Silas Beta Demo 0.91.0

I thought I would post the beta demo on here for everyone to download and check out. This marks the release of the first ever beta for Silas!

Normally you have to pre-order the game to gain access to it. But I love these forums and want to extend a first-look into it for everyone here. All I ask in return is that you post about any bugs or requests you may have in the Official Silas Forums. This would be a major help to me as I want Silas to be extremely polished.

http://www.exaltstudios.com/forums - post all bugs here

And if you enjoy the beta demo, you can pre-order the game here:

http://www.kartsilas.com

I hope to release it in May of 2011. The next 2 months will be focused on bug fixing and beta testing.

Finally, here is the download link:

http://www.exaltstudios.com/Silas_Beta_0.91.0.zip

Thanks to everyone on this forum for all their help through the years, I couldn't have gotten this far without you!

767 MB?! That's almost too big for a CD! And incidentally it's more than I'll ever be able to download at one time.

Nonetheless, your dedication is mind boggling, William.

Sorry to hear that, but isn't that pretty small by today's standards? After all, most Steam games range around 4-5GB to download.

Silas will be a 1.5GB for the full version when it is done. As this demo only contains 4 levels.

Amazing .... loved it.....
Everything is looking good....
I just have a question!! so u said there are 4 levels, but I can only choose the fourth one as the others say that they are unavailable during demo.... am I missing something??

The manual describes the levels that work. But I can list them here to make it easier:

Racing Levels:

Wispy Temple
Suhn Desert

Deathmatch Levels:

Snowy Pines

CTF Level:

Fire Dunes

You have to change the "level set" at the top of the menu to find the others.

Glad you liked it! Hope people start playing online soon! There are 50 ranks to achieve and full stats tracking.

Size does not matter!

But you server is slow

yeah, 9h to download

why not splitting in parts and uploading to mediafire?

i downloaded in like an hour so i cant say it was slow for ne, love the progress, cant say i like the cart controls too much though, they feel to stiff, especially since i play marioKart so often

but i guess they may actually be ok, i didnt get into it too much

Ok, herem y little comment.

Really impressive game you have created. Its made in a nice
UnrealTournament / Race fashion.

But instead of reviewing the whole demo (everyone should test it
himself), here some direct notes:


-Offer the Cursor keys paralel to WASD for stearing
(for lefthanders)


-I missed an option to zoom out, or did not find it.
best is to use the Mousewheel for that

-in the SunDesert Map, you should add some markers (arrows / sighns) where
the track goes.
I often drove in a curve off the track, as it was not obvious
where the normal track continues.

-let the Options for the quicksetting: Fast/Normal/Good (or so) Graphics
stand out a bit more. They should get some bigger slider.

-when entering the SingleRace screen, and hitting main, it
doeas not go to the previous page, but the MainMenu.
best is to have a "Back" Button always on the same position,
and jumping one page back.

-performance wise it runs ok on my computer. The main
problem is a big slowdown, everytime I close in
on a "bundle" of transparent sprites. (effects, fog, etc)

-BUG: when i was in the timetrial/VSMode, the Backbutton did not react, making the game hang in the menu

-the settings where not saved after exit/restart of the game

-------------------------
nice to have:

-If possible let the user set the graphics/input options in
the ingame pause-menu

-showing the race as a replay afterwards (would be a lot of work though)

-Im not happy with the stearing. I like it in UT2004 Onslaugt more.
There the mouse is also turing the view direction while aiming.
Please test the Onslaught mode a bit, and try to see how
they realized the controls, as its very similar to
your projected mechanics.

-the weapons are hard to choose / to know which is which on.
There are several options:
Write on the lower bar, the weaponname.
Or make a voice.message wich weapon was just selected or picked up.
like "Phaser!"

-for sliding, I would not use shift, but the spacebar.
In a way, that when turing to the side (A or D), and shortly
tipping the spacebar, the car switches to Drift-mode.
When the player releases A or D, the car jumps out of drifting.
This reduces the need to use one additional key (shift is hard
to reach in WASD anyhow)

Awesome Gameplay.
I also like the graphics.I can not wait for the full game

The game is awesome ,but the steering is too smooth.

