Sir, You Are Being Hunted Alpha On Steam Early Access


SUPER DISCLAIMER: Posting about a game I made with Big Robot.

The Sir, You Are Being Hunted alpha is now open to all. On Steam or via Humble Store.

Kickstarter backers (Paypal too) check this page.

Love you!

116 Comments

  1. 19/08/2013 at 18:50 w00tasaurus says:

    Rather not pay for an unfinished game. Early access is aggravating.

    • 19/08/2013 at 18:57 Quinnbeast says:

      Whoops – silly reply button got the better of me.

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:01 Ranger33 says:

      Then don’t?

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:01 Chris D says:

      Generally I feel the same way but I’ll make an exception just this once. It helps that it’s procedurally generated so I won’t be replaying the same stuff come the official release.

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:20 conti027 says:

      I love having early access but whats turns me off is no coop but I’ll still probably pick it up down the road.

    • 19/08/2013 at 23:01 Deadly Sinner says:

      Except you are paying for a finished game. You just get to play it while it is being finished.

      And how is it “aggravating?” If you, for some reason, cannot wrap your mind around early access, you can buy it when it releases, like every single other game that has ever been made.

  2. 19/08/2013 at 18:51 aliksy says:

    Steam blurb says
    “You can definite your own islands, each one created in moments by our rather clever British Countryside Generator”

    Word “definite” looks wrong, there.

  3. 19/08/2013 at 18:53 Cytrom says:

    This would be pretty much like stalker.. if it had some creepy interior spaces.. and things that hunt each other too, not just you.

    And it would be better that way… /hint

      • 19/08/2013 at 19:04 Stellar Duck says:

        How many times have you linked that post by now Jim?

      • 19/08/2013 at 19:07 Cytrom says:

        Yeah, thats too bad. The second part of the suggestion still stands.

        Although I see you have a pretty firm vision and capacity about the game… so it’ll be just robots and you then i guess.

        Anyways when you make enough money, and i think the game’s gonna be successful, you should attempt to solve that problem… in a sequel in worst case.

        • 19/08/2013 at 19:55 Aldehyde says:

          From what I understand, the robots sometimes attack each other as well. It is very much STALKER but robots and bizarro-England, right?

          • 19/08/2013 at 20:19 HothMonster says:

            My understanding was you could trick them into shooting each other which would cause aggro and they would fight, not that there are separate factions that are constantly fighting/hunting each other.

      • 19/08/2013 at 19:16 MrWolf says:

        So, day one DLC?

      • 19/08/2013 at 20:14 Lemming says:

        Hi Jim,

        I know you’re sick of hearing it, but (and I have read your link), I do think the interiors are something to go for in the following manner, perhaps in a future release:

        1. Static interiors with just a few different building designs. Say, 3 x single story houses, 3 x two story houses, and 2 x taverns. We don’t actually building things in that much variety in certain settings.

        2. The furniture could be sparsely and randomly placed and (here’s the rub), faked. Have them as cardboard cutouts that just fall over when touched, along with cardboard people posing in ‘home’ style magazine layouts. Make it look like the robots have set it all up as some ill-conceived way of convincing you, you are safe.

        3. No loot (other than what you’d find outside in the rest of the world), just another place to hide, and possibly get trapped in by curious robot hunters. If you have to leap out of a first-floor window to avoid getting caught and break a leg in the process, so be it.

        That’s what I saw it as, anyway. I’ll be supporting your game regardless, and I wish you all the best.

    • 19/08/2013 at 21:00 Berzee says:

      Purportedly, some of the robots are/will be on different teams that end up fighting each other sometimes.

  4. 19/08/2013 at 18:55 Kyber says:

    I’m assuming being part of the $15/£10 Kickstarter tier that gets it from Humble Bundle means I don’t get early access on Steam

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:01 Jim Rossignol says:

      We’ll propagate Steam keys to you as soon as we get them, yes.

