Tag: games

John Scalzi, Game Dev

This is hilarious. Scalzi is trying to impress his fellow SJWs with his game dev credentials, which are so much better than those belonging to the many devs of #GamerGate.

“I write video games. I think it’s pretty obvious GamerGaters don’t speak for anyone but their own pathetic selves.”
– John Scalzi, 6 August 2015

Needless to say, #GamerGate was unimpressed with Scalzi’s credentials. Beginning with Mark Kern, who worked on Starcraft, Diablo II, and Warcraft III before becoming team lead on the original World of Warcraft.

Mark Kern ‏@Grummz
I had no idea you could just write video games into existence. Guess we won’t be needing these designers, profs, artists, devs.

Dal Gren ‏@DalGren
Researching, I can only find one video game he’s written (Midnight Star). So…he’s lying about the amount.

The Deuce ‏@ibbibby
Scalzi lying about his involvement in gamedev like he does about his blog traffic? Say it ain’t so!

Mark Kern ‏@Grummz
He lies about his blog traffic?

The Deuce ‏@ibbibby
Yeah. He’s a shamelessly dishonest self-promoter.

The Deuce ‏@ibbibby
@voxday is the one who noticed and pinned him down on it. See these articles http://voxday.blogspot.com/search?q=scalzi+traffic …

Mark Kern ‏@Grummz
Oh wow, Scalzi really inflated those numbers.

No Fun Allowed ‏@nochafaa
Damn, Scalzi is turning out to be a bigger tool than I thought.

It was a bit amusing for me to see this, as on August 6th I was on my way back from GDCE. I currently have two games in development, one game in temporarily suspended development, and three more of my game designs will be in development shortly. (Hence my request for questions from experts in various games; I’d like to have at least 2,000 questions and answers before development starts.) Guests at my SAE-sponsored game development course that begins next month will include studio heads, lead game designers, veteran programmers, university professors, magazine editors, and other industry professionals who will share their perspectives on designing and developing games.

To have one writing credit on one failed mobile game doesn’t make you a dev. It means you’ve dipped your toe in the industry. (And to the real devs: if you had asked me, I would have told you a mobile rail shooter was very unlikely to work. Not all past mechanics are worth mining.) If John Scalzi genuinely wants to learn how the industry really works, he should take my course because he obviously knows very little about it. As Grummz wryly observed, one does not “write video games”. The insiders can always spot the fakers and the wannabes.

As for Scalzi’s frequent claims that I envy his career, I remind you of the Third Law of SJW: SJWs always project. And speaking of my career, here is a piece of concept art from one of our current projects in development.

Yes, that’s exactly what it looks like. Think of Joust, only with modern graphics, powerups, and the addition of a vertical element that involves goblins with catapults and orcs with scorpios. The hawk-riding elf is also armed with various magic spells for air-to-ground combat and he can ride other flying beasts with various abilities. I always wondered why there weren’t scads of Joustalikes, but I figured it out when I played the little-known Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest. John Newcomer transformed the core game from horizontal with vertical elements to a vertical game, which considerably changed the gameplay and made it very difficult while subtracting from the fun. That failure made Joust look like a dead end from a game development perspective; if the producers can’t make an effective sequel, who else can expect to do so.

So, I thought, what if we gradually brought in additional vertical elements to the horizontal game, plus provided powerups to prevent the difficulty from overwhelming the player too quickly? That turned into an arcade spinoff of my Elven Raider design that was signed by Elephant in 2008, but never made it into development. Although set in Selenoth, Elven Raider preceded A Throne of Bones. And as it happens, The Wardog’s Coin is what resulted when I turned one of the scenarios from Elven Raider into a short story.

This isn’t the only game we’re developing at the moment. Another one will be out in September, and I’ll post some screenshots in the next two weeks. The thing is, it is very clear that the big fish in science fiction don’t realize how small and insignificant their little pond is compared to the Vast Sea of Dev.

ASaltMineNamedZilla ‏@gameragodzilla
What games did he make again?

