Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Polynomial released on Steam. Out of beta at last.

Wheeeeee! At last, I am done with version 1 . Released on Steam. (I'm making a note here:
HUGE SUCCESS. :-) )
Thanks to all the people whom helped to test it!
Some days later, I'll send off Steam keys to all of you whom bought the beta version - and I will give some extras on future updates as well. It's been a frantic few months leading to this release.

39 comments:

  1. Marvelous! Just saw it on Steam, can't wait to play this version!

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  2. I just purchased this and I love it. Even though I really have no idea what I'm doing it's still fun and the visuals are fantastic.

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  3. Inspired game if you can really call it that. To me, it's more like interactive art than anything.

    You are brilliant at what you do. Keep up the good work. I'm going to hunt up your email address if possible, I have a few more questions that aren't probably interesting to the general public.

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  4. First time I try the demo of it, it's really mesmerizing, and pleasant to play. The newtonian physics are especially appreciable.

    However, if you want to appeal to the space shooter crowd (like myself), I'd recommend to add a few things:

    - "strafe" possibilities: you have a great feeling from physics, but you can only roll and pitch, you can't activate some boost from side or top/bottom, like on the X series. It would really add something, with the way you manage physics.

    - show when I'm hit, and where. Currently, it's hard to know, besides watching the health bar decrease, what is attacking me.

    - "afterburner". Space fight needs pacing, and most of the time when you're already maxed out in speed, you need the little pinch to avoid a projectile or an enemy, that what gives space dogfights their dynamic.

    In my opinion, these changes would be minor to the visual ambiance (no reason to transform it in a space sim with a full HUD), but it would add a lot to the actual gameplay.

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  5. It looks very pretty indeed, I was wondering if it supports .flac as most of my music is in that format, or whether you'll be adding .flac support in the near future.

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  6. Thanks for the feedback! Ya I think I will be adding stafe and possibly change behaviour of speed boost, and maybe add impact vector indicator, though I'm not quite sure yet as of the design for the latter. .flac : Supported under Mac, I believe. Will need to test (I am using apple's coreaudio to load files on Mac, I do not know if it supports flac, but i would think it does). I may add flac support for Windows in the near future, yes.

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  7. For the afterburner - I've been dodging projectiles by turning around... gets quite dynamic on insane, cannot just shoot continuously at enemy, has to turn when the bullet train is nearby.

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  8. Hello there. Excellent looking game!
    Just bought this on steam and unfortunately the game does not open. Steam says "This game is currently unavailable. Please try again at another time" I have tried reinstalling it several times to no avail.
    I am using Mac OS X 10.6.4
    Any ideas what is causing this?

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  9. Seems other users are having this issue also:
    http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1514707&highlight=polynomial

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  10. Just bought the game, it's a real blast.
    I just wonder why don't you have a forum for the game on steam? It'll be very useful both for you and for the costumers.

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  11. Jono00: Well yea, actually I was wondering myself ;-) It's gonna be up sometime soon, as well as the demo download link on Steam, dunno the schedule, I'd guess have to wait till Monday.

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  12. Have tried running the demo version of the game to see if it would run. It does seem to run perfectly fine however only .ogg file types can be brought into the game and not .mp3

    Just thought I should let you know about these issues.

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  13. Does it not say "Buy full version for MP3 support" ? Or are you not using 'add files' ? What operating system?

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  14. I just got the game and really love it, but there's three key features definitely missing:

    a) Windowed borderless mode, i.e. window mode that looks like full screen until you alt-tab.

    b) An option to have the music playlist picks songs at random on one hand, and the possibility to sort the songs manually on the other hand.

    c) The possibility to save playlists and load them up directly in the game (without a select file dialog) requiring you to alt-tab or play in window mode).


    And then, but maybe I just don't know all the possible options to control what's going on - a setting for the maximum number of enemies at a time. I have the feeling even on easy they are getting more and more after some time, I'd like to set an upper limit here; however, it could very well be that there is such an option and I just haven't found it yet.

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  15. a: definitely on todo list.
    b: yea, need to add shuffle. For manual - You can sort the songs manually... sorry it isn't too clear, you can drag items in playlist. (it actually tells to drag to reorder)
    c: yes, going for it
    d: well ya i probably should add. It's just that the 'easy' setting is so easy for me after playtesting it for so long, plus the enemies disappear as you fly through wormhole anyway. The spawn rate is dependent on your score though, the higher the score the higher is enemy spawn rate.

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  16. Hello Dmytry. I am using Mac OS X 10.6.4 (I am the same anon poster from above). It does not say "buy full version for mp3 support" it loads the song into the player but does not play any music for them. Yes I am using 'add files.' I guessing that if mp3s are not supposed to run in the demo this isn't a massive concern though.

    Do you have any idea why the purchased copy of the game will not launch from Steam or anyway to get around this?
    Thanks :)

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  17. No idea, as puzzled as you are. I think it is Steam's problem, the dialog box is not from my game. I tested the release before publishing, and it worked fine.
    Maybe you can find Polynomial_osx.app in the filesystem and launch there from outside Steam?

