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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [[Fantasy]] >> Drums of War >> RE: First Impressions?

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RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 3:15:08 AM

Southpaw Samurai

Posts: 19
Joined: 10/9/2007
From: St. Paul, MN
Status: offline

For anyone considering Drums of War, I would seriously recommend trying the old DEMO first. It's an early build, but it's not far removed in overall appearance and general play. It's of course limited in its features and missions and lacks the editor, but it should still do its job in selling it or making you save your money, whichever way you may fall.

Trying the demo for yourself is probably better than listening to any of our opinions.

< Message edited by Southpaw Samurai -- 3/21/2014 4:18:59 AM >

(in reply to baloo7777)

Post #: 31

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 4:51:15 AM

mllange

Posts: 527
Joined: 2/5/2005
Status: offline

Moving on here... I'm a long-time supporter of Matrix and Sliterine but the last few releases are worse than most indie titles. Sub-par fare at best.

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(in reply to baloo7777)

Post #: 32

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 4:53:24 AM

Hertston

Posts: 3564
Joined: 8/17/2002
From: Cornwall, UK
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Richtschnur

What Matrix need is a common denominator in the Tech Department.
Like Ok dear Devs:

We only Accept Games with a scalable UI / GUI from 1366*768 to 1080p.
Oh you have no Knowledge how to do that?
Well let us help you.

I totally agree.

It's bizarre to continue to talk about 'widescreen support' as if widescreen monitors were still some exotic piece of kit only hardcore gamers might own, rather than the de facto standard for any home PC for the best part of a decade.

I'm sure the developer is a really nice guy, and a talented designer, but to release commercial games at commercial prices you need to be able to code in a language/package appropriate to the task in 2014. If he can't do that, help him out by pairing him with someone who can.

< Message edited by Hertston -- 3/21/2014 5:56:06 AM >

(in reply to InuharikoMu)

Post #: 33

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 3:42:49 PM

IainMcNeil

Posts: 2804
Joined: 10/26/2004
From: London
Status: offline

We are a publisher not a developer and do not get involved in the actual development. Ever game has a different code base and different language. This one actually uses somethign called Game maker which is something none of us have ever used before so know nothing about it. We have helped developers port their games but this is very different. We're here to guide the developer and tell them what is best for their game. We told him it would be better with wide screen support months ago but he was not able to add it. Developers all do their own thing and we cannot demand anything of any of them. These are their games and we can only give advice. Sometimes they listen and sometimes they don't. Sometimes because they don't agree and sometimes because they are not able or don't want to. There is no magic wand we can wave to make features just appear in a game and no way to get someone to help out. You can't just ask someone to take a look at the code and fix it in half an hour. You're talking man months of development time to learn the language and then learn the code base and we simply don't have the resources to do that - nor would any other publisher. It's simply not the publishers role. The only real control we have is to either publish the game or say to the developer your game isn't good enough and cancel it. He's been working on this for years and we do not feel that this game deserves to be cancelled. It is not the best game ever released but it is good fun and I'm glad we've released it and look forwards to people enjoying it! Your view may vary of course.

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Director
Matrix Games

(in reply to baloo7777)

Post #: 34

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 4:06:57 PM

FroBodine

Posts: 872
Joined: 5/5/2007
From: Brentwood, California (not the OJ one)
Status: offline

Does the developer plan on posting on this forum? I really appreciate a developer who responds to his customers and fans.

I am leaning towards getting this game, because I love the genre. It would be great if the developer was also here, to hear feedback, and discuss possible future campaign additions.

(in reply to IainMcNeil)

Post #: 35

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 4:18:04 PM

ComradeP

Posts: 7192
Joined: 9/17/2009
Status: offline

Frankly, I just don't understand the comments about widescreen support being a requirement.

I'm using a 24" widescreen monitor, always have my desktop resolution at 1920x1080 and I have no problem with black bars on the side of the screen in a game as long as the rest of the game functions well. Maybe you're all using even bigger monitors which wrecks scaling in some way.

