By Jim Rossignol on April 22nd, 2009 at 2:32 pm.
Graphics wizard and solo MMO developer Eskil Steenberg has just posted up a couple of videos from GDC. The first shows a substantial amount of footage from the game itself, with Steenberg playing around in the game world, building, deploying items, creating infrastructure, setting off remote radio bombs, sabotaging AI manufacturing plants, exploring deserts, and so on. Amazing stuff. Perhaps even more impressive, even for the non-technical among us, is Steenberg’s tools demo footage. Go watch. Original trailer here.
22/04/2009 at 15:10 Meat Circus says:
Squeeeeee!
Love will never be finished. Because I will have Mr Steenberg locked in a shrine in my basement.
22/04/2009 at 15:12 Tei says:
This smell and look like a GarrysMod modificacion on a persistent world.
22/04/2009 at 15:13 Jim Rossignol says:
Tei: No, it really, really doesn’t.
22/04/2009 at 15:14 bob arctor says:
The shooting is still not there, the FPS basic combat. However it’s looking very interesting and I’m sure that will come.
The tools are very interesting, however I’m not sure about designing things without a grid, and the LOD ramping up and down reminds me of Messiah where things morphed and polys changed constantly.
22/04/2009 at 15:19 Ginger Yellow says:
The Co-op podcast did a show on the GDC video a couple of weeks back. FAscinating stuff. And yes, the real time tools are astounding.
22/04/2009 at 15:21 Jonas says:
But–! It–! He–! HOW!? How can he do all that all by himself!? This is incredible! No amount of exclamation marks will suffice!
How does he even get the money to do all this?
22/04/2009 at 15:24 Tei says:
So.. what? having all this tools, will be very complex, so the newbie player will be unable to do stuff, he need to learn, and the process of learning will be damaging: he will be a risk for his team (the human team), he can accidentally delete or move stuff, maybe kill the generator, or stuff…
22/04/2009 at 15:24 Quests says:
Seems incredible. The number and functionality of the infrastructures make for astonishingly complex, intriguing, fascinating game mechanics… the powering, the frequency mechanics, the brief exploitable moments chained together to make an effective assault… and then the possibility to build a huge metropolis with tunnels, maybe later on services, stations, nightclubs, anything.
I’m stunned, this is another world, in every sense.
22/04/2009 at 15:25 AndrewC says:
A world that genuinely runs on a persistent set of rules instead of canned and scripted ‘events’ leaves me quivering with excitement. And when I fail to understand those rules at all I shall be left sobbing in the corner.
Yay!
22/04/2009 at 15:30 Meat Circus says:
Tei: hush now.
22/04/2009 at 15:33 jackflash says:
So, so, so, so cool. I love innovation!
22/04/2009 at 15:37 bergotronic says:
Perhapes, some day, in the magic future, we will see a Dwarf Fortress 2.0 with these types of visuals… a man can dream…
22/04/2009 at 15:39 Schaulustiger says:
This guy can only be described as a genius. LOVE seems to not just be a game, but the living proof of a whole new approach to game development. These tools look absolutely impressive, even if I don’t have a strong tech background.
The gameplay footage leaves me a bit confused, though. I’m still not convinced that it can be played by a broader audience. I even think that one player with bad intentions can ruin the game’s world for the 199 others. The way you can shape and influence the environment might prove to be too much power in the hands of a player.
Putting that aside, I’m really looking forward to the day that we can get our hands on this lovely piece of software.
22/04/2009 at 15:43 Noc says:
What it’s looking like, to me, is Multiplayer Dwarf Fortress. I think I approve of this.
And Tei, what you are describing is a Multiplayer Game With A Learning Curve. They all have them! It’s also probably worth noting that the reason it gives something of a Garry’s Mod vibe is because he was cheating, and giving himself unlimited access to all of the tools in the game. Which, you know, presents him with a huge list of goodies and placeables that would, admittedly, be overwhelming to new players.
Presumably, available tools would be more limited in the game. You’d start off with a few things, and slowly find and scavenge more complex and useful tools and blueprints and equipment as you build and explore and progress.
22/04/2009 at 15:43 Okami says:
I have a vision of giant, sprawling cities filled with penis shaped buildings.
Come on, you all know this is going to happen!
22/04/2009 at 15:47 Miles says:
This lookings frigging amazing. Colour me impressed.
