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The Tomorrow Children Beta Announced

Pandacon

Member
I ended up joining an unpopulated town just so could play. Was fun, though a bit frustrating when i would try to plant a bunch of trees so i would have plenty of food, but every time i would go out to mine i would see my town getting stomped on by a godzilla, and when i would return, i would find out all my trees were destroyed...

I look forward to playing it more when it has less bugs, there is some good potential there.
 
Players phasing in and out isn't much of an issue on more densely populated servers. On the previous beta phase I could pick up on what others were doing for example or co-operate with them just fine, whereas in the latest build the frequency did seem lower than before even in the busier upstart towns. Maybe another unforeseen quirk that popped up? I don't know.

Text chat would also take away from the experience, so no thanks. Rather have more in-game ways of communicating, be it something akin to the emote system (which most people hardly used as it is, including praise / snub) or using tools like flares to highlight an area of importance.
 

Rob85Fr

Neo Member
Just posted a little feedback here, I hope it's the right place.

Basically I think the core game is here, and really pleasant to play. I just think they can add some little things to increase the durability of the game, that's the thing that scares me the most. But they have a so beautiful and mysterious environment, that it's difficult to stop playing it :D
How to say it... I think they can use the various components of this "mysterious" environment/atmosphere they created to develop the gameplay, or the story telling (and that's maybe already planned, everything was just a beta after all). I don't know, but there is really something to do with this game.
Looking forward to more infos !
 

randomkid

Member
Absolutely don't want text chat or visible characters, that would be a great way to demolish the atmosphere.

There definitely does need to be more tutorialization on progression paths though, I played for hours over the course of these last few betas and read the manual and lots of signs and the relationship between resource gathering, mandate, town hall upgrades, technology, culture etc. is still barely clear. I get wanting to allow towns to freely evolve but I think the idea of preventing the construction of more than 1 of certain key buildings is probably good. There's also gotta be a better way of doling out money than just having it randomly appear.
 

Drencrom

Member
Not being able to see other players really shouldn't matter, as long as you know and can see the results of activity around you then what's the problem?

It's an online multiplayer game specifically about working together, I'd say being able to see your fellow players and workers matters a lot. Most people that play games surely wants to see and engage with other players in an online game, especially when they play with friends. On top of that, it's no secret that most people are having problems picking up objects only to see it being picked up by someone else seconds later thanks to this invisible player phasing and I personally had a really hard time trying to snub griefers thanks to them disappearing in a cloud of smoke all the time, so it's very much counter-active to the game itself.

(When we're on the subject of snubbing I do most say the way snubs/thumbs up works is kinda unreliable in that you can easily snub the wrong player when there's another player standing besides this player because there's no indication who you are giving the snub/thumbs up when there's a group of players).

Absolutely don't want text chat or visible characters, that would be a great way to demolish the atmosphere.

How does being able to see other players in your town "demolish" the atmosphere of a game about cooperation? I'd say the atmosphere of the game is great despite the fact that players are continuously appearing/disappearing in a glitchy videogamey fashion.
 

bitbydeath

Member
I agree with a lot of the concerns here:

-Not sure why people are hidden;
-Not sure why communication is non-existant;
-Question if there is more to the game;
-Question if my town will be destroyed every time i leave.

But on the other hand it is really unique and fun to play. The potential is certainly there for what it could grow into (if it isn't already) so like a kickstarter I'm ready to back.
 

HiVision

Member
The game is designed so people who would normally play "online games" can also play. We wanted the game to feel strangely "single player" and "multiplayer" at the same time. It also fits with the "projection clone" story and weirdness of the world in general.

There are certain things you can do to be permanently visible - such as the kneel pose, or sitting on the bench. (or when using the jetpack or vehicles)
 
To be honest, I quite like the ephemeral nature of other people in the game. I especially like the lack of voice/text chat. For one, it means people can focus more on doing something that will be helpful, rather than what everyone else seems to be doing because that's probably the right thing to do, right? Basically, instead of taking your cues on what to do from the group, you're more free to assess the situation yourself and decide how you can best fit in.

