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Just an indie game developer out of Alberta, Canada, building games for fun, never for profit, and always giving full effort to every project.
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Censorship in Video Games
That is an interesting article, for sure, although there seems to be a bit of a fine line there. Not that I'm trying to downplay certain people's phobias or anything like that, but I think there's a critical difference between providing a player controlled filter for a phobia vs something like colorblindness. One is a learned reaction to sensitive content, another is a biological condition that impairs the ability of someone to play the game fairly. Now, I guess you could argue that providing a filter for a phobia really isn't any different than providing a filter for profanity in that sense, but it does seem like accessibility can be taken out of context, and it's easy to make the assumption that "arachnophobia and colorblindness are equal in importance if both require accessibility features," which is certainly not a statement I would agree with, but can be taken in that context. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong about that, but it's a tricky subject.
Granted, with how realistic games are becoming, giant spiders are probably far more detailed and lifelike than they were early 2000's, and with the emergence of VR gaming, maybe it actually is important. Who's to say.
EDIT: I will say, however, that this did spark an idea that I had with my own game that just makes good sense that I didn't think of before. A colorblind mode option. It took about an hour of coding, but works pretty damn well, and is actually pretty useful considering that enemy weaknesses are denoted by the color of their health bar (now by the shape of the cursor when targeting them in this mode) and item rarities are denoted by text color (now with a character next to the item name in this mode). For a game that heavily relies on color for pretty important game mechanics, I think the hour of coding was well spent to make it more accessible, so thank you for calling attention to that and giving me the idea.
Granted, with how realistic games are becoming, giant spiders are probably far more detailed and lifelike than they were early 2000's, and with the emergence of VR gaming, maybe it actually is important. Who's to say.
EDIT: I will say, however, that this did spark an idea that I had with my own game that just makes good sense that I didn't think of before. A colorblind mode option. It took about an hour of coding, but works pretty damn well, and is actually pretty useful considering that enemy weaknesses are denoted by the color of their health bar (now by the shape of the cursor when targeting them in this mode) and item rarities are denoted by text color (now with a character next to the item name in this mode). For a game that heavily relies on color for pretty important game mechanics, I think the hour of coding was well spent to make it more accessible, so thank you for calling attention to that and giving me the idea.
Screenshot Survival 20XX
One more map to share before I actually submit a game page and start sharing these in blog posts instead.
Three more weeks and I'll have a demo ready.
Three more weeks and I'll have a demo ready.
Battle theme No.4
I just discovered a way to have multi-layer collision detection in VX and I'm so stoked.
I mean, it was a stupidly complex solution that doesn't really work unless you're parallax mapping, but it basically involves rewriting the collision detection script for Tile B, then changing the values of those collisions through use of an in-game switch. Then, by having two different overlay images, you can switch one of them on or off to simulate height and depth, and place the necessary tiles where you need specific collision based on elevation.
Basically I made an engine-specific method of having four different collision settings: always passable, never passable, passable when switch is on but impassable when off, and impassable when switch is on but passable when off.
Like I said, it's stupidly complex. But it works, and that's all that matters for what I need it to do.
At the end of this month I'm going to submit a game page and demo for a new game I'm working on, and it'll showcase this exact functionality.
Basically I made an engine-specific method of having four different collision settings: always passable, never passable, passable when switch is on but impassable when off, and impassable when switch is on but passable when off.
Like I said, it's stupidly complex. But it works, and that's all that matters for what I need it to do.
At the end of this month I'm going to submit a game page and demo for a new game I'm working on, and it'll showcase this exact functionality.
Censorship in Video Games
See, and that's actually one of the biggest reasons why I'm seriously considering adding a player controlled content filter. Streams. Not that I think this game is going to be seen by millions of people or anything, but you never know. If someone decides to stream my game and they don't give content warnings for the kind of game that their VIEWERS will be watching, it might be worthwhile to actually allow streamers to control that content. Especially with things like YouTube and how they handle monetization of videos based on content. Granted it's entirely up to the streamer to decide whether or not a game is something they should publicize on their channel, but I would hate for someone to neglect to stream a game just because it contains profanity that could potentially be filtered if given the option.
