Multiplayer Community Strength? Steam?

[Maverik770]

Hey everyone!

I just recently got into Depths of Peril thanks to the IndieRoyale bundle featuring it. And it's really a great game. I'm having a ton of fun with it. I definitely think it's lack of popularity is due to the fact that hardly anyone knows what it is. Anyone who seems to have played the game, enjoys it. I went on the Steam forums to poke around for info about DoP when I found forum posts about a game called Din's Curse. A Google search later and here I am on your site. I played a bit of the Din's Curse demo and I'm really enjoying it as well.

So far I'm not sure which game I like better for single player. I really enjoyed DoP's faction system and allying/fighting with the other covenants. I really miss that aspect of gameplay in Din's Curse. But other than that I think Din's Curse is better overall in other areas. However, the big draw for me is the fact that Din's Curse has multiplayer. I cam here to get an idea of how active and "alive" the multiplayer community in Din's Curse is. Looking on the forums here got me a bit concerned about multiplayer strength. So I figured I'd post and ask the community about it.

How active is the multiplayer community for Din's Curse? Is it easy and common to find online games to join at all times of day? Are players allowed to host and run their own dedicated hosting servers? I was really hoping that the game has an active multiplayer community. I have very limited time to play games these days so knowing that when ever I do find time to play that I can login and hop into a multiplayer game is huge. It is very difficult for me to schedule times to meet up with other players or waste time I could be playing to try and setup a multiplayer game. Thus it's important for me to know how active the multiplayer community is before making my purchase.

The 2nd part of this post is to ask as to why this game isn't on Steam? I assume since you guys sell DoP on Steam that you also would like to have Din's Curse on there. I saw the other threads and it sounds like Steam are the ones denying Din's Curse. So I was curious as to why Steam refuses to distribute Din's Curse? Is it a CD key issue or something? How come DoP can be distributed on Steam but not Din's Curse? What's the difference between them that Steam allows 1 but not the other?

I totally understand the lack of advertising seeing as you guys are fully independent developers and advertising costs an arm and a leg (literally). But I can clearly tell you that the only thing keeping both DoP and Din's Curse from being big hits in PC gaming crowd is lack of knowledge. Hardly any body even knows these great games exist. I'd definitely try to get more coverage on sites like Rock Paper Shotgun, Indiegames.com, Indiedb.com, etc. Offer them developer interviews, a chance to do a review on the game, just anything that could get those sites to post about your games and your development team. Write them about your upcoming projects and have them do a preview spotlight or something. More PC gamers need to be aware of your development team and the games you guys offer. I could see you guys getting a very devoted following if us PC gamers just knew you guys existed, hehe.

Hell maybe even do some really cheap sales like you just did for DoP by including it in the IndieRoyale bundle. Sure selling your great games for pennys on the dollar is rough when you know the games are worth so much more but right now the biggest thing this company needs is to spread the word. Not enough PC gamers even know you exist or what your games are, let alone how great those games actually are. Doing these cheap sales and bundle deals can spread the word around pretty quickly.

All in all, keep up the great work and keep these great games coming! I absolutely love what you guys do and the titles you're producing. I just really want to see these great games and hard work appreciated by more gamers and consumers. They deserve all of the exposure they can get.

[Germz]

Yes, I'm wondering about the playerbase as well; I'm considering buying the game because the multiplayer intrigues me, but it isn't worth it if there are barely any people playing it anymore.

[Bluddy]

Originally Posted by Maverik770

I just recently got into Depths of Peril thanks to the IndieRoyale bundle featuring it.

Awesome. I'm glad Soldak is getting some good advertising from IndieRoyale. BTW which game(s) did you originally buy the bundle for? I'm just curious.

So far I'm not sure which game I like better for single player. I really enjoyed DoP's faction system and allying/fighting with the other covenants. I really miss that aspect of gameplay in Din's Curse. But other than that I think Din's Curse is better overall in other areas.

It's the age old question... They're really both awesome though. DoP is able to do some unique things with its distinct classes, and obviously there's a whole extra strategy layer there, while with DC there's a more interactive environment, a class-combination system and an improved quest system, as well as a feeling of battling the dungeon. So it's really hard to choose.

However, the big draw for me is the fact that Din's Curse has multiplayer. I cam here to get an idea of how active and "alive" the multiplayer community in Din's Curse is. Looking on the forums here got me a bit concerned about multiplayer strength. So I figured I'd post and ask the community about it.