Bizz McTavish ‏@Bizz408
he’s not a Dev, he’s some B-list Sci-Fi writer

ASaltMineNamedZilla ‏@gameragodzilla
I know. Did he write any games worth talking about?

Bizz McTavish ‏@Bizz408
nope. he’s a nobody.

Silvertongue ‏@SilvertongueDvl
He’s writing for an ios game. He’s bragging about writing for a _mobile game_.

Drew ‏@omgMyCat
Miyamoto, Kojima, Romero, Scalzi… lmao

Midnight Star was released in February 2015. It has an average 68 review score from 8 critics on Metacritic. It does not have enough any user ratings. One can only conclude that John Scalzi should have written it better.

“Midnight Star sure looks promising, but comes up short in execution with
extremely watered down gameplay that is too bland, and repetitive to
recommend.”

Bland and repetitive gameplay in a mobile rail shooter? Who could possibly have foreseen that? In the meantime, KiA appears to have discovered ethics in SF journalism.

The game of questions

Based on the enthusiastic response of the many game experts here, I’m going to go ahead and collect as many complete 10-question sets for as many video and computer games as you guys are willing to contribute. This is for a competitive quiz game that I believe will serve as a model for future games of its type. The structure makes it a lot more fun than the normal sort of quiz game, and it’s complete with powerups that make the game modestly tactical.

If you contribute, there will be free game coins in it for you.

Don’t post the questions and answers here, but email them to me with the subject QUESTIONS. All I’d like you to post here is what game(s) you’re going to address so we don’t get multiple sets of the same game. For example, I’ve already done Swashbuckler and Warlords, and an example of the former follows.

The goal is to have at least 2,500 questions covering all platforms and eras in the initial quiz game. So that’s 250 games, and I’m not an expert in 250 games, so I’m going to need some help. The questions should be as straightforward and non-verbose as possible. Don’t get cute with trick questions except PERHAPS at the Expert level, and make sure the Easy questions are easy enough that anyone who ever played the game even a little could probably answer.

Swashbuckler
PC (Apple II)
Action
1980s

EASY

1. What weapon does the first enemy carry? (club)
2. What key do you hit to switch direction? (S)
3. How do you kill an animal? (sword down, M)
4. How many points per kill? (1)

MEDIUM

5. What happens when a snake bites you? (You die)
6. What happens when a rat bites you? (Can’t thrust)
7. What is the fourth enemy missing? (Leg)

HARD

8. What is the secret to getting easy kills? (Thrust right after second enemy killed)
9. What is the background of Level Three (Sail)

EXPERT

10. What enemy, introduced on Level Three, does not fit the pirate theme? (Samurai)

Au revoir, Reaxxion

I’m disappointed to learn that Roosh is shutting down Reaxxion, as I think there is a real need for a game site like that and I thought the writers were doing some excellent work there.

I’ve decided to close Reaxxion after approximately nine months of operation. Traffic has not grown to a level that allows the site to financially sustain itself. We have not been able to consistently surpass 250,000 page views a month.

I take full blame for the site’s commercial failure. The writers and editor did a great job trying to achieve my vision of what Reaxxion should be, but in spite of that, the growth did not occur. I attribute this failure to creating the site from a spontaneous idea (in response to gamergate) instead of developing it organically based on an actual need. The fact the gamergate continues to be successful and influential in other communities shows that I did not even provide a substantial need to the audience it was intended for.

We’re pretty busy with some other projects, but perhaps when things transition to the next phase, we’ll be able to take a look at doing something similar. But notice how Roosh has implemented the “fail faster” philosophy. That is one reason he continues to be successful.

Success = Try, Succeed/Fail, Try Something Else.
Failure = Try, Quit, Mope.

My 10-second diagnosis is that there were no game reviews or industry news, which rendered it all opinion, no news. But I salute Roosh and the writers for making the effort. It was a good one.

#GamerGate is far from over

When I think about how much I used to love going to CGDC in Santa Clara, this news just infuriates me.

