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Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
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Prayer of the Faithless
On the brink of the apocalypse, two friends struggle to find what is worth saving
On the brink of the apocalypse, two friends struggle to find what is worth saving
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How are we doing? A survey to help us improve RMN
It's been a while since the change in staff, so we were curious to see the general opinion of RMN and the forums as well as hopefully get some feedback on how we can improve. We'd also like to know your thoughts on the community as well as RMN's functionality. It shouldn't take you too long to fill it out and it would be a tremendous help for us, so please feel free to give us your thoughts!
*Survey is now private. Please PM me for a link, instead.*
Looking forward to hearing from you!
*Survey is now private. Please PM me for a link, instead.*
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Running a successful playtest
Testing games is everyone's favorite thing to do, right? It's such a simple and easy task that you can do without sacrificing much of your time and vitality trying to fix and tweak every single little detail, right?
...
Okay, testing sucks. You have so much to look out for when running through your game that it's next to impossible to keep an eye out for every little detail through a single run. What can we do to make it suck less? Obviously, you're gonna be running through your game time and time again while you fix and polish as much as you can, but what are ways you've found that make testing easier on yourself?
While this can include getting others to test your game, I'm primarily talking about self testing in this topic. Coordinating testing efforts with others is a whole different can of worms that could probably go in its own topic.
Personally, I have different testing sessions where I focus on one aspect of the game and ignore everything else. Functional testing, writing testing, balance testing, bug testing, etc. are all done separately in order to keep from overloading my brain by looking at every possible issue that could potentially occur.
I keep a running tab of every bug/issue I find classed in one of four ways:
CRITICAL
These are the showstopper bugs that impede progress of the game. If your game is impossible to complete due to this bug, then it is a critical class bug and requires addressing before any other class of bug. Key items not appearing, required bosses missing a resource, faulty event logic on a required event, etc. are all critical bugs that prevent the game from being completed.
MAJOR
Bugs that disrupt a core function of the game. Examples include: a party member's skills don't work as intended, the menu system doesn't display when pressing a key, a save system doesn't correctly save data, etc.
MINOR
Bugs that don't directly impede progress like Major bugs do, but affect more core functionality than Trivial bugs. Examples include displaying incorrect messages to the situation like a Show Choice function that accidentally holds "Yes" logic under the "No" choice and vice versa, or having a skill description not accurately describe the skill.
TRIVIAL
Tiny little details that don't affect anything other than polish. These can be typos, dialogue overflow, misaligned pictures, etc.
Do you do something similar? Different? Let's talk about how we can get the most out of playtesting our games.
...
Okay, testing sucks. You have so much to look out for when running through your game that it's next to impossible to keep an eye out for every little detail through a single run. What can we do to make it suck less? Obviously, you're gonna be running through your game time and time again while you fix and polish as much as you can, but what are ways you've found that make testing easier on yourself?
While this can include getting others to test your game, I'm primarily talking about self testing in this topic. Coordinating testing efforts with others is a whole different can of worms that could probably go in its own topic.
Personally, I have different testing sessions where I focus on one aspect of the game and ignore everything else. Functional testing, writing testing, balance testing, bug testing, etc. are all done separately in order to keep from overloading my brain by looking at every possible issue that could potentially occur.
I keep a running tab of every bug/issue I find classed in one of four ways:
CRITICAL
These are the showstopper bugs that impede progress of the game. If your game is impossible to complete due to this bug, then it is a critical class bug and requires addressing before any other class of bug. Key items not appearing, required bosses missing a resource, faulty event logic on a required event, etc. are all critical bugs that prevent the game from being completed.
MAJOR
Bugs that disrupt a core function of the game. Examples include: a party member's skills don't work as intended, the menu system doesn't display when pressing a key, a save system doesn't correctly save data, etc.
MINOR
Bugs that don't directly impede progress like Major bugs do, but affect more core functionality than Trivial bugs. Examples include displaying incorrect messages to the situation like a Show Choice function that accidentally holds "Yes" logic under the "No" choice and vice versa, or having a skill description not accurately describe the skill.
