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General discussionRelease: Duskers(72 posts)(72 posts)
(72 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 18, 2016
In space, no one can hear you type



<span class="bold">Duskers</span>, an immersive strategy/management game where you send drones to explore the skeletons of abandoned spaceships, is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, DRM-free on GOG.com with a 10% launch discount.

It's been two hours since you last heard from Drone 5. You like to call this one "The Meddler" since that stunt it pulled four days ago, fixing a decommissioned turret to take out the operational one blocking its path to some crucial fuel supplies. Too bad that left it with a faulty camera and some dodgy wiring, which is why you had to sent it back to this floating freighter corpse to salvage the necessary parts for repairs or even upgrades.
Suddenly, "The Meddler"'s signal blinks back on. You frantically type the command to bring it back home. It starts scrambling towards the boarding dock. But it's not alone. Its microphone feed sends horrible piercing sounds made by unknown pursuers; "The Meddler" is bringing them to you! After a brief moment of hesitation, you seal the intermediate doors, trapping it inside with the horrors it discovered. The microphone goes quiet. You turn your attention to the other drones you've sent out.



Remotely explore the perilous insides of dead spaceships and solve the mystery of their demise in <span class="bold">Duskers</span>, DRM-free on GOG.com. The 10% discount will last until May 25, 4:59 PM UTC.
Posted May 19, 2016
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wolfsrain: Why does this sounds so much identical with Sunless Sea in terms of gameplay?! Am I crazy?!
Yes, it doesn't seem at all similar. xD
Posted May 19, 2016
Bought. Playing. Enjoying. Enjoying a lot!
Posted May 19, 2016
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micktiegs_8: So I noticed that this game went from v 0.39 to 1.0 in a matter of five days.

Bitch at me for being suspicious, but I'm kinda getting tired of buying games that say their 'released' when they don't seem to be. I guess I'll wait and see how our version keeps up to date after a handful of changelogs.
I get your point, i dont 'like' such 'practices' aswell, and it is rather shady....
Example: i had only retail in the past, no internet, maybe it was in other countries but in the 80-90 when i bought most retail games foc PC, there was no internet so all games had no patches.
The funny thing was: i was able to finish 90% or more of these games, no bugs, no gliches...
i wonder: did the guys back then pay more attention to coding? did they have more manpower in the teams? more cash? cause nowadays we get half baked games that are 'lagging' like crazy, consuming way to much cpu and gpu power compared to the old classics we bought on retail cd/dvd.

It also seems to become a habit to use some sort of gamecreation kits (too much unity stuff (unoptimised high cpu/gpu consuming games are the results of that)

The only good example of a creation kit is , in my honest opinion: AGS
like i said Wadjet Eye manages to bring good old classic like games, the games i played in the past are 'back' , well more or less, because they deliver good games, very low specs needed, and i havent seen any game heating up my pc mobo and gpu to 77degrees celcius, which 99% of the other new games will do, my fan is a good fan so its defintely the engine of the gamecreator (unity).

So Wadjet Eyes is one of the very few designers that imho manage to create games like we used to play them, and thats a very good thing, maybe there are more, havent seen much yet but i do know about Wadjet Eyes.
Finally i like that games can be played in a window, allowing to see the taskbar and keep track of time, which is quite handy.

Almost forgot: i noticed Baldurs Gate EE had 90 updates or so thats quite a lot, tbh i havent played the EE version yet
i read all kinds of info about enhancing the engine, graphics and more like that, basically i am more interested in less fancy graphics and a better playing engine and game , then loads of heavy eyecandy and 3d like engine rendering stuff, i also dont fancy all that turning and zooming in most of todays games, i prefer walking left right and show a new screen.
Post edited May 19, 2016 by gamesfreak64
Posted May 19, 2016
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wolfsrain: Why does this sounds so much identical with Sunless Sea in terms of gameplay?! Am I crazy?!
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omega64: Yes, it doesn't seem at all similar. xD
Tbh, had a little doubt, i had this deja vu feeling when i saw it, so i watched videos on youtube
and i must admit it does look like Sunsless Sea :D
Anyways that is not a bad thing cause gamers who love Sunless Sea will buy the Dusker maybe aswell...
on the other hand many people might not buy it because its 'too similar' to the Sunless Sea...

