Love Open Alpha
Posted by Derek Yu Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:48:00 GMT
From Eskil Steenberg’s blog:
My silence should not be mistaken for inaction, in fact the opposite is true. Today I start the first stage of the open Alpha for Love. At this stage you wont be able to log in and play but you will be able to see the engine run on your machine, giving you an idea of how well your machine will handle the game. This will let me work out any compatibility issues.
Some lovely new screenshots of Love here. (The characters kind of creep me out, though. In a Xenu sort of way.)
(Source: Jim Rossignol, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
I’m amazed that Eskil can create something so beautiful. I wish the gameplay appealed to me more (and that I had a computer that could run the game).
Wow those screenshots are beautiful!
how to ruin a beautiful atmosphere: add creepy bald characters welding guns.. i was waiting for this game but i can’t see i’m more interested now :\, in fact the opposite is true.
I’m stoked for this. Love the character designs too.
Don’t worry, yet. The atmosphere indeed seemed to be great, but from the presentations some while ago the gameplay also looked very deep and original, so those guys might just fit in. At least it doesn’t seem to become some kind of “Knytt 3D Online”, even though it seemed like it at first. So, I’d just wait and see in which directions Steenberg takes this.
The alpha “demo” looks nice, although I think the graphical filter could be stronger. If I remember correctly, in the videos the picture always looked rather unclear, which added to the atmosphere. In the alpha I find that it all looks a bit too clear.
Anyway, what really caught my eye, in the account creation screen: “Type in the username of the player who referd you and get 24H extra time. The user who referd you will get an extra 5 days.” Is this not going to be free anymore?
this game should be renamed World of Xenu.
or Xenu Online. Take your pick.
@MisterX
The features page mentions a pay-to-play system.
MisterX, anymore? I don’t recall love ever being planned to be a freeware game .. but I might be the one who’s wrong?
I’m completely fascinated by this game. I love the way the in-game technology works particularly.
I was quite convinced that it was said to free, at least in some way. Well then, apparently I’m mistaking it for something else or so.
Pay-to-play, huh, I wonder if that’s going to work out.
Haha, you said Love.
Eclipse, for me the only atmosphere that was ruined was the one of this article and thread, thanks to your post.
Wow, looks secksayer than ever.
Well spoken Eskil, and funny Xenu comment there Derek.
Looks nice, runs fast. Then again, it’s just a menu screen.
The black bits on the characters are rather contrast-y, but then again that is sort of logical. Soldiers standing out in a peaceful world or somesuch. I’d personally tone that down a bit, but still looking nice.
I love (derr lol) the idea of the tech behind this game, but I don’t know how easy it would be for me to get into a game with a pay-to-play model. They never have the appeal of the buy-it-own-it variety of game for me. Although, if he constantly added stuff (don’t know how that would work though) it’s all good.
@MikeK: what thread? also, it’s my opinion and you can also get the f*ck away if you want you know ^^ now people can’t say a game character looks ugly without being attacked?
cant play on an intel processor, god i hate when this kind of thing happens
Agree with Eclipse’s first comment.
@Eclipse: If I was judging games by their alpha’s, I wouldn’t play any. I bet its just a placeholder for player characters when testing multiplayer.
Make the bald guys shorter and give them big beards. Problem solved.
Probably one of the most original idea brilliantly executed ! From the tools to the interface and the rendering choice.
Maybe a little bit to read sometime but imagine this world run by thousand of people.
Minecraft is dull compared to this futur master piece !
I remember the time I was using Verse. Way cool to edit mesh in real-time with friends.
Things are coming along greatly.
Yeah, would be better with space marines.
Nice screenshots, but the marketing hype on the website seems a little hyperbolic: You won’t be told a story, but you will get to live one. It’s not what is given to you, it’s what you do when you hold it. This kind of vague “This is going to be the awesomest gme ever!” claim makes me a little uncomfortable. But then I am a cynical old bastard. I guess, in the long run, whether a game of this type ends up being fun to play will depend largely on the players. If it manages to attract a strong community of people willing to invest time and effort, then it could work.