UBM Tech Game Network, the organizers of the Game Developers Conference 2016, are now accepting submissions to present lectures, roundtables, panels, posters and tutorials through Thursday, August 27th.

Now entering its landmark 30th edition, GDC is expanding its Advisory Board, which reviews and refines submissions for the event, by welcoming pioneering developer Amy Hennig to help guide the content of the show….

GDC is the world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, hosting thousands of game developers from around the world for a week of learning, networking and inspiration. GDC 2016 will take place March 14th-18th at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California.

For the main conference, the GDC Advisory Board is considering session submissions for seven tracks: Audio, Design, Production, Programming, Visual Arts, and the Business, Marketing & Management track,  as well as a track on Advocacy, which covers social issues from diversity to quality of life.

Amy Hennig isn’t the problem. She’s no Social Justice Cabbage Patch Kid like Sarkeesian or Alexander, she’s a longtime dev and she knows what she’s doing, having been responsible for the Legacy of Kain and Uncharted series. What is infuriating is the fact that the conference organizers added a track on “Advocacy, which covers social issues from diversity to quality of life.” Which, you’ll note, is something that directly interferes with “the art and science of making games”.

Both GDC and GDCE already have the huge problem of having largely been taken over by the shills and the marketeers. I’ve actually heard of talks that have been rejected because the technology isn’t implemented in a game yet. Back in the day, learning about new technology and techniques is exactly what we went to CGDC for! No wonder fewer and fewer senior designers and developers are attending, what is the point if you can’t learn about new tech ahead of time and you’re going to get lectured by clueless non-developers about putting their politics in your games?

I’ve designed six games this year, have three development, and will ship two. And I have less than zero professional interest in anything even remotely related to social issues.

I hope the baleful eye of #GamerGate will turn on the UBM Tech Game Network and make it clear that the game industry is no place for Advocacy.

Gamers only

A little help, if you will. If you’re a serious gamer, I would appreciate if you would provide four questions and answers about your favorite game for a game design on which I’m working. It should contain the following information:

Name of Game
Genre:  Action, Strategy, Simulation, Role-playing
Platform: Arcade, Console, PC, Handheld/Mobile/Online
Decade: 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s
Easy Q&A
Medium Q&A
Hard  Q&A
Expert Q&A

So, for example, this is how I would describe SSI’s Warlords:

Warlords
Strategy
PC
80s
Easy: What is the name of the evil general? (Lord Bane)
Medium: What color are the Horse Lords? (Light Blue)
Hard: What is the capital city of the orcs? (Kor)
Expert: What is the movement rating of cavalry from Dunethal? (19)

If 10 or more of you could provide similar summaries, I would appreciate it.

RIP Iwata-san

“On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am
a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.”
– Satoru Iwata, 1959-2015

An expert on overhyped failure

Sees similar problems on the horizon for Star Citizen:

The problem that RSI is now faced with is something that us vets all saw coming a mile away. This level of exposure, all the press, the promises, the hype, the glorious anti-establishment chanting and rhetoric etc.: all of it has a very bad downside.

And it’s not like the rumblings haven’t been there. Every time there is new press about a funding milestone or yet another ship concept cash grab, there is some derogatory rhetoric associated with it because most backers are fed up and just want the game they were promised back in 2012.

Others are just waiting for the day when it all comes crashing down, so they can point, chuckle, and say they saw it coming.

And last I checked, some people had spent over $5,000 on this game. Even if you don’t want to believe that, believe this: they’ve raised about $85 million from 918,806 backers. That is an average of $92 per gamer.

A couple of weeks ago last month, when there was news about the FTC going after failed promises made by someone who crowdfunded a game, there were various discussions about the terrible precedent which would be set if this game failed to deliver and if a bunch of people reported it. And that’s no joke. We’re talking $85 million. That’s a lot of cash. Other people’s money.

