Offline Mode In the Wild (We'll get it soon!)

Turns out Zaphod was wrong. This isn't offline, this is just Uber's test servers.



I also hope this means we'll get server access real soon as well.

source

Edit: This isn't an edit to the UI. This is an image from ZaphodX's video from the floor at PAX. They are playing local server games right now. Click the link above! ^

i might get slapped for saying this but i find that people are way too dramatic with "offline on release or bust" ... ... i dont realy think ratings will become as bad as people predict them to be ..
and no i'm not saying uber shouldn't try and get offline and lan and stuff out as soon as possible but seriously people need to calm their nipples at least a bit ... and yes i am as nervous as the next guy on this but making each other crazy doesnt help anyone ...

You can get the red box with - - devmode

You should read steam or reddit then. I swear, half of the posts on the steam discussion boards are about missing features, and most of those are about or mention missing offline mode.

What's more, if you don't think offline is a big deal, you should do some reading on the newest Sim City launch. It's a mostly singleplayer game (like PA) that was online only. Server wait times were abysmal (kinda like PA's server lag on promotion days). EA said it could only run online, even though it was modded pretty quickly to be offline only.

Offline is a pretty big deal.

This pic is from Zaphod's video from PAX. Zaphod told us that offline is working, just needs bug fixing, and offline is coming soon.

The difference is, PA is definitely coming with an offline mode, SimCity was never intended to have one in the first place.

I can wait for the actual server to be released...

having no offline mode certainly holds a lot of risks, like dead servers on launch day, in addition to making a lot of people with bad internet pretty sad.

So yeah, let's hope "soon" is really soon and we can bury all this discussion about it

sim city is not PA .. PA IS focused on multiplayer after all ...
no one realy had interest in the onlineconcept of simcity cause of what they were used of the predececors which added to the shitstorm ... PA however was advertised as a multilpayerfocused game from the get go with GW just having been a stretchgoal ... imagine GW not being in but just skirmish like back in the alphadays ..
and generaly youtube reddit and steam are simply known for having entitlet jerks in them that you can smell it from neighbouring continents ... it doesnt suprise me ...

and i am not saying that offline isnt a big deal ... but the thing simply is people exxagarate more often than not ...

I'd argue that PA is not focused on multiplayer. The forums are simply focused on multiplayer.

The majority of PA players (and SupCom, TA, AoE, C&C, and probably even SC2) players play against the AI and AI only. Regarding PA, this is evident by looking at the replay tab – the majority of the games are against the AI. Mavor has even said directly to me over the phone that the vast majority of players play against the AI, and said that SupCom and TA also were played mostly against the AI (granted, those were older games).

PA definitely has a lot of multiplayer appeal, but it is definitely primarily a single player game, as are most (if not all) RTS games.

but why is that ? i imagine having weak internet or pc's or both has a lot to do with it that people play no mp rather than simply not wanting .. why should people not want to play multiplayer other than technical reasons ... if there would be fair matchmaking for instance that allows players to play against equaly skilled players why should people not play mp for having fun aswell ... sure beginners like to learn the game first but after that what makes playing against AI so much different than playing against a human from a pure gameplay perspective ...

Gonna chime in here and say that I play RTS games mainly single player to see cool stuff. Whether that's death lasers or robot armies, it's fun to play with no pressure or obligations and mess about.

My nipples can only get so erect...

so basicly sandboxing ok ...but doesnt the novelty run out at some point .. i too sandboxed a lot during beta .. sofar the only reason i am not playing multiplayer is because i have only a laptop available ...

Frankly, it doesn't matter what the reasons are, the fact is that PA is played mostly single player against the AI. Unless you think you can change the perspectives of the majority of RTS fans before launch, then offline play IS a big deal.

Yeah. It really isn't a matter of opinion. It's a simple fact that PA and all RTS games are primarily single player games.

A quick edit to the UI also gets you this:

In PA's case, remember that backers who played Total Annihilation when it originally came out are now seventeen years older than they were back then. For the most part, they now have families, careers, and other responsibilities. Devoting time to multiplayer gaming simply isn't as easy as it is for younger people.

As I already said. The image isn't an edit to the UI.

The image is taken from Zaphod's video from PAX (which I linked to) where they are playing games off of local server because the internet is so poor.

i personaly dont agree on that in pa's case
but i am also not intrested in convincing anybody nor to drag this on so i just stop here with that ...

I only edited so that it would appear, since it's obviously coded to not appear at this time. The actual button is already present in the code.

You're convinced, but you're wrong.

It is a plain and simple fact that most people play PA against the AI.

PA has a lot of multiplayer draw, but most people only play against the AI. It's just numbers.