I wasn't sure if the combo of mechanics works together, but Moon Watch is surprisingly fun. There's chance of getting relatively overpowered combos, but the luck won't last forever. I unlocked one new set of starting cards that changed the tactics a bit, so there are new stuff to explore for a while. And probably even more when the game is eventually released.

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Quoting: Klaas

Quoting: amataiThis move is not so much a gift to players than a way for Paradox to reduce development cost.

Yes, that's probably the reason. It's baffling that a company that always pushes a huge number of DLCs makes such mistakes. Your example of two separate war systems remind me of the people that demand that Euro Truck Simulator 2 should have a paid DLCs that improve the quality of the base map (including older DLCs) creating two sets of maps that have to be supported at the same time instead of going over all the old content slower as free updates.

I haven't followed how the EU:s DLC model works, but with Stellaris they release free update with the DLC and will have some of the features in the free update. Doesn't entirely remove problem of potentially conflicting DLC:s, but reduces the conflict possibility. Even better would be just release free updates, but apparently Paradox earns enough with the DLC:s that the maintenance burden is still worth it.

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Quoting: EhvisPlayed it for a couple of hours. Exceptionally high quality for an early access game. Nice that provides varies choices for difficulty. Both at the start and mid game. So far it mostly plays like the first game. I'm just getting into fluids, so that's a little bit different. I guess the biggest change is that you need platforms for building space.

Quoting: Eike.. no challenge, no satisfaction...

I'm not fully sure what I would expect from such a game, but this one didn't seem to provide it. I liked Infinifactory, because I wasn't sure I could build what's needed. I didn't get this feeling from playing the demo of Shapez 2. :-/

The challenge in the first game was getting to build the MAM (Make Anything Machine). I guess this game will result in a similar thing, but with more options to deal with. It's a design challenge instead of a combat one.

There are also difficulty levels too and some of the shapes go crazy. I gave up first game because of one of those monstrosities, but Shapez 2 at least in the demo had layout preview tool where you can see the individual layers. Stacking has some complexities that can be hard to figure out without it.

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Even the old demo had plenty of features that the tutorial doesn't even mention. I watched few people playing the game and learned something new. So I guess only question is that will the full game have enough content to keep people playing past the refund window.

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Quoting: Klaas

Quoting: AnzaI oddly enjoyed Icewind Dale.

Why not?

It's not bad, but different. What I failed to mention is that you have to create a complete party in IWD. A huge part of the less story aspect is that there are no predefined companions in the game world that can join the party.

I wasn't trying to imply that it's bad. The D&D games in the bundle just happen to be old and they are based on the old D&D ruleset (which they follow quite closely).

As for the Icewind Dales story, I remember being positively surprised. It's not nearly as deep as Planescape Torments story (I have mostly forgotten what happened in Baldurs Gate games), but it still has some interesting characters and at least one twist that I didn't expect.

Spoiler, click me

At one point I though that I did something wrong as everybody turned against me, but after reloading save, I figured out that the conflict was unavoidable.

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Quoting: Klaas

Quoting: GuestBtw. how are Icewind dale and Neverwinter nights?

Icewind Dales what Baldur's Gate would be like if you took away most of the story and replaced it with combat.

I oddly enjoyed Icewind Dale. I don't know if it was just that the combat encounters were bit more fun than in Planescape Torment. Despite that it's still old fashioned RPG in it's core, so if you don't have any experience in the genre from that time period, it might take a while to adjust.

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I though Roguetrader was only one I don't have from these, but I don't have Neverwinter Nights either. The oldest games I have twice as I have physical copies of the originals.

Still the bundle is bit cheaper than the normal price of the two games in total. I just have too many games to play that I own already...

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Quoting: rklThe time limitation on Next Fest demos is indeed highly frustrating, especially since there's usually no indication on the demo page that it's time-limited or exactly when it'll be pulled (usually it's when Next Fest ends, but that's not always the case). What's equally annoying is that when the Next Fest-featured full game is launched, a demo doesn't re-appear for it. Maybe this change might make devs think about keeping Next Fest demos up for longer, but I wouldn't bet on it...

I have a feeling that in general it has gotten better. I remember lot more demos being removed as transition from event in physical place was transformed into virtual one was going on. This time around there were few, maybe one or two when fest ended and then more during next weeks. Basically if you spot something interesting after the fest, it's likely that the demo is still around. I found several interesting games after the fest.

There are still reasons that demos are removed, like building anticipation for the release. But you have to ask directly from the developer in order to figure that out.

Also with the changes, it's easier to play demos during whole year. I don't remember if the demo portal was there before, but there is one now. Some demos included in the fest are available quite a while before the fest start.

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Quoting: ElectricPrismAlso, will there be ratings and reviews on Demos that __dont__ carry over to the released game to help measure public response? Or does that not make sense.

I would think if the ratings carry over, that would discourage publishing technical previews (and other demos that don't yet entirely present the finished product). I guess the downside from that is that developers get less early feedback. Though ratings in general might push the technical previews down.

Quoting: ElectricPrismAlso, I would like to optionally remove Demos from my account and couldn't find the button the other day -- maybe I am on Steam Client Beta and the button has gone *poof*

Uninstalling demos removes them from the account. Doesn't work with prologues though, but the changes should reduce the need for them.

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Quoting: Talon1024Sort of. Maybe I'm just fearmongering, but don't forget that other game industry companies have been making lots of shitty, greedy decisions lately.
--- snip ---
Good independent game studios like Mimimi are going to shut down in the near future.
As for other indie games.. There's quite a few of them, and many of them are good, but the reason the game industry crashed in the 80s is because the market was oversaturated with half-baked games. With so much competition in the market, it's already very difficult for an indie developer to find a significant audience and earn enough money to live.

Also, I haven't heard of any other indie studios hiring the recent layoffs. I do remember some former Ubisoft employees forming their own studio and developing the game Stray.

I guess you provided answer to the potential positive side of the future. AA studios can provide the more polished experience, it probably just takes time for new studios to form. Even more time is needed for actual games to come out.

Mimimi shows just the potential dangers. Their problem probably was the games didn't belong to bit more popular genre. They did improve the formula to quite good level, but that wasn't enough to save them.

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