Frontlines: Fuel of War MP demo is available on XBL!

Nitsuj82

I know I keep hyping up this game, and I know the SP demo was clunky, but now we can see how far they've come on making the game worth our while!

I haven't grabbed it yet, but it's on my to-do list for this evening.

See you out there.

Zilla360

Fun, but way too laggy/foggy for me to consider buying the full game.

Nitsuj82

Damnit!

This game has so much potential. I can't decide if I should cancel my pre-order, or just suck it up and wait until it's actually out. I don't want to make another NFS Prostreet mistake.

KaosMitch

Laggy? Are you playing on the dedicated servers?

Raslin

How much has it shaped up since pax? At least, are the controls somewhat decent now?

KaosMitch

We've made adjustments to the controls including sensitivity options and also optimized the graphics and made a number of other changes.

ChewyWaffles

Hey welcome, Kaos! Always nice to see devs around here

KaosMitch

Thanks, I've lurked here for awhile as a gamer and poke around now and then as a dev.

Anyway, glad to answer any and all questions or hear constructive feedback good or bad.

There is always room for improvement so if you try the game please let me know what you think!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, we just announced our PC demo - http://community.kaosstudios.com/showthread.php?t=5047

Nitsuj82

How about speeding up the time it takes to use the scope/get out of it?

KaosMitch

On a specific weapon or all of them?

EliteBattleman

Mitch, I actually really liked the demo. It's rather fun.

The only problem is that it seems rather buggy.

Watching someone fly a helicopter while also riding in front of it.
Parachuting off a water tower and landing on some vehicle (or something), getting me stuck there for the remainder of the game.
Emptying an entire clip at someone in point-blank range and having only 2 bullets hit.

Those three above? All in the same game. There's also a fair amount of lag I'm getting, but I'm unsure if that's because of the game or because I have a shitty connection.

I really did enjoy it and I'm considering buying it, but I keep running into bugs here and there. Those were only what I could recall off the top of my head.

Also, when respawning, why does it take so long to respawn? Isn't that what the timer's for?

Kyougu

Did they improve it drastically from the beta? I remember some people here playing the beta, and the stories they told were horrible.

Crazybear

I downloaded this last night and I have to say I had a blast. The sound was excellent and there was always something happening on the battlefield, be it an explosion or a tank rolling in.

I love the rocket launcher and the fact it locks onto tanks and what not, really balances out the game so that the team with all the tanks doesn't win. And I freaking loved shooting down a helicopter with it, while a friendly copter was fighting it. Watching it fall to the ground in flames was totally cool.

And I really, really, REALLY enjoyed flying the helicopter and raining death down in a blaze of missles. Pure fun!

But I still can't drive a tank for nothing, I don't know if it is me or what but I can't get the controls down. The only lag I saw was when spawning, after the counter went to zero it took a while for me to get back into the action. And maybe I am spoiled by COD4 but damn I want a kill cam!

Other than that, I would pick this game up if I had the money. I'll have to wait until the price drops or I someone wants to trade it on Goozex. I mean the game doesn't make drastic changes to the genre, but what it does, it does well.

Nitsuj82

KaosMitch wrote: »

On a specific weapon or all of them?

The assault rifle for me. In CoD4, you just squeeze the trigger and you're looking down the barrel/through the scope. No real delay to speak of. Then again, it might be the button layout that I like. Will I be able to fully customize that in the retail version?

skarsol

Hurm, I sense an advertising opportunity for Brawdo here!

Brawdo! Fuel of War! Now *you're* the mutilator!

Trevor

So, if I didn't like the single player demo at all I should still give the multiplayer one a try? There was a single-player demo up before, right? I can't seem to find it now. I might be thinking of another game, there seem to be a lot of random FPS games that I download demos of and I can't keep them all straight.

Zilla360

KaosMitch wrote: »

Laggy? Are you playing on the dedicated servers?

I don't think so, at least there's no 32 player servers showing up in the server browser for me.:?:

KaosMitch

They are pretty swamped. We should be adding more soon.

There is A LOT going on this week and I am swamped too!

