Gaming thoughts of