Decadence Mod for Half-Life 2 Decadence closed alpha is released, media release for mere mortals news

Decadence has been in a playable state for a quite some time now, but we've reached a point in development where we need the input and feedback from others who are not actively working on the mod to see the mod in another light. We have been conducting game testing with everyone who swung by our office, but we haven't been near this scale before. So very interesting times are ahead!

The current testing team consists of 31 people from various backgrounds. Some are professional game developers, others are experienced Source modders and we threw in a couple of friends in the mix just for good measure. These selected 31 are divided into six groups which are totally independent from each other, meaning that they can conduct testing by their own force without worrying about organizing games between large groups of players. It helps that Decadence is built around two players versus two players, so getting a game up and running is very easy. We hope to get a wide range of feedback from these groups based on their various backgrounds.

The testing is pretty intense with a new version of Decadence being released every other week until release.

 

I talked a bit about usability and the ease of play by using abstract visual elements in the last news post. Visual elements such as icons to represent events or objects in the game world are now implemented and are doing wonders for the game. We added three new indicators to the game, and while these don't seem to impact the game too much in the first glimpse, they actually make the game much easier for player. We had to rely on our voices to speak to each other in order to come up with a strategy on the fly, but with the icon to indicate where your teammate is, it's now possible to time and execute an attack without speaking or chatting. The second icon will be represented on the screen is a icon to show you where the Water Node you need to capture is located. The Water Node is the most important object in the game, so knowing where it's located is vital! Capturing is made easier with the newly added yellow and black warning stripe around the capture zone to indicate where you are able to stand while still capturing the Water Node.

 

We will continue to work on making Decadence user friendly based on the feedback we get from the vigorous testing ahead! For more information, visit us at www.decadencemod.com