@Bremze: I hope so, but i wouldn’t release screenshots with placeholder stuff that doesn’t fit the style of the game… @O: you genius.
I quite like the art, has a 70’s sci-fi thing going on,. the Players vs AI team concept sounds like fun to me,. . the base building/destroying mechanic holds a bunch of promise, with all the neat tech. shown so far,. looking forward to playing a demo at least., people will of course ‘pay to play’ if they enjoy it.
Why do there always have to be guns? It’s like someone making a beautiful landscape painting and then thinking it’s going to be to boring and painting in some bald guys with guns.
It’s not just like that, it is exactly that.
Yeah, I’ve been really disappointed by the more recent developments in this game. The gameplay videos he released recently looked… well, it looked like a good, solid and interesting game, but that’s the problem. Personally, I’m getting tired of gamey games, because it’s starting to feel like it’s all been done before, and that the new advancements being made don’t make sufficient improvement for it all to be worthwhile.
Largely, I’m bored of games. I want something new. The only games I’ve really enjoyed that much in the past year or so were Mother 3 (not so much the gameplay as the humour and weird reality of the plot and dialogue), Spelunky (fairly traditional on the surface, but in a way that felt very new and fresh), Dyson and a couple of Terry and Increpare’s games.
It’s probably stupid, but when Love was first announced, I thought it looked like something really different, beautiful, perhaps even “transcendental”, I guess, and, essentially, not gamey. It’s clear now that that’s not the case.
If you’re going to add destructive ability to the player’s arsenal it needs to have art associated with it. It could be something completely new or it could be something familiar to everyone.
He went with the latter, guns and explosives. There are benefits to that approach in that everyone already knows how guns and explosives work from a functional standpoint.
It could have easily been magic, swords, lasers or space penises but it doesn’t actually matter since the ability to destroy is the idea that needs to be conveyed.
Seems to me like the continuation of a very annoying trend in the comment sections of almost every game coverage site. People pan some particular feature or bit of art style or design because its too commonly used. Space marines, nazis, zombies, guns, magic, brown and grey textures. The list goes on.
The basic trifecta of settings (fantasy, sci-fi, and wwII) are bitched about constantly, yet no one ever offers a single compelling alternative along with their complaints. It always boils down to “Why oh why did they have to do zombies/aliens/lawn gnomes again?!”
If the extent of your comment is to vomit out your opinion without attempting to dredge up any interesting thought or inform anyone about something specific they ought to know (your opinion doesn’t count) then what is the purpose of your comment? To inform everyone of your valuable opinion?
No one cares if you “hate guns” or if you “hate the look” or even if you absolutely love it.
On the other hand if you can objectively critique it, compare and contrast it to other titles, offer up suggestions, relate pertinent anecdotes from your own experiences and just generally contribute to the conversation then I very much want to hear what you have to say. Even if I don’t agree with it at all.
Good Examples:
“has a 70’s sci-fi thing going on”
“The alpha “demo” looks nice, although I think the graphical filter could be stronger. If I remember correctly, in the videos the picture always looked rather unclear, which added to the atmosphere. In the alpha I find that it all looks a bit too clear.”
Bad Examples:
“Why do there always have to be guns?”
“how to ruin a beautiful atmosphere: add creepy bald characters welding guns.. i was waiting for this game but i can’t see i’m more interested now :\, in fact the opposite is true.”
I sat there staring at the main menu for so long yesterday. I don’t know how representative this is of the actual game worlds people will play in, but really like how dense and vertical the world is. It feels quite varied from location to location- there are forests, plains, rocky areas, neat rock pillars… it seems like it will be incredible to explore. It even seems like the colors shift subtly from area to area (does this depend on the time of day, or other factors as well?).
I’m totally on board with the ‘why guns?’ question.
I mean, it isn’t like I was hoping for a glorified screen saver or anything, but I sort of had the impression that it would have some interesting game mechanics to match the art style.
