DoP Beta is out!!! :-)

#1 I just got done playing a little of single player. Very Fun. 1 complaint is the race map where you have to pass through checkpoints. I found it very difficult to figure out where the next checkpoint was. The CTF Map is sweet though. Great Job!!!

#2 For those wanting to download it now (like me), you will probably have to wait a while, as the download server is full.

#3 Greetings!

I've added Dog of Prey to my server monitor at www.gnometech.com so you can all check on the game servers. Have fun, and fly safe!

- LightWave Dave

#4 @Stefan : you found it before it was announced on GG ;)
@David : thanks for the monitor & the server you are running too.

For those who have downloaded the game, feel free to post any comments/critics. It's beta 1.0 after all, we already know some issues and are open to any good comments.

#5 it looks really nice, it really taxes my card, where Tribes2 and RW don't. Anyway the only compaint I have is, it is next to impossible to fly the thing with the mouse/keyboard.

#6 Frank,

Good work. You can just 'feel' the amount of work that's gone into it's creation. I really do like the game, especially the style you've created.

I must agree with Jarrod though, I cannot seem to get to grips with the flying physics at all. I really struggle to keep it under control. I spent most of my time with my nose in the canyon walls. ;)

Also, the pre-game loading times seem huge although the music and visuals help to minimise it's impact quite well.

With all that's going on though, these are the only 'faults' I can find. The rest is super. 8)

Well done.

- Melv.

#7 Thanks Melv.
For the loading time, the first time you load a map the game engine will lit it and for the canyon map it can take up to 50 secs (on my computer). Next time you load the map, things should be faster.

For the plane controls/physics; i will work on that point.

BTW, how many people manage to go to the mine in the canyon map ? and of course find their way out the mine ?

#8 I played the demo for a solid hour over the past few days, and I never even saw a mine.

Heh, as everyone was saying: the controls make it a bit difficult to really enjoy the amazing artwork, sound, and music. I probably flew right by it as I was trying to keep my plane in one piece with constant wiggling of the mouse and pressing of the space bar.

#9 Here is it :

As you can see it is after the 27 checkpoint in the map. On this pics, i have already make one complete lap.

#10 Specifically there seems to be a problem with the roll of the planes, once you bank them over to make a turn, they are extremely hard to back into "neutral". I end up over correcting and then it just gets worse from there.

I did try using the spacebar to center the plane but it did not seem to do anything.

I think the "physics" need to be much closer to "arcade" type controls than "sim" type physics like they are now.

It should be very hard to crash accidently or stall given the goals and the arcade nature of the game play.

Plane Crazy (c) is a very good example if you ever played it. It has canyon racing, shooting at other players and extemely sharp spot on controls, very far away from a "sim" but was EXTREMELY fun to play. This game came out in 1998 and still holds up today, of course its frame rate is awesome today :)

Plane Crazy Demo

#11 Thanks for the tips. I'm downloading the demo and will give it a try.