Mar 21, 2014
Rad Men: A Wasteland 2 Diary, Part 3: Boxbeating
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alec Meer)

Uh, no, I'd rather not have a 'pounding' from you, thanks

Continuing adventures in the beta (i.e. unfinished, thus everything I mention is subject to change) of inXile’s post-apocalyptic RPG Wasteland 2. Previous instalments are here.>

Things I have: an android’s leg; a giant toad’s eye; enough painkillers to keep an entire Oscars ceremony’s worth of celebrities calm for at least a weekend; a dirty, torn shirt of unknown origin.Things I do not have: much of a clue as to what I’m doing. … [visit site to read more]

Mar 14, 2014
Rad Men: A Wasteland 2 Diary, Part 2 Of Toads & Toasters
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alec Meer)

Continuing adventures in the beta (i.e. unfinished, thus everything I mention is subject to change) of inXile’s post-apocalyptic RPG Wasteland 2. Part 1 is here.>

And so our merry band of four – wait, suddenly we’re a merry band of five. Angela, a grizzled but approachable senior Ranger, requests to join us just as we prepare to step into the irradiated desert sands proper, as we’re on the trail of a mysterious killer, someone or something that murdered Ace, a comrade of hers. She speaks of experience and adventures past, of how something ain’t right and how we look like the stuff that stories are made from. She speaks suspiciously as though we might have heard of her before, a long time ago. Nah, can’t be. … [visit site to read more]

Mar 13, 2014
Rad Men: A Wasteland 2 Diary, Part 1
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alec Meer)

A few months ago Wasteland 2 and my PC got on about as well as Piers Morgan and Wayne LaPierre, but as of a recent update I’m glad to say that inXile’s old school cRPG is as smooth as butter on my machine (though I do have to turn SSAO off, but I’ll stop talking about that before I before you). This means I am now free and able to play a game that is both sequel to Fallout’s post-nuclear predecessor and, let’s be honest, an alternative Fallout 3.

Let’s see how we do. … [visit site to read more]

Feb 25, 2014
Wasteland 2 Early Beta Update #34119 Notes
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - Brother None
We put out a hotfix today to fix a handful of the known issues with the latest beta build.

Notes for build #34119:

Balance tweaks
Fixed CNPC lost control locking out combat
Exploding pod fragments now stack to 10
Switch PaGa SMG to fire 9mm rounds from .45
Added 1000 scrap to Gorkinivivh
Custom portraits should properly save
Saving and loading at the end of a radio conversation should no longer cause the conversation to not have dialog options
Pigs and Pitbull should properly spawn
When changing graphic settings a confirmation window with a 10 second timeout appears.
HOTFIX: Fixed infinite loading in Agricultural Center
Feb 24, 2014
Wasteland 2 Early Beta Update #34046 Notes
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - Brother None
Wasteland 2 Early Beta Build #34046 just went live on Steam. As a major update, it will break existing saves.

THIS UPDATE INCLUDES OVER 2000 FIXES. Patch notes are available on our tumblr.

High Profile Updates:

Brand new icon based inventory, character sheet, skill screen and support UI elements
Huge combat pass. Animations (tons of new death and damages), SFX, VFX, AI all greatly improved.
Added destructible cover
Surgeon and Field medic have been greatly improved. Now when using the skill, a list appears with all useable items
Quality Settings check on game load.
Added Mechanical Repair Skill
Introducing grenadiers and heavy weapons AI experts
Added Prison map
Added reactivity state where both Highpool and Ag Center can fall.
Multiple improvements have been made to the save game system which were causing save games to not load
Multiple engine optimizations have been made to increase performance.
Multiple compatibility fixes.
Feb 21, 2014
Waste Not, Want Now: Wasteland 2 In The Final Stretch
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Nathan Grayson)

If the beards are this good in the final game, I think we're looking at a really special experience.

I emerged from Wasteland 2‘s beta with a fair number of irradiated gravel bits in my gamerly boot, but there’s no denying that it’s a solid foundation. (And hey, it’s a beta. If you go into a bug hunt expecting to not get dirty, then I can only advise that you re-calibrate your expectations.) Improvements, however, take time, and inXile’s been diligently ironing out Wasteland 2′s kinks ever since the beta started. So surely it’s almost done by now, right? Well, kinda. All that remains is the “final stretch,” which will last three months and change if all goes according to plan. There’s a new beta build en route too, for those still in the business of picking at the pie before its done cooling on the window sill (or another equally quaint metaphor of your choosing).

… [visit site to read more]

Jan 31, 2014
First novella released, plus a look at the inventory re-design
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - Brother None
Our newest Kickstarter update brings a lot of great news; the first novella is now out and will be downloading to your Steam install folder shortly, and we offer our first look at our major inventory re-design.