To me, i would not buy Duskers , not even if i had no gamemotionsickness/photosensitivy for certain effects in games/movies, simply because i dont like games like that, thats a honest reply.
I also dont like Duskers, or anything that looks like that, i maybe old style , but i cant see any 'graphics' it looks like limited use of a few colours, the animation look like there lot's of statics, and a mix of the old tv that has the grey noise on screen and makes weird noises.


like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zuzzm17KWgU



I bought Deadnaut at 3.59 at a sale, i was so curious to see what is would be like, videos usually dont show how certain games will play, just like Deadnaut's case.... , but tbh its not my cup of tea....., thats why i rather have a playable demo before the game is released, nowadays they release demos after the game has sold , because some think demos are 'bad' for the game , there's lots of talk about with weird arguments that you cant show what a game is in a small demo, and that the demo would have to contain at least ... bla bla bla and more like that...

in the past it was the availabilty of a demo on a cover cd that made me buy a game, you can go and buy games based on a stupid image in magazine, or some dumb videos on you tubem yo have to play a real playable demo.

Anyway... thats why i will be more carefull and strict in buying games to prevent a bad feeling after buying a game.
When you join, you are new and anxious and overwhelmed and tend to buy almost anything that has a nice screenshot, i also had then but since 2016 i am filtering and will be more carefull in buying games anywhere, i will also be more carefull buying retail games, unless they sell at 1 euro then i will take a risk :D.

I have roughly >500 games maybe a lot less, i have hidden a lot of the games i wont play or probably wont play, i have hidden 115 games for now, so i will only make backups of those games, i'd rather have a very small collction of games i will play then a gazillion of games i wont play.

As for now all the classic games are not filterd, all wadjet eye games, and spiderweb games are visible, this way i can see what games i really love and would even have bought on retail cd/dvd.
Posted May 19, 2016
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gamesfreak64:
I actually bought Deadnaut as I though it was Duskers. >_<
Really didn't like Deadnaut at all.
Post edited May 19, 2016 by omega64
Posted May 19, 2016
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micktiegs_8: So I noticed that this game went from v 0.39 to 1.0 in a matter of five days.

Bitch at me for being suspicious, but I'm kinda getting tired of buying games that say their 'released' when they don't seem to be. I guess I'll wait and see how our version keeps up to date after a handful of changelogs.
This just means it went through 38 major Beta/Greenlight updates before release and the devs weren't bullshitting anyone with "is 0.9999999... =1?" and nano-issues.
Posted May 19, 2016
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gamesfreak64:
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omega64: I actually bought Deadnaut as I though it was Duskers. >_<
Really didn't like Deadnaut at all.
same here :D , deadnaut is from Zafe Diaries developer, i like Zafe house.... but its way too much clicking and options in options... it takes too long before i can dive into the game, and thats no fun
Paradox games: i have 5 of them, the idea is great, i like games like this, the bad thing is, you litteraly drown in the options: its click and that brings up more choises, then click click .... its frustrating, if they could remove 75 tot 80% of all the sub menus and options the games would be wonderfull.
As they are now, you die to soon cause gazillions of info messages pop up... its not funny at all to play these games, these games should be put up a diet , loose some 'weight' and then they will be playable, cause i spend 1 hour clicking and dying and had no fun at all...

I just hid more games: now i have the games left i really like: about 350 of so so thats a lot of hidden games...
Posted May 19, 2016
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gamesfreak64: I get your point, i dont 'like' such 'practices' aswell, and it is rather shady....
Example: i ahd only retail in the past, no internet, maybe it was in other countries but in the 80-90 when i bought most retail games foc PC, there was no internet so all games had no patches.
Even I remember those days, where I'd never heard of the word 'patch' or 'update' and just bought a game and played it... I definitely understand what you're saying, with everything.

It's clear that I need to take a step back... not just with this game, either. I need to re-evaluate my buying habit, and that's all there is to it. Typically, I'd already own this game and not think about patches until I see just how apparent it is that they are needed. Not anymore, no sir.
Posted May 19, 2016
Okay, so I managed to get in some playtime last night. Played through the drone tutorial and the first star system. While I'm sure I have a lot to unlock (I haven't found a single recoverable log yet, for example), I have a much better idea of how the game actually works. So here we go, for those who are interested.

