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Demigod: Short-term preview

Demigod: Short-term preview

What's coming up next

It looks like tonight there will be an update from GPG that addresses some of the in-game issues introduced in v1.01 (mainly chasing down opponents and such).

Next week, we should have an update that improves connectivity further for people with multiple IPs, intelligent proxy server handling, and better interaction with the pantheon.

In the meantime, Gas Powered Games is working on version 1.1 of Demigod which is scheduled to have:

  1. Concede option
  2. Random Demigod setup option
  3. Improved pathfinding
The demo version of Demigod will be based on v1.1.
Beyond that we plan to look at having observers and replay handling better as well as a place for people to upload their replays.
My own presence on the Demigod forums and journals will be decreasing after v1.1 pretty dramatically as I begin to focus on Elemental.  But Stardock will continue to have forum support people around to help and Gas Powered Games will be continuing to work on updates which include additional Demigods (no ETA yet) for a long time to come.
I will say that I've instructed the moderators to take a somewhat harder line on the forums regarding rage posting.  Especially since most often users have no idea what they're talking about and since I'm not likely to write a tell all book any time soon, they will continue to not know what they're talking about. :) 
Before v1.1, we will be posting a new series of pinned topics based on everything we know.  
Below is a summary of legitimate issues Demigod has that we are aware of.  
  • When players leave the lobby, the kick message sometimes gets called twice which can crash the lobby. (high priority).
  • When joining pantheon or skirmish games if a player aborts after the connection is made it can mess up the game (high priority).
  • Path finding around edges can be flakey with certain demigod/map combos.  Being looked at but considered a high priority.
  • Finding ways to deal with "Rage quitters" that is equittable to all (v1.1 is the main thing there).
  • People who have two NICs have problems connecting (high priority, ETA is next week).
  • People who can't connect normally end up using a Proxy server but Europeans and Australias get high pings (high priority, ETA late next week).
  • Favor points aren't tracked if you play onlin against only AI players (known, working as designed).
  • Cases where the game crashes in game (being looked at, rare for most people but common for the people who get it, high priority).
  • People can connect to everyone but one other player in a lobby (high priority, cause is unknown).
Features for Demigod that are high on our list:
  • Much better friends handling (ETA June)
  • Multiple in-game channels (ETA June)
  • Ability to get messages from friends in game outside the game via Impulse (ETA June)
  • Display of a player's experience rating in connection dialog (ETA June)
  • Display of a player's disconnect % in connection dialog (ETA June)
  • Support for Group Skirmishes/Pantheon (ETA July)
  • More Demigods (ETA not known, working with GPG on this)
  • More maps (ETA not known, working with GPG on this)
So that's where we're at.  
In the meantime, see you online.

22,807 views 32 replies
Reply #26 Top

Sorry but pantheon is just as broken as it was before.

(actually I had less success, but I assume thats down to luck)

Tried about 15 times, and got 1 game to launch.

 

Most of the time now instead of people dropping, were getting stuck on attempting to connect.

It just sits there forever attempting to connect.

 

Sigh. I can understand occasionally 2 pc's not being able to connect, but why does it happen almost every game I try? Surely the internet isnt *that* bad?

All my ports are forwarded (checked with the port checker program) so I just cant see why so many problems.

 

Edit: Yep, the game is definitly worse for me than last patch. At least last patch I could play custom games pretty reliably, even if pantheon was broken. Now I find I cant even play custom games. half the games I dont even get into the lobbies, and the other half theres one or more people who cant connect to me.

Nothings changed, was running fine a couple of days ago on the old patch.

I thought this is what proxies were for. Cant even the proxies connect? *shakes head*

Reply #27 Top

Beleive it or not, I think  one of the best solutions to a lot of the rage-quiting and bad sportsmanship problems we are having is replays .  People seem to act a lot more civil if they know they are "on camera".  And now, if somebody does something outrageous, you'll have proof, not just a he said/she said.

Reply #28 Top

Quoting transitive, reply 5
thanks for the update Frogboy. 

are you familiar with CD-Projekt and their handling of The Witcher Enhanced Edition? They made a number of very nice improvements to the original (already very good but slightly buggy) release and put it out with a brand new packaging and marketting campaign. The Enhanced Edition was VERY well received and a large number of reviewers that had previously given middling scores to The Witcher revised their marks upward by a large amount. Enhanced Edition sold very well if I'm not mistaken.

 

so would you consider doing something like a Demigod: Enhanced Edition sometime in July when these updates are finished? Might be a great way to regain some lost ground related to the messy launch. I'd love to see a more fully featured re-release, with a couple of new Demigods and new maps and all the social updates and bug fixes you're planning.

I was thinking the exact same thing.  I was thinking November with the new demigods included.  Hopefully they can get it re-reviewed like CD project did.

Reply #29 Top

Any chance we can change the timer back to 30 secs???

 

Now with the option of endgame, people typically use this to quit a game in progress (instead of the exit to windows).  I haven't seen a single disconnect timer.  However the cable in my area has an issue where at unknown random intervals, I will disconnect for approximately 21 secs.  It happens once every 10 games, sometimes 3 games in a row and then never for 20 odd games, but before I would be fine.  Now with the timer at 8 secs I am screwed.

Reply #30 Top

Sweet, everything sounds good, can't wait, except for the part of your decreasing activity on the forums.  We'll miss you!!

Reply #31 Top

Quoting Dead, reply 18
The new minor patch is up. Let's see if they fixed the ability bug...

Tested, seems to be fixed now. Played 2 hours, no ability bug (with sedna and UB). I think it's finally fixed.

 

But the Wand of Speed needs additional fixing: when you issue a chain of commands in a certain order, it gets bugged:

1) Move to A->activate Wand; if you encounter some enemy (creeps or dg) on the way to point A, it stops by himself and attacks the enemy. No good when you are trying to run from an enemy DG, but you encounter some creep on the way and he stops from running, attacking the creep.

2) Click on an enemy DG with an ability, but the enemy DG is far away from you, so your DG starts chasing him. If you activate the Wand, your DG just stops from running and chasing the target.

The only way when Wand works correctly is when you move to A, activate the Wand and you don't encounter any enemy (towers included) until you reach point A. Or when you activate first the Wand and then you make the move command.

Reply #32 Top

My own presence on the Demigod forums and journals will be decreasing after v1.1 pretty dramatically as I begin to focus on Elemental. But Stardock will continue to have forum support people around to help and Gas Powered Games will be continuing to work on updates which include additional Demigods (no ETA yet) for a long time to come

Can a specific individual be designated to take over the role as chief representative of Stardock on the forums at the appropriate time ?