Censorship in Video Games
Really appreciating all the different perspectives here. I apologize if the title for this topic was a bit misleading, I suppose "censorship" implies a forced etiquette as opposed to something that the developer chooses, or gives players the choice over. I just couldn't think of a better word. Filter, maybe?
Anyway, I guess there's a couple different ways of looking at this. On the one hand, if the game comes with content warnings, and players still choose to play the game, it should be expected that they'll encounter sensitive content. Adding filters isn't likely to draw in a different audience if the gameplay is essentially the same regardless of the filter. If a character is saying the F word, it's not about whether it's fully spelled out or replaced with asterisks. The player knows what is being said. No amount of filters will change that. Maybe it's a bit different for visual filters surrounding violence and nudity, but truthfully I was wanting to look more at coarse language more than anything else. Although I think it's an interesting subject to look at on the whole.
Anyway, I guess there's a couple different ways of looking at this. On the one hand, if the game comes with content warnings, and players still choose to play the game, it should be expected that they'll encounter sensitive content. Adding filters isn't likely to draw in a different audience if the gameplay is essentially the same regardless of the filter. If a character is saying the F word, it's not about whether it's fully spelled out or replaced with asterisks. The player knows what is being said. No amount of filters will change that. Maybe it's a bit different for visual filters surrounding violence and nudity, but truthfully I was wanting to look more at coarse language more than anything else. Although I think it's an interesting subject to look at on the whole.
Censorship in Video Games
So, I've been thinking lately, how do people feel about censorship in Video Games? I know this can be a bit of a contentious topic, so let's keep it light if possible, but I'm curious as to what the community thinks.
My perspective is that first of all, there are three common types of censorship: gore, nudity, and coarse language. In the western world especially, nudity has been essentially outright censored except for in adult games, as it tends to be used strictly to represent sexual content, regardless of the context.
Coarse language has some censorship, but not as much in games rated M or higher. Even still, games that do use coarse language typically don't overload the player with it, and it gets sprinkled in here and there. Assassin's Creed does this quite a bit. It's used for emphasis and character depth, but it's not used every second sentence. Granted, although I've never played it, I'm sure games like GTA are far more liberal with swearing. However, in games that are intended to be more kid-friendly, such as FF7 (original not remake), the words are censored entirely. Barrett is known for having a foul mouth, but the actual words on screen are replaced with symbols.
Blood and gore, however, has a bit of a different usage. Most games won't shy away from it, but there are many games that have accessibility options that allow you to disable gore. And that's actually sort of the point of this topic, honestly.
Although appealing to a wide audience is great, if your game is intended for a specific audience should it be moderately censored to consider audiences outside of its target? Should games have more accessibility options to enable player-chosen censorship on more than just blood and gore, such as course language and nudity? And how much profanity is considered to be too much?
As I said, I know this can be a contentious topic, but I'm not trying to create a cesspool of negativity. I just want to see what everyone else's objective views are, without resorting to arguing one point over another.
My perspective is that first of all, there are three common types of censorship: gore, nudity, and coarse language. In the western world especially, nudity has been essentially outright censored except for in adult games, as it tends to be used strictly to represent sexual content, regardless of the context.
Coarse language has some censorship, but not as much in games rated M or higher. Even still, games that do use coarse language typically don't overload the player with it, and it gets sprinkled in here and there. Assassin's Creed does this quite a bit. It's used for emphasis and character depth, but it's not used every second sentence. Granted, although I've never played it, I'm sure games like GTA are far more liberal with swearing. However, in games that are intended to be more kid-friendly, such as FF7 (original not remake), the words are censored entirely. Barrett is known for having a foul mouth, but the actual words on screen are replaced with symbols.