We’re extremely happy with how the new inventory is coming along. It greatly reduces the amount of unnecessary micromanagement and is much more visually appealing than the previous iteration. Instead of being list based, we were able to make it more icon based with unique icons for all items. The list style inventory works well for a game like WL2 with lots of items to collect, but lacks a bit of the soul that comes with an icon based inventory. There is something special about getting to see all the items you own in one spot. We had always hoped to go with an icon based system, but early in the project we were hesitant to commit to it due to the greatly increased art costs. We’re now at the point where we feel comfortable taking on the challenge and know it will make for a better experience.

http://i.imgur.com/3YRiXol.jpg

The image above shows the new backpack. Long gone are the days of hitting the backpack button and having 4-7 packs pop open. By selecting the party member along the side, you can see the contents of their pack. If you select the “All” button, it will show you the contents of all packs in one easy to read space. Hovering over an item in this mode will highlight the party member on the left to show whose bag it’s in. Drag it to the PC you want to have it and you’re good to go!

When you mouse over the item, you will get all stat and useful information displayed in a small pop-up. You also can further examine the items by double clicking to read the details and see any additional description information.

This grid-based inventory is not limited for space. You can manually keep it sorted yourself under the all items tab if you have your own system in mind, or have the game auto-sort it under one of the other tabs (which will not re-set your manual sorting).

http://i.imgur.com/Myzi9lg.jpg

At the same time, we’re also updating the character, attribute, skills and dossier screens. No longer will they be full screen but instead a more compact window, which gives us space to combine it with another screen. Additionally, dropping items in the world, adding them to hotkey bars, and trading becomes much easier when you can move this compact window around to the most convenient screen spot.

http://i.imgur.com/OuV1jV6.jpg

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the new inventory vs. the previous one. Please leave comments on our forums or in this Kickstarter update. It will be included in our next code update so those in the beta will go hands-on shortly!
Jan 31, 2014
First novella released, plus a look at the inventory re-design
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - Brother None 哎呀
Our newest Kickstarter update brings a lot of great news; the first novella is now out and will be downloading to your Steam install folder shortly, and we offer our first look at our major inventory re-design.

We’re extremely happy with how the new inventory is coming along. It greatly reduces the amount of unnecessary micromanagement and is much more visually appealing than the previous iteration. Instead of being list based, we were able to make it more icon based with unique icons for all items. The list style inventory works well for a game like WL2 with lots of items to collect, but lacks a bit of the soul that comes with an icon based inventory. There is something special about getting to see all the items you own in one spot. We had always hoped to go with an icon based system, but early in the project we were hesitant to commit to it due to the greatly increased art costs. We’re now at the point where we feel comfortable taking on the challenge and know it will make for a better experience.

http://i.imgur.com/3YRiXol.jpg

The image above shows the new backpack. Long gone are the days of hitting the backpack button and having 4-7 packs pop open. By selecting the party member along the side, you can see the contents of their pack. If you select the “All” button, it will show you the contents of all packs in one easy to read space. Hovering over an item in this mode will highlight the party member on the left to show whose bag it’s in. Drag it to the PC you want to have it and you’re good to go!

When you mouse over the item, you will get all stat and useful information displayed in a small pop-up. You also can further examine the items by double clicking to read the details and see any additional description information.

This grid-based inventory is not limited for space. You can manually keep it sorted yourself under the all items tab if you have your own system in mind, or have the game auto-sort it under one of the other tabs (which will not re-set your manual sorting).

http://i.imgur.com/Myzi9lg.jpg

At the same time, we’re also updating the character, attribute, skills and dossier screens. No longer will they be full screen but instead a more compact window, which gives us space to combine it with another screen. Additionally, dropping items in the world, adding them to hotkey bars, and trading becomes much easier when you can move this compact window around to the most convenient screen spot.

http://i.imgur.com/OuV1jV6.jpg

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the new inventory vs. the previous one. Please leave comments on our forums or in this Kickstarter update. It will be included in our next code update so those in the beta will go hands-on shortly!
Jan 14, 2014
Wasteland 2 To Receive Significant Combat Improvements
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Nathan Grayson)

Alec and I each had a go at Wasteland 2‘s Early Access beta, and we both came away whistling upbeat tunes while prepping our shotguns for more. A lot more, hopefully. inXile’s post-apocalyptic revival/alternate dimension vision of Fallout 3 is far from finished, and it needs viscous globs of spit ‘n’ shine in many areas. But those crafty developer types, they’ve been paying attention to every article, video, and sea shanty posted in reaction to their multi-million-dollar baby. They are watching>. But that’s a good thing – at least, in this case. Next on the docket for Wasteland 2: vastly more interesting combat, a better UI, improved balance, bug fixes, and even more world reactivity. In other words, pretty much all the stuff Alec and I (and most other humans) asked for.

(more…)

Jan 8, 2014
Wasteland 2 Early Beta Update #29462 Notes
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - Brother None
Build #29462 just went live on Steam. Full patch notes here.

High Profile Fixes
Multiple improvements have been made to prevent infinite loading bugs
Multiple adjustments have been made to prevent an enemy from not ending their turn
Performance enhancements across the board
Events should now play properly even if another is already playing
Added Quick Save & Quick Load
Switching characters in conversation should allow you to use their speech skills
Modified and junk flags on inventory items should now be positioned correctly
Removed unnecessary clicks in combat to smooth out the experience. Left click now immediately attacks a target.
...