If you spend $30 and get a generic game, you’ll post a bad review, tell all your friends etc. Eventually, you will move on. It happens. But in this instance, given all what has transpired, and all this money, gamers aren’t going to let it slide. Even if they lost $19.

No; they’re going to ask WTF happened to “all that money?“ because now it’s their money, not some faceless investor’s, or even a publisher.

And they’re going to be pissed because they expected more than a hangar and a largely buggy Arena Commander module which isn’t representative of the game they were pitched back in 2012, and which has to have been delivered two years later in Nov 2014.

As I’ve said before, I want this game to succeed for a lot of selfish reasons, least of all being that I funded it. I mostly want it to succeed because we don’t have any games like this in the genre, and not even my games can fill that void because they are super complex, pretty old, don’t look as pretty etc. You know, different budgets, different production values etc. And I really don’t care who makes it. All I know is that before I die, I want to play it. Is that too much to ask?

I also want it to succeed in whatever form because if it doesn’t,
it’s going to be another massive gamedev and videogame crowdfunding
black eye. I know people who are already rumbling that if this fails
that it is going to be more epic than the collapse of 38 Studios in the Summer of 2012. And that $75 million was mostly tax-payer money.  And almost three years now, that one is still playing out in the courts.

What I mean by this comparison is related to the following, all of
which happened to 38 Studios, it’s creators, primary execs, politicians
etc. and how the media handled it:

  • The amount of public money raised is not something to ignore. Like
    that studio’s sudden implosion in 2012, it’s a lot of money. The kind of
    money that makes every lawyer, politician, analyst etc., perk up their
    ears and try to get involved in the fray.
  • Given the number of studios working on this project worldwide, the
    sudden loss of jobs would be catastrophic for some people, most of whom
    had to relocate to get their jobs.
  • The hype surrounding this project since its 2012 inception is going
    to guarantee that every media outlet is going to want a piece of the
    action, and most of that is going to be based on sheer speculation,
    wanton conjecture, bullshit anonymous “sources” etc., because the focus
    would be on vilifying Chris and crew, rather than focusing on what
    mistakes were made.

And I need not even mention APB as another example.

To add to the noise, there are reports that people (Travis Day, a
senior producer left recently) at RSI have been leaving, the executive
producer (!) (UPDATE. It has been confirmed to me that Alex Mayberry, the Exec Producer, hired a year ago, is no longer at the company) is on his way out, and they’re spending more than they’re bringing in because crowdfunding has peaked etc.

The understated economics of game development is quite simple. For as
long as I’ve been around, and seen so many projects fail because they
ran out of funds, you’d think that by now this is something every
developer and publisher would be aware of, and plan for it:

  • If you’re spending $2 and bringing in $1, you’re in trouble.
  • If your studio is burning through $2 million a month, then you need
    $24 million a year in funding. If you’re selling less than $2 million a
    month, you’re in trouble.
  • If your studio has $24 million to make a game over a period of two
    years, and you’re burning more than $1 million per month, you’re in
    trouble.
  • If your budget is down to the wire, in that you don’t have a buffer
    of at least 15% of your funds in reserve, and which you can use for
    unforeseen expenses during development, you’re asking for trouble.

None of the departures, delays etc. should necessarily be regarded as
a sign of trouble for the project. When you start to scale back or
hunker down, people leaving, delays, stuff getting cut etc. is all par
for the course. What you can expect though, for something of this scope,
is that it’s going to get scaled back. That’s assuming that it ever
sees the light of day.

And if they scale it back, that’s going back on promises. And when
that happens, it’s going to be a complete disaster. Guaranteed.

So to those of you who don’t know how this works, it doesn’t make any
sense to scream “failure” when you have no clue just what (a lot) goes into developing these games.

It may succeed, it may fail; but for now, all we can do is watch how it plays out. But given the fiasco surrounding Freelancer—the
other very ambitious game that Chris tried to make, and the
disappointment that was the final game as delivered versus what was
promised, after which Chris left the industry—we should all be worried.
Especially this time around, there’s no Electronic Arts and no Microsoft
to act as a tether, or for us to point the finger at and to hold
accountable.

