City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

[Oct 28, 2012, 1:49 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Mechanist Games announces plans for closed beta testing of City of Steam, their steampunk MMORPG. They have scheduled four five-day-long tests beginning next month. Here's the schedule along with word on the game:

Springtide: Nov. 16 – 20
Summercrest: Nov. 30 – Dec. 4
Autumnwane: Dec. 14 – 18
Winter Festival: Dec. 23 – 28

City of Steam is a 3D MMORPG set in an industrial age fantasy world. Using the Unity 3D engine, along with a number of in-house tools, the game has been optimized to be light and accessible without sacrificing graphics or content. Levels take up mere megabytes, keeping loading times very low. In addition, being browser-based means there is no need to download or install a bulky client; the game can be picked up and resumed on the fly on any other computer that has a web browser.

Beta Collaborator Packs can also be picked up for a number of in-game extras, such as character name reservation, guaranteed Beta access and social currency, and also to support City of Steam development. Higher levels of these collaborator packs further include personally designing an item, getting one’s name appear permanently as a city founder in-game, even a signed poster from the development team.

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18.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 22:07

Andrew Woodruff

This is completely true. We've already seen lots of that. I sometimes get so tired that I just say 'yeah, it's steampunk." I think for a browser game, the amount of steampunk in it will be sufficient for most but we'll see!

17.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 16:10

Jivaro

Gamers are so desperate for a good steampunk game that anything remotely close...Victorian thru Industrial...is being labeled as such in generalized terms by the media. Unfortunate, but true. It just draws more attention. Everybody knows how ridiculous it is that good steampunk games are less common than Haley's Comet. You folks can go on calling it "Industrial Age" and probably should if that is more accurate, but you aren't going to keep the media or most interested gamers from calling it (and hoping for) steampunk.

16.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 11:49

Andrew Woodruff

Yeah the video was made just before Alpha. We've done LOTS to it. Redone armors to be more Steampunky, changed up suburbs, .. lots! We always prefer to call it industrial age fantasy over 'steampunk' as it isn't full on steampunk.

15.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 11:41

Jivaro

I watched TotalBiscuit's video a while back and that is what brought this game to my attention. As desperate as I am for a good steampunk game...I can't say I walked away feeling all that confident that this was going to be my thing. Hopefully if/when I do CBT some of the things I found disappointing will be changed or improved. I am sure there have been many changes since that video, which was made during Alpha I believe.

14.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 10:19

Andrew Woodruff

We'll try to get more videos up. In the meantime you can check out Alpha videos which show off the 5 month old version. Just keep in mind it has improved drastically. For keys, if you sign up for our newsletter we deliver a lot of keys to subscribers when we launch the servers, so that's helping us out a lot. Check out our Steam-o-Meter for what we'll promise to add to the game earlier. Any questions? Feel free to ask.

13.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 10:11

Andrew Woodruff

Cutter wrote on Oct 29, 2012, 09:36: Andrew is correct and I've always said positive things about this game, as well as encouraged people to check it out. It's a cool little game. Ah Cutter! You helped us out since the beginning. It must be interesting to see us finally looking to launch! haha

12.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 10:07

Andrew Woodruff

Creston wrote on Oct 29, 2012, 09:04: If Valve was like Apple, these guys would have been sued already. Anyway, I'll check it out when it's publicly available. Creston This is true! But we've already talked to Valve several times and have no problem with the name. I think the other closest example is Bethesda... Imagine if it was City of Runes... Grab a key in a week or two from our multiple key giveaway partners. We don't force people to pay, we just encourage it as well... I need more coffee, please!

11.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 09:36

Cutter

Andrew is correct and I've always said positive things about this game, as well as encouraged people to check it out. It's a cool little game.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

10.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 09:04

Creston

If Valve was like Apple, these guys would have been sued already. Anyway, I'll check it out when it's publicly available. Creston

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 09:02

xXBatmanXx

Andrew Woodruff wrote on Oct 29, 2012, 03:47:
As part of the dev team for City of Steam, I find it quite annoying to always hear "clone" thrown around so easily. CoS is our original IP, based of a series of pen&paper role-playing book penned by our Lead Designer, Dave Lindsay, titled The New Epoch.

