In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by WingMantis »

Hey, I signed up to give feedback on the game. I'm impressed by the character models. I'm a frugal person but I might have considered the $500 Gun Cage deal if I had found out about this before it sold.

Will you be exclusively giving orders to the other troops, or actually switching between playing as them? I really liked the first Full Spectrum Warrior game.

I'm hoping you will fully support the capabilities of the Dreamcast, unlike SEGA!

My list of recommendations:

Link cable support so you can each have a full screen for 2 players, or 4 players split screen (especially if you don't do online).

Widescreen option built in (for interlaced and VGA modes)

Support for overclocked systems so the game will play at proper speed, not in fast forward (mine isn't overclocked but I've heard about problems with hard coded games)


I know it's early in development but I noticed some walls are lit up super bright and the wall next to it is almost pitch black. I know the DC only supports one light source. Any tricks you can do to textures or effects to simulate more light sources? Like cones or columns with solid color textures with alpha and blur or a blend along the edges? I read some of the older arcade systems could shift color range on sprites to expand on the limited palette, for example.

Last thing is, I would remove the ESRB rating from your disc image. You don't want any legal hassles from them.

Good luck!
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by mankrip »

Well, it wasn't funded.

Despite being one of the most vocal supporters for this project last year, I didn't pledge because there were a number of things in this Kickstarter campaign itself that I don't agree with.

PH3NOM's work is still great and have lots of potential. I still hope to see the release of a commercial DC game using it.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by Christuserloeser »

Main problem was the timing. Late December was the worst possible time to go live.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by DCDayDreamer »

mankrip wrote:Well, it wasn't funded.
Christuserloeser wrote:Main problem was the timing. Late December was the worst possible time to go live.
Almost $30,000 off the mark does point to bad timing, it's certainly nothing to do with the talent involved and the potential of the game itself.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by Christuserloeser »

That is what I believe. There are other problems too of course, and those were listed here in this thread, but the main problem was the timing. If you don't reach a certain momentum halfway into the campaign it is unlikely to recover during the final stretch. Halfway into this campagin was first Christmas and then New year.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by DARKHALO2K »

I'd be very happy to help with a re-launch of the campaign. A re-write of the KS page to include some of the specifics of the game that were reported on external sites would be wise, as well as including some of the images previously released that showcase the engines features. I'd also be happy to run any social media profiles during the campaign.

I've tried contacting Josh, but the email was returned. If anyone from the project would like to discuss this with me, my address is pip.nayler@live.co.uk
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by cube_b3 »

I spoke a lot with PH3NOM in the start with the project and presented him with a marketing plan that could've helped save it but after a few days he stopped responding emails. I did remain in contact with Juguefre but final decision making was the Ph3nom and no offense or disrespect intended but there was 0 marketing. Even the KS page itself had like 5 news updates in total.

Ph3nom didn't even bother to save face and cancel the KS.

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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by bogglez »

Yeah, I think there was a problem with promoting the kickstarter, especially before it even started.
I think rethinking the marketing strategy should make a second attempt work out well.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by cube_b3 »

I just spoke to Wilson.
He has moved on to a different project.
Unrelated to Dreamcast.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by Nico0020 »

Hopefully PH3NOM keeps working on this and relaunches at a later date.

The timing of this KS was not good. No fault to PH3NOM. But I think MANY Dreamcast collectors have his preorder/kickstarter fatigue.
I personally have a LOT of money tied of in Dreamcast games I am waiting on, and I didn't even back all the games we have seen pop up recently.

With Elysian Shadows, Alice Dreams, Henshine Engine, Saber Riders, and Tanglewood Kickstarters,
along with Sl@ve and Xenocider preorders; many people had to of found it hard to tie their money up in yet another project.

I think if more work can be done on the game, and a few of these other projects actually ship, people will be much more excited and willing to open their wallets again.

I am excited to see a resurgence in Dreamcast development, even is some are just ports from other consoles. But PH3NOM, if you are reading, take some time off and decompress. Have fun with your project for awhile and when the timing seems right try to fund it again. Your goal was quite reasonable and your project is VERY impressive. I hope to see more from you in the future.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by Neoblast »

I really hope this ends up getting released.

Good luck Ph3N0M!!
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by mankrip »

The tech was really promising. But after all the years of work PH3NOM put into developing a 3D engine for the DC, the Kickstarter campaign was rushed.

He had recently implemented lightmaps. However, nothing but a single screenshot showed this in the campaign. He should have re-recorded the scenes in the video and taken new screenshots before launching the campaign.

The lack of interpolation not only makes the animations look poorer, but also makes the renderer seems slower. Some people may have looked at the video and thought that the game runs at a much lower framerate than it actually does (the opposite is also true; when I implemented model interpolation in Makaqu, some people thought that the engine's framerate had improved). Interpolation is very easy to implement, and would have made the Kickstarter video look a lot better.

The unlicensed usage of trademarked Sega, Sega Dreamcast, the Swirl and ESRB logos gives a bad impression. At least, it gives the impression that the developers are unaware of all the effort made by independent Dreamcast publishers such as the pioneer GOAT Store to make independent commercial DC games be completely legitimate by not infringing on any trademarks. It may also give the impression of a lack of creativity or effort to design the layout of their own disc label & case cover. And at worse, it may give the impression that the developers are dishonest by trying to pass it off as an officially licensed DC game.

PH3NOM had been working on this engine for years. Why didn't he took one more month to fix these issues and give a much better impression before launching the Kickstarter campaign? Why did things start getting rushed so suddenly? It's almost as if PH3NOM was already working under a deadline some time before the Kickstarter launched. As if the project was under some unknown pressure:
PH3NOM wrote:Yes, we understand this, it was a very difficult decision to launch this project during the holidays.
Source.

The fact that he seemingly deactivated his e-mail account and disappeared from the Internet makes this situation even more puzzling.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by gameblabla »

What's even weird is that he seemed to have disappeared well before the Kickstarter's desmise.
Maybe he died for real...
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by bogglez »

gameblabla wrote:Maybe he died for real...
Oh my god please don't say that
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by mankrip »

gameblabla wrote:Maybe he died for real...
Doubtful. As a programmer, if I knew I was going to die soon and failed at achieving resources/money to prevent that, the first thing I would do is releasing the sources of all of my own projects, so the knowledge in them don't get lost.
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Re: In The Line Of Fire - Kickstarter Launched!

Post by DARKHALO2K »

I'd imagine that PH3NOM has taken the underperformance of his campaign pretty badly, though closing his email account is a little extreme (if that's the case).

Personally, I'd say that raising a third of a pretty large target at probably the worst time of year to launch a Kickstarter, and with somewhat of a rushed campaign, is encouraging. But then I also think that stepping away from the community in light of an unsuccessful campaign is a bad idea.

Judging by some of the comments from the team, I believe that the campaign was rushed due to unhappiness with the pace that the project was progressing. Such frustration is understandable, but all the more reason that a more thought should have gone in to the campaign.

Releasing the press demo publicly alongside a revamped campaign could very easily result in success, but stepping away from the internet like this could affect peoples confidence in whether or not the project would be seen through to completion, which could hurt the chances of a re-launch.

PH3NOM, if you read this, I'm still open to assisting you. I'm not interested in any kind of payment for my time, just in trying to help a promising looking project make it through to completion. I understand that the projects artist has moved on, but I'd be happy to discuss options with them, or look at alternatives.
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