For me, I already know—for a fact—that they can’t build this game they’ve pitched, and which I was looking forward to someone making.

I’m concerned about this one too. I had a number of extensive conversations with Chris about this back when he had permission to use the Wing Commander license for it – we even discussed the possibility of using one of my AI designs for the wingmen – and I would really, really, really like to see it be successful too. Wing Commander is one of my all-time favorite games and I have very fond memories of it and of the man himself.

But the potential problem, as I see it, is that RSI got distracted by the unexpected level of success of their fund-raising efforts, and like many a charity before them, lost sight of their primary objective due to that success. This is understandable, of course, because fund-raising for a game this size is an absolute bitch for an independent, even one as well-regarded as Chris is. It takes an incredible amount of time and nineteen out of every twenty alleys eventually lead to a brick wall.

The positive side of limited resources is that it forces you to make the hard choices, you simply have no other option because you can’t do everything. I thought it was fantastic that Star Citizen managed to raise even more money than they were looking for to do Wing Commander, thinking that this was the dawn of a new funding model, but ironically enough, the very success of Star Citizen may lead to it being deemed a failure even if Chris manages to produce what would have been a very successful version of the $20 million project he originally envisioned, if it takes him $85 million to do it no one is going to be happy.

Because, as Derek Smart observes, everyone’s expectations have been raised. If it’s not the greatest game ever, if it doesn’t blow people away the way the original Wing Commander and Grand Theft Auto 5 did, it could end up having a crushing effect on game-related crowdfunding in the future.

For those of you who are too young, or too unfamiliar with the game industry, Battlecruiser 3000 AD was one of the most anticipated games of its day, but Derek never managed to deliver on its considerable promise, it had zero chance of ever living up to all the hype, and it is still, somewhat unfairly considering its relatively modest budget, (it’s rather shocking to discover that the budget was less than $650k) considered to be one of the great flops of the industry.

That being said, Derek is a smart guy and he would know about something being overhyped and unable to deliver on that hype.

Apple removes Civil War games

I almost wish I owned Apple products so I could stop using them in light of this:

Apple Removes All American Civil War Games From the App Store Because of the Confederate Flag

Many large US companies, like Walmart and Amazon, have already banned the sale of any Confederate flag merchandise as a reaction to the recent events. Now, it appears that Apple has decided to join them by pulling many Civil War wargames from the App Store. As of the writing of this story, games like Ultimate General: Gettysburg and all the Hunted Cow Civil War games are nowhere to be found.

I assume WWII games are next. Orwell was right. The totalitarians of the Left love nothing so much as erasing history. Some of the games removed:

  •     Ultimate General: Gettysburg
  •     AAA American Civil War Cannon Shooter
  •     Civil War: Hidden Mysteries
  •     Civil War The Battle Game
  •     Civil War Defense
  •     Civil War Battle Defense
  •     1861 A Civil War Rebellion
  •     Civil War: 1862
  •     Civil War: 1863

I’m buying Ultimate General: Gettysburg today to support one of the developers who have refused to modify their game in accord with Apple’s demands.

As you may have been already informed, Apple has removed our game from AppStore because of usage of the Confederate Flag. Ultimate General: Gettysburg could be accepted back if the flag is removed from the game’s content.

We accept Apple’s decision and understand that this is a sensitive issue for the American Nation. We wanted our game to be the most accurate, historical, playable reference of the Battle of Gettysburg. All historical commanders, unit composition and weaponry, key geographical locations to the smallest streams or farms are recreated in our game’s battlefield.

We receive a lot of letters of gratitude from American teachers who use our game in history curriculum to let kids experience one of the most important battles in American history from the Commander’s perspective.  

Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” did not try to amend his movie to look more comfortable. The historical “Gettysburg” movie (1993) is still on iTunes. We believe that all historical art forms: books, movies, or games such as ours, help to learn and understand history, depicting events as they were. True stories are more important to us than money.

