By Jim Rossignol on October 25th, 2010 at 9:36 pm.
RPS has occasionally managed to inspire some fine bouts of multiplayer gaming. Blood Bowl (or perhaps Solium Infernum) has become our national sport. The TF2 server has become the home of many fine hats, the Battlefield server has eaten a couple of hundred hours of my life, and the Arma 2 events have been exercises in ramshackle military awesomeness. But we want more. It’s time to get organised. We’re going to do this by stages. The first stage will consist in event days where we will select a game – one that is cheap, or free – and ask everyone who reads RPS to join their comrades in readership to come and play. The later stages… well, that would be telling.
So, without further ado, the first event is going to feature DogFighter. The game is currently astonishingly cheap on Steam (85% off) and we’re going to be playing it this coming Friday night and Saturday afternoon. That’s you, and me, and probably other people we don’t know particularly well. Saturday evening, of course, we will be dressing as lobsters and eating magic apples, but we ask you to join us before you head off to whatever it is you are doing for Halloween, and shoot me to bits in the skies of DogFighter. More details – servers, times, and such organisational stuff – will appear here as we proceed. Tally ho, and all that. I’m looking forward to this.
25/10/2010 at 21:41 mlaskus says:
Hah! Great idea, count me in.
25/10/2010 at 21:42 pupsikaso says:
But did they rework the keyboard+mouse controls since beta? Because in that state it was nigh on unplayable.
25/10/2010 at 21:55 President Weasel says:
yeah, can you keyboard+mouse it, and have it still be fun? because I have no joystick – although, come to think of it, I do have a 360 controller I borrowed from work. Can you 360 controller it?
25/10/2010 at 21:58 Noxy says:
We revamped all the default controls and provided extra options to tweak controls as you like :).,
25/10/2010 at 22:04 mod the world says:
I can conform that it is playable with mouse + keyboard, if you fiddle about the settings a bit.
25/10/2010 at 22:09 Alexander Norris says:
You really only need the mouse for flying around and a couple of buttons for boost/special manoeuvres. It worked fine in beta and it works fine now.
25/10/2010 at 22:56 President Weasel says:
cheers all, purchased and downloading
26/10/2010 at 12:05 President Weasel says:
I have to say I didn’t like the mouse and keyboard controls at all. The360 controller controls were better, but unless I’m doing the game a disservice I have to say I’m not overly fond of those either. I’m also unhappy with the limited range of customisation options – why can’t I put flip plane onto the left stick, for instance?
That said, for the price I paid it’s almost cheaper to buy the game than not. I’ve had £1.50 worth of fun out of it, easily.
25/10/2010 at 21:43 Nathan says:
Yeh, I’m hoping it’s been significantly improved since the beta; but it’s cheap enough I don’t care too much.
And this is a great idea. Keep ‘em coming.
25/10/2010 at 21:44 TimA says:
I’m there!
25/10/2010 at 21:45 The Hammer says:
Ohhh, love this idea.
Also, it reminds me I should really start playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 again!
Hmm. *logs in*
25/10/2010 at 22:32 Psychopomp says:
SNIPERS!
FOREVER!
25/10/2010 at 23:36 Skurmedel says:
Started playing it again, and yeah… I’ve found a server where they cap the amount of sniper slots. Works wonders for the game play.
When it is offline there is no idea in playing BC2. I wonder if all these people actually know there are objectives or not? It’s kinda disheartening dying trying to defuse a bomb and you see all the friendly blips on the map just watching it explode. There’s some people trying, but they can’t do it alone.
25/10/2010 at 21:46 SquareWheel says:
No time to comment, buying game.
25/10/2010 at 21:46 Alex Bakke says:
I am also looking forward to this.
25/10/2010 at 21:52 Zogtee says:
Boughted.
25/10/2010 at 21:52 Eric says:
Having already bought this when it was super-cheap last time – yes, of course. Lovely idea. :)
25/10/2010 at 21:57 Miker says:
Any times for the US readership? The time difference makes it a bit difficult to catch either time, unless I get out of school early Friday or wake up around noon on Saturday, neither of which are particularly likely.
25/10/2010 at 22:04 Jim Rossignol says:
I’ll schedule some times for US people to gather, and look for a US server or two.
25/10/2010 at 22:13 Miker says:
Thanks, I’ll keep checking RPS for details.
26/10/2010 at 00:00 Meatloaf says:
Hooray! Insane Aircraft Combative Tomfoolery go! Looking forward to some meet-n-shoots.
25/10/2010 at 21:57 mooTV says:
Excellent. I’ll jump on that!