PS: I love the Extras Section.
Really cool things in there.

Thumbs up on that one.

Also nice music you have in there.
I especially like the house/techno style levelmusic.

The "History" Rooms is also cool.
Wish it would have more rooms.

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

A general Thing about online Games:

Its hard to get small real-time multiplayergames
to have a big enough playerbase.
If a user logs into the multiplayer, and noone is there,
he will log off after a minute.
Thus resulting in having noone ever be online.

Its a good idea to make some "mark me" message or history
into the online room.
Such that you can see: someone logged in 30mins ago,
and left a message: "Wubsi98: want to play?"
And then the player can enter "Player: Im online at 6pm"

This could help getting people know when there might
be other players online.

-------

Another idea is to have an "asyncronous" multiuser mode.
Such that you dont actually play live agains another player,
but you try to beat his score/time/performance.

I could imagine a list:
-most recent players
-best players (for that mode/map)

The players race on a map, with static enemies (turrets)
and try to beat a time/score

Even better if you could load a "ghostcar" (a recording
of another player, starting at the same time), and directly try to outperform this one.

There are many ideas how to set up asyncronous multiuser
modes. Its a good method to keep a (small) game have
a useful longterm online experience.

Actually I use this very control setup all the time. WASD to move, shift to run, space to jump, mouse to aim...

But that's just my preference and therefore doesn't matter. The player should be able to change the controls in the game.

Thanks for the feedback guys! I am definitely considering it all and will implement parts of it.

Sorry about the slow server, it downloads in 15 min for me, but this is probably because I'm in North America.

Below I'll comment on some requests:

The kart movement - Yeah, this is a tricky devil. I noticed someone said it was too smooth and another said too tight. I modeled it a bit after the DS version of MarioKart, which I always thought was the best(didn't like the console ones past N64). But there is always room for improvement. So I am going to be editing some camera work to better flow with it, and I still have to add the differences to the different karts better. That way weight will actually come into play. I will also add an option to turn on the spot for battle levels.

As for controls, you can already change these through the settings screen for keyboard and joystick. There just not saved yet, saving/loading only works for the main graphics options. But if this is not working either, please let me know? It should output to a text file.





Good idea for the race mode!



I will do that. Most of the levels have these, but I guess I forgot to put in desert and temple, lol.



I can increase the panel sizes for these a bit.



This makes sense. I will definitely put this in.



Yeah, I'm not sure on this one, but I've noticed the slow down too. I'm thinking of going light on sprites and particles due to it. Is it A8 or something with the post-processing?



Did the game hang infinitely? Or eventually make it's way back to the main menu. If the latter, it might have just been loading things slowly.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try the onslaught mode and see how it reacts.


As for the online modes:

Yeah I understand that people want to play others. So I like the idea of a persistent posting board. As well, I will add so you see how many are playing, and how many registered. On top of that, I plan to add dedicated server support before release, and run my own server 24/7.

The multiplayer battle is actually the best part of Silas, so I hope everyone tries it on their LAN's, or we make a time to do some gaming.

There is not many playing right now because these boards are the only place I posted the demo. But Silas will be released through some digital distribution services when done. Though I can't say forsure which ones yet.

The bug might be related to the demo mode.
When the "not in demo" popped up, and going back one menu,
the game hang somehow.
It might not come up in the full release.

What I especially like in the UT Onslaught Carcontrol,
was that the camera view was free to move, while still beeing able
to control the car perfectly.
Also look at the time it takes for steering acceleration.
They optimized this part very nicely.

in the flight-mode the camere.arc should be higher, as
the player has to have a broader view than in the
racemode.
Try camera.arc=80; or so
(could be a setting aption too)

Ahhh yeah, this is definitely for the demo. I actually pause the user from hitting buttons when those warnings come up. The final game won't have such warnings.

I'm able to play a game right now if you want? Let me know, and I'll host one.

I can see your game, but can not connect...

k, cool. I'll setup a game.

