Looks great

I forgot that I hadn't supported this game yet :D Thanks for the bump/reminder

http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5522

Nov 30 (no updates since then)

State of the Game Address II
It seemed we were due for another big update on the overall progress of development. Now that we've hired up 4 additional full-time people and one part-time, we're making excellent progress. An amazing amount of work has occurred since the end of the KS, probably almost as much as the previous 2 years of development. Grim Dawn has grown both in terms of progress toward completion but also we've expanded content laterally and improved a lot of things.

The world redesign is one of the most obvious places where that has happened. In the map below, which only shows the first "act" you can see the green areas we intend to release for alpha are about 3x the volume of the original map from the first state of the game address. Plus, you can see the new levels look tight and represent a continuous, completed area as opposed to the chaotic mix of crap on the old map.

It is clocking at around 2-3 hours for someone who knows the levels and plays relatively straight through, skipping all the side content. Doing that you wind up finishing around level 11-13. An average play-through for someone who didn't know where they were going and explored a bit more would probably be 4-5 hours and reach level 13-16. To clear everything could probably take 6-8 hours, maybe more.



So the levels we intend to release in alpha are pretty much finished! Note that there is a lot of additional world area but that image just shows what we have ready for alpha as compared to what we previously had. I'm starting to think we may be making Grim Dawn too big! At least, bigger than we had originally intended. Instead of 10-15 hours for final release, we may end up closer to 20+.

While world development for alpha is pretty much complete, there are still a number of things we're trying to wrap up. Those include skill masteries (of which we have 5 nearly finished as opposed to the 3 we originally expected to release alpha with), story stuff, some crash bugs, finishing the act-1 boss and getting a first-pass balance on everything. Plus there are also just a bunch of little stupid things like fixing the teleport map. We also had thought we might have to release alpha without a female PC but we're well on the way to getting her in-game now - we've got female versions of all the equipment done and just need to finish skinning them so they'll animate. We're not far off now though.

Here is a detailed run-down of some of the more critical aspects of the game...


Masteries
We have 2 masteries (soldier and demolition) that are about 99% done, occultist is about 90% done and nightblade and arcanist are around 75% done. We're at the point where we're just swapping skills in and out, trying to figure out how to achieve a really good feeling, cohesive gameplay style for each. Since most of the early skills are done, we don't need to do much more here for alpha.

Enemies
In the last state of the game address, we only had 15 enemies in-game and 20 models. We now have 25 in-game, each with multiple variants and a total of 33 finished models.

We have 3 quest mini-bosses in and, where we had 0 hero monsters, we now have 115! custom designed heroes.

All the enemies that are going to be in the alpha are finished except for the end-boss, which we plan to complete in the next couple months.

Loot
We've significantly expanded our common loot and are currently finishing up revisions that were undertaken to create a more distinct visual progression and provide more diverse looking gear.

We have over 200 randomized affixes for common gear now including some rare and newly added epic ones that can attach unique skills to items.

We've created 63 "components", which are like relics / charms in TQ. I think they have cooler bonuses this time around, will remain useful longer and we've also introduced a higher level tier of rare legendary components. One of our artists is currently churning out all the inventory icons for these and they're looking very cool.

In the last state of the game address we had only a couple "prototype" unique items in-game. Now we have 98 unique items for levels 10-30 hooked up in-game and just awaiting art. Art is starting to roll out for those as you've seen in some of our recent updates.

Here is a little peak at the matrix-style level we use to verify all the items are working / the art is plugged in. The top is common items and the bottom is uniques. Note that some of the items don't have unique art yet even though they've been configured and hooked up in-game. The equipment art is often one of the last things to get plugged in since we can get the design done and working in-game without unique art.



Story / Quest
Last time we had no quests in-game and the new quest creation tools were lacking important functionality. We've had a designer dedicated to quest work and he's helped our programmers get the tools up to speed and is now working to wrap up the alpha quests. I think we have about 10 quests mostly in now and are just trying to refine them and work out some bugs.

