Originally posted by lizardbones

 

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Originally posted by CoS_Ian

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Originally posted by adam_nox I mean really, why?  It's not like it will run in a browser on a mobile platform.  Will it even run in linux or mac?   It's not like it gets around the normal hardware requirements for a game with decent graphics.   Just don't get it.

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Our main reason is accessibility; anyone with modest hardware can run the game, and do so easily from a browser without having to download massive amounts of data to start playing (or even update for that matter). It can run Mac, and anything that can run Unity, essentially. It can be awkward to play on certain mobile apps, of course, but we're at least thinking of having companion apps to still check up on the game in other ways.

 

Kamikazego's right, too, we gambled on Unity back when it was relatively new, and have been learning and using it as it grew. So far we're very happy with its capabilities and potential for future development.

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Unity is also pushing out to the mobile market and to other operating systems (Linux anyone?). I didn't see anything about a Unity Client outside of the browser. Are there any plans to allow using the Unity Client outside of the browser?

It's a possibility we've toyed with for the future, but for now, we want to further stabilize the game through testing and optimization (we're currently in Closed Beta). After that, and if we see enough demand for it, then we can definitely start looking further into making a client version.

Originally posted by adam_nox

I mean really, why?  It's not like it will run in a browser on a mobile platform.  Will it even run in linux or mac?   It's not like it gets around the normal hardware requirements for a game with decent graphics.

 

Just don't get it.

Our main reason is accessibility; anyone with modest hardware can run the game, and do so easily from a browser without having to download massive amounts of data to start playing (or even update for that matter). It can run Mac, and anything that can run Unity, essentially. It can be awkward to play on certain mobile apps, of course, but we're at least thinking of having companion apps to still check up on the game in other ways.

Kamikazego's right, too, we gambled on Unity back when it was relatively new, and have been learning and using it as it grew. So far we're very happy with its capabilities and potential for future development.

Originally posted by chelan

i'm pretty sure i'm not overstepping my bounds with this post. if i am, i've noted that members of the CoS team frequent here and a simple response below and i will erase what's in my post.

 

what i saw:

the world was richly detailed.

targeting was difficult in combat, and combat was typical mmo style target and fire (which i do not mind. 'actiony' mmo does not always mean immersive fun.)

it appears to be a lobby game, albeit with an extensive and large lobby.

there appeared to be a solid variety of combat skills.

the UI was attractive, full of tantalizing things i did not end up checking out fully, as i was too busy exploring and trying to get a grip on combat.

character creation for a browser game was what you would expect in a browser mmo. there were options, just not many.

there was starter housing in the starter area, with quests related to cleaning and fixing it up, which looked promising.

the variety of starter weapon sets was a nice change. as a Gunner i started off with pistol and shield, dual pistols, and rifle.

gear stats were a bit confounding with all the +'s and -'s. but i am sure a closer perusal would have clarified things for me.

this was a bit like a more expansive Torchlight with box breaking included! (that was fun for me.)

nice back stories for the different human variants.

a unique setting for the intro/turtorial!

 

what i hope to see:

some resolution to the issues with targeting in combat. basically, the game is wasd + click'to'move. thus clicking on a target to shoot caused me innumerable instances of clicking and moving rather than clicking and selecting.

i loved the grime of the refugee camp. however, i hope to see some georgian/victorian architecture further into the city of Nexus.

a wee bit more steam. yes the setting is steamy as all get out. and the gunner is cool, however, i felt more like a fantasy character dropped into the middle of a gear driven world.

 

what i think:

this is definetly a game on my radar now. i can certainly see myself spending time in this game in between the more massive mmo's i play off and on. and for me this is perfect. its a simple, no download, fun alternative to fill in those times when loading up my typical mmo would be too time consuming an experience. just hop on, have some fun, and hop off.

Hi there! Glad you enjoyed your overall experience with CoS!

As for some of the points you brought up, for one, we have no problem about you talking about what you saw in Alpha. We don't have an NDA on it, so you're free to even share screenshots and footage if you are inclined to.

As for combat and targeting, we've heard a lot of similar feedback to yours, and will be working on improving that a little; part of it was also said to be related to the camera not moving unless you make it, so we'll try to address this as well (if it's within the capabilities of the engine and our own tools for it).

Character creation, yes, lacking in choices, but of course, that's because it's Alpha. We were more focused on game performance and compatibility issues than extra options. You can expect a lot more choices come Beta!

The UI for stat effects and bonuses will be made more clear; this was simply a matter of the lack of time we had to refine it before Alpha, and higher priorities with other functions (like making sure quests worked and people didn't walk through walls or fall through floors, hehe!)

Box-breaking is also one of our favorite things! (As some may have seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1c-K7xxFFM)

As for some of the issues you brought up: Click-to-move can now be disabled from the options menu for those who prefer to move with WASD and just use the mouse to target.

