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Demigod November Q & A

By on November 2, 2009 3:57:12 PM from JoeUser Forums JoeUser Forums

Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001
+1478

Big thinks to Pacov for putting this together.

 

Q: Demigod has been out 6 months. What would you say are it’s biggest strengths at this point?

A: The game mechanics are extremely good.  I would say it is the strategy game to beat when it comes to setting up a weekend LAN game with friends. Any other game I’d want to play would take hours of explaining the ins and outs to friends to get them to be remotely competitive.  In Demigod, you can get people together quickly who can play the game.

At the same time, the game still allows for a huge difference between skilled players and new players. The big thing for me though is that someone can play Demigod with only a few minutes to practice.

Q: What are its weakest areas? What areas are you most disappointed?

A: I’m a glass is half empty kind of guy. So I tend to always be the dark cloud on this kind of thing.  For me, the most annoying thing is playing online. It’s an age old problem though that is really brought out in Demigod because it’s so multiplayer centric.

Specifically, you get online and into a game only to realize someone has Bit torrent running in the background making the game lag for everyone because the game has to be in sync.

Then you have the people who blame P2P for that problem. No, it has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the game needing to be in sync. If the units were all projectile based (like TA/SupCom/Starcraft) you wouldn’t necessarily need to be in perfect sync. But in a melee centric game, you do or else you get into all kinds of other trouble. 

Lesson I’ve learned is that every strategy game in the future that has MP needs to have not just ping but a quickly throughput rating so that people who have stuff running in the background can be ejected. Sorry, just something that drives me crazy about playing online with random strangers.

Q: What is happening with balance suggestions?"

A: I send them over to Mike Marr at GPG to evaluate. They are implementing some of them. 

My list of things includes:

1. Queen of Thorns needs to be made more powerful.

2. Some of the items need to be made better (I’ve sent the threads over to Gas Powered Games to look at).

3. There need to be more game options for dealing with the AI (that’s in our internal build so hooray!).

Q: Why do pantheon players get experience when playing against AI.

A: The whole pantheon experience is something that is a challenge because on the one hand, you want people to only play against people but on the other hand, you don’t want people to have to wait 10 minutes for a game to start and there are times when there aren’t that many people playing online on pantheon.  We don’t really have a good solution here.

Q: What is the top priority at the moment?

A: Getting the new Demigods integrated with the v1.19 code-base so we can begin testing.

Q: When will the 2 new Demigods be released?

A: I am hoping that the beta for them will start this week. It’s a matter of integrating them into people’s accounts seamlessly so that we can potentially sell demigods in the future if we eventually wanted to migrate the game to a LoL or HoN style model for certain markets.

Q: What sorts of minion UI enhancements do you see happening?

A: I know I’d like to be able to bind minions to hot keys (so I can move my monks independently for instance).  I would have to talk to GPG to find out how hard that would be to implement at this stage.

Q: You’ve mentioned that Demigod wasn’t designed to be a hard-core competitive game. Why was that decision made?

A: It was a technical decision more than anything.  For instance, as a former PGL player I can tell you right now that if Demigod wanted to be a serious online competitive game it would need to have its LUA scripts secured some that griefers and cheaters couldn’t potentially hack it in real-time.  To me, that’s a fundamental requirement.

The other issue is that the game would need to have had a much bigger budget in order to make both the single player and online more expansive.   For instance, last night I played a game where I quit because it was so laggy.  If this were a competitive game, I would have been compelled (and aggravated) to play through a laggy game.

Without tools to penalize or control people who make playing online a horrible experience, the entire system is open to abuse.

Q: Is Voice Chat coming to Demigod?

A: Not directly. It would come via Impulse: Ready to Play and the built in overlay and that’s not going to happen until next Spring so it’ll be awhile.

Q: Will Torch Bearer get a fire on move animation so it can fire and move in fire mode?

A: That would have to be answered by GPG.

Q: How can the community become more involved in future updates?

A: Modding.  Demigod itself is largely programmed via mods. v1.2 has a mod manager that will let people install their own mods.  I would like to see it so that future updates bundle in third-party mods.

Then, if you don’t like our values for items or whatever then you guys can just pick a mod that you guys agree on. 

Q: The ladder system penalizes people who play because people who never play start with 1000 points.

A: This is indeed a problem.  For Epoch 3 I think we’re going to have to revisit the entire ranking system further because as someone who wins most of the time but has an experience rating of 300, I’m (understandably I think) annoyed that my rating is lower than someone who has never played.

Q: Will the dodge cap be removed?

A: I hope so. I’m going to lobby that it either be removed or raised dramatically given how fun that ability is.