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  18. Hey Dmytry thanks for the suggestion it works!
    Iit may be the case that (some?) Mac users cannot launch the game from Steam itself. Congrats and good luck with everything.

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  19. AWESOME! This game is really, REALLY addictive. You've done a fantastic job here, nice work! I have to honestly say, this is the most fun I've had in a looooong time.

    A sincere THANKS to you!

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  20. Purchased your game off steam, because I'm a sucker for fractal mayhem!

    I love the concept and have written my thoughts on it here, http://tropicalpoetry.blogspot.com/2010/10/review-polynomial-space-of-music.html

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  21. Same Mac OSX problem. I can't find the .app files either. Please helpp I want to play.

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  22. ^ Nevermind. Good luck getting it working in Steam eventually though.

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  23. Bought it on steam. Tried it on 2 macs and 1 PC. Wont work on all 3. Gives the same "This game is unavailable, try again later" error. Please fix this. I feel cheated out of $10.

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  24. Justin: see the blog post about this issue. Some problem with steam, does not install the game , maybe it did not go to all the distribution servers yet or something. I notified Valve already.

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  25. I mean this one. For some reason that works for some people:
    http://dmytry.blogspot.com/2010/10/mac-install-issue-workaround.html

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  26. Game has awsome visuals but it is too boring to play. Audiosurf game is more fun than this.

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  27. What am i doing with this game i dont understant. Visuals are fantastic but what am i going to do ? How, where.......

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  28. Thanks for the playlist support (still missing random playing though). However, after the update, after every 3rd or 4th kill, at the location of the dead enemy is appears the text "press escape and set difficulty to insane"... erm no I don't want to, and I don't want to read this message any more. ;)

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  29. I have the game, but you fly through space waaaayy to slow, i want hyperspeed please, also visualization doesn't seem to be different with different songs.

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  32. Love, LOVE, LOOOOOVE what you've got so far here! The incredible visual environment combined with the music is simply stunning!

    I bought this earlier tonight and have spent the last 3 hours whizzing around, blasting nom-noms, and just generally enjoying being mesmerized by your creation. Being able to add my own music is definitely the perfect motivation to get it together to port my big-ass D&B library over to the spiffy new machine :D

    I definitely think the next major update should reflect a focus on game mechanics, tho. I totally agree with others who've stated that this thing is DYING to be a proper space-shooter! If I may offer some suggestions, (with the full understanding that you've got your own mind about what you should do next):

    In future updates, I'd love to see...

    1) Levels that have a clearly defined mission (even as simple as 'clear this zone of nom-noms, & transcend to the next plane!!'), a ramping of difficulty as you progress thru the stage, and a nice fireworks-display / pat on the head at the end when you've cleared the stage (maybe even a mini-boss or something, but I musn't be greedy :p). Just flying around, zapping the enemies, and occasionally succeeding in saving the ghost-thingies is fun, but I do eventually find myself wondering if I'm 'getting anywhere' with all this...

    2) WEAPONS!!! The more massive and varied, the better! Being able to take out more than one baddie at a time is essential, especially when they really start to pile up, and being able to take out LOTS at a time is the recipe for true epic glory!. Lots more really big glittery flashes and ka-pows, please! :D

    3) While we're on the subject of killing enemies: MORE ENEMIES!! Again, variety is the spice of life here! Big beasties, little ones, just to mix up the types of threat the player has to face, and to enhance that sense of Grand Cosmic Wonder you've already got goin so strongly here.

    I'm sure I could come up with more, but I think I've rambled on enough for now.

    Great work, and I can't wait to see what the future holds! Definitely $10 well-spent :D

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  33. Plus, I gotta say, this game is the BEST SETTING EVAR for listening to Grooverider's classic "Mysteries of Funk" album!!! ...just...holyshit...


    "We're picking up a distress call, Captain..."

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  34. I really wish I could map the controls like in X3

    Where WASD is strafe up, left, down and right, and the free-looking mouse steers the ship. Mouse wheel as throttle is nice though

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  35. I bought this game off of steam and was stoked to play. Nothing but phenomenal reviews and gameplay footage. The second it finished loading I was ready to have my mine blown, and it was, just not the good way. 3 fps just looking into complete blackness. Is there a way to fix this. I get no frames no matter what i do. Changing the DX level does nothing. Yes, i have inegrated graphics. Intel GMA 4500hd. If that's the problem then shame on me for buying a game my computer can't handle, but i don't think its that. Please look into this for me.

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  36. Nazis were fine, you russian pig.

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  37. the game is fantastic yes, but how do I import my music?

    All my music is iTunes based, so when I go to the file browser and open the album, the music doesnt appear. It is searching for audio files, but all it supports is .ogg.

    If you cant use iTunes music, can I convert .aac to .ogg?

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  38. Full version can use mp3. Otherwise, check Steam forums, there is a sticky thread about it.

    http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1617040

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