22/04/2009 at 15:52 maniacator says:
The buildings look a bit… lovecraftish, somehow.
Building the Platau of Leng with access to cthulhuesque cities… very nice. I am forwarding to play this game!
22/04/2009 at 15:55 Markoff Chaney says:
Antici
…
SAY IT
…
pation
22/04/2009 at 15:56 Gabanski83 says:
Looks like a construction set that would actually be fun to muck about in, for once.
Looking forward to building things and playing the game.
22/04/2009 at 15:58 Ian says:
I’m not excited by this game purely because I still don’t really know what it is.
I will be interested to see more brainthinks on it as development goes on.
22/04/2009 at 16:08 Noc says:
Schaulustiger: It’s notable that you can only use all of those tools within a certain radius of your monolith. So you can’t, you know, dig impassable ditches across the world, or fill a desert with mines. And I assume that you can also create or lock access privaleges to your own stuff, so other people can’t just waltz in and break everything you’ve set up. Or fill your base with their own junk, or whatever.
. . . actually, the more I think about it, the more interesting this stuff is looking. The idea of someone ruining your day by spamming windmills all over the landscape LOLOLOL isn’t particularly engaging, but the idea of someone ruining your day by sneakily setting up some sort of listening post and monitoring different bands of radio traffic to figure out what frequencies and codewords your defenses are using, and using that knowledge against you is, well, interesting.
What I’m really wondering about, though, is how the server stuff will be set up. Will it just be running on a few central servers? Or will you be able to set up your own servers, and play your own games? Will you be able to just play it singleplayer, or in session-based multiplayer games with friends?
Personally, I don’t think I’d mind tromping around this place by myself and building stuffs, without other people about to muck it up.
22/04/2009 at 16:17 Valentin Galea says:
This is the stuff that dreams are made of!
22/04/2009 at 16:17 Rabbitsoup says:
that is just insanely well done, most large companies cant carry off real infrastructure and puzzles like that. will it work though?
22/04/2009 at 16:17 ZomBuster says:
“So here we show some of the tools being used for making love” I admit I smiled there
22/04/2009 at 16:24 Naurgul says:
Yay! It’s nice to see all these concepts Eskil has been talking about in action. Love seems like it will be a great experience. I am fairly excited and cautiously optimistic about it. :)
22/04/2009 at 16:30 Bhazor says:
Reply to Tei: Oh no! Not the Human Team!
22/04/2009 at 16:32 chequers says:
looks like second life in a better engine. God, I hope Linden don’t buy this. It has too much awesome potential.
22/04/2009 at 16:32 Schmung says:
His 3D tools are mental. Properly unlike anything else out there. I wonder if you can even use traditonally painted maps or adjust the UVs manually or if it’s entirely shader based. The interface is suitably lunatic as well and the modelling and and and
Yes. It’s rather a lot to take in at once and so different to what’s out at the moment that I can’t quite take it in. Really not sure what to make of it.
Not even given the gameplay video a look yet.
22/04/2009 at 16:35 bansama says:
The darn video refuses to stream for me. And having to click the play button every second grows annoying so all I know is that there are cables, a windmill and you make holes in stuff. I’m sure the rest is even more impressive but I’m not wasting anymore time trying to watch it to find out.
22/04/2009 at 16:38 terry says:
The video’s not working for me either, but I am excited for the look of this game.
22/04/2009 at 16:41 cyrenic says:
If anyone’s got youtube links to these videos, I’d be grateful for them.
22/04/2009 at 16:44 Heliocentric says:
Never mind building up, i want to to build down into the ground Nuclear bunker style. And i think this game will let me.
Obviously i will construct on top of this bunker a babel tower as an afront to god, I’ll probably fall off it too.
edit: click back to home, then to the video page, then click the mp4 download version, that works for me.
22/04/2009 at 16:45 Maniac11919 says:
The video isn’t showing for me at all, in either IE or Firefox :/
Youtube or another link would be extremely nice if anyone has one…
22/04/2009 at 16:55 Ginger Yellow says:
The great thing about this project from Steenberg’s perspective is that even if the game bombs, he can just sell/license the tools.
22/04/2009 at 16:56 Kurgol says:
Was no-one else impressed by his asteroids…
Those of you who can’t stream the video – there is a download link that worked fine for me right next to each vid…
22/04/2009 at 16:56 gulag says:
Oh look! A GUI for Dwarf Fortress! Love it.