Blood and gore, however, has a bit of a different usage. Most games won't shy away from it, but there are many games that have accessibility options that allow you to disable gore. And that's actually sort of the point of this topic, honestly.
Although appealing to a wide audience is great, if your game is intended for a specific audience should it be moderately censored to consider audiences outside of its target? Should games have more accessibility options to enable player-chosen censorship on more than just blood and gore, such as course language and nudity? And how much profanity is considered to be too much?
As I said, I know this can be a contentious topic, but I'm not trying to create a cesspool of negativity. I just want to see what everyone else's objective views are, without resorting to arguing one point over another.
[RMMV] I need some ideas for a game title
While this isn't from RMN, there were two great threads created in an old forum that I was a member of back in the day that talked about game names, what to do and what not to do. The forum isn't active anymore, but the threads are still there. I'll link them here for your reference.
What not to do
What to do
I actually faced the exact same issue about two weeks ago, trying to come up with a name. Couple of my own bits of advice:
Study names from popular games. What naming conventions do they use? Does the name reference an enemy? A place? A plot point? Does the name even have any relevance to the game on the surface, or does it just sound cool?
Looking at games like "Borderlands," "Bastion," or "Skyrim," these names don't really have anything to do with the story or characters (mostly), but rather just denote the setting where the game takes place.
Games like "Diablo" or "Metroid" instead focus their name on an iconic enemy or boss. While there is some story connotations here, it's still vague enough to represent just about any direction the story could take.
"Legend of Zelda" or "Super Mario Bros." take their name from a main or pivotal character, and in these cases they're recurring characters in a game series. I'll give a point on that in a second.
"Mario Kart," "Pokemon," and arguably "Harvest Moon" all take their names from a game mechanic, or the focus of the gameplay. Just from reading the title, you can pretty much figure out what you're doing. Racing, catching pokemon, or farming (harvesting).
And then you get names that represent more of a story point or in-game lore, or possible MacGuffin. Things like "Assassin's Creed," "Fire Emblem," or "OFF." These ones are a bit tricky, because it does take a bit more creativity to come up with a name like this, and it can sound really pretentious if the project you're working on isn't a large scale project, but maybe something you're planning on spending a couple of months on.
Now. a point about sequels, series, and subtitles. If your game is not a fan game of an existing series, or if your game is standalone and not going to be a part of ANY multi-game series, please don't give your game a subtitle. There are some games that can get away with it, but they are few and far between.
Now, having said that, you don't have to follow any of the naming conventions mentioned above or in the linked articles. There are great games with awesome titles that defy a lot of these conventions. The first game that comes to mind would be "Weird and Unfortunate Things are Happening." Maybe not the most catchy title, but very memorable, conveys its message effectively, and is fitting for the theme of the game.
I would also suggest writing down multiple ideas for names for your game, and try using them in sample fake conversations, see how they sound to you. "Have you ever heard of Gods? It's this great indie game you can find on RMN." Or, "Man, I just played Radiant Underworld, you've gotta check it out." As weird as it sounds, it honestly really works to see if your game name sounds good, and if it's something that rolls nicely off the tongue.
Anyway, that's basically just some pointers on finding inspiration for a game name, and some tips on how to find the best naming style for what you're going for. Here's a couple of my own ideas that you can play with for a name for your game, make whatever use of them you wish. Some of them are super cheesy, but maybe it'll give you some ideas.
Hope this helps!
What not to do
What to do
I actually faced the exact same issue about two weeks ago, trying to come up with a name. Couple of my own bits of advice:
Study names from popular games. What naming conventions do they use? Does the name reference an enemy? A place? A plot point? Does the name even have any relevance to the game on the surface, or does it just sound cool?
Looking at games like "Borderlands," "Bastion," or "Skyrim," these names don't really have anything to do with the story or characters (mostly), but rather just denote the setting where the game takes place.
