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Deformers (Ready at Dawn of 1886/GoW fame) Open Beta on Steam: April 1st to April 3rd

I was looking forward to it after reading the thread at work this morning! I guess you want this to happen in beta rather than on release.
 

PaulloDEC

Member
A 3.9mb patch just dropped and I can get into lobbies now.

Unfortunately I'm getting booted the moment the match is about to begin, but hey, progress!
 

KC Denton

Member
Managed to play 2 rounds of deathmatch. Interesting things going on so far, really like ramming stuff using this squishy blob character.
 

Andrea Pessino

Ready At Dawn Game Director
Very VERY sorry for the rough start. One nasty issue that escaped months of tech tests and a whole lot of synthetic testing decided today was the perfect day to show up.

Things are coming online now and we think we fixed that issue. There are still a few rough spots, mostly related to the matchmaker and populating lobbies, but you should be able to play games regularly now and there are hundreds of players in.

A few other things that are immediately obvious and go to the top of the "fix" list:

- wait times between matches are too long, as people don't ready up - we'll figure out a way to make things move quicker

- we need more muting options

- there is a problem with rendering special characters in names

If all goes to plan, we will enable QuickChat (lobby and game) and some lobby voting options with the next beta.

Thanks so much for your patience... we will keep hammering on it until the experience is buttery smooth - please keep the feedback coming!

A=
 
Somehow managed to get this:

gFTlOEq.png

Happened after I finished my first match.
 
Somehow managed to get this:



Happened after I finished my first match.

Yup, I finally got in as well, though I'm guessing I was matched with folks from overseas as my ping made it pretty-much unplayable.

Still, it looks really nice!

Samething has been popping up for me a good amount. A lot of international (reference USA) as I hear a bunch of different languages being spoken on open microphones.
 
Development on this game seems to have been troubled, especially weird that it was supposed to release a bit ago. Shame too, when the game finally does come around I plan on writing for some outlets about it. The concept looks sound, a lot of Rocket League DNA, and the cosmetic stuff will likely keep me playing.

Similarly, Disc Jam just launched with PS+ this past month and I feel that too could have been much more successful if it had just a bit more polish and the online was worked out. Hopefully Deformers can get on track, I'll be there when it launches!
 

Jason@RAD

Neo Member
FIX IT JASON

Hey, I'm Jason! We know, and are working on it :)

You still get experience from playing the match, the bug is just with the script that animates your progress. Once the script crashes you won't see your progress animated again until you restart the game. Top men and women are on it.
 

Regiruler

Member
I'm getting better... I think?
Hey, I'm Jason! We know, and are working on it :)

You still get experience from playing the match, the bug is just with the script that animates your progress. Once the script crashes you won't see your progress animated again until you restart the game. Top men and women are on it.

You must be the guy I was yelling at
 

vivekTO

Member
So i played couple of matches, team deathmatch and the Ball one. both the time getting i was getting rekt :p . also It shows Sad face at my ping indication(i think that it what it is).Obviously not so great multiplayer experience but that is expected.

Couple of tidbits:
> Please have a section of Tutorial or Something , I really don't know what am I doing or how to do awesome things like others are doing,that will be helpfull for the starters.
> the wait time to start the match is too much.
> Voice chat options , how do i turn that off??
 
Push-to-talk button and regional filters for matchmaking would be nice.

Only got to play it one session so far due to the disconnect issues, but it seems fun so far. Satisfying movement physics on the blob.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
This is pretty damn fun man, will have to get it eventually, been wanting a weird quirky multiplayer title to play ever since Plain Sight died a terrible death (RIP, that game was too good for this world).

Pro-tip: Set graphics to Custom and turn Shadow MSAA off. All the way, there's like zero difference from what you can tell while playing the game and it runs much better, went from like 30s to 60s with it turned off despite cranking other options and running it in 1440P on my 280X :)
'
Push-to-talk button and regional filters for matchmaking would be nice.

Only got to play it one session so far due to the disconnect issues, but it seems fun so far. Satisfying movement physics on the blob.

It seems to autoset your region in the matchmaking at least, I've never seen anyone with higher than 80ms ping in a lobby at least. I'm really glad you can mute people as well.

um, so they're not working on a sony console title??!

They're a third party studio man, they can do whatever they want.