First off, for all the labels on this game, I would most likely settle on one like "strategy puzzle". It's not really a roguelike, at least not to someone who grew up playing Rogue, Moria, Angband, and Larn. Rather, it centers on guiding your drones through derelict ships which are basically puzzle dungeons, the principles of which are:

1) Rooms are connected by bulkhead doors which you can open and close only when you are powering the relevant generator (of which there are usually more than one).

2) Some rooms will contain hostile enemies, which you detect via motion sensors on a drone. The range is limited, so you can only know about nearby rooms during a scan, and the scan stops when the scanning drone moves.

3) Some rooms contain defense turrets that will eliminate hostiles. You can enable and disable turrets with the right drone at the ship's interface, once you find that. Turrets are dangerous allies, as they will destroy drones as well, so keep drones out of the room unless the turret is powered down.

So basically the puzzle is to get the rooms opened and searched without encountering hostiles, and where possible herd the hostiles into rooms with active turrets. You will get some drone upgrades to help out, and may even find drone upgrades with offensive powers (I found a drone with a Mine capability last night but haven't deployed it yet).

As for the drones themselves, their upgrades are interchangeable so that you can allocate their abilities as you see fit, but in general you will need at least three types:

1) Power Drone - One with the Generator upgrade, who can activate the derelict's generator cores.

2) Scout Drone - One with the Motion and Gather upgrades, who can do hostile movement sweeps and collect items.

3) Support Drone - One with the Interface and Tow upgrades, who can give the derelict ship commands and tow disabled drones and ship upgrades back to your ship's airlock.

This powers can be distributed differently than above (for example, combining Generator and Motion, so that the motion sweep only ends when the Power drone is relocated). It can be useful to make the fourth drone a Blank with one or no upgrades, in case you need space to harvest upgrades from destroyed drones (either on the derelict or one of your own).

The rest of the game is slightly FTL-ish, though without space combat (so far). It centers on using fuel wisely and maintaining/upgrading systems on the ship and the drones. Fuel use is more like action points than literal fuel in some ways, as every time you jump to a new system your local navigation fuel tops up again. But you still need to use it carefully in order to explore the derelicts you most want to harvest.

The control interface works well in general, though the drones can be a little stupid with pathfinding (they can block each other, and sometimes have trouble automatically collecting scrap near walls). Hopefully this will be improved with a patch. Otherwise the command line is good, and it's nice that you can define your own command aliases. For example, I added the command "loot", which is a shortcut for the "gather all" command sequence. And like a real command line, it suggests words when you have partially entered a command (and uses tab completion), so you don't need to type out long commands like "navigate" every time.

Hope this helps you decide if the game is your cuppa!
Posted May 19, 2016
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micktiegs_8: So I noticed that this game went from v 0.39 to 1.0 in a matter of five days.

Bitch at me for being suspicious, but I'm kinda getting tired of buying games that say their 'released' when they don't seem to be.
Bumping the version number to 1.0 is often used just to signalize it's the release version, even in open source projects with no time pressure at all. It doesn't say anything about the actual quality of the software, only that the developer considers it to be ready for release.
Post edited May 19, 2016 by eiii
Posted May 19, 2016
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micktiegs_8: So I noticed that this game went from v 0.39 to 1.0 in a matter of five days.

Bitch at me for being suspicious, but I'm kinda getting tired of buying games that say their 'released' when they don't seem to be.
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eiii: Bumping the version number to 1.0 is often used just to signalize it's the release version, even in open source projects with no time pressure at all. It doesn't say anything about the actual quality of the software, only that the developer considers it to be ready for release.
No doubt you're right... It's just very chaotic for me and I don't understand it. I'm pretty sure that about sums it up... time for my 1am sleep.
Posted May 19, 2016
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gamesfreak64: I get your point, i dont 'like' such 'practices' aswell, and it is rather shady....
Example: i ahd only retail in the past, no internet, maybe it was in other countries but in the 80-90 when i bought most retail games foc PC, there was no internet so all games had no patches.
avatar
micktiegs_8: Even I remember those days, where I'd never heard of the word 'patch' or 'update' and just bought a game and played it... I definitely understand what you're saying, with everything.

It's clear that I need to take a step back... not just with this game, either. I need to re-evaluate my buying habit, and that's all there is to it. Typically, I'd already own this game and not think about patches until I see just how apparent it is that they are needed. Not anymore, no sir.
Same here, i have some prepaid stocked up :D here just in case some old classics might arrive, but sofar its been pretty silent on that part, most games are new releases which is not bad cause the good old games were once new and became good old games, so any game might have a chance to become such an good old game, but imho i haven seen much that would qualify to become a good old game as i used to know them.

