Dystopia Demo - Post Release

[Sui]

As you surely know by now, the Cyberpunk HL2 mod Dystopia has been a huge hit since the demo was released a few days ago, with over 90,000 downloads and a higher popularity rating than Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. There’s been a huge reaction from the online community, which I'll be looking at in this news post. [br] First off, the Russian Half-Life 2 fansite Half-Life: Inside have had the amazing opportunity to infiltrate Team Dystopia’s high tech developing lab and speak with the people behind this great mod. They’ve been dodging lighting fast katanas wielded by cowboy hackers to bring us this exclusive interview, so be sure to read it! Here’s an extract:

HL Inside: Simply put, the gameplay in Dystopia rocks. It pretty much combines UT's Assault with TFC classes and the cyberspace it something unique. Was this gameplay model planned from the very concept or it changed throughtout development process? [br] Fuzzy: All members of the development team are hardcore gamers who have in played top level clans in many previous games, including TFC, Q3F, Action Quake2 and RTCW to list a few. Right from the beginning our goal was to draw on all our favourite things from these previous games while injecting unique ideas of our own. We began the project by listing out a collection of high level aims, things like; rewards aggressive play, deep team play, wide range of skills, fast paced action, tense situations. Then through out development we dug deeper and deeper into the details, always ensuring that everything fit with these high level aims.

Fancy some light hearted comedy? PHWComics are hosting a series of Dystopia strips, created in game. The comics showcase the amazing visuals as well as some great jokes- so be sure to check them out here.
[br]

[br]And finally; the main site itself. The developers have commented on the community’s response to their demo, plus the direction in which they’re headed with Dystopia presently. Check out their site here- where you can also find download mirrors if you haven’t already grabbed this great demo.

 

[Betelgeuze]

Those comics are great, players are already talking about the teddy spider in-game!

They need to put teddy in the next release as an eastern egg.

 

[Inflame007]

........
Amazing visuals?
they have some awful weapon and map textures. and the animation cycles are just ripoffs from CSS......

 

[Dodo]

........
Amazing visuals?
they have some awful weapon and map textures. and the animation cycles are just ripoffs from CSS......

YES !! exactly, i never wanted to say it but... the weapons and maps of dystopia look really bad.

-dodo

 

[Sui]

The character models look utterly stunning, and those are the type of visuals the comics are showing off You don't see any awful gun textures in these strips do you?

 

[CyberPitz]

The character models look utterly stunning, and those are the type of visuals the comics are showing off You don't see any awful gun textures in these strips do you?

I think they are just whining about the game itself.

I'm sure they will do some work on the animations themselves, but the guns still look pretty good imho.

 

[Dr. Shim]

but the guns still look pretty good imho.

The models are fine. But we need some unique animations! :bounce:

 

[Betelgeuze]

Nothing wrong with the map! The map is great, it looks nice, it has great balance, great theme, it is complex, it has a lot of variation in gameplay,... perfect for a mod like this! When you play a CS map 5 times it gets boring, nothing new to discover. Im playing dystopia from the beginnen and every time I discover new things and find new tactics. Every time you play its a different game, in CS its always the same.

Maybe its me but I dont have a problem with the weapon textures.

The only thing that needs some work are the animations.

 

[Lak3d]

balancing is more important than the graphic or the map design!
Keep up the good work Dystopia team! :E

 

[Nashalife]

Suicide42 - can you please correct the link to the interview in news? it's corrupted. should be http://www.hl-inside***/interviews/dystopia/2/eng/ ...

 

[Sui]

Fixed.

I have no idea why, but it changed the link to http://www.*******/interviews/dystopia/2/eng. It must have been trying to block hl-inside***

 

[DuB]

YES !! exactly, i never wanted to say it but... the weapons and maps of dystopia look really bad.

-dodo

Maps? You actually played the game? I don't reckon.

Anyways, back on topic, some of those cartoons had me in stiches, specially the: EMP nade and the Cyberspace one

 

[exmodel]

Does everyone know that this success could likely end up in a deal with valve to release dystopia as a stand alone that we'll have to pay for?

 

[RaBiD WeAzEL]

Yeah, I noticed that the maps and weapons weren't the most impressive looking, and such but... The game is really great when it comes down to gameplay...

I sat and played it and didn't get bored. I haven't done that w/ a mod in a long time...

 

[$kelet0r]

it looks and plays like and could have been deus ex 1 multiplayer with objectives
and thats not all good - dull level design, slow movement, confusion
its frustrating fun - too easy to get lost or separated from your team

 

[Teddy]

They need to put teddy in the next release as an easter egg.

I'm already an easter egg ;P

 

[Cole]

Does everyone know that this success could likely end up in a deal with valve to release dystopia as a stand alone that we'll have to pay for?

If Valve took it under it's wing, it wold end up like how Cs went.
It would go Retail but still be free for current HL2 owners, and it would run mods as retail version.

:|.

 

[aeroripper]

maps need work to really bring out the beauty of what source can do... right now it really doesn't look that pretty, even if it is a dystopia.

 

[james_blond_007]

downloading.. woot!!! =D

 

[dys-Fuzzy]

Does everyone know that this success could likely end up in a deal with valve to release dystopia as a stand alone that we'll have to pay for?

You do realise that all the previous examples of mods which Valve have helped go retail have remained available for free as mods for people who have HL\HL2?

 

[Buveed]

CS looked really shitty in places back in 99. Compare 1.6 to now, and you can see what a little time can do to a mod. They got something playable out, and it can only get better. Give it time.

 

[Betelgeuze]

With all respect but thats because you dont know what to do. When you play Dystopia for some days you know what t do and you will never be seprated frm your team.

 

[Asuka]

Wow 90,000 dls? Holy crap they hit gold! Cant wait to play!

 

[Edcrab]

Yeah- some of the presentation could use some buffing, but compare Dystopia to the simply hideous first release of DoD, for example- they're already ahead.

It's just the spindly arms that get to me... damn spindly arms. *ahem*

 

[Betelgeuze]

Yes its only a mod, you people exptect it to be like Valve's work.

 

[MiccyNarc]

Weapons are good, player models are awesome IMO, especially the heavies.

My only map complaint is that it looks like crap outside.
And new animations would be good.

 

[$kelet0r]

And new animations would be good.

especially a climbing animation

 

[Sathernut]

Omg this mod rocks you guys are pathetic. Maybe you should all purchase new pc's cause models look superb to me. Best mod ever!

 

[Mr-Fusion]

I got bored of the 1 map and stopped playing.