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:03 Chizu says:

      From the kickstarter update:
      Getting the game is very simple. Go to link to humblebundle.com and enter the email you used to back the game, either for your Kickstarter login, or your Paypal account. Login details will then be emailed to you.

      Steam keys will also be available as soon as we’re able to provide them.

      So whilst there isn’t a steam key right now, we should be getting them SOON™

      Ninja’d by a big robot :(

  5. 19/08/2013 at 18:56 DonkeyCity says:

    Does the alpha (or is the final planned to) have controller support?

  6. 19/08/2013 at 18:58 Ironclad says:

    I’ll wait for the movie.

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:57 serioussgtstu says:

      I heard that Michael Fassbender is playing the robots.

      All of them.

  7. 19/08/2013 at 18:58 GameCat says:

    One question – does it work well with NVidia Optimus? $20 is much money for me and I’m not gonna buy something that will not work well on my crappy laptop.

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:00 Jim Rossignol says:

      Not tested it with that, so I can’t say for sure. What other games can you run on there?

      • 19/08/2013 at 19:43 GameCat says:

        Various. But I had problems with Miasmata or L.A Noire for example. They just didn’t wanted to run on NVidia card, only Intel chip was involved which means very, very low FPS in some games.

        • 19/08/2013 at 19:50 Thurgret says:

          Have you tried forcing the Nvidia card to be used globally (via Nvidia’s control panel), in those instances where the game refuses to otherwise acknowledge its existence?

          I must say, having been confined to a laptop with Nvidia Optimus for my gaming for the past year (and am building a new desktop soon, thank goodness), I do rather hate the thing. Sir looks like the bottleneck’s more likely to be in a processor than graphics card, however.

          Having said that, I did just buy it, and whenever Steam stops being silly, I’ll stop by and comment on how it runs, I guess.

    • 19/08/2013 at 20:12 Gap Gen says:

      Gimmie a second, I’m running Optimus on my laptop, will try it out (this one: link to reevoo.com) – note that the specs are pretty decent for a laptop, so I don’t know if my experience will be indicative of your experience.

      EDIT: Humble is being thrashed right now it seems, so might be a while for this thing to download.

      • 19/08/2013 at 20:54 Gap Gen says:

        OK, so I can’t seem to run the Linux version at all, no idea why. The last 2 downloads I tried stopped partway and got corrupted, so I suppose this might also be broken the same way. Running Ubuntu 12.10.

        Error message:

        —
        Could not display “/home/samgeen/Downloads/linux/sir_alpha_v0.3.4518”.

        There is no application installed for executable files.
        Do you want to search for an application to open this file?

        [No] [Yes]
        —

        • 19/08/2013 at 20:56 LionsPhil says:

          There is no application installed for executable files.

          What a brilliant error message.

          IIRC the Humble Store does show MD5sums for the download? Check that. (Terminal: “md5sum “, then drop the file in the terminal and thump enter to compute what you’ve got.)

          • 19/08/2013 at 20:57 Gap Gen says:

            There was an option in the Permissions dialog that was unchecked that allowed the file to be run as an executable. Works now!

      • 19/08/2013 at 21:07 Gap Gen says:

        Right, so it does work with Optimus! The only problem I noticed was that the shadows flickered (when I ran on the onboard Intel GPU, there weren’t any, presumably because the onboard GPU only supports an older version of whatever you’re using out of OpenGL/DirectX).

        The caveat is that I suspect that you might be using Windows, and I’m running on Linux, where you launch Optimus commands manually, so I don’t know if this experience translates. If you are using Linux, well then it works (possibly worth turning off shadows if the flickering annoys you, didn’t notice this on my Windows desktop with AMD graphics card).