The idea voiced in the writing about the game seems to indicate some sort of interesting, escapist fantasy concept, and I’m not sure how shooting bald guys fits into this. I’m not saying the game looks unplayable or anything, but it is a bit of a letdown.
On a side note, how will this game affect my Thetans?
this game is made of epic and win.
awesome stuff, just watched gameplay video on the side… very good stuff here.
eskil seems to just be a very pretentious guy who is making a very average game with pretty graphics. why guns? it could have been an okay game without the need for fucking alien combat. i thought it was initially reported to be a multiplayer puzzle game involving building cities with other people in spectacular environments, with some sort of team gameplay going on. never did i hear “oh yeah its an mmo/fps mashup that the creator’s just all pretentious about cause he made his own tools” and now i see a post on a blog where he declares his racist and sexist views to the world? skipping this one for sure.
Woo hoo. Go ahead and skip it. Looks like the world might a better place. I for one don’t really care if the author is “pretentious” or seems “pretentious” as long I can enjoy the game in some capacity. And I wasn’t aware the game involved having sex with aliens. But thanks for the heads up reallylongnameguy.
Anyone thinking the game is “just guns” watch the gameplay video here: http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/video.html
Trust on TIGSource to go Drama whenever someone has a differing opinion from the herd. Only praise is valid opinion.
What? Please explain how “differing opinions” are at all being oppressed here.
Let’s drop that “victimized minority” attitude. It’s played out like a jheri curl. (Especially since there are plenty of haters on TIGSource. Trust me. ;)
the picture looks awesome. but since it is said it doesn’t work on intel, probably I won’t test it.
if you saw the gameplay video for LOVE that was added to his site ages ago, you’d see it had guns in it then. it was always going to be part of the game, I don’t know why everyone’s shocked all of a sudden.
people were shocked then too
Yeah, Dwarf Fortress pretty much proved that combat ruins these sorts of games completely. Like, if Dwarf Fortress didn’t have combat it would be an incredible game rather than a terrible game, and it’s a shame to see LOVE making the same mistake.
Sure is ‘people in love with their own opinion’ in here
Also, what’s with all these people who don’t like the idea of paying continuously instead of paying once? Are you all just to lazy to become independently wealthy like the rest of us? Whatever happened to the independent spirit?
But, Dwarf Fortress combat is awesome. It just happens to be very rough around the edges at the moment, and not mesh very well with the rest of the Fortress mode.
I dunno, I feel obligated to defend a combat system which allows you to pull someone’s sock off and beat them silly with it.
But Love… yeah, I’m just about to watch the gameplay video thing. I thought it had not been updated, but if it has been, hopefully it is somewhat enlightening.
Filthy programmers always ruining artistic merit with their disgusting measurable objective goals.
“Ooh! Look at me, everybody! Look at me!! I’m a nobody and I’m voicing my displeasure with this game! Ooh! My opinion matters!!!”
First impressions of this game long ago absolutely floored me. But each little bit I learn about it turns me off more and more. Now I find out it’s pay to play, so I’m probably never even going to be able to play it at all. Maan.
I should point out that I still think it looks like it could be a good game, or even a great game. I’m just disappointed that it isn’t going to be a new sort of good game, as it originally appeared. It still looks as beautiful as ever, though I’m not massively keen on the character designs…
Even the title before suggested something like a wild world to explore in coop, now both the art style and the title name doesn’t match the gameplay imo
Is simple as this: The aliens don’t fit with the overall art style and look and feel of the game. In fact they’re quite ugly, stereotyped and derivative. The game’s name doesn’t fit anymore too, it’s like “I’m playing LOVE and we are building a turret to demolish the xenu aliens fortifications” wth…
These characters in the graphics look like Jim Leighy from Trailer Park Boys
Why are people complaining that it’s not free?!
So this guy is supposed to pay for the servers out of his pocket because he owes you that since he put all this effort, time, passion and skill into it? Let’s simplify and ignore food, housing, and amenities like electricity and toiletries (those cost money, too, if you forgot).
