Iron Dukes - salty sailors fighting wooden robots

Zombiemambo

Greetings! Do you wish for adventure on the high seas? To plunder loot from pirates? To weather terrible storms? To dive under the ocean in a cardboard box? Do you like games with the word 'swarthy' in them? Then you have come to the right place.

the website wrote:

It’s 1899, America. In a secret base just off the coast of New Orleans, renowned scientist Professor Thurlow Magoon puts the finishing touches on a massive brass steamship built for speed, greed, and scavenging. As his swarthy crew of treasure hunters gathers around for their orders, the ship’s radio crackles to life. “... Reports of a dangerous phantom submarine may be connected to the deadly warlock known only as Mister Edison...” The Professor turns to his crew and raises his goggles, “Alright scumbags, looks like we got some competition.”

What is Iron Dukes?

the website...again wrote:

Iron Dukes is a game where you accumulate more and more items until you can defeat the large and colorful end boss. Unlike other conventional R.P.G.’s, Iron Dukes has small action sequences that occur when you fight a monster, navigate a storm, or dive under the sea to haul up treasure. Iron Dukes takes place in a fictionalized version of late 19th century America in which Teddy Roosevelt rides a steam-powered horse and Thomas Edison is the leader of a band of roving warlocks. You play as Professor Thurlow Magoon, renowned scientist and greedy treasure hunter.

Where do I play such a fantastical (teehee) game?

On the developers website of course, onetonghost.com. The more people that play, the more popular the game becomes, and the better it will be!

darleysam

This is actually quite fun.

JerikTelorian

Zombiemambo wrote: »

the website...again wrote:

Iron Dukes is a game where you accumulate more and more items until you can defeat the large and colorful end boss. Unlike other conventional R.P.G.’s, Iron Dukes has small action sequences that occur when you fight a monster, navigate a storm, or dive under the sea to haul up treasure. Iron Dukes takes place in a fictionalized version of late 19th century America in which Teddy Roosevelt rides a steam-powered horse and Thomas Edison is the leader of a band of roving warlocks. You play as Professor Thurlow Magoon, renowned scientist and greedy treasure hunter.

This is the greatest premise for a game ever.

Valkun

Seems interesting, but it crashed for me during a storm. Lost all progress.

Couscous

That was to short. I killed my first boss and it ended. On the bright side, I got to kill some dolphins.

Cycophant

titmouse wrote: »

That was to short. I killed my first boss and it ended. On the bright side, I got to kill some dolphins.

No kidding. Certainly a great game, and I can't wait to play it once it's completed.

But for now, it's a dirty, dirty tease...

Pb

Well, I beat the demo, but is there an eta on the full game?

MuddBudd

bookmarked, I'll look into this after Mass Effect.

Aldarez

I'm interested to see if they've any tricks up their sleeves to keep things interesting, else I fear the 3 mini-games could get a tad repetitive. Fun for a quick play though, great style.

Impersonator

Amazing game, very funny though a little bit repetitive, I'm curious to see how the full game will handle

darleysam

MuddBudd wrote: »

bookmarked, I'll look into this after Mass Effect.

It takes about half an hour to get through this tease of a demo. It's a funny half hour, too. Maybe nearer an hour, if you're slow.

Also, I didn't notice if the boss was there first time I went out, but I went back to the shop, sold and bought some stuff, came back and found more bad guys (higher-level), and other stuff had respawned. Wonder how many times I can do this..

Jedoc

Well, Iron Dukes has finally been featured on the main page, so maybe we can get some legs on this thread.

Looks like we have a while to wait for the full version, though. From gamedev.net, about ten days ago:

Iron Dukes has taken roughly a year, but there were starts and spurts. As for future development, we hope to finish it within six more months if we can secure some additional manpower.

HarshLanguage

This feels like the beginnings of a great casual game. I hope they try to make it more than just another online Flash game; the installable demo gives me some hope for that. I liked the style a lot, but there's not a lot of game yet. The 3 minigames, while interesting, need company. The disposable crewmen names were a nice touch. The item descriptions were, as promised, delightfully odd. Cargo space seemed awfully small, considering that you can't sell mid-voyage (at least from what I could tell).

Honestly, what's there is good enough already that I'd play it anyway even unfinished (if it saved progress, which it doesn't).

Cronus

Jedoc wrote: »

Well, Iron Dukes has finally been featured on the main page, so maybe we can get some legs on this thread.

Looks like we have a while to wait for the full version, though. From gamedev.net, about ten days ago:

Iron Dukes has taken roughly a year, but there were starts and spurts. As for future development, we hope to finish it within six more months if we can secure some additional manpower.