        (I’ve posted these two issues to the Big Robot forums, for what it’s worth)

  8. 19/08/2013 at 18:59 Quinnbeast says:

    Downloading! Supper excited about it too! Yaaaaaas.

    edit – I did say that the game/map generation time was ideal for brew-making. That being the case, to the kitchen I go…

  9. 19/08/2013 at 18:59 Ranger33 says:

    I’ve purchased the game, but can’t download yet (Error: Game has not been released). Doesn’t even show up in my library. Hurry Steam!! I have work in an hour and wish to be hunted!

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:32 ScruffyLemming says:

      Seems to be a steam issue, I’m having the same problem. Theres a forum thread about it over on the big robot forums here: link to big-robot.com

    • 19/08/2013 at 19:35 Thurgret says:

      Oof. Yep. Silly Steam. Same problem here. Steam always gives me grief if I purchase something shortly after release, so I’m not terribly surprised.

  10. 19/08/2013 at 18:59 DrScuttles says:

    I lasted 1 minute and 21 seconds before dying. Granted, I was just running around like a nobber, checking out settings and controls before having a proper go. But first, one must prepare a cup of Earl Grey, hot.

  11. 19/08/2013 at 19:14 CelticPixel says:

    Just had a tense run around Iron Frumpwich while under fire with no weapon. Found a bear trap just as my assailant was coming round the corner then caught him in it, giving me just enough time to find a gun and have a cup of tea with some chocolate biscuits before finishing him off. Not gonna lie, felt pretty awesome.

  12. 19/08/2013 at 19:15 pupsikaso says:

    And the demo? There will be one?

  13. 19/08/2013 at 19:33 Sheng-ji says:

    Sir, your game is marvellous!

  14. 19/08/2013 at 19:37 db1331 says:

    What are the killstreaks like?

  15. 19/08/2013 at 19:39 Tiax says:

    Can you cook dead rats ? I’m not sure if you can’t or if I simply misunderstood the cooking mechanics…

  16. 19/08/2013 at 19:40 moocow says:

    Aha, the first of many Kickstarter games I’ve backed to deliver playable code.

    This better meet my unrealistic expectations or I’m quitting crowd-funding forever!

  17. 19/08/2013 at 19:55 iucounu says:

    I looted a few houses, found a revolver and tried to kill some robots with it. I was notably unsuccessful in that :(

  18. 19/08/2013 at 19:56 Buffer117 says:

    Jim really looking forward to this game, must have been off the planet somewhere as missed your kickstarter but having seen your trailers super excited to get to play this.

    Can I ask a question? and I’m not trying to be controversial or antagonistic but actually genuinely interested in the answer. Was the £15 price tag always the plan? Without playing the game I have no concept of whether I would consider this good value! (Certainly sounds much better than Space Hulk!) but similar greenlit/kickstarter games with alpha access (and much bigger teams) have arrived sometimes significantly cheaper 6.99-11.99 bracket and I was wondering whether you guys chose that level to not offend those that had backed you in the kickstarter? Are you not worried you might be missing out on a bigger audience that at a lower price would be more prepared to dive into the current alpha game?

  19. 19/08/2013 at 19:57 Ninja Foodstuff says:

    I assume this means you’re ok with having words published about its current state?

    Edit: Also want to point out the Mac version is not code-signed.

  20. 19/08/2013 at 19:57 zachforrest says:

    Britains newest bajillionaire, Mr Rossignol, was spotted in a solid gold observation balloon this evening, laughing maniacally and emptying packets of rich tea biscuits onto delighted onlookers.

  21. 19/08/2013 at 19:59 DestructibleEnvironments says:

    I am playing the game!

    I know this is sacrilege, but 2 problems I have with the game is: The ground textures look really low res and I feel they really clash with the high res grass. Almost like the game is on low settings. And I’m not sure the game gives me enough reason to explore. I have to find 28 or so stones? Stalker was fun because you had a set goal and had many missions in-between, plus you could upgrade your character, or meet “friendly” characters and find random events. All that good stuff!

    Telling me what food does what effects would be neat too. Oh and audio sliders, please.