You can also see 50+ Dev Journals detailing our development progress as well as polls and extras in the forum that have driven the design and outcome of the game.

I assure you CoS is quite different and very fun even in CBT. Grab yourself a key for CBT mid next month. We're an indie team and proud of our accomplishments. It will definitely redefine browser gaming.

I appreciate the response. Please throw some vids out so we can see them. The pictures must not do your product justice, and pictures alone, I stand by my comment.




In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. / Few men have virtue enough to withstand the highest bidder. Playing: RL

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 07:49

Fibrocyte

Andrew Woodruff wrote on Oct 29, 2012, 03:47: As part of the dev team for City of Steam, I find it quite annoying to always hear "clone" thrown around so easily. CoS is our original IP, based of a series of pen&paper role-playing book penned by our Lead Designer, Dave Lindsay, titled The New Epoch. You can also see 50+ Dev Journals detailing our development progress as well as polls and extras in the forum that have driven the design and outcome of the game. I assure you CoS is quite different and very fun even in CBT. Grab yourself a key for CBT mid next month. We're an indie team and proud of our accomplishments. It will definitely redefine browser gaming. I'm probably missing it, but how do I grab myself a key for CBT next month without paying? Sorry, but I've yet to see a browser-based game worth my investment. I like the concept and direction of CoS but I'll need to play a beta or demo before I pay. Thanks!

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 06:37

Andrew Woodruff

Currently there are only videos of our Alpha which isn't as representative of the recent additions to the game. Look for some Let's Plays and a Beta trailer in the weeks running up to the first weekend. Thanks!

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 06:07

Acleacius

Andrew Woodruff wrote on Oct 29, 2012, 03:47:
As part of the dev team for City of Steam, I find it quite annoying to always hear "clone" thrown around so easily. CoS is our original IP, based of a series of pen&paper role-playing book penned by our Lead Designer, Dave Lindsay, titled The New Epoch.

You can also see 50+ Dev Journals detailing our development progress as well as polls and extras in the forum that have driven the design and outcome of the game.

I assure you CoS is quite different and very fun even in CBT. Grab yourself a key for CBT mid next month. We're an indie team and proud of our accomplishments. It will definitely redefine browser gaming.

Thanks for the info and the work. There can never be enough indie developers, yet one publisher is too much. I'll look for some other videos.




Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.....and they are stupid. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 29, 2012, 03:47

Andrew Woodruff

As part of the dev team for City of Steam, I find it quite annoying to always hear "clone" thrown around so easily. CoS is our original IP, based of a series of pen&paper role-playing book penned by our Lead Designer, Dave Lindsay, titled The New Epoch. You can also see 50+ Dev Journals detailing our development progress as well as polls and extras in the forum that have driven the design and outcome of the game. I assure you CoS is quite different and very fun even in CBT. Grab yourself a key for CBT mid next month. We're an indie team and proud of our accomplishments. It will definitely redefine browser gaming.

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 28, 2012, 21:17

Acleacius

Youtube is finally back up. First time seeing and hearing about it. While it looks ok not sure it's enough to hook me on this one video.




Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.....and they are stupid. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 28, 2012, 18:04

xXBatmanXx

Can't keep up with the clones......probably going to pass.




In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. / Few men have virtue enough to withstand the highest bidder. Playing: RL

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 28, 2012, 15:53

Cutter

It's a good little game and gives you a good idea of some of what can be done with the Unity engine. Give it a whirl.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

Re: City of Steam Closed Beta Next Month

Oct 28, 2012, 14:35

Acleacius

Anyone know anything about this, can't get the video to play on the Home page. There is a nasty looking script according to Web of Truth (WoT) which looks like it might be required to watch the videos. I'll try youtube again, earlier it seemed crashed, maybe down due to the storm.




Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.....and they are stupid. Dwight D. Eisenhower

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