25/10/2010 at 22:00 Magius Paulus says:
Knowing you guys, i guess that won’t mean there’s going to be a WoW guild as part of the RPS gaming club, now will there :p
25/10/2010 at 22:04 Jim Rossignol says:
There will be many stages to RPS Game Club, let’s not rule anything out.
26/10/2010 at 09:23 Baboonanza says:
I know what you’re planning! This is all an elaborate multi-staged plan to sign us all up as ‘friends’ for some evil Facebook game isn’t it? Stage 5 will be ‘tonight we’ll all be playing Cockel-PickerVille’
You’ve been rumbled!
(bought the game and 5:30 this morning while I had insomnia. Quite fun.)
25/10/2010 at 22:01 zak canard says:
It’s duck hunting time, and this duck’s armed!
26/10/2010 at 06:26 Vague-rant says:
Ducks have arms?
25/10/2010 at 22:07 MrSafin says:
Veeery nice!
25/10/2010 at 22:11 Koojav says:
Bought. Great Success!
25/10/2010 at 22:13 Torgen says:
Used up my discretionary income for the month, and nabbed a four pack for less than a fiver! Now to coerce, er, invite some friends to join in. :)
25/10/2010 at 22:15 Peter Radiator Full Pig says:
Id love a los res game, sometime.
Im thinking that game kieron linked before. Like transformice meets Gish.
This is purely is the interest of people who cant run these modern games, because of their computers being crap. :D
25/10/2010 at 22:22 Waltorious says:
A second vote for some US times, but actually I probably can’t make it this weekend because I’ve got visitors and need to socialize with them. Will there be future RPS Dogfighter events? I enjoy Dogfighter quite a bit but usually it’s been hard to find human opponents.
25/10/2010 at 22:22 CreepingDeath says:
“Saturday evening, of course, we will be dressing as lobsters and eating magic apples,”
Gosh, you sure are going to look stupid considering Halloween is on Sunday xD
25/10/2010 at 22:25 Jim Rossignol says:
True, but PC Gamer’s Halloween party is on the Saturday, so if I dress up or eat magic apples on the 31st it will be alone, hungover.
25/10/2010 at 22:23 HexagonalBolts says:
I’ve bought it, see you then Jim!
25/10/2010 at 22:26 Maykael says:
Just bought it, so I’m in. Probably for Friday, me thinks.
25/10/2010 at 22:30 JB says:
Just bought the 4 pack, sent a copy to a fellow RPSite, and the others to a couple of friends of mine, will try to entice them into the RPS fold.
See you in the unfriendly skies when the server details are announced!
25/10/2010 at 22:38 Jimmerite says:
Bought it but disappointed!
It feels like there’s hardly any gravity and/or the planes are totally weightless. “Stalling” feels nothing like stalling, it’s just an arbitrary height limit that forces the direction of your plane downwards. There is little or no speed increase when flying way high, then dipping your nose downwards for a suicide plummet. It just floats down like you were flying straight ahead.
I know this is supposed to be light-hearted shooty fun but… Meh.
26/10/2010 at 04:22 DollarOfReactivity says:
I have to agree, and the controls (mouse or joystick) just don’t feel right. Plus that awful music… plus I must doing something wrong because my IFF reliability is about 50%.
25/10/2010 at 22:38 CWalker00 says:
Purchased it, looking forward to flying with all you lovely people.
25/10/2010 at 23:03 bit_crusherrr says:
I bought the 4 pack. And I’m dissapointed. I expected it to be more fast paced :( Its a bit slow and turning circles are huuuuuge.
25/10/2010 at 23:26 jaheira says:
Purchased. Bring it on.
25/10/2010 at 23:54 RiptoR says:
Was following the 2nd dev chat on irc this evening. Won a key in the compo afterwards. Was the third person to answer correctly on the question. Wootage :D
Oh, and yes, keyboard+mouse work way better than back when the game was first released. They improved the controls a lot. Gamepad is still sucky though (360 pad default settings are also very weird).
25/10/2010 at 23:59 mbp says:
Are we still allowed to come if we totally suck?
26/10/2010 at 00:41 Robert says:
The hivemind will take over the world!!!!
Step 1: “Let them have games!”
Step 2: ??????
Step 3: PROFIT!
26/10/2010 at 00:42 Raoul says:
What happened to the demo? It’s been linked on RPS before but I can’t seem to get to it now.
26/10/2010 at 00:49 Ignorant Texan says:
It’s available on Steam.
26/10/2010 at 01:13 Raoul says:
I still don’t see it on the steam store but it’s available at
steam://run/42510
26/10/2010 at 00:59 jeremypeel says:
Yay! I’m excited – this is just another stage in proving to myself that RPS isn’t a figment of my imagination, created to stave off my despair about What The Internet Is.