    I will enjoy the hell out of the game on release, do not worry.

  22. 19/08/2013 at 20:01 serioussgtstu says:

    Ow, crashes on launch. I’ll try the 32-bit version.

    Edit: success!

  23. 19/08/2013 at 20:07 C0llic says:

    I just bought this but it won’t appear in my games library despite me recieving my reciept :( Steam is usually a 100 percent relaible for me.. how frustrating. I guess I’ll just have to wait on a support ticket.

    Bugger!

    Does anyone know how long I may have to wait to sort this out ? I don’t remember dealing with steam support before. I really want to hop in and try it out.

    Must resist urge to email rossignol.

    • 19/08/2013 at 20:18 Amnesiac says:

      I’m having the same issue. Never had this happen with steam before.

      • 19/08/2013 at 20:24 C0llic says:

        Okay, good. That makes me feel a lot better (although sorry too, it’s annoying I know).

        I sent in a support ticket, so I suggest you do the same. The more they get, the more visible the issue will be for them so hopefully they will resolve it quickly.

        • 19/08/2013 at 20:37 Lord Hawk says:

          After reading this I bought the game as a gift, because I know if you redeem it from your inventory you can install it right away, after I clicked the install option steam crashed and the game is not in my library. Sending ticket now.

  24. 19/08/2013 at 20:10 Tiguh says:

    Ok so, did a back a game where you HAVE to kill dogs?

    I know you weren’t to know Jim, but this is a Rule! An actual Rule with a capital R!

    Yes I am a stupid, pathetic hippy idiot, but a man must have standards! I definitely didn’t see robo-dogs in any previous material!

    You can have dogs you have to kill ONLY if you include mod tools that lets me make them either:
    a) removable or preferably
    b) adjustable to being completely non-aggressive.

    DOES YOUR GAME CONTAIN THESE OPTIONS ROSSIGNOL???

    • 19/08/2013 at 20:20 Gap Gen says:

      I guess you haven’t played the Madden NFL DLC featuring Michael Vick.

    • 19/08/2013 at 20:22 HothMonster says:

      Robot dogs are not dogs. They are robots with a dog shape. Rules do not apply.

    • 19/08/2013 at 20:26 Christo4 says:

      I agree!Also why should we kill all those robots? They are so fluffy and metal-like. You just want to cuddle with them.
      We should just kill meatbags all the time. Maybe put them in a grinder and drink their blood with a piece of lemon.
      DOES YOUR GAME HAVE AN OPTION FOR REPLACING ROBOTS WITH MEATBAGS, HUH, DOES IT ROSSIGNOL?

      • 19/08/2013 at 20:33 Gap Gen says:

        They should literally be sacks of meat sloshing about, going “Muh muh muh muh”.

  25. 19/08/2013 at 20:19 Gap Gen says:

    Interesting, my game defaulted to Madam. Didn’t realise until I started playing (and, I assume, it has no effect on the game other than occasional swooning that can be ameliorated by smelling salts found in nearby houses).

  26. 19/08/2013 at 20:20 HothMonster says:

    SQQUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Fuck you work, I got shit to do.

  27. 19/08/2013 at 20:21 Urthman says:

    So it works on Mac and Linux, but not Windows XP? Are there actually more Linux gamers than XP gamers now?

    • 19/08/2013 at 20:46 Ninja Foodstuff says:

      Not if steam is to be believed.

    • 19/08/2013 at 21:55 HothMonster says:

      XP becomes officially unsupported sometime real soon.

      Anyone* still running XP is doing so because their computer is old and they have not been forced into an upgrade with a new purchase. Any computer that old probably can’t handle the game.

      *Except for all the scenarios I did not think of.

      • 19/08/2013 at 22:48 Urthman says:

        Fact is there’s still a huge list of games you can play with one of those “old” computers. “Sir” would be at the top of that list for me if it was playable in XP. It sure doesn’t look like it needs a more powerful computer than it takes to play STALKER or Skyrim.

