#Arkhaven INFOGALACTIC #Castalia House
“Mark Skelton – Art Director – has quit CIG.”
In case you didn’t know who that is, Mark Skelton was, until now, the Art Director for Star Citizen. I also understand that at least one top-level suit will be announcing a similar departure soon.
But don’t worry. There is always Elite Dangerous. To say nothing of what looks like the incredibly exciting Goats In Space.
Derek Smart chronicles the growing industry awareness that not all is right in the Star Citizen universe:
For Star Citizen, the elephant in the room in terms of tech, is this notion that somehow a twitch-based game designed to be instanced, and which can’t even get more than 10 clients in a session without very bad things happening, is going to turn into an MMO. But back in Nov 2012 (when he was seeking funding for the project) when Chris Roberts wrote this missive about multiplayer and instancing, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that this guy – who hadn’t made a game in almost 15 years at the time – really believed that what he was writing and dreaming about, was in fact possible. Hint: it’s not. Like over 90% (at last count) of everything he has said/promised about this project in order to get funding, it’s pure and utter horse shit. And back in July 2015, one of the devs actually added his own thoughts which then made it painfully clear that not only were they winging it – which is the basis for R&D btw – but that they also had absolutely no clue how they were going to actually do it.
As of this writing, not much has changed since then; neither in the underlying network architecture, nor the instancing part of it.
As an experienced software engineer, I tell you – flat out – that inter-instance communication described in this manner – and for the game pitched – is not only improbable, but it’s also the sort of thing that fairy dust is made of. And we’re not talking about the ability for a database in one server instance to talk to another database (e.g. user) in another instance. That’s pretty trivial (we’ve done just that in Line Of Defense btw) and rudimentary. No, we’re talking about the ability for one game instance (A) with players, to communicate with another game instance (B) that also has players. As that is the only way that you’re ever going to get Tom on A to see/communicate with Harry on B. Before you even go that far, know this, in order for that to even work, you need to have a unified and persistent universe that acts as the “play” area for Tom and Harry.
Before you say Eve Online has done it; don’t – they haven’t. If you’re a programmer, go ahead and read up on the EO architecture (1, 2) – which btw has been drastically improved upon over the years. That EO bespoke architecture was built from the ground up as part of the engine and for a specific game. A game that’s not twitch-based or anywhere near the fidelity of the seamless architecture that Star Citizen is shooting for.
Simply put, without a seamless inter-instance communication backend, there is no Star Citizen MMO. Like ever. And while Chris was flat out of his depths and just making shit up, Alex on the other hand outlined how it could be done. Theoretically. See the difference between those two accounts of the same thing? While you’re at it, this is the list of games made with CryEngine. Count the number of standard MMO games which have actually been completed and released.
As I write this blog in the middle of May 2016, not only do they not have a persistent universe to speak of, but they still have serious issues with instances hosting more than 10 clients. Not only that, as an instanced game, the chances of you and your buddies to be in the same instance are next to impossible. This is not a game whereby you fire up a server browser, join a server, then tell you friends to come to that server before it fills up. Nor is it a game whereby you can spin up your own private server – which they also promised btw.
The sad part of all this? They were never supposed to be building an MMO to begin with. Somewhere along the line, despite saying it wasn’t an MMO, Chris decided they were going to build one after all. Just like that.
There is more being discussed at Guard Frequency, including what could be a very important date of 31 May 2016.
The first session in the DevGame 2.0 course begins tomorrow at 12:30 Eastern. I’m concerned that I don’t have the emails for the two of you who paid at the White Bull site, so shoot me an email if you did and you haven’t received an invite yet.
Above is a screenshot from a game that one team of our DevGame 1.0 attendees has created; the game is very close to completion and the lead programmer and the lead artist will be making appearances to discuss how they applied what they learned to Elveteka, which is a remake of the classic Apple II game Karateka.
If you are a Brainstorm member or took the DevGame 1.0 course, you are welcome to attend. It’s not too late, so if you want to attend, you can either sign up for the course, or just shoot me an email with DEVGAME in the subject if you qualify for a free seat.
Don’t fret if you don’t receive the registration link right away. I’ll send another batch out tomorrow morning.