If everyone was visible all the time, would overly zealous players ostracize people who never did the "group" thing and throw them in jail? Maybe everyone would err too much on the side of oppressive conformity or, worse, open hostility. Some of that might fit better within the atmosphere of the game, ironically enough, but it probably makes it much less fun to actually play.

That said, I have played games very much like this where you can both see and talk to everyone (once again, I'll mention the very unique and underappreciated A Tale in the Desert here), and it doesn't necessarily have to go pear-shaped immediately. If the community is receptive, it makes it a lot easier to form lasting relationships and trust. But that was also a game where the creator intentionally screwed with the game's society for various (mostly good) reasons. I don't know if that level of sociological experimentation is on Q Games's agenda.
 

HiVision

Member
I'll definitely wait until I see that no one is complaining about connection issues.

Of course those issues will be fixed for released - the point of the beta test was to find those bottlenecks. We fixed one major issue an hour before the end of the beta test and things went very smoothly from that point onwards.
 

dallow_bg

nods at old men
Of course those issues will be fixed for released - the point of the beta test was to find those bottlenecks. We fixed one major issue an hour before the end of the beta test and things went very smoothly from that point onwards.

That's good to hear. I unfortunately couldn't connect every chance I tried.

I will say that the intro visuals, art style, starting credits, music.... very very well done.
I felt ready to watch a good foreign film.
 

HiVision

Member
That's good to hear. I unfortunately couldn't connect every chance I tried.

I will say that the intro visuals, art style, starting credits, music.... very very well done.
I felt ready to watch a good foreign film.

awesome!! That's the atmosphere we wanted, like you are watching a strange eastern european movie..
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
It really does have a fascinating aesthetic. Fear and sadness go really well with whimsy here. It feels so bizzare and vivid, and it looks like what I thought games would all look like in the future when I was a kid.
 
Sorry, I've been slammed with real life; barely had a chance to even play.

So, am I really the only one who noticed that turrets are completely gimp now? Shot power got severely nerfed, so not only is your range piss poor now, by the time you elevate the gun to get any distance at all, you can't see where your shots are landing. It's basically impossible to shoot the mantas now. =/

Like I said though, I didn't really get much time to play, so I don't have many observations to share. Apart from the long train rides, there seemed to be less lag and stuff in general, maybe? I probably didn't encounter as many big crowds as last time though. /shrug Oh! Thanks for letting us carry more!! <3

Edit: Oh, repairing the Town Hall is sorta hard now. I'm old; I don't think that fast. =/

Look in the "towns holding events" filter

(Gotta change that name)
Oh? That one struck me as the most likely candidate, but it never produced any results whatsoever.


lol I saw Silversurfer get jailed by one of the workbenches. How long are they trapped in there?
lol That was my girlfriend again, but I'd have likely done the same thing, so I'm blaming Dylan. ;) Anyway, we saw that somehow, a tank had been parked nose-first in to a recycling bin. We're not really sure how it got there. I was thinking maybe it had come off of the conveyor and ended up straight in the bin?

Anyway, she hopped in and tried to drive it out, but to no avail. Then she fired the tank's gun, which freed the tank by completely destroying the recycling bin. Well, kind of odd, but problem solved, right? Yup; we took about two steps after that and ended up in jail! lol

Getting out is a matter of playing a fairly lengthy, repair-like mini game. Basically, you perform a bunch of triple-taps as instructed, thereby slowly filling the meter that signals your release. Took a few minutes, and was sufficiently annoying, I'd say! lol


Uh, corrections on these

The correct filter is the "Towns Needing Assistance" for Request towns, and there is no limit on the bus. As long as there's enough time and enough people loading, it should be able to fit as much as you can put on.
Oh? lol Don't recall seeing that specific filter, but I did scroll through all of the results returned by the various filters &#8212; most just had a few results, but a couple were about a page and a half &#8212; but I still couldn't find that town listed anywhere. Perhaps there should be a list of all towns, maybe with a string filter?
 
