Grim Dawn -- Screen Shots and Funding Model

Peacedog · Post by **Peacedog** » Fri May 18, 2012 3:15 pm

480k was hit a couple of hours ago.

$490k - 2 additional monster types (models and animations) and another 25 extra pieces of unique item art
$500k - A new dungeon art-set with a choice of catacombs or sewers that you'll get to vote on.

I personally don't care about the 520k "survivor" mode goal. The 500k goal would be nice, though. I may have to up my contribution.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Fri May 18, 2012 4:10 pm

At this pace they'll hit $500K. This kickstarter is closing with a monsterous rush. I wonder where all the new contributors are coming from?

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Fri May 18, 2012 4:20 pm

I think it's mostly just human nature... people just put off doing something, but hearing that the kickstarter is about to end it prods them to finally go and invest in the project.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Fri May 18, 2012 4:22 pm

Republique gave their backers a nudge in Grim Dawn's direction, and there may be some reaction to the D3 launch as well, whether it's disappointment at the downtime, etc. or renewed excitement over ARPGs in general.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Fri May 18, 2012 4:56 pm

Yeah, I noticed some comments on there about how disappointed people were with D3.

Edit: Aha, this new article today over at RPS would help explain it. Life after Diablo. Grim Dawn Soldier Trailer

“I love systems that are asymmetrical and chaotic, where the player can’t easily see the tell-tale structure and patterns of deliberate, organized human design. The real world isn’t always perfectly planned or sensible and I don’t think game worlds should be either, otherwise you see the hand of the developers everywhere you look and it erodes the magic of feeling like you are in a living and unpredictable world.”

I particularly liked that bit.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Fri May 18, 2012 6:29 pm

$500k

Peacedog · Post by **Peacedog** » Fri May 18, 2012 7:35 pm

And they changed the 500k reward. We might instead visit the "Aetherial or Chthonic" homeworld.

Sabin Stargem · Post by **Sabin Stargem** » Sat May 19, 2012 12:04 am

The kickstarter is finished, at $537,000 dollars. It feels good to see this.

Little Raven · Post by **Little Raven** » Sat May 19, 2012 2:17 am

So they made their goal, then all their stretch goals, then all the stretch goals they came up with after that.

Sweeeeeeet.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Sun May 20, 2012 2:28 pm

Sepiche wrote:I think it's mostly just human nature... people just put off doing something, but hearing that the kickstarter is about to end it prods them to finally go and invest in the project.

Well, I just learned that if you don't immediately back something but star it for a reminder, Kickstarter will send you an email 48 hours before closing, so that might also account for some of the general trend of pledges picking up at the end of any given campaign (only a tiny part when there's a lot more obvious media coverage though).

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:31 pm

Also, people are more likely to back something they think will succeed.

There's been talk about how kickstarters actually get more money if they set a low amount they need, even if it is way less than what they need to finish their project. Then, they can set a bunch of minor stretch goals. Once people see that the original target is successful, they're more willing to jump on the bandwagon.

malichai11 · Post by **malichai11** » Tue May 22, 2012 4:09 pm

Very excited about this. Titan Quest is still my all-time favorite action RPG (even after playing Diablo 3). I can't wait to see what these guys do with something they'll own and be able to release expansions for in perpetuity. I love their character creation model of having different disciplines that you combine together. I loved all of the different character building options in Titan Quest.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:46 pm

Just got a short update from them that's got some good news... apparently they were able to fill their development team out with a few choice refugees from the breakup of 38 Studios. Hopefully that'll mean a better game in the long run with more experienced people helping out.

Or a giant, bloated project that will take years to generate anything of substance... depends on which developers they got.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:54 pm

Sepiche wrote:Just got a short update from them that's got some good news...

How do you get these updates? Email? Via Kickstarter? I'm one of the early, early backers from when the game was first opened for funding a few years ago, and I never receive any updates.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:56 pm

I got mine today as a KS backer email.

Though I think there may have been a link or two to forum threads? (That might be another game though...)

Honestly, I have appreciate the KS updates, as the last thing I feel like doing is joining a dozen forums for games that won't even be out for a year. I like when the developers keep us in the loop via the KS emails.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:00 pm

Yeah mine was a Kickstarter update email.

It's on the KS website here too:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra ... 07fb928ecf" target="_blank

Peacedog · Post by **Peacedog** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:08 pm

TiLT wrote:
Sepiche wrote:Just got a short update from them that's got some good news...
How do you get these updates? Email? Via Kickstarter? I'm one of the early, early backers from when the game was first opened for funding a few years ago, and I never receive any updates.

