Dev Blog: November 15 2018 - The Demo Is Live!

[Citan]

I wanted to give you an update on our plans for near-future game updates. But first, let's talk about the demo!

Project: Gorgon Demo Is Available!
We're happy to announce that the "demo" version of Project: Gorgon is available. This has taken a while, but we knew it was important for this game. Project: Gorgon is pretty unusual, and you can't really tell if it's going to be your thing until you try it. So now you can! (You can download it from our Steam store page here -- just click "Download Demo" on the sidebar.)

I wanted to make sure the demo encompassed more than just the tutorial area, to really give demo users a feel for how the game plays. So the demo lets players explore Anagoge (the newbie island), Serbule, and Serbule Hills, as well as most of the dungeons in those areas. Demo characters can unlock new skills as usual, and they can raise any of their skills up to level 15. This gives demo'ers a broad sampling of the game's content to explore. Once they buy the actual game, demo characters automatically become "real" characters without any restrictions, so it's quick and painless to transition from the demo to the regular game.

We also worked hard to prevent "demo abuse". Since players could theoretically create as many demo characters as they want (limited only by the number of Steam accounts they want to create), there are a lot of potential abuse scenarios, such as harassment, market-manipulation, muling, even power-leveling. (Power-leveling? Really?! Yes... at least, in limited forms. Imagine someone using a bunch of demo characters to play music for their main character's garden -- that's technically power-leveling, since music makes plants grow faster!)

Let's go over the CANs and CANNOTs of the demo. Demo users:

• CANNOT join a guild
• CANNOT trade with other players
• CANNOT send or receive money via /tip
• CANNOT pick up items dropped on the ground (except items they themselves dropped)
• CANNOT milk other players (or be milked, if they become a cow)
• CANNOT listen to poetry orations or recite poetry
• CAN unlock and use regular storage
• CAN sell items at vendors, but CANNOT buy other players' used items
• CANNOT buy consignment items or place their own consignments
• CANNOT purchase from player stores or open their own stores
• CANNOT play any instrument, but CAN listen to performances
• CANNOT place or complete player-work-orders
• CANNOT use deployed gadgeteering items such as vending machines and rafflers
• CAN add friends (it prompts the other player to confirm, as normal)
• CAN join hunting groups (and can chat in hunting group chat)
• CAN speak in Local chat, and in Group chat (when they're in a group)
• CAN speak in a new chat room called Demo
• CAN listen, but CANNOT speak, in all other chat rooms (including Global, Trade, and Help)
• CANNOT send private messages (PMs) unless both the sender and recipient are in the Demo chat room (see below)

We want to let our amazing community help Demo players if they get stuck or have questions, but it has to be easy to opt in and out. That's why we've tied private messages to the new Demo chat room. If you want to help Demo players, simply join this chat room. (Right-click a chat tab, choose Edit Chat Tab, and add "Demo" to the tab's channels. Or you can type /join Demo to quickly create a new chat tab for it.) While you're in the Demo chat room, you'll also be able to communicate via PMs with demo users. If you leave the Demo room (by closing the Demo chat tab), demo users will be unable to PM you further (and vice versa).

Demo users are still bound by the same code of conduct as regular players, and demo users that are abusive will be gagged or banned as usual. And you can always use /ignore to ignore obnoxious users. But since it's so easy to create new demo characters, we wanted this extra layer of abuse-protection for our community. To sum up: If you're happy to help demo users, join the Demo chat room. If it becomes too distracting, just leave that chat room.

No design is ever perfect on the first try, so I'm sure we'll need to tweak these rules after we see what problems demo users run into. But I think this is a good first version.


Upcoming Game Improvements
We've talked before about the next big engineering task, which is rewriting the animation code to use Unity's newer 'Mecanim' system instead of our current home-brewed system. This coding work has been outsourced to our partners, who are developing it in a separate code branch. Unfortunately, it's taking longer than anticipated, and I'm not yet sure when the new animation system will be ready to integrate into the game. That also means horses are delayed, because the mounts need Mecanim.

In the mean time, we're working on other parts of the game: improving the UI, fixing bugs, adding missing content, and revising game systems. Plus adding a few more new game systems to keep it interesting.

