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I personally prefer the sling over even a compound bow. 20 ammo at a time vs 5 and I seem to get more consistently high damage and stunning hits vs lots of grazing shots with arrows.
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Jul 27, 2013 20:31
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Justin Credible posted:I personally prefer the sling over even a compound bow. 20 ammo at a time vs 5 and I seem to get more consistently high damage and stunning hits vs lots of grazing shots with arrows.  Joking aside, I prefer bows due to the much higher range. That's real handy when you fight more than one person. But the low ammo cap is kind of bugging me too. It would be cool if you could add a quiver to the bow. Like, add it via recepie with the bow as an ingridient. The resulting bow would have a larger ammo cap, and you don't need to create/block another slot on the player. Though, I guess it would be fair to place the quiver on your shoulder slot, and trade your attack action for moving arrows from the quiver into the bow. The bow already works much like that, except that you can just pick up the arrows you fired from the ground of the hex during combat. Angry Diplomat posted:Another option, and one I kind of like better now that I think about it, would be to weight skills according to their relative power. Weaker skills could take up fewer "slots" by essentially being smaller items on the selection screen, while very powerful abilities would take up larger amounts of skill real estate. The same could be done with drawbacks - Insomnia is rarely more than a severe annoyance, whereas the faster Metabolism can kill the poo poo out of you with more frequent hunger/thirst penalties and a much greater risk of death by starvation/dehydration, and the faster healing is not a great tradeoff for that at all.
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Jul 27, 2013 22:15
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I was thinking about the oddness of the fact that you can pick up arrows you've just shot at people during combat earlier. I like that arrows are reusable (although they currently don't seem to take durability damage, which strikes me as a bug), but it's kind of weird that you can somehow hoover them up from 30 (distance units) away and fire them again. A solution that I think would be quite interesting would be, rather than simply dropping on the ground after being fired, ranged attacks would actually "stick" to the target, needing to be removed on the medical screen. For arrows stuck in enemies, they could be retrieved by looting the unconscious enemy (which would mean you'd actually have to get close), or they'd just end up on the ground when they die. Having an arrow sticking out of someone would probably provide some kind of combat penalty too, since moving around with a big piece of wood in your leg would be pretty painful, so it would be a good way to debilitate enemies before moving in to melee range. I like this idea because it could apply to other ranged attacks too, like bullets. Being shot would not only be a serious wound, but would leave behind shrapnel that would prevent the wound from healing properly, and would have to be removed using a knife or pliers, or a visit to the medical center in the DMC for proper surgery. Arrows could just be removed by hand, but doing so would probably cause a temporary increase in bleeding so you'd want to be careful about when you did it. Bullets plucked out of a wound would obviously not be reusable, but they could still be an interesting item that would have similar uses as rocks or pebbles (noise traps, sling ammo, etc). Plus anything that reminds me of MGS3 I tend to like. I also had an unrelated thought after a recent game where I sustained a frankly hilarious amount of punishment over time without dying (seriously; during the game I'd had both my arms and legs broken, huge gaping wounds, food poisoning from eating rotten meat, and somehow managed to pull through all of it!) - there really needs to be an "offer surrender" option in combat. When both my legs got broken, it prevented me from having any chance of getting away from the enemy, and I really wasn't in a position to fight back either, but I didn't really have any other option besides just lying there and having him beat me more. In those kinds of situations it would be nice to be able to manually surrender to the enemy and just take the item loss rather than even more damage before he knocks me out and loots me anyway.