It sounds a bit like how every wargame "needs" NATO counters (and only those), because people are used to playing with them. How about talking about whether the game works well and does what it's supposed to do according to store page, the developer and the manual, instead of whether or not it fills the entire screen.

If it scales really poorly or messes up font size for middle aged wargamers, you have a point, and maybe I'm just lucky with my monitor not having issues, but it seems like an issue of secondary importance.

As to the game, I enjoyed it whilst beta-testing it. Sure, it doesn't look like a modern game, but being able to change the environment in a meaningful way is a nice extra dimension to the gameplay that similar games lack. Your core units are also more likely to die than in, say, Fantasy Kommander.

The catapult mechanic was something I didn't entirely like as it felt too random and could lead to an ugly 1-2 punch in the enemy turn with the enemy hitting one of your units with the catapult before killing it with other units without you being able to do anything about it. As long as the catapult just wounded your units, it could make a battle more intense as you needed to make sure the unit(s) wouldn't be hit by regular units.

Enemy units becoming stronger, together with units being able to equip artifacts also added just enough variety to keep the campaigns interesting.

I missed the last part of the beta as there were some issues with the Slitherine beta forum access suddenly being revoked, and the start of the beta was also somewhat chaotic, but as a first effort on a limited budget, I enjoyed playing the game.

< Message edited by ComradeP -- 3/21/2014 5:18:36 PM >

_____________________________

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WitE Alpha tester
Panzer Corps Beta tester
Unity of Command scenario designer

(in reply to IainMcNeil)

Post #: 36

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 4:24:52 PM

zakblood

Posts: 22687
Joined: 10/4/2012
Status: offline

in reply to Iain McNeil only,

thanks for the info +1 agree,

with a little searching i found the program he used to create the game if your info is correct, after searching there forum a little i came across this

h88p://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=490562

h88p://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=449614

h88p://gamemaker.info/en/manual/302_02_resolution

h88p://gamemaker.info/en/manual/302_01_graphics

h88p://game-maker.wikidot.com/global-game-settings

seems there is a way without to much trouble involved to resize screens etc, as it's been done with other titles, don't know the in's and outs of the program tbh and not 100% sure either what version he is using as the latest ones, Master Collection should work, if using other version it may not, and the cost is high for the version i know

h88ps://www.yoyogames.com/studio ($799.99 plus tax) and shipping etc

(in reply to FroBodine)

Post #: 37

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 4:43:26 PM

InuharikoMu

Posts: 85
Joined: 10/27/2013
From: Duisburg, Germany
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

We are a publisher not a developer and do not get involved in the actual development. Ever game has a different code base and different language. This one actually uses somethign called Game maker which is something none of us have ever used before so know nothing about it. We have helped developers port their games but this is very different. We're here to guide the developer and tell them what is best for their game. We told him it would be better with wide screen support months ago but he was not able to add it. Developers all do their own thing and we cannot demand anything of any of them. These are their games and we can only give advice. Sometimes they listen and sometimes they don't. Sometimes because they don't agree and sometimes because they are not able or don't want to. There is no magic wand we can wave to make features just appear in a game and no way to get someone to help out. You can't just ask someone to take a look at the code and fix it in half an hour. You're talking man months of development time to learn the language and then learn the code base and we simply don't have the resources to do that - nor would any other publisher. It's simply not the publishers role. The only real control we have is to either publish the game or say to the developer your game isn't good enough and cancel it. He's been working on this for years and we do not feel that this game deserves to be cancelled. It is not the best game ever released but it is good fun and I'm glad we've released it and look forwards to people enjoying it! Your view may vary of course.

Thanks Mr. McNeil for an honest Answer. I really Appreciate it, because it's not a Marketing Answer.

And btw i'm now 5-6 Hours inside the first Campaign and the Fun out-weight the technical Issue.
It's worth every Penny so far, and very polished in the Mechanic & Framework. No obvious Bugs so far.

Best Regards from stormy Germany

_____________________________

�If a man does his best, what else is there?�
― George S. Patton Jr.

