English demo released

[fb_joel]

The English demo has been released. What do you guys think?

I would say that the game only gets better after the demo missions.


Cheers,
Joel

[Sampo]

Which of the levels are featured? Introduction and Water treatment plant?

[Testudo]

Good game!!! Maybe I buy it someday, but not right now.

[CoolBoy]

The demo has me hooked! I can't wait for it to ship to Canada! Also out of curiosity, do you know how much approximately the game might cost? (Canadian or US currency?)

[Sampo]

30 US dollars tops, I'd say.

[CoolBoy]

Holy cow! Don't tell me this game is a budget release? It looks too good for only thirty bucks!

[Sampo]

It sure is a budget release

[Matti]

30 US dollars tops, I'd say.

That's joke. € has more value than US $ and I paid 34 € for it (Pelimies in Oulu).

[zeusgb]

I've played the demo through twice and WOW it's good!

Graphics are very impressive and are the best i've ever seen on a 360 degrees top down shooter. The sound effects are good and the music is very atmospheric. The weapons are fantastic and the upgrade system is well thought out.

Every so often a little known developer will released an absolute gem of a game that shows the big boys how to do it and this is one such game!
In short this game shaping up to be awesome and i'm definitely buying a copy.

[Sampo]

Damn, I didn't check the euro-US dollar relativity. I bought Shadowgrounds for 29,9€ (Verkkokauppa.com). That's 35,8 dollars.

[Guest]

I've played the demo quite a lot of times now, and it's still really fun. I can't wait until the game is released in scandinavia (Sweden in my case). Or pehaps I'll just buy it online from a store that already has it

[CoolBoy]

About half my life I have spent playing computer games, and when playing the English Shadowgrounds demo the following things stood out:

1. The install was nice and came with its own splash screen and setup program. This might seem like a trivial thing, but extras like these make games stand out as polished and complete.
2. The adjustability of the graphics. The the amount of options for running the game is outstanding, and I applaud the programmers for allowing people such as myself to play a very nice looking modern game on a three or four year old computer. The only option I looked for but couldn't find (both on the startup options and the in-game options) was the ability to turn subtitles in the introductory video on or off. This didn't affect gameplay in the least and the other options more than made up for this absence.
3. The nice mix of third-person cutscenes with top-down gameplay. At first I didn't think the change in viewing perspective would work, but as the demo progressed I found myself forgetting the difference.
4. The story, or the amount of it available in the demo. This game is sci-fi, a horror story, a throw back to old-school shooters, and a whole lot of fun. The story seems to reveal things in bits and pieces and is very much like Doom3 in the use of cutscenes, pda messages, and computer messages. This is not a bad thing and since I loved Doom3 to death I'm excited to play Shadowgrounds.
5. The completion status bar when fixing an object such as the power terminals in the first level is practically identical to that found in the game Project Eden and they put it to good use.
6. My final comment is that whoever came up with the idea of making the main character a technician is brilliant. This makes the upgradable weapons and the fixing of electrical systems on another planet (soon-to-be) work without a hitch. Great idea and great implementation of a functional weapon system and simple control scheme. No jump or crouch buttons keep the game simple, but not dumbed down to the point of low interest.

Thanks once again and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this North America release of the game will include Canada and not just the US of A.

[fb_joel]

1. The install was nice and came with its own splash screen and setup program. This might seem like a trivial thing, but extras like these make games stand out as polished and complete.

It's things like these that make a developer smile... There's a lot of stuff in the game that was created at the last minute, and usually people don't notice them. I'm glad they don't go to waste. (Same with the progress bar and Tyler being a mechanic.)

The only option I looked for but couldn't find (both on the startup options and the in-game options) was the ability to turn subtitles in the introductory video on or off. This didn't affect gameplay in the least and the other options more than made up for this absence.

Correct. The reason for this is simple: in Finland everybody is used to subtitles, so they're a normal part of movies/games/etc. This is something that will certainly be user-configurable in our next games.

Thanks once again and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this North America release of the game will include Canada and not just the US of A.

Well you're in luck, because our North American publisher is actually based in Canada. I would take a wild guess and say that the game will be released in Canada at the same time as US.

[fb_joel]

Ah yes, I should comment on the price.

The price of Shadowgrounds in North America is $29.99. In Europe it's around 30 euros. Basically it's the same price everywhere. (If I know correctly, there's an extra state sales tax of around 8% in USA, so indeed the difference between the prices is minimal.)

[Guest]

In the demo i managed to get the assault rifle, shotgun, minigun and flamethrower whereas in the full game and in the same levels i didn't find the minigun and flamethrower.
Is this normal or am i just not awake ?

[fb_joel]

It's normal. In the demo we wanted to demonstrate a couple of the weapons, so we made them available already in the second mission.