Salem the Game - The Offline Single Player Experience

[Taruden]

I've played Salem on and off since 2012 and love the game mechanics. The game is well ahead of its time for a solid and very fun crafting game. Unfortunately this is squandered with Free to Play and MMO. The game starts to lose its charm when you've lost your 3rd or 4th wood drying pile to passersby. As much as I would love for an online cooperative crafting game to work, it doesn't and probably never will. With every Free to Play game it seems necessary to entice people to join with the prospects of attacking others with the "awesome power you can attain". Sadly that means that PVP in general means the cooperation goes out the window. There is no system strong enough to keep a player on his last day of play from using his power to cause havok and then never log in again.

I would gladly pay mainstream game prices for a single player experience of this truly awesome crafting sandbox. I would love to play at my own pace without care of the community that ruins every online sandbox game. Salem's strength is that nothing is wasted. You continue to build up and manage your land. The crafting in Salem feels like it has a purpose. Food has a purpose, farming has a purpose, killing creatures has a purpose. The fear of others adds to the game and greatly effects your decisions and that's great. This is not a discussion against perma-death. I actually have never been killed and have never needed to commit a crime. The game is fantastic the multi-player is not, and in my opinion not needed to enjoy the game. Just before the last wipe I had built my second base with every possible structure short of a brick house (Though I had the bricks and oiled boards ready, just needed to grind some more cricket bundles for glass). I maxed out my skills while playing peacefully single player in a multi-player world. The issue here is the time wasted due to general greifing or working on grief prevention. Single player still calls for walls and such to keep out the snakes, but snakes don't care if you have a triple wall and player defenses.

In the end all games need money to thrive and to provide reward for the hard work the developers put into the game. With online games the cost is increased for servers and future development. There is an inherent need for silver so you can pay for plots in order to make your stuff safer. If that is the hopeful business model to sell silver from the store then fine I guess I’ll move on and play something else. I can't feel cheated as I have enjoyed hours of this game without spending a cent. With the potential to lose everything I never will, and I'm certain that I'm not the only one that thinks and plays this way. But outside of the Free to Play model that the world seems to love paying for, this game has real merit. Let me buy a static copy of this game. (Preferably before the mushroom update and with Ender's Client built in. The game just isn't the same without the land leveling grid from the Ender Client.) I want to support this game, but not as an MMO. Although planned or pre-launch DLC normally makes me cringe, this game is good enough that I would consider buying that too after major patches.

Just something I hope the developers would consider to possibly expand the game marketing to those that would buy and enjoy an offline experience.

[pistolshrimp]

Witch! Witch! Burn the witch!

[trungdle]

Hey mate I don't want to sound harsh or anything but if you want that you can try stranded 2 the survivalist mod. I don't think you enjoy Salem, the truth is, if you don't, you don't. Don't try to like the game. I tried to like Wurm. I asked around on how to enjoy it, I even came up with a wish that it was single player. Then a youtuber ( saturday night faction fight) told me maybe the game isn't for me. They were right. So don't feel bad and move on to the next game dude. Wish you luck.
Or you are in a burn out and this is just a temporary thought.
Let me expand my post a bit to tell you some problems I see with that model:
. People whine about charges.
. People complain about the game's architecture.
. Not a lot of potential buyers.
. Production problem. Hard copy, selling fees from retailers. Same with digital copy.
. Salem is still alpha.
. Extra extreme coding.
. Blind buyers' complaints. Spoiled ones mainly.
. Player base affection.
. Ehh I think that's it.
Also let me explain something about your depression. You have never committed a crime, have never been killed, but have been robbed multiple times. I think the problem is you have never been scared or excited, or felt the rush that most of the player here feel when they do the things. Not me, of course, I am a nab. You miss the entire point of the fighting mechanic, have no pvp experience, struggle to understand the reasons behind all the things you are too scared to touch. We all have our comfort zone and we hate to go beyond it, me too, but yeah unfortunately this game is to push it further a bit. At least I think so. That's why I concluded that you are not the type of player this game can hold, you are something else than us.
I don't judge, hut maybe I sound like judging, sorry. I just want to share my points.

[DarkNacht]

I doubt they would make enough for it to be worth the devs time and effort to make a off-line version.

[Dallane]

I've played Salem on and off since 2012 and love the game mechanics. The game is well ahead of its time for a solid and very fun crafting game. Unfortunately this is squandered with Free to Play and MMO. The game starts to lose its charm when you've lost your 3rd or 4th wood drying pile to passersby. As much as I would love for an online cooperative crafting game to work, it doesn't and probably never will. With every Free to Play game it seems necessary to entice people to join with the prospects of attacking others with the "awesome power you can attain". Sadly that means that PVP in general means the cooperation goes out the window. There is no system strong enough to keep a player on his last day of play from using his power to cause havok and then never log in again.

I would gladly pay mainstream game prices for a single player experience of this truly awesome crafting sandbox. I would love to play at my own pace without care of the community that ruins every online sandbox game. Salem's strength is that nothing is wasted. You continue to build up and manage your land. The crafting in Salem feels like it has a purpose. Food has a purpose, farming has a purpose, killing creatures has a purpose. The fear of others adds to the game and greatly effects your decisions and that's great. This is not a discussion against perma-death. I actually have never been killed and have never needed to commit a crime. The game is fantastic the multi-player is not, and in my opinion not needed to enjoy the game. Just before the last wipe I had built my second base with every possible structure short of a brick house (Though I had the bricks and oiled boards ready, just needed to grind some more cricket bundles for glass). I maxed out my skills while playing peacefully single player in a multi-player world. The issue here is the time wasted due to general greifing or working on grief prevention. Single player still calls for walls and such to keep out the snakes, but snakes don't care if you have a triple wall and player defenses.