Q: Is it possible for German users to update the game with a different text found in http://nokthra.impulsedriven.net/article/347922/A_new_german_translation_for_Demigod_hits_the_ground

A: I wish but Atari has made it clear that we are not to do something like that.  Believe it or not, Atari, not Stardock is the worldwide retail publisher for Demigod except for North America.  If you bought the game in a box outside North America and you’re posting here, please keep that in mind.

Q: So when will Demigod v1.2 come out?

A: Quick answer: When it’s done.  Longer answer – we are still pursuing the strategy of releasing updates for it in pieces rather than one huge update. 

Q: But originally you said you’d release v1.2 in September. It’s November! What’s the deal?!

A: Our estimates were made back during the time when we had planned on having public betas of features. But there has been such an outcry of “splitting the community” that we had to eliminate the public beta process which in turn has greatly increased the internal QA resources required which, naturally, increases the time to release. As a result, the release had to be broken into bite-sized chunks that could pass through QA one piece at a time.

It draws things out but on the other hand it keeps the MP community as one cohesive entity.  It’s a trade-off that we think most users prefer.

Q: How can I tell what problems GPG knows about?

A: Sorian has a thread that discusses just that:

https://forums.demigodthegame.com/364824

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November 2, 2009 4:07:21 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Will modding support continue to be disabled with a Hash Check up until the release of 1.2 or will there be Betas or developer releases before the final release of 1.2.

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November 2, 2009 4:13:37 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I seriously would prefer one large update.

And for the record, I don't rememebr outcries of splitting the community.

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November 2, 2009 4:45:28 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Polynomial,
I seriously would prefer one large update.

And for the record, I don't rememebr outcries of splitting the community.
LOL look around a few threads plenty of no your gonna split the community againz!!!1!!!@.

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November 2, 2009 4:51:13 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Aweosme - thanks for answering these Frogboy. Im sure we all appreciate it. However there is one thing I disagree on...your blaming the lag on the players - not on the system. So why is it I have not had one laggy match via LoL out of about 40 matches?

I think the explanation is either the graphics of DG is much higher...or its the netcode/way players are connected etc.

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November 2, 2009 4:55:06 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

A: The whole pantheon experience is something that is a challenge because on the one hand, you want people to only play against people but on the other hand, you don’t want people to have to wait 10 minutes for a game to start and there are times when there aren’t that many people playing online on pantheon. We don’t really have a good solution here.
Ok, I have to ask. Why do you not want people to wait 10 minutes for a game to start? I wouldn't mind waiting that long or even significantly longer if I can have an AI free game with equal amounts of players. Nothing is gained with AI matchups (when they are not equal I mean). People will just exit and then get into the queue again and repeat this until they get an equal match up. Why not save the players the hassle and simply let them wait longer?

People sometimes have to wait 30 minutes too for a custom game.

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November 2, 2009 5:02:36 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting ,

Lesson I’ve learned is that every strategy game in the future that has MP needs to have not just ping but a quickly throughput rating so that people who have stuff running in the background can be ejected. Sorry, just something that drives me crazy about playing online with random strangers.

 

Hopefully any other MP game from you guys can just be server/client based, and then dont have to worry about port-forwarding/connection issues/high bandwidth requirements/stuff running in the background .

But bitching aside, I concur, some kind of "Test Connections" button in the lobby that the host could run and maybe does like a 20 second bandwidth test, would be nice.

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November 2, 2009 5:28:35 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thanks for taking the time to write another one of these up, Frogboy!

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November 2, 2009 5:51:52 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

+1

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November 2, 2009 5:57:17 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thanks for the post.

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November 2, 2009 6:00:03 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

LOL I just noticed my experience is 666 maybe it isn't wrong after all .

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November 2, 2009 6:09:08 PM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

Hopefully any other MP game from you guys can just be server/client based, and then dont have to worry about port-forwarding/connection issues/high bandwidth requirements/stuff running in the background .

Are you holding onto some hope that Stardock would develop a First-Person Shooter game? That would be interesting. RTS multiplayer games are pretty much subject to p2p networking; not client/server. That aside, GPG developed the game.

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November 2, 2009 6:27:57 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

thanks frogboy!

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November 2, 2009 7:58:48 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

thanks for answering

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November 2, 2009 8:04:06 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Good Q&A, I agree that the gameplay when you actually get a good game going is top notch and definitely what keeps people playing in spite of whatever may be bothering them.

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November 2, 2009 8:44:23 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting ,


Specifically, you get online and into a game only to realize someone has Bit torrent running in the background making the game lag for everyone because the game has to be in sync.


did not expected to read something else at this point. would have been more honest to even not include this Q and A. not good for your credibility.

