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General discussionBombshell: Developer Q&A(88 posts)(88 posts)
(88 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 01, 2016
Join the team behind Bombshell for a special forum Q&A session!

We have invited two guys from the team behind Bombshell to come to the forums and answer all your pressing questions! The creators of the top-down explosive RPG will be hanging out with us here from 6pm GMT to 8pm GMT, but - as always - we’re giving you a head-start on asking questions.



Visiting the GOG.com forums, we've got:

Scott Miller (ScottMiller3DR)
-- The founder of 3D Realms and currently an adviser for the company.
-- In the past, he has worked on Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem, Max Payne, Shadow Warrior, and more.

Fred Schreiber (freschism)
-- CEO at Indie developer Interceptor, and the Vice President at 3D Realms.
-- He has been working on games all of his life, from Rise of the Triad to - currently - Bombshell.



Now that we’ve gotten introduced to our guests, here are some ground rules for this Q&A to work as smoothly as possible:

1. Not all questions might get answered during the Q&A, but feel free to read along!
2. Be nice. No abuse, harassment, name-calling and the like.
3. Don’t spam. This will help keep the thread legible and keep our guests involved.

Let’s get this show on the road!
Posted February 01, 2016
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m1mb: Have any other works have been influential on the game? Whether you take that to mean other games to compare to, or something that inspired the setting or aesthetic.
With Bombshell we wanted to create something unique. A mix of genres and styles we really like. We wanted to take the controls from a twitch shooter, the graphics from an FPS, and mix it with an isometric view.

It's hard to compare it to anything out there. We were primarily inspired by 90'ies action movies, cheesy cartoons and over the top comic books.

Thanks for the question m1mb!
Posted February 01, 2016
Hi Fred and Scott,

Was Bombshell originally planned to be a first-person shooter, or is the Build "prequel" just something the team decided to do after the fact as a fun throwback?
Posted February 01, 2016
Here's another question:

Why do you choose to require moderate system requirements instead of making a game that can be played on a wide range of hardware?

In other words, why not make a game that can be played on cheap laptops, so that more people can enjoy it without having to get specialized gaming hardware? (I note, in particular, the lack of any mention of integrated Intel graphics in the minimum system requirements.)

Also, why no Linux version?
Posted February 01, 2016
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Cyraxpt: Hi developers, please ignore my post and don't take it the wrong way, cheers.

How come gog is able to do a Developer Q&A with developers and yet can't (won't) do a Q&A between themselves and their customers? Can a staff member answer me this? I mean, surely someone of the team must be watching this thread, right?
That's something that we've done in the past and that went very well - and got us a lot of valuable feedback from the forums. It's definitely an idea worth revisiting, but... I'll be honest with you, timings suck. While a Q&A with developers only needs 1 or 2 people at most, in the case of GOG it'd require the presence of many more people - someone dealing with signing games, someone who makes sure they work, some guys from the Galaxy or web team, a Support team member or two, and many more. With the number of releases that we have planned each week and with regular promos happening, it's just something that we've not been able to put together to fill 100% of our (and your) expectations, so it's been one of the projects up in the air.

I'll pass on this question as initiative to revisit the concept, though - perhaps in themed form, like "Q&A with the Galaxy team" and the like :)
Posted February 01, 2016
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justMaku: I was going to ask about the main character in more specifics too. What was the process of creating her like? What concepts for the main character (female or not) went through the drawing board and into the bin before you came up with the character the way she is now, both looks- and character-wise?
It was a long process. Originally we wanted to get close to the original 1997-1998 concepts of Bombshell, with a more cyberpunky twist. Unfortunately we learned the hard way, that no one besides us liked her.

We then completely scrapped what we had made up until that point and started over. We created a storyverse around Bombshell, and worked on many unique concepts.

In the Art Book included in the Digital Deluxe edition, you'll get a deep insight at the creation of the character.
Post edited February 01, 2016 by freschism
Posted February 01, 2016
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vicklemos: Hi!

Bombshell seems amazing! It looked somehow very interesting when I first saw the preview trailer.
Now I'm pretty much divided by scores, both from IGN (nice review, I really liked it) and from the abismal Gamespot one (I guess the reviewer was somehow harsh on you guys). The game looks and sounds fantastic, btw!