Edit: I'm super excited for whatever crazy game modes could appear in the full game, the controls and all seems to lend themselves very well for a ton of different situations, I demand a Mario Party Bumper Balls mode where you can only roll and dash to knock your opponents off :D, that would be super fun
 

Ryuuga

Banned
There is a fun game in here but It needs some more content and polish. As for a wishlist:

Network Options > I'd like to set my region. Poor or distant connections can ruin a match

Server Browser > Ties into network options which allows for ping restrictions

Addition Game Modes > Standard DM/TDM are fine, but I feel like this game would shine if it leaned more on team objective-based modes

More Lobby Options > Let the lobby vote-kick people who don't ready up or lower the ready time so the match can proceed without them and auto-kick after a period of inactivity.

Push-to-Talk > Self-explanatory

Specs:
GTX 1060 6 GB
i7 2700k
12 GB Ram

Also the game runs far from smooth on my PC even on medium (which it defaulted at). I'm hoping for more optimisation but my PC is up there in years so I have no reservations for turning down the options to get a slightly better performance.


The controls I thought took some getting used to, at least on Keyboard & Mouse. I'll try using a controller next time I play.


Still, I had fun with the several matches I got a chance to play.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
There is a fun game in here but It needs some more content and polish. As for a wishlist:

Network Options > I'd like to set my region. Poor or distant connections can ruin a match

Server Browser > Ties into network options which allows for ping restrictions

Addition Game Modes > Standard DM/TDM are fine, but I feel like this game would shine if it leaned more on team objective-based modes

More Lobby Options > Let the lobby vote-kick people who don't ready up or lower the ready time so the match can proceed without them and auto-kick after a period of inactivity.

Push-to-Talk > Self-explanatory

Specs:
GTX 1060 6 GB
i7 2700k
12 GB Ram

Also the game runs far from smooth on my PC even on medium (which it defaulted at). I'm hoping for more optimisation but my PC is up there in years so I have no reservations for turning down the options to get a slightly better performance.


The controls I thought took some getting used to, at least on Keyboard & Mouse. I'll try using a controller next time I play.


Still, I had fun with the several matches I got a chance to play.

Do what I did, I use high preset, at 1440P on a 280X, getting around 60 FPS, just go into Edit in the graphical settings and make sure Shadow MSAA is set to off, gave me a massive performance boost.

Edit: The football mode is super fun, heck it could be the front and center mode of the game for me :D. Also after a match I got a big dev console that appeared named Squirrel-something, because it failed to load UI files for the post match exp boost. I'd also like an option to turn off the mini-replay, during the football rounds it drops my framerate to the low 30s. I s'pose I could just play at 1080p like a normal person, TAA does a good enough job at smoothing the graphics out anyway.
 

Kikorin

Member
Tried this Morning, first two matches I've understand about nothing of what was happening on the screen lol. Anyway I've started to understand and after some plays it become really fun, but I had to go out. This evening I'll try more.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age

Eh, don't rule out a Switch version just because it's running on an engine capable of insane shit, UE4 has Switch support after all :p. Not that this game isn't pushing my PC quite a bit and I doubt that's an optimization issue given that it's RAD. But since it is RAD I'm sure they could make it work on Switch if they thought it made financial sense.
 

Regiruler

Member
The game becomes a lot more fun once you realize you can ram and jump in mid air once each.

The tank one with a good air game is really hard to kill.
 
The game becomes a lot more fun once you realize you can ram and jump in mid air once each.

The tank one with a good air game is really hard to kill.
Absolutely this.

Even when I get knocked off and all seems lost, a well-placed ramming gets me back in. It's completely exhilarating, making you ask yourself, "did I just do that?" It's kind of like making it back to the stage like in Smash Bros.
 

Andrea Pessino

Ready At Dawn Game Director
So i played couple of matches, team deathmatch and the Ball one. both the time getting i was getting rekt :p . also It shows Sad face at my ping indication(i think that it what it is).Obviously not so great multiplayer experience but that is expected.

Couple of tidbits:
> Please have a section of Tutorial or Something , I really don't know what am I doing or how to do awesome things like others are doing,that will be helpfull for the starters.
> the wait time to start the match is too much.
> Voice chat options , how do i turn that off??

Hey, you are Italian right? :) Sorry about the ping times - for this first beta most of the servers that are spawned in EU are in northern europe (BE, NL, UK, etc.). We will expand to other regions as we get close to release.

For a tutorial did you see the videos I linked earlier in this thread? That's a good start. Another fun thing to do is to create a Custom (private) lobby, add a bunch of Dummies (or invite some friends to practice with), pick a mode and then experiment at will. Custom games do not affect any stats or give you XP/Prestige, but are perfect for training or playing exclusively with friends (local, online in your party or invited to the lobby).

