Bang! Howdy Goes Beta 36
GameSetWatch relates the launch of Bang! Howdy's Beta. The new game from the folks who made Puzzle Pirates even has a Beta blog. From the article: "The game ... is 'a hybrid between turn-based and real-time strategy gameplay, and is played in short fast-paced rounds', looks very neat indeed - and it's going to be 'play for free, pay for items' when it launches, just like a whole bunch of Korean titles like Kart Rider that have been super-successful. Also, damn, it's steampunk!"
Interesting (Score:4, Interesting)
Powerlevellers, gankers, and those who believe that the best games request and require top-spec hardware need not apply. It won't interest you anyway, and it gets rid of you for the rest of us to enjoy better.
Re:Interesting (Score:1)
out of curiousity (Score:2)
Just out of school with no girlfriend?
Not meant to be a rip, but I've noticed most people who value "time put into MMO" are also those who's time is in great supply.
I've given up on MMOs because my time isn't, and normally I focus on one (1) RTS at a time, preferrably one that a game averages 20 minutes or so. (Rise of Legends is my current obsession)
I couldn't imagine what getting married would do to my time, and having kids. Just maintaining the gf is tough enough. But
you're forgetting where you are (Score:2)
This is slashdot, the trade off isn't exactly optional here
The game itself is ok so far but it lacks the depth of puzzle pirates though. Not to say that is a bad thing, YPP in its current state can be a little overwhelming to some. But there is so much to do there that it makes it kind of fun, and you can spend as little or as much time in it as you want.
Re:you're forgetting where you are (Score:2)
This game went into open beta yesterday... Puzzle Pirates has been gold for nearly 2.5 years. Are you surprised?
Re:you're forgetting where you are (Score:2)
Not only that, but they've been periodically adding to the game for most of that time. New puzzles, new elements to the in-game economy, changes to re-balance the gameplay, different business models (playing on a doubloon-based ocean is different from playing on a subscription-based ocean, simply by virtue of having to collect/buy doubloons), etc.
Well, here's me satisfying your curiosity (Score:3, Insightful)
"Time investment" is something you don't have to do in 16 hour bursts. Just because it takes, say, 200 hours to get to level 60 (just a number pulled out of the hat for example sake), it doesn't mean you're in a race to cross that 200 hours line in the least days. Some
Re:Well, here's me satisfying your curiosity (Score:1)
Re:Well, here's me satisfying your curiosity (Score:1)
Because that's what those games invariably degenerate into, if they didn't outright start that way. When your main income source are the idiots willing to pay real cash for a +20 Sword Of Ganking or for a Level 3 Mech in a Level 1 Battletech-like game, guess which group does the game catter to?
The thing that you're missing about Puzzle Pirates is that the most of the really big, expensive items don't actually give you an in-game advantage. The custom portrait of your character hanging in your fancy hous
Re:Well, here's me satisfying your curiosity (Score:1)
Re:Well, here's me satisfying your curiosity (Score:2)
That "content" is there just as an ellaborate scam. People have been
Re:Well, here's me satisfying your curiosity (Score:1)
Re:out of curiousity (Score:2)
The age of long-term Y!PP players tends to start in the mid-20s and go up from there. Many (actually probably most) of the entrenched players have spouses and families. There are a lot of families who play together through all age ranges, from early teens well into the 60s.
Don't get me wrong, there are lots of pre-teen and early teen players
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
In my opinion, both are real problems. I enjoy friendly competition and social interaction. Money certainly won't get me either of those. Time usually helps relationships, if you're spending it working on the relationehip, but time spent "leveling up" does not.
My picks for getting more out of gaming are for games to emphasize pitting players against other players of ballpark similar skill levels ( Bots and NPCs
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
There is a huge audience of casual gamers (with a significant proportion of women) who are under-targeted. Puzzle Pirates is a masterpiece of a mmorpg simply because it expanded the genre. The fact is that while you're 'puzzling', you're not thinking about your character role or the world so it appeals to the 'less hardcore gamers'. In a way, the created world is merely a context for casual gaming...
"Bang! Howdy" Goes Beta (Score:2, Insightful)
Trivia (Score:3, Interesting)
Is this related to Bang! the card game? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3955 [boardgamegeek.com]
Re:Is this related to Bang! the card game? (Score:1)
Re:Is this related to Bang! the card game? (Score:2)
Ah, I didn't know this. (Because in the grand Slashdot tradition, I didn't RTFA.)
So they've got pirates and cowboys now? All that's left is ninjas, really.
Re:Is this related to Bang! the card game? (Score:2)
Particularly since the screenshots indicate that you get robots with your pirates.
Chris Mattern
Re:Is this related to Bang! the card game? (Score:2)
Chris Mattern
Wow it must be popular (Score:2)
Re:Wow it must be popular (Score:4, Interesting)
Shoot first... (Score:2)
But given the name, I feel it appropriate to shoot first before introducing myself to the content.
Deja Vu All Over Again (Score:3, Interesting)
For a "casual" player, PP was actually more friendly, since you could hop on a Navy vessel and just play one of the station puzzles (sailing, carpentry, bilging, navigation) without having to talk to anyone. After a while, they started making the land-based head-to-head puzzles free only on certain days. And to run a store or own a ship, you had to have a badge purchased with dubloons (the harder currency). It was easier to buy it for dollars than grind away to get enough of the light currency to buy dubloons at auction. The whole thing ended up being no fun.
In both games, you can buy new clothes with some of each type of currency. In PP, at least, clothing deteriorated, so if you didn't want to wear rags, you had to buy new clothing at intervals. Also, some colors were more expensive because of scarcer raw materials. The look of both games is cute, as ar the themes, but if you want a casual game, get Tetris or solitaire.
I would like the developers for making Bang! Howdy no fun right out of the gate, so I wasted almost no time with it.
Re:Deja Vu All Over Again (Score:2)
It may be that Bang! Howdy, designed with "Big Shot Units" (I can't even type that with a straight face) from the ground up, will work out differently as far as the business model's impact on game play is concerned.
Re:Deja Vu All Over Again (Score:2)
Re:Deja Vu All Over Again (Score:1)
But for $10 a month, it doesn't feel casual anymore. It's then a subscription and if I don't play "enough", I don't get my money's worth. But if PP works for you, in either flavor, then more power to you. Whatever float
Re:Deja Vu All Over Again (Score:2)
The "not talking to anyone" part is what makes things hard for players to advance. It's a social game, and those who engage in the social network find things vastly easier to accomplish. The game is designed to reward cooperative play and the Navy is not a part of cooperative play, thus the rewards for u
Heavy system requirments and possible mem leak (Score:2)
Re:Heavy system requirments and possible mem leak (Score:1)
Tried It (Score:2)