So, how's it affecting sales and etc? Personally I don't care that much, but I was expecting this game with great enthusiasm and now I'm somehow mixed about it.

Thanks a lot!
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freschism: Thanks for the question Vicklemos!
We're still analyzing exactly what went wrong. We can definitely agree that the game doesn't deserve a 2/10.
During development of Bombshell, we did extensive playtesting, quality assurance, and feedback sessions to make sure we were on a right path. We've gotten some great reviews alongside the abysmal. We don't know exactly why the 2/10 reviews happened, but it's something we're taking very seriously. (Our goal was to create a great game scoring around an 8).

It's affecting sales. That's no secret. Unfortunately a lot of people tend to listen to the big sites, without giving the smaller sites a chance. That results in a very (unfairly) low metacritic, which translates directly to low sales. We're doing our best to hang in there, and are working as hard as we can on tweaks and fixes to make sure that every point the reviewers brought up has been fixed. It's something we take very seriously, as Bombshell is a big risk for us. It's a game we spent more than 2 years on. As a small indie studio, that means a lot to us.

I hope you'll give it a shot! The ones currently playing the game, really seems to like it. Thank you for the question Vicklemos!
I'm pleased to chat with someone so transparent!
I glady pre-ordered Rise of the Triad (played the HECK of it with my brother) on GOG and will do the same with Bombshell this next thursday, once the paycheck arrives!
I honestly feel that Bombshell is a unique gem these days (seriously!) since it's being made by talented folks who already brought us a game I'm a fan of; also, you can clearly see that it features superb visuals (the 60 fps trailer was a blast!) and a kickass female protagonist.
You can see I'm not lying: check the attachment. Yup, I'm vicchopin ;P

Thanks again and I really hope things will turn for the best. I mean it!
Attachments:
bombvic.png (352 Kb)
Posted February 01, 2016
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DanishPrince: The game has huge potential to be an amazing and fun experience but is currently being ruined by a lot of bugs and for me personally a horrible inventory system.

What are your plans for bugfixing and do you think the game should have been delayed even further to fix these bugs beforehand? :)
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freschism: Hi DanishPrince!
We're working hard on bugfixing, and already have the first patch in testing. It will be released later this evening/tomorrow morning. This month we'll also release patch 1.1. We're analyzing every review and every comment we can find about to game. Based on this, we're splitting each issue into priorities, and are starting to work on solutions. Our goal is to make sure that every legitimate issue is dealt with.

Delaying a game is not always easy. We're a small company, and at some point you just run out of money and resources. We delayed the game to January (From November), to make sure we could release what we consider a good game. We're really proud of what we managed to pull off, and we're going to support the game with fixes and content for as long as we can.

Thanks DanishPrince!
Thank you for the answer. Great to see that a patch will be out soon which means I'm going back into the game soon as well ;)
I had to restart the story completely as the first boss were impossible to beat due to bugs. Hopefully I'll manage this time.

My review of the game is hopefully on Pixel.tv later today but no guaranties :)
Posted February 01, 2016
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dtgreene: Here's another question:

Why do you choose to require moderate system requirements instead of making a game that can be played on a wide range of hardware?

In other words, why not make a game that can be played on cheap laptops, so that more people can enjoy it without having to get specialized gaming hardware? (I note, in particular, the lack of any mention of integrated Intel graphics in the minimum system requirements.)