Odd... I can't connect to yours either. It's one of two things, do you have a firewall? Mine is off right now, and you have to add exception to Silas.exe.

Other than that, maybe the Upnp dll isn't working properly? But that hang you get when you create a game is it opening your port 7500. Silas needs this port opened.

I dont think it's port related though, since you would have been able to connect to my game...

Game crashed ingame. (after like a minute)

BTWE: how does the ingame chat work again?

you hit the "C" key

I noticed you crashed, but were playing really well no lag. When it crashed, let me know was kart created, ect? Music playing?

The card was respawend, and you said "hello?"
But did not crash directly after respawn. Like 10 sec later


Ups, crashed again

Nice that was fun! I will definitely give the boxs more ammo, as I find you run out too quick. Any other suggestions?

I can't believe you running only 56k upload, but very happy it ran that smooth for it.

Let's try race?

The Enter key, changes the game to a desktop window.

The last crash was in the resultscreen

Wow I am really surprised the enter key does that, lol. Cause I can't reproduce that on any of my systems? Does this happen for anyone else?

As for the crash, do you remember if the "Updating Stats" image appeared, or the exit button before the crash? I think it has to do with me leaving, plus you searching database. In next beta I will update that so it only does your stats when you leave my game.

I plan on releasing a new beta update everyweek. Everyone can download a small patch file. Although, tommorow I leave for the GDC for a week, so nothing will be done for a week.

Afterward, I implement all your suggestions.

Not shure, It was the first statsscreen after the game
was over. I think it crashed without me hiting a key.

Is there some logfile to check where is crashed?


During beta you could make some revolving loggerfile,
that always stores any statechange, keypress etc.

Just make 2 textfiles, each records 20 seconds, then it goes
to the next logfile, and back again.

No sorry, but if you didn't hit a key I think I can pinpoint it. I ran into this crash before but thought I solved it. But alas, as most bugs are timing related, I never.

Good Idea with the logfile, I'll look into it.

Btw - I gave you some extra stats to make up for it on your profile.

thanks, back online

Thanks for all ur help guys, it was great seeing 5 in the lobby. I will fix all the bugs that appeared, it seems probalems when 4+ load main level.

During the beta its good to have some log on oncreen stats
options.

So next to the log, it good to have an output window at what state
the server / client is in.
-connected to
-loading level / syncing
-ping
-clients joined
-datavolume transferred etc.
-special server messages /events

----------

the indoor racelevel had me always starting flying (wings) in the air.
maybe the client spawned at the wrong position

I will be sure to add. We got another game running now. sorry you got kicked out of last one, hehe, I'm from west canada, kevins from south u.sa, so lots of diversity.

the last two games where really fun.
(had a crash in the last one)

When its debuggend an polished, its going to be a fun online experience.
Good luck at the Conference

Thanks! I had so much fun too, as we've been playing for 3hrs or more, lol! I really appreciate all the help, I noted about 40 things through our testing, and I will fix everything and make it really polished. The next 2 months will be focused on bug fixing.

One more thing:

Ingame should be some bigger/more obvious screen-marker at the opponents position.
Especially on a larger distance its hard to find others quickly.

In UT, there is a little red triangle + the playername.

its also useful to display the opponents health and teamcolor directly
on this marker.
(maybe also his current weapontype, when close enough)

That's a good idea, I'll put a triangle in to compliment the players name. And maybe I'll make the triangles color correspond to that players health.

I was on yesterday. I really liked what I saw!
A few remarks:

• The Game resized my Desktop, to be widescreen. While mutliple games have done that, I note it here because the radar seems like it was affected by it? The little dots representing objects
• I got really confused with all the weapons. In general, I like the weapon-selection, but I think it needs to be improved. Highlight the selected on more, and print the names of the guns (the one of the selected one at all times, above the gun symbol, and the other names only when scrolling through them?) So when I scroll to weapon 2, then weapon 2's name is displayed (for example "rocket launcher") and when I scroll to 3, then 2 is hidden and 3 is displayed etc. Because I was very confused with all the weapons and their names. The tutorial messed up as well, because instead of choosing weapons using the number keys, I tried the mousewheel and then it said I had the correct weapon but I didn't.
• The races were really fun. Well done. You get a nice sense of speed... cool. I was a fan of mario kart, and this is similar in a lot of ways.
• Turret mode is a good idea as well, especially against flying enemies. But sometimes I got glitches in turret mode (my kart model missing, but the shadow was there, or the turret was missing)

I have just opened a server in germany, can anyone tell me if it shows up in the server-list and is connectable?

