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Magicka - An Indie RPGish Game

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Magicka - An Indie RPGish Game

from Elemental Forums

 

I purchased Magicka today, and I am quite impressed with it so far.  It is an action RPG title for $10, and the gameplay reminds me of Nox a lot.  You control a wizard, and you mix spell elements on the fly to cast different spells.  Experimentation is key, and then you also unlock certain more powerful spells via exploration.  You swap out what staff you are using as you play, and if you, say, fly off a cliff, that staff is gone forever.

The game is definitely indie, and needs polish.  The spells look fantastic, but the world is of a lower grade.  There are a lot of bugs (I haven't run into any major ones yet, but some are having crash issues).  There is nothing like trying to cast a fireball, though, and accidently placing land mines right infront of you!  The game forces you to play with 100% friendly fire on, so if you play Co-op (it supports up to 4), it can be a messy affair.  

There is the main story mode, which I'm guessing you could blow through pretty quick once you know what you're doing, but if you are like me you will find infinite ways to freeze and zap yourself to death.  There is also a survivor, last stand mode that is geared to more hardcore players.  I have yet to try it out.

 

Check out the gameplay here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZRzkWmVpEQ

159,746 views 51 replies
Reply #26 from Elemental Forums Top

Monk, we should play at some point. There's an achievement for crossing the beams where at least one wizard has to die....

Reply #27 from Demigod Forums Top

I picked it up. 

WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.
Reply #28 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting "Annatar11",
Monk, we should play at some point. There's an achievement for crossing the beams where at least one wizard has to die....
End of "Annatar11"'s quote

 

Sounds like a plan!  Add me on STEAM and we'll play.  Or rather, I'll die lots and hopefully not get too in the way......hehe  ;)

Reply #29 from Elemental Forums Top

Like the idea, very interested in the game, tried the demo. However... I meet the system requirements yet the game runs awfully, FPS never goes higher than 25 (and that's on 1024x768). And the game takes foreever to launch. The main menu lags a lot too.

Shame that, i might've bought it if it worked well.

And it is supposedly coming to Xbox Live. Maybe. IF it comes to Live AND offers same console multiplayer (not bothering with random people over Live), i will get it. But as it is, on PC, i won't bother.

Gameplay impressions: Spellcasting is great, once you grasp the mechanics. Very innovative, standard Vancian Magic system (with or without mana) most games offers feels very weak after Magicka's magic.

Reply #30 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting OMG_pacov, reply 24

It appears we have to integrate Impulse::Reactor into it to take over that part.


Is that something you guys are looking to do? 
End of OMG_pacov's quote
I hope so. This looks like a good game, but I really, really don't want to buy it on Steam.....

Reply #31 from Elemental Forums Top

Yea, we're pretty good friends with the Paradox guys (i.e. talk to them very regularly) and we're seeing what we can do to help them with Impulse::Reactor integration.

It would solve a lot of problems I suspect as IR doesn't require a client (i.e. no Steam or Impulse client required).

Reply #32 from Demigod Forums Top

I'm really happy to see you guys getting Impulse::reactor up and running on additional titles.  Looking forward to when you are further along with the tech and working with folks to be able to announce static dates on release.  If any game was the same price on impulse v steam, I'd always choose impulse.  And if I knew that all I had to do was wait 2 weeks, I'd wait for the impulse release to give you guys my business.  But if I have no idea when something is coming... well, I'll just pick up the game. 

Anyway, I hope getting their game ported over to reactor goes smoothly and gives you gives more experience for future titles! 

Reply #33 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 31
Yea, we're pretty good friends with the Paradox guys (i.e. talk to them very regularly) and we're seeing what we can do to help them with Impulse::Reactor integration.

It would solve a lot of problems I suspect as IR doesn't require a client (i.e. no Steam or Impulse client required).
End of Frogboy's quote
I tingle with anticipation.

:drool:

Reply #34 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 31
Yea, we're pretty good friends with the Paradox guys (i.e. talk to them very regularly) and we're seeing what we can do to help them with Impulse::Reactor integration.

It would solve a lot of problems I suspect as IR doesn't require a client (i.e. no Steam or Impulse client required).
End of Frogboy's quote

 

You guys really do need to get Reactor out more and get more done with it.  With Elemental, Reactor to me was one of the bright spots with how well it works.  Noticing some small improvement through the patches, but you guys have something good here, you need to use it.

 

 

Reply #35 from Elemental Forums Top

Honestly, I would put Magicka up there as a nominee for Game of the Year.

(The travesty that is still the net code aside.)