You can bet Nexus, as a metropolis of its size, has many different suburbs to it, each with their own flavor and background. Only 4 are available in Alpha, but dozens more are planned.

For the setting, well, we try to draw away from calling it "steampunk" (yes, it's City of "Steam", but more in a steamworks sense than full on steampunk). We prefer to call it "industrial age fantasy", which encompasses elements from both genres. And since the world is already established from a series of roleplaying books by our Lead Designer, we have loads of lore to fall back on (so we're not pulling this stuff out of our behinds, honestly! Hah)

All in all, we freely admit the game needs more work, it's only in Alpha right now after all. But I'm glad to hear it was enjoyable even at this stage, it shows promise that we're heading in the right direction. There's still one more Alpha test weekend left (starting August 17th), so maybe we'll bump into each other in-game! If not, well, there's always Beta!

Hey guys, it's Ian with Mechanist Games, indie developer for City of Steam. Now the server is open, if you've received a key, enjoy the game from now on.

There were initially some issues with the key activation page, but they should be resolved now. Sorry about that, and enjoy the game this weekend!

Originally posted by rhinok

Originally posted by atuerstar

If you could - how would you compare this games atmosphere and idea's with Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Ive been looking for a 3d virtual world and hopefully mmo type game that followed in the styling set down by that old gem. This City Of Steam looks like it might do the trick though from what ive seen so far there seems an overabundance of steamworks and little magick obscura.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is one of my favorite PC games (that and Planescape: Torment)!

I really like the atmosphere and ideas in City of Steam, but it isn't really Victorian, so it doesn't compare there.  Also, there isn't an emphasis on the conficting powers of technology vs. magic, as there is in Arcanum.  That being said, I think there's a good mix of tech and magic with CoS.

Of course, CoS is a completely different type of game, but overall I really like the theme and art.

 

 Originally posted by DashiDMV

 

I got an Alpha Key but there was nowhere to enter it. I guess it will come up when the weekend starts. I see they are bypasing kickstarter and just doing their own packages but I wish under the key section it would have gave me more options besides hitting me up for cash so much.

Looks interesting though.,

Apparently, there was some sort of problem with their activation page and it should be available July 18th.

Indeed, the activation page had a bit of an issue; we addressed the problem in a recent announcement: http://www.cityofsteam.com/important-activation-of-alpha-keys-issue

As for the game's atmosphere, rhinok pretty much hit the nail on the head. It would be misleading to try to compare it to Arcanum, as that was more of a distinctly "steampunk" setting, whereas with City of Steam, we see it more as "industrial fantasy". It's not a world that has recently come into a new age of industry, rather, industry has always been a part of it, up to the rotation of the entire world itself being turned by massive gears. Magical powers do exist, but are effects harnessed from science and technology (rather than being a polar opposite thereof). So to compare it to other game styles, well, not easy, but hopefully in a good way! It should stand out from your generic "enchanted forest with elves living in trees" and tired "slay the evil dragon" games we've all played countless times already.

And we're still just in Alpha... so much can be added and built up from there!

Although it's not our intent to "kill" other games (well, not really...), we are aiming at providing a game that thrives from having good content rather than relying on cheap/deceptive cash traps.

Whether that is such a radically unacceptable concept that is destined to fail remains to be seen, but we'll still give it our best

Just a quick update, we've got a new gameplay trailer up!

Have a look on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRR6ENSr780&list=UUyjRmmmX4KOQ9SJPkWFc53w&index=1&feature=plcp

Enjoy!

Originally posted by Torvaldr

This game looks pretty cool.  I've checked out the website and watched the dungeon making video (I liked it).  You have a pretty nice site. The merchandise section could use a little work.  I wanted to check out the coffee mugs, but the pictures could be better.

Overall, nice stuff.  I'm interested.  I'm also not worried about the browser thing.  I've seen some Unity games that looked pretty good.

Hmm, true, that Mug section does look off. I've nudged the web designer guy about it. Thanks for pointing that out!

Originally posted by Myrdynn

since my last post, I have been jumping around the website, it looks pretty good, must say my biggest turnoff is that there are a lot of cool races which is great, but very few classes.  Now I dont know if maybe they branch off into sub classes or not, this is just my first view, and Class variation and races is always the first thing I explore, and there are many others like me

also dont like that Goblins and Orcs have the same physical starting str

 

There will definitely be more classes in the long run; the 4 right now are just what we'll have available initially. More will be added as we include more content (remember, we're still pre-alpha :P )

As for the stats...hrm, I asked design about it, and it's actually a typo. Their physical strength should be 2, and physical agility 7. I'll have someone fix that too, thanks for bringing that up!

Thanks! And yes, the "browser-based" stigma is something of an obstacle to overcome... Considering what we can pull off so far though, it's safe to say we can start changing that misconception (maybe not entirely, but it's a start).

Still, given that some are so set in their ways as to never give browser-based games a second glance, there's been talk about possibly having a client-based version in the future. Certainly not for Alpha though... but later? Maybe.