Improving the UI
The next update has some iterative improvements to the UI. For instance, it seems that a lot of players never find the "More Info" feature for items. (You currently find it by right-clicking an item and choosing 'More Info', and it can tell you things like who to gift the item to... no note-taking necessary!) I'll be adding an alternative way to get to that info so that it's easier to discover.

More substantively, there's a new little feature called Practical Summoning. This is designed to make it a little easier to manage crafting ingredients. I can't count the number of times I've been trying to craft something and realized I forgot an ingredient and have to run and get it from storage.

Once your character masters Practical Summoning, there's a new button in the crafting window to summon missing ingredients. (As shown by the "Summon..." link in this in-development screenshot.) Clicking that button lets you summon items from nearby storage areas -- all the storage in the current town you're in, more or less.




There are a few caveats -- namely, it only works on fixed ingredients, not ingredients that you drag and drop into recipe slots. And it can't help you put stuff away after you're finished crafting. But I'm enjoying it and I think it'll be a nice little quality-of-life improvement. You'll be able to learn this trick from a mantis in the casino -- it costs a few thousand Councils and requires Teleportation level 12.

The next update also fixes a bunch of annoying UI bugs, and there are some other new UI features that I don't want to talk about yet (because they may not work out... they're still being prototyped as I write this). And there are, of course, many more UI improvements to come in the future, too.

Fleshing out Content
Over the next few months we'll be taking a look at the higher-level areas: Kur, Ilmari, Rahu, and Gazluk. These areas all need more points of interest, more things to discover, most stuff to do! There are also a bunch of unfinished NPCs in these areas, and even entire storylines that just haven't made it into the game yet, plus some missing dungeons (a few larger ones, but mostly smaller soloable ones).

Some areas will also see heavy revision for technical reasons. In particular, the terrain of Rahu will probably need to be remade. It was created via a different method than the other outdoor areas, as an experiment. We'd hoped this new method would work better than it did. (But hey, that's what experiments are for.) We'll be revising it to use the technique we used in other outdoor areas.

I'm not sure what new content will be in the very next update yet (if any!). But I wanted to give you an idea of what we'll be working on for the next couple of updates. (Plus, of course, there's the Christmas event! It will be based on last years' alpha event, but with more stuff.)

Revising Game Systems
This game has a lot of game systems. A LOT of game systems. Many are pretty nicely fleshed-out, but some are basically just prototypes that need a lot of revision. I have a long list of systems that need to be improved. Some of those systems include mushroom farming, "dangerous improvement" recipes, guild features, and several combat skills.

Some of these things just need tweaks and refinement, while others may go back to the drawing board entirely.

Note: All This Will Take Several Months!
I don't want to give the idea that all of this stuff will happen in the very next update, which is only about a week away. The next update is mostly UI stuff. We like to work in short sprints of two or three weeks, so we'll be rolling these changes out piecemeal over several months. This way you get access to the features ASAP, and we get timely feedback.

A big advantage of this work style is that we can pivot to new priorities very quickly. And we often do just that! When the new animation system is ready, it'll probably be higher-priority than a lot of these tasks, so unfinished tasks on this list may go to the back burner. However it goes, I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for supporting us!

- Citan (Eric)

PS - we could really use your help getting word out about the demo. It can be downloaded via the "Download Demo" link on our Steam store page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3...roject_Gorgon/

[zthali]

I wanted to give you an update on our plans for near-future game updates. But first, let's talk about the demo!

Upcoming Game Improvements
We've talked before about the next big engineering task, which is rewriting the animation code to use Unity's newer 'Mecanim' system instead of our current home-brewed system. This coding work has been outsourced to our partners, who are developing it in a separate code branch. Unfortunately, it's taking longer than anticipated, and I'm not yet sure when the new animation system will be ready to integrate into the game. That also means horses are delayed, because the mounts need Mecanim.

In the mean time, we're working on other parts of the game: improving the UI, fixing bugs, adding missing content, and revising game systems. Plus adding a few more new game systems to keep it interesting.


Thanks for supporting us!

- Citan (Eric)

PS - we could really use your help getting word out about the demo. It can be downloaded via the "Download Demo" link on our Steam store page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3...roject_Gorgon/

Thanks for the update!

