Cool game

[leetby]

DoP reminds me of games back in the 80's and 90's when people cared more about gameplay/replayability than graphics. Sort of a cross between Civilization and an RPG.. I'm liking it.

Still trying to figure what exactly influence and crystals are good for (other than rumors and buying guards). I won my first game by raiding my opponents in turn with a covenant of priests and a mages (btw are there any healer units? priests seemed exactly the same as mages, except they could use hammers too). I was hoping for a bit more micro available, or at least some way to set AI behaviour. I think this game would be amazing if the strategy elements were played up even more. Simple multiplayer functionality would really bring in a lot of people, too.. I loved seeing other characters run around town/out adventure and trading with them, would be so much cooler with actual people doing Civ style alliances and backstabbing.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing more of this game

[Shadow]

Welcome to the forums leetby.

Originally Posted by leetby

Still trying to figure what exactly influence and crystals are good for (other than rumors and buying guards).

Yeah, crystals are mostly for guards, rumors, and you can use them for trade with the other covenants.

Originally Posted by leetby

I won my first game by raiding my opponents in turn with a covenant of priests and a mages (btw are there any healer units? priests seemed exactly the same as mages, except they could use hammers too).

As recruits mages and priests are more similar than when you actually play them. No you can't find a priest recruit that heals, mostly for balance issues. The main difference a priest recruit has is that you can find ones that have good buff skills.

Originally Posted by leetby

I was hoping for a bit more micro available, or at least some way to set AI behaviour. I think this game would be amazing if the strategy elements were played up even more. Simple multiplayer functionality would really bring in a lot of people, too.. I loved seeing other characters run around town/out adventure and trading with them, would be so much cooler with actual people doing Civ style alliances and backstabbing.

I'm hoping that we will be able to do both of these in expansion packs.

[Aeon221]

I'd like to second the call for multiplayer. Really, multiplayer is a big part of the reason Diablo style games (like this one) stay popular for long periods of time. My brother and I were totally bummed to find that such an obvious addition was removed. We were planning to found rival guilds and kick the snot out of each other. =(

If I was making this game, I'd try to patch multiplayer in at the earliest opportunity. It isn't like there's much else that needs a patch =)

[Shadow]

Welcome to the forums Aeon221.

Yeah, I would have loved to ship with multiplayer support but multiplayer tends to be a huge distraction from the singleplayer game. A lot of times games come out with a watered down singleplayer game and a minimal multiplayer component. We really wanted to avoid that and come out with a really cool singleplayer experience and then focus on multiplayer.

[Aeon221]

Well, congrats because you totally succeeded. I demand a refund of the time I lost while playing your game, specifically the hours I was supposed to spend in Uni!

But seriously, the game is great. I've got my brother hooked and I'm sharing it around with a few friends. Well designed, well thought out, well balanced. Just gimme multiplayer you big meanie

[Shadow]

Hopefully that means we will get another few sales

[ScottMcCavanaugh]

Originally Posted by leetby

DoP reminds me of games back in the 80's and 90's when people cared more about gameplay/replayability than graphics. Sort of a cross between Civilization and an RPG.. I'm liking it.

Still trying to figure what exactly influence and crystals are good for (other than rumors and buying guards). I won my first game by raiding my opponents in turn with a covenant of priests and a mages (btw are there any healer units? priests seemed exactly the same as mages, except they could use hammers too). I was hoping for a bit more micro available, or at least some way to set AI behaviour. I think this game would be amazing if the strategy elements were played up even more. Simple multiplayer functionality would really bring in a lot of people, too.. I loved seeing other characters run around town/out adventure and trading with them, would be so much cooler with actual people doing Civ style alliances and backstabbing.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing more of this game

I tend to agree mostly, and I really got a whole lotta information outa here,
but I'm just not completely sure that I'm understanding the depth to this.
Would anybody care to expand just a little more?

[Gragt]

What exactly do you want to know? Is it about the game itself or the crystals? Or the priests?

[torikamal]

In regards to the first question I believe that the more influence you have the more crystals you will be generating. Also, I think that influence is one of the key factors as to whether guilds are more or less likely to start raiding you. So managing your influence can be pretty interesting depending on whether you want people to attack you or not at any given time. At least, this is the understanding that I have of it right now.

Shadow: I'd like to add that your responses in these forums and email really help draw me and I'd assume others into the Depths community and that helps me to feel like when I bought this game I really was helping to support not just an indie game, but a developer who truly loves what he's doing and cares about his community. So basically, thanks for a great game and thanks for attending so well to your gamers.

[Shadow]

I do think it's important to be involved in the the community. It's something that us smaller developers seem to be better at than bigger developers or publishers. Of course that's usually because when you chat with an indie you are talking directly to the team or individual that made the game, but with a bigger dev or publisher you tend to talk to a PR person or community manager, which just isn't the same.

Having said all of that, lately I've actually been slower than I would like to be. I've been very busy. Although the nice thing is that usually when I'm being slow someone else from the community fills in.