TRIVIAL
Tiny little details that don't affect anything other than polish. These can be typos, dialogue overflow, misaligned pictures, etc.
Do you do something similar? Different? Let's talk about how we can get the most out of playtesting our games.
The DiAry of tHe mASOchisTic monk [DArk SoUls too BarEhandEd ChaLLenge]
Overview:
For those that don't know (if my love for the Souls series hasn't tipped you off), I have a bit of a masochistic streak when it comes to fun games. If I play a game I enjoy, I want to play through it again under some sort of challenge, such as Resident Evil 4 without the merchant, or a Tales game without using any items. Completing said challenges scratches a very... particular itch that I can't properly explain. I certainly do not recommend this hobby to anyone with at least some sanity left in their heads. However, I have no sanity to speak of, and so I willingly put myself through this kind of pain and misery.
Today, I've decided to document my suffering for your personal entertainment (and to get in some writing practice). I will be playing Dark Souls 2 with a twist: I will use only my unarmed attack. No weapons, no magic, and no attack items. Just my bare fists (and some rings). I wanted to use the joke weapon, the handmaid's ladle, but the damage output was so low that it became literally impossible to hurt even the first boss.
What you will find:
- Lots of personal suffering.
- A very snarky and grumpy Nova.
- Lots of ragging on the bosses I fight, include playground bully-level taunting of their boss designs and backstories.
- A myriad of questions regarding my life decisions.
What you will NOT find:
- Pro skills.
- l337 skillz.
- MLG skills.
- Skills.
A few things to note about this playthrough:
The Subject:
Name: Masomonk
Class: Deprived (no starting equipment and the lowest possible starting level)
Starting Gift: Petrified Something (to give to the crows and maybe get something fun out of it) For all the good it did me. I got an item I can never use.
Soul Level: 67
Vigor: 25
Endurance: 19
Vitality: 6
Attunement: 6
Strength: 37
Dexterity: 9
Adaptability: 6
Intelligence: 6
Faith: 6
Comments about this challenge, my sanity, or just to laugh at me would be greatly welcome, if for no other reason than to show me that SOMEONE out there is excited to see me suffer.
DISCLAIMER: I've never done a Let's Play before, never mind a written one, so I apologize in advance if there is any aspect you find lacking. If there is anything in particular you want me to focus on in my write-ups, I'm all ears!
Past Tortures:
- Boss 1: The Last Giant
- Boss 2: The Pursuer
- Boss 3: DragonRider
- Boss 4: Ruin Sentinels
- Boss 5: The Lost Sinner
- Boss 6: Mytha, the Baneful Queen
- Boss 7: Old Iron King
- Boss 8: The Rotten
- Boss 9: Scorpioness Najka
- Boss 10: The Duke's Dear Freja
For those that don't know (if my love for the Souls series hasn't tipped you off), I have a bit of a masochistic streak when it comes to fun games. If I play a game I enjoy, I want to play through it again under some sort of challenge, such as Resident Evil 4 without the merchant, or a Tales game without using any items. Completing said challenges scratches a very... particular itch that I can't properly explain. I certainly do not recommend this hobby to anyone with at least some sanity left in their heads. However, I have no sanity to speak of, and so I willingly put myself through this kind of pain and misery.
Today, I've decided to document my suffering for your personal entertainment (and to get in some writing practice). I will be playing Dark Souls 2 with a twist: I will use only my unarmed attack. No weapons, no magic, and no attack items. Just my bare fists (and some rings). I wanted to use the joke weapon, the handmaid's ladle, but the damage output was so low that it became literally impossible to hurt even the first boss.
What you will find:
- Lots of personal suffering.
- A very snarky and grumpy Nova.
- Lots of ragging on the bosses I fight, include playground bully-level taunting of their boss designs and backstories.
- A myriad of questions regarding my life decisions.
What you will NOT find:
- Pro skills.
- l337 skillz.
- MLG skills.
- Skills.
