Comments on: Introversion Speak Out: Play Our Bloody Demo

By: Silent Witless

Silent Witless — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:45:37 +0000

(I love commenting on dead threads, me)

I consider Darwinia to be one of the most imaginative and splendidly executed games ever devised. The concept had me hooked from the very first screenshots, and playing the game was a magical experience. God, even the alternative retro-style intros spoke volumes about the game’s sheer class.

Mulitwinia…? Just another brainless wargame.

By: n.n

n.n — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:48:14 +0000

I decided to give Multiwinia a miss because I prefer single-player games. That being said, it seems as though a lot of recent indie or near-indie games (Defcon and Sins of a Solar Empire, for instance) have a tendency to throw a multiplicity of options at the player immediately, instead of leaving them to tease things out over a period. Most of these, not coincidentally, are designed as pure multiplayer games with a skirmish mode as an afterthought.
It’s coming to a point where I think it negatively impacts the play experience: you drop in, you experience all the features, very quickly, at a superficial level, and then you get bored before you even start to see the hidden depths beneath the surface. Even Team Fortress 2 suffers from this to a certain extent. If you contrast against Starcraft way back in the day, the single-player campaign let the player slowly uncover new concepts and features. They let things have time to sink in, and IMO that’s part of what made multiplayer Starcraft so special. For modern indie games that do it right… Battleships Forever is one, Braid is another.
Or maybe it’s just because I don’t prefer multiplayer games. But I don’t think that really makes sense, because multiplayer Starcraft remains one of the most amazing gaming experiences I have ever had.

By: iainl

iainl — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:38:48 +0000

Is it _seriously_ £16.99 for Multiwinia on PC? Without Darwinia thrown in? When the two will be bundled together and shoved onto XBox Live Arcade, and the most expensive games currently on there cost around £10?

Between this, and the “is/isn’t it just Darwinia in multiplayer” confusion that’s leading many to not bother downloading the demo for a game they think they’ve played, I think I can see the problem…

By: phuzz

phuzz — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:25:01 +0000

I’ll be giving IV some money once I have some, but that’s more because I’ve always bought their games. As far as the demo goes though:
Multiwinia: 50Mb, install time: so quick I didn’t notice, play time on demo ~2 hours for me.
Quantum of Solace: 700Mb, install time, about 10 mins, play time on demo, 3 mins
My suggestion, if you’re only going to play one of the demos on RPS recently, and the only two you’re noticed are QoS and Multiwinia, do yourself (and IV, and your bandwidth) a favour and play with the little pixely dudes.

By: Ginger Yellow

Ginger Yellow — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:23:15 +0000

“I really enjoyed Darwinia, played it through twice with slightly different approaches each time, but … I have no interest in playing Darwinia against other humans. The whole point of the game was rescuing this little incipient AI civilization from the dire threat posed by computer viruses. That’s quite a decent, self-contained concept which could easily lend itself to further installments, so I just don’t get how we end up with PvP warfare using Darwinians as footsoldiers.”

That’s how I felt about Multiwinia before release, but I was willing to give Introversion the benefit of the doubt as I’ve loved every single one of their games. And I was right to. It really does work in ways I never anticipated. Of course, I hope they make single-player sequels to Darwinia as well.

By: Bobsy

Bobsy — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:08:51 +0000

Yeah. Sorry Introversion but the whole Darwinia/Multiwinia theme does diddly squat for me. I’m not so old a gamer that the glowing neon dream of 80s gaming appeals to my nostalgia-lobes. I began gaming properly in the 90s, so I have little connection to all that.

I’m 24. I’d put the main demographic for ‘Winia at about 30? That’s over on the right-hand side of the bell curve for gamers in general. This is a problem. I dearly love Introversion and am absolutely straining at the leash for more info on Subversion, but I still can’t persuade myself to care for ‘Winia.

I may get Uplink though.

By: x25killa

x25killa — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:36:19 +0000

I personally have heard this game (thanks to one of the Introversion’s developers talking about it at PCGamer Showdown. Nice chap as well :) ) and will be buying it as soon Steam makes weekend deal.

By: Oddbob

Oddbob — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:11:55 +0000

“By the look of all these negative comments, it really looks like the Young Indie British Developer tag has lost its appeal to the hardcore”

Nah, we’re doing alright all told :-D

By: Eoy

Eoy — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:57:06 +0000

Played it, and enjoyed it for two hours, but I really can’t see myself ever returning to it as it got a bit boring and monotone.

By: Grill

Grill — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:51:39 +0000

By the look of all these negative comments, it really looks like the Young Indie British Developer tag has lost its appeal to the hardcore. Sad to see, as they’re nice enough guys but if the game ain’t jazzy we ain’t going to play. For my two pennorth, I’ve stopped playing it already. :-(

By: Mark Stevens

Mark Stevens — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:34:32 +0000

I thoroughly enjoyed Uplink and Defcon, but Darwinia didn’t really do much for me. I do enjoy RTS games and had no particular expectations of Darwinia, but for some reason it just didn’t really connect with me. Nice presentation, but the gameplay mechanics just gave me a big sense of deja vu. I can’t see multiplayer enhancing that experience, especially when you consider that in every multiplayer RTS players invariably find the metaphorical equivalent of a nuclear missile that disrupts the rock, paper, scissors mechanic, thus rendering the game obsolete.

By: bitkari

bitkari — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:35:07 +0000

Introversion games are too awkward. Every game they’ve released seems to fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum.

If Introversion want to have more commercial success, they’re going to have to look beyond themselves, and beyond their like-minded fanbase.

I so very much want Introversion to do well. I want them to create best-selling titles. I want them to craft unique and interesting games. I want to love these games and tell my friends to go out and buy them.

But I just can’t.