I'll try and address your concerns tomorrow though. Thanks for the feedback, we are listening and appreciate it!!!

Nitsuj82

KaosMitch wrote: »

They are pretty swamped. We should be adding more soon.

There is A LOT going on this week and I am swamped too!

I'll try and address your concerns tomorrow though. Thanks for the feedback, we are listening and appreciate it!!!

Are you guys still gonna be able to make the release date?

KaosMitch

Just announced yesterday:

Ship on 2/25/08
U.S. Street on 2/26 or 2/27
Euro/Worldwide Street on 2/29
Steam and other digital downloads on 2/25

Trevor

It's really cool to have a direct line to one of the devs, I wish shit that cool could happen more often. That being said, I've given the game a half-dozen tries and it appears to just not be for me.

Klyka

Funny enough,the game kinda feels like CoD4 only with more going on sometimes.
Then at other times it just feels like good old BF2 or like Quake Wars.

I hope you guys are optimizing the game like hell if you are really releasing it this month, cause it still feels a bit unpolished,especially in the graphical departement. Shadows and lighting are really bad sometimes.

MistaCreepy

Ill download this demo tonight... it seems reaction has improved a bit from what I read in the earlier threads.

Klyka

I would love playing the demo with some PA guys in a squad. Too bad it doesn't have a party system, so I guess it'll be hard to get into the servers together.

Tiemler

I like the concept a lot. Near-future battlefield, lots of remotely-piloted vehicles.

I'd be interested to see how smoothly a 16-player match runs. A 32-player game with drones buzzing everywhere seems doomed to lag terribly on Live.

MistaCreepy

Frontlines: Fuel of War was also originally in development for the PlayStation 3, although THQ announced it had canceled work on this version on January 24th, 2008,[4] seemingly as a result of problems encountered in adapting the Unreal Engine 3 to the PS3.

Oh funny. I'm sure it had nothing to do with Microsoft publishing the title. Also UT3 is on the PS3 and Im pretty sure thats the Unreal 3 engine

Looking foward to trying the demo regardless, I knew I bought a 360 for a reason.

Klyka

Tiemler wrote: »

I like the concept a lot. Near-future battlefield, lots of remotely-piloted vehicles.

I'd be interested to see how smoothly a 16-player match runs. A 32-player game with drones buzzing everywhere seems doomed to lag terribly on Live.

32 Player matches are on dedicated servers by the Developers.

I can tell you that even in the demo the 32 player matches are flawless and run just like a normal Halo or CoD4 match,if not better.

KaosMitch

My wife just ordered dinner and asked when I am coming home... but I promised to answer your questions so guess it is a cold dinner for me tonight!

"Those three above? All in the same game. There's also a fair amount of lag I'm getting, but I'm unsure if that's because of the game or because I have a shitty connection."

Can you tell me more? Are you on the dedicated servers? Are you behind a router?

"Also, when respawning, why does it take so long to respawn? Isn't that what the timer's for?"

How long a respawn are you seeing?

"Did they improve it drastically from the beta? I remember some people here playing the beta, and the stories they told were horrible."

Not sure from when the stories are from. We did a true beta, not just a marketing one. We wanted player feedback and used it to fix and improve the game... and still are. We did patch the beta a lot.

"I love the rocket launcher and the fact it locks onto tanks and what not, really balances out the game so that the team with all the tanks doesn't win. And I freaking loved shooting down a helicopter with it, while a friendly copter was fighting it. Watching it fall to the ground in flames was totally cool."

Yup. Anti-vehicle is my current fave right now.

"But I still can't drive a tank for nothing, I don't know if it is me or what but I can't get the controls down. The only lag I saw was when spawning, after the counter went to zero it took a while for me to get back into the action. And maybe I am spoiled by COD4 but damn I want a kill cam!"

A lot of debate on the kill cam. Kind of stinks for the snipers that killed you (and anti-vehicle, drone ops, etc.).

"The assault rifle for me. In CoD4, you just squeeze the trigger and you're looking down the barrel/through the scope. No real delay to speak of. Then again, it might be the button layout that I like. Will I be able to fully customize that in the retail version?"