Speaking of the Hugo Awards, it’s downright hilarious to see how completely the SJWs reject Sun Tzu’s admonition to know oneself as well as one’s enemy. Their problem, you see, is that they are just too decent and good and pure and naive to discuss politics or even be in contact with anyone who refuses to submit to their Narrative.
renepavan
With guys like Vox Day throwing their weight around, and Trump supporters and alt-right dudes becoming increasingly more common in the Internet, I find myself staying more and more away from anything having to do with political discussions.We Liberals have a tendency to be too idealistic and naive when dealing with sociopaths like Vox Day. We think adhering to the laws and customs and moderation and good manners and common sense will eventually win the day. I don’t think so anymore.
When you face sociopaths, you should either go to war with them and beat them, or you should just go away and avoid any further contact. Honestly, dudes that actually preach genocide and purging the human species from the “weak” scare the crap out of me (I’m not necessarily talking about Vox Day here, but alt-right dudes that have started to proliferate online, Vox Day’s brothers and sisters).
I never thought I’d miss the Bush supporters. 🙂
So yeah, I’m staying well away from anything having to do with politics from now on. I tend to get too angry and frustrated. And I think “our” side in this Hugo mess is being too moderate in dealing with VD and his cohorts. He will not go away by himself, and I feel the Hugo “brand” is doomed.
grrm
It is sad but true that often liberals are handicapped by their own liberalism and sense of fair play.
It’s good to see SJWs rediscovering the benefits of segregation, anyhow. It’s even better to see that they remain entirely clueless about themselves. I have to admit, it is certainly informative to learn that shrieking “racist sexist transphobic bigot anti-semite global warming denier” at those who disagree with you and attempting to discredit and disemploy them is nothing more than “adhering to the laws and customs and moderation and good manners and common sense.”
Regardless, watching SJWs try to play the naive liberal is like seeing a cannibal answer the door while wearing the skin of his most recent victim.
Speaking of segregation, one author has withdrawn his book from a competition because the reviewers are SJWs who are more interested in “who, whom” than anything to do with the actual plot, characterizations, or writing style of the book:
There’s been a trend swelling in the last few years among book reviews, fueled by the “outrage cliches” of the interweb. This idea that a book, a story, should be judged largely based on several things which matter more than anything else: The color of the main character’s skin, their sex, and their sexuality. Then the same for the author.
How bad is it? Last week the Nebula awards were swept by female authors. Which would be totally fine … except for how the news presented it, which was best summed up in the i09 article I read that didn’t discuss the books that won at all, but only that the winning authors were women.
Since there is no place for us where they are, there can be no place for them where we are.
If you’re a Brainstorm member and want to attend, email me with DEVGAME in the subject. If you’re not and would like to attend, please sign up here. The course starts next Saturday and will continue for 10 weeks.
There will be the opportunity to work on actual game projects, such as Elveteka, the game from which the screenshot above is taken, which is nearing completion and was developed by a team of DevGame 1.0 attendees.
Derek Smart explains why he believes Chris Roberts’s statement about a “minimum viable product” is an extinction level event:
WHY I BELIEVE THIS TO BE THE FINAL NAIL IN THE STAR CITIZEN COFFIN.
None
of the arguments people are making are relevant. And White Knights,
Shitizens, and Shillizens are doing what they always do: obfuscate,
attack, confuse, distort.These are what’s relevant; all the points from my latest blog.
1)
The game he originally pitched simply cannot be built once he increased
the scope. Period. All the features already cut out, are evidence of
this.
2) The CryEngine which he chose to build the game with, is
simply not capable of building it. And yes, even though they now have a
custom version of it, that’s more about re-inventing the wheel, than it
is about making sure the wheel is still round. The latter being the
basis of using a core engine from which a custom engine is derived.
3) Following my first July 2015 blog in which I made the statements I said as:“Without
disrespect to anyone, I’m just going to say it: it is my opinion that,
this game, as has been pitched, will never get made. Ever. There
isn’t a single publisher or developer on this planet who could build
this game as pitched, let alone for anything less than $150 million. The original vision which I backed in 2012? Yes, that was totally doable. This new vision? Not a chance.