Well, Captain Selfish, the magic server fairy doesn’t just float around and make online games work with MMO dust.
As for some of the harsh criticisms, I think we’re seeing reactions to the chasm between people’s expectations of the game and the reality of the game.
It’s like reading a book with great characters and then seeing the movie and feeling betrayed because the actors don’t look exactly how you imagined them. There’s gonna be a gap between what you know about the game, the info your brain creates to fill that gap, and the real game.
He doesn’t have to supply servers. I’d rather pay for the game once, set up my own server, and play with my friends than pay for the game continuously and play with a bunch of random people from the internet. People have been expecting the game for a while now, and there’s been plenty of hype. The continuous payment model was unexpected, and the hype amplifies the reaction.
GC: That works for games with a limited scope, but for a game where you’re supposed to build a world you must have reliable servers.
Actually, if there are guns it shouldn’t be called Love anymore hehe, but other than that I’m cool with it. The designer is realizing his vision for this game and you whinny asses can’t do anything about it :D
THE GAME SHOULD NOW BE CALLED ‘HATE’ CAUSE IT HAS GUNS!
: D It’s looking fantastic, even if the characters are the one visual thing I don’t agree with in an aesthetic sense, mostly because it’s so detailed yet detached, and the characters just have weirdly long necks and other stuff that just doesn’t work that well within the graphical style!
I still think the game looks rad, though, and would gladly pay to play it.
I don’t get all the surprise surrounding these screens. Everyone who was an actual fan of the project could’ve done two minutes of research on the title and found out all this information months ago. It seems to me that the sort of person who would have a problem with these new screens is the sort of person who would’ve taken a quick look at the images shown a few months ago, praised LOVE for its look without bothering to learn anything else about it, and now are bothered and eager to vocalize their opinions still without bothering to learn the basic background on the title before doing so.
Yeah, so far as I saw, there are no new videos of game play or anything of that sort. Just some newer pictures of bald guys? I think they are new?
Still looking interesting, even if it is SO BALD, and WHY, and all that. Stuff.
I don’t think anything like this has been done before, if it is like the maker is describing. Which is usually a good thing.
Back to artzzz stuff and all that, I think that the black on the bald guys should be toned down, as that is the most conflicting visual element. But considering that there are radios in the game it sort of makes sense for there to be guns. And how else would you fight against the AI? Some kind of awesome sword that shoots magical lovebeams? I dunno.
Make love, not war.
For me, the interesting thing about this game is the incredible interactivity with the world: building in it, carving it up, generating electricity, powering devices, not to mention the innovative radio frequency business infrastructure that underlies the whole thing. There’s a vision there that’s unmistakable.
Why is it called Love, you ask, if it has guns? What does it matter? Love is what the game creator put into it and Love is what he wants to call it. He could have made up some gimmicky reason for the name, but there’s no need.
As for payment - why not? He needs to eat. How much did you shell out for that high-end games rig?
It always astounds me that some people would complain about missing out on a game in a world where thousands die each day from malnutrition, disease and war. Perspective is a funny commodity with us humans.
I’d rather glad a more normal look to go on that gameplay, or a more abstract gameplay to go with the look… a sci-fi game with bright painterly graphics, well, ruins both themes in my opinion
I like the transition to nighttime when the fuzzy filter disappears and the stars come out. Compared to daytime it feels really peaceful. Somehow the fuzzy filter is very disturbing to me. Otherwise - Can’t wait to play this. Even with the filter.
As an aside, the “Rock Paper Shotgun” link at the bottom of the post seems to point back to TIGSource.. ?!
wake me up for “fuck free beta”
this game works in WINE.
@nukeedit thislooksmuchworsethanithoughtitwouldb: That racism post on his blog is indeed strange… I’m sure he meant no harm and somewhere in this thought might be a rather common sense view. But boy, it reminds me why famous people have PR advisers. But enough with that.
The graphics look amazing in real time (although the flickering effect is too much). I have to admit, though, the “war” theme too struck me as a strange choice for an otherwise so unusual project.