        • 20/08/2013 at 00:39 HothMonster says:

          Sorry for my jaded comment. In my professional life people stuck with XP for preference or some outdated program they must has always led to me trying/having to get modern software and peripherals to work right for them as well. They are a constant headache and usually just because they refuse to learn how to use the modern version of the OS, some program they learned on in `92, or their boss refuses to budget in a software upgrade for something his department uses ever day and has for the last decade.

          I realize for non-work it is entirely your preference and possibly your only option. I take no pleasure in your misfortune and I do wish you could play any and every game.

          I’d guess it’s not a matter of the games performance but a matter of thing being built with tools or 3rd party software that are not XP compatible. You will probably start to see even more of this with XP being abandoned by MS in April. Might be time to take a peak at linux? Your first attempt could be to play this! Or an advanced (read: more exspenive) version of win7 that lets you run XP virtually.

          • 20/08/2013 at 02:23 Urthman says:

            No, I’m just a cheapskate. I’d rather spend a $100 buying games from Big Robot and Double Fine and The Fullbright Company than paying Microsoft for an upgrade I don’t really need.

          • 20/08/2013 at 03:41 HothMonster says:

            Windows student is doing a sale right now. Just need to find someone with an edu address you can use. They send a code and that’s the end of it. Usually not too hard to wrangle one up.

            link to microsoftstore.com

            Upgrade works from XPsp3

    • 19/08/2013 at 22:57 darkChozo says:

      My somewhat-uneducated guess is that, if you’re smart what third-party middleware you use, it’s easier to port to modern OSX/Linux than it is to port to the relatively old XP. Then you get into cost/benefit analysis; spending 20 hours to get access to the 2% that use OSX is much more attractive than spending 1000 hours to get access to the 7% that are using XP (note: numbers may be made up and/or wildly exaggerated).

  28. 19/08/2013 at 20:31 Barberetti says:

    Is there a way to lower the mouse sensitivity further than the slider allows, using a config file or something? I’ve got it as low as possible and it’s still way to sensitive.

  29. 19/08/2013 at 20:42 LionsPhil says:

    Oho, Steam frontpage spotlight thing, too. Contrafibularities, Mister Jim.

  30. 19/08/2013 at 20:54 CelticPixel says:

    Jim, where’s the place to go and give feedback and discuss ‘Sir’? I don’t see a forum on Big Robot?

  31. 19/08/2013 at 20:57 Ravenholme says:

    The main menu theme for this really, really needs to be one of the robots humming “Run Rabbit, Run”. Because dammit, that’s how i felt in my first little playthrough

  32. 19/08/2013 at 21:04 Berzee says:

    I’m excited to play this tonight, but would like it if there was an option to replace the skybox with one that looks like wooden planks & rafters, so I can feel like the whole world is a giant, enterable building into which I have entered.

    • 19/08/2013 at 21:21 stahlwerk says:

      Alternatively, you could put your computer in a room in a building, to simulate a very similar experience.

  33. 19/08/2013 at 21:14 Jim Rossignol says:

    Seems to be some issue with the Steam back end right now. The store page published, but not the game. Trying to get Valve to fix at the moment.

    :(

    • 19/08/2013 at 21:21 C0llic says:

      I’m sure you’re doing what you can. We can wait. Knowing its being looked at is enough to stop the cold sweats of ‘where are my intangible 1’s and 0’s?’

      Can’t wait to play it when the issues are resolved. You’re getting a real first game hazing, release problems and all haha

  34. 19/08/2013 at 21:20 Greggh says:

    HUZZAH!!! boy have I been waiting for this – I even had a wad of money waiting to be thrown at the humble store/steam page.

    But first, to clear a little bit of my backlog so that ‘Sir’ doesn’t fall into my “Oblivion” category of games… (which, unsurprisingly, contais TES Oblivion, but does not contain Morrowind – Oblivion sucks, you n’wah!)