Therefore we are not going to amend the game’s content and Ultimate General: Gettysburg will no longer be available on AppStore.

Mailvox: the Dungeon Crawl interview

DG has a few thoughts:

It struck me that – like “diversity” in some quarters – game reviewers / etc. DO treat “story” as an unalloyed good, without ever asking “what it is at the expense of”? Not only is time spent on retail/etc. time taken away from working on making the best possible game, but time spent on “story” qua story that doesn’t directly drive the game play – pointlessly long cutscenes, etc – is time spent on things other than immersing you in the GAMEPLAY.

Also – I’m going to borrow a gripe from Aurini – but his argument why HD sucks has some relevance. Sure, “quality” of 3d graphics and worlds is great, but every increase in detail, whether modeling or textures, requires a lot more work to get it looking right. 8-bit, or deliberately cartoony/stylized games can still have an environment that immerses you in the game – depending on the mechanics – but doesn’t require anywhere near as much time on artwork.

It comes down to opportunity cost. Time spent on graphics, 3D or otherwise, that makes the game play better and keeps you in the game, is time well spent. Time past that is time that could have gone into scenarios/etc.

After all – is the new Homeworld HD reskin a better GAME? No – just prettier. Possibly more immersive. but at some point you cross the threshold of “good enough” and ship, or keep focused on the game.

This is not a call to spend less time on graphic/game design. Some of the better recent hobbyist boardgames not only have beautiful graphics, but use them to make understanding the game mechanics and tracking game status and play easier. Again – does the time spent on the artwork make the game PLAY better, or does it just get in the way?

Incidentally – loved Doom and Doom2, but liked Marathon 2 even better. Just a little bit of flavor and story through the computer terminals to give you a purpose to what you’re doing, allowing even otherwise repetitive missions to have a different feel, without wasting a lot of your time on it. Some excellent humor in there too. “Introduce them to the ‘magic’ of orbital bombardment” being a favorite line, still.

The Sinister Stone

I backed this kickstarter today from Autarch, The Sinister Stone of Sakkara. For the gamers here, you should check it out. They do quality stuff that isn’t generic:

The default setting of ACKS, the Auran Empire, was also designed to support the player characters’ advancement from adventurer to king. The Auran Empire setting was inspired by the collapsing empires of earth’s Late Antiquity (250 – 750 AD), a turbulent era in which ancient glories were drowned in a torrent of violence. However, in the Auran Empire setting, the horror of civilization’s imminent collapse is worsened by the existence of nightmarish evils lurking in the world’s dark places, threatening to strike mankind at its weakest moment. The established leadership is too preoccupied by the empire’s political and military downfall to take these shadowy threats seriously, leaving them to be handled by adventurers, fortune-hunters, and would-be heroes. The adventurers’ success in dealing with such threats is, however, what garners them the fame, wealth, and strength they need to take power and restore order. Of course, the adventurers are not certain to win; indeed, the odds are stacked against them.

The premises underlying ACKS’ setting are evident throughout The Sinister Stone of Sakkara, most notably in its backstory. The adventure begins with local hamlets and villages suffering from beastman raids because the troops that ought to be protecting them have been sent to stem an invasion at another border. With the local military barely able to garrison its strongholds, it falls to the adventurers to deal with the monstrous threat.

The setting premises are also evident in the design of the dungeon itself. The upper level of the dungeon was inspired by real-world ancient architecture, and the brigands and beastly barbarians that populate it would not be unfamiliar to any Late Roman centurion (albeit the barbarians who menaced Rome were only figuratively beastly). Conversely, the lower level of the dungeon is a warren of weird horror wherein lurks an insidious evil that is far more threatening than mere beastmen. The dungeon thus represents the Auran Empire setting in microcosm – visibly endangered by mundane threats, appallingly imperiled by hidden horrors.

What I like about ACKS is the way it incorporates a military aspect into the role-playing. The world isn’t all random events, and you get the sense that things happen for a reason there, even if you have no idea what that reason is.