Games like "Diablo" or "Metroid" instead focus their name on an iconic enemy or boss. While there is some story connotations here, it's still vague enough to represent just about any direction the story could take.
"Legend of Zelda" or "Super Mario Bros." take their name from a main or pivotal character, and in these cases they're recurring characters in a game series. I'll give a point on that in a second.
"Mario Kart," "Pokemon," and arguably "Harvest Moon" all take their names from a game mechanic, or the focus of the gameplay. Just from reading the title, you can pretty much figure out what you're doing. Racing, catching pokemon, or farming (harvesting).
And then you get names that represent more of a story point or in-game lore, or possible MacGuffin. Things like "Assassin's Creed," "Fire Emblem," or "OFF." These ones are a bit tricky, because it does take a bit more creativity to come up with a name like this, and it can sound really pretentious if the project you're working on isn't a large scale project, but maybe something you're planning on spending a couple of months on.
Now. a point about sequels, series, and subtitles. If your game is not a fan game of an existing series, or if your game is standalone and not going to be a part of ANY multi-game series, please don't give your game a subtitle. There are some games that can get away with it, but they are few and far between.
Now, having said that, you don't have to follow any of the naming conventions mentioned above or in the linked articles. There are great games with awesome titles that defy a lot of these conventions. The first game that comes to mind would be "Weird and Unfortunate Things are Happening." Maybe not the most catchy title, but very memorable, conveys its message effectively, and is fitting for the theme of the game.
I would also suggest writing down multiple ideas for names for your game, and try using them in sample fake conversations, see how they sound to you. "Have you ever heard of Gods? It's this great indie game you can find on RMN." Or, "Man, I just played Radiant Underworld, you've gotta check it out." As weird as it sounds, it honestly really works to see if your game name sounds good, and if it's something that rolls nicely off the tongue.
Anyway, that's basically just some pointers on finding inspiration for a game name, and some tips on how to find the best naming style for what you're going for. Here's a couple of my own ideas that you can play with for a name for your game, make whatever use of them you wish. Some of them are super cheesy, but maybe it'll give you some ideas.
- Mortal Fear
- Unmortal
- Dominion
- Hell's Reach
- Cleansing Hell
- We Will Leave When Hell has No More Monsters
Hope this helps!
Screenshot Survival 20XX
Finally at the point where I can start working on maps for the next game I'm working on. Hoping to have a demo ready by the end of May, at which point I'll create a game page and submit updates and screenshots there, but for now this is what I've got. Just a simple forest map for the opening scene of the game. I bit the bullet and decided to get Celianna's Ancient Dungeons packs, since the quality and tone of the tiles fits the theme of this game really well. This uses a mixture of the Ancient Dungeons outdoor tiles and Celianna's regular Parallax mapping tiles.
Venting. Pay this no mind, just frustrated.
So I'm incredibly frustrated today and I need to vent about it somewhere, and it seems literally no one is available so I'm venting here. Pay me no mind, if it please you.
So, my laptop has been acting up over the last few weeks. Basically, the charger wouldn't connect unless it was forced in way too hard, and even then it was shaky. Tried replacing the charger, didn't work. So I took it to a PC repair shop last week. They said it would be about $100 to fix, but the part would take about 4 - 6 weeks to arrive. Whatever, no big deal. To my surprise, I get a call on Friday saying the part has already arrived, so I take the laptop in to get repaired. They said they'd have it repaired by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. I was out of town for a conference over the weekend, so that was perfect, didn't have a chance to work on my game anyway.
So I get back in town, Monday rolls around, no call. Tuesday rolls around, and I'm thinking "okay they'll probably call by noon ish." Well, 2:30 rolls around and no call. So I call the shop. Turns out the part needs to be soldered and the guy who does that for them hasn't worked the last few days so they need to call someone in, probably won't be done until Thursday or maybe even Friday.