A few things to note about this playthrough:
- 1: This is the PS3 version. I already bought all the DLC and stuff, so I didn't want to upgrade to the PS4 version just for new enemy placements that I won't be documenting anyway. Plus, I don't have PS+ and can't play online like I can in the PS3 version. You better believe me getting invaded is going to get documented.
- 2: Bosses only: I would like to have this playthrough done before I die of old age, so I won't document my route to each boss. The rules of this challenge only apply to the bosses, so I will be arming myself with weapons to make gathering Souls and progressing that much easier. I make no promises about beating ALL the bosses in the game, but I'll certainly do the ones I find interesting.
- 3: I have done NO prep work on this: I haven't looked at the Stat Builder app on the wiki to plan out my build for the maximum damage output. I haven't practiced against the bosses in question. I have no idea if this is even POSSIBLE to complete! In other words: I have no idea what I'm doing.
- 4: No phantoms: I'm doing this on my own. No help from NPCs!
- 5: This is a fresh new game: While DS2 makes lots of fun additions for each game cycle, I simply don't have the time to play through the entire thing multiple times to get the max level of NG+10. This is going to be a fresh new game
The Subject:
Name: Masomonk
Class: Deprived (no starting equipment and the lowest possible starting level)
Starting Gift: Petrified Something (to give to the crows and maybe get something fun out of it) For all the good it did me. I got an item I can never use.
Soul Level: 67
Vigor: 25
Endurance: 19
Vitality: 6
Attunement: 6
Strength: 37
Dexterity: 9
Adaptability: 6
Intelligence: 6
Faith: 6
Comments about this challenge, my sanity, or just to laugh at me would be greatly welcome, if for no other reason than to show me that SOMEONE out there is excited to see me suffer.
DISCLAIMER: I've never done a Let's Play before, never mind a written one, so I apologize in advance if there is any aspect you find lacking. If there is anything in particular you want me to focus on in my write-ups, I'm all ears!
Past Tortures:
- Boss 1: The Last Giant
- Boss 2: The Pursuer
- Boss 3: DragonRider
- Boss 4: Ruin Sentinels
- Boss 5: The Lost Sinner
- Boss 6: Mytha, the Baneful Queen
- Boss 7: Old Iron King
- Boss 8: The Rotten
- Boss 9: Scorpioness Najka
- Boss 10: The Duke's Dear Freja
[RGSS3] Stop Galv's Bust Flicker [SOLVED]
This is an issue that's been plaguing me for a while, and temporary fixes just won't cut it anymore: When using Galv's Message Busts script, you can cause a bust to "flicker" when setting a character's move route to turn in a single direction between two messages with busts.
Like so: (Apologies for the low framerate of the gif. That makes it harder to see, but trust me, it's there)
If you look carefully, there's a split second where the bust pops back on the screen before the text box opens up again. Double that flicker length to account for the loss of frames due to the gif, and you've got a real eyestrain here.
There are workarounds that I've used, such as unchecking the Wait For Completion box, but I'd like to deal with the problem at its source rather than temporary fixes.
So here's what I've done to try and address this problem:
The sleep command pauses the game for 0.05 seconds, which shouldn't be noticeable by the human eye. At least I didn't notice anything, and I was looking for potential issues. This command gives the game a few extra cycles to fully dispose of the bust before loading in a new one. When testing, I can't see any potential issues.
Perhaps I'm being a perfectionist, but I don't like this method. It feels way too indelicate and clunky to count as a good solution. So what I'm asking is this: is there a better way to remove the flicker than the sleep method?
Thanks so much in advance!
EDIT: Just saw the programming subforum after clicking submit. Whoops. Hopefully this is the right place to put this topic!
EDIT2: On further testing, the flicker rears its ugly head again when displaying a message with a bust after a message with no bust. So the sleep command idea is scrapped and I'm back as square one. Yay.
Like so: (Apologies for the low framerate of the gif. That makes it harder to see, but trust me, it's there)
If you look carefully, there's a split second where the bust pops back on the screen before the text box opens up again. Double that flicker length to account for the loss of frames due to the gif, and you've got a real eyestrain here.