I cant connect to you SchokoKeks why ?

I don't know.. Did you see the server in the list?

I'm not using a NAT router, I have a direct connection so no port forwarding needed. Firewall is clear, too. Other games including my own ANET based game "Survive!" work.

I've opened another server, and this time i entered the IP manually. Lets see if it works this time.

.... suddendly the game crashed !
Its alot of fun ! I will buy it !!!

I was only able to host when entering my IP manually as static IP. There was still visible lag although we both came from germany.

I found the camera to be restrained to much, as Damocles (?) said. Try the UT2004 method, at least for the fighting oriented modes!

The menus are a bit to cramped, especially those in online mode. And you definitely need bots in online race modes!

Looking forward for bugfixes etc!

What resolution is your desktop running? And what res is the game running? And did it resize your actual desktop resolution or just the games to be widescreen? Is your monitor widescreen? A couple users reported their radar wasn't fully accurate, this is due to resolution/math errors.



Yeah this has been mentioned a few times. I'll add numbers and even possibly names to make things easier.




Sorry about the crashes online. I will fix these. Hope you purchase, I appreciate the support!



I plan to tackle the lag a bit better as my dead-reckoning sucks right now. Just never had time to look into it. As for the IP, that is odd that you can't connect. The game should forward ports automatically to the static IP given through server_ip. And it retrieves your internet IP through this website.

http://www.whatismyip.com/

Can you go to this website and let me know if the IP given there is the exact same as the one you entered manually? If it is, it could just be a string error on my side. Also, did your firewall allow access to Silas.exe? I really want to figure this connection issues out. I'm using native A8 Enet. Although I make use of Anet for it's UDP(LAN sniffing) and HTTP functions(like retrieving an IP).

I never had an issue with someone connecting to my server... so I'm a bit confused. How do you go about retrieving your IP in Survive?



I will be looking into this after I fix the online functionality bugs. As I've noticed there are quite a few crashes and the such with online. As well, expect some sort of messaging board in-game alongside other stats like who's online ect. To make it easier for people to meet through game. And I will include a text log too for the next beta(so I can find problem areas easily).

The IP on whatismyip.com is exactly the same i entered as static IP. Firewall and
forwarding (not needed, see above) can't be the issue as it worked with the same settings after manually entering my IP. Maybe the was another bug, I'll reopen the server now with automatic IP, please check if you can connect.

The "crash" Memorix described was that I had to forcefully shutdown the server with ALT+F4.
On pressing 'enter' (while i was searching for a player list or scoreboard) the game minimized into a tiny window with only a tenth of the screen showing . I couldn't get back to fullscreen and i couldn't use the menu, so I had to shut down the server.

However, don't loose faith here! I can see your game will be great after issues have been worked out! And I haven't played much singleplayer yet, thats another highlight!

I had the Enter-Smallscreen too.
In this case hit F5, and when its big enough, Alt-Enter.

Afterwards it will not jump to smallscreen again.

Should be easy to fix, must be some videofunction beeing called
on the keypress.

Yeah i'll figure out the enter bug. THanks for the diagnostics guys.

btw - it was a blast playing against you SchokoKeks, your killer with rocket launcher against air!

Just preordered .
The game is awesome overall. Very well done.