How active is the multiplayer community for Din's Curse? Is it easy and common to find online games to join at all times of day? Are players allowed to host and run their own dedicated hosting servers? I was really hoping that the game has an active multiplayer community. I have very limited time to play games these days so knowing that when ever I do find time to play that I can login and hop into a multiplayer game is huge. It is very difficult for me to schedule times to meet up with other players or waste time I could be playing to try and setup a multiplayer game. Thus it's important for me to know how active the multiplayer community is before making my purchase.

Well... any small, relatively unknown game is going to have a hard time keeping a multiplayer community going. Heck, most AAA games have minimal multiplayer gaming taking place just a few months after release. I'm not sure how much multiplayer was played in Din's Curse's heyday, but I know the matchmaking thread was pretty active. The thing is, Soldak's active player base isn't that huge, and if you take out the people who don't have time to play multiplayer or aren't particularly interested in it, you aren't left with too many people who are actively playing multiplayer. So to answer your question, at this point the multiplayer community isn't strong, but it's possible that the surge from IndieRoyale will reignite that. Also, when Drox Operative will be released, you can expect a lot of multiplayer games to take place.

Regarding the question of setting up servers, you can easily set up a multiplayer game that accepts connections with a couple of clicks, and matchmaking is done from inside the game.

Regardless of the multiplayer issue, I think that if you enjoy DoP you'll probably enjoy DC. It really is a great game IMO.

The 2nd part of this post is to ask as to why this game isn't on Steam?

I'm not sure. When Steam rejects you they don't tell you why you were rejected. People on the forum have raised possibilities, but we just don't know. The devs have (possibly) been dropping some hints recently about the matter, so it's possible it'll end up on Steam after all, especially if Drox goes on Steam (which I think is quite likely).

I totally understand the lack of advertising seeing as you guys are fully independent developers and advertising costs an arm and a leg (literally). But I can clearly tell you that the only thing keeping both DoP and Din's Curse from being big hits in PC gaming crowd is lack of knowledge. Hardly any body even knows these great games exist. I'd definitely try to get more coverage on sites like Rock Paper Shotgun, Indiegames.com, Indiedb.com, etc. Offer them developer interviews, a chance to do a review on the game, just anything that could get those sites to post about your games and your development team. Write them about your upcoming projects and have them do a preview spotlight or something. More PC gamers need to be aware of your development team and the games you guys offer. I could see you guys getting a very devoted following if us PC gamers just knew you guys existed, hehe.

Totally agree with you there. However, Soldak is basically 2 people -- a dev (Shadow) and an artist (PixelLord). And I believe PixelLord is only working part time for Soldak. Marketing is a full time job. Had you been here a year ago, your first piece of advice (as was mine) would have been to update the very old looking website. Now that that's done, I think a lot more website hits are translating into sales. So there is progress going on. And Shadow does get reviews and interviews -- it's just that most of them are by sites you and I have n't heard of. But he has a following of fans on Qt3, and he maintains a presence on many forums, so there *is* marketing being done, just not more than can be done by a dev and an artist who are actively working on their next game. Oh, also, marketing is really annoying and exhausting for anyone who's not really into it. That's another reason to have dedicated marketing people.

Hell maybe even do some really cheap sales like you just did for DoP by including it in the IndieRoyale bundle. Sure selling your great games for pennys on the dollar is rough when you know the games are worth so much more but right now the biggest thing this company needs is to spread the word. Not enough PC gamers even know you exist or what your games are, let alone how great those games actually are. Doing these cheap sales and bundle deals can spread the word around pretty quickly.

Agreed again. I consider IndieRoyale a big success regardless of how much money it makes for Soldak (probably not much). The important thing is exposure and word of mouth. Getting into a Humble Bundle would be HUGE, but without a Linux version of the games I don't know if that's possible. A Steam sale on DoP would be good, as would a Mac store sale.

And welcome to the forums!

[Castruccio]

Welcome to the forums! I would be willing to play multiplayer with any newcomers if someone wanted to set up a weekly time.

Also, I second Bluddy's recommendation that you buy Din's Curse regardless of the multiplayer community. There is a lot of fun to be had even without another player, and you can check out his Balance Mod for Din's which can be found in the Din's Curse modding forum (it makes the game feel a lot more like a roguelike and adds even more replay value).

Lastly, keep an eye out for the release of Drox Operative since it will combine the virtues of Din's and Depths into a single game.