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Jul 28, 2013 13:38
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Hey Guys! Been plugging away at fixes and changes, and as usual, some really good input here. Re: saucepans, I finally re-tooled containers such that boiling 2x and 3x water/rags requires larger containers like the saucepan, instead of soup cans, bottles, etc. That should be available in the upcoming build. Re: crafting failing, I found a bug that was causing that type of behavior, particularly when the same item was identified as both a consumed and tool ingredient by the game. That should reduce the instability that creeps in over time, and will also be available in the next build. Crafted item durability should be equal to the lowest quality consumed item, so a spear with a 50% tip and 40% shaft would be 40%. Forest shacks will get a slight correction in the next build, to make them at least worth searching. Items in a hex are not safe, no matter where, except for the junk store. Any creature has a chance of seeing items in a hex (ground items automatically, camp items depending on camp visibility), and if they're the type to loot, they may walk off with stuff. The items should not disappear, though, they may get deposited in an AI campsite nearby. Re: bottles with colors that match liquids inside, I would totally love to have this. Totally not easy to setup, though  Re: mechanic, hacking, and electrician being more useful, that's definitely on the short list! Re: early hypothermia, this is something that plagues a lot of people, and I need to mitigate it somehow. It's mainly an RNG issue (low temps in early game combined with poor loot and/or scavenge opportunities). I'm considering adding something to bail out players who are severely hypothermic in the first 24 hours, like stumbling across a sleeping bag. It'd mitigate the RNG freezing players to death early on, while leaving most other players unaffected. I may also alter the way creatures appear after scavenging. A lot of folks describe scavenging as a way of "creating creatures," which feels a bit too game-y. I might alter things so creatures are attracted to scavenging activity from afar, so they don't materialize out of nowhere. My first test was a bit empty and lonely feeling, so it'll need tweaking. Re: sling stones vs. pebbles, there will be a bit of balancing done here As for primitive missile weapons and kiting/ammo retrieval, an experimental system is going in next build: http://bluebottlegames.com/main/node/1856  Arrows and spears will soon stick into opponents, and those that miss are gone forever. Sling stones and pebbles are one-use, too. It's not as ideal as having the ability to track down lost arrows or stones afterward, but it's the best I could manage within the system's confines. It should improve the overpowered imbalance afforded by endless arrow factories I looked into doing bullets as well, but that had some issues. For one thing, bandaging would be blocked while shrapnel was in a wound (i.e. only one item per wound), which is unintuitive and unrealistic. On the other hand, it appears that bullet extraction is, in practice, fairly uncommon in modern medicine. So pretending we just leave them in-place is actually fairly realistic. Finally, if anyone is interested, I've posted a question on reddit which involves NEO Scavenger. There's more info here: http://bluebottlegames.com/main/node/1861 If you're up for a philisophical NEO Scavenger discussion, feel free to drop into the reddit thread! Thanks again!
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Aug 14, 2013 22:27
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 New test build  Just like before, Dan has put up a test build. Check it out and post any bug reports before it gets promoted to beta build. Check out the new changes: Creature Spawning The creature spawning when scavenging has changed. Instead of spawning right on top of you when scavenging, they will simply be alerted to your presence, then they will either approach or flee. The starting area should prefer bandits instead of raiders and the groups will be smaller. Early Onset Hypothermia Encounter There is a chance for an encounter to trigger early in the game when the weather is real harsh. Primitive Missiles quote:Primitive missile weapons no longer drop their missiles to the ground after being fired. The missiles are lost unless they stick into the target, in which case they can be recovered when the target falls unconscious or dies. UI
And as always, plenty of bug fixing. Full details can be found over at BBG. As a reminder, you can get to the test build by logging into your account, going to Games -> Play Beta -> Scroll to bottom. 
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Aug 17, 2013 03:01
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BlueBottleGames posted:Finally, if anyone is interested, I've posted a question on reddit which involves NEO Scavenger. There's more info here: To add to the comment I left on that news post, there's currently a Let's Play of King of Dragon Pass going on these forums, here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3561056 The last one was filled with a ton of interesting information about the setting and lore, a lot of which would be directly relevant to the topic of the Reddit post (which I'll avoid mentioning here for spoiler reasons). It's archived here with all the various lore posts included. Also, I don't know if it's possible to do this with your system, but could you have missed arrows/sling stones/etc. get placed in tiles adjacent to the current combat tile? That would prevent them from being picked up by the player and fired again during the fight, but would allow them to retrieve the ammo after the fight ends by moving. There should still probably be a chance of ammo just disappearing on a miss to represent the player character just plain not being able to figure out where the hell that shot went (maybe have Eagle Eye reduce the odds of that happening?) *edit* Yeah, I was mentioning that in response to the fact that misses are lost within the new system - I like the ammo sticking idea (I should - I suggested it!) for hits, and I was just brainstorming on how to do something similar for misses without just losing the ammo forever. I guess it really only matters for arrows - I mean a rock is a rock. You don't need to go and track down the one you just fired from your sling. Just find another one! Arrows are easy to craft but the professional broadhead ones have to be found, I believe, so it would be good to be able to reuse them until they just fall apart. VVVVVVVVVVVV The Cheshire Cat fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Aug 17, 2013 |
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Aug 17, 2013 03:38
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The Cheshire Cat posted:Also, I don't know if it's possible to do this with your system, but could you have missed arrows/sling stones/etc. get placed in tiles adjacent to the current combat tile? That would prevent them from being picked up by the player and fired again during the fight, but would allow them to retrieve the ammo after the fight ends by moving. There should still probably be a chance of ammo just disappearing on a miss to represent the player character just plain not being able to figure out where the hell that shot went (maybe have Eagle Eye reduce the odds of that happening?) Check the post right above yours, the primitive missile system has been changed in the latest test build. The missiles are lost unless they stick to the target. If they do stick, they can be recovered from the body when they are unconscious or dead. Condition mechanics have also been applied to the ammo.
