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General discussion (archive)On-line Demo: Defender's Quest(79 posts)(79 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted November 12, 2012
Try out the brilliant mix of RPG and tower defense, right here!

Monday surprise! Here's a browser based demo of Defender's Quest, a very succesfull attempt of splicing the tower defense and RPG genres, which is available on GOG.com for only $14.99.

[url=http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/defenders_quest][/url]Defender's Quest is complex, elaborate, well-polished, and on top of that--well written. You might think that this last part isn't all that much important in a tower defense title, but it actually is, as the whole game is story driven. However, it's only one of the reasons why Adam Smith of [url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/24/hours-of-towers-defenders-quest/" target="_blank]Rock, Paper, Shotgun[/url] calls it "brilliant" and confesses that his "mild aversion to tower defense has been completely shattered". The main reason for this game to invoke such enthusiasm is that it just keeps on delivering content, so once you pick it up, it's extremely difficult to put it down. With well-executed mechanics, clear visuals, a plethora of scenarios, and many outspoken characters, you'll be enjoying every single minute of it!

The game not only met with critical acclaim, but was also well received by GOG.com users. So, if you're still on the fence with Defender's Quest, you now have the perfect opportunity to see what your $14.99 gets you. The browser based demo below can easily provide you with a couple of hours of play, which is still but a small taste of things to come in the full version. It will also allow you to export your save-file and continue your adventure in the full game, so there won't be losing any progress! Just be careful! This one can make your Monday so much easier to handle, but also very unproductive.
Post edited November 12, 2012 by G-Doc
Posted November 13, 2012
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Zoltan999: The game certainly interests me, but after reading about the phoning home, and automatic updating, it has me wondering if I would be able to play this on my gaming computer which has no internet cnnection. Does it become "unplayable" at some point because the game can't connect to the devs servers? Anyone know?
Nope, it's perfectly playable without an internet connection. All it does is say "Hey, automatic updates aren't available right now, is that cool with you?" As for anonymous gameplay metrics, they simply aren't reported. Both of these are turned on by default, but in an update I'm trying to push for later today, we'll switch those off by default. (And of course, you can turn them off right now in the options menu)
Posted November 13, 2012
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Zoltan999: The game certainly interests me, but after reading about the phoning home, and automatic updating, it has me wondering if I would be able to play this on my gaming computer which has no internet cnnection. Does it become "unplayable" at some point because the game can't connect to the devs servers? Anyone know?
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larsiusprime: Nope, it's perfectly playable without an internet connection. All it does is say "Hey, automatic updates aren't available right now, is that cool with you?" As for anonymous gameplay metrics, they simply aren't reported. Both of these are turned on by default, but in an update I'm trying to push for later today, we'll switch those off by default. (And of course, you can turn them off right now in the options menu)
Thanks for your quick response :). Two more quick questions then, lol. Will the game just prompt me once for this on start-up, and not periodically while playing (which is fine)?
And also, will I be able to obtain updates and install them manually then? Thanks again!
Posted November 13, 2012
Yes, the update function is a bit... weird, but the game is awesome. Keep up the stellar work!
Posted November 13, 2012
The way it works, is that if auto-update is turned on, it checks once at the start of the game. If it detects no detection it says something to the effect of "FYI: auto-updates aren't working, click okay to keep playing anyway, click retry to try the connection again."

It doesn't check again until you close and re-open the game.

If you disable auto-updates, you can turn them back on from the options menu. In the new build, we'll just start with the option disabled, and then point out that it exists the first time you run the game. This experience has taught me a bit about how to do (and NOT do) these things, LOL.

As for updates, whenever you download them from the auto-updater it shows you where it's downloaded on your computer, and then it's up to you to run the new installer after closing the game, as I didn't want the game to be able to directly launch a downloaded executable without your direct action.

The auto-updater delivers the game over HTTPS and is secured via a SHA256 checksum signed by my private key. The public decryption key is embedded in the game client itself. So, even if our servers were compromised and loaded with malware, the game would refuse to recognize a fake binary if it couldn't validate it. No security solution is perfect, but this should be at least as robust (if not more so) than industry standard auto-updaters.
Posted November 13, 2012
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larsiusprime: snip

As for updates, whenever you download them from the auto-updater it shows you where it's downloaded on your computer, and then it's up to you to run the new installer after closing the game, as I didn't want the game to be able to directly launch a downloaded executable without your direct action.