Agreed on the timers - we have some ideas to make the process a lot quicker.

For voice chat, you can either turn it off completely in Options/Audio, turn it off on Steam or you can mute individual players in the lobby by either navigating to their name tab or jsut clicking on it with the mouse - a menu pops up that allows you to mute/unmute, view their full detailed profile (or yours), kick Dummies out, etc.

Ciao! :)
 

Andrea Pessino

Ready At Dawn Game Director
Network Options > I'd like to set my region. Poor or distant connections can ruin a match

Server Browser > Ties into network options which allows for ping restrictions

Addition Game Modes > Standard DM/TDM are fine, but I feel like this game would shine if it leaned more on team objective-based modes

More Lobby Options > Let the lobby vote-kick people who don't ready up or lower the ready time so the match can proceed without them and auto-kick after a period of inactivity.

Push-to-Talk > Self-explanatory

1) 2)
Working on these. Not sure it'll all be in day 1, but on the list.

3)
Absolutely! The reason why we wanted to limit ourselves to 2 modes to start (DM/TDM and Form Ball) is that for one thing we want each mode to be different enough to be a meaningful choice, and also because we would like to not dilute the players base across too many islands to begin with. We have big plans for super cool new game modes. :)

4) Yes, working on voting options and other lobby features. Idle detection is already in place but we only enforce it once you get into a match - seems a bit too much to force players to do something while in a lobby, but like I mentioned we have a plan to greatly speed up the ready up process that hopefully fixes all issues.

5) Push-to-talk is supported already - we honor whatever key and setting you have made in Steam, as the game uses Steam API as the backend for VOIP. I guess we should mention it somewhere... :)
 

Andrea Pessino

Ready At Dawn Game Director
Absolutely this.

Even when I get knocked off and all seems lost, a well-placed ramming gets me back in. It's completely exhilarating, making you ask yourself, "did I just do that?" It's kind of like making it back to the stage like in Smash Bros.

Wait until you see what the really advanced players are able to do. :) Some of our QA guys are mind blowing at how precise and deadly they are, and how far they can extend the core mechanics.

For example, to kill a highly skilled player picking them up and throwing them off the platform is rarely enough. You got to really get a steep downward toss angle and get at the very edge of the platform to have any hope of delivering a kill, and even so the odds are about 50/50 they will make it back.

Great players will use the Speedster, get close enough to use its stun shot, stun you, pick you up, run to the edge and jump off the platform while carrying you, toss you downwards and then jump right back. There is no coming back from that... :)
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
For a tutorial did you see the videos I linked earlier in this thread? That's a good start.

Whoosh. If you're expecting players to read this thread, you're doing it wrong.

Sorry, but before I checked this thread I played two-three rounds. Had no clue what I was doing and went "yeah, probably not for me." The Rocket League/Soccer mode was slightly interesting, but I already have Rocket League for that. And since Deathmatch was just "slam into each other and die 0-8 while they go like 14-5 and you have no clue because the game doesn't explain the mode for you" I really can't see myself trying it again.
 

Big Nikus

Member
Yeah it could be fun but I had no idea what I was doing and I heard people on the mic being confused too. Laughing, but confused.
I love the music though. I'll try it once more.
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
This game is a good bit of fun. I didn't play a ton but I jumped in a handful of games this afternoon and started to get the hang of it. I definitely would not have expected it to be such a precise game from the screens, I almost feel like the Xbox One controller is too inaccurate and I'd be better off playing with a mouse or the steam controller.

Beta is about to end in about 15 minutes if anybody downloaded it and forgot to launch.

edit: Or not, I thought they extended it by an hour but maybe it was a day. Or I'm super terrible at time zones. Looks like the beta is going until this time tomorrow.
 

Andrea Pessino

Ready At Dawn Game Director
We extended the beta until tomorrow to make up for yesterday's much shortened time given the issues we had when we first went live. :)
 

Andrea Pessino

Ready At Dawn Game Director
Hoooo boy these timers x_x

Working on it right now - next update should be much better.

What it's going to do is that time will "compress" exponentially as a function of how many players are ready in the lobby - if seven players are ready but 1 is not (for example) the countdown will be 30 seconds (including the final, locked 10) instead of 2 min.
 

Big Nikus

Member
This game is a good bit of fun. I didn't play a ton but I jumped in a handful of games this afternoon and started to get the hang of it. I definitely would not have expected it to be such a precise game from the screens, I almost feel like the Xbox One controller is too inaccurate and I'd be better off playing with a mouse or the steam controller.