It was pretty fun, but the later stages would need something to keep the game from being to repetitive. I'm looking forward to trying it out in six months. Tycho was right about the item descriptions. They are great.

Ultrachrist

It was pretty fun though my fighter guy was so strong at the end he 2 shotted the boss without it being able to hit me.

Also kept accidentally clicking my first guy (the fighter) instead of the sailor when approaching storms since I was holding down the mouse button ending in the untimely death of one of my crew. Though I just switched gear around on my other two depending on what game I was about to hit for the rest.

Fencingsax

I just farmed for 5 minutes and bought everyone the best stuff and then kinda stopped. It's an interesting game, and a great idea, but still a bit shallow. Also, I just survived the storms easily, I wasn't quite sure whether I was supposed to avoid the dark areas of the map, or the icebergs and waves, or both. I just sorta survived.

Ultrachrist

the more 'salty' your crewmember is, the less waves/icebergs there are. If you take a guy with no salt into a higher level storm, you're doomed.

Fencingsax

Ultrachrist wrote: »

the more 'salty' your crewmember is, the less waves/icebergs there are. If you take a guy with no salt into a higher level storm, you're doomed.

That would do it then.

13tongimp

I really was getting into this game but then it crashed because of a script problem when I was trying to go through a storm. Damn shame too, because I was really getting into it. They should fix the bugs, flesh out the game a bit more and release it on Xbox Live Arcade. I would totally buy it.

Jedoc

Fencingsax wrote: »

I just farmed for 5 minutes and bought everyone the best stuff and then kinda stopped. It's an interesting game, and a great idea, but still a bit shallow. Also, I just survived the storms easily, I wasn't quite sure whether I was supposed to avoid the dark areas of the map, or the icebergs and waves, or both. I just sorta survived.

Yeah, the balance is pretty messed up right now. If you just save your money for a single piece of +33 equipment, you pretty much skip over the entire midrange of equipment. I've actually been having more fun when I ignore the store entirely. I don't go back to the store until everything on the map is cleared, and I only use what I scavenge. Maximum profits, meet maximum adventure.

Arde

The game's balance is really awful and the mini-games are too repetitive.

Right now it might make a good 15 minute game, but longer than that, it gets too repetitive and boring.

crazyjah2003

Awesome game, I can't wait for the full release. It's a definite buy if they make it a bit more complex, but the concept is amazing

Mustachio Jones

I enjoyed those 15 minutes thoroughly. Most of it was spent reading item descriptions, but that doesn't matter.

What I do with my game is my own business.

reach42

humina

This is a great game. it is a shame that game sites don't review the smaller games. Gamespot has scant mention of iron dukes. From the games at the gdc I also liked world of goo.

http://oehlberg.com

PiptheFair

reach42 wrote: »

oh man

Fencingsax

Jedoc wrote: »

Fencingsax wrote: »

I just farmed for 5 minutes and bought everyone the best stuff and then kinda stopped. It's an interesting game, and a great idea, but still a bit shallow. Also, I just survived the storms easily, I wasn't quite sure whether I was supposed to avoid the dark areas of the map, or the icebergs and waves, or both. I just sorta survived.

Yeah, the balance is pretty messed up right now. If you just save your money for a single piece of +33 equipment, you pretty much skip over the entire midrange of equipment. I've actually been having more fun when I ignore the store entirely. I don't go back to the store until everything on the map is cleared, and I only use what I scavenge. Maximum profits, meet maximum adventure.

Unfortunately, I have a congenital condition where I cannot throw anything away, so whenever the 6 storage spaces got filled up, I had to go back to the shops.

Pseudonym

JerikTelorian wrote: »

Zombiemambo wrote: »

the website...again wrote:

Iron Dukes is a game where you accumulate more and more items until you can defeat the large and colorful end boss. Unlike other conventional R.P.G.’s, Iron Dukes has small action sequences that occur when you fight a monster, navigate a storm, or dive under the sea to haul up treasure. Iron Dukes takes place in a fictionalized version of late 19th century America in which Teddy Roosevelt rides a steam-powered horse and Thomas Edison is the leader of a band of roving warlocks. You play as Professor Thurlow Magoon, renowned scientist and greedy treasure hunter.

This is the greatest premise for a game ever.

Sounds like Bully Pulpit. Do they have a time machine? I'll check this out!

Edit: It's really fun! I've just been skipping the store. It's more fun to see what you fish up. I don't really like the storm parts, though.