Also, why no Linux version?
When creating Bombshell, we wanted to make something that gave us the freedom to use the game camera in both cutscenes and gameplay, without changing meshes. Something that would use great technology, to differentiate ourselves from other isometric titles. We also felt that this would fit the game we were trying to make.
This meant that the entire game was built around "First Person Shooter standards" in terms of visual fidelity. (An example: The serial number imprinted in Bombshells' loverboy is visible is you zoom in far enough). Unfortunately this choice, also demanded high system specs. We did our best to make sure the game would run on lower spec systems, but yes, it is a demanding title.
Post edited February 01, 2016 by freschism
Posted February 01, 2016
Will we see an FPS or other type of action game in the future with this female character as the main lead? Thank you.
Posted February 01, 2016
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Ciris: That's something that we've done in the past and that went very well - and got us a lot of valuable feedback from the forums. It's definitely an idea worth revisiting, but... I'll be honest with you, timings suck. While a Q&A with developers only needs 1 or 2 people at most, in the case of GOG it'd require the presence of many more people - someone dealing with signing games, someone who makes sure they work, some guys from the Galaxy or web team, a Support team member or two, and many more. With the number of releases that we have planned each week and with regular promos happening, it's just something that we've not been able to put together to fill 100% of our (and your) expectations, so it's been one of the projects up in the air.

I'll pass on this question as initiative to revisit the concept, though - perhaps in themed form, like "Q&A with the Galaxy team" and the like :)
Does it take more than seven months to gather a small group to answer some questions? Because it was promised by you in June last year.

How about getting one person to collect some questions (let's say 10 for each department) and less than one month (DON'T FORGET THIS PART) returns to actually answer those questions, this seems good for both parties i think.

Oh, i don't want to derail this thread (not the devs fault) so if i get the promise that someone of the gog staff will communicate with us i can make a new thread right now, sounds good?
Posted February 01, 2016
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Cyraxpt: Hi developers, please ignore my post and don't take it the wrong way, cheers.

How come gog is able to do a Developer Q&A with developers and yet can't (won't) do a Q&A between themselves and their customers? Can a staff member answer me this? I mean, surely someone of the team must be watching this thread, right?
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Ciris: That's something that we've done in the past and that went very well - and got us a lot of valuable feedback from the forums. It's definitely an idea worth revisiting, but... I'll be honest with you, timings suck. While a Q&A with developers only needs 1 or 2 people at most, in the case of GOG it'd require the presence of many more people - someone dealing with signing games, someone who makes sure they work, some guys from the Galaxy or web team, a Support team member or two, and many more. With the number of releases that we have planned each week and with regular promos happening, it's just something that we've not been able to put together to fill 100% of our (and your) expectations, so it's been one of the projects up in the air.

I'll pass on this question as initiative to revisit the concept, though - perhaps in themed form, like "Q&A with the Galaxy team" and the like :)
Well, I would appreciate a GoG Q&A too, like many others here, I guess.

BTT:

Why that high system reqs? Many people here on GoG -like me :-) - have rather old PCs, so we won`t be able to play that game, although we are clearly interested in it. I`m a huge fan of RPGs and often I have to refrain from buying a certain game because of the high sys reqs.
Posted February 01, 2016
Hey, any chance we might see another old school shooter from Intercepter like Rise of the Triad in the future?

Hilsen en dansk fan :)
Posted February 01, 2016
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op2016: Will we see an FPS or other type of action game in the future with this female character as the main lead? Thank you.

Definitely not! We hate the FPS genre!!!!

(Pausing for effect...)

J/K!!!

We DEFINITELY want to make future Bombshell games in the FPS genre, or TPS (third-person shooter). We haven't decided which way would be best yet--they both have pros and cons. There's a lot of ideas to explore, since she has a weaponized arm that can continue to improve through upgrades and mods.

Also, in future games we really want to emphasize one of her main talents, which is to blow stuff up. Big stuff, like at the end of a James Bomb film, where the bad guys secret headquarters is totally leveled. We'll be able to pull this off a lot better in an FPS/TPS style game, and we think it'll be a ton o' fun.

Posted February 01, 2016
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Zeanix: Hey, any chance we might see another old school shooter from Intercepter like Rise of the Triad in the future?

Hilsen en dansk fan :)
Hopefully! We have something brewing atm. that's related to another classic IP from the 1998 era.
Stay tuned!
Posted February 01, 2016
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Zeanix: Hey, any chance we might see another old school shooter from Intercepter like Rise of the Triad in the future?

Hilsen en dansk fan :)
Uhm, Rise of the Triad is on GoG already. The new and the old one!!!
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Community
General discussionBombshell: Developer Q&A(88 posts)(88 posts)
(88 posts)