Quite a good list, although without any real surprises, except for the cheeky inclusion of a recent fan-made PC port. I’m glad Kerbal Space Program is on it, but a few other personal favorites (and candidates for best game of all time) are absent, like The Talos Principle, BeamNG.drive, NEO Scavenger, World of Goo, Mafia,...
A conversation about Outer Wilds, and how the game and the community have shaped each other over the years. Spoilers for both Outer Wilds and Echoes of the Eye after the second section @ 8:14....
Today, we have an exciting update: Duncan and Paul, alongside many other talented members at Hopoo Games, will now be working on game development directly at @valvesoftware
[alt text: a pair of posts by strudel-fatpaws on tumblr. The first post says, “who was the guy who said every indie game is named either ‘empoisoned’ or ‘swumbles big jumble’. i swear this is a real thing someone said”. The second post says, “gonna start sorting my steam library like this”. Included with the...
I agree with what others said that more customization is generally good, but not all games really need that level of customization. For something like animal crossing, I think the body type thing is fine, since the designs are more neutral unlike what you’re describing. I think what could help is a third option that’s a more neutral body type. Or maybe if it’s not relevant, just don’t have a body type option.
I also don’t know much about runescape, but I assume this was an update that just changed the names from genders to body types, so adding other options might have increased the scope of the update. I think at least uncoupling that from gender is at least an improvement over before. Plus, I kinda disagree that people would only pick the corresponding pronouns. Plenty of people have a gender expression that doesn’t necessarily match their gender identity.
Yeah I agree with you there. If you’re gonna just give two or three body type options and no other customization, there should be an androgenous option or at least they should all be generally androgenous. I think the issue with runescape probably stems from how the game was before.
I mean, that’s not cruelty free. Someone’s still gotta animate that. And most good animators either act scenes out beforehand and/or use reference footage.
The steam controller was (and still is) fantastic. I once got a comfortable binding for the original System Shock, which already has a pretty untenable control scheme with a keyboard and mouse. Also its haptic feedback can play music.
I’ve played lot of slower paced first person games with them. It also feels really nice in games with inventory screens and other mouse-focused ui. I never really tried to get used to them though, they just kind of clicked with me.
It’s insane what these people do. They’re rewriting code from the 60s to use even less memory, have to test it in production without physical access, and it takes two days to see if anything changes. It’s an insane piece of engineering and it’s incredible that it’s still sending useful data.
“Inspired” by the Square-Enix putting their foot in their mouth thread, I thought it’d be interesting to make a little thread about indie games. People always talk about wanting to try different, cheaper titles, but with how hard it is to get good gaming news and the state of advertisement/marketing, word of mouth tends to...
Distance is a criminally underrated racing platformer cyberpunk horror game. Worth it for the campaign alone IMO but there’s also multiplayer, a level editor with workshop support, two bonus campaigns, car customization, and a track generator.
The thing with pushing stuff and it moving really fast was actually a bug in the steam release. It finally got fixed last November for the 25th anniversary update.
Half-Life and Portal had a huge impact on my life. In high school I was in the source modding community, so I’m probably too familiar with valve’s engines and games. I made a few mods, the most well known being hl2 classic, and it kinda got me into game development.
But needless to say, it’s a fantastic series. I had a chance to play alyx and it was nuts. It’s crazy how influential this series and its technology is on gaming as a whole.
And a fun fact: quake had a feature where level designers could make a light flicker with a pattern of brightnesses. There were some premade patterns you could select as well. These made it into the goldsrc engine, then source, then source 2 - so Alyx, Quake, HL1, HL2, Portal, Portal 2, and more have lights that flicker in the exact same way.
Developing interactivity is effort and an investment. Most developers put up a simple loading screen, maybe some text like rotating tips, and a loading indicator. Until 2015 a patent on interactive loading screens may have made developers and publishers cautious and decide against developing interactivity....
They’re not interactive but Spec Ops: The Line’s loading screens stick out to be. They start out as pretty standard tips and lore info, but then starts giving you stuff like the definition of ptsd, a fun fact about increasing suicide rates in the military, or just telling you you’re not a good person. Occasionally the normal loading screen is entirely replaced with a ghostly image.
