About that latest video

[Norway174 269]

Here's the video if you've somehow missed it:

The official Discord totally blew up after this video was released. With people not understanding the concept of placeholders and demanding a refund.
Here's a direct quote from a part of the video description:

Quote

Vehicle physics, foliage art and character animation are still placeholders at this stage and will be replaced prior to releases.

What this means, that most of what is terrible in this video is NOT THE FINAL VERSION, and will most likely change.

Edit: Oh, and this is a "GAMEPLAY TRAILER", not a "TRAILER". The difference here is that it's not showing a final product, but what you can expect the game play to be like.

With that out of the way, let's get down to some constructive criticism. Because, why else would I bother making this thread, right?
Let's start with the good, then the bad, then my notes. I'm not gonna touch on any of the placeholder subjects.

The good
- Decently ok graphics. But does it have to be, if the gameplay is good enough?
- Seems to be decently optimized, never dips bellow 60 FPS. Though, we'll have to wait till the Town Square to see if that is really the case.
- The interaction system in our vehicle / surroundings seems neat. I really like how you can sit in side of your car, and look around freely. And interact with objects, such as the computer.
- The drug making process seems to actually require some effort. With interactions.

The bad
- The camera appears "stuck" behind the character. In a fixed position. I don't know if this counts as animations, probably not. But I would prefer to be able to freely look around in third person camera, by default. Like in normal MMO's. And then, lock the camera behind you, or something, when you aim your gun in third person.
- The police computer UI could probably use some more work. It feels like something that would be relevant back in 1999.  Al though, to be fair. I have never actually seen such a computer IRL. So maybe that is what they look like?
- The interaction wheel. I mean, it's nice and all. But I've never come across one that works well with mouse & keyboard, and which gives me proper control of what I want to select, or even lets me know what each option is.

My notes
I went into the video expecting nothing. i knew people have been asking for a video a lot lately. And a lot of other drama recently with toxicity when the video didn't reach the first estimation.
And it feel like it may have been rushed.

I would have been fine with waiting another week, or more.
But I don't blame them for getting it out this early.

Overall, I feel the the video is quite terrible. But when I go into a deeper analysis. Ignoring what is obviously placeholders, as previous mentioned. My list of good out weights the list of bad.
Those items on the list are only what I can think of right now. Maybe you'd have your own items you'd like to add?

 

Let's discuss what you liked, or didn't like in the video. And try and provide some valid criticism in the process?
Instead of saying "It's bad hurr durr.", try saying "It's bad, and here's why...".

And obviously try and avoid topics that's clearly a placeholder.

Edited February 12, 2018 by Norway174

[Xzothi 54]

I am not sure I have much to say here. Since everything I could say relates to things that will likely change. Like the clipping here there with some of the clothing items. As well as the lighting. These things would likely be changed as well. The lighting may look better if they changed the colouring of some of the textures but it is hard to say when that is likely a place holder as well.  The poke threw some of the clothing could be related to animations. Since any animation change there can have a affect on the poke threw. 

The head poking threw at the start is sometimes related to bugs or animations.(Seen it happen before. Forgive me if I do not remember what the exact cause it is.) 

I personally didn't expect much honestly. With a indie game studio like this one with a budget of roughly 900k they are doing fairly well.  Sure hard work  and all but I wouldn't expect multi million dollar game out of there budget.

[PrinceChawmin 38]

In my mind i was thinking a town square video but i forgot they were gonna do a crime like video. But straight to the point i wasn't expecting a top quality gameplay video with everything perfect. So this video wasn't surprising in prediction. Nice house, nice cop car, interesting ui on the police computer, the place holder running animation still looks funny but again its a placeholder. Not bad gunplay so far, can't really complain but hope to see more with different weapons so see how it'll play out. They weren't kidding when they said that we had to maintain when cooking meth otherwise it'll explode. So its interesting to see the drug wheel (at least thats what i call it) and the options are. Some animations seem to need work but other than that,its a decent gameplay video.

The only thing i see as a con is the voice acting.

[Preston_bodhi_343 229]

Have to say it's a pretty damn good video, sure it needs some improvements but what doesn't? It's a good taste of what's to come and hopefully now the whinging whiners will stop complaining every five minutes ??, that said I do hope the town square module lives up to it's hype and is something to enjoy 

[LordBenji 210]

I wish they would have told us to not be too hyped about it. I've seen a bit of controversy in the Discord chat concerning the game play video. I'll admit, I wasn't super impressed about it, due that of course a lot of things featured in the video are placeholders, but I know it'll be changed and polished. The video still gives me a general idea of what to expect in the game, like the farm field on the left, the birds flying, the things that looks like pollen in the air, the dispatch, and a few other minor things.

For the future video about Town Square, I think a lot more people will be hyped about it. I hope the animations will be reworked and that there won't be too many placeholders at that time.

[Eriberto 51]

The problem are the rumors. I mean, they never said that the video was 20 minutes long and/or that it was about Town Square. Gameplay looks great, animations look horrible, that's all. 

[Fain 2]

I thought it was pretty epic from a small team with a low budget.  I’m really not sure what people were expecting if they’re complaining about the graphics and animations.  They were light years ahead of what I was anticipating.

 

If you thought you’d get AAA quality, scale, or graphics from a small, low budget team, you should probably tamper your expectations.

 

Honestly I thought the game would turn out to be a glorified Garry’s Mod and it looks like it will be a lot more then that.  I thought the interactions with the police computer were really cool and how he actually spoke into the radio on his shoulder when he used it.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Fain

[LordBenji 210]

8 minutes ago, Eriberto said:

The problem are the rumors. I mean, they never said that the video was 20 minutes long and/or that it was about Town Square. Gameplay looks great, animations look horrible, that's all. 

