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Gametrailers.com has posted an AMAZING clip of gameplay footage for Demigod, filmed by cam at PAX. The footage comes complete with developer commentary. Note that the user-interface becomes visible about half-way through the video.
All-in-all, well worth your time. Watch as the Rook battles it out! Available in hi-def and standard streaming feeds.
Earnest Cavalli has written an excellent article detailing his hands-on experience with Demigod. In his own words:
Graphics are nice, but gameplay is really the thing in Demigod.
Defense of the Ancients fans are going to be immediately at home here. Even the game’s lead designer Mike Marr agreed that the gameplay is very reminiscent of that super-popular modification to Blizzard’s Warcraft III.
Players control one of eight widely varied (and customizable) demigods, a super-powered unit capable of using special abilities in the same way a traditional role-playing game hero would use spells to complement their melee combat. Actually, a better comparison would be to Blizzard’s Diablo series, as the game offers players skill trees, and simple, mouse-driven combat that is nearly identical to that series.
You can read the rest of Earnest’s preview here.
Gamespot has published their impressions from a hands-on session with Demigod. The write-up covers gameplay and characters, and also includes information about the beta, DirectX 9/10 support, and more.
Check it out here.
Blizzard Guru member illo has bought the most recent PC Gamer Magazine which had Diablo 3 scans in it, however there was also a preview of Demigod.
As he doesn’t have a scanner these are just photos, but they are very readable.
Check them out here.
Note: If PCGamer or it’s affiliates feel that we should take this article down, please email us at ian@blizzardguru.com. Thanks.
As you probably already know, Gas-Powered Games has released the Demigod trailer for public consumption. What was once speculation—based on concept art and the few previously-released stills—has solidified into a breathtakingly beautiful, undeniably action-packed glimpse into the world of Demigod.
With over 80% of the trailer concentrating on combat and gameplay, Demigod fans have a lot to digest. And the game certainly looks ready to deliver to the power hungry: whether you prefer nature, magic, sci-fi and tech, or even if you just want a show of brute force, Demigod has it all. Smash up your enemies as a giant stone colossus (the towering behemoth known as The Rook), command armies of treants and vines as a Fairy-type goddess, or burn your enemies to a crisp as the warlord called Torchbearer. The trailer features gameplay footage showing both general and assassin styles of play, with spectacular powers and troops for each. While this is only a tiny preview of what we can expect from the final game, it certainly seems that no one will be left out in the cold.
The action sequences alone are enough to wet any one’s appetite. But, just in case you’re still craving more—and we know you are—four of the game’s demigods grace the trailer with their divine presence. With no official word yet on the number of demigods to ship at release, the trailer clearly demonstrates four archetypes so far: The Rook, who has become a bit of an icon amongst the game’s fans, shows off his sheer force; a tech-oriented demigod, leading waves of futuristic-looking, artillery-wielding android warriors into combat; the Torchbearer shows off his tele-, cryo- and pyrokinetic abilities with devastating precision against his enemies; and a being I like to call The Naturist, a fairy/druid type creature who seems to wield the mystical powers of plants and animals (is it just me, or does she bear a striking resemblance to Poison Ivy?).
The environments are also finely showcased. Both particle and physics effects seem to come into play as we watch the Rook smash his mighty hammer into the earth, sending enemies, debris and hurricanes of dust in a myriad of directions from the point of impact. Waves of etheric energy appear to literally pour off of the Torchbearer as he focuses his telekinetic attacks against his opponents. The elements used to make up the environments themselves have such a fantastic style to them, it’s almost like watching a graphic novel come to life.
And just to clear up any possible misgivings about the renderings shown in the trailer, Nate Simpson, lead artist for Demigod, came forth on the Official Demigod forums to say:
We have been enjoying the ongoing debate about the authenticity of the trailer. Yes, every shot in the trailer was taken in-game. We made no custom animations for the trailer. The footage was run through After Effects to apply certain atmospheric effects and film grain, but by and large, what you see is what you’ll get. Steve Thompson, our lead animator, sat down with Jessica Snook, one of our designers, and the two of them camped out inside the game like wildlife photographers. Steve managed to capture some great moments at some very beautiful angles, and then Howard Mostrom composed some gorgeous music to go with it. If you still doubt that it’s actual in-game footage, look closely at some of the shots late in the trailer: we managed to immortalize a bug that was generating persistent splats in midair when angels got shot down by towers of light. That bug has been fixed, so if you could all kindly return the video to us, we’ll go ahead and fix that.
There’s no doubt that Demigod, which is being developed on a variation of the Supreme Commander graphics engine, is poised to be one of the most visually-enthralling games of 2009. With it’s intense action, unique style, and fast-paced gameplay, this trailer has everyone eagerly anticipating more.
Gas Powered Games has released the first official trailer for Demigod and it is balls-to-the-wall awesome.
In case you’re reading this for the first time, Demigod uses the Supreme Commander engine, while borrowing aspects of gameplay from RTS mods such as Warcraft III’s Defense of the Ancients (DotA), allowing players to control a single hero unit within a massive online battle.
German gaming website eXp has interviewed Scathis on the subject of none other than Demigod. Here’s a small snippet from the interview, which was conducted in German:
Which other games inspired you? What role does ‘Supreme Commander’ play? Did you adopt some gameplay elements? Maybe even those that didn’t make it into the retail game?
Since we use the engine of ‘Supreme Commander’, it was important for me to emphasize its strengths. One of its greatest features is the ’strategic zoom’. With it we could design a fantasy game which takes scale realistically into account. Most other games have no giants that really are gigantic. Using the zoom we’re able to realise giants being 10x as big as normal units. And while our giants indeed are huge - they seem rather small in the background of the arenas you’re duelling in.