(in reply to IainMcNeil)

Post #: 38

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 5:16:38 PM

Franchot

Posts: 23
Joined: 11/24/2012
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: jglazier

Does the developer plan on posting on this forum? I really appreciate a developer who responds to his customers and fans.

I am leaning towards getting this game, because I love the genre. It would be great if the developer was also here, to hear feedback, and discuss possible future campaign additions.

In the Slitherine Forum for this game he has posted a reply. Maybe we should try some of our questions over there.

I am also leaning towards getting this game because I, also, like this genre. Looks like a nice, light game that I can easily pick up and play at my leisure.

(in reply to FroBodine)

Post #: 39

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 5:26:24 PM

Tamas

Posts: 985
Joined: 1/7/2001
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Franchot

quote:

ORIGINAL: jglazier

Does the developer plan on posting on this forum? I really appreciate a developer who responds to his customers and fans.

I am leaning towards getting this game, because I love the genre. It would be great if the developer was also here, to hear feedback, and discuss possible future campaign additions.

In the Slitherine Forum for this game he has posted a reply. Maybe we should try some of our questions over there.

I am also leaning towards getting this game because I, also, like this genre. Looks like a nice, light game that I can easily pick up and play at my leisure.

Vladimir, the developer, has been following both forums of course. I have been in contact with him, and he will get more involved in the discussions, but the combined effects of a busy schedule, and a kind of "in-between" time zone he is in is making that a bit hard at the moment. :)

But rest assured that both us and him are keeping a close eye on the feedback and questions. :)

(in reply to Franchot)

Post #: 40

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 5:30:06 PM

jack54

Posts: 1402
Joined: 7/18/2007
From: East Tennessee
Status: offline

I picked this up today and have to say it is a nice game.... probable more character detail than I expected. The developer did a good job on deciding what to add to the game.

I've only scratched the service so far but you can see a great deal of thought went into the design. the maps are small and it plays fast. A little tough to tell the good guys from the bad guys graphically but you get use to it.

I was one of those very concerned about the widescreen format but I can say it is a 'NON ISSUE' now that I've started to play. (Thank you ComradeP it was your post that pushed me over the edge).

In short, I took the chance and I'm glad I did. The Good certainly seems to outweigh the bad. I guess some of these Idie guys know what they're doing.

< Message edited by jack54 -- 3/22/2014 4:43:36 AM >

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Post #: 41

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 5:58:50 PM

ComradeP

Posts: 7192
Joined: 9/17/2009
Status: offline

One word of advice: make sure you understand how the light/shade/dark mechanics work, particularly when you're facing the Undead. Otherwise, you'll take serious losses.

IIRC, all human priests "glow in the dark". The Orcs need to start fires.

< Message edited by ComradeP -- 3/21/2014 6:59:26 PM >

_____________________________

SSG tester
WitE Alpha tester
Panzer Corps Beta tester
Unity of Command scenario designer

(in reply to jack54)

Post #: 42

RE: First Impressions? - 3/21/2014 6:44:55 PM

Vladimir1979

Posts: 24
Joined: 7/25/2013
Status: offline

Hello all!

I am happy to hear that you liked gameplay.
Unfortunately limited amount of resources did not let me making cooler graphics.
I hope this fact will not spoil your fun with the game.

Plans for future have not been formed yet.

(in reply to ComradeP)

Post #: 43

RE: First Impressions? - 3/22/2014 12:24:31 AM

Missouri_Rebel

Posts: 3065
Joined: 6/19/2006
From: Southern Missouri
Status: offline

I for one am glad to see some of these smaller titles get released by Matrix. IMO, not every game needs to be a huge grognards event with bleeding edge graphics. I'll probably pick this up later this week and another for a friend. He loves playing 'throwback' games such as this. Currently he's playing Swords of the Stars: The Pit, a retro looking turn based rouge dungeon crawler, and he got me hooked.