The technical scope of this game surpasses GTAV, not to mention the likes of Halo. Do you have any idea what those games cost to make and how long they took? Do
you know how many games which cost $50 million to make took almost five
years to release? And they were nowhere in scope as Star Citizen?“He wrote an entire missive and said this:
“You
all know that already; you’ve lived that. You’ve seen Star Citizen
evolve and start to come together. You’ve watched our atoms form
molecules, our modules form a real, playable game (that you can boot up
and play today!). There are people out there who are going to tell you
that this is all a BAD THING. That it’s ‘feature creep’ and we should
make a smaller, less impressive game for the sake of having it out more
quickly or in order to meet artificial deadlines. Now I’ll answer those
claims in one word: Bullshit!
Star Citizen matters
BECAUSE it is big, because it is a bold dream. It is something everyone
else is scared to try. You didn’t back Star Citizen because you want
what you’ve seen before. You’re here and reading this because we are
willing to go big, to do the things that terrify publishers. You’ve
trusted us with your money so we can build a game, not line our pockets.
And we sure as hell didn’t run this campaign so we could put that money
in the bank, guarantee ourselves a profit and turn out some flimsy
replica of a game I’ve made before. You went all in supporting us and
we’ve gone all in making the game. Is Star Citizen today a bigger goal
than I imagined in 2012? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely
not: it’s the whole damn point.“As with all his
previous statements and promises, you can flush this one down the
toilet too. Chris evolved to be more of a salesman, than a game
developer/designer. And a patently dishonest one.
How coincidental is it that – again – shortly after my latest blog dropped, and which I said this:“And
as I have stated before, Chris being a dreamer, I don’t believe that he
set out to scam gamers. However, the only right thing that he can do
now is to come clean, explain to the backers what he can and cannot do,
what went wrong and how, provide the financials to the backers who are
entitled to it, and stop taking money for a project he knows all too
well that he simply cannot deliver as originally promised.”He does this latest 104TC in which he reveals that the short-term goal is to deliver a MVP.
“So,
really what we’re doing with Star Citizen is we’re working on the game,
adding features for an incredibly ambitious design – I don’t think
there is any other game that is trying to do as much as we’re trying to
do. So, degree of difficulty 11, not 10. And, we’ll have what we
determine is a minimum viable product feature list for what you would
call Star Citizen the commercial release which is basically when you
say, “Okay, we’ve gotten to this point and we’ve still got plans to add a
lot more cool stuff and more content and more functionality and more
features…” – Which by the way includes some of the later stretch goals
we have because not all of that is going to be for ‘absolutely right
here’ on the commercial release. But we’ll have something that we’ll
think, ‘Okay yeah, not everyone can play it but it doesn’t matter – you
can load it up, it plays really well, it’s really stable, there’s lots
of content, there’s lots of fun things to do, different professions,
lots of places to go, we’ve got a really good ecosystem.’ So, when we
get to that point that’s when we would say, “Now it’s not alpha, it’s
not beta, it’s Star Citizen 1.0.”
We spent two hours discussing this at Brainstorm a few months ago, and considering the way in which Derek managed to impress even his most inveterate skeptics and haters with his expertise and technical observations during that session, I see absolutely no reason to doubt him now.
This is just too freaking funny. From File 770:
If anyone wonders what side of the cultural divide that Chuck Tingle, author of Rapid Puppy pick “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” , falls on, he’s having Zoe Quinn, Gamergate patient zero, make his video game.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful. I very much doubt any of these SJWs have ever actually seen Depression Quest. It should be absolutely fascinating to see what Locke Valentine does with Mr. Tingle’s inimitable oeuvre, given her almost unbelievably limited skill set.
Grimfate notes that Beamdog’s response to the criticism of Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear falls into what has come to be a recognizable pattern:
Usually if there’s a big uproar, the company will try to make things
right, try to save face and hopefully do something to appease those who
have decided not to purchase the game because of it. For example, the
ending of Mass Effect 3. Also, whenever an SJW complains about
something, the company seems quick to address the issue, such as the
butt thing with Blizzard’s latest game. So it’s interesting to see that
when there is an uproar AGAINST the SJW side, the company digs their
heels in, asking people to post positive reviews for the game instead
of, you know, addressing the concerns of their actual and potential
customers…
This is the tell. This is what informs gamers that a game developer is not on their side, and is sufficiently SJW-converged to stand their ground on the basis of SJW politics rather than artistic expression or creative freedom.