There’s no one I’d rather shoot planes with.
26/10/2010 at 01:01 cubed2d says:
Anybody want a free copy? i got the 4 pack and have used 3 keys, so i have one up for grabs! (also have a copy of plain sight.).
My username on steam is cubed2d, first person to add me to there friends list and ask gets both :)
26/10/2010 at 13:35 westyfield says:
If there is any justice in this world Plain Sight will be another game for the RPS Club.
26/10/2010 at 01:09 Kayden says:
Count me in!
26/10/2010 at 01:14 Kayden says:
PS : My x52 has been collecting dust bout time it got some use again.
26/10/2010 at 01:16 Reikon says:
A winner is me.
26/10/2010 at 01:17 Reikon says:
Argh I was trying to reply to cubed2d.
26/10/2010 at 03:14 Nullkigan says:
The forums are good for finding people to play with when the Game Club is on something you’re lukewarm about. There are still several blood bowl leagues going strong in there!
Surprising how many people seem to miss the link in the top right though :S
(Also: this makes Jim my favourite. He slips subtle hints months in advance and then actually comes through)
26/10/2010 at 04:27 Hardtarget says:
$1.50 you say?
boughted
26/10/2010 at 05:43 thesundaybest says:
Steam version for free:
As it is only $1.50 this isn’t a big magnanimous gesture, but I bought the four pack and only have two friends who really game…so I have an extra one if anyone wants to save the $1.50.
Email me thesundaybest AT gmail DOT com.
26/10/2010 at 22:26 thesundaybest says:
And it’s gone.
26/10/2010 at 08:31 nine says:
Please organise times for different regions. Like Australia, where I live.
26/10/2010 at 09:14 jarvoll says:
Forget it – with the lag, we’re on our own unless it’s multi-player Victoria or Civ or something.
26/10/2010 at 11:50 nine says:
I’m sure someone will be willing to donate some server time.
26/10/2010 at 08:50 jon_hill987 says:
Well I can’t get the analogue throttle to work with my flight stick (made harder by the fact that the HUD seems to be missing a throttle indicator?). And the rest of the controls feel really unresponsive (I can’t pull off a barrel roll). I’m quite disappointed about how hard it is to set up for a proper controller actually. I’ll have another go tonight it looks like a fun game when I get by this problem.
26/10/2010 at 09:29 Baboonanza says:
I think the ‘advanced flight model’ is probably what you need. It’s under Cotnrol->additional options.
26/10/2010 at 10:47 jon_hill987 says:
Nah, I found that, it still seems really sluggish and I don’t know what is up with the throttle.
26/10/2010 at 09:31 pimorte says:
GAMES!
Oooh, I’ve already got a list of some free multiplayer games!
Softnyx Games (www.softnyx.com)
Softnyx creates Korean free-to-play games that have the unusual distinction of being not grindy at all and fun to play even without playing.
-WolfTeam – It’s like a cross between Team Fortress and CounterStrike, except everyone’s a werewolf too. Supports up to 12 players a game, yet still works with small groups. The Wolf Vs Humans mode is the best with its specialist wolf classes and distinct playstyles for both sides.
-GunBound – A 2D artillery game like Worms, except that you pick a class before the map that heavily influences your playstyle and options. It supports up to 10 players per match.
-Rakion – A third-person arena combat game with five distinct classes. Modes include standard deathmatch, team DM, assassination missions, co-op gauntlets, and a unique mode similar to Skull mode from Q3:TA except that the skull fights back hard.
Soldat – A PC classic. It’s platforming 2D combat between musclemen with lots of guns. The game includes DM, Rambo mode (one player is godlike and is the target of everyone else), CTF, and more.
Teewars – Soldat with hookshots, Quake 3 style weapons, and everyone’s turned into Kirby.
Savage – Massive multiplayer RTS. One person plays as the Commander of each team, whilst everyone else plays as [I]the actual units[/I]. Supports up to 64 players at once. Absolutely brilliant when teams co-ordinate.
Bootfighter – You are an anthropomorphised version of an operating system throughout history. You are also a 20-foot tall mecha. Incidentally, you also kick arse. http://mirrormoon.org/projects/windom
FEAR: Multiplayer – Multiplayer component of the shooter, all for free.
Nexuiz – It’s normal Quake DM made more interesting. Every powerup also powers you down. For example, picking up a Quad Damage powerup could also makes YOU take quad damage.
