Black Prophecy Euro Open Beta

[Joiry_]

To jumpin' Euro beats, no doubt

http://www.blackprophecy.com/index.php?id=14&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=205&tx_ttnews[backPid]=30&cHash=b179790a9c

Well, at least proof this game is not vaporware, or at least we'll find out over the coming week or so if there's something to this game and if it can handle a larger number of players. Here's some addition info put out. I wonder if you can just create a Gamingo account and claim you live in Europe and if they do anything intelligent like check your IP. Sounds like an increased NA closed beta soon.

http://blackprophecy.gamigo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10263

If I recall, I think this is the game where you can learn "maneuvers" - where you hit a key combo and you execute a preprogrammed maneuver - which is something I'm not too big into. On the plus side, its a free to play game, so it doesn't hurt to try it out other than to waste time.

[Joiry_]

The closed US beta has started with a 1000 invites, none sadly to me. A travesty of justice, I tell ya! Just as well I suppose, I have a ton of work to get done by the 31st...

http://www.blackprophecy.com/index.php?id=14&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=212&tx_ttnews[backPid]=30&cHash=8e24747cbf

They've also put out a "release" trailer for the game on youtube:

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

Here's a two part walkthrough of some of the games features:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1_VsXiI_fk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GztHRQpinDA&NR=1

I think the thing that might worry some of us is the "tactics" skills which will allow you to do certain maneuvers. I don't mind the things like a "speed boost" - but when they talk about roll type maneuvers with a combo of key presses, that starts sounding less like skill and more about your double tap abilities...

Edit 3 - This is what happens when you write a post then keep sifting thru youtube videos. Some beta player seems to have been kind enough to make a short tutorial on this tactics system. I don't mind the boost and kickstop maneuvers - that's not really flying your ship for you, just fast effects on your speed. The others I'm not sure about. Could you pull off the same things if you are skilled enough, or do the maneuvers execute at better speeds/turn speed than your ship can just under joystick control? Also not the video comment in the beginning.

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

[Alirc]

I was thinking today, I wonder if those guys are still on the forums. I haven't checked in for a while...

I got an email from gamigo today saying The Battle Has Begun and Play Now! I was able to log in and download the client, but when I try to play, it won't let me log in. The support page says the NA servers aren't up yet. I guess someone sent the email out too soon...

[Joiry_]

massively is giving away some beta keys (started 17 hours ago and I still got one, not sure how many are left).

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/25/be-a-part-of-black-prophecys-closed-beta-test-with-our-key-give/

[Joiry_]

Alirc, looks like the servers kept coming down for patches friday and sat.

I played a bit on sat. Warning to anyone, the "intro" mission drags on for at least 40min before a real stopping point occurs.

The game seems very optimized towards mouse control. There are preset "optimized" profiles for many popular joysticks (including my cyborg evo). One weird issue is what we normally think of as zero throttle is actually reverse throttle in BP, and zero is somewhere in the middle. Gets annoying when you need to stop to interact with an object/station/npc ship.

[Krigulv Snerra]

is there a button you can set to automatically go to 0? (or whatever a full stop would be)

[Joiry_]

I assume so, but figuring out the keybindings is a bit hard. Its your standard keybind interface, but the names of the actions are not always immediately clear to me, and I only spent like ~2 hours in the game so far (lots of work to do this week), and the first hour was the tutorial/intro mission.

I don't think I saw the word "throttle" anywhere in the keybindings, but I know there's a throttle indicator on the HUD, which sets your "base speed" - which if you're keyboard & mouse, you can speed up or down with the usual walk forward or back keys for a ground MMO. But these don't change the throttle indicator, because if you release "W", you drop down to that base speed. But that throttle indicator does move with my joystick throttle control. It is an odd hybrid of ground and space controls, which is one of the reasons I think the joystick feels awkward when playing.

I'm not against it in principle, its just either its takes a lot of getting used too, or the implementation has some kinks to work out...or both.

[Alirc]

I played for about an hour last night. Wow that is a long intro! I liked it though. I had to fiddle with the dead zone a bit for my joystick, but now it seems to be working well. Once I had that worked out, I liked how the ship felt, though the starter ship is zippier than most ships in SWG... I didn't notice moving backwards when I was at 0 throttle, maybe I have something set up wrong, but 0 was stop. Since moving backwards might be useful, I should work that out...

I like this game way more than I expected to. I still don't have a lot of gaming time, but I think I'll play this a bit more. My in-game name is Alirc, of course, though I have no idea how to use any of the community features yet.

It runs really well on my aging computer too. We'll see what it's like when there are hundreds of players in the same sector.

[Balcifer]

Joiry_ wrote:

massively is giving away some beta keys (started 17 hours ago and I still got one, not sure how many are left). http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/25/be-a-part-of-black-prophecys-closed-beta-test-with-our-key-give/

They is gone now.

[Joiry_]

Balcifer wrote:

Joiry_ wrote: massively is giving away some beta keys (started 17 hours ago and I still got one, not sure how many are left). http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/25/be-a-part-of-black-prophecys-closed-beta-test-with-our-key-give/ They is gone now.

Five days later you pounce?

[Balcifer]

Joiry_ wrote:

Balcifer wrote: Joiry_ wrote: massively is giving away some beta keys (started 17 hours ago and I still got one, not sure how many are left). http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/25/be-a-part-of-black-prophecys-closed-beta-test-with-our-key-give/ They is gone now. Five days later you pounce?

That's how I roll.