I'll be more actively handling spam as well, but it's clear that we need additional people for global instance moderation. I'll prioritize this. I'd like to delegate instance administration as much as possible and fully focus on code
Said before (forgive me if you planned on replying to it), but is spam filtering (and similar issues related to moderation/federation) something you're planning or?
The current spam is rudimentary so I don't think false positives are a reason for no filtering at all, particularly if existing users are not scanned the same way. If mods can un-delete false positive threads/comments made by new accounts surely it'd be less work than manually removing spambot stuff (even if it were per-user). Especially if manual spam removal means that people still see the spam.
EDIT: Also clicking on one of the new spam accounts, 13 minutes old with 6 threads (and that was posted almost immediately with the rest posted within the span of 3 minutes).
Honestly no, he needs to implement some kind of proactive spam filter. A new account posting SEO spam or openly mentioning code generators should be the easiest thing to prevent. And I'm pretty sure other fediverse instances have done that.
Probably more admins (or at very least, global mods) just for daily operations.
Also not the main issue now, but also some sort of removal federation even if it can be reversed in cases of bias. Because spam (or worse) removed on another instance shouldn't stay up here.
It seems like the old login servers don't even exist anymore (so I don't see how it'd actually verify unless it just checks a username's purchase status), but yeah that launcher does work for offline. (I still have my lastlogin file assuming it can't overwrite itself easily, but I don't think anything uses that other than the old launcher which can't seem to actually download the files because 404).
It's also interesting for the built-in modding, though it doesn't seem to be perfect. Also added an edit to my original comment mentioning parallel timeline mods. Though I'll just check out some classic(/revived) mods if I can get them to work.
Yeah, one of the things I liked in old versions was having just one type of planks (not having multiple variants of everything wood, particularly). And I've never cared about the bosses or searching for something 50K blocks away from spawn or whatever. The other annoyance is hunger, though eating to insta-heal isn't much better either.
One issue for me is that I really liked the block model system of newer versions (release 1.8), particularly as a resource pack creator. A ladder looks so much better as a few cuboids than it does as a flat texture, and my models (which I made in a text editor) looked a lot nicer than my textures.
Also, never migrated my account. Are the servers to download the old versions from the old launcher even still up?
Minetest could be a solution here, but it seems like most Minetest games are either following new MC's footsteps or are doing something completely different. At least I've never played one that made me want to keep going, something good enough to start my own thing with (I would like chaining sticky pistons or similar things that are powerful in single-player, blocks that look cool but offer specific benefits like an iron grate floor/ceiling).
Parallel timeline mods are interesting, though I am not having luck with trying them thus far and I also doubt the modding tools are there enough especially for me who doesn't want to code in Java. I could also see it interesting if there were an easy way to just disable a large amount of blocks/items/mobs etc and then just add in new stuff... maybe even with data packs especially for this sort of thing.
I am thinking about game mechanics that interact (has anyone tried liquid-like gravel/coal piles yet?) or that just connect simply/are instant (rather than high-throughput automation). Or different systems for healing/buffs/food. Maybe alternate tools/transportation/skybridges etc.
EDIT: So they really added data packs without the ability to make "true" blocks/items (instead still dependent on entities and commands, data overridden not data driven), huh? Guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Hmm.
One of those games says right in its description that it's a free fan game, another says it's a student project for educational purposes.
Two of these are prologues, full games in wishlist phase. A third is similar, but with an upcoming sequel.
One of them is free-to-play (rather than free-to-keep)
Including a trademarked term right in the title is the thing that gets most fan projects. It's a multiplier for takedowns, it can't get any easier for companies than running a simple script that just searches Itch/Gamejolt/Github for terms and then doing a mass takedown of the results. And that will even catch things with 3 downloads.
Sure user-added* or redone assets could help, but just distancing the name would help a lot more. Having 100% new assets won't stop a takedown if you use trademarked terms (see DMCA's Sky), and the DMCA system doesn't really discourage overstepping unless somebody has the willingness/money/time to take it to court.
*=image detection could be a thing as well though, so be careful with screenshots especially with a logo
It's probably stuff being less "indie" than it appears on the surface. Both of those games you listed appear to have successful publishers, one behind Maplestory and multi-million (in USD) net income (also largest shareholder is investment firm, Maplestory NFTs). The other has more games (and significantly more DLC) on Steam.