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Aug 17, 2013 03:45
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New Build Beta and Demo Changes
Also, check this: quote:One of the biggest changes in this build is the way memory is managed, particularly for items. Items should now use much less memory than before when not currently visible on the inventory screens. In practice, this should mean that the game is less likely to crash due to memory leaking as one explores more of the map. The Cheshire Cat posted:*edit* Sorry, didn't see your edit. Yeah, I see what you are saying sorry. Instead of simply vanishing for missiles (current) or be put in the tile with player (old build), let there be a chance to randomly pick one of the tiles behind/to the side of the enemy that it can be found again in right?
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Aug 22, 2013 11:38
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It could be interesting to add ammo salvaging - if a shot misses (and, in the case of bullets, hits), it could possibly leave some of the ammunition's components in the player's tile. Bullet weapons would simply produce casings or hulls, which could be used to hand-load new (probably lovely) ammunition or, for a simpler option, traded in to a little place near the junk market for a bit of cash or credit towards replacement ammo. Arrows and the like could have a chance to leave behind some of the breakdown items, or maybe "broken arrows" that could be combined with a replacement shaft to remake them like new. I just think that crafty survivalist resource management is neat 
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Aug 22, 2013 12:42
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It looks like NEO Scavenger got greenlit. Congrats BlueBottle, you're on your way to the big time now. http://steamcommunity.com/games/765/announcements/detail/1585553420145694979
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Aug 28, 2013 17:54
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That's awesome. Congrats, Blue Bottle!
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Aug 28, 2013 20:46
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Thanks guys! The announcement was quite a nice surprise when I opened my inbox this morning! Getting Greenlit wasn't a necessary milestone, but it definitely is a game-changer. And it's nice knowing I have a built-in marketing push at some date in the future (e.g. Steam launch)!
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Aug 29, 2013 00:21
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Awesome, congrats! The newest version is pretty awesome, but I still have to manage to survive more than a day this version 
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Aug 29, 2013 00:59
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Holy poo poo, congrats Dan. NEO definitely deserves the Steam treatment. I hope you get a big increase in fans when you release on Steam. Just be sure not to release during a big sale or alongside some popular AAA title, I'd hate for NEOs release to quietly slip by people because there is something else going on. NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING...
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Aug 29, 2013 10:58
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Lol, yeah. NO PRESSURE I'll definitely keep an eye out for opportune launch windows. It might be a case of choosing the lesser evil, but launching during Steam Holiday Sale is probably right out.
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Aug 29, 2013 16:11
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BlueBottleGames posted:Lol, yeah. NO PRESSURE February 3rd 2014. It's a Monday, right at the start of the month => People had time to recover from the steam-sale, just got their paychecks, and not many games launch on Mondays. 
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Aug 29, 2013 21:26
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I think bandits or looters have stolen my sleeping bag a few times while I was sleeping, which seems a bit odd, as I was sleeping in it at the time Also, in my current game my bracelet to get into Detroit doesn't work and I can't get in  edit: Wait, I'm an idiot and I forgot you could wear things on your wrists, although I guess it would be nice if the bracelet would work too when you just hold it in your hand like I tried.  But I do keep losing my sleeping bags at night. ekuNNN fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Aug 31, 2013 |
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Aug 31, 2013 20:47
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 CHECK OUT THE NEW BUILD, YO.Demo and Beta Builds:
 If electronics and hacking additions to the game don't get you excited then you are a big dumb dummy. e: Go play it!
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Sep 12, 2013 08:54
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New Build
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Sep 13, 2013 08:30
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Has there been any word lately on a release date? I find myself skipping a lot of these builds in order to keep things fresh when it comes out. Also, I'm late to the party, but congrats on getting greenlit, Dan. That's a serious accomplishment, especially for a more-or-less solo project.
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Sep 13, 2013 15:05
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Doctor Schnabel posted:Has there been any word lately on a release date? I find myself skipping a lot of these builds in order to keep things fresh when it comes out. Yeah ditto. I pre-ordered this a while back and played the hell out of it, but now I'm just waiting for the major release to go back and grind it out again.