Which indies did you discover and would love more people to know about? I’ll start: The Pale Beyond. Not sure if it’s a hidden gem tbh, but it’s such a good story rich game. I laughed, I cried and felt the characters struggles. If you like story rich games/ choices matter, check it out.
Distance - an arcade racer that plays like a good 3D sonic game, has a cryptic story, and has elements of horror. Completely bonkers combination but it works super well.
Thumper - another very fast paced game, but also a rhythm game. The devs label it as “rhythm violence” and it fits. The music is percussive and ambient, mostly consisting of the sounds of you slamming through turns and hitting the a button with ferocious intensity. Levels can take well over 30 minutes.
The Beginner’s Guide - might be more well known but imo this is a must play for anyone who does anything creative. It’s a two hour walking sim, but I feel like it’s a story best told as a game.
Antichamber is great. Feels like a completely different universe with its own set of rules you need to discover. Also really interesting to see a puzzle game with an almost metroidvania-like progression, with the gates being your own knowledge of the mechanics.
My main issue is that Tim Sweeny has repeatedly shown that he really doesn’t know that he’s taking about when it comes to Linux and how it works. Like if you’re gonna diss something at least have valid reasons. Windows is a better gaming platform right now, but that’s only because companies like epic refuse to pay any service to it. Hopefully that changes soon.
apparently this is in response to a few threads on Reddit flaming Starfield—in general, it’s been rather interesting to see Bethesda take what i can only describe as a “try to debate Starfield to popularity” approach with the game’s skeptics in the past month or two. not entirely sure it’s a winning strategy,...
What I mean is… sometimes people are very loyal to a videogame franchise or a company because they loved a game they released years ago (Silent Hill/Konami with Silent Hill 2, Blizzard/Bethesda with their respective golden eras, some could argue this happens too with Pokémon and Final Fantasy, etc). Ethical/consumer reasons...
Thumper is the best rhythm game I’ve ever played, and it was made by two ex-harmonix employees who were disappointed by the direction of rock band and similar titles. It throws away all the wish fulfillment and commercial stuff and the result is amazing.
I’m thinking this too… like what’s even the point of using denuvo if it’s not applied day one? The whole point is to delay piracy so they sell more copies during launch week (in theory), so waiting until after day one completely ruins that since you can just pirate the easily cracked launch version.
Most of the video games I’ve played were pretty good. The only one I can think of that I didn’t like was MySims Kingdom for the Nintendo DS. Dropped that pretty quickly. It was a long while ago, but I’ll guess it was because there were too many fetch quests and annoying controls.
12 Minutes. It sucks because I was really looking forward to it - it’s published by Annapurna which has an amazing track record, and the trailer and concept looked really interesting. But it just kind of devolves into a really basic point and click game with one location where you just have to try every combination of things until something works. And the story itself is just a trainwreck. I wasn’t left satisfied or with any interesting thoughts, I was mostly just confused as to what the hell I was supposed to get out of it.
If you want a good time loop game published by Annapurna, just play Outer Wilds.
Thanks for the wishlist! I’ve taken from a lot of stuff for this game. Naissancee (and indirectly Blame!) are the main ones in terms of aethetic. The strange liminal vibes of stuff like Inside and The Beginner’s Guide is also something I want to capture.
I don’t have a steam deck, but I’m developing on Linux so a native Linux port is a guarantee, and I’m aiming for full controller support. So it should work pretty well.
I just finished inside and wanted to see how people felt about it in 2023. Everything I’ve read about it around 2016-2017 seems to regard it as the best game of the year and in some cases one of the best of all time. It’s this truly still the consensus?
Inside and Naissancee have a lot of moments that just gave me a huge sense of awe. They have some really haunting, yet beautiful scenes.
Thumper just makes me constantly question how the hell the devs made the game look that way.
Half Life Alyx is weird because it didn’t so much blow me away with the huge things as it did with the small things. There’s so many small objects and details everywhere that stand up even when you’re physically shoving your face into them.
Wanted to update that I’m almost through the first book, mixed feelings at certain parts, but I’m enjoying the end on Schar’s world. Felt like the beginning had a lot of unnecessary sidetracks and random deaths. But I do definitely love the ideas, especially all the culture technology, so I’ll probably check out the second book.