Here's the kicker. This week is my vacation week. The one thing I wanted to do this week more than anything is have some good, uninterrupted quality time to work on my game. Now, it's looking like the one thing I wanted to do on my week off isn't possible.
Oh, but that's not all. My dad offered his old laptop to use, so I went to go pick it up. It had some pretty major issues though, so we need to do a factory reset. Mid way through, his charger craps out, and the laptop shuts down. I figure "okay, I've got a universal charger at home, I'll just drive back there and try that." Well, of course I failed to take into consideration rush hour, and the 15 minute drive home took a full 45 minutes. I get home, bust out the universal charger adapters, and try to find the right piece.
Turns out, his laptop used the same charger as what my laptop used, and I had the damn thing with me the whole time. Frustrating drive, not necessary. So I plug it in, it starts charging, manage to actually finish the factory reset, and get the PC booted up. But, as it's starting up, it randomly resets. And continually resets every time I get past the loading screen. Turns out, Acer laptops from 2009 have a problem with the CD drive, where it will basically malfunction, throw an error, and constantly reset the PC. Only solution is to remove the CD drive. I'm not hardware savvy, so I literally don't even know where to start with that. So, the entire day has been spent trying to find a way to just work on my game, and every single thing I've tried has completely and utterly failed to a staggering degree.
So, I figure I'll head out to my local pub to watch the hockey game. I'd asked a girl if she wanted to watch with me, so we had a date planned. And on the way, she cancels. Not feeling well. Not her fault, so no big deal, but just the icing on the cake.
I just wanted to work on my game.
So, my laptop has been acting up over the last few weeks. Basically, the charger wouldn't connect unless it was forced in way too hard, and even then it was shaky. Tried replacing the charger, didn't work. So I took it to a PC repair shop last week. They said it would be about $100 to fix, but the part would take about 4 - 6 weeks to arrive. Whatever, no big deal. To my surprise, I get a call on Friday saying the part has already arrived, so I take the laptop in to get repaired. They said they'd have it repaired by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. I was out of town for a conference over the weekend, so that was perfect, didn't have a chance to work on my game anyway.
So I get back in town, Monday rolls around, no call. Tuesday rolls around, and I'm thinking "okay they'll probably call by noon ish." Well, 2:30 rolls around and no call. So I call the shop. Turns out the part needs to be soldered and the guy who does that for them hasn't worked the last few days so they need to call someone in, probably won't be done until Thursday or maybe even Friday.
Here's the kicker. This week is my vacation week. The one thing I wanted to do this week more than anything is have some good, uninterrupted quality time to work on my game. Now, it's looking like the one thing I wanted to do on my week off isn't possible.
Oh, but that's not all. My dad offered his old laptop to use, so I went to go pick it up. It had some pretty major issues though, so we need to do a factory reset. Mid way through, his charger craps out, and the laptop shuts down. I figure "okay, I've got a universal charger at home, I'll just drive back there and try that." Well, of course I failed to take into consideration rush hour, and the 15 minute drive home took a full 45 minutes. I get home, bust out the universal charger adapters, and try to find the right piece.
Turns out, his laptop used the same charger as what my laptop used, and I had the damn thing with me the whole time. Frustrating drive, not necessary. So I plug it in, it starts charging, manage to actually finish the factory reset, and get the PC booted up. But, as it's starting up, it randomly resets. And continually resets every time I get past the loading screen. Turns out, Acer laptops from 2009 have a problem with the CD drive, where it will basically malfunction, throw an error, and constantly reset the PC. Only solution is to remove the CD drive. I'm not hardware savvy, so I literally don't even know where to start with that. So, the entire day has been spent trying to find a way to just work on my game, and every single thing I've tried has completely and utterly failed to a staggering degree.
So, I figure I'll head out to my local pub to watch the hockey game. I'd asked a girl if she wanted to watch with me, so we had a date planned. And on the way, she cancels. Not feeling well. Not her fault, so no big deal, but just the icing on the cake.
I just wanted to work on my game.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
