LevelFortyTwo Contest – Shattered Horizon
We're happy to announce our very first contest! While we won't be having them on a regular basis, whenever we get a copy of a game to give out, you're in luck! Our very first game is Shattered Horizon, a competitive shooter set in a fully 3D zero gravity environment. If you listened to the podcast, we mentioned that you will have to create a name for our discussion segment, but instead we're going to be cutting our pure discussion segment, and will be allowing it to just pop-up when something catches our fancy. That way we avoid clichés.
The new contest requirements will be: you must create an account on the site, and then leave a comment on this page that you would like to ask us on the podcast. We'll be picking entries at random on Monday November 30th. All entires must be in by 12pm EST, any entries submitted after this time will be disqualified. Good luck to all who enter!
Shattered Horizon is a game you don't want to miss out on!
Hmm I don't know wat exactly I am suposed to do but I guess just say free games are ftw.
Are there any thoughts on further development?
Not sure what is to be asked, is this going to questions on Shattered Horizon? Or based on the other podcasts? Well a general question I'd like to see discussed is about the difficulties of games. There are plenty of hard games out there, but are the current games becoming less and less difficult, and less rewarding? I haven't felt as satisfied about finishing a recent game compared to the old nes days. Replayability seems to be phasing out as well, multiplayer and dlc are now standards. I'd like to see a standalone game that has that same fun as games like SMB3, or Punchout.
Shattered Horizon looks great, and all I've heard is great things. That being said, I have two questions about it. First, are too many gamers feeling alienated by the high minimum requirements for this game? Will the gameplay suffer from lack of participation by a community? Second, I've read there is only one gun and one class in the game, that everyone is on an equal playing field. Is this simplicity good or bad, that is to say, will the game not have longevity because of a lack of variety, especially in weapons?
I've been dying to play this game, but missed out on the guest passes. Thanks for the contest!
I'll leave some of those answers about Shattered Horizon up to Nick (seeing as he reviewed it), but as for the contest, we're looking for any questions, comments or discussion points that you want us to touch on in our podcast. If you haven't already checked it out you can do so here: http://www.levelfortytwo.com/?p=1182
The second episode was released today! Good luck to all those who enter the contest
How long until I get Shattered Horizon?
"First, are too many gamers feeling alienated by the high minimum requirements for this game? "
Yes, but I don't think all that many. Most newer cards can handle it fine. I have GeForce 9800 GTX+ and I can run it on medium settings with no video lag at all, let alone crashing. However a lot of the people that would normally jump at the $20 price point are going to be put down by the Dx10 Vista/7 requirement.
"Will the gameplay suffer from lack of participation by a community?"
Futuremark has done a lot with the community and game since its come out, and I don't think the community is suffering. The biggest request at the moment is voice chat, and they are already working on it.
"Second, I've read there is only one gun and one class in the game, that everyone is on an equal playing field. Is this simplicity good or bad, that is to say, will the game not have longevity because of a lack of variety, especially in weapons?"
Yes, there isn't any class at all, and your gun is an assault rifle with a scope on it. Scope in and you shoot off 10 shots in a sniper format. Its up to you if this sort of simplicity is a bad thing. You never run out of ammo (you do need to reload), so a lot of that downtime is cut away, pushing you into the action quicker.
I personally don't mind it. I much prefer dieing because someone got the jump on me or planned their attack better, rather than just having a gun that shot farther than mine. It puts more emphasis on the zero gravity strategies you employ.
About longevity, that's mainly a problem with all multiplayer only online shooters. For instance, Team Fortress 2 has stayed interesting with class upgrades and new maps and playstyles. Excluding class upgrades, I think SH will go the same route too. More maps, different playstyles, but otherwise I think the core gameplay is staying. Futuremark has already announced that it will be putting in more maps soon (4 or 6, something like that) and hopefully voice chat soon.
Good luck with the contest!
With such an indy-feel release to this game, what do you think Futuremark needs to do to help it thrive? This game reminds me of the good old days of Half Life mods where there was continuous improvement and updates that made the games what they are today.
"With such an indy-feel release to this game, what do you think Futuremark needs to do to help it thrive?"
Personally, bring it up to the standards of online shooters, which its already close. The major thing is voice chat, and as I mentioned above its being worked on already. Its such a unique idea thats so well done, they can get away with only have one class and two weapons. But I think eventually they will have to bring in more weapons, because people will get a bit tired.
I don't know if they are allowing user mods, but I doubt it.
Also, please note that all of your questions or comments must relate to Shattered Horizon, we're more than happy to talk about other games or parts of the industry on the podcast
I'm quite sure he means they *don't* have to pertain to Shattered Horizon.