@Alar “Why is it called Love, you ask, if it has guns? What does it matter? Love is what the game creator put into it and Love is what he wants to call it.” Astonishing and logical thoughtful argument for that. I didn’t realize that he put “Love” as a name because he wanted to. Also, I think i’ll put “Hard Work” to my next candy-pink-themed match 3 game.
No reason why a reasonably conventional design shouldn’t be presented in an arty way! That’s cool too. (Not that we even know whether this game will actually be conventional or not. Or whether it will play well or be boring or any of that. I think all promising-looking games should have the right to be considered awesome until proven shit.)
Well, I think it still looks pretty cool, anyway. It has that 70s sci-fi vibe for sure; more specifically it reminds me of the wild paintings you find on the covers of scrubby second-hand paperbacks, and I mean that in a good way.
Maybe the problem is just that the earlier, unpopulated screen shots brought to mind more abstract games like Archipelagos or The Sentinel.
I would really like to play this game with its terrain-modding and technology linking engine in a competitive environment.. hope the server’s mod-able
I’m trying to stop drooling.
@Flamebait - “Hard Work” doesn’t sound too bad, imho ;) “Hard Time” sounds cool too, although possible it might be too erotic for a match 3 game. Mmmm… erotic match…
Eclipse: Oh, I didn’t realize I said you couldn’t say your oppinon? Wait and lets check… nope, i didn’t! All i did was express MY opinion. Yes, there was a positive atmosphere surrounding the art and comments in this “thread” (sorry i dont know what to call it) up until yours. I like the art, and then i read your post and it saddens me - and that is my opinion on people who have to cry about other peoples (eskils) visions all the time. Snarky bullshit is a constant feature of your posting and its unconstructive and tiresome - just my opinion, nobody is stopping you.
“i thought it was initially reported to be a multiplayer puzzle game involving building cities with other people in spectacular environments, with some sort of team gameplay going on.”
I was hoping that it would develop more in this direction as well, as more of an interactive world-building sim rather than an FPS. Oh well. This is the risk we take when we hype indie games based on visuals rather than gameplay.
It’s not a fucking run and gun shoot ‘em dead FPS. Did anyone even watch the game play video? It looks like it’s going to be really complex, with all the tools and things you can build.
You mean this gameplay video?
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/10/15/love-video/
Is this what a Don Imus art game looks like?
I can’t say I’m a fan of the bald guys, but I thought we knew it was going to be something like this before now. I’m not surprised, anyway. I’m wondering how much of this reaction has more to do with shattered hype. It’s not really fair to give your own assumptions so much weight.
I think we’re lending too much hype to the bald guys. For all we know, they could just be a small degenerate cult in some grud-forsaken corner of the game world. Maybe everybody else looks normal. Maybe they look like cats. It’s all guesswork at this stage.
When I play this, I’m going to terraform a penis mountain so big it’ll be visible from everywhere. And I’ll put lights on it and it’ll glow like jesus.
It’ll have to be a goddam big mountain to out-glow me, mate.
ok MikeK, now you can officially fuck off, as you don’t know me at all ^^ My opinion is not only reasonable but widely shared in this thread, and it’s not because i’ve somewhat started a trend, it’s because those characters are creepy as hell and they kinda ruin the atmosphere, same for the “sci-fi war” gameplay possibly, I don’t know why if I post my opinion trolls like you needs to respond that way, next time just talk about YOUR opinion and keep the mouth shut about other people ones, even if you don’t like them
Once again its about your attitude not your opinion. are you going to make me say it again? It was pointed out that they are creepy in the article to begin with!! That didn’t bother me now did it?
But your right. I like your second post about the clash of the 2 styles. That is a good comment and much more constructive.
But i guess i’m biased because i met Eskil in person at a bar once and given that he could come here for criticism - i was imagining you said what you said sitting right next to him at the bar - and it would truly ruin the atmosphere of the room. Other people on here said the chars were creepy and i know some of them know Eskil, but the difference is i can imagine them saying it to his face. But i believe you hide behind your Eclipse ;)….. and you can say anything how you want! go for it… But I’m still going to hate YOUR character more than Eskils though if you know what i mean.