22/04/2009 at 17:01 Schaulustiger says:
Noc: I said it might prove to be too much power. Of course there will be restrictions to what you can actually do. But such an immensely open world system holds the danger of being too easily exploitable.
I admit, it’s difficult to foresee as we haven’t been shown the actual gameplay (how to acquire blueprints/ressources and how you team up with others), but imagine someone just working against you. Not in a bulldozer way (at least I hope that it’s not possible to just undercut a whole base) but in subtle ways. Like blocking important routes with buildings. Like opening ways into your base that undermine your defense.
But I like your thoughts about using those mechanics to create really mind-blowing experiences like this sabotage stuff you mentioned. Thinking about that, I’m intrigued by the idea of LOVE not being a real MMO, but more like a “normal” multiplayer game (in the terms of setting up your own server, protecting it with a password etc.).
22/04/2009 at 17:02 mandrill says:
I’m sure I’ve said this before, but this man is going to change the face of game development. If the big developers aren’t facepalming at the fact that they didn’t think of this then I’ll eat my hat, and theirs as well.
22/04/2009 at 17:06 Biggles says:
@Schaulustiger, actually, that’s the sort of saboutage that will make this game way more interesting than the normal fare. You can attack someone by really thinking outside the box, and have to do the same to defend against them.
22/04/2009 at 17:07 bansama says:
Those of you who can’t stream the video – there is a download link that worked fine for me right next to each vid…
No link showing for me.
22/04/2009 at 17:09 Schmung says:
@ Mandrill : It’s certainly very interesting stuff, but you need to keep in mind that the tech is only appropriate for a subset of games. It’s great for smaller teams and indies because it allows really rapid prototyping, but I don’t thing it’s going to change the way that the really big companies do things.
Would be very surprised if we don’t soon start seeing increased amounts of content in games with a procedural element though.
22/04/2009 at 17:12 Kurgol says:
No link showing for me.
Try This Link.
Or Gameplay Demo Download
Or Tool and Development Demo Download
22/04/2009 at 17:16 IncredibleBulk92 says:
“Now let me show you some of the tools I’m using for making Love”
brilliant! Well worth my time
22/04/2009 at 17:17 Aldaris says:
Those game design tools…
I mean, what set of game design programs can run astroids and allow you to shoot up the graphic trees? And as for the game play: Multiplayer above ground Dwarf Fortress with less mindless death.
Let’s pot a link to this on the DF forum and see their reactions.
22/04/2009 at 17:19 Bhazor says:
Here you go you big dummies.
http://karelin.stacken.kth.se/love/love_demo_gdc_2009.mp4 (Game)
http://karelin.stacken.kth.se/love/tool_demo_gdc_2009.mp4 (Love making equipment)
Though it is looking great I have to say that unless there’s serious compression issues it looks a lot jaggier than the early pictures did. Damn that lying man. The development kit is truly breath taking though.
Also if you don’t do a Making Love article I’ll be speechless.
22/04/2009 at 17:28 Bremze says:
OHGODOHGODWANTNOW!!!
Ehhm…
Looks like the game will have quite a learning curve but I would buy it even if it was just running around the beautiful environment. I understand why Eskil wants to go for a MMO but hopefully it will be possible to set a standard password protected multiplayer game.
22/04/2009 at 17:29 Radiant says:
The tools are free and available right now no?
How much will the game cost to play?
22/04/2009 at 17:34 gulag says:
I’m not sure where I read/heard this, but it makes for an interesting set-up. Allegedly LOVE is built with servers of 200-ish people in mind, in a PVE environment. 200 is an interesting number in terms of how it relates to the theoretical limits of inter-personal relationships (The Dunbar number; approx. 150 people.).
If that is the case, you will have slightly more people in any one server than you can handily keep tabs on, or directly co-operate/interact with, but not so many that their goals and asperations will not directly intersect with your own at some point.
It’s a fascinating set-up. Slightly too many people to be ‘friends’ with all of them, but only just enough social room to brush shoulders and manouver in. All in the context of a world being visably shaped by your peers.
I predict monarchy, democracy, revolution, secret societies, conquest, factions, and society-spanning projects. Can’t wait.
