f13.net forums - Salem: an F2P permadeath colonization MMORPG from Paradox

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June 27, 2025, 01:25:55 PM

we're back, baby

Quote from: Phred on February 04, 2012, 06:52:37 PM

Quote from: Ghambit on February 14, 2011, 12:07:27 PM

I shall harp on the 'alt' thing again:
What's to stop them from allowing only one account per IP/MAC? Sure, you may have some folk who are smart enough to proxy or game on a 2nd machine with another billing option, but is it enough of a percentage to gimp the whole game?

To take it further, they could get fairly strict on making an account in the 1st place. You'd need valid billing, name, address, etc. Even to the point of mailing activation keys and/or using telepresence to verify accounts. awesome, for real

No seriously. They could even incorporate it into the game if they had to. Like a required verifiation quest chain that must be completed within 2 weeks of installation or your toon dies.

For sure. Or like they could have someone go to the street address and verify people are real.

Hey, there are starving children in africa. They could hire them for rice and peanuts and I bet they'd gladly do it. Outsourcing ftw!

My mother (who can't use computers) would cheerfully verify that an account is in her name and she is the player if I asked her to do that for me. As would about a dozen other people I know.

Quote from: Stabs on February 06, 2012, 02:14:39 PM

My mother (who can't use computers) would cheerfully verify that an account is in her name and she is the player if I asked her to do that for me. As would about a dozen other people I know.

Ya the whole idea of trying to restrict alt accounts is totally retarded.

Developer's diary from GDC

which reveals that, surprisingly enough, the game does exist in some basic, semi-working form.

(and that perma-death is still in Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

)

I'd never thought the concern was finding the PK'er (he's probably camping your village) or revenge after your character has been permanently deleted (who cares at that point?).

Still, it will be fun to watch how it plays out.

Realm of the Mad God handles permadeath so well (seriously, everyone who hasn't played it should try it ASAP - the single best MMO released since DDO's F2P reincarnation) that I'm newly optimistic about other companies hitting the sweet spot.

Quote from: Scold on March 12, 2012, 10:07:29 AM

Only played it for a few minutes, it has not clicked for me yet, what is so special about it ?

Not a damn thing, I assumed it was a troll post and ignored it.

Quote from: Der Helm on March 17, 2012, 09:28:40 AM

Quote from: Scold on March 12, 2012, 10:07:29 AM

Only played it for a few minutes, it has not clicked for me yet, what is so special about it ?

I'm not sure if you're asking specifically about how RotMG handles permadeath, or about what makes the game special in general, so I'll answer the latter. It takes a little bit of getting used to, because it's such a radical departure from traditional MMO mechanics. Full disclosure: I think traditional MMO mechanics are horrible, so that might color my views. But in my mind, of any MMO released in the last couple of years, RotMG has so much to recommend it:

-The best combat system, by far. The way RotMG innovates MMO combat is huge. A twitch-skill cooperative bullet hell shooter that feels challenging and exciting without ever feeling unfair.

-The best class system I've seen in a while. The classes feel modular enough when compared to one another (Playing a Wizard and like your staff's attack pattern, but wish you were a little less squishy with self-heals? Roll a necromancer, that's exactly what it is). Allows you to play it safe, go high-risk-high-reward, be group-oriented, solo-oriented, play however you wish.

-A beautifully streamlined questing system. Just feels totally organic.

-Leveling/gear/'hero XP' curves that feel just right for permadeath, allowing you to improve your character without making you a worthless sack of shit until you find the +3 MacGuffin. Also strikes an interesting balance between using gear/stat potions (RotMG essentially provides hero XP via stat potions that permanently +1 one of your stats, they're the game's currency) on your character and saving them in your chests in case you make a wrong move and bite the dust.

-Top-tier netcode. Seriously, whoever handles the back-end for those guys deserves a medal. I've never once died due to server problems on their end or lag spikes or disconnects... how many MMOs can say the same?

-An absolutely wonderful retro-kitsch art style. Bold, colorful, exciting.

