Karaski: What Goes Up... Slavic-Steampunk RPG Unraveling a Plot Onboard an Airship! - by Yakoob
Yakoob on 21/7/2015 at 21:51
And thanks for the nice words Henke! I remember that moment like a year ago when I just built the Cargo deck and was sneaking around the vents, listening to Deus Ex soundtrack and thought "wow... this feels right" :D [/selfadmiration]
Quote Posted by gkkiller
There's a beta? Is it public?
It's not public and I am doing it in waves. This way I can experiment with a few ideas and work out some kinks before passing on to next testers. No worries I know you're on the roster :)
Just did a focus group testing last Sunday too!
Inline Image:
http://unboundcreations.com/images/karaski/devblog/karaski-game-168-beta-test-focus-group-2.jpggkkiller on 22/7/2015 at 12:35
Quote Posted by Yakoob
It's not public and I am doing it in waves. This way I can experiment with a few ideas and work out some kinks before passing on to next testers. No worries I know you're on the roster :)
Oops, yeah. I was wondering if you'd forgotten since I'd sent you that PM ages ago, and I was trying to figure out the least pushy way to ask if you'd forgotten. XD
Yakoob on 22/7/2015 at 20:58
On a side note, I am now cutting the new Beta trailer and would REALLY appreciate your guy's feedback! Note this is
just first pass and not finished so do not share with anyone outside of here please :)
Linky: (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4HClTsvWf0)
Stuff like:
* How's the pacing?
* What do you think about choice of ingame shots?
* Are there any boring points?
* Is anything confusing?
* Is there a "ok I'd buy this" moment?
* What does it make you think the game is like?
And for those who played it: do you think it accurately reflects the game or should I stress other points more?
EDIT: And yes I know the "answers" at end should be singular :p
Al_B on 22/7/2015 at 22:05
A few initial thoughts:
* Yes - needs to be "answer" or change "is" to "are" - i.e. "There are no right answers" which suggests more than one answer.
* I wasn't sure what the impact of the sabotage meant. Is the ship about to crash? Are the passengers in danger?
* Having the shot of a room with seven people in it (including yourself) after "You are one of five suspects" seemed odd - am I one of the people and is this in 3rd person? Who is the extra person in the room?
* Footsteps were eerie in shots that had them - not a negative for me and I liked them but perhaps slightly quieter for the trailer?
* Spacing in the text after quotation marks e.g. in "Shouldn't" seemed too exaggerated
* From the "perhaps it was you" / "there are no right answers" it reminds me of (
http://www.homehorror.com/) home (and PostMortem of course :)). Again, not a negative but being a little toned down and suggesting the twists in the game are decided by your actions may better fit the intrigue.
Looking really good - and amazing to see how it's developed from the original screenshots / videos you've posted.
PigLick on 23/7/2015 at 04:43
Having played the beta for a few hours (btw I think it is very good, you are onto something here I reckon), my impression of the trailer is that it is perhaps a bit confusing as to exactly what is going on.
I reckon you should show the engine and airship off first, then reveal the plot at the end of the trailer. Be a bit more subtle about the whole "your choices affect consequences!" as well.
Also you dont need to drive home the "Slavic-themed" thing, once you play the game its quite obvious. I know this is your pet subject and I think it is interesting, but let players draw their own conclusions.
As an aside, if you were going for a thief 2, system shock, deus ex thing you have done well. My eldest daughter said, when I was showing her some of the levels "It reminds of thief 2!"
Regardless of game mechanics, you have created a really cool space to wander and explore.
gkkiller on 23/7/2015 at 05:30
For me, the transitions between cuts are rather distracting. Maybe keep just a few of them, and have simple fades for the rest?
henke on 23/7/2015 at 06:22
I'd get rid of the "There are no right answers, you tell the story" at the end. Before playing Karaski I didn't know how malleable the story was, and I only realized it as I was playing. Yet, I preferred to turn a blind eye to that and pretend like the story I was told was the true one. I think a lot of people would like to do the same, but you explicitly pointing it out in the trailer makes it hard to do so. Also, I think it's a thing that's pretty cool if you just have it in the game and let players discover it on their own, but if you point it out in the trailer it feels like a gimmick. Just get rid of it.
Favourite part: "go where you shouldn't" and the subsequent sneaking
Yakoob on 23/7/2015 at 15:27
Thanks for all the input guys! All points on Al_Bs list fixed (yea, the loud footsteps are weird!)
AS for the "right answers" but, here is where I will have a bit of disagreement with you guys. The main purpose of a trailer is to
sell the game. If you all think it is one of its coolest points, then that's all the more reason it should stay in. Yeah it would be much cooler to keep the audience completely in the dark but that wouldn't make for a good trailer these days, would it? I tried to do that with Postmortem keeping things ambiguous and, well, it just led to confusion. Simply say "your action influence outcomes" is nigh on meaningless.
BUT
I'm change to the was it you all along to What is the Fate of the Airship? or sth to make it more mysterious - yay or nay?
(Yea I know, Im the guy who shits at US movie trailers for revealing too much but I don't think this little bit does. Frankly, we've had enough games that do this stuff now that it's no longer "unique" or even a "twist" really. It's almost becoming a sub-genre of its own.)
Don't mean to sound defensive or disregard your advice, but just showing my (evil) marketing side :) Feel free to contest my points, I'm still not done cutting so maybe I can be convinced otherwise.
Quote Posted by PigLick
Having played the beta for a few hours...
In similar vein, PigLick, you're viewing the trailer after playing the game, but everyone will see the trailer before playing the game. So I should stress the Slavic theme exactly for that reason.
(glad you're enjoying it and drawing parallels to DX/Thief/SS - definitely big inspirations!)
Thirith on 23/7/2015 at 16:46
Are you still taking names for your Beta list? If so, I'd definitely be curious, and more than happy to give feedback.
Twist on 23/7/2015 at 17:37
Quote Posted by Yakoob
In similar vein, PigLick, you're viewing the trailer after playing the game, but everyone will see the trailer before playing the game. So I should stress the Slavic theme exactly for that reason.
Well... maybe I'm completely wrong, but if you put your evil marketing cap on and you want to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, I think the sound and imagery conveys your intended theme to a larger audience better than the word Slavic.
Again, I could be wrong, but I think plenty of gamers who might find your game appealing would react to the word "Slavic" with little more than a confused look and a head scratch. Sure, in communities like TTLG or RPS -- and maybe among European gamers in general -- it's simply understood, but I think you might be over-estimating the cultural savvy of many of my fellow North American gamers.
I'm not suggesting there would be a commercial challenge with explicitly using the term in either your overall design or marketing, but in just the introductory trailer I think it might be best to let the game convey its unique flavor and theme rather than confuse a portion of your audience with an unfamiliar term.
I'll buy this day one, btw, and I really hope it's super successful for you.