22/04/2009 at 17:48 Bhazor says:
Reply to Gulag
Well I predict each server having around 80 crazy racists, 60 twelve year olds constantly talking about how terrible everyone is while they try to play like it was Quake, 12 griefers and about 40 people spamming their terrible band.
The other 8 will be journalists writing about it.
22/04/2009 at 17:49 Stupoider says:
Oh man, I can’t wait for this game. It’s beautiful, looks fun, I prefer PvE content to PvP, and Eskil Steenburg is a genius!
22/04/2009 at 17:52 Po0py says:
If anyone watches the Revision 3 show Co-Op, they did a huge feature of this game about a week ago. They basically showed a lot of gameplay footage and editor footage. It was pretty awesome. Check it out. on rev3.com, click on co-op and look for their show from about two weeks ago.
22/04/2009 at 18:00 gulag says:
@ Bhazor
Well, that’s a pretty good cross-section of the population. I think they can probably keep the journo’s out by putting a subscription fee on it.
22/04/2009 at 18:12 Jim Rossignol says:
You really don’t know (m)any games journalists.
22/04/2009 at 18:23 Heliocentric says:
woah woah woah…
“Love making equipment”
Thats should be the SDK’s name, LME.
22/04/2009 at 18:27 Radiant says:
@Rossignol
I was about to say the same.
I always chuckle to myself when I read articles about game prices or game fees.
The writer almost always makes references to ‘real world’ equivalents like “Hey that’s the same price as a beer!” rather then “Hey that’s the same price as game X!” or not even blinking at the cost of a full Rockband set up when they review the game.
22/04/2009 at 18:38 Jim Rossignol says:
When I was out on a European press tour of the US, and Rock Band had just come out in the US, a dozen random journos bought the boxed set. It was an interesting sight at the airport on the way home.
Journalists do get a stack of free stuff, it’s true, but they also tend not to flinch at buying the most expensive graphics card, or having every single console purchased on the day of release.
I was working at Future Publishing when the Gamecube came out, and the shops were instantly emptied and then back ordered for weeks. I understand it was even worse with the Wii. The idea that we get it all for free is, sadly, an illusion.
22/04/2009 at 18:39 Post Maker says:
Meanwhile, you had 3 of them.
22/04/2009 at 18:40 Bhazor says:
Reply to Heliocentric
Still sounds better than The Love Tools.
Reply to Radiant
Tells you a lot about their lifestyle. My favourite was Walker (in They’re Back ages ago) saying that a budget game was the equivalent of 1000 Haribo cola bottles.
Reply to Jim Rossignol
But can’t you write it off as a business (s)expense? Also don’t use the word random in vain. Unless every single games journalist in the population had an equal chance of getting those items then it wasn’t a random sample. Dummy.
22/04/2009 at 18:50 Jeremy says:
My guess is that this won’t attract racists, griefers or 12 year old kids. Unless you consider any person who plays Dwarf Fortress a griefer because.. come on, who doesn’t play that game to grief those poor dwarfs.
22/04/2009 at 19:25 heartless_ says:
I don’t like so many people saying “well people will just exploit all of these tools, so he should just lock it down so you can’t mess with others”.
I think those people are missing the point. We need a virtual world where we can interact with whatever we see, no restrictions. LOVE will be a failure if it starts limiting what we can do. Don’t build great tools and then tell people not to use them.
22/04/2009 at 19:31 RARGPHLAM says:
I got the impression griefing with tools would be rather hard to do, unless the player is unlucky enough to wander into some bastard’s den.
That den will most likely be mine. Endless cave maze, filled to the brim with traps? Yes please.
22/04/2009 at 19:35 Tei says:
I will buy this game, carve a big hole with spikes, and wath for first visitor. “Evil Lair 0.1″…. not.
Actually, I suppose the “Director” will spawn fun missions for the human team, like destroying a enemy base, and stuff.
22/04/2009 at 20:46 Gorgeras says:
Why is there a small part of me with this precognitive sense that this one will deliver the kind of PvP experience I’ve wanted in MMOs, but developers have consistently failed to deliver because they simply don’t understand what Mr Steenberg does?
LOVE will be a representation of the internet itself. Expect penises.
22/04/2009 at 20:55 eskil steenberg says:
Thansk you all for the very kind words!
bob arctor:
There is actually a grid it can be a bit hard to see in the blurry video but without it, as you say, editing would be very hard.
