Dark_Arc

Dark_Arc, 8 dni temu

Yup… It looked like a really bad attempt at photo realism in 2024. At this point you either need to use cartoon-like graphics or some sort or actually pull off the photo realism.

It was pretty obvious that game was never going to reach either of those marks.

I was definitely excited for the prospect of a Sim’s competitor, but this wasn’t going to be it… I think they did the right thing pulling the plug.

Dark_Arc, 20 dni temu

No idea what that means, but I do know the devs of this game also made War for The Overworld and they did a fantastic job of making and maintaining it.

I’d highly recommend their studio… and if this is the type of game you’re interested in, you should definitely check it out!

Dark_Arc, miesiąc temu

I mean, the purchasing model was fine. It was like any other game store. It’s just it was a new service and lots of people already had existing libraries they wanted to take with them … which just isn’t how that sort of thing normally works. Particularly with the way Google had it designed so that you could play purchased games without a subscription.

Dark_Arc, miesiąc temu

This reminds me of the new game Andrew Gower and his brothers have been working on, Brighter Shores. It’s a pure passion project based on a from scratch game engine that was created to make programming (even massively) multiplayer online games much easier.

The goal isn’t profit but rather, to have fun, and make a cool enjoyable game. He’s said they’ve made more than enough money from the sale of Jagex and RuneScape back in the day (which FWIW, he regrets that sale and a lot of what has happened at Jagex/to RuneScape).

I love to see game developers (and people in general that … “make it” and then go “you know what, I do have enough”).

Dark_Arc, miesiąc temu

That sounds like a really cool title for a game if nothing else!

Dark_Arc, miesiąc temu

I mean it’s entirely possible this was for crossplay or cross save … I doubt this is about the number of accounts created in a given year.

Dark_Arc, miesiąc temu

Yes, but presumably you have accounts with those games? If not, you can play with people on those platforms but you can’t play with specific people on those platforms (e.g. a friend on the platform – which is the bigger deal in my mind with crossplay).

Like, the PSN account is the equivalent of a Bungie, Paradox, or Crytek account, something that allows the game developer to maintain a cross platform friends list? No?

I suppose they could use a room code invite system for crossplay but that’s way less convenient.

I never got into Hell Divers because it legit would not run on my system so I’m not super up on all the details but that’s been my impression of why they might want it.

Either way… With all the negative feedback I’m surprised they’re not screaming from the rooftops “we’ll do something else!” I understand Sony is tying their hands as well though.

Dark_Arc, 2 miesiące temu

Yeah… For battle royal and extraction shooters I think it would also be pretty hard to come close to the experience on private servers.

Granted, I wouldn’t mind being able to play e.g. Hunt Showdown with some friends on a private server/in a private match. It wouldn’t be what it is today, but it could still be fun.

It’s not like games with large populations are really getting shut down anyways. The games that are killed are already dead for most people. I really only am bothered by it when it’s a clearly single player/offline friendly game.

Dark_Arc, 2 miesiące temu

The thing about them is you need people to be at close to the same skill level or they’re just not fun.

Dark_Arc, 2 miesiące temu

I feel like maybe Paradox expanded too much too fast.

Dark_Arc, 2 miesiące temu

Wind Waker was an amazing game

Dark_Arc, 2 miesiące temu

I actually really enjoyed the size of the ocean it made me feel like I was really on a journey

Dark_Arc, 2 miesiące temu

I really don’t see Nintendo publishing an emulator that runs on hardware they didn’t make (yay unnecessary e-waste).

Dark_Arc, 2 miesiące temu

Yeah, this would be a weird thing for valve to do for sure. I think they could afford it… But they already have Source 2.

Dark_Arc, 2 miesiące temu

I liked it when it was first a thing and you’d see huge crowds of people in their early twenties out in parks and things … but I don’t think I ever really liked the game itself.

Dark_Arc, 3 miesiące temu

I kind of enjoy this take lol

Dark_Arc, 3 miesiące temu

They released a new one … It’s good but it’s also still not great. Like Lego could easily have a really cool Mario Kart competitor if they put the effort into it that Nintendo does … but they don’t.

Dark_Arc, 3 miesiące temu

Oh god yes, I played the crap out of that as a kid … Maybe an early inspiration to become a programmer in ways lol

Dark_Arc, 3 miesiące temu

I think if you look back at the old Mario Karts and look at the success Lego has had with their Lego movies … Lego could come out swinging with a pretty cool cart racer if they really put the effort into it.