The MMO I've played the most was Dofus; I particularly enjoyed the strategy aspect of combat and the advantages of travelling in a party for loot drop bonuses. At the time, a fairly large part of the world was playable for free, and the rest opened with a subsciption. I felt it was worth it and even payed for a few of the months I played...

Then I got a job and my MMO grinding days came to a screeching halt... there's no way I can be addicted to a game like that and still be functional.

Nice, thanks! Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions. We've recently updated the site, too, so there should be a lot of stuff to check out if it interests you.

Thanks for checking it out! Be sure to let me know what you think.

For those that know already what City of Steam is, remember to sign up for our Newsletter on http://www.cityofsteam.com/ to get priority on alpha keys (alpha release in mid-July). We hope to see some of you guys join in and let us know your feedback!

To those that don't know what City of Steam is (no surprise there, we're an indie developer, so getting widespread recognition is a tad harder for us), it's an industrial fantasy/steampunk MMORPG, lightweight enough to play on even older computers and accessible straight from your browser. Even then, thanks to Unity 3D and a lot of in-house tools, we've managed to still make it look quite impressive, and all stored in but a few megabytes!

And this isn't just some average fantasy world with a few steampunk elements thrown in, oh no! The entire world itself is a mechanism of gears and spokes, with pipes and boilers as ancient as the world itself. Current civilizations are build upon these, and these industrial aspects are simply part of the world's history and daily life; races such as humans and elves do exist, but they live alongside dwarves that are part-machine, robotic toilers that roam the land, and both magical and mechanical monstrosities that threaten their existence.



(Go to http://www.cityofsteam.com/world/world-machine to check it out in full animation)

I'll  keep the rest of this short so I don't come off as just another spammer, but if you have any questions about the game I will gladly answer them!

Thanks, everyone!

The emptiness of the streets at this point is to a certain extent a function of player density -- wouldn't want to crowd players out with assets, after all.  We do have idling vehicles scattered throughout the cities, and a little population goes a long way to making the city feel more lived-in, as you can see in some of the following videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK4GEmsvUX4 - Ebonwax Central: First Look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BH6OgJM7tc - Gardenworks: First Look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiwZJWOigE4 - Central Revisited

We'll release some really cool promo stuff after our team comes back from attending GDC China (http://www.gdcchina.com) in Shanghai this weekend. There's one animation in particular that always distracts me when someone nearby starts working on it that I think people will really like...

Glad you like it -- we've really tried to make sure that industrial themes are reflected throughout the game, from the world itself to game mechanics to smaller details like signs, equipment, and sound design.

The three gears underneath are called the Ethereal Gears.  While the four Elemental Gears correspond to the four physical vital stats (Agility, Power, Mass, and Stamina), the ethereal gears correspond to the mental vitals (Ethos, Logic, and Vigor), so they're more spiritual in nature.  As far as resources go, the richest areas (besides the elemental planes themselves) are along the edge of the Terrestrial Plate where the elemental gears have deposited coal, oil, steam (in the form of heat and storms), and rust (that is to say, iron).  There are also resources underground, but the deeper you go, the more likely it is that you'll bump into something you shouldn't -- the veins of the World Machine, for example, which have something to do with the  seemingly automatic growth and maintenance of the world. 

There are spots, and times of the year, where the Ethereal Gears can be reached from the gears above.  Expeditions of that depth are the stuff of legend, though, and the fact that things like this

have a habit of streaming up from below en masse might have something to do with that...

Hi all!

Just wanted to drop by and see what everyone thought about these zone shots from our debut MMO.  The industrially-inspired game takes place in the largest metropolitan area of the ancient city of Nexus, which is (as you might imagine) located near the central axis of the world.  As you can see, the world itself is a machine, and flat to boot.  The elemental gears each carry a season with them to the areas they pass by.  Nexus, being located centrally, hardly experiences any seasonal variation.

We're closing in on a fully animated model of this that looks awesome.

Nexus is a city in decline, having long since exhausted the mineral resources that built it.  Though the world at large has entered an age of unprecedented expansion and technological innovation, the standard of living in Nexus hasn't really kept up, and discontent has begun to spread.  And now that mining operations have slowed down, terrible creatures have begun to work their way upward...

This is the main hub -- the other major neighborhoods connect here.

We're definitely working hard to get CoS into fighting form. Most of the resources -- architectural elements, ability effects, character models -- are good to go, but there's tuning left to do in the combat engine and character advancement system, to say nothing of quest content to populate the world with.  Additional preview material will be released steadily on both our main site (due to go live soon) and our Facebook page.

Here are some in-game shots of an Arcanist character, whose abilities, while fantastic, are scientific in nature:

It is not a typical Asian style, it's Industrial-themed. Watch the scene video, it looks visually impressive!

>>>First Look at Ebonwax Central