What I like:

- The gameplay feels unique. I like the mix of Mario Kart, Trackmania and Unreal Tournament. It`s great fun.
- So many different game modes. So much to do.
- The graphics are nice. The style is consistent and looks dynamic and colorful. Very well done.
- The performance is good. Just few slowdowns when picking up new weapons (this may be caused by media_play. Use snd_play for item sounds) and when there are many particles on screen.
- The menu looks very professional and athmospheric. I like pretty much everything about it.
- The music is awesome
- The Silas museum is very interesting. Watched the pictures, videos and descriptions for about half an hour. I love background stories. But: Is it me or does it end in the year 2004?
- It`s real fun. Played Silas for about two hours now and it`s not getting boring. Can`t remember any GameStudio project that good. Maybe the Dejobaan games. Even "Glider - collect n kill" isn`t even close to your game.

What I don`t like:

- The weapons are a bit confusing. There are so many of them and it`s so hard to identify them by the HUD graphics.
- The synchro of some characters is a bit strange and amateurish. They sound very similar to each other. Especially Funnel, Biggs and Magnus sound pseudo-cool, but in a bad way imho. Bramble sounds just gay ^^ . Starlight and the other girl sound good. But there are also good characters. Squeed is very funny . Maybe you should overwork this part with some professional voices instead of amateurs. Don`t forget: People are identifing themselves with those voices.
- The Xbox controller isn`t well supported. I`d like to use the analog sticks and feel vibrations. Also, it should work in the menus. Of course this is a PC-only title, but for that type of gameplay good Xbox/gamepad support is duty nowdays.
- There are so few people online

--

Overall this may be the first GameStudio-game besides AAaaAa which I`ll recommend to friends and family without any bad concience. Wish you all the best for the release.

Indeed the game seems to crash on some users computers when the server leaves. I can't reproduce it here, but I assume it's most definitely a pointer error or something. In the next beta, I will be making some logs so I can easily debug such problem.

Thank you so much for the run-down Rondidon and of course, for pre-ordering! You wont be dissapointed as final game is more than 4x as big as this demo, and has some really cool things in it for everyone yet to see.



Yeah I respect this opinion, although every seems to like different characters from my test. I really can't afford proffesionals, but maybe you don't know but there is an option in settings screen to turn character voices off. Bramble was supposed to be a redneck dude, lol.



Did you try enabling the xbox controller in your settings screen? You can put both that checkbox and the vibration check box on and it should work flawlessly in the raceing mode(but you have to connect controller before starting game). Future update will have it work on menus and best I can get in battle modes.



This will be remidied when it's released as it should be on a few digital distribution sites. And I plan to add everything damacoles said about message boards and game post boards in game. As well, there will be stats about whos online ect. in future.

I hope you get this on Steam and garner some attention in a few big game magazines. When you become famous and successful, don't forget to mention that you used Gamestudio to make the game...

Thanks Redeemer. Unfortunately Steam said they do not wish to launch the game on their service. Which quite odd, since they give no reason(not even an hint), even though I talked with them in person twice. Steam was the only one who never had time to even see a demo in person. And they generally take months to get back via email.

I think Steam as a monopoly is extremely hard for start-ups/first product developers like myself to get on. They usually don't even test your game... Your best bet is to either sell alot of copies, have great press, have a publisher, win the IGF, or have a known name. I have none of these yet. The games quality itself doesn't matter until you can prove some of these points. Unless you perhaps got on Steam many years ago when they weren't nearly as big and busy. But I still hold out some hope that one day after Silas's release the game can take off enough that they'll eventually release it.

But aside from that, it looks quite promising on all the other digital distribution fronts as they all loved the demo and think it will do great!

As independants we should all be sure to support the other digital distribution channels as well. The reasons for this is that if you build a traditional game, and Steam owns 90% of that market and they ignore you, your pretty much screwed. This is of course a very bad thing, and exactly what happened to the retail market. So we need to avoid the iron grip type of monopoly on digital distribution.

I have finished changing my network code big-time, so hopefully there will be no more crashes with more than 3 players. Right now I am currently implementing features requested by everyone to make the lobby system more robust.

Look for the next beta early next week.

Oh my god, that's fantastic. How much will the final version cost?

It will be $9.95 across all the other services at launch. But I can't yet name which ones it will be released on until I am done all the business end.

This will make it easy for everyone to purchase! And I think a great price.