Yes they have said what it was about. But not everyone checks all the time in the Discord chat 24/7. I knew before it was posted that it would concern meth, shootout and arrest. But they never mentioned how long the video would be, just that it wouldn't be over 10 minutes for sure.

[Merrkul 12]

I could be wrong here, but it seems like they still have a VERY far way to go based on the video.  Yes, I know there are placeholders in place and things will change but shouldn't it be updated since the last video by now?  If the release date in March is real, then are we all going to be running about like that when it is released?  That will actually be hilarious seeing everyone running around like that if so.  I was hoping that they were further along.  This video is very.... telling.   They are a small team and have accomplished a good amount but we are in for a long wait for a QUALITY end result.   

The Good:

I like the multiple steps involved in the drug cooking mini game. 

Character models looked good.

Gun play looked good.  

Saw deer (wildlife) run off when cop was approaching RV.  

Cop car model also looked good. 

 

Keep it up guys!  I am hoping for success here.  

[sp00f_IOM 28]

I'm no expert, but I was just wondering, why is the RV was giving off blue smoke, when it then later gives the option to add P2P (Phenylacetone)? To my understanding the blue smoke is as a result of using CH3NH2 (Methylamine) not P2P. Having said this, it could have been done to make spotting labs in the middle of the woods easier. As I stated, I could be completely wrong, I'm no expert but if anybody has any knowledge on this subject it would be great to know! 

https://gyazo.com/a9bf8775d176c710cd24af74b6a41163

https://gyazo.com/6f6a782aaf5e2959b2f44ae5793d4ad5

Other than that, the work so far looks great! Only some minor issues with the clothes clipping, and the aiming animation looks a bit too snappy.

Looks amazing so far, and I'm sure everyone is excited for the Module 1 Release next month!

Edited February 13, 2018 by sp00f_IOM

[donmartini112 4]

Placeholders? To be replaced by what? The ACCUAL trailer? If these are placeholders, what have they been doing for the past 3 years? Making placeholders? It looks like the ARMA mods. The cars even drive the same. I can't blame pleople for wanting a refund (although, they're not going to get one. It was a donation, not a purchase and the money is intended to be used up in the making of the game). I can't rule out that the accual game is going to be way better but I'm utterly disappointed with what they show after 3 years of working on it and raising almost one million dollars.

 

Edited February 13, 2018 by donmartini112

[LordBenji 210]

27 minutes ago, donmartini112 said:

Placeholders? To be replaced by what? The ACCUAL trailer? If these are placeholders, what have they been doing for the past 3 years? Making placeholders? It looks like the ARMA mods. The cars even drive the same. I can't blame pleople for wanting a refund (although, they're not going to get one. It was a donation, not a purchase and the money is intended to be used up in the making of the game). I can't rule out that the accual game is going to be way better but I'm utterly disappointed with what they show after 3 years of working on it and raising almost one million dollars.

I agree, animations were kinda off. But I think they consider using motion capture method in the future, so hopefully it'll be much smoother when you're walking. For the driving physics, they're still very early and rough. They will work on it for the Racing Module. There's been a lot of assets and foliage that has been reworked and will be reworked again. It saddens me when people doesn't always understand what is the deal behind the scene. But hey, if you're not happy with what you invested into, then you can refund and wait. I mean when you invest in these type of games, you know what you're getting into.

[sp00f_IOM 28]

Any thoughts on what the shadowy shape is leaning up against the tree at the farm? I think it could be a NPC for something like drugs.

https://gyazo.com/de0085b43b7f9fcbc327ae59a7bf3373

[Hatoful 252]

2 hours ago, sp00f_IOM said:

Any thoughts on what the shadowy shape is leaning up against the tree at the farm? I think it could be a NPC for something like drugs.

https://gyazo.com/de0085b43b7f9fcbc327ae59a7bf3373

I think it may be like what you said, some sort of NPC used to sell drugs. If I remember correctly, which I may not be, I think they said there would be certain places all over the map where you can go and sell/buy drugs to/from different NPCs. I didn't even notice that there at first, though,  nice find ! Kinda makes me what keep rewatching to see if I missed anything!

[Jaxrud 2]

On 12.2.2018 at 11:08 PM, Norway174 said:

The bad
- The camera appears "stuck" behind the character. In a fixed position. I don't know if this counts as animations, probably not. But I would prefer to be able to freely look around in third person camera, by default. Like in normal MMO's. And then, lock the camera behind you, or something, when you aim your gun in third person.
- The police computer UI could probably use some more work. It feels like something that would be relevant back in 1999.  Al though, to be fair. I have never actually seen such a computer IRL. So maybe that is what they look like?

I would prefer the camera to move without the character to move yes, but the characters head until it's moved over a certain point where it makes sense the character takes a few steps to rotate the body. 

For the computer, I think it makes sense lol, it's known governments and large companies usually are using super old UI's that's dated back by like 10 years. Because the programs themselves are so complicated and deep, it cost a ton to make an upgraded and also more user friendly software, but it's also been in their learning program over many years and it's what they know. 

[Paratus 2,230]

1 hour ago, Jaxrud said:

I would prefer the camera to move without the character to move yes, but the characters head until it's moved over a certain point where it makes sense the character takes a few steps to rotate the body. 

For the computer, I think it makes sense lol, it's known governments and large companies usually are using super old UI's that's dated back by like 10 years. Because the programs themselves are so complicated and deep, it cost a ton to make an upgraded and also more user friendly software, but it's also been in their learning program over many years and it's what they know. 

The character animation and control will be more as you described by the time Town Square comes around. It will follow the player only when a weapon is drawn, otherwise the head will move without the body.

I forget the name of the systems off hand, but the computer UI is based off real police systems. It's a blend of two, one called iforce and another which escapes me.