A Valley Without Wind (Arcen Games)

Huw · 26 Sep 2011 at 20:44

No thread about this game yet?! Isn't even Neil79 interested?

A Valley Without Wind is the latest game by Arcen Games, creators of my favourite game of 2009, AI War:Fleet Command and puzzler Tidalis. I've deliberately avoided reading too much about it, but in a nutshell I understand it's an explore 'em up with a strategy component. It's set in some post-apocalyptic world that's similar to our own but also has magic. I gather you play a survivor who's trying to help a small band of other survivors colonise the world again.

Anyway, it just entered public beta today, which means it's 50% off (I just paid £7-odd for it). If the development is anything like it was for the previous two games, user input will play a very strong role in shaping the final game (ask Tals; he and I were heavily involved in the AI War beta). Also, if Arcen stay true to form there will be free DLC aplenty! No DRM either.

Who else is in?

Huw · 30 Sep 2011 at 17:05

I'm surprised by the total lack of response, other than you, in a community of what must be a couple of hundred gamers!

Personally I think it's really good, or at least showing a hell of a lot of promise. It definitely needs fleshing out but the mechanics are there for the most part. When Arcen says beta, they mean beta...it's under intense development right now, with a couple of updates a day, and most of us in the community are having very active discussions on the forum and using the bugtracker to suggest and vote on feature suggestions.

I'm tremendously excited about the game's prospects. Arcen certainly have form; I was in the beta for their two previous games and the story was the same - intense development, player feedback incorporated, and extremely heavy post-release support too.

Huw · 30 Sep 2011 at 17:12

FrenchTart said:
I've only just seen this post. This game look really interesting. It's a really awesome concept and the idea of having coop play in there too has sold it to me. Pre-ordered

I'd forgotten about the co-op component! Aw man, that's gonna rule!

edit: I recommend adding some screen shots and the youtube video to your OP. It'll help for those of us that are lazy

Heh, if people are too lazy to click one link, where they'll be greeted with media aplenty...

Thanks for adding that vid though.

Huw · 3 Mar 2012 at 09:40

A Valley Without Wind enters final beta phase!

Arcen Games is pleased to announce the downloadable PC/Mac title A Valley Without Wind -- our fast-paced, open world sidescroller of nearly limitless proportions -- has entered its final beta phase, with an official launch now in sight. To celebrate, a brand new trailer for the game has been released (best viewed in 1080p), along with 18 new screenshots and updated demos as well.

With the game's community heavily involved in the beta so far, the game has seen an astronomical number of changes and improvements added by our relentless programmers. Thankfully after a whirlwind of patching, the game's dust has settled, and we welcome everyone to take a look around at what the world of Environ has evolved into.

The mechanics have been streamlined, a fully fleshed-out player experience is now in place, and tons of new content has been packed in -- including a variety of new missions, spells, armor enchants, guardian powers, and more. Multiplayer has also come a long way, and players are having a blast running their own beta servers. There are a few multiplayer remaining bugs to iron out prior to 1.0, plus the need for a server browser, but it's already a satisfying experience.

Beyond all that, the game has become much more accessible to new players. A planning menu complete with handy 'supplies', 'things to do', and 'where to find stuff' sections; opt out popup tooltips; and other improvements to usability and clarity result in a newfound flow to the title. Players who are returning after a long absence are heartily encouraged to play through the game's intro mission, given how much has changed. If you'd like to know more before you play, or just have a fetish for external manuals, check out our Learning The Game section on the A Valley Without Wind Wiki.

There's still so much to come for AVWW, both prior to 1.0 and after! Our head designer Chris Park states his vision for the game going forward on his devblog:

"Our plan is to take the AI War route, and release tons of free DLC as well to do at least a couple of paid expansions. Hopefully in 2-3 years, we're still developing both AI War and AVWW -- that is the ideal scenario for me personally.”

Huw · 3 Mar 2012 at 11:23

It's alread on there mate!

Must have told you in the list thread or something.

Huw · 3 Mar 2012 at 11:26

New trailer (best viewed in high res):

Huw · 10 Sep 2012 at 19:26

Yep, it's a fantastic game. Have they applied the new graphical style yet?

Huw · 10 Sep 2012 at 21:18

Hmm. No graphical update yet, but look what was posted last Friday:

I can't share details yet, but within the next couple of weeks I should be able to. We're working on something much bigger for the game than "just" the complete art revamp, as it turns out. This is something I've been thinking about for a while, but couldn't figure out how to work out. Now we've figured it out, and we're working on a lengthy design doc to make sure all our ducks are in a row so that we can hit the ground running on implementation with this.

Anyway, I know this is cryptic and largely unhelpful, but I just wanted you to know that there is an enormous amount going on with the game at the moment. I'm going to stop doing the weekly spells at the moment, and largely the other bugs that have been reported lately are really slight. So we're throwing ourselves mainly into this new stuff for the moment when it comes to this game, while also of course working on AI War and Shattered Haven.

I think everyone here will be pleased with what we're working on, it's just not quite the time to reveal it yet!

Wow! I wonder what that will be?