< Message edited by Missouri_Rebel -- 3/22/2014 2:50:50 AM >

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Post #: 44

RE: First Impressions? - 3/22/2014 2:01:03 AM

budd

Posts: 2972
Joined: 7/4/2009
From: Tacoma
Status: offline

I have no problem with matrix/slitherine branching out with smaller indie like titles. I usually wait for user feedback, AAR's , Lets plays before i decide to buy. Nothing wrong with variety.

_____________________________

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Be Yourself; Everyone else is already taken" ~Oscar Wilde

*I'm in the Wargamer middle ground*
I don't buy all the wargames I want, I just buy more than I need.

(in reply to Missouri_Rebel)

Post #: 45

RE: First Impressions? - 3/22/2014 5:21:29 AM

FroBodine

Posts: 872
Joined: 5/5/2007
From: Brentwood, California (not the OJ one)
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I just wanted to add my two cents. I was very skeptical at first, after being disappointed with a similar game recently.

However, the graphics did not turn me off at all, and the positive reviews by folks here convinced me to give it a try. And I'm glad I did.

It is a very well made and fun game. There are a ton of stats, abilities, skills, spells, and items. Add to that the great variety of terrain and environmental effects (which I'm still trying to understand). The maps are small, one screen, no scrolling, which is sort of a bummer, but the tactics are real and challenging. There is definitely a lot to absorb before I really understand this game to a point where I can make good tactical decisions.

Congrats to the developer, Vladimir I think. You did good, I am impressed and thoroughly enjoying the game, after just three missions. I can see it only getting lots better.

< Message edited by jglazier -- 3/22/2014 6:24:30 AM >

(in reply to budd)

Post #: 46

RE: First Impressions? - 3/22/2014 1:52:21 PM

jack54

Posts: 1402
Joined: 7/18/2007
From: East Tennessee
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: jglazier

...It is a very well made and fun game. There are a ton of stats, abilities, skills, spells, and items. Add to that the great variety of terrain and environmental effects (which I'm still trying to understand). The maps are small, one screen, no scrolling, which is sort of a bummer, but the tactics are real and challenging. There is definitely a lot to absorb before I really understand this game to a point where I can make good tactical decisions.

Congrats to the developer, Vladimir I think. You did good, I am impressed and thoroughly enjoying the game, after just three missions. I can see it only getting lots better.

+1

Some Rambling thoughts:

Being able to add our own heroes or leaders would add to the immersion factor. (My not so subtle hint for a unit editor). it's ok now, at least you can name each unit and let them develop some personality.

The small maps make the lack of FOW believable...if the maps get bigger (DOW2) I think FOW is a must.

An ironic moment was when my Death Knight, the Paladin of Darkness, became 'Frightened' and ran away.

I've recently purchased 2 $20 games created by small Indie game designers (Qvadriga and Drums of War) and they seem to be getting the bulk of my gaming time. Who would have thought?

< Message edited by jack54 -- 3/22/2014 2:58:12 PM >

_____________________________

Avatar: Me borrowing Albert Ball's Nieuport 17

Counter from Bloody April by Terry Simo (GMT)

(in reply to FroBodine)

Post #: 47

RE: First Impressions? - 3/22/2014 6:37:04 PM

kvob

Posts: 99
Joined: 5/19/2002
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Just played through a couple of battles and found myself quite enjoying it. To be honest, I don't mind the graphics at all. They fill a purpose adequately well and don't detract from the gameplay.

< Message edited by kvob -- 3/22/2014 7:37:49 PM >

(in reply to jack54)

Post #: 48

RE: First Impressions? - 4/23/2014 7:02:40 AM

Micha63

Posts: 54
Joined: 3/12/2012
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Great game, i really like it.

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Post #: 49

RE: First Impressions? - 4/23/2014 11:03:23 PM

baloo7777

Posts: 1190
Joined: 5/18/2009
From: eastern CT
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quote:

ORIGINAL: kvob

Just played through a couple of battles and found myself quite enjoying it. To be honest, I don't mind the graphics at all. They fill a purpose adequately well and don't detract from the gameplay.