They're also doing updates in their forums IIRC. But yes, this latest one was sent via Kickstarter.

ydejin · Post by **ydejin** » Tue May 14, 2013 3:08 pm

Alpha Release is Tomorrow.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Tue May 14, 2013 3:14 pm

Yup, got my alpha key

ibdoomed · Post by **ibdoomed** » Tue May 14, 2013 3:20 pm

Woohooo. Do we know if it'll be coop out the door?

ibdoomed · Post by **ibdoomed** » Wed May 15, 2013 10:48 am

Installing now. Woooooo.

ibdoomed · Post by **ibdoomed** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:06 am

5 minute impressions:

It's gorgeous.
You can click and hold to keep attacking target after target, not like POE.
Writing doesn't appear to be gender sensitive. As a female, I was called a bastard and while I realize that's technically ok, it's not what I would consider a normal female insult.

MP appears to be greyed out.

EzeKieL · Post by **EzeKieL** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:10 am

I've got the keys, but where am I supposed to download it? Humble Bundle doesn't give a link..

Help?

^^

EzeKieL · Post by **EzeKieL** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:11 am

Never mind, I don't have early access

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Wed May 15, 2013 11:43 am

It looks like people can still buy in at $50 and get Alpha access. Is this right?

Those with the Alpha -- does it seem worth it?

ibdoomed · Post by **ibdoomed** » Wed May 15, 2013 1:34 pm

I'm only 30 minutes in so far and have no skills but so far so good.

The best moment so far was running into a pack of doglike things that would have wiped the floor with me but I lead them back into a green explody guy and shot him, when he exploded into gas it killed all the dogs. Mwhahahahaha.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Wed May 15, 2013 8:47 pm

Update on alpha impressions please?

ibdoomed · Post by **ibdoomed** » Wed May 15, 2013 9:16 pm

This is a blast. I would totally pay $50 for this. Rotational camera! It's very much a hybrid of titan quest and D3.

The combat feels good, impactful, not easy, strategic in that you can dodge projectiles.

It's not hard on the wrist with constant clicking.

Loot an hour in is interesting but not fabulous, again I'm only an hour in.

This could be really magical once coop is in.

I love little things like the 'stash' is a smuggler npc that will smuggle things to your other characters.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Wed May 15, 2013 9:51 pm

Does this have the standard common, uncommon, rare, ultra rare loot system?

ibdoomed · Post by **ibdoomed** » Wed May 15, 2013 10:05 pm

msduncan wrote:Does this have the standard common, uncommon, rare, ultra rare loot system?

I think so but I'm not positive. I've found white and yellow items so far which leads me to believe there are such tiers. There's some kind of rune system too, combining same components and they modify items but there's not sockets that I know of.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Thu May 16, 2013 2:04 am

msduncan wrote:Does this have the standard common, uncommon, rare, ultra rare loot system?

That's what they said they were doing a while ago.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:53 am

silverjon wrote:
msduncan wrote:Does this have the standard common, uncommon, rare, ultra rare loot system?
That's what they said they were doing a while ago.

Cool. I need to go back and take a look at what comes with the $50 package. I'm highly interested. I'm a sucker for loot driven games.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:56 am

Wasn't there a post-Apocalypse AARP also under development from kickstarter?

Peacedog · Post by **Peacedog** » Thu May 16, 2013 8:28 am

So far I find the movement and animations a little bit snappier than D3/Torchlight 2. And this is very welcome.

There's only 3 paths (or whatever) in (Soldier, Occultist, Demolitionist). I'm playing an occultist and sort of sprinting up the mastery tree. I've already got 10 mastery points, and 1 point in everthing else. I've got:

1. An aura that dramatically improves my ranged attacks (much like TQ this "reserves" part of your energy pool).
2. A summoned Raven famliar who shoots white-blue glowey shit.
3. A hell hound familiar that engages in melee.
4. A projectile orb attack that has low damage but a nice poison Dot. I've also got a point in it's support skill that adds a nice acid aoe.
5. Some sort of curse, and an upgrade to the curse (justy got this, haven't used it yet).
6. A targeted field that leeches health from enemies in it and gives it to me.

And my trusty rifle. It is recognizably Titan's Quest like in most respects. Graphically it's a "grim" (ahem) looking game however everything is crisp, and it doesn't come off as dreary as say Path of Exile does. The world looks and feels ravaged. The currency is iron bits which is a nice thematic touch since one of the themes is rebuilding/reclaiming stuff. I actually have 2 scrap metal items I can't do anything with yet.

I've only seen yellow (uncommon/aka "magic") drops so far. I do have quite a few of the familiar rune/charm drops from TQ. Level ups give 3 skill points and 1 ability score point (which grants a bundle of actual stat increases). I saw a yellow item in the store that gave +1 to summon raven but I couldn't afford it.

I've only seen a few potions drop and they're expensive. Your actual health regen is pretty high, though, once you get out of combat for a few seconds (some running might be necessary to properly trigger this). I'm down with ditching potion spam but not how D3 did it.

ibdoomed · Post by **ibdoomed** » Thu May 16, 2013 9:04 am

Peacedog wrote:So far I find the movement and animations a little bit snappier than D3/Torchlight 2. And this is very welcome.

