I’m actually OK with games costing a bit more to sell if they cost a lot to make; god knows, the devs deserve to get paid properly. But, one, that money won’t actually make it to the devs, and two, any time Randy Pitchford is for something it’s really hard not to automatically be against it, on the assumption that he’s so consistently wrong about everything, and just such an unbelievable piece of shit, that just assuming he’s in the wrong is the safest bet.
Jesus Christ, he’s still alive?! I haven’t heard that name in years.
For those not blessed with the knowledge of our divine Lord and saviour Derek Smart, God’s gift to fame designers, oh boy, grab your popcorn, this is going to be good.
And by “good” I mean that whatever Derek has come up with will manage to be the most objectively terrible version of that thing possible, and he will aggressively defend it as the greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of everything, ever.
For the record, I use a mouse with my non-dominant hand and I can play even fast paced FPS games like Titanfall competently enough. I actually used to dominate on Splitgate for a while. It’s a skill that can be learned. I have the advantage of having done it my whole life and I fully acknowledge that’s hard to replicate, but I think that with some practice anyone should be able to get to the point where they can play slower, primarily mouse driven games like turn based RPGs. Real time with pause might also be doable if you bind the pause button to the mouse (a mouse with some extra bindable keys would really help here). Anyway, just a thought.
If those options don’t work, maybe look into games like Vampire Survivor, or Realm of The Mad God (though I think the latter does need some rapid mouse inputs when looting, so maybe not so good).
I definitely want to see this version of self promotion encouraged. I think it’s good and healthy for this community to be a place where creators can discuss cool projects, engage with their fans and solicit feedback, as long as they’re doing so in a way that respects the health of the community. I think the accommodations you’ve chosen to make / demand here are very reasonable.
And so they bloody well should be! How the fuck else are we going to find out about cool, unique indie projects instead of mass produced corporate slop?
Independent creators should absolutely be encouraged to self promote in communities like this, or else what the fuck are we doing here? Just shilling for Activision?
IIRC the reason for this is that China requires that games published there be published by entities that are at least some arbitrary percentage Chinese owned. So basically if you want access to that huge market - that loves video games - you have to cut a deal with Tencent or someone else like them.
If you enjoyed Control, I highly recommend Signalis. Similarly creepy, unsettling vibes from everything, lots of exploration and really tense combat, and a story that holds enough back to keep you wondering.
Nothing released this year will even come close to touching the Warframe 1999 soundtrack. Absolute bangers from start to finish, and in particular Party of Your Lifetime is the most addictive bop you will have heard all year.
Warframe invented a fictional nineties boyband, and accidentally made them unbelievably awesome.