That doesn't really answer your question, well aside from saying money. Though there may be a deeper connection as well (shareholders having hands in everything etc)
I mean yeah we're mostly on the same page... but it should be clear that I'm not suggesting crazy detail everywhere, mostly just being a bit more intentional with model design when possible to integrate vertex color (or another old technique, use multiple objects when it means a simpler mesh). And I mentioned Spyro's texture/LoD system which is good, was going to mention sprite usage and also Crash having only 2 textures (shoes, back) but was too wordy (also Crash taking advantage of a linear camera for custom culling and view-specific models).
I'd say it's really good to give variation (and unique-ness) on detail and effects that way every tiny thing you decide to add isn't a fixed workload. Or in some cases the opposite approach, a more re-used/modular design for certain things like characters.
The problem with textures (aside from data w/high-res/high-color, resolution dependency, and workload) is that when you play an older game at modern resolutions (higher internal res or even just a Flash game) the elements that were designed for older resolutions/displays are really apparent next to the meshes that scale perfectly. Particularly if it's a GUI or pre-rendered cutscene (sometimes other random stuff). Textures on meshes can still be a really solid aesthetic for the environment/characters.
Also generated textures (see .kkrieger for an extreme example) might be a potential fix for the drawbacks, or something like textures that are designed to be used with an upscale filter (or in a similar way, maybe converting to SDF textures).
I don't think that's it. For 3D the workflow is already there and vertex colors are powerful (though usually used for shaders or other effects like terrain-based sounds). Even going for Spyro's approach (esp. grayscale textures that disappear with LoD so it's just color) wouldn't be too bad as I imagine its music/voice is actually what takes up the most space (newer audio compression or MIDI-like music would reduce that), though a more minimal/stylized look could make it a lot easier. Certainly some things are more suited for it than others.
I could say a lot of technical reasons for or against this workflow, but I think the biggest is just that it's something that people don't think about or would rather have photorealism or blocky pixels instead (or at least that's a large chunk of the market). Vertex lighting is cool but doesn't have much use over modern lighting (if it did, it'd be very niche) and developers often don't really care about optimization much, instead telling players 'upgrade your PC'.
(admittedly my experience with 2D vector seems less supported as far as editors and AA, though I'm not sure if Godot's clip children feature has an equivalent in 3D or if you'd just need to use meshes/rigging more cleverly... which is fair, I'm not aware of non-skeleton rigging tools in Godot's 2D either)
Well I have a lot of problems with how people design games so I don't really buy stuff anymore, plus I haven't really seen a lot of stuff that focuses on vector (esp textureless). In other words it's pretty niche even for indie, and discoverability generally isn't great even on the best day.
Some people might be against them for the reason that they can de-list their old games from digital storefronts. For newer games especially it'd make that hard to compare what was changed.
I guess it's not as relevant with newer titles, but I feel like many of the classics looked fine (especially with higher internal res which is a good option for emu) and had some really cool tech that gave it a nice aesthetic without it being bloated. So it kind of feels like it's missing the point (limitation and ingenuity or something like that).
Like with Spyro, a big draw for me is the usage of vertex color including the skyboxes (one example, album). So it went from ~300MiB to 30-60GiB+. I mean sure some old games were designed with raster graphics that look crusty now, but for something like Spyro I'd rather play even a fan _de_make (leaning further into vertex colors) with more fleshed out gameplay (/more content) though too many fan game creators haven't learned to distance even their game titles from trademarks.
Adjusted price is a common talking point here, but it ignores the other side of inflation... that wages have stagnated and rising prices obviously means that people have less spending money.
Consider also that there is a lot of choice with the back catalog on PC as well as free games (that people can make in their spare time at no cost thanks to FOSS tools and free information). Pre-broadband, gaming was more of a take-it-or-leave situation.
So yeah, I think most people already see increasing prices as being motivated by greed. And some people likely see the $60 price as already greedy when games are often filler and spectacle (with poor QA testing on top of that, because they know people will pre-order it anyway, and then buy the later DLC or cosmetics).