For its intended purpose and goal, it's an amazing game.

The marketing? Genius.

The gameplay? Dynamic, chaotic and fun.

The flavor? Teeth grindingly cheesy sometimes, yet oozing nerd cred.

The game/design/company's future? Wide open.

 

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the SP campaign (since MP is spotty at best) and while it's not the deepest game in the world, I've enjoyed every minute of it, even the obscenely demanding boss fights. I love that there's always at least one way to completely cheese the system, and the devs are ok with that.

That said, here's some fun facts.

Magicka has been known to use 35 to 40kb/sec of upload to run a multiplayer game. For us, that's the main reason we haven't been able to play. Magcka taxes the **** out of your internet connection. (And your memory, apparently.) On release day, some of us had no less than 4 copies of Magicka running, because the code wasn't there for the game to close itself.

I guess the game started as another one of those "design a game" contents, and has been steadily developed over several years.

It's a crazy little game. And damn me if it isn't fun too.

Reply #36 from Elemental Forums Top

The game still doesn't actually close sometimes. Check your task manager, maybe you have a couple of fellow 1gb magickas in it.

Edit: LOL. I just got an achievement unlock for having all 4 players survive a spell called Thunderstorm. That's how powerful some of the spells are - you get an achievement if it doesn't kill anyone on your team.

Reply #37 from Elemental Forums Top

We had a ritual on release day. No one could wear the hats. Any time we had any connection problem in the lobby, everyone had to close their game, check their TM and close all copies of Magicka before we tried to form another lobby. We had hosts running DMZ and port forwarding the game.

We were on the verge of sacrificing chickens when MP actually managed to work for an hour.

Since release day we haven't been able to run a game yet that doesn't desync by 20+ seconds in the first level. So we're pretty sure it's not the multiple copy thing...it's just the atrocious bandwidth usage.

Reply #38 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 31
Yea, we're pretty good friends with the Paradox guys
End of Frogboy's quote

A couple of months ago Frogboy stated on the forums that he was friend with Kael and also with Firaxis. Now Derek Paxton and Jon Shafer are working for him ! What can we expect from this statement for the future :grin:

Reply #39 from Elemental Forums Top

Paradox =/= Arrowhead.

Reply #40 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Barney_130, reply 38



Quoting Frogboy,
reply 31
Yea, we're pretty good friends with the Paradox guys


A couple of months ago Frogboy stated on the forums that he was friend with Kael and also with Firaxis. Now Derek Paxton and Jon Shafer are working for him ! What can we expect from this statement for the future
End of Barney_130's quote

Paradox is only publisher of this game.

Reply #41 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Heavenfall, reply 10
Haha you can tell the guy is Swedish in the youtube video - every third word is "eeeeh".
End of Heavenfall's quote

 

Swedish?  You sure its not Canadian, eh?

Reply #42 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Annatar11, reply 26
Monk, we should play at some point. There's an achievement for crossing the beams where at least one wizard has to die....
End of Annatar11's quote

 

Anny how about hitting me up for a game or two this weekend?  I'm on Chapter 8 and I hate spiders......wanna help me out?  hehe  ;P

Reply #43 from Elemental Forums Top

This just in:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs2DsoiA54Y

 

It... Ther.. Wh... I got nothing.

 

Magicka Vietnam.

 

 

Reply #44 from Elemental Forums Top

Expansion announced... Is the console version still coming or what? The PC version lacks graphics settings and FPS being beetween 15-25 is unplayable.

Reply #46 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Tonto_Stormboy, reply 45
Any news on Magicka coming to Impulse?
End of Tonto_Stormboy's quote

Paradox has said a non-Steamworks version is coming, and I would think it will come to Impulse once that is done.

Reply #47 from Sins Forums Top

The Cynical Brit aka TotalHalibut has number of game play videos up and running on Youtube. Search for "Magicka TotalHalibut"

Me? Well, it has friendly fire. For me a NO! Bet the AI spends half its time nuking itself.

Edit: Well, after watching videos I will give this one a try. By the time it gets onto Impulse the remaining tech problems should be solved. And it is a bright and humorous game! This is a college project that got out of hand and became a real game. What a creative bunch of people! I mean, look what they're doing next!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCFtiO5j97M Watching this 1 minute video is required! No exceptions!

 

Reply #49 from Elemental Forums Top

That's correct. Shame, but they have to look at the cost of supporting another version vs the number of new sales it would create. As a multiplayer game the fracturing of the community is also a problem, because people will have to buy it from the same place to play together and that can create some very unhappy users when they don't know that before buying.