Lego Indiana Jones as an example could be an updated spin on/foundation for the dinosaur isle.

Dark_Arc, 3 miesiące temu

Press X to doubt.

Dark_Arc, 3 miesiące temu

I hate this… 😂

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Yeah, I played It Takes Two with my gf last week and she had trouble with the most basic jumps because she couldn’t use the keyboard and mouse at the same time.

This is probably a stupid question … but it was an actual mouse right? Like we wasn’t using a touchpad?

So many OSes default to the touchpad being disabled while typing and that causes big issues for WASD keyboard and mouse games.

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Okay, totally fair just checking for my own curiosity 🙂

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

I play multiplayer so I can’t comment much on that … but remember this game is in early access. Like it just launched its early access last month. It’s not a complete game or even a 1.0 game.

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

I think it’s roughly as bad as EAC or Battleye. The big difference is it’s by a less known company.

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

I think it’s fine to have a AAA “reboot”. I mean look at the DOOM games. Not everything needs to be new IP and there is some old IP that definitely could use if nothing else a coat of paint and some UI/UX updates.

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Can’t say until we see it lol

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Up until recently I think most TVs weren’t 60Hz

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Or just RuneScape in general

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Yeah, crafting for Gotham Knights made the game considerably worse. It added basically nothing over procedurally generated or designed loot.

It’s not like Gotham Knights was ever going to be a game where you really need that level of min-maxing.

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Same but I’m just not into RPGs or D&D generally.

So I got on that game and it was kind of fun up until the first town when my friends were like “we need to talk to people to figure out what to do.”

I don’t mind games having a bit of lore and story but … I want to be doing (read: typically fighting) stuff in my games not just talking to a bunch of people… And when I don’t even know what people I need to talk to, to most quickly get back to the action, I’m out.

The one exception to that is possibly RuneScape because I’ve been playing that game for ages. However, even there I use quest guides and sometimes just spam through all the dialogue.

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Ah yes, I love nothing more than to have my screen obstructed by none other than … ME!?! I was the villain all along!?

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

Open world is really only good if it’s something like an MMO where the content is built up over the course of years and there are multiple story lines.

Aside from that, it works well for racing games not much else.

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

I don’t play competitive games unless the community is generally decent or I have the option to just turn off voice and text chat for people I don’t know.

Hunt Showdown is the one arguably competitive game (in that its PvP) that I still play … the community there is generally great. There is the occasional trash talk but mostly it’s just people having fun.

Sometimes people on enemy teams will be willing to negotiate and you both walk away from the fight.

Sometimes they’ll just have fun with it and make sound effects. One guy just the other night I was in a shoot out with was making sound effects “agghhh my leg!!! You got me you got me, it’s over!!” Only to come back a few seconds later with a bomb thrown at me and my buddies.

Occasionally there are toxic people but it’s really fun when you shoot them, take their stuff, and burn their characters bodies … then report them. Taking the extra time to be inflammatory or make noise to trash talk on an extraction shooter can easily get you killed and make you lose a fair amount of stuff.

If being a toxic egomaniac is your jam, extraction shooters are a bad fit.

Dark_Arc, 4 miesiące temu

It’s a growing genre. I’m mostly talking about Hunt Showdown specifically as I haven’t done much with other games.

I will say, hunt does require 1-2 friends for the best experience.

You can play with random teammates (I’ve never done that) or play solo (but that’s particularly challenging).

Dark_Arc, 5 miesięcy temu

Pretty easily Hunt Showdown with honorable mention to Remnant II, Northgard, and Age of Wonders 4

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

I think you could go two ways with that. The psychologist could be under a mandate to give feedback to ensure your game is not going to be an addiction or they could be under a mandate to make it as addictive as possible. The latter is way more likely but I wouldn’t totally rule out the value add of any psychologist to any game.

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

I think Hunt Showdown has done really well in the extraction shooter genre

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

“Engines” are not static things. What we call “Unreal Engine” goes back to the 90s.

These comments always bug me as a programmer because it’s like someone calling a 2023 Camero old because it doesn’t have the acceleration of a 2023 Mustang… The “age” almost certainly isn’t the problem, it’s where the effort has or hasn’t been put in to the engine and more importantly the game itself (e.g., carrying on the metaphor, the Camero might be slower getting up to speed because all the R&D for the last 3 years was on a smooth ride).