I have 345 games visible now and > 160 hidden i guess after a few 'reviews' of my shelves i be a round 300 real good game i will actually play, i will these gametypes as an 'example' when i buy new games.

some of the games are obvious:

All wadjet eye games
Rage of mages 1+2 / overclocked / the moment of silence and more games like this (never fpp or real 3d)

Black mirror 1,2,3 / Star trek™: 25th anniversary / star trek™: judgment rites
Dark reign + expansion / Broken sword 5 - the serpent's curse / Airline tycoon deluxe
Syberia / syberia 2
Monkey island™ 2 special edition: lechuck’s revenge™
Zak mckracken and the alien mindbenders / Loom™ / the dig® / gobliiins / gobliins 2 - the prince buffoon /
goblins quest 3
Patrician / patrician ii - quest for power / patrician 3
Edna & harvey: the breakout / edna & harvey: harvey's new eyes
Lords of the realm cd version / lords of the realm ii / Mortal kombat 1 ,2,3
Toonstruck / Tex murphy 1 - mean streets / tex murphy 2 - martian memorandum
Simon the sorcerer / simon the sorcerer 2
Avernum 2: crystal souls / avernum: escape from the pit / Sam & max hit the road
Desperados: wanted dead or alive / SQ 5 / Space quest 6 - roger wilco in the spinal frontier
Legend of kyrandia, the (book one) and two
all HOMM games except the V thats a 3d game
Eschalon: book I / Eschalon: book II / Eschalon: book II
Baldur's gate: the original saga / Baldur's gate 2 complete / LSL 1-6 / Leisure suit larry: reloaded
Commandos-behindenemylines / Commandos-beyondthecallofduty
Jaggedalliance / Jaggedalliance:deadlygames / Jaggedalliance2
Beneathasteelsky / Dragonsphere / Fallout v1+2 / Fallout Tactics

and more like this

new games: annas quest , day of the tentacle , punch club, skyhsines bedlam,
and games that are like these new games (never 3d or fpp)

my external wishlist:

point and click games:


Chronicles of Zerzura (drm free)
Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual (drm free)
Chronicles of Mystery The Tree of Life (drm free)

Art of Murder - Cards of Destiny (drm free) / Art of Murder - FBI Confidential (drm free)
Art of Murder - Hunt for the Puppeteer (drm free)

Last Half of Darkness - Society of the Serpent Moon (drm free)
Reversion Double Pack - Reversion (drm free)
Sinking Island (Action, Adventure, Point-and-Click

The Jolly Gang's Misadventures in Africa (drm free)
Tony Tough and the Night of the Roasted Moths (drm free)

games with DRM


AlternativA
Lost Horizon (drm)
Secret Files: Tunguska (drm free)
Secret Files 2 Puritas Cordis (steam/tages)
Secret Files 3 (steam/tages)
Secret Files: Sam Peters (steam/tages)
Post edited May 19, 2016 by gamesfreak64
Posted May 19, 2016
The Duskers dev is on the GOGcast right now:

https://www.twitch.tv/gogcom
Posted May 20, 2016
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IAmSinistar: Hope this helps you decide if the game is your cuppa!
Thank you very much for your review. You've actually gone a long way to helping me decide if I would indeed enjoy this.

One question though: How often are extra drones found (beyond what I'm guessing is the default 3)? If you mess up and get (a) drone(s) destroyed, does the game give you a way to recover?
Post edited May 20, 2016 by rampancy
Posted May 20, 2016
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IAmSinistar: Hope this helps you decide if the game is your cuppa!
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rampancy: Thank you very much for your review. You've actually gone a long way to helping me decide if I would indeed enjoy this.

One question though: How often are extra drones found (beyond what I'm guessing is the default 3)? If you mess up and get (a) drone(s) destroyed, does the game give you a way to recover?
If you have enough scrap you should IIRC be able to build one on your own :)

As for how often functional drones are found, I always managed to find 2 or even 3 drones in a run :)
Post edited May 20, 2016 by JudasIscariot
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRelease: Duskers(72 posts)(72 posts)
(72 posts)