If you are the sort of organization that would immediately cave, (or worse, has caved) before a single SJW pointing-and-shrieking racist, or sexist, or goblinist, or geometrist, or whatever the complaint du jour is, you cannot expect people to take you seriously when you suddenly stand firm against tens of thousands of ordinary gamers expressing their disapproval of your design choices. Observe that the review ratings are consistent: 70 to 75 percent of gamers are openly hostile to Beamdog’s “enhancements”.
An SJW complains about a single character’s pose: “OMG! We are SO sorry! We will change it ASAFP! Do you like her new butt better? Is that okay? PLEASE FORGIVE US!”
Tens of thousands of gamers complain about smirking SJW convergence inserted into a beloved series: “Too bad, small minded bigots! You’re just a vocal minority and you’re BANNED!”
Moreover, if you are going to disrespect a much-loved classic of the genre by rejecting various elements of it and “improving” it, you really should understand that you are also rejecting its fans and that more people are going to actively hate your enhancements than are going to enthusiastically embrace them.
It’s a legitimate choice, although I would argue it is a foolish and self-destructive one. And while the developer has the right to make that choice, it is very important to understand that a deliberate choice is being made by someone inside the organization. It’s not like any of this is new, as the memelords well know.
Meanwhile, a longtime fan of the Baldur’s Gate series reviews Siege of Dragonspear:
Creating more content for a game that is in desperate need of a revival at a time when CRPGs are finally coming back into vogue was a great idea, and had I been a game developer, I would have jumped at the chance to do it myself.
Of course I was warned, both by friends and by readers of this site posting in comments on Dragonspear news articles I posted, that the game wasn’t going to be worth the money.
“They hired Gaider, you know what that means”
“Did you see how bad that stream was”
“You know they’ll screw it up.”
Naturally, I didn’t believe them. Call it putting the nostalgia goggles on, but I couldn’t possibly believe Beamdog’s Baldur’s Gate expansion would be anything but a continuation of the same events and personalities that made the original so timeless and memorable….
After five hours with the game, I encountered numerous situations where a
combination of very poor writing and social justice pandering began to
weigh the game down. Technical and gameplay missteps were one thing, but
the sheer amount of modern 2016 Tumblr-level politics turned what was
once a grand medieval swords & sorcery epic into the equivalent of a
emotional teenage girl’s self-insert fanfic.
What a small minded bigot! Nevertheless, it appears the controversy has already broken through and hit the mainstream media:
The problem with Minsc’s dig at #GamerGate isn’t that it breaks the fabled “Fourth Wall.” After all, Minsc is already making a jump through the fourth wall with his delightful pet Spelljammer reference. Heck, Baldur’s Gate is just as happy to reference The Bob Newhart Show and Monty Python as it is murder and betrayal.
Rather, the problem lies in Beamdog’s level of respect — or lack thereof — for a character that is deeply meaningful to an entire generation of gamers. Minsc is the lovable hamster-toting warrior of both Baldur’s Gate titles. His legacy extends into novelization and comic books, and he’s been praised by just about every conceivable gaming publication at one time or another. He’s an intellectual innocent, a gentle giant.
With one quip, they’ve turned that great big teddy bear of a hero into a passive-aggressive tool to insult a portion of their potential customers. It’s a cynical decision, and a needless one. It’s intentionally sarcastic and insulting, stooping to the tactics that people consistently ladle onto anyone who has ever participated in the #GamerGate conversation, without offering any useful rebuttal.
Not only is it grossly out of character for Minsc, it’s a little bit of the Internet’s ugliness that quite simply didn’t need to be there. Where the transgender character is an expression of the developer’s intentions toward inclusion, Minsc’s dig is designed to exclude people with whom Beamdog disagrees. It’s trite, it’s catty, and it makes Beamdog’s other in-game statements come off as posturing rather than sincere.
Beamdog’s response to the controversy hasn’t been extremely constructive and suggests a very loose grasp on the heart of the problem.