There are workarounds that I've used, such as unchecking the Wait For Completion box, but I'd like to deal with the problem at its source rather than temporary fixes.
So here's what I've done to try and address this problem:
alias galv_busts_message_clear clear def clear @bust_name = "" @bust_index = 0 sleep(0.05) #Nova added galv_busts_message_clear end end # Game_Message
The sleep command pauses the game for 0.05 seconds, which shouldn't be noticeable by the human eye. At least I didn't notice anything, and I was looking for potential issues. This command gives the game a few extra cycles to fully dispose of the bust before loading in a new one. When testing, I can't see any potential issues.
Perhaps I'm being a perfectionist, but I don't like this method. It feels way too indelicate and clunky to count as a good solution. So what I'm asking is this: is there a better way to remove the flicker than the sleep method?
Thanks so much in advance!
EDIT: Just saw the programming subforum after clicking submit. Whoops. Hopefully this is the right place to put this topic!
EDIT2: On further testing, the flicker rears its ugly head again when displaying a message with a bust after a message with no bust. So the sleep command idea is scrapped and I'm back as square one. Yay.
Formatting Dialog Outside the Editor
For my Ace* project, I type up all my dialogue in a Word document to catch any careless spelling mistakes:
If you're wondering about the spacing, it's written in such a way to make copy/pasting dialog much easier. The dialogue is formatted to accommodate the four line limit of each box, and the long string of numbers at the bottom of the screen is the width limit of the dialog box, so I know not to write past that. I use 11 pt Courier font to make sure the text size translates as best it can when added to the editor. The result of all this work is that I can just copy/paste the entire scene into one dialog box (with Batch Entry checked, of course), save, then bam. All the dialog boxes are written and cleanly formatted.
That's the theory, at least. And 90% of the time, it works.
The problem is that's a lot of guesswork on my part, and the margin for error is pretty small. If one single line is off, the entire format of the scene from then on gets borked. This means I'll have to either painstakingly redo every line in the scene (which is a nightmare for lengthy scenes), or just scrap the boxes, take another look at the text in Word, and try to figure out where the misplaced line is.
If I'm just being lazy and the solution is to just suck it up and deal with it, then fine. I can do it, as I've been doing it so far, but I can't help but wonder if there's a better, more precise way to write dialogue outside the editor?
For those of you that write your dialog outside RM: How, if at all, do you format your text? Do you use Word as well? Or is there some magical program that handles all of this for you? Magic would be nice. I like magic.
*: I say Ace because I'm unsure if my setup will work for 2k3, MV, etc. and if there are solutions specific to different engines.
If you're wondering about the spacing, it's written in such a way to make copy/pasting dialog much easier. The dialogue is formatted to accommodate the four line limit of each box, and the long string of numbers at the bottom of the screen is the width limit of the dialog box, so I know not to write past that. I use 11 pt Courier font to make sure the text size translates as best it can when added to the editor. The result of all this work is that I can just copy/paste the entire scene into one dialog box (with Batch Entry checked, of course), save, then bam. All the dialog boxes are written and cleanly formatted.
That's the theory, at least. And 90% of the time, it works.
The problem is that's a lot of guesswork on my part, and the margin for error is pretty small. If one single line is off, the entire format of the scene from then on gets borked. This means I'll have to either painstakingly redo every line in the scene (which is a nightmare for lengthy scenes), or just scrap the boxes, take another look at the text in Word, and try to figure out where the misplaced line is.
If I'm just being lazy and the solution is to just suck it up and deal with it, then fine. I can do it, as I've been doing it so far, but I can't help but wonder if there's a better, more precise way to write dialogue outside the editor?
For those of you that write your dialog outside RM: How, if at all, do you format your text? Do you use Word as well? Or is there some magical program that handles all of this for you? Magic would be nice. I like magic.
*: I say Ace because I'm unsure if my setup will work for 2k3, MV, etc. and if there are solutions specific to different engines.
What's your favorite Video Game song(s)?