So, am I really the only one who noticed that turrets are completely gimp now? Shot power got severely nerfed, so not only is your range piss poor now, by the time you elevate the gun to get any distance at all, you can't see where your shots are landing. It's basically impossible to shoot the mantas now. =/
One of the mayors neuters the anti-Izverg turrets both in range and oomph. Might've been that.
 

bitbydeath

Member
Is there an easy way to find your way back to your home town?

I had to search through each list to find it but kind of felt like luck that it was on one.

Furthermore can you obtain multiple home towns?
 
Is there an easy way to find your way back to your home town?

I had to search through each list to find it but kind of felt like luck that it was on one.

Furthermore can you obtain multiple home towns?

There's a "previously visited towns" tab, which is usually the fastest way.

For now, you can only have a residence in one town.
 

liberator 23

Neo Member
Yup, in GAF Town 2.0 (Galunka) we had that mayor the whole time I was playing. Higher bag capacity was just too good to pass up, really.

Agreed, that mayor perk is pretty awesome. The positive flip side is that Izverg corpses were always winding up in town to mine, and we kept finding flashlights and paint cans in them.
 
So, did you guys make it so void-hardening crystals hang around? I noticed some stuck in the ground, but I wasn't sure if they were recently placed or what, and I didn't bother hanging around or checking back.

Yep, no All Towns filter. That list has the potential to get pretty long...
lol Yeah, I was thinking it might be pretty huge post-launch. That's why I suggested a string filter, but the system keyboard doesn't really fit your aesthetic very well, I suppose. Yeah, probably best to just get the existing filters working. ;)

As for the Towns Needing Assistance filter, if that wasn't showing or the quest destination town wasn't showing on that list, that's a bug.
Yeah, that filter never returned any results at all that I saw, so either there's a bug in flagging those towns, or in recognizing the flag. Perhaps a typo in the key on one side or the other.


Yup, in GAF Town 2.0 (Galunka) we had that mayor the whole time I was playing. Higher bag capacity was just too good to pass up, really.
Oh, is that what it was? The increased carrying capacity was certainly nice, but I still think the turrets were way too gimp. Like I said, mantas are hard enough to hit will full shot strength, and I don't think the gimped guns are able to reach them at all. Rather than 50% shot power, I'd rather have 50% damage, TBH. Having the aiming mechanic be completely altered is annoying enough on its own, but the resulting ineffectiveness just adds insult to injury. Leave the aiming alone, and just make me land double the shots instead. A good point was raised about killing the godzillas at an easily harvestable distance, but that's just a skill gunners should learn on their own IMO; cutting the range of the guns doesn't seem like a good solution there. FakeEdit: Come to think of it, halving the damage would have a similar effect anyway.

RealEdit: Is there a limit on how many Imprisoners can be placed in a given area? I was tasked with placing five, so I decided to place them all directly outside the subway entrance, but it seemed like I could only have like three(?), and placing a fourth would make the oldest disappear? Is that expected behavior? Do the vanished traps still exist, but invisibly, or are they really gone? I did get credit for placing all five, even though I only saw three on the ground after having placed six.
 
Oh, and perhaps it would be a good idea to list the current mayoral effects bottom-left when you hit L3 to toggle the town stats. Maybe something to indicate impending elections as well. I actually wasn't aware we had a mayor! lol (I remember noticing that stuff in the alpha though; was something changed?)
 
one thing really annoyed me in the game, when you put resources in your backpack and its full there is a pop-up that only disappears when you press x. Its just so unnecessary, a simple sound would do the job
 

HiVision

Member
one thing really annoyed me in the game, when you put resources in your backpack and its full there is a pop-up that only disappears when you press x. Its just so unnecessary, a simple sound would do the job

Yes, I requested this but it will still the old system in the beta.
 
Agreed, that mayor perk is pretty awesome. The positive flip side is that Izverg corpses were always winding up in town to mine, and we kept finding flashlights and paint cans in them.

At least one of the Izverg corpses had shotguns in them. That was neat. (I took one of the EagleCorp ones. I'm not sorry.)

When the game is live I'm going to be the Koch brothers of making sure that mayor doesn't win

but but but but but SEVEN ITEM CARRYING CAPACITY
 
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