEAMING? (teaming is way easier than cheating atm) One more thing: Will it be possible in the future to play on NA server from EU without extreme amounts of ms? I just met some guys on the discord i wanna play with, but they are all US :/
Release date or RIOT
No riot necessary. March 9th.
Hey Devs) I just have 2 questions, can you please tell me how much will the game cost and when is the release date? I really want to continue playing and i really liked it so want to know how much i have to pay, coz if you guys will put an insane amount i will stay out of it so just wanted to know will it be cheap...
With all this talk about the playerbase falling out if the game is not f2p, have you guys been discussing the f2p option with cosmetic in game purchases??
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The early access will cost $14.99 USD on Steam and Xbox One.
are there going to be beta shirts? plus are there going to be new materials in the future? i'd love to hear your answer <3
What are some *very* long term goals you have for the game / its content?
World domination.
Sign me up!
I missed the open beta and just discovered this game yesterday :(. Is there any plan yet for the next open beta / release ?
There won't be another open - beta until the early access release which is expected to be Q1 (March).
This beta was so much fun! I can't wait til you release it.
Thanks! I can't wait too :)
So I have made a topic about the Axe nerf which gives bonus damage to your melee attacks (costs 3 leather now but it was 2 leather in the 1st Beta). I would like to know if your statistics showed that the nerf was actually "too much" or if it is okay now? Cause I felt that playing that axe is just not worth it anymore :(
The data shows that there's still a lot of people using it, and using it well. I feel it's a good nerf.
Yeah I felt like that too, but the hard part was that in the first beta it was like if you didn't use that axe then you were at a disadvantage because the cost of it was very efficient. I think the majority of players used it for that reason, so other axes were sort of looked over. But now it is almost too expensive to us xD not sure how to balance that
Will you guys be adding Squad's and will you guys be increasing the player amount for solo's?
We will add Duo at some point. The number of players for solo is a function of the map. With the current map 10 players was determined to be optimal.
Are you guys going to make a map based on the appalachian mountains? Like make a map on each countries mountain ranges? Can you add a frozen fish as a weapon so I can slap my enemy to track them by scent?
Hello, love the game! I cant play other Battle Roayle games anymore, thanks a lot. But I have 2 Things that I think should be changed and one suggestion. 1. You need to make it so that when someone freezes to death because of a snowball, the announcer says DEATH BY SNOWBALL instead of FROZEN TO DEATH. Because its almost impossible to get the death by snowball anymore. Also it would strike fear into your enemies because they see this dude killing everyone with snowballs :P 2. Also could you make it harder to parry snowballs? They are useless against anyone who can click within a 2 second time period which makes them ridiculously more weak and impossible to use against anyone with a brain. 3. One last thing, but this is just a though. Is there any chance we could get a cloak that could maybe make snowballs faster? Or 2 at a time? Yes. I like snowballs. Thank you for your time and this amazing game!
1. That was a bug, it has been fixed and now it does say "Death by snowball!" 2. I've seen a lot of snowball deaths, they seem to be in a good place. But we track a lot of data, we'll see. 3. That's a cool idea, could be the start of a snowballer build.
number 1. i thought they already fixed that? number 2. they are snowballs, they are not going to be that hard to parry.
Hey, first of all.. I LOVE YOUR GAME :) Now here is my question: Will you focus on the huge esport potential this game has and will there be a ranked ladder with less impact of the director? Thank you for your answer :)
I feel that dealing with the Show Director is part of the skillset necessary to win. It's very entertaining to watch with the best Directors.
How far are we from early access and when will duos be put coming and how will duos work compared to solos will there be another map for duos or aspects etc...
The early access release date was announced today for the 9 march! We are working hard to deliver the duo mode as soon as possible. AAt the moment it will be in the current map and for all the details stay tuned (we're still iterating on it) :)
will there be sliders to choose for size or hud size so you could customize your screen
That's a good idea.
Are you going to make a Linux client of the game also? If, yes, then will it be on the launch of early access or later?
We have no current plans for a Linux version.
thank you for the answer. still hope you change your plans about it some day, linux crowd has many games, but no battle royale type games yet.
Will the duos game mode be available on Early Access launch? (IF not how soon will it be available?) And for those asking about price, I got an email from Scavenger Studio saying that it will release on Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview on March 9 for $15. ;D Also for the devs: Will the price increase or decrease upon full release?
Will there be tradable sets or items in steam inventory or sellable on the market?
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1. The price was announced today at $14.99 USD on Steam and Xbox One. 2. The duo mode will not be released with early access but we are working hard to deliver it as soon as possible :) Look out for an update on our official channels at a later date. 3. The female character should come quickly after the release of the early access. 4. We're happy with the current weapon types, but we're not opposed to adding more in the future. 5. At the moment, we have no plan for that but it's a cool idea! 6. We'll consider adding more maps in the future, clearly!
Will you add different game modes?
As a start, we are currently working on the Duo mode. For other modes look out for updates on our official channels at a later date. Thanks for your interest!
Will pre-order be active?
Will there ever be eSports?
There are a few community fans organizing tournaments, if you like the idea, participate! and who knows it can grow into something.
Would you consider something like ranking for private groups? You would just invite who u want in private group, clan or whatever and there would be rankings only for them to see who is doing best... i think this would be a great tool for smaller communities. Also, will there be possibility for private game api, so we can gather stats from tournaments?
That's a good idea. I, for sure, like to compare with my friends rather than strangers.
I would honestly pay the $15 right now to play the beta version forever.
Early Access is coming out on 9th Match costing $0.01 less than what you think you would pay! Patience is a virtue!
will there be customization in the game?
Yes there will be customization!
Will there ever be Health regain during time? besides using health packs or killing inmates?
The idea is open. Right now Scavenger Axe is what you want to use to hunt robot deers to gain back some health after combat situations.