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Sep 13, 2013 16:06
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I'm totally in the same boat, I've been playing some small games every now and then but I'm really hanging out for release so I can just loving binge on NEO like I did when I first found out about the game. Also, this thread has been going for a year and a half now.  Does anyone feel like the OP needs an update or have any recommendations for information to be included? I've updated it a couple times since I created the thread but I just had a look and the edit date says it's been almost a year since I last fiddled with it. I imagine most folks would just skim the screenshots, maybe watch the first 30 seconds of trailer and then either click the demo link or close the tab, right?
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Sep 14, 2013 11:01
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I've been telling everyone (including Valve!) that NEO Scavenger should be done by the end of 2013. At this point, I'm ramping down major feature development, and focusing instead on stability, balancing, UI, and the plot encounters. I'd be disappointed if I didn't get to sprinkle some new items in for variety, too (like the "Hiya Poopy!" children's backpack, or useless fashion footwear), but I honestly expect I'll be scrambling to finish even the story in the remaining few months. Between the plot hole-plugging, the hooking up of encounters, the illustrations, and the revising of draft text, I'll have my work cut out for me. It's a heck of a lot more game than I originally set out to make, but also a heck of a far cry from what I'd ideally want. My wishlist is the only thing that grows faster than the game Anyway, I'm shooting for "finished" in a few months, with the usual "I reserve the right to be completely wrong here" caveat.
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Sep 17, 2013 01:12
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BlueBottleGames posted:Anyway, I'm shooting for "finished" in a few months, with the usual "I reserve the right to be completely wrong here" caveat. gently caress yeah, super excited! BlueBottleGames posted:My wishlist is the only thing that grows faster than the game It's been crazy following the development news of NEO. It's sort of unreal to see you post "that sounds like a cool idea" one day, and then a couple of days later it's "check out this screenshot/build of that idea I was talking about". I'm really hoping that when you do the release (Steam in particular) the game gets a massive boost in popularity and all the hard work you've put into NEO pays off. Anyway, New Build Demo and Beta Builds:
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Sep 17, 2013 09:09
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My apologies if it's been asked, but how do you make your pixel art, BBG? Is it some kind of conversion from other images, or just by-hand pixel art? It's all really awesome.
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Sep 21, 2013 00:14
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Xik posted:It's been crazy following the development news of NEO. It's sort of unreal to see you post "that sounds like a cool idea" one day, and then a couple of days later it's "check out this screenshot/build of that idea I was talking about". I'm really hoping that when you do the release (Steam in particular) the game gets a massive boost in popularity and all the hard work you've put into NEO pays off. Thanks Xik! It's a bit surreal to me, too. I mean, even though I deliberately set out to learn a variety of skills so I could do it myself, I'm still surprised when I actually make stuff. I've heard some writers say similar things, too. Like they're just pretending really hard to be writers, and totally expecting to be exposed as a fraud someday. It's a weird mix of both pride and fear to create a product! S.T.C.A. posted:My apologies if it's been asked, but how do you make your pixel art, BBG? Is it some kind of conversion from other images, or just by-hand pixel art? It's all really awesome. Most of it is just painted in Photoshop at the same size you see it in the final game. I use a mix of mouse and Wacom tablet to do the actual brush work. Mouse is usually for more technical (hard edges) and orthogonal/perspective stuff, while Wacom stylus is used for more organic strokes (e.g. dirt, grime, shadows, plants). I do use a few bits of photos I've taken, though. For example, I'll take skies and clouds from my old photos, either wholesale or as palette selections and textures, particularly in encounter art. I'm glad you like it!
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Sep 23, 2013 16:06
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Congrats on the greenlight, hope it ends up nice and profitable for you. Question, how do you get rid of smallpox? Tried full blood replacement, nanobots, antibiotics..
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Sep 24, 2013 23:01
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Thanks! Unfortunately, smallpox is not treatable in NEO Scavenger (at least, for now). The trouble is, I can't remember if that was deliberate or accidental. It was added a while ago, and I can't recall if I meant for it to be treatable. Technically, smallpox can be mitigated with vaccine if treated within the first few days of contracting the disease. However, by the time it shows up in the player's conditions screen in NEO Scavenger, it has been incubating for almost two weeks. Plus, with smallpox supposedly eradicated decades ago, people probably don't keep the vaccine around anymore. From a game design point of view, there's some value in the player knowing that some things "out there" are a death sentence (or a 50/50 gamble, as with smallpox), as it ratchets up the fear. If one knew they could just run to the clinic for a cure-all, disease would just be something that delays plans, rather than something one avoids, ahem, "like the plague." On the other hand, I like having an "out" for most situations, particularly if there's some trade-off. It's a tough call!