Schaulustiger:
You cant build everywhere that would turn in to mayhem.
Noc.
Its multiplayer only but never PvP. I will run the servers, but I’m considering letting people by all the slots of one server (for a reduced price) so that they can share it with only friends.
Ginger Yellow:
The tools are already available and free, go download them!
Bhazor:
There are a lot of compression artifacts, check out the screen shots for good color and image quality.
22/04/2009 at 20:59 Tonamel says:
“You cant build everywhere that would turn in to mayhem.”
I.e., Second Life.
22/04/2009 at 21:10 peter says:
I can’t watch any of the videos; what am I doing wrong?
22/04/2009 at 21:40 eskil steenberg says:
Check back at http://news.quelssolaar.com Two new mirrors are up.
22/04/2009 at 21:41 Marcin says:
See, now, unlike that Tornquist guy who just talks big promises and has a CGI trailer, this is worth getting excited about since, y’know, it actually exists and all that. (:P)
Very excited about this, and impressed by the possibilities shown in the video. The visuals are spectacularly unique as well. I just love how in the demo these structures are just effortlessly deployed, connected, tunneled under and whatnot. There’s also the mind-boggling potential for expanding these systems based on how they work together …. I’m at a loss for words. Just knowing that the power source goes online during the day means you could chain some events together when day breaks! I don’t know why, but that’s just cool.
Can’t wait to see how it works with real people in it! :)
22/04/2009 at 21:47 Cedge says:
@Marcin:
Uh, sorry, but I really don’t think it’s fair to poo-poo the guy behind The Longest Journey, over this little game.
22/04/2009 at 22:59 cHeal says:
Simply amazing.
23/04/2009 at 00:58 Inanimotion says:
This is beyond incredible!
That man is a genius.
23/04/2009 at 01:19 Stijn says:
Visually, the game is still astounding. But as for how playable it will be… I’m not so sure.
If there was no voiceover there’s no way I would’ve understood what was happening, and even with the voiceover I found the GUI very confusing and relying too much on icons that look rather stylish but don’t actually convey much about their function. I’m also a bit worried about how similar everything looks; all the objects are the same shade of grey and their shape/silhouette doesn’t really convey much either.
By the way, the city building reminds me a lot of Sauerbraten and its predecessor Cube. I wonder if Eskil played them.
23/04/2009 at 01:24 Hmm-Hmm. says:
Simply amazing. I wonder how successful this would be as a regular multiplayer game as opposed to an MMO. That is, I can’t see myself getting a subscription for this.. then again, I never was any good at most sim-type games, city builders, etc..
23/04/2009 at 03:08 Quests says:
eskil: It’s not PvP at all? But you mentioned an infrastructure (a shield generator, maybe) that goes off for an instant and that’s when someone should attack it, isn’t that a natural PvP momentum?
Besides that, I thought the maingoal of the game was basically to control the territory and hold it against other players’ attacks (which is pretty much the mother of all goals in an online game and it’s a shame so few exploit it)
23/04/2009 at 03:39 Wedge says:
That’s like… a full featured intuitive realtime 3d development suite (minus animations/characters) INSIDE the game engine. Totally fucking amazing.
And this stuff is free open source software o____O”
23/04/2009 at 03:55 nabeel says:
Looks great, I’m awed. I think the detail in the mechanics and interdependent systems would go way over my head, but I imagine really creative and smart people could make incredible cities out of them.
23/04/2009 at 04:45 Nate says:
The first thing that struck me was that this looks like a game that’s being designed from a really different perspective. For most games, setting comes first, but it looks like setting is, at best, an afterthought in love. What are the gameplay elements? Radios. Bombs. Guns– not crossbows, not AK-47s, not personal pulse rifles, just guns. It’s like Steenberg started from the idea of procedural generation and interesting gameplay, and added elements as needed.
And I believe that interesting gameplay is possible from the mechanics Steenberg described, but I’m still missing the way that modern computer games are role-playing games. Give me a sense of cool, an identity of some sort, evocative art.
The other thing that struck me is how much Steenberg cares about the usability of his tools. It’s hard to get programmers for heavily licensed engines to care about usability; the idea that a one-man team without a published title would give a rat’s ass is incredible. Is one of his goals to produce an engine that he can sell? If so, I don’t think a cell-shaded, procedurally generated game made without the help of any professional artists is going to be the best demonstration model.