Yes, I didn't expect to feel at a disadvantage with a controller. I switched to kb/mouse and it was better.
 
I just jumped in to play a few rounds. Game runs like a dream on my 480. Was pretty lost in my first match, but worked out the shooting, ramming and blocking mechanics. Still not totally clear on the way scoring works and what sucking up different bits from the field does (health and ammo, I think?). The Speedster class was my favorite and I immediately bought that weird purple and pink spiral skin. Definitely a game I could see people getting really into.
 
Constructive feedback:

- Not really a fan of power-ups being available right as the match starts. Any experienced player will immediately try to drop down on it, which leads to who it's being awarded to being a bit of a coin toss if two players or more aim for the exact same one. There being multiple power-ups around for most arenas doesn't really solve the problem either. It doesn't fit with the game's mechanical precision and it'd be less of a senseless mad scramble if they spawned 10 - 15 seconds (random number) after the round has been initiated.

- Speaking of: I'm not really convinced if keeping them random is a good idea. There have been moments where throughout a round I'd be awarded a lone, particular power-up that's not well-suited to my blob class of choice. Including some freak occurrences where it'd happen as often as three times in a row! This anecdotal example will be up for debate of course, but Magnet on a Striker is nowhere near as valuable as Magnet on the Speedster (with its ammo-hungry shotgun) or the gunner-esque class. A kneejerk compromise could be having players choose a preferred ability on top of a class, or have X power-up be tied to Y class, since those by themselves won't change the underlying area control dynamic.

- I'd also appreciate seeing the power-up icons above the player if they possess one. Not sure if only temporarily so? You can see what it is just fine up-close when it's still up for grabs, but from afar it's indiscernible what someone may have picked up, which as a result makes baiting out the more offensively oriented ones awkward with how the ideal defensive approach effectively becomes a guessing game. IF they're even awarded an attack-based power-up to begin with!

- Not keen on the smallest arenas for full lobbies specifically. For sessions with let's say only 4 players they're entirely fine, but they're too basic in design to support refined teamwork dynamics with bigger groups. It'd be nice if the matchmaking infrastructure decides which map rotates after everyone readies up, since the opposite of the aforementioned holds true as well, but I'm ignorant on whether this'll be practical to pull off. Just a minor 'annoyance,' mind you.

- Maybe give the ammo giblets a more pronounced color or hue? Kind of hard to notice sometimes, such as in the desert arenas.

- Deformers needs a crab! Hippo as well!​

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Really fun game though! I was surprised at an appropriate amount of depth existing in how the mechanics and physics flow together, which certainly makes for some skilful-looking antics if you try to outsmart / -play someone who knows what he's doing. Very responsive, ample counter-play, the features for the replays are legitimately cool, hits feel satisfying (basic 'gunfire' not so much outside of the shotgun) and audiovisually clean too. The latter is especially welcome and much needed for a multiplayer title; it's a very readable game once you know what's what and intuitively spotting someone who's low on health from afar thanks to those band-aids (rather than tacky health bars or reticule hit markers) is a nice touch.

5) Push-to-talk is supported already - we honor whatever key and setting you have made in Steam, as the game uses Steam API as the backend for VOIP. I guess we should mention it somewhere... :)
I'd rather have the game control this plus default to push-to-talk honestly, for a number of reasons:

A) Unlike the Steam UI to my knowledge, this could allow players to map the function to a controller button.
B) Most players initially weren't even aware of their open microphone or even care to configure their Steam settings differently if they are.
C) It won't make it so that you have to choose between hearing no one at all if voice chat is disabled entirely, or wanting to communicate but still enduring bad apples.
D) Futzing around to mute someone in the middle of a match just takes you out of it anyways with a fast-paced game like this.

Also, in this beta build there was a bug where someone being muted would be undone if that person swapped colors / teams.
 
Other than the "squirrel environment" screen after a match, I didn't encounter any bugs.

My impressions

+

  • great gameplay concept, it works and plays well, physics feel good, allows for a decent skill ceiling
  • lovely aesthetics, the Deformers remind me of a silly 90's toyline
  • nice, clean presentation
  • good music

-

  • too light on content considering the price, could've went f2p with the huge amount of cosmetics and characters
  • without ranked and matchmaking, I don't feel there's a lot of incentive to keep on playing, other than to grind for cosmetics
  • no customizable keys
  • the small maps feel like a clusterfuck, not allowing for your skills to shine, the larger maps feel so much better
  • current implementation of power-ups feels hap hazard
 
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