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November 2, 2009 9:14:45 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

QoT...a buff??

I have never had a problem with her what so ever being her or not.

Its the Rook that needs a friggin buff! "Very Durable" my arse...it should start with 2800 HP, 800 armour and needs some sort of better abilities...i mean its a walking hill castle for crying out loud...no one ever throught about it sinking back into the ground to become immobile and gain a heavy siege attack/defense bonus? Lol tisk tisk .

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November 2, 2009 9:30:37 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Dramen,
QoT...a buff??

I have never had a problem with her what so ever being her or not.

Its the Rook that needs a friggin buff! "Very Durable" my arse...it should start with 2800 HP, 800 armour and needs some sort of better abilities...i mean its a walking hill castle for crying out loud...no one ever throught about it sinking back into the ground to become immobile and gain a heavy siege attack/defense bonus? Lol tisk tisk .
Not to be a jerk, but come on...

Dramen 0-2

Do you really feel you've played enough to weigh in on balance changes?

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November 2, 2009 9:55:31 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thanks and lock this thread please.

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November 2, 2009 10:27:38 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Since when did starcraft not have melee units?

 

zerg tier 1: zergling

protoss tier 1: zealot

Terran tier 1.5: Firebat

Not to mention each of the worker units in the game has a melee attack. Game runs lag free on net code from 10 years ago, albeit server based net code.

 

Also, when it comes to server based vs p2p play, how does it cost more money for server based play? For example, counter strike is server based play, but valve doesn't run the servers, the community runs the servers. People can host any map, custom maps, set the rules, ban players, kick players, voice chat etc. Why not just let people host their own demigod servers? I guess the argument against this would be for unified stat tracking amongst the entire community. But the stat tracking in this game is.... I'll just stop. You get what I'm saying?

 

Also, borderlands seems to be p2p in that there is no server to connect to, you connect to a player who hosts a game. I can play for hours with 0 lag in borderlands. needless to say FPS require more than RTS when it comes to connectivity and bandwidth. Each bullet fired from each gun from each player has to be tracked in real time and sync'd appropriately. That's a lot more than a few right clicks here or there. You can play demigod so long as everyone has less than 300 ms ping. If your ping is over 125 in an fps you run into issues. Right there, you can see that fps requires more than rts. But then why does borderlands run perfectly over p2p and demigod doesn't?

 

I'm still so confused.

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November 3, 2009 12:56:15 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Also Scourge, Scarabs, and Infested Terrans all had to make melee distance checks to explode, and the little guys the queens spawned were true melee units as well.

Regardless I'm willing to accept that DG simply isn't built like SC or warcraft so it doesn't really matter how they functioned.

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November 3, 2009 1:03:20 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Blitz64,
Thanks and lock this thread please.

haha.  I bet you're right though.

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November 3, 2009 6:53:17 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Shiro_Sol,
LOL I just noticed my experience is 666 maybe it isn't wrong after all .

lol

Interesting notes

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November 3, 2009 10:04:09 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Dramen,

QoT...a buff??

I have never had a problem with her what so ever being her or not.

Its the Rook that needs a friggin buff! "Very Durable" my arse...it should start with 2800 HP, 800 armour and needs some sort of better abilities...i mean its a walking hill castle for crying out loud...no one ever throught about it sinking back into the ground to become immobile and gain a heavy siege attack/defense bonus? Lol tisk tisk .

Not to be a jerk, but come on...


Dramen 0-2

Do you really feel you've played enough to weigh in on balance changes?

Dramen, she needs a buff, especially in regard to how her skills scale above level 10. 

Anyhow, nice update, Frogboy.

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November 3, 2009 10:45:27 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

i dunno how i missed sorians thread! pls make it sticky in the bug forum!

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November 3, 2009 12:35:00 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Q: Why do pantheon players get experience when playing against AI.

A: The whole pantheon experience is something that is a challenge because on the one hand, you want people to only play against people but on the other hand, you don’t want people to have to wait 10 minutes for a game to start and there are times when there aren’t that many people playing online on pantheon. We don’t really have a good solution here.

Not sure if you are browsing this post or not, Frog, but if you are, this question was more directed at people gaining experience for playing AI, not that AI are included.  My thought is that we should make it like a custom game where no experience is granted for whooping on some ai.  Oh well... I tend to see what you mean by not having a good solution - unless there's some way to give people the win if they have to play against AI but no exp.  At best, people could inflate their win % but have no effect on their ladder ranking.

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