I was interested in buying a Steam Deck… Until I discovered all the (apparently) better alternatives. Asus Rog Ally, OneXPlayer, Aya Neo etc… I like the idea of an handheld console and obviously I would like to have a device that can run almost everything, so the Windows based handhelds seem better than the Steam Deck. Is it...
I don’t have a steam deck, but I use Linux and often play games from the epic store through the heroic launcher. I haven’t had an issue with a game not working. Worst case scenario, I just had to switch proton versions, which heroic makes really easy.
I’ve had a great time playing some of the ‘smaller’ games lately: Dredge (adore this game so much), Dave the Diver, Cloudpunk, Stray, Octopath II, Observer....
Haven’t played observer, but the aesthetic and horror aspect remind me of SOMA.
If you want something more action focused with a cyberpunk aesthetic, I can’t recommend Distance enough. (If you need a pitch: racing game with horror and your car can fly). I also just started playing Severed Steel and I’m enjoying it a lot so far.
I will also concur with the other person who recommended Outer Wilds. Don’t look up anything about it, go in as blind as possible, and try to see it through to the end. You will not regret it.
I love hearing about unique takes on game mechanics. Someone recently convinced me that limited inventories are kind of abused currently and that unlimited inventory systems would give more player choices.
PC Gamer: The top 100 PC games (www.pcgamer.com)
Quite a good list, although without any real surprises, except for the cheeky inclusion of a recent fan-made PC port. I’m glad Kerbal Space Program is on it, but a few other personal favorites (and candidates for best game of all time) are absent, like The Talos Principle, BeamNG.drive, NEO Scavenger, World of Goo, Mafia,...
Outer Wilds' Community has been AWESOME! (spectra.video) angielski
A conversation about Outer Wilds, and how the game and the community have shaped each other over the years. Spoilers for both Outer Wilds and Echoes of the Eye after the second section @ 8:14....
Risk of Rain developers join Valve, announced in a twitter post. (x.com)
Today, we have an exciting update: Duncan and Paul, alongside many other talented members at Hopoo Games, will now be working on game development directly at @valvesoftware
Balatro: Friends of Jimbo – Reveal Trailer – Nintendo Switch - YouTube (youtu.be)
a new paradigm (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a pair of posts by strudel-fatpaws on tumblr. The first post says, “who was the guy who said every indie game is named either ‘empoisoned’ or ‘swumbles big jumble’. i swear this is a real thing someone said”. The second post says, “gonna start sorting my steam library like this”. Included with the...
I don't hate Body Type replacing Gender, I hate laziness angielski
This is a bit of a rant, but please try to stick with me through the whole thing...
Actors demand action over 'disgusting' video game sex scenes [BBC] (www.bbc.com) angielski
Does anyone here play tf2 or dark and darker? angielski
I am looking for people to play both games with. The games tend to be filled with lots of reactionaries so it can be hard to exist in them....
Arkane founder says Prey and Dishonored fans ‘will be happy’ with his new game [VGC] (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Speaking of controllers: What's your favorite WEIRD controller? angielski
Today I learned about the Jogcon controller for PS1 & PS2:...
Voyager 1 is fully back online months after it stopped making sense. (www.theverge.com) angielski
I still can’t believe how this one comes back again and again. One of the greatest feat of humanity.
GOG will delete cloud saves more than 200MB per game after August 31st (support.gog.com) angielski
The Indie Chat & Recommendation Thread (cdn.imgchest.com)
“Inspired” by the Square-Enix putting their foot in their mouth thread, I thought it’d be interesting to make a little thread about indie games. People always talk about wanting to try different, cheaper titles, but with how hard it is to get good gaming news and the state of advertisement/marketing, word of mouth tends to...
Let's discuss: Half-Life (beehaw.org) angielski
The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!...
Interactive Loading Screens - High Hell angielski
Developing interactivity is effort and an investment. Most developers put up a simple loading screen, maybe some text like rotating tips, and a loading indicator. Until 2015 a patent on interactive loading screens may have made developers and publishers cautious and decide against developing interactivity....