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Sep 26, 2013 14:45
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Hey Guys! I'm giving away 6 copies of NEO Scavenger on Saturday! I must be crazy! (Ok, actually, a generous fan inspired me.) If you're looking to get access to the beta, head on over to the contest rules. 4 copies will be reserved for players who don't already have beta access, and 2 copies will be reserved for those that do. Plus, everyone's contest entry will help me do a better job on the story. So have a gander, and spread the word!
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Oct 3, 2013 01:58
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I've been lurking this thread for a while but with this raffle I figured now is the perfect time to actually try the demo and I really enjoyed it. Managed to make it to the eastern border of the demo without dying on my third playthrough with Hiding, Athletics, Botany, and Eagle Eye for my skills. Then I tried to kill myself by overdosing on painkillers but it didn't seem to work. Oh well. 
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Oct 3, 2013 09:07
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BlueBottleGames posted:Hey Guys! I won!  Thank you very much!I will give the beta a try as soon as I find enough time to dedicate to it. Really looking forward to playing!
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Oct 6, 2013 08:53
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New Beta and Demo Builds  quote:[The new build] includes a new area called The Great Black Swamp, cannibalism penalties, new items, and quick recipe improvements. Beta users also get a few new encounters, encounter updates, and new ways of getting electricity.
 This game just keeps on getting more and more fleshed out, it's amazing.
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Nov 6, 2013 02:23
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This game is really cool. I had just started a new game as the pinnacle of physical perfection and I was looking for clothes but having a hard time finding any. Eventually a raider stumbled across me and he had a rifle so I immediately ran away. He chased me for several turns before I finally decided to just try to fight him since I wasn't doing so hot and could easily restart. I charged towards him wearing nothing but a hospital gown and brandishing a small glass shiv, and he started advancing towards me. When I was still about 18 steps away he tripped and fell on a rock and immediately offered to surrender everything he owned if I let him live, so I got a hunting rifle with some bullets and a scope, a full set of clothes, and the sled he was pulling stocked with food and supplies. What the hell, raider man? Thanks, I guess!
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Nov 6, 2013 06:18
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Double Photosynaesthesias posted:What the hell, raider man? Seriously though, I always find it kind of weird when enemies charge me despite having bullets in their guns. It helps me stay alive, but is also kind of silly.
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Nov 6, 2013 13:44
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"Mister! Hey mister! Would you like to buy--hey! Hey mister, would you like to buy one of my deliciou-ow! gently caress. No! Oh god! No please! No! Here, take it all!"
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Nov 6, 2013 16:45
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I was just fighting some raider, we both had no weapon. We managed to knock each other out on the same turn and I had to sit there clicking "Continue" for what felt like 100+ turns before he finally woke up and killed me. I think generally if you're knocked out but not in combat, time advances like you're sleeping - could the same thing happen if both parties in combat are unconscious?
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Nov 7, 2013 23:56
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It could. In fact, it did until recently. However, folks were reporting an "endless turn" bug in which the game would advance turns automatically, seemingly at random times, usually ending in death by starvation/dehydration/hypothermia. Since I wasn't able to track down the cause, I started yanking out any code that might cause turns to advance automatically, including the unconscious combat advancement code. I haven't yet heard of the bug appearing in 0.980, which might mean the latest "yank" was the culprit. And that was actually unrelated to combat (was code that reset the green "End Turn" button state). If the bug remains fixed in 0.980 a while longer, perhaps I should try putting the unconscious combat advancement back in.
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Nov 8, 2013 16:43
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It looks like BBG is getting ready to throw NEO up on Steam (Early Access) and it appears all beta supporters will be getting keys, it's just a matter of being able to automate the key generating process. Good luck Dan, just don't get too caught up in what is said on the Steam forums, it's a pretty toxic place for a dev from what I've seen.
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Nov 15, 2013 03:58
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Thanks, Xik! Yeah, I've seen a few game forums there that gave me pause. However, I also see quite a few folks there who temper the discussion. Overall, I think I just need to be clear to folks about what they're getting into. And more than anything, getting them to try the demo first should help. That, and underpomising/overdelivering
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Nov 15, 2013 17:14
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The steam forums will always be full of vitriol. You've got an awesome (if niche) game, and I'm looking forward to hearing you maniacally rolling in your mountains of Steam gold.
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Nov 16, 2013 16:30
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