I’m afraid I might sound more pessimistic than I am, though. What I can see looks very exciting.
23/04/2009 at 08:48 Bremze says:
Nate, its realy, REALY not cell-shading. Even the game that most people call cell-shaded ,Wind Waker, isnt.
I love (heh) the visuals, I could just wander around the game looking at all the pretty. I find the painting-like graphics look much better than any “gritty realistic” shooter might offer. Imo Style>Poligons.
23/04/2009 at 09:47 Nutkins Victory Otter says:
Very tempted to call this kid a genius.
23/04/2009 at 09:49 Crane says:
Ahhhh…
With every new bit of information about Love I grow more excited.
And those tools are absurdly flashy. I love the way everything spews sparkles and flares up when you select it; totally unnecessary, but so Hollywood.
23/04/2009 at 10:49 lumpi says:
Yes and YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
23/04/2009 at 10:56 Martin K says:
Nutkins Victory Otter: G’arn, you know you want to. I certainly do. Hell, I’ll do it for both of us.
GENIUS!
23/04/2009 at 11:53 Mark says:
Much as I want to be optimistic about this game – and goodness, I do – I can’t see how this can turn into anything but troll paradise. Paradise, that is, for the trolls, who love nothing better than to cock things up for decent people.
A little bit of background information. I have only once taken Garry’s Mod online. I wanted to mess around with a friend, see. So we found an empty server and hopped on and started having a good time. All the anti-cheating measures were in place, so you couldn’t kill other players at all. About half an hour later, a third guy connected to the server. He spent the next five minutes wordlessly dropping a train on us (physics don’t count as killing), over and over, right as we spawned, while we tried to convince him to stop. It was disgusting.
The point I’m trying to make is: in a game with lots of emergent systems and player power, no matter how many limits you put on it, they’re always going to find a way to work within those limits to wreck the game for everybody else for no reason. I’d be interested to see what you’ve done to anticipate the problem, though.
For instance, how are you going to stop a griefer from rapidly moving the ground up and down underneath me while I’m trying to build something that requires precision? And if that solution works, how are you going to stop him from preventing me from raising the ground by standing on top of it?
23/04/2009 at 14:47 Quests says:
@Mark> naturally I assume one should have limited resources that let him shape the ground, and he would have worked hard for them… now do you think he would waste ‘em just to grief a player?
23/04/2009 at 15:29 mrrobsa says:
Honestly I’m blown away by both the game and the tools.
Eskil is a genius for sure, Love is in my ‘most wanted games’ list, and I’m excited by any future games that implement his workflow, or approach to systems.
23/04/2009 at 17:42 Stupoider says:
@Mark
I assume the low number of players per server might help to monitor who is griefing and who isn’t. You should also consider the people who won’t be griefing, as only a small percentage of players are out there to ruin things for other people. ^^
23/04/2009 at 23:53 Wbjohnston says:
Oh thank god, an update…
one update closer to release…
23/04/2009 at 23:56 tackle says:
I’m a programmer.
I quit.
Seriously, this guy is IMPRESSIVE. Genius is the word for sure.
24/04/2009 at 00:19 Tei says:
Namedropping: “A Tale in the desert”
24/04/2009 at 02:16 Scandalon says:
Eskil, you have simultaneously made me smile inside and despair at the same time. You see, just a few weeks ago I bought Unreal Tournament 3. It has editing tools, and a “paradigm” that I can almost get to grips with, and thoughts and designs in my head from years ago about what I would “improve” on in Doom (we didn’t really have the term “mod” yet) came back. So I started designing a mod for UT3 (much scaled down from my enthusiastic daydreaming, what 15 years ago?), thinking I might even be able to enter it in the Make Something Unreal contest.
And then in the demo you started going on about radio frequencies, and connecting power sources and proximity sensors, and I realized you have already created my mod/game, but even more expansive, more naturally, more emergent.
And then I watched the video on the tools, and my mind melted.
(The irony being the tools have been hosted on the Love website since at least the first official trailer, and I had completely forgotten to look at them when I had time.)
