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Killing Floor Retail German Release Changes

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[TW]Ramm-Jaeger

[TW]Ramm-Jaeger

Tripwire Interactive President
Oct 11, 2005
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www.redorchestragame.com
#1
As many of you may have heard the retail version of Killing Floor is coming out next week - March 26th. To be able to advertise and properly sell the game in stores in Germany we were forced by the USK to make a lot of changes to the game. Primarily we had to remove gore, shooting ragdolls, zeds on fire, decapitation etc.

I would like to make one thing clear - everyone that has already purchased Killing Floor or purchases it before next week (March 22nd) digitally or has purchased a retail non-German version will STILL HAVE FULL GORE.

Anyone that purchased either a digital or retail version of Killing Floor in Germany after next week (March 22nd), will receive the reduced gore version of the game. It is unfortunate that we have to do this to continue to be able to advertise and properly sell the game in Germany.

Please address any issues with this to your local German politician or the offices of the USK. And I highly encourage any German to write your government officials and express your opinion on this ratings system. We don't like it any more than you do, but only the German people can change this system - so go make it happen.
 
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#3
It's unfortunate that the world associates obviously fictional things with real-world violence. From the wording of that post, sounds like they were expecting to be hit with the full brunt of WTF!?-ing from people.

We know it's not your fault :) You made a great game, and some people just don't appreciate the work put into it.

I really am against all forms of censorship, but at least you guys are dealing with it, probably better than most.
 
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#4
Guess the Killing Floor advertisement page in Germany should read

"Only 3 days left to order the non government shafted version of the best game evar! Order Now!!!" :)

Credit to you guys for doing a total rework to meet censorship demands, can only imainge how much of a ball ache that was to do... not even Valve did it for L4D2 which says alot :)
 
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#5
Jester, Valve did it also for L4D 1 & 2. I got the german version of L4D that contains no gore, burning zombies etc and the english version of L4D2 that is full of flying zombie limbs.

However, you could have gone the other way and let it get rated 18+ without the need to censor it, but then you would not be able to advertise it.

I just hope you won't censor my version like you did with RO. I bought the english version and with the patch last year it just turned into the censored german version WHICH SUCKS!
 
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#8
Zetsumei said:
Just a question, isn't it possible to sell 2 seperate versions on steam for germany. the 16+ version and the 18+ version?
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Possible, yes - conforming to German legislation, no. You can only get one rating per game. Not sure how they would treat it if we claimed two completely separate games like that - but I can guess what the answer would be!
 
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#10
gusone said:
Don't mention the War.
Click to expand...
Now, someone invoke Godwin's Law, and we're all set.

[TW]Ramm-Jaeger said:
[...] we had to zeds on fire, decapitation [...]
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So, how, I might ask, will this work?

No zeds on fire, so no damage feedback for firebugs at all? IMO that would be a pretty annoying handicap, and will at the very least lead to lots of wasted fuel (which you really can't afford on Hard and up).

And, no decapitation? I'm really curious how you're going to do that. What if a censored player does score a critical headshot? What if that player decides to continue shooting the head that was blown off for everyone else -- will he just shoot through it, or... what? And how will they be able to distinguish a "neutered" Bloat from one that's still able to rain liquid hurt on you?

That'd be basically 2 perks ruined for those unfortunate players on the censored version.
 
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#11
[TW]Ramm-Jaeger said:
Primarily we had to remove gore, shooting ragdolls, zeds on fire, decapitation etc.
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jesus, so take away what makes the game the game? GL against fleshpounds and leveling your sharpshooters without decapitations :rolleyes:

so can germans still buy the non-german version and be able to legally use them, or can the government somehow censor out everyone's personal computer to restrict them from using the "normal" game?

i'm happy that the game will sell retail in germany, but it's sad that germans can't experience what makes the game so enjoyable. :(
 
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#12
Does that mean people with the mutilated versions can't join games running on servers using the actual game?
Or, even worse, does that mean as soon as someone with the censored version joins, will it be censored for everyone?
like for example in l4d2, they censored a special zombie out and as soon as someone with the censored version joins, it affects everyone.
As a result, autokickers that ban players with IPs from countries with the censored version are being used. Which sucks.

I ask since the "on fire" behaviour is edited out, which affects gameplay majorly.
Also how on earth are people supposed to level the sharpshooter if there are no such things as "critical headshots"?

Anyway didn't you have the option not to release it in germany?
Or more like staying firm on the decision NOT to censor it, no matter if it gets a rating or not?
I mean who on earth do you think will actually spend money on a game with all its fun elements sucked out?
Might as well put the effort of the censorship into something more productive.

Why am I saying you should've been firm?
Well, as a side effect, because this version simply exists, no one in germany has the possibility to get the non-mutilated game without anyones (aka someone who lives in another country and gifts the game via steam) help anymore.
I can only guess how this will affect sales.

And yeah, good luck with that.
Censorship aside, it's good to see you bringing the game to the stores around the world.
 
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#14
9_6 said:
like for example in l4d2, they censored a special zombie out and as soon as someone with the censored version joins, it affects everyone.
As a result, autokickers that ban players with IPs from countries with the censored version are being used. Which sucks.
Click to expand...

I just logged in since months to ask this:

Is this true?

If it is: Whoah, now Im glad i didnt buy l4d2...although i would have gotten the english version i would still get banned because of my IP?

Damn it! But if you followed the political discussions the last years we germans can be happy to have at least gore in our UK-Versions we buy by mail order.......at least tits are ok here.
 
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#17
This achievement is going to be odd for the Germans isn't it?

goodluck.png
 
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#18
People with the reduced gore versions can play fine on any server, the other people on the server will never know. And for decapitations, the zeds neck gets broken and the head is bent over sideways. This gives a visual indication that the zed has had something "bad" happen to it. And for on fire, the on fire behavior is still there, just smoke comes off the zed instead of fire.

Regarding why didn't we "put the effort of censoring the game elsewhere" - frankly, taking stuff OUT of a game takes almost no time at all. We don't find ignoring a possible path to customers as smart business, as we've sold a LOT of retail copies of games in Germany in the past.
 
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#20
So instead of shooting their heads off you just break their necks and smoking is less violent than than burning.
Heh at least the giblets weren't replaced by toys like in TF2.
OR WERE THEY?

anthracy said:
Is there any way for us who have the full gorey version to see the less gorey edition?

GoreLevel=1 or 0 in ini?
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I believe it's 2 different "games".
If you look into your games list, TF2 also has one version with (DE) after it which is the censored version and being given to german users and one without it which is the normal one so it's not something that'll be in the "normal" killing floor which is why you can't just "switch it on".
That's my theory at least.
 
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