When we decided to create an action game instead of another RTS, we looked at some of our favourite games. Titles such as the ‘Battlefield’-franchise, ‘Team Fortress 2’, ‘C&C Renegade’, ‘Counter-Strike’, ‘Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance’ and ‘Footman Frenzy’ are merely a handful examples.
Thanks to Chirmaya for bringing the interview to my attention and for Desoxy’s translation on the official forum, which can be read here.
Now that the creators of Demigod have had the chance to start showing off their game at the Game Developers Conference, news editorials are starting to appear on the game. One of the first gaming sites to bring us news is GameSpy, who have published a small preview of the game. The article does not go into too much detail and we know a lot of the information in it already, however it does talk about what two of the unit types are, talks a bit of how the game is set up and the way the maps look.
The Rook (you know him from the screenshots — the one with the trebuchet on his head) is, surprisingly, an assassin type; that glowing thing on his shoulder actually channels the beams that the defensive structures around his base will fire. He can also slam his hammer on the ground and create a shockwave that will send creeps flying. The Oak, who looks similarly vaguely golem-like in appearance, is a general, meaning he can build barracks around his base to spawn creeps and deploy from his castle a “super weapon” in the form of a beam to isolated spots on the map.
The first thing you’ll notice about the game is how forcefully it conveys scale. The biggest units — usually the demigods themselves, though not always — tower over the rank-and-file “creeps,” and a quick zoom-out reveals just how drastically the maps dwarf every unit on them. The maps are very much in keeping with the far-out high concept; one of the ones on display today was a huge circular battlefield that could house two teams of five that’s suspended from chains attached to an enormous superstructure. When viewed from above, it was hard to discern the movements of individual units on the field. Focusing in, though, reveals just how ample a space it was, with plenty of room for the biggest units to flail about in the lanes.
GameSpy also gives a what is “spiffy” and what is “iffy” summary of the game:
Spiffy:
Great look; built around a proven playstyle that’s been heavily iterated upon.Iffy:
Let’s hope there’s sufficient variety between the hero units, particularly the generals.
The full article is a good read for anyone who wants to get a small preview of what the game is like.
Enjoy 
P.S. Since the hyperlink colour seems to be the same as the text at the moment, here is the link for those who miss it in the text until it’s fixed.
http://au.pc.gamespy.com/pc/gas-powered-games-project/854109p1.html
N19eteen over at the GPG Official Demigod forums got his hands on the latest PC Gamer which includes a preview of Demigod.
Okay so today was a big day for Demigod. I subscribe to a number of PC mags, so I thought it was really cool when Games For Windows broke the story, however I was really waiting for how PC Gamer would handle it.
Well sure enough today in my mailbox was a copy of PC Gamer, with a preview article on Demigod. With it came a few screenshots, a few clarifications, and some new details that are rather significant.
First up, Screenshots
Okay, so I’ll get some scans by tomorrow night this time if no-one else gets to it, I just can’t get to the scanner right now. The 5 new screens seem to take place on the same map, the same battle perhaps. But we do learn a few new details from them:
* The large lumbering stone giants are not another Demigod, as there is clearly a shot showing 9-10 of them onscreen.
* The portals and layout of basis are symmetrical, except for what appears to be a castle. This is at least true for the map shown.
*Not all Demigods are as large as the Rook. Although it was often speculated that the Torchbearer was smaller, there is now a side-to-side comparison. The Torchbearers height seams to fall between The Rooks knee and torso.
*The visual effects for various status ailments are much more dynamic than the SupCom engine. In one screen The Rook is frozen solid into ice from the Torchbearer. He becomes a transparent block through which units are reflected and distorted like an ice sculpture, that is an ice sculpture several stories tall! In addition it is stated that the Torchbearer can freeze a unit in an AOE effect and than cast Fire Nova and shatter them with the blast-wave, whether the “shatter” effects Demigods is yet to be determined.
Next up, Clarifications
*Money economy system. Money is earned from kills, although there may be other ways yet to be revealed
*Assassin Demigods use money to purchase upgrade items
*General units use money to upgrade the stats of troops, purchase better troops, and possibly higher quantities of troops.
*Experience gained is used to unlock higher skills. For Assassins this takes the from of destructive spells and powers. For Generals this is spent on Auras, although they have access to other spell types as mentioned below.
*At the match’s start spawns flow forth from the spawn-gates at equal pace, resulting in an immediate stalemate, to be broken by Demigods influence.
*Killing an enemy Demigod is final. No automatic resurrections. Dead Demigods stay that way until the end of the round.
And Finally The Oak
*The Oak is a brand new Demigod
*He is a General
*He is hinted at to play like a necromancer. Although he is a General, he has access to a spell that raises dead units to fight, clarifying that Generals will have access to far more than just passives and auras/buffs.
*Summery: “The Oak is a spirit bound in armor who can raise dead souls to fight for him”. He appears to look like an arcane suit of armor wielding an etched glowing axe/scythe. For anyone who played WC3, imagine a Revenant plus a Death Knight in terms of visuals. His helm is noticeably absent of any head or facials features, such as the empty eyelids.
GameReplays has interviewed Demigod’s Lead Designer John Comes, better known as Scathis about none other than Demigod.
The interview reveals some tantalizing bits of information about the game, especially regarding its basics and core gameplay. Here’s a snippet:
What “traditional” RTS elements can players expect to be in the game when choosing a general hero? Will there be base building, resource gathering, and teching/upgrade research? Or does the hero summon the Units? How does a player pay for them?
There will be the traditional RTS elements of economy, structure building and unit construction for the generals. But this is a team based action game, most of it has been streamlined to support that concept.
Thanks to Chirmaya for the discovery.
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