-The permadeath implementation is perfect. Even fairly standard combat encounters make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. If I die, I might take a break for a day or two, but then I'm right back in. Permadeath stings, when in the heat of the moment I want to avoid death with every fiber of my being, but it doesn't feel insurmountable. The end result is MMO combat with an emotional component you haven't felt on a gut level since the early EQ death-is-hell days, but without any catassing.

-A really well-thought-out endgame. God-hunting presents a multifaceted, ever-evolving challenge. I'm fighting the Medusa, and it's going well but her grenades keep backing me up, which then backs me into a Leviathan behind me, and now all of a sudden I'm run-and-gunning and fighting both of them at the same time. I can group up easily in the endgame, but if I run solo I can keep all the loot for myself. I might kill a god that drops a giant blue "I have amazing stuff inside" bag, but then it's smack dab in the middle of bullet hell that's being spewed by his buddies, and the timer is ticking down before the bag poofs into nothingness... what do I do? The way the Mad God Oryx periodically teleports everyone in a given realm (even the level 1s) direct to the endgame of raiding his castle (a bullet-hell raid of up to 85 people) is amazing. Plenty of interesting, procedurally generated dungeons, too, and the way dungeon entrances spawn temporarily as boss drops keeps you from finding them ubiquitous and boring. You never, ever hear people tell you "play 4 hours a day for a week and then you can start doing the fun stuff".

...Jesus, just writing this up makes me badly want to play.

Well, regardless he got me to google it! Oh yeah, played it for like 5 minutes and forgot about it....

Its quite an interesting design (ROTMG). One of those that speak to simple is better.

Salem Beta Signup is up, signing up yields a referral code, which after 3 referrals, nets you a beta spot.

Oh look, here's mine: http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=6e0a6fb9373

I rode schild's link; once two more of you have done it feel free to use my referral link. Ta

http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=ae58156d1e2

I've also signed up with Schild's link, so he needs one more.

Here's my link: http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=99e676dd932

Also signed up under Schild's link.

Here is my happy link.

I signed up w/ k9's link. here is mine.

http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=ff79b24140c

So... any reason a dude with some 3 extra email accounts couldn't just make this happen himself?

I'm the second sign-up under K9's link so he needs one more.

Here's mine: http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=8bc8f3c2a5a

This should round out K9's list. Here's mine.

http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=e88a312e6ad

Quote from: Yoru on March 23, 2014, 10:32:03 AM

I've also signed up with Schild's link, so he needs one more.

Here's my link: http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=99e676dd932

I signed up with Yoru's link.

Here's mine.
http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=6e1f3ad77d9

Quote from: Xanthippe on March 27, 2012, 11:34:03 AM

Quote from: Yoru on March 23, 2014, 10:32:03 AM

I've also signed up with Schild's link, so he needs one more.

Here's my link: http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=99e676dd932

I signed up with Yoru's link.

Here's mine.
http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=6e1f3ad77d9

I used Xanthippe's. Here's my link: http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=9ebbbfef376

I've had two other friends sign up with my link, so go ahead and skip over me to the next guy in line.

Salem for all! awesome, for real

I look forward to the reports.

If everyone else manages to get their referrals topped up, here's mine.

http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=52b56d6066d

I clicked on Scold's.

Here's mine! http://beta.salemthegame.com/?ref=ee60f22d38e

(I have 1 already as I used my work address)

Has anyone heard anything from this yet?

That was some pretty exciting game-play. Combine that with occasional resets to zero after PvP death and I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to be playing it.

Ok. I couldn't even look at that. Is that cobblestone or a missing texture?

It's so ugly :( Don't show it yet! Stop!

You missed a nail-biting battle between a man and a smooth pebble and you only have yourself to blame.

It's scheduled for Q3 this year, so I assume thats the intended appearance.

I watched 15 minutes of a man go out into the wild to look at a rock.

Ohhhhh, I see.

Quote from: schild on April 23, 2012, 09:13:50 PM

It's so ugly :( Don't show it yet! Stop!

I'm sure that the high quality gameplay will make up for the appearance. They'll probably patch that in right after release. why so serious?

I got a beta invite for this today. I dug around and didn't see any sort of NDA.

I am scared to try it after watching those videos.