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DocRandal

The Flame in the Flood Kickstarter

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Yeah, I mentioned it in another thread, I think this looks pretty top notch.

 

I'm not a huge fan of survival genre, but I played around with Don't Starve and such, but I'm a real sucker for interesting, well executed art, so it received my $15.

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I'm in the same boat as Murdoc, survival games are eh, and I think crafting systems are kinda dumb, but the entire rest of the video was aesthetic choices I am powerless to resist.

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My issue is, all the survival games seem to me to miss the point of what survival actually is. DayZ started getting at it, but the zombie elements and the way that the popularity killed what it was at first nixed that possibility. And everything since has seemed to try to just be Minecraft but dark and without blocks.

 

This seems to actually understand that survival is about doing everything you can to maintain your health and head off the right kinds of catastrophes, which is interesting.

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This looks great, but I don't currently have anything that will play it and I only MIGHT have something that can play it when it's finished.

 

Has anyone here backed a game that they can't play?

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This was a big concern of mine when my only way to play PC games was a laptop that was decent, but not ideal because, you know, it was a laptop. Now that I have a nice desktop I'm less worried. But I get it, it's tricky because developers can only guess at what the system requirements are going to be. I guess I would say if you're not sure if you can run it probably err on the side of caution, and avoid kickstarter.

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Well, since the game's hit its goal, it's sort of a moot point. I'm just curious as to whether anyone's seen a game and thought, "I want THAT game to exist," even though it's not a game they'd be able to play. If this game weren't already at its goal, I might consider it.

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im in an adjacent boat.  i want this game to exist but since they've hit the goal & pretty far off the potentially neat goal of "endless mode" i think im going to hold off on the backing.  I really like the sound track (if the video is indicative of the rest) - but $35 is pretty steep

 

and as bad as it seems, i know a summer/winter sale after it releases i'll be able to get the sound track & game for $15

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Yeah, it's a shame the next stretch goal isn't the endless mode, I'd probably chip in more, but since the other tiers are mostly language versions, they really have a targeted audience for that. Maybe that's the way to go for those things? I dunno.

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Hey all,

 

I'm Forrest, the lead designer on the project. I'm a long time Idle Thumbs listener, but never registered with the forum. Anyway, I hope me butting in isn't unwelcome. Apologies if it is, I never know the etiquette in any given community.

 

First... thanks! Folks who are backing, and just people who are checking it out. I appreciate either.

 

Murdoc - yeah, localization isn't exactly the sexiest or most enticing goal, but it's something we can do with more money. A lot of stretch goals are things that just take the core team longer, or add overall complexity. We do have a couple of those, but they're relatively self contained and pretty safe. We just wanted to focus stretch goals on safe stuff that wouldn't jeopardize the whole undertaking, and the sort of thing you can just pay a contractor to do (like translate to German) is pretty safe. Probably not the smartest move in terms of enticing backers, but I hope it is smart in terms of not screwing us our our backers with crazy scope.

 

undermind9 - I'm sure the game will get cheaper, but I doubt the soundtrack will. It gets into business relationship stuff between us & chuck, but we're not going to be discounting it probably ever. That being said... if it's a game you're iffy on anyway, I'm sure some day in the future you'll be able to get it cheaper. I'm happy either way, not at all bothered by "waiting for the sale". I'm in that boat right now with a lot of games myself.

 

Pepyri - That's the plan. We're definitely abstracting 'survival' and 'crafting' to simplify the game play experience, but everything we're doing is based on legit survival principles. One regular reference I'm using is Tom Brown's field guides to survival and wilderness medicine & herbs.

 

Anyway, I've been enjoying chatting with people about the game, and am glad to see threads popping up here and there about it. I'll keep an eye out if anyone has questions. I'm happy to answer.

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I'm curious to see what the final product ends up looking like. I've probably watched the kickstarter trailer ten times already, so I'll be surprised if it dosen't end up having something I'll find engaging.

 

I noticed in the video one of the locations is "Weaver's homestead" and I wonder if that's supposed to be a not to Kentucky Route Zero or if I'm just looking for things that aren't there because KR0 is The Best (seriously you guys, it's so good). The games don't seem to have a ton in common, but it looks like there are some stylistic similarities between them (again though, maybe that's just my KR0-colored glasses)

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I've played the first episode & better part of the 2nd episode of ZR0. I've loved it, and really really need to play part 3.

 

The weaver's homestead was named by our art director, Sinc, who I don't think has played KR0, so I doubt there's any intentional reference going on. Not that I would mind it. ZR0 is indeed, so good.

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Interesting, I really liked what I saw of this before, but it also looked a bit thin. I'd imagine that the content has probably been built out a lot more so I'll have to take another peek.

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This has been sitting on my steam queue since early access because I've got the usual backlog. Congratulations to Forrest and the team for shipping and I'm looking forward to checking it out this weekend.

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One question: is there an end to the game? Is it possible, no matter how unlikely, to finish The Flame in the Flood? 

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I think I made it to area 4 at the end of last weekend. I remember seeing that there is an "end" to the story in the campaign mode.

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One question: is there an end to the game? Is it possible, no matter how unlikely, to finish The Flame in the Flood? 

 

 

I *think* the game ends if you make it 10 miles. Which is part of why it's often compared to FTL. I think in order to succeed you pretty much have to play through multiple times though, and strategically move items to your dog so they will be available on the next playthrough. From the times I've played so far, I honestly don't see being able to craft a good portion of the stuff without doing this.

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I picked it up and it's really cool. The music is wonderfully atmospheric. I like having the promise of a win state even if it's unlikely that I'll ever see it. The Oregon Trail vibe is strong. I only hope the the fact that a run seems like it'll take several hours doesn't end up making the early game tedious after more than a few deaths. 

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Complexmath, agreeed. Raft structures are only going to be made on endless playthroughs where you have enough time to get the raft fully upgraded, or through careful loading of your dog's inventory to pass on materials in order to jumpstart a new campaign. I know I'm loading a bunch of high end pelts, raft materials, jerky and bandages on Aesop (the dog).

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I'm really late to the party, but I played this most of the evening and my feelings are... mixed. Like many Kickstarter titles, it's artistically beautiful: the art and music is evocative and perfectly fitting. I can't say that enough.

 

The gameplay... I don't know. The crafting and inventory is clumsy, especially the choices to make crafting in a list format that only "unlocks" recipes when all the materials are present to complete one. At multiple times, I was lugging around the components for something I desperately needed, but I hadn't scrolled down to the very bottom of the list to figure out all the intermediate recipes I needed first. With that much elbow grease at play, there has to be a better way. Also, the combination of the canted perspective for the rafting sequences, the swiftness of the water, and the idiosyncrasies of the hit detection makes me feel like I didn't really have any control over where I was going, beyond a three- or four-second window. A camera set squarely behind the raft would be less artful but much better for gameplay.

 

All in all, I'm like Reyturner in my appreciation of a win state, but I'm also disappointed that many of the game's systems are simply inaccessible behind the barriers of the endless mode and repeat play. I'm having fun, but I can tell that the game's systems aren't satisfying enough, at the level of their core loop, for me to keep plumbing the depths. On beginner level, I'm never short of food, water, or sleep, yet I'm still two or three bad encounters away from a fail state that, like the rafting, I'm not always certain I can control. That's the problem with these survival games, right? If it's not forgiving like Eidolon or punishing like The Long Dark, there's nowhere for me to make contact. I just do well until I don't, and figuring out why isn't that interesting right now.

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