24/04/2009 at 02:25 Scandalon says:
For everyone commenting, please be sure to make the distinction between the game and the engine/tools. Yes, the game itself is abstract, the interface intimidating/confusing (as of now) and I predict that, commercially, it will “fail”*, probably because it’s doing too many innovative/revolutionary/different things at once. Ultimately, I think the game is almost irrelevant. It’s the tools, and the manner in which they work, that are/could/should be revolutionary. (Seriously, he should team up w/ Introversion on their “Subversion” project.)
I think I have an actual hero, who happens to be a genius as well. (He just pronounces “inventory” weird…)
*Meaning it won’t be as successful as it “should” be, but could find a niche and still be profitable, and enough for Mr. Steenberg to live on, support a family, etc.
24/04/2009 at 04:00 Jetsetlemming says:
Holy christ, that’s amazing.
Eskil: Are you using any textures? Or bumpmaps/normal maps/parallax maps/etc? I see you’ve got a UV wrapper, but everything I’ve seen looks like it’s colored purely based on that absolutely fantastic shader setup, that simultaneously prevents the monotony of repeated textures, makes coloring in the world far easier from the developer’s part, gives the world a uniform, “fit together” look that’s absolutely astounding, and I’d bet saved a fair amount of video memory and hd space compared to most modern games.
Absolute genius.
I so wanna play with those tools.
By the sounds of the gameplay, it sounds to me like an RTS without any units besides yourself, with 200 teammates and a monster AI force to conquer. Kinda. Base building, Pylons to place, buildings to grow and destroy.
24/04/2009 at 04:38 Mark says:
Quests: I believe without reservation that griefers will waste their own resources on no more entertaining purpose than ruining your day and mine, given the chance. For them, the griefing is the game.
Stupoider: it only takes one.
24/04/2009 at 04:39 Jambe says:
If I can’t run my own private server I have no interest whatsoever in playing Love; I’ll still appreciate its beauty and procedurally-generated environments, mind, I just won’t play it at all due to the inevitable good-times-ruining griefers.
24/04/2009 at 15:18 viper34j says:
While I find Mark’s comments a bit pessimistic, he does bring up a good point. How will griefers be handled. Limiting what a player can do just because he might do something he shouldn’t will ruin the game. However, if an interface is implemented where the inhabitants of the world will be able to democratically deal with the offender (temp ban, perm ban, revoking of powers, jail time?), then the spirit of the game will be intact IMO.
I’d like to hear from Eskil on this one.
24/04/2009 at 20:21 Quests says:
@Mark> im sure it can be easily counteracted, if it presents itself, we don’t even know if it’s possible to grief, and how, there’s no reason to treat a wound if you didn’t scratch yourself yet.
It’s all presumptions, it’s grieveophobia.
Can anyone straighten this for me, if he has the bit of information? What does Eskil mean when he says there’s no PvP? Isn’t the whole point of the game to build his own city and make it stand against other players’ attacks? Wouldn’t it make it the perfect game? Why play against AI when you fight for holding territory and make your own nightmare cyberpunk city?
24/04/2009 at 21:06 Wulf says:
Tei, are you on a (distinctly) one man mission to defame Eskil? I have to wonder your reasons for wanting to do such a thing, it seems rather sad, and borne of anger-fuelled jealousy. “Cleverman makes prettythings and has smart computerthinks, but Tei not cleverman… TEI SMASH CLEVERMAN (via snide forum posts)!”
Eskil, I’m curious of how exploration works in this, it’s clear that you use a lot of procedural elements, and that can be pure joy for explorers such as myself. There’s this game I used to like (open source, I believe), but I can’t remember the name of it; basically one could navigate this odd box-ship to a planet, then drop down in a sphere to the surface, the entire thing was procedurally generated, included procedurally generated life forms and behaviour, which could be observed, it was all very basic, but it was still really rather neat. What kinds of things could an explorer expect to encounter when wandering around Love, will there be animal life, uninhabited structures, and other surprises for us?
26/04/2009 at 20:21 Finn says:
…add dwarves, water, some elephants and you have a beautiful Dwarf Fortress GUI….
I think I need new pants…
28/04/2009 at 15:58 Gauntt says:
That Dwarf Fortress idea did cross my mind as well. Now that would be amazing.
The tunnelling in the trailer reminded me of it. Assuming you can have levels and levels of tunnels. My mind wants to explode at the possibility.
29/04/2009 at 11:59 Rei Onryou says:
Wow.
If I tried to say anything more, I’d just be diluting the awesomeness of Eskil.