Currently, we just have four pre-set control systems but a lot of people are asking about this so we are discussing it.

"I hope you guys are optimizing the game like hell if you are really releasing it this month, cause it still feels a bit unpolished,especially in the graphical departement. Shadows and lighting are really bad sometimes."

More optimizations were done after sending the demo out for approval and we also plan to do additional patches based on player feedback on both Xbox and PC.

"I would love playing the demo with some PA guys in a squad. Too bad it doesn't have a party system, so I guess it'll be hard to get into the servers together."

We're actually planning out a competitive gaming patch that will address a lot of issues for people in clans, tournaments, etc. More info on that soon.

I'll be checking back here for if you want more details or have any other questions/comments.

THANKS!

Tiemler

KaosMitch wrote: »

Can you tell me more? Are you on the dedicated servers? Are you behind a router?

I had similar symptoms, but I'll see if the match selection has anything to prioritize the best connection. I'm apparently on the dedicated servers, since my matches had 32 players. Have a Linksys router, but XBL has been forwarded, and I have no issues on COD4 and Halo 3.

"Also, when respawning, why does it take so long to respawn? Isn't that what the timer's for?"

How long a respawn are you seeing?

Didn't bother me personally. But it took a few seconds after the respawn timer finished.

Yup. Anti-vehicle is my current fave right now.

I was kinda hoping to take out some drones with it, but couldn't seem to hit them despite the lock-on, unless they were hovering stationary.

A lot of debate on the kill cam. Kind of stinks for the snipers that killed you (and anti-vehicle, drone ops, etc.).

Some shooters have used a simple camera movement, panning in the enemy's general direction. I'd prefer that over a kill cam. If someone pulled off a sneaky kill from a well-concealed position, it makes sense that my team and our "reinforcements" would only have a general idea where the shot came from.

Currently, we just have four pre-set control systems but a lot of people are asking about this so we are discussing it.

Please, come down on the Light Side on this one. Developers should never have abandoned custom remapping of controls in this generation.

KaosMitch

It is a little tough to hit the drones even as AV (which with EMP is a great role/loadout combo).

The small size of the drones throws the lockon system off to a degree but if you lead the lockon system a little instead of pointing straight at the drones it can do the trick.

I actually find shooting the locked on rocket a little above the drone works most of the time.

Klyka

After playing a bit more I remembered what I think is the worst decision:
Going prone by clicking the stick twice.

There should be a way to just hold the stick in so your guy immediately jumps on the ground, like in CoD4.
It just sucks that you have to duck and then press again to go prone.

At least you can insta-standup with just using the sprint button.

Edit: Oh and I wanted to ask, who is still on the team from the original Desert Combat team? I was one of the beta testers from the very start and a mod on DCNation.de the biggest german fansite at the time. It would be fun to hear from some guys again and how they're doing

KaosMitch

Well who did you know on the team? I'll confirm if they are still around...

You can also hit "jump" to get out of prone. We're listening to feedback on the "duck/prone" functionality, thanks for posting.

"I'm sure it had nothing to do with Microsoft publishing the title."

Microsoft is not publishing the title, THQ is and it was their decision. Sorry, no X-Files here.

Klyka

KaosMitch wrote: »

Well who did you know on the team? I'll confirm if they are still around...

You can also hit "jump" to get out of prone. We're listening to feedback on the "duck/prone" functionality, thanks for posting.

"I'm sure it had nothing to do with Microsoft publishing the title."

Microsoft is not publishing the title, THQ is and it was their decision. Sorry, no X-Files here.

Well, I basically "knew" everyone, from the playtests and the beta forums.
I can't quite remember the nicknames though... Frank Delise, I remember of course. Maybe just ask around who was there when they just got the 0.1/0.2 releases out. Man those were good times...

Back to the game: I also noticed that the respawning is a bit awkward. You always get this rotating faction sign and have to wait like 5-10 seconds although the respawn timer has long reached 0.

What I would love in the game is that "Y" should switch between your two last used weapons if you just press it once. Hold it down and you get the dial like now. I think that's how Rainbow Six Vegas did it and it worked great.