A related issue we've been tackling recently is getting doors working so that we can have secret doors and also doors that are locked until you kill bosses or complete quests. For example, we have it set up now so that you begin outside the prison and the Devil's Crossing survivors won't give you access inside where most of the refugees live until you've proven yourself.

Stability
Generally the state of the game is improving. Pathing has gotten much better and a lot of annoying bugs have been squashed. Ragdoll is still acting a little funky, in terms of enemy bodies occasionally going berserk but that doesn't interfere with gameplay, just looks terrible. Often it is possible to play for an hour or more without encountering a major bug / crash. There is one new one that is occurring more frequently but we should have that resolved soon. Leading up to alpha, the programmers will be putting in more effort on big-fixing to get things to a point where players can generally play for an a couple hours or more without encountering any major issues. Of course, once we have several thousand people playing the game on different systems, I'm sure more bugs will come to light but, hey, isn't that the point of alpha?

Alpha Release
It looks like alpha is taking a little longer than we predicted in the last state of the game address but it is still within the late 2012 / early 2013 time-frame that we've been saying for a long time - just, obviously on the 2013 side.

Creating and running the KS took more of my own time than I would have expected and that set my work back by a month or two. It was totally worth it though because the guys we hired have produced a ton of additional content that we wouldn't have now otherwise and, overall, the game has improved dramatically. More importantly, the trade-off is that it will be easier to get to the final release. Before the KS, I thought we could push out alpha by about now but I had no idea how long it was going to take to finish the game. Now I think we're in good shape for a final release in latter half of 2013.

It is pretty surreal that we're actually nearing a release. I've been working on Grim Dawn for so long now and in the first year or two it didn't even feel real that what I was doing was achievable. I felt like it could be done if some things that were uncertain at the time worked out in our favor but it was such an ambitious project for such a small group of mostly part-time people that doubts often kept me awake at night. I wondered if I was wasting precious years of my career chasing a dream that might never be realized? So now, to finally be rounding he corner to alpha, it is difficult to believe that is is really happening. I can't wait for you all to play the game but, at the same time, it is also a little terrifying.

Update #32 Today (from the Grim Dawn Forums)

"Today, 06:21 PM

medierra
Crate Employee - Designer

Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,192
Alpha where art thou?
Given the increasingly frequent questions about a release date for alpha and the fact that we are starting to eat away at "early 2013" or Q1, I felt that I should address this.

While I still believe we will release within what I would consider "early" 2013, things are running a little slower than I had hoped due to some unanticipated problems that have been hampering us since late last year. The good news is that we have recently taken action to correct this problem in a way that will be a boon to the entire project. I shall elaborate...

Around Sept or Oct of last year both of the part-time animators we had working on the project ended up in crunch at their day jobs (both at different studios). They were out of the game for longer than expected and things got behind in the animation department. We also found some issues with the character rig when work began on skinning the female armor. Our main animator struggled with this on and off as his busy scheduled allowed but progress in identifying and fixing the problem was slow. We ultimately had to track down and set up a Skype meeting with the original Titan Quest animator. Those problems appear to fixed now but they did their damage in slowing us down and caused some rework.

Fortunately, pre-order sales have been higher than I had predicted after the KS and some things in our budget ended up not being as expensive as I had anticipated. The result is that we were able to bring on a full-time senior technical animator, who starts this coming week. Best of all, he already has experience working with the TQ engine as his last job was at Stomp (aka Tencent Boston), which was started by one of the owners and the former president of Iron Lore. They started out prototyping in the TQ engine on their past project. We've also brought on another contract animator to help us make up for lost time and he's currently at work animating the first mini-boss that will be in the alpha.