I love listening to video game soundtracks, not because I like the songs themselves, but because I recall the events surrounding the music and the impact it had on me as a player at the time. That's why a lot of what I listen to is pretty simple and not melodic-intensive.
Four songs that really stuck with me since I first heard them:
Just in case I haven't somehow made it clear enough, ICO is my favorite game of all time, hands down. When grabbing these links, I've come to the realization that these two songs are a huge factor in my opinion. They play at the perfect moments in the game to really drive home the emotional impact of the scenes, and cemented my conviction that no only is sound design crucial in a game, but how the most powerful pieces need to be unlike anything the rest of the game's soundtrack has to offer.
Even now, fifteen playthroughs later, these two tracks still get me. And I know they always will.
For me, the final fight with Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2 was the most powerful moment in a game chock full of powerful moments. The raw emotion of James Sunderland finally accepting and conquering his inner demons shines through in this track, and stands out as a stark contrast to the creepy, panic-y, and depressing tone of the rest of the music.
Not saying this track isn't creepy in and of itself though. Far from it. That metal scraping really completes the piece. I've heard the music without it, and it feels much more empty.
I'll end off with a track in a game I've recently finished: Majora's Mask:
Holy. Mother. Of. God. Did someone break Nintendo's favorite toy when this game started development? Majora's Mask was such a stark contrast to every other game in the series I've played (even the more gloomy Twilight Princess) and that's almost entirely because of the Moon.
Having a hero fail to save the world in time over and over and over again is already depressing enough, but hearing this in the final hours of each three day cycle, knowing that there's nothing you can do to stop it except go back in time and undo all the good deeds you've accomplished thus far, really drives home the bleakness of the end of the world. Wandering around Clock Town and seeing its residents either succumb to panic or face their impending deaths head on brings out a surprising amount of depth to the NPCs that not many games can replicate.
I'll stop now before I bore you all with my ramblings. What about you? What are your favorite music tracks from games? You certainly don't have to explain yourself in as much detail as I did, and maybe you just like listening to the tracks rather than remember what was happening at the time? That's fine too.
Four songs that really stuck with me since I first heard them:
Just in case I haven't somehow made it clear enough, ICO is my favorite game of all time, hands down. When grabbing these links, I've come to the realization that these two songs are a huge factor in my opinion. They play at the perfect moments in the game to really drive home the emotional impact of the scenes, and cemented my conviction that no only is sound design crucial in a game, but how the most powerful pieces need to be unlike anything the rest of the game's soundtrack has to offer.
Even now, fifteen playthroughs later, these two tracks still get me. And I know they always will.
For me, the final fight with Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2 was the most powerful moment in a game chock full of powerful moments. The raw emotion of James Sunderland finally accepting and conquering his inner demons shines through in this track, and stands out as a stark contrast to the creepy, panic-y, and depressing tone of the rest of the music.
Not saying this track isn't creepy in and of itself though. Far from it. That metal scraping really completes the piece. I've heard the music without it, and it feels much more empty.
I'll end off with a track in a game I've recently finished: Majora's Mask:
Holy. Mother. Of. God. Did someone break Nintendo's favorite toy when this game started development? Majora's Mask was such a stark contrast to every other game in the series I've played (even the more gloomy Twilight Princess) and that's almost entirely because of the Moon.
Having a hero fail to save the world in time over and over and over again is already depressing enough, but hearing this in the final hours of each three day cycle, knowing that there's nothing you can do to stop it except go back in time and undo all the good deeds you've accomplished thus far, really drives home the bleakness of the end of the world. Wandering around Clock Town and seeing its residents either succumb to panic or face their impending deaths head on brings out a surprising amount of depth to the NPCs that not many games can replicate.
I'll stop now before I bore you all with my ramblings. What about you? What are your favorite music tracks from games? You certainly don't have to explain yourself in as much detail as I did, and maybe you just like listening to the tracks rather than remember what was happening at the time? That's fine too.
When do you consider yourself "good" at something?