Aaaaaah, too true. Whoops!
Windows 7 is awesome! I got a one letter Username :3 I are WinRar. Is there any story in Shattered Horizon? pick me
Looks good! LUCK OF THE IRISH LET ME WIN PLEASE
Man, that was the question I was about to say. Whatever, ok. Out of the levelfortytwo team's opinion, what did you like best about Shattered Horizon? Idk if that counts so I will make another one. How big are the battles? Are they 16 player or 32 or a different type?
Ok, let' see. Out of your guy's opinions, what would be what you like most out of Shattered Horizon? If that isn't a legitimate question for this contest here's this. How big are the battles in Shattered Horizon? Is it 24 player, 32, maybe even higher?
This game looks good. I'm very excited to be able to play this fantastic game. I have the requirements, of course. I would like to know if the game will be regulary updated?
Srry for double commenting. I had noscript on and I thought the comment wouldn't be submitted.
Its games like this that, while perhaps not being a major landmark, will inspire others to look towards this sort of innovation.
And lets not forgot, TF2 revitalized itself. While Shattered Horizon is on no level near TF2, it still has the solid foundations for it.
Also thanks for the contest! Would have bought the game already but strapped for cash with all these bloody titles coming out and christmas approaching rapidly!
It's a first to see a game like this, although I took a look at the spec list, and dman, this thing has to run on a gaming rig (perfectly fine for me, but still anyone with a lower end PC is outa luck). Great Idea for a contest none the less
Games like this are amazing, a true to life, or at least very close to it, game. I'd been hoping for a space FPS for sometime, and this seems to fit right.
DO you think after a game like this we can expect to see anything else of this style? (FPS space games)
Also the story behind it is worthy of a single player IMO.
I'm in
It's nice to see something a bit different than the FPS's that have been coming out for 2009.
It's also nice to know that it has modding potential, dedicated servers, and a "mostly" proper PC interface.
However, my question is this: what's the current state of multiplayer? Of course, it's no CoD:MW2, but is there at the very least a few populated servers?
It would be cool to win this, it looks like a nice change to the traditional FPS.
What are plans for continued support of Shattered Horizon? Is there DLC planned (and if so, what are the expected costs)? Any thoughts about creating classes or specialties?
I have a few for you guys.
1. As a site, what do you hope to achieve? Are you going for the more "unique" aspect of gaming journalism or are you just trying to get your name out there?
2. What're your opinions on companies delaying games due to the release of other big name games (IE, several games being delayed to early 2010 due to the Modern Warfare 2 release)? Do you think the companies are "chickening out" or just being strategically smart?
3. If you were to pick one video game character and place him in a different video games, who would you pick and where would you put them?
Hope the podcast goes well, you guys' have really hit it off bug with Level 42. I could see it going far.
i would like to know if this can be modified/ added with a single player campain?
it would be really nice too see one, the concept and setting of this game is very interesting
will there be further development/DLC/additional material to this game in the future?
There is a small explanation as to why the Moon Mining Corp and the International Space Agency are shooting each other with gusto, but its never forced upon you.
The battles are up to 32 players, most are around 22 to 24. I like the zero gravity aspect, it really does change the entire way you play the game.
The game should be regularly updated, Futuremark already has several more maps nearing release. They don't plan to charge for the new maps at all.
I don't know if any more games like this are coming out, but for now this has all the bases covered.
There are a handful of populated servers, but not all that many. Definitely enough to jump in whenever you feel like.
I don't think they'll be doing 'classes' anytime soon, just because they want to stick to the player skill being the deciding factor in a firefight. Most likely we may see some more weapons, but I don't know.
There isn't a single player mode (nor have I heard one planned), but I'm quite sure I've heard of other games that have the zero gravity thing in.
Cheers everyone!
Hey guys, thanks for the contest. My question is what're your guys' Game(s) of the year?
The contest is over, and Will, check out our Holiday Gift Guide. http://www.levelfortytwo.com/?p=1038
who won?
i dont think u guys mentioned it in the podcast
No, we chose after we recorded the podcast.
So who won? Unless you put it on another article.
EnterHavoc did.
So you picked a winner who didn't follow the contest rules (i.e. leave a question). Neat.
The picking was random, and I discussed with Michael on whether we should include EnterHavoc or not. Unlike the others who didn't leave a question, he did leave an intelligent response, so we included him.
First thing I thought after playing a round was that someone really should make a mod for this game that involves an alien infestation (both a pve and pvp version), so my question is do you have any plans on adding something like this yourself?
Hi Dramonicous.
Firstly, the contest ended a month ago. And second, to my knowledge, you cannot mod the game. ^ ^