Off Topic Productions

Announced a couple of hours ago, we finally have a release date in sight!
http://www.dx-revision.com/website/

To those who don't know what Revision is, it's a total conversion mod made to remix the original Deus Ex levels and bring a brand new experience while preserving the story and the gameplay. Furthermore, it comes built-in with New Vision, so everything will be pretty and high-def as per 2015 standards.

Here's to Caustic Creative, looking forward to playing your mod!

Never heard of this one before, will follow it ASAP.

The mod really looks fantastic, that is really what I think. By the way, which one is Caustic?

Caustic Creative is the dev team, it's composed of the following members: http://www.moddb.com/company/caustic-creative/members
You might recognize bjorn98009_91, he's a member here.

I know, I just saw an opportunity to make references to Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar".

Anyway, the mod is out as a Steam exclusive
http://www.moddb.com/mods/deus-ex-revision
http://t.co/0OUOFkve1A

Will it totally eclipse TNM in popularity, especially if TotalBiscuit gets around to making a feature on it? Stay tuned.

Steam exclusive means I'm not playing. What an absolute sellout. Hopefully I can get the files from the installer to use for the retail version. I'll bet you they had to sign a NDA with Squeenix too.

Crossposting from the codex:
So, I played through the first mission and UNATCO in this mod. In general, it certainly feels more modern for both good and bad (although mostly bad in my opinion).

I detected very slight mechanical changes: Accuracy now caps at a worse rate, so even after standing still your shots won't be very accurate. This certainly gives it the modern feel where you can't make precision shots. You get a lot more ammo from the enemies too.

They've made a lot of map changes. Not much in terms enemies or resources (although the flamethrower guy is interesting) but by god did they add a lot of clutter(trees, park benches, bushes...). UNATCO has also been massively redesigned to add a bunch more offices. Didn't really see any substantial map changes, but I haven't played very long.

I don't really like the new maps, the clutter is too much for me and mostly just restricts sight and makes it more annoying to navigate.

I'd probably recommend you get GMDX instead of this. But it depends on what you want out of your nth replay of Deus Ex. Mechanical tuning to make the game challenging? Get GMDX. Fancier maps? Get Revision.

It being steam only is also massive decline. I seriously wonder what the devs did to get this kind of attention, including getting on the Steam news feed thing.

Squeenix probably approached them and said do a deal with us or we shut the project down. There's really no other explanation for the fact that there's no retail installer. There's no reason why you can't synch retail version patches with Steam patches either. Even if you can install it for the retail version the fact that they're calling it 'steam exclusive' has Square Enix written all over it. Not to mention the Steam sale at the exact same time as the release.

The Steam release planning already started in April 2014:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/deus-ex-revis ... l-update25

(Before any of the Steamworks stuff, mind you, and at the time I received info via third-party sources that DXREV wasn't gonna be released as a Greenlighted game either. And also info on what the cryptic messages of the April 2014 newspost were about. Cough. Wheeze.)

While the Revision executable is synced with Steam for DRM, all of the other files are just like any other Deus Ex mod. I caved in and bought it again through Steam, but the first thing I did was to mess around with the folders so I can run it without their executable. Now I can run it without Steam, and it's probably possible to do with the standalone installer.

And, yeah, it's a lot more cluttered than the original Deus Ex. Not necessarily a bad thing, just not the Deus Ex I'm used to - and that was the whole point, wasn't it?

I doubt the Steam exclusivity is sinister in any way. Eidos Montreal has always seemed to be really fucking keen to show their support for and attachment to the Deus Ex fanbase (to an extent that actually feels kind of put on to me, but I see where they're coming from, from a PR perspective), and I totally understand how the Revision team would appreciate the possible publicity assistance Square Enix would offer them.

It's also more or less safe to assume most of the people who play Deus Ex these days own it on Steam - I mean I still have my original Deus Ex CD in its original jewel case (sitting on my desk in the office to remind me of certain things) but I also picked up Deus Ex GOTY Edition in some Steam sale ages ago just to... have it there as well.

I think the arrangement makes sense for everyone involved. Eidos gets to show that they're part of the Deus Ex fandom, and Revision gets some free exposure.

I appreciate that you're generally pro-developer Jonas but it is still exploitative to induce people into purchasing an additional copy of the game so that they can play a mod. The fact is that nobody buying the game for this reason will be playing the original content, so they are essentially selling this as a redux of the original game. That is misleading as well manipulative.

Lots of drama surrounding this. I don't understand why they would go and make it steam exclusive, who does that possibly benefit aside from Square-Enix (by forcing Revision fans to purchase the game on steam)?

Congrats to the Revision team anyhow. 7 years of work is significant. I pray I don't last that long

Mechanical tuning to make the game challenging? Get GMDX.

I will be revealing everything in due time, but I should mention that GMDX is not really about that anymore. GMDX seeks to improve the game in every way in which I am capable whilst staying as true as possible to the original design. That includes making the game easier if low difficulty levels are chosen. In the vanilla game difficulty levels only influenced bullet damage, stealth behaviour for one was unaffected. I've been working very hard but keeping updates mostly exclusive to moddb (and I haven't been revealing much either).

kdawg88 wrote:I appreciate that you're generally pro-developer

I'm not sure when video games became some kind of war between players and developers.

Anyway, Deus Ex is €7 undiscounted, €1.39 currently on Steam. I'll bet the PR value for Square Enix in openly supporting a Deus Ex fan project eclipses any monetary value to them at this point. Even if they're doing this purely for the meagre profits, it's still probably a good deal for the Revision team.

Ultimately neither the Revision team nor Square Enix owes you anything - you bought a game 15 years ago, and you can still play it, that's the extent of the "contract". A bunch of guys decided to put a shitload of work into something, and then they decided they'd release it on Steam and nowhere else - their prerogative.

kdawg88 wrote:induce people into purchasing an additional copy of the game so that they can play a mod.

Agreed, it's douchey, and I suspect it was a term laid by Squenix. However, thanks to Caustic Creative, it's so easy to bypass that I think it can be called "misleading" at best, but it doesn't actually block you from enjoying the mod.

kdawg88 wrote:The fact is that nobody buying the game for this reason will be playing the original content

Well, wrong, I think. Squenix couldn't give a shit about Revision. All they care about is sales - whether it be the original Deus Ex sales or sales of the entire franchise (which are on sale right now! What a coincidence! Like they weren't trying to bank on it at all), by retroactively adding value to Deus Ex as Revision is classified as DLC.
All in all, it's symbiotic. Revision is getting included in Deus Ex and becomes the de jure alternative mode of playing, Squenix gets an expanded game with more sales. I can't fault CC for making a move towards officially integrating themselves with Deus Ex.

This is really blown out of proportions. As it stands, you can install Revision like any other Deus Ex mod, just that instead of an archive you have unpack it using an executable. It also has a version integrated with Steam, if you have it there - so you'll have an even easier time. That simple shift in perspective is all that's needed.

Jonas wrote: I'm not sure when video games became some kind of war between players and developers.

Arguably, all consumer/producer relations are a "war". The consumer wants stuff as easily and cheaply as possible, whereas producers typically want some kind of control of their product while making enough money.