For the longest time, I've always associated being "good" at a thing with being "proficient" at said thing. If I saw two people, for example, drawing the exact same portrait in the exact same way and with the exact same quality, but Person A completes the portrait in half the time as Person B, I would argue that Person A is good at art, at least compared to Person B.
Recently, however, I've talked with a few others who gave me different views on what it means to be "good," and now I'm not so sure what the word really means anymore to creators. I'm gonna list a general summation of the different points I've gotten. Keep in mind that, even though I'm using art a lot as examples, I'm talking about any form of creative endeavor, be it writing, programming, developing, etc.
You never give up: It may seem like a tired, overused line, but that's only because it never loses relevance as time goes on. Did you know that the character designer for the game Rumble Roses was actually paralyzed from the neck down? This article, which unfortunately is about his passing, also contains samples of his work. Keep in mind that he drew those with a stylus in his mouth.
Imagine for a second how long that must've taken. Based on my definition earlier, I doubt Mr. Kotobuki was particularly proficient, but his portraits ended up being better than anything I've ever done and probably will ever do. There's no possible way I could ever say he wasn't a good artist. However, there has to be a line between being actually good at creating something and just beating your head against a wall until the wall topples over. Are you "good" at creating a thing? Or just too stubborn to quit? Are they the same thing?
The ability to translate what's in your head to a tangible product: If you have a clear image of what you want portrait to look like, but are frustrated because you hand keeps shaking and can't draw straight lines or you can't tell the difference between different shades of red and so your portrait always looks just a little off, are you "bad" at art?
You don't get "good." Just a little bit better: I'm not sure I agree with this line of thinking, because it places a bit too heavy burden on yourself and can quickly cause you to slip into needless self-depreciation. However, the reasoning behind it seems solid enough: Telling yourself that you're "good" at something quickly leads to complacency, and that can lead to never getting better at your craft.
It's not for you to decide: As creators, it's very difficult to see past the flaws in our own work. It's easy to see the flaws in your own work far more easily than a consumer, and so it shouldn't be uncommon for you to have a lower opinion of it than the consumer would and have difficulty taking in the praise the work may get. If you make something that people love, are you good at what you're doing?
I'm curious as to your opinion on what it means to be "good". Do you agree with any of these? Disagree? Have your own view? Let's talk about it.
Recently, however, I've talked with a few others who gave me different views on what it means to be "good," and now I'm not so sure what the word really means anymore to creators. I'm gonna list a general summation of the different points I've gotten. Keep in mind that, even though I'm using art a lot as examples, I'm talking about any form of creative endeavor, be it writing, programming, developing, etc.
You never give up: It may seem like a tired, overused line, but that's only because it never loses relevance as time goes on. Did you know that the character designer for the game Rumble Roses was actually paralyzed from the neck down? This article, which unfortunately is about his passing, also contains samples of his work. Keep in mind that he drew those with a stylus in his mouth.
Imagine for a second how long that must've taken. Based on my definition earlier, I doubt Mr. Kotobuki was particularly proficient, but his portraits ended up being better than anything I've ever done and probably will ever do. There's no possible way I could ever say he wasn't a good artist. However, there has to be a line between being actually good at creating something and just beating your head against a wall until the wall topples over. Are you "good" at creating a thing? Or just too stubborn to quit? Are they the same thing?
The ability to translate what's in your head to a tangible product: If you have a clear image of what you want portrait to look like, but are frustrated because you hand keeps shaking and can't draw straight lines or you can't tell the difference between different shades of red and so your portrait always looks just a little off, are you "bad" at art?
You don't get "good." Just a little bit better: I'm not sure I agree with this line of thinking, because it places a bit too heavy burden on yourself and can quickly cause you to slip into needless self-depreciation. However, the reasoning behind it seems solid enough: Telling yourself that you're "good" at something quickly leads to complacency, and that can lead to never getting better at your craft.
It's not for you to decide: As creators, it's very difficult to see past the flaws in our own work. It's easy to see the flaws in your own work far more easily than a consumer, and so it shouldn't be uncommon for you to have a lower opinion of it than the consumer would and have difficulty taking in the praise the work may get. If you make something that people love, are you good at what you're doing?