Tremulous – Aliens vs Humans FPS RTS. Elimate all opponents and spawn points. Shares some similarities with Natural Selection due to the influence of Gloom, but don’t tell the devs that. There’s no Commander role though – everyone’s on-the-ground and helping out … which makes for amusing humiliation when you get killed by a worker drone. All the smaller aliens have wallrun as well.
LITTLE FIGHTER 2 – A classic style beat-em up with automatic difficulty scaling, but we’ll need Hamachi to make it work.
Gate 88 – I’d describe this game as a ‘swarm-based RTS’. You fly around (with inertia) and build defences and production facilities in order to command a swarm to attack the enemy. http://www.queasygames.com/gate88/index.html
For more, let’s just point to TIGSOURCE’s database:
http://bit.ly/9Ev23c
SERVERS!
We’ll need localised servers due to lag. Not everyone’s in the UK.
I propose an official nomination in each post for UK, US, OZ, and wherever else we can get a server.
26/10/2010 at 10:49 jon_hill987 says:
You missed Warsow.
26/10/2010 at 12:12 Jim Rossignol says:
I will sort out UK and US servers where possible.
26/10/2010 at 09:46 Serenegoose says:
if my computer is working by the time friday rolls around, I’m all kinds of in.
If not, then you lot have fun without me…
I guess….
No, no! It’s fine! On you go.
26/10/2010 at 09:54 Ian says:
“Blood Bowl has become our national sport.”
Damn right.
We still need one of you to pick up the Blood Bowl reins. Although didn’t you have one or two bits written by that one guy? I forget the name. Liked vermin.
26/10/2010 at 11:52 President Weasel says:
Gillon Coren? Something like that?
The new legendary edition of Blood Bowl is coming out this week, and on Play it’s currently cheaper than the special loyalty discount “thanks for owning a previous version of the game” price direct from the publisher. Just think how much of a bargain you could get!
I believe we’re going to run one more league season with the current version then move on to the Legendary Edition, so this would be a perfect time for people to pick up the new version, get to grips with the rules, and apply for the RPS 4 (no wait, 5, no 6…) Divisions of Death.
26/10/2010 at 10:32 Groove says:
Holy crap, I’m actually free Saturday afternoon.
Like, fiancee at work, no responsibilities, nothing on fire, FREE!
26/10/2010 at 12:31 JB says:
Be realistic Groove, you don’t KNOW for a fact that nothing is going to be on fire. I mean, your fiancee is out, who knows what mischief you’ll be involved in. Fingers crossed though, eh?
26/10/2010 at 11:53 The Sombrero Kid says:
this is a great idea! Gives sales to indies and gets the community together, although in this case i’ll be too busy to take part, but next time!
26/10/2010 at 12:25 Nilocy says:
As leader of the great DFC (Dwarf Fortress Community, we’re not a clan just a community) I nicely ask a challenge of the air fighting of the RPS group! We’re mostly Europeans so we could find a nice UK server or something.
This is just for the lulz.
Leave a comment if you’re interest Mr. RPS steamgroup leader.
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/dwarfortress
26/10/2010 at 13:06 President Weasel says:
but but but… but you can’t [i]get[/i] Dwarf Fortress on Steam.
I am so confused.
26/10/2010 at 14:00 terry says:
I’m completely balls at this but I’m up for being cannon fodder for an hour or so.
26/10/2010 at 14:07 Jim9137 says:
Is this like the Nintendo Game Club? Send a cardboard card, get a wallet in return, feel like your game geekery status is gratified?
In gratin?
26/10/2010 at 22:20 otzenGulasch says:
Bought it – can’t figure out how to invert the y-axis on my logitech gamepad, though.
Strange control-settings. What’s this ‘XBox Controller’ option ?!
can’t find a simple y-invert tick.
27/10/2010 at 02:12 tempus singua says:
such a classic sale 85% ??? brilliant game lots of modes lots of levels lots of weapons lots of hidden snipe and flyways the clans will be playing this for years and years. makes a welcome change from FPS. something amazing about getting airborn. see yous in the servers preferably in my sights.
27/10/2010 at 08:51 phuzz says:
Ok, I’ve tried searching the forums etc. but no luck.
I’m trying to host a game from my PC, so I can shoot my brother in the face, what ports do I need to open? Or otherwise what am I doing wrong, my house mate can connect fine, but everyone else gets “cannot connect to game”
27/10/2010 at 09:41 Stranglove says:
Well, I’m in. Just bought it. The game looks ace, if you’ll pardon the pun.
27/10/2010 at 10:28 Concerned says:
I like the idea of RPS all piling into one game at a time but goddamn this game is absolutely terrible. Maybe it is better with a gamepad- i don’t have one; but that dosen’t excuse the goddawful controls using keyboard/mouse