In the end all games need money to thrive and to provide reward for the hard work the developers put into the game. With online games the cost is increased for servers and future development. There is an inherent need for silver so you can pay for plots in order to make your stuff safer. If that is the hopeful business model to sell silver from the store then fine I guess I’ll move on and play something else. I can't feel cheated as I have enjoyed hours of this game without spending a cent. With the potential to lose everything I never will, and I'm certain that I'm not the only one that thinks and plays this way. But outside of the Free to Play model that the world seems to love paying for, this game has real merit. Let me buy a static copy of this game. (Preferably before the mushroom update and with Ender's Client built in. The game just isn't the same without the land leveling grid from the Ender Client.) I want to support this game, but not as an MMO. Although planned or pre-launch DLC normally makes me cringe, this game is good enough that I would consider buying that too after major patches.

Just something I hope the developers would consider to possibly expand the game marketing to those that would buy and enjoy an offline experience.

***** OFF

10/10 most retarded post ever

[MarpTarpton]

What you're asking for is so much more than what you probably think. Salem is a multiplayer game by design. Its business model relies on a cash shop. I would sooner guess the game would face dissolution before either of those features change.

Also, best part of the whole read:

as I have enjoyed hours of this game without spending a cent

Thank you for making my day.

[Darwoth]

[Taruden]

To Trungdle,
I appreciate your very thoughtful response and in most cases you are correct. Your points on a box game are also correct, but I would expect digital download as the game currently does with its client. Salem (as it is) may not be the game for me, but the majority of it is. I've played for two separate spurts of about 3 to 4 months. I maxed out a character (Skills, got bored with the old humor system past the 70's) and truly enjoyed the crafting mechanics building up a little fort in the wilderness.

I don't know how I'm depressed this is an idea for an ideas forum thread. Being stolen from was an inconvenience not something that caused fear or excitement. As for this rush from ruining someone else's experience I find that to be pitiable human nature. If that feeling gets anyone riled up, then its a good thing that those individuals keep those feelings for video games. I understand the PVP (if you can call it that) but as it is, not as it is presented to the players as a mechanic. It's used for the same reason as in most games, as a way to expand the player base and drive an urgency for purchases. An online game with a continuous payment model needs a way to pay the bills so I can't doc the devs for putting it in. PVP'ers are usually the money spenders (though this game may reverse that logic using PVP to make defenders pay). Either way this game is far from Pay to Win, but the addition of PVP helps bolster the payment model all the same. But enough about that. That is a whole different conversation.

struggle to understand the reasons behind all the things you are too scared to touch.

Ehh first off its a game. If my time is going to be wasted by the need for PVP in a crafting game then its the weighing of pros and cons not fear. Second this leads to the discussion of permadeath and I'd rather not feed Mighty Troll Dallane and his well formed posting skills.

As you have said I am indeed:

something else than us.

There unfortunately isn't a good game with the same gameplay as Salem so I'm out of luck. But I have many other games and just need to get past the desire to play this one again.

Oh and I too tried to like Wurm. The pacing is just awful, hence why Salem at my present knowledge is still the best game. I'm not adverse to other game suggestions, but the forum being in Salem's website may frown upon it.

To pistolshrimp,
This made me laugh. Thank You!

Witch! Witch! Burn the witch!

To MarpTarpton,
I was happy that anyone actually spent the time to read. Noone reads anymore they just jump to bashing. I realize this may be asking a lot as the game isn't programed with single player in mind. Its just a passing thought as the game is still in alpha and their isn't much out there like this that isn't a side scrolling 2d game. Glad I could make one day better.

As for Dallane, I won't flag your post. I actually hope people see it.

Thanks all. Will see how the games doing if it ever leaves alpha.

[Dallane]

As for Dallane, I won't flag your post. I actually hope people see it.

Flag away you still look like a ***** idiot.

[Gnucifer]

I completely agree with Taruden...
I've been playing Salem for over a year, and suffered quite a few of those previously mentioned "setbacks". Murdered alts, broken walls, emptied cookie-jars - and as so many other people, I also went back to learning "Childish Things" once again after the big reset+servermerge...
I love the eternally growing feeling of being less and less secure on your swiss-armyknife-char, biling up alts trying to make the main character obsolete in case something bad happens to him/her. - I love the eternal 'having to test the integrity of my defenses'.
What I also love, though, is letting my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder have its way with the algorithms that the purity system is built up around, ever testing and optimizing the results of your labor. If this game existed in a player-versus-environment edition, I would surely buy it, spending more money on Salem than I probably otherwise ever will, due to the insecurity of actually keeping your investment - and keep the solo-version as a band-aid for WHEN things (inevitably) do go wrong in the online game.
I dont think it would have a negative impact on the sale in the store at all - quite contrary. I think you would encourage more people to actually open their wallets for the first time to buy DLC (whereafter it's alot easier and more tempting, as you already 'sold your soul once' you might as well pimp the online account a bit too), besides giving paying customers the patience to not quit the game immediately after the 1st raid against them.

Only "bad" thing I see coming from it, is giving the thugs in game more competition, as people will have a chance to learn the basics, and strategize their approach to the harsh world of Salem while the thugs ain't lookin'