Since you mentioned the mounts....I'm still waiting on the titles I paid for with my packages. Should I expect the mounts I paid for with my packages to be delivered to my accounts months/years after everyone else receives their mounts?

[NickzMagic]

I think you should allow joining guilds(and obviously restricting guild credits/storage) - I'm sure many people would be more likely to stick if they joined a guild and made friends.

[Silkt]

All very nice stuff coming for a game approaching the end of Beta pushing to release, but this game is not there yet. When are more zones coming both for higher level and the current levels already in game. This game's longeviety appears to be tied to players learning new skills after maxing current ones, PLEASE give more zones at all levels after Serbule, repeating the same mobs for combat skills gets very boring.

[Yaffy]

The demo is a really great addition! I've always thought Gorgon is the kind of game that you really need to play in order to see how great it is, so a demo is perfect for people who want to see how the game play is like. Now I can suggest the demo to people which makes the game much easier to recommend to others.
The list of what players can and can't do in the demo is handy too. I see there's been a lot of thought put behind what the players can and can't do to prevent botting/multiboxing abuse. Can demo players drop items that can be picked up by players who have purchased the game though? That could lead to potential abuse.

Looking forward to all the other stuff mentioned too, Illimari and Rahu do feel like they could use some more love since there's a lot of weird empty space. The summoning thing sounds kinda weird but also really handy.
I'm sorry for making a huge stink about it, but I'm glad you're trying to take another look at the dangerous enchantment recipes. It's probably not something most people here are interested in, but I've been keeping an eye on Maple Story 2 (An MMO that recently released here in the west) and recently the community for the game has been making a HUGE commotion over the RNG upgrade system in the game and how it's horribly unfun. It really reminded me of some of the worry that some PG players and I have felt about dangerous upgrades. If you want to see how to make an RNG gear/enchantment system that will make half of your playerbase feel like quitting the game, check out Maple Story 2.

[INXS]

Demo idea seems great !
I'm excited for the Rahu and Ilmari tweak, these two areas need TLC ! I always felt like Serbule, Eltibule and Kur were somewhat done in a good manner, many dungeons very well thought out layout there so much to do in those areas, in Kur we got Yeti cave, Kur tower and Wolf cave then you get to Ilmari/Rahu and........ i kind of get the feeling is this it, never felt complete. I do have to say Labyrinth is a great dungeon.

[Coolit]

Thanks for releasing a demo

I tried PG out in alpha but didn't make a purchase because I wanted to see how things would develop so this for me is the ideal opportunity to become reacquainted with the game and see how things have progressed.

I'll be happy to post some feedback once I have a grasp of things again

[LightNovelFan]

Downloaded the demo but can't login with my username and password?

How is it supposed to work? It says run from Steam, but all Steam has is a Download button which downloaded an executable, but running that doesnt work when I try to login?

[Plaximos]

Hey Awesome update! I love this game and I know that I have many others that have great interest in this game and want to play it. This game is an amazing game but one where you need to play it to really experience how awesome it is. You can easily watch some videos and be put off by the old graphics but once you play it you really see it's true value. I think the demo is outstanding and will be a way to show people that this game and community is worth it and that it's only going to get better! So keep up the good work!

[Aionlasting]

FISHING!

Can you please make fishing more realistic and less about running into the water and grabbing things with your hand? Every gathering profession is exactly the same. Gather with your hands.

Can we get fishing to be more traditional with a rod, line and lure ala the cast your rod into the waters and play a fishing minigame to pull it out?

Stardewvalley has a simplistic one or you can look at world of Warcraft where you just wait for a bite and right click your lure.

But please... make fishing different then every other resource gathering in the game... its monotonous, repetative, …. and...…….. not fun

Kindly offered.

p.s. I am desperately waiting for the new animation system... the game is fun mechanistically for the most part (minus gathering being all the same.. lol) but it really needs a prettying up... and I know the animation system will go miles in helping make them smoother, more fluid, and prettier even if the graphics to receive a major overhaul of any sorts. Itself alone will do wonders! Plus I want to see new spell effects. So many spells use the same effects.