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

Bethesda revealed in June 2021 that they were working on a new iteration of the engine called Creation Engine 2, and that it would power their upcoming games Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI. Creation Engine 2 features real-time global illumination and advanced volumetric lighting.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_Engine

Case and point

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

I would assume those things are just not prioritized by management because they’ve never been things that have caused sufficient outrage and/or aren’t seen as things that can increase sales… You can’t exactly use “look we fixed physics” in a marketing video to sell a new game. Maybe you can use “look we have vehicles”… but what’s the number of people that will really care? What % will that increase sales?

e.g. maybe someone would care if EA made your need for speed character able to get out of the car and walk around… Do I care? Nah.

(I bothered to look at the Wikipedia page and) they added multiplayer support to Creation Engine for Fallout 76, that was a huge undertaking.

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

Creation Engine is static. Others, you are right, change.

Points out it does change.

jUst sLappInG a nUmbeR 2 aT tHe End dOesN’t mEan iT’s bEtTer

That’s like how Microsoft made Edge browser by forking IE11 and it’s suppose to be better.

It is… By a lot, ask any web developer. Even before they switched to using Blink under the hood it was a significantly better browser. Now it’s literally a reskinned Chrome. Meanwhile IE11 is a complete mess that requires a ton of hacks to get it to do what you want.

In both cases IE -> Edge and Edge -> Chrome Microsoft changed the literal browser engine. … This just kinda makes my point even more so, the general public has no idea what constitutes an “engine change” and can’t judge whether that will yield the results they want.

Oh my. Source 1 had that when Half-Life2 was released. Advancement.

You’ve seen how low poly Half-Life 2 is right…? Destiny 2 only allows certain areas to have the flashlight on because if they don’t plan for it the flash lights can tank their frame rates (seriously) – but hey “Left 4 Dead 2 had a flashlight in source engine!” /s.

I can almost guarantee Half-Life two also didn’t have “Global illumination”, maybe real time lighting for the flashlight, but Global Illumination is a much bigger thing.

This is Half-Life 2 with global illumination: youtu.be/WWYpKRETv8k?si=9eTDmx10m3l9nwdR

Here’s an old forum from 2005 talking about how “real global illumination isn’t yet possible” gamedev.net/forums/topic/…/3282572/

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

All Edge did, was drop legacy compatibility mode, nothing else. Underlying Trident engine got a minor bump.

Really? So Chakra was just a fever dream I had? (windowscentral.com/microsoft-edge-gets-better-aga…)

The initial release of EdgeHTML on Windows 10 included more than 4000 interoperability fixes. (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EdgeHTML#cite_note-13)

Initial public release of Microsoft Edge. Contains improvements to performance, support for HTML5 and CSS3.

“Minor bump” that fixed 4,000 bugs, and added HTML5 and CSS3.

I suppose ES6, C++11, Java 8, Python 3, etc are also just “minor bumps.”

I didn’t even buy the game, it didn’t seem interesting to me. I just am frustrated by the fundamental lack of understanding about what an “engine” is and the fact that they’re almost always being iterated on in different ways.

Diversity of engines is a good thing, everything shouldn’t be Unreal Engine, Blink, V8, Clang, etc

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

Fair assessment, though I’d critique:

Every time you have a major bug, game crash, or save corruption it takes you out of the world and forces you to remember you’re playing a game that barely works, which makes you like it less.

These aren’t the improvements you said you wanted ;) Fixing physics, adding vehicles, etc are features/major changes that can increase instability/take a lot more time to QA.

Dark_Arc, 6 miesięcy temu

Huh, thanks for the tip!

Dark_Arc, 7 miesięcy temu

Checkout Distance on Steam. It’s definitely up there in terms of unique racing games.

Split/Second was also a really interesting take on racing, I wish they had released DLCs or something to add more maps, the way that game worked with the crazy visuals to open up new shortcuts and modify the track midrace was an awesome idea

Dark_Arc, 7 miesięcy temu

Diabotical did do teams and objectives. I think what really needs to happen to bring the genre back to life though is for there to be a really good campaign tied to a really good multiplayer experience that brings in some new weapon design instead of the Quake meta weapons with minor tweaks.

UT4 was looking promising in terms of multiplayer before Epic killed the project.

You might like roboquest it’s a very recent game that’s not PvP but has a lot of AFPS characteristics.

IDK, kinda feels like we need idSoftware to do a new Quake with new story and new weapons even if they don’t call it Quake (or to release a DOOM multiplayer experience that is actually fun).

Dark_Arc, 7 miesięcy temu

Never heard of blur, looked it up, you might enjoy store.steampowered.com/app/…/GRIP_Combat_Racing/