The problem is that the amenable authorities think their best interests are served by pandering to the SJWs who put them in their untenable position in the first place rather than jettisoning them at the earliest opportunity. What every leader of an organization needs to understand is that the SJWs within have no loyalty to the organization nor do they harbor any concerns for it. The organization is only of interest to them insofar as it provides them with a vehicle for pushing their Narrative.
Give them the chance, and they will burn it all down around them in the interest of virtue-signaling without even a moment’s hesitation. And then they’ll move on to their next victim.
It’s time to start thinking about the next DEVGAME course, but even though the recent course is over, the learning doesn’t stop. I’ve put up a post about putting my own production principles into action, which worked out rather well in the case of Art of Sword, and the game’s lead programmer has put up sample code to duplicate and order 2D animation sprites in Unity.
There are also other posts by programmers, artists, and even musicians. It’s rapidly turning into a great resource for neophyte game developers. If you’re interested in attending, or you know someone who might be interested, let them know about the DEVGAME blog before the next session begins in May.
In other news, we’re looking at offering additional advanced education courses, including Astronomy and Economics, about which more soon.
Here is a textbook example of SJW entryists ruining an organization through convergence. In this case, I very much doubt the people running the organization even had any idea that their simple and straightforward objective – make an entertaining and enhanced expansion of Baldur’s Gate – and been subverted to serve the interests of the SJW Narrative.
But Amber Scott’s little declaration of war on #GamerGate didn’t escape GG’s attention, as the reviews of Siege of Dragonspear on Steam and GOG and Metacritic show. Here are three examples from GOG:
Apr 2, 2016
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Thanks for your vote!
(426 of 879 users found this helpful)Not in the spirit of Baldur’s Gate by Valerie.377
While the mechanics of the game are in line with the originals, the story falls short. It sacrifices the narrative and world building of the original Baldur’s Gate in order to break the 4th wall and beat players over the head with messages about social issues with the grace and subtlety of a Saturday morning cartoon from the 90’s.There is no problem with having messages about social issues in a game. The problem comes when one hijacks another franchise, gut out its soul and fill it with vapid maxims and fables in its place. That is one of the surest ways to kill off a franchise, and it is especially odious when it happens to a well-loved franchise.
Want social justice? Sure, but stop hijacking the industry and make your own games. You’re not going to improve the industry, you’re just going to kill it from the inside out.
Apr 3, 2016 | Thanks for your vote! (182 of 223 users found this helpful)
Apr 2, 2016
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Thanks for your vote!
(251 of 337 users found this helpful)
The ability of devs to keep quiet and remain neutral is rapidly vanishing. This is not due to the gamers, but due to the SJWs in their own organizations who will not permit ANYONE to refuse submission to their sacred Narrative. And if you’re foolish enough to permit SJWs to penetrate your organization, this is exactly the sort of thing you have to look forward to – your involuntary enlistment in their cultural war.
And the SJWs are just going to LOVE how you can gain experience by killing a trans character after he bores you, appropos of nothing, with a tedious tale of discovering his true self. I’ll be shocked if Literally Wu doesn’t find a way to insist it’s actually a LITERAL attempt on his life by #GamerGate and “flee his home” again.
UPDATE: The Beamdog CEO doubles down on Techraptor:
I find the controversy ridiculous. Yes, we have a transgendered character. I know a number of transgendered people and they are genuine, wonderful humans. Yes, we also have a character who cracks a joke about ethics. The original Baldur’s Gate had a whole sequence about the Bob Newhart show. If this generates controversy it makes a sad statement about the world we live in.
As for my post on the forums, I merely asked people who were enjoying the game to share their positive feedback. I know our fans can become engrossed in their enjoyment and I really don’t want potential fans to miss out on the series because of protest reviews by small minded individuals.
As for Amber’s interview, I also believe in strong female characters and I feel she did an excellent job bringing dimension and interest to Safana with her writing in Siege of Dragonspear. Her “Too bad” comment, I chalk up to a long day of interviews, having personally done such interviews.
Regards,
-Trent
I guess we know where the SJW rot set in, then. Too bad. Notice how despite their talk of “choices”, you can’t express any disapproval of Mizhena blathering about “the truest reflection of who I am”. There is no 4: Who asked you, you self-absorbed freak?