Controller help
So, I have some switch controllers and I wanna try set then up to work with my Linux PC, is this possible?...
What are some hidden indie gems nobody knows about? angielski
Which indies did you discover and would love more people to know about? I’ll start: The Pale Beyond. Not sure if it’s a hidden gem tbh, but it’s such a good story rich game. I laughed, I cried and felt the characters struggles. If you like story rich games/ choices matter, check it out.
Embracer Group Cancels ‘Deus Ex’ Video Game (www.bloomberg.com) angielski
Archive link: archive.ph/WOlNl...
Games that force you to make hard choices angielski
Hey all!...
What's up with Epic Games? angielski
I can’t seem to find that one comment explaining the issue with them…...
Starfield design lead says players are "disconnected" from how games are actually made: "Don't fool yourself into thinking you know why it is the way it is" (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
apparently this is in response to a few threads on Reddit flaming Starfield—in general, it’s been rather interesting to see Bethesda take what i can only describe as a “try to debate Starfield to popularity” approach with the game’s skeptics in the past month or two. not entirely sure it’s a winning strategy,...
Embracer exec says laying off hundreds of people was an 'agonising process,' but that restructuring is 'how we win' (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
"We know it's a necessary thing for us to hit our new and needed goals. So overall, good progress and we push on."...
Half-Life 25th Anniversary Update - Half Life Uplink, New Multiplayer Maps, Updated Graphical Settings, SteamDeck Verified and More (www.half-life.com) angielski
What are some alternative to soulless videogame franchises? angielski
What I mean is… sometimes people are very loyal to a videogame franchise or a company because they loved a game they released years ago (Silent Hill/Konami with Silent Hill 2, Blizzard/Bethesda with their respective golden eras, some could argue this happens too with Pokémon and Final Fantasy, etc). Ethical/consumer reasons...
Ubisoft just added Denuvo to Assassins Creed Mirage via a day-1 patch a few minutes ago. AFTER all the major reviews went online. (meta.masto.host) angielski
https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/0c095e3d-ac73-49eb-b142-65d0c7d2b8af.webp
Unity rushes to clarify price increase plan, as game developers fume (www.axios.com) angielski
cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/5186904...
Not counting games that were unfun because of bugs, what’s the most unfun video game that you’ve played and what made it unfun? (kbin.cafe) angielski
Most of the video games I’ve played were pretty good. The only one I can think of that I didn’t like was MySims Kingdom for the Nintendo DS. Dropped that pretty quickly. It was a long while ago, but I’ll guess it was because there were too many fetch quests and annoying controls.
Trailer for Year Unknown - My solo indie project about exploring a very distant future. (www.youtube.com) angielski
I’ve been working on this game for about 2 years, and finally created a proper trailer for it!...
How was inside for you? angielski
I just finished inside and wanted to see how people felt about it in 2023. Everything I’ve read about it around 2016-2017 seems to regard it as the best game of the year and in some cases one of the best of all time. It’s this truly still the consensus?
Beautiful games? angielski
Suggest some beautiful games. Genre doesn’t matter. 3d or 2d no big deal. Hyper Light Drifter, Satisfactory, Cliff Empire, etc....
My story-driven game Year Unknown now has a Steam page! (store.steampowered.com) angielski
(Please let me know if this counts as advertising and I’ll remove it)...
Half-Life is not dead, as new Steam record shows Valve we all still care (www.pcgamesn.com) angielski
Steam Deck VS rivals
I was interested in buying a Steam Deck… Until I discovered all the (apparently) better alternatives. Asus Rog Ally, OneXPlayer, Aya Neo etc… I like the idea of an handheld console and obviously I would like to have a device that can run almost everything, so the Windows based handhelds seem better than the Steam Deck. Is it...
Suggestions for smaller-y games if I liked _______ angielski
I’ve had a great time playing some of the ‘smaller’ games lately: Dredge (adore this game so much), Dave the Diver, Cloudpunk, Stray, Octopath II, Observer....
What game mechanics do you love and hate? angielski
I love hearing about unique takes on game mechanics. Someone recently convinced me that limited inventories are kind of abused currently and that unlimited inventory systems would give more player choices.