    • 19/08/2013 at 23:09 Greggh says:

      Sidenote: So excited about this game’s release that I forgot about my birthday XD

  35. 19/08/2013 at 21:26 MajorManiac says:

    “Love you!”

    We love you too!

  36. 19/08/2013 at 21:32 Branthog says:

    As the game is overdue, I wouldn’t exactly call it “Early” access. Harrumph harrumph harrumph!

  37. 19/08/2013 at 21:35 Michael Fogg says:

    I like how Jim sat around drinking tea, stroking his goatee and making pointless suggestions while Big Robot slaved away at the game, and now he’s all like ‘Look at this game I made”.

  38. 19/08/2013 at 21:46 Stellar Duck says:

    Just took down a robot in a trap and axed him to death. Boy, did I feel like I was wearing the the hero trousers at that moment!

    My initial impressions are excellent! I love the feel! And when one of the robots that was on patrol remarked to another that he remembered when this was all fields, I was sold. Also, one taking a shot at me and I swear he mate laughed and said ‘Nice one!’ or something like that.

  39. 19/08/2013 at 21:59 derbefrier says:

    Its looking really good. I’d buy it right now if I wasn’t going to see Flight of The Concords and Dave Chapelle this weekend(gotta have beer money) but the payday after that I will be playing this game.

  40. 19/08/2013 at 23:12 Lord Hawk says:

    Request: Add in a dancing party robots mode so this game doesn’t scare the bejeesus out of everytime I hear so much as a beep.

  41. 19/08/2013 at 23:32 Dolphan says:

    Argh, was going to wait till more stuff was in but I’m really tempted to download it now. Decisions decisions.

  42. 19/08/2013 at 23:48 Tiguh says:

    IT’S AMAZING! XXX

  43. 19/08/2013 at 23:54 MuscleHorse says:

    What’s the best option if we want most of what we pay to get to you and not a middleman? And if that answer isn’t Steam, would keys for Steam still be available?

  44. 20/08/2013 at 00:45 Monkeh says:

    It’s says ‘beta’ on the Humble Bundle download page, btw. :P

  45. 20/08/2013 at 02:51 RSeldon says:

    Purchased, and filed under ‘Relentless Britishness’ in my Steam library. Love you too!

  46. 20/08/2013 at 07:28 Prime says:

    A x64 bit version? My goodness, Sirs, I’m excited already! Downloading now! And bless my soul, the installer is tiny. Barely more than three peggles!

    [EDIT]

    Ok, back after twenty of the best gaming minutes I’ve spent in aaages! The game is awesome, Big Robot/Jim! So much fun! Arrrg that I have to now run away to work when this is here! :(

  47. 20/08/2013 at 11:12 smokiespliff says:

    yay linux version, thanks Jim & co.

  48. 20/08/2013 at 12:19 m0a0t0 says:

    I think I may be being very stupid, but how do you zoom in with the binoculars? Scroll wheel doesn’t seem to work

    • 20/08/2013 at 16:07 RSeldon says:

      Hit B to set them as your current item, then LMB.

      • 20/08/2013 at 20:45 Berzee says:

        Yep, scroll wheel still works to zoom in and out, but clicking is how you put them up to your face or put them away.

  49. 20/08/2013 at 13:47 Ninja Foodstuff says:

    So far the biggest complaint I have is that you can’t (as far as I can tell) save the game and quit. I wanted to stop playing, but instead I had to traverse the coast in search of a save point, and in doing so got myself killed.

    Also it’s not really clear what the blue comets are for. Should I follow them to where they’re going, or where they’ve come from?

  50. 20/08/2013 at 14:40 dazman76 says:

    Sir, you are being Alpha tested! Just purchased on Steam – looking forward to test-driving later :) Really pleased to see this progressing Jim + Co., great stuff :)