Now that we'll have a full-time animator, we won't have to worry about any future cases of people's unpredictable part-time availability slowing us down. I also expect that we'll be able to have more / higher quality animations in Grim Dawn. One of the little bonuses we're hoping to get to is more ambient animation for things like swaying lights and hanging corpses that react to the wind.

In terms of alpha, some of the biggest things that remain are getting the mini-boss and "act-end" boss animated. There are also a number of armor pieces that need to be skinned.

We also got a little carried away with quests... but I think in a good way. while working to get quests in we've added some cool new features, like the survivors you can rescue that visually change the town. We've also greatly enhanced the UI and quest completion tracking as well as increasing the randomization of where quest objectives can appear. There is still some work required to get all the new quest stuff fully working.

Finally, we'll need some time once all the major work is done to do a little rudimentary testing. We're not trying to polish things to perfection but we don't want to release a build with epic fails, like an underground entrance not working, that would result in us having to immediately rush to put out an emergency patch. Once things look reasonable, we'll need to get a copy of the build set up for distribution with each of the methods by which it will be distributed.

So, great progress is being made and some aspects of the game are better now than I would have thought they could be given our limited budget. There is still work to be done on the road to alpha but we're getting very close. I don't want to give a release date yet as there are still some unpredictable elements in our path but I'll very tentatively say it looks like we may release alpha in the next month or two, which would still be within Q1. I'll try to provide a firmer estimate as we get toward the end of Feb and we see how things are shaping up, especially with animation.

Believe though when I say that I couldn't feel more pressure to get alpha released and we're doing our best to make that happen."

Wow, didnt know this was still going strong ^_^

To put on the icing:
Crate has a steady stream of new mobs and brand new "clockwork" UI they introduced. Its smaller and scalable with the resolution.

Everyone is still able to benefit from kickstarter bonuses by pre-ordering at the website.

http://www.grimdawn.com/contribute_buynow02.php (levels below with bonus)

Grim Dawn Digital Release
$18 USD

Download the full game upon release, direct from us, DRM free or also via Steam and other distribution sites.
10% discount for buying early
Sleep more soundly knowing you made the world a little better



Grim Dawn Pioneer Edition
$35 USD

Download the full game upon release, direct from us, DRM free or also via Steam and other distribution sites.
Access to the beta once available
Digital download of Grim Dawn original music
Start the game in style with an exclusive swashbuckler's coat! (in-game item)
Enchanted Burrwitch Brew that never runs dry (in-game item). Far from granting an unfair advantage, this vile brew is certain to dull your combat abilities and may induce vomiting.



Grim Dawn Patron Edition
$50 USD

Everything from the $35 version plus...
Entry to alpha and beta
Your name in the credits!
Massively stylish George Washington style powdered wig in-game accessory.
"Crate Story" downloadable PDF that will give you insight into our epic struggle to found a new game studio and create Grim Dawn, from the final days of Iron Lore up to release day.



Grim Dawn Loyalist Edition
$85 USD

Everything from the $50 version plus...
First Grim Dawn expansion when released.
Will-O'-The-Wisp pet that acts as a light source in the dark.
High resolution digital game map suitable for use as a wallpaper or to print out for your wall.

Theres supposed to be another update today or tomorrow going by comments on the forum.

http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6347

medierra
Crate Employee - Designer Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,206

Alpha status update
Last update I talked about animation troubles we had to overcome recently and how that had slowed things down a lot. We were able to hire a full-time animator in February who you've since met: Tumbledown, and he's hard at work. Unfortunately, there is no way to make the animations come out faster; well, except perhaps making them crappier but I don't think anyone wants that. Tumbledown has been working long hours skinning armor, fixing mini-bosses and animating the big boss but he was only hired 3 short weeks ago, so there is only so much that can be accomplished in that time. The boss also takes almost twice as long as a normal boss because... well, you'll find out in time.

Alpha is on the horizon though and we're churning through the last things that need to be done before the long awaited release. Once the boss is animated, we'll get him combat ready, test to make sure there are no major game-destroying bugs and package a build up for distribution.