I'm curious as to your opinion on what it means to be "good". Do you agree with any of these? Disagree? Have your own view? Let's talk about it.
Sickening Article about Game Development and the "Wage Slave" Attitude
http://venturebeat.com/2016/04/16/game-developers-must-avoid-the-wage-slave-attitude/
This little piece by WildTangent founder Alex St. John makes me want to vomit. It's been a while since I've read a piece by someone so clearly disconnected with the grunt work of game development despite (or probably because of) owning a game publishing company, that my brain is literally on the verge of short-circuiting.
Some choice quotes:
What this guy is doing is calling people who are trying to normalize the insane work hours for game development selfish and entitled. He believes that the concept of a work-life balance doesn't apply to them, and that game development is a piss-easy job that demands nothing more than sitting at a computer moving a mouse around.
In the same post that he pushes the idea that creativity cannot be accomplished when your employees are miserable due to burnout, he dismisses the very concept of burnout in a creative job.
Crunch time is crunch time when the deadline draws near. Crunch time is not normal working hours, and should never be normal.
This little piece by WildTangent founder Alex St. John makes me want to vomit. It's been a while since I've read a piece by someone so clearly disconnected with the grunt work of game development despite (or probably because of) owning a game publishing company, that my brain is literally on the verge of short-circuiting.
Some choice quotes:
"I can’t begin to imagine how sheltered the lives of modern technology employees must be to think that any amount of hours they spend pushing a mouse around for a paycheck is really demanding strenuous work."
"{Game industry veterans} are smarter, more experienced, more talented, better trained to produce amazing games and they’re still working for paychecks and whining about avoiding long crunch hours to finish big titles or about not being paid fairly by some big employer."
"Apparently people can even 'burn out' working too hard to make... video games..."
"Don’t be in the game industry if you can’t love all 80 hours/week of it — you’re taking a job from somebody who would really value it."
If working on a game for 80 hours a week for months at a time seems “strenuous” to you … practice more until you’re better at it.
What this guy is doing is calling people who are trying to normalize the insane work hours for game development selfish and entitled. He believes that the concept of a work-life balance doesn't apply to them, and that game development is a piss-easy job that demands nothing more than sitting at a computer moving a mouse around.
In the same post that he pushes the idea that creativity cannot be accomplished when your employees are miserable due to burnout, he dismisses the very concept of burnout in a creative job.
Crunch time is crunch time when the deadline draws near. Crunch time is not normal working hours, and should never be normal.
Let's Talk Bloodborne
Let's talk about Bloodborne, the latest from From Softwares's Souls games. Why there hasn't been a topic about this is beyond me, so here we are.
Honestly, this is one of the most engaging and satisfying games I've ever played, no joke. The Dark Souls games were loads of fun, and I still consider all of them terrific games (yeah, even Dark Souls 2) but Bloodborne has a distinct feel and atmosphere that sets it apart from the other games in the series. If you know anything about the Souls games, you have a general idea of what Bloodborne is.
However, Bloodborne has two primary differences that may seem small on paper, but completely change how the game feels and plays: The exclusion of useful shields, and Rally, which gives you a window of opportunity to regain lost health by attacking enemies when you get hit. This means that there's no downtime where you backpedal from the enemy with your shield up waiting for an opportunity to heal yourself. With limited health supplies, the game encourages you to be as aggressive as possible without button mashing. I love it!
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I'm currently running a Skill/Bloodtinge build to prepare for the DLC. I just got some extra cash for Christmas, so I'm making a new character since all my other ones are on NG+, and there's no way I'm going into any DLC on NG+.
Level: 61
Vitality: 23
Endurance: 22
Strength: 10
Skill: 25
Bloodtinge: 16
Arcane: 15
I'm rocking the Blade of Mercy and Threaded Cane in my right hand, while the Hunter's Pistol and the Hunter's Torch in my left hand. I'm thinking about swapping out the Threaded Cane with the Chikage once I figure out the intricacies of that weapon, but I'm not a fan of health drain with the katana activated. I played around with the backwards build of the Reiterpallasch in my right hand and the Flamesprayer on my left, but I don't want to give up the Blade of Mercy, as it's my go to weapon for any situation. And since I already use the Hunter's Pistol, the Reiterpallasch feels a bit redundant, since it can transform into a pistol.
