Just stumbled acrossed this game and it looks interesting. It’s a RTS 4x space empire building game.The basic jist is that you macro manage your empire and the little people (called private citizens in the game) move your resources around. Your role in the game is like being the President of a country. You don’t concern your self about making sure x amount of resources get to planet A, just that the route to planet A is safe. Since I’m a sucker for these type of games and after the minor disappointment I got from Armada 2526 I will take a second look before buying the game. From what I understand the developer is a one man indy and if it turns out to be a decent game I will be buying this one.
If only it were turn-based and had some kind of point system for what you could directly accomplish during a given turn.
Just read a new preview of this Distant Worlds game and it looks and sounds pretty interesting.
It seems the article writer is also a beta tester and if he isn’t pulling the same type of deception that those MOO3 beta testers did with their false gushing and outright lying about how “fun” the game was suppose to be, we might have something here.
I checked the forums off the developer site linked in the OP and apparently it should be out in a few weeks.
Distant Worlds is going to be released on the 23rd, next Tuesday, if anyone is interested. Looks like it may be a decent game, but I’m going to hold off buying for about a week to see what the reactions are.
Link if anyone cares: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2396509
This game looks very cool. I always thought a 4x space game with star control combat would be cool… that’s what it looks like in that video.
I was the preview writer, btw, and a beta tester.
I can’t promise fun, obviously, because people have different opinions, but I had a blast with the beta and think the game is really something special.
I’ve got no reason to “lie,” I am not an employee of Matrix or anything. I’ve posted as Son_of_Montfort on the Wargamer.com forums and the Matrix forums, and there is a sizeable amount of information I have given here and there, along with some of the other testers. I have also posted as Baelthazar on the Octopus Overlords forum. So I won’t repeat here all the things I said, but a plethora of information is out there regarding Distant Worlds.
It should be out this coming week, if all goes well, according to what Erik Rutkins has been saying.
That looks awesome. Will hold off to hear how the AI does, but if that’s any good then I’m sold.
EDIT: That is, once it hits a real online service, like Impulse or Steam.
Quitch,
I doubt it will be available on Impulse or Steam, as this isn’t normally something that Matrix does. But IMHO, Matrix has one of the most user friendly digital systems out there. Other than their use of Digital River, which is a bit “meh” they support their buyers VERY well and they do not use DRM. You DL an install file and get a serial number - you can copy that install file, you can install it as many times are you want on as many of your computers you want, you can burn it to a DVD - whatever. All you have to do is enter the serial number to install - no online check, no phone home, no online service required.
If you happen to have a problem, the customer service at Matrix is SUPERB, best in the business. In case you don’t believe me, pop on over to Wargamer.com and ask this question - I think the consensus will be - Matrix > Impulse > Steam.
So don’t wait for Impulse or Steam, it probably won’t happen and you will get FAR better mileage using Matrix’s digital store.
Bael
Can I download the file later without purchasing an extended service? No? Fail.
And Steam slaps Impulse about any day of the week. I want value-add from my online service, not a digital locker with user intervention required patching. The beauty of Steam is that it takes so much hassle off my shoulders while adding so many additional features, like the cloud, like stats, like the community stuff. They just need to make mass installing easier and I’m done with anything else.
Well, I think you get 1 year of re-downloads from Matrix. But… and I can’t promise this… if you were to go past that year and need to re-download, you can contact Erik Rutkins (one of the Matrix head honchos) and he has, in the past, hooked people up. I’m not joking, these Matrix people literally bend over backwards to keep their customers happy. In fact, it is Digital River that puts the DL time-limit, and Matrix worked tooth and nail to grandfather in free extended downloads for all their past buyers when Digital River cracked the whip about two years ago and said it was going to strictly enforce the policy. Like I said, you prove you own a copy - and Erik will probably give you a new one gratis, or re-open your download.
Matrix caters to a… hmm… how to put this… “more mature” crowd of grognard wargamers who typically DETEST DRM and think PBEM is the hottest technology going. Many of these grogs won’t even THINK about using Steam, because it has an online requirement, and some of them won’t use Impulse because it installs silent helper files.
Distant Worlds has no online component, at the moment (perhaps in an expansion), so the social networking of Steam would mostly be wasted.
Anyway, I imagine there will be options for a physical copy.
Like I said, go ask people at the Wargamer.com your concerns about Matrix’s store - you’ll get more positive remarks than you know what to do with. I would say that the Matrix store and the Matrix customer service is one of the few that most people unequivocally support with a great deal of praise.
Bael
Looks cool? Check.
Has spaceships? Check.
I’ll be buying this. ;)
I suspect I’ll crack :)
I wrote a ship design AAR over at the Matrix boards - check it out:
Damn that’s huge. I’ll have to read that sometime soon, but it looks awesome based on what I’ve skimmed. Wonder if my short attention span will let me read the whole…hey look, something shiny! runs away
I like that they made some components essential.
In Space Empires, one thing I always hated was how you had a lot of components that the AI would just completely disregard on it’s designs in favor of sheer efficiency using a silly selection of components.
This game looks very interesting … but I guess MOO3 teached me to never judge a 4X game because of previews.
rezaf
Heh, MOO3 is on the short list of “Games with Spaceships I’ve Never Played, Nor Will Ever Play” ;)
It’s mostly pictures! [;)]
But still! points Long! skips away, chasing a puppy
So - this is listed as now available on Matrix Games’ website… anyone bite yet? Impressions would be nice.
I took a look at some of the screens and the game looks utterly massive. Pausable space 4X? That hits every button, but I’m buried in a couple other games now. $40 isn’t that bad of a price for something this niche though. Question for anyone who’s got the game: how easy is it to get into? Decent manual?
Looked back at the wargamer.com preview. “Perhaps the best analogy would be Europa Universalis in space” Yea, I’m getting this when I get time.