There's only 3 paths (or whatever) in (Soldier, Occultist, Demolitionist). I'm playing an occultist and sort of sprinting up the mastery tree. I've already got 10 mastery points, and 1 point in everthing else. I've got:

1. An aura that dramatically improves my ranged attacks (much like TQ this "reserves" part of your energy pool).
2. A summoned Raven famliar who shoots white-blue glowey shit.
3. A hell hound familiar that engages in melee.
4. A projectile orb attack that has low damage but a nice poison Dot. I've also got a point in it's support skill that adds a nice acid aoe.
5. Some sort of curse, and an upgrade to the curse (justy got this, haven't used it yet).
6. A targeted field that leeches health from enemies in it and gives it to me.

And my trusty rifle. It is recognizably Titan's Quest like in most respects. Graphically it's a "grim" (ahem) looking game however everything is crisp, and it doesn't come off as dreary as say Path of Exile does. The world looks and feels ravaged. The currency is iron bits which is a nice thematic touch since one of the themes is rebuilding/reclaiming stuff. I actually have 2 scrap metal items I can't do anything with yet.

I've only seen yellow (uncommon/aka "magic") drops so far. I do have quite a few of the familiar rune/charm drops from TQ. Level ups give 3 skill points and 1 ability score point (which grants a bundle of actual stat increases). I saw a yellow item in the store that gave +1 to summon raven but I couldn't afford it.

I've only seen a few potions drop and they're expensive. Your actual health regen is pretty high, though, once you get out of combat for a few seconds (some running might be necessary to properly trigger this). I'm down with ditching potion spam but not how D3 did it.

I think at some level (10 maybe) you can open a second class and start putting points into two and dual-class. I'm level 9.

Beyond the initial two health pots you get on the bridge, I've had a total of ONE drop and they are indeed way expensive to buy. Health regen once out of combat for a few seconds is extremely fast and I love the tradeoff with the xp bonus mechanic. It's a very good way to choose low risk/low reward or high risk/high reward.

ydejin · Post by **ydejin** » Thu May 16, 2013 3:05 pm

ibdoomed wrote: I think at some level (10 maybe) you can open a second class and start putting points into two and dual-class. I'm level 9.

Beyond the initial two health pots you get on the bridge, I've had a total of ONE drop and they are indeed way expensive to buy. Health regen once out of combat for a few seconds is extremely fast and I love the tradeoff with the xp bonus mechanic. It's a very good way to choose low risk/low reward or high risk/high reward.

Dual classing is definitely in. You're probably right ibdoomed, it's probably level 10. I've got a level 15 soldier/demolitionist and a level 10 demolitionist and they both have the second class unlocked (although the demolitionist is staying pure demolitionist at least for now).

There are two more classes that aren't in the Alpha. As of a year ago they were the Nightblade (presumably an assassin type character) and the Arcane Spellcaster. The Arcane Spellcaster has been shown in videos before, but not the Nightblade.

You've been just having bad luck on the health pot drops. They aren't a frequent drop, but you will get them. My Soldier probably has a good 7-8 of them stacked up.

I also like the fast Health Regen. Although it's pretty easy to get it going when just kiting a slow bad guy. Frankly it's the only way I've been able to take out the boss monsters. Their bosses/mini-bosses are (at least for me) very tough.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Thu May 16, 2013 3:37 pm

Ahhh I remember this kickstarter, wanted to give money and completely forgot.
Ah well !

ydejin · Post by **ydejin** » Thu May 16, 2013 3:56 pm

Vorret wrote:Ahhh I remember this kickstarter, wanted to give money and completely forgot.
Ah well !

It's not too late Vorret.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Thu May 16, 2013 8:20 pm

I'm getting the impression that this thing might be worth the $50 even in it's current Alpha state?

ydejin · Post by **ydejin** » Thu May 16, 2013 8:32 pm

msduncan wrote:I'm getting the impression that this thing might be worth the $50 even in it's current Alpha state?

So far it certainly plays fine. I haven't run into any bugs at all, and it certainly plays like a good Diablo-like game. However, I don't think any of us have put in enough time to know how big the Alpha is or how much gameplay it represents.

Alpha-related issues:

1) The screen halts and hitches just a bit on occasion. I think it's loading animations or some such activity -- I would expect it will get fixed and that it's currently just not optimized.

2) I personally think the bosses are too hard, particularly in comparison with the non-bosses. I have no idea how much balancing they've done so far (if any). As I've gotten further, the non-bosses are getting harder, so that is good -- what you don't want IMO is the non-bosses to be a cakewalk and then the bosses to kick your ass. I think my Soldier/Demolition guy is about 3 1/2 hours in. The first major boss is way too much for my poor Demolition specialist -- I'm basically doing almost no damage on him, so I can mostly kite him (although he did kill me once with an AoE attack) but I'd probably half to play for a good 30-40 minutes to take him out given my current damage output. In fairness, I rushed my Demolitionist forward to see how fast I could catch up with my Soldier, skipped at least one major side quest, and now I'm probably paying for it.