Unfortunately, I don't play online. As much as I want to, it's not worth buying Playstation Plus since online Bloodborne is literally the only thing I'd do. For those that do, how is online play? Is it easy to hook up with friends? How often do you get invaded or summon help? Do YOU invade other players?
Post your builds and talk about the game. What did you like/dislike about it? What were your favorite moments? Least favorite moments? Do you play online? Wanna organize a hunting session? Post here!
Fun With Formulas
So. Damage formulas.
I've seen some pretty crazy and complicated ones from looking at database entries, andsometimes often it's hard to imagine what the creators were thinking (or what hallucinations they were having) when they came up with them. So why not share a few formulas and talk about why you like or dislike some of them? If you know something cool or an interesting technique, share that too!
Personally, I'm not a big fan of super complicated formulas. 90% of my damage calculations can be boiled down to:
Swapping out attack and defense for their magic counterparts for magical attacks. It's simple, effective, and easy for players to understand just how much damage they'll inflict an enemy by doing a little math. Pair that with an ability to compare your character's stats to the enemy's in battle and players will have much more control over the party's actions than they probably would otherwise.
Though a flaw in this style is that you'd probably have to make some sacrifices when it comes to damage progression. Having enemies in later stages of the game with proportionally higher stats will mean there might not be a bigger difference in strengths than there was before, and the damage inflicted might not fluctuate as much as it would otherwise.
Did you know that you can use variables in your damage formulas? Adding
in the formula will return the value of the variable you specified as x.
What's that? The help box in Ace already tells you that? Okay, well, here's another one: Did you know that you can inflict states in the damage formulas? Adding one of these two
will add state x to either the user or the target! A more creative application can break the engine's normal scope limits by adding a semicolon
to inflict a state on both the target and the subject!
Did you also know that you can actually use conditional branches in those formulas? Say you have a healing spell that also adds a powerful buff, but you only want the buff to apply when you're in battle. Here's how you do it:
So there's some nifty things I found with damage formulas. What about you? What's a typical damage formula you find yourself falling back on? Why do you like it? Do you know some other cool non-numerical tidbits? Share them here.
I've seen some pretty crazy and complicated ones from looking at database entries, and
Personally, I'm not a big fan of super complicated formulas. 90% of my damage calculations can be boiled down to:
a.atk - b.def
Swapping out attack and defense for their magic counterparts for magical attacks. It's simple, effective, and easy for players to understand just how much damage they'll inflict an enemy by doing a little math. Pair that with an ability to compare your character's stats to the enemy's in battle and players will have much more control over the party's actions than they probably would otherwise.
Though a flaw in this style is that you'd probably have to make some sacrifices when it comes to damage progression. Having enemies in later stages of the game with proportionally higher stats will mean there might not be a bigger difference in strengths than there was before, and the damage inflicted might not fluctuate as much as it would otherwise.
Did you know that you can use variables in your damage formulas? Adding
v[x]
What's that? The help box in Ace already tells you that? Okay, well, here's another one: Did you know that you can inflict states in the damage formulas? Adding one of these two
a.add_state(x) b.add_state(x)
will add state x to either the user or the target! A more creative application can break the engine's normal scope limits by adding a semicolon
a.add_state(x); b.add_state(x)
Did you also know that you can actually use conditional branches in those formulas? Say you have a healing spell that also adds a powerful buff, but you only want the buff to apply when you're in battle. Here's how you do it:
if $game_party.in_battle; b.add_state(x); end; #rest of formula goes here
So there's some nifty things I found with damage formulas. What about you? What's a typical damage formula you find yourself falling back on? Why do you like it? Do you know some other cool non-numerical tidbits? Share them here.
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