The auto-updater delivers the game over HTTPS and is secured via a SHA256 checksum signed by my private key. The public decryption key is embedded in the game client itself. So, even if our servers were compromised and loaded with malware, the game would refuse to recognize a fake binary if it couldn't validate it. No security solution is perfect, but this should be at least as robust (if not more so) than industry standard auto-updaters.
Gottcha...would just like to suggest the option to be able to download updates and transfer them. For instance, now I am on my laptop which I use to browse with. It would be nice to be able to download an update with this, and then transfer the file to my gaming computer. As I understand it, this isn't possible unless unless the computer I am playing the game on has an internet connection (mine doesn't, and I like it that way...no AV, or other apps that can conflict with my games, and close to zero chance of my gaming computer getting infected). Thanks again, some more food for thought for you ;)
Posted November 13, 2012
@Zoltan:

I *think* that should be possible, if I understand you correctly. It just downloads the file to a temp directory on your computer, and then gives you a button to "show file in folder" that pops up your OS's explorer window with the file inside, at which point you can do whatever you like to it.

So if you have a USB thumb-drive, pop that in, transfer the new installer, and you can install that anywhere. It downloads a full installer, not just a partial patch. Longer download time, I know, but I wasn't smart enough to figure out the delta-patch thing, and I figure it's more robust and lets you do things like this.
Post edited November 13, 2012 by larsiusprime
Posted November 13, 2012
Ahh, couldn't resist anymore, had to buy... I guess no more work is getting done today. *sigh
Posted November 13, 2012
avatar
Zoltan999: The game certainly interests me, but after reading about the phoning home, and automatic updating, it has me wondering if I would be able to play this on my gaming computer which has no internet cnnection. Does it become "unplayable" at some point because the game can't connect to the devs servers? Anyone know?
avatar
larsiusprime: Nope, it's perfectly playable without an internet connection. All it does is say "Hey, automatic updates aren't available right now, is that cool with you?" As for anonymous gameplay metrics, they simply aren't reported. Both of these are turned on by default, but in an update I'm trying to push for later today, we'll switch those off by default. (And of course, you can turn them off right now in the options menu)
Major kudos for turning this behavior off by default! I played the on-line demo for a short while and really enjoyed it. It is going on my wishlist. I'll definitely keep an eye out if it ever goes on sale.
Posted November 13, 2012
Progress updates:
http://www.gog.com/forum/defenders_quest/developer_response_to_warning_review

Basically, I've almost got the new build ready. Details inside.
Posted November 13, 2012
New build finished. Uploading windows version to GOG servers now. GOG support will likely get to this tomorrow.

Mac version will follow... soonish :)
Post edited November 13, 2012 by larsiusprime
Posted November 13, 2012
Great idea! This demo has motivated me to buy this sweet game; you guys should try this out with some other games going forward.
Posted November 14, 2012
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GreyMasker: Great idea! This demo has motivated me to buy this sweet game; you guys should try this out with some other games going forward.
I don't think it's that easy with non-flash based games...
Posted November 14, 2012
Flash is certainly the easiest way to do this, but there are some alternatives depending on the technology someone chooses:

Unity (TONS of people use Unity these days)
-Unity web plugin
-Unity export to Flash

Game Maker Studio
-Export to HTML5 (Hotline: Miami could have done this with some extra effort)

HaXe
-Generate a native C++ executable for the full version, and a flash/HTML5 version for the demo
(This is the solution we'll be trying for our next project)

Chrome Native Client
(Bastion was done in C++ and they got it running natively in Chrome).
-Obviously, this only gets you one browser.
Post edited November 14, 2012 by larsiusprime
Posted November 14, 2012
I lolled at the BONUS CONTENT requests :D
Posted November 15, 2012
Ok, this is clearly too addictive to me... I've beaten the demo through and through and now I've gotten my main protagonists so strong they can destroy any level in the demo singlehandedly with a perfect result. Quite satisfying!

But now I don't know whether I should get the full version or not. Having a game this addictive might not be good for me in the long run...
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)On-line Demo: Defender's Quest(79 posts)(79 posts)
(79 posts)