I've personally been working to finish off the last touches on the 3 class masteries that will be available in alpha: Soldier, Demolitionist and Occultist, along with a slew of other random things. I've also been exploring some other payment and distribution options that you all have been requesting and should have some news on that later this month.

Will alpha be out in March? I think there is still a good chance if we don't hit any snags or have to redo any animation work but, ultimately, it will be out when it is ready. It's getting down to a matter of weeks but whether that's 3 weeks or 6 weeks, or more, I can't be certain. The only way I could try to give you a reliable date would be if we were to set a release date that was well after the point at which we estimated alpha would be ready, which is how big commercial releases work, but we want to get the alpha to you as soon as it is ready. So, please be patient. It has been a long time in the making and alpha is getting ever closer. We're working as hard as we can to deliver it and would appreciate it tremendously if you can just hold in there a little longer.

To help pass the time, Zantai will be posting his usual update later this evening with some tantalizing affixes, equipment shots and a first look at the boss in development!1!!

http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6348

That armour looks pretty awesome.

Latest update (1/4/2013)

http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6607

http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6032

No Alpha just yet...

Looks like the alpha access is up. People who backed the game will need to either create or log into their humble accounts (unfortunately looks like they went that route).

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crateentertainment/grim-dawn/posts

24 minutes to 144 minutes to go~

Hopefully it will show up before 2:00 am.

EDIT: Yay, it became available to download just after midnight

Played a few hours of the alpha, so far it seems pretty good :D

Base movement speed is a bit faster than in Titan Quest, which I like.

Combat is nice and crunchy.

Difficulty so far seems a bit on the easy side (currently level 10 Demolitionist in Wightmire) - that might change further on, though.

Graphics are good, runs pretty well as long as I don't turn on anti-aliasing.
Occasionally I get some sort of stutter which lasts about half a second, hasn't gotten me killed yet but could be a problem if it happened in a boss fight.

There's a pretty good variety of weapon and armour types, all with their own art (not just re-skins).

Dialogue and text is well-written.

Loading times are near-instantaneous.

Haven't encountered any bugs so far, which is nice.

Played the Alpha for an hour or so (up to lvl 5 char - cant remember what i picked tho lol).
Graphics really nice. Nice design and colours, background
Sound effects nice full impactful
Have most options on max (anti aliasing and one other aside). 1440 x900 (max on my monitor.
Smooth animations. Quick responsive.
Quite a variety of enemies. I wouldnt say its hard but i wouldnt say its easy. Lot of crates to bash open loot loot.Not many potions. Have had to run away when mobs start to group. Definitely more challenging than TQ ever was at the start.
Only thing is, wish the female avatar/charachter was a bit curvier lol.
Overall alpha is pretty neat
Only other issue i had was launching. Game would launch. Black screen. alt tab several times would go in and out of black screen. Had to kill steam, relaunch it two times before game would actually load into the menu screen.
Wonder if its my system?.

Windows 7
8gb ddr 3 ram
intel g850 dual core 2.9ghz

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crateentertainment/grim-dawn/posts/571863

No they aren't dead!!. Long winded details of whats been happening. Delays but at least they bothered to tell backers whats happened :)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crateentertainment/grim-dawn/posts/632907

" Project Update #31: Build 13 and Nightblade Mastery are live!
Posted by Crate Entertainment ♥ Like

It's mid October and what has turned out to be a rather large build is ready just in time for your weekend enjoyment! It includes the long awaited Nightblade mastery and a host of other improvements, including rework of the Burrwitch Outskirts area. For all the details check out the B13 change log on the forum.

We've also been grinding along on the next big content update and should be able to give you a sneak peek in the coming weeks.

Finally, those with beta access will be excited to know that we'll be inviting them join in the fun very soon. I'll post another update in the next couple days to let you know when that's happening.

Now back to the game development mines with me..."