Also your right about leaving here! I never read the comments and only did this time because i was excited about the look of the game and also because i commented myself. You are right though. i belong here no more than i do a Klan rally, a Crip party, or given your over-use of curse words - wading through your shallow end of the pool. You win, its all yours.
instead of doing like that if you managed to read carefully my first comment you’ll be understand it was intended to be a sort of pun, as i used the same words as the author. Also I really can’t see how my comment could sound inpolite, as i just stated the fact that adding some xenu looking bald dudes with weapons in such a lust and peacefully environment was driving my attention away more than interesting me :\
@Craig Stern
No, I mean the video he has on his site. http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/gameplay_video.html
Guys, calm down. This is TIGS. It’s not that hard to have a civil discussion on the internet. Give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes, instead of jumping straight to ad hominem when someone disagrees with you.
Less bickering and more LOVE talk :)
Some anon: Sure, “some anon.” How about you fuck off and stop using a sockpuppet name, asshole?
At least have the balls to use your actual name instead of trying to start shit under the guise of supposed anonymity.
fuuuuuuck
@toastie
An mmo with guns instead of the usual swords wizards and dragons etc, is actually quite unique. Very few mmos ever have guns.
@squiz: not really, every mmo that’s not fantasy have guns actually, it’s not something “quite unique”.. also Love is not a true mmo, so that includes in the list all the multiplayer fps out there too :P
Uhhh.. the world’s largest mmo has a few hundred guns.
There’s about 6 other large MMOs I can name right off the top of my head with guns.
Isn’t this that MMO game that slowly erases all the files off your hard drive every time you play it? Gotta watch out. I heard it’s pretty good.
I’m not sure how clearly Eskil explained all this before or how much coverage his statements got, but he’s been saying for a while now that LOVE is going to be a competitive FPS with a variety of weapons so it’s a shame people are upset by it having them. Even so, most of the game isn’t even about the fighting but about building a community, exploring the world, and discovering the weapons that the rest of your team can use. I’m not going for a shameless plug here, but here’s how he described the game in an interview I did with him a few months back:
“I’ve called it a not so massively multiplayer online game, but I feel the MMO part has really been a mistake of mine. People to tend to think MMO as short for MMORPG and my game is not a role playing game. Not the sort of game you would associate with RPGs. I would say it’s a collaborative adventure game. Maybe I would add first person.”
Now here’s the shameless plug part. I kinda dropped the ball during the write-up part of the interview, but Eskil’s quotes are really interesting and give a ton of insight into the game: http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2009/05/29/4cr-interview-eskil-steenberg-love-pt-1/
i’m not supporting a game made by a guy who is clearly racist
whats next stormfront the game?
in the indiegame scene I associate the name ‘Love’ with one of the better platformers I’ve ever played. in short, I hope naming your game ‘Love’ does not become a trend.
@hate - i love you, no matter how small your pen is.
Some anon: sorry I was such a dick before. I got my balls crushed in a door while i was trying to f-ck the keyhole.
@hate: He’s not a racist. He just doesn’t believe in superficial political correctness that tries to simplify and distort these issues, mostly in the US.
btw go here :D http://www.quelsolaar.com/alpha/
Skinheads! Oi, Skinheads!
@hate: perhaps we should start with: why do you call him ‘clearly racist’? What are you basing this on?
@love3 guess he referes to this post: http://iloapp.quelsolaar.com/blog/news?Home&post=55
Thanks Q - I read that post too and I can’t see how it could be considered racist. It speaks against it.
Maybe ‘hate’ can clarify what he’s talking about..?
Eskil’s post is not racist or sexist, it seems like a legitimate commentary on the issues. The comments about Eskil being a racist for simply talking about race highlight how uncomfortable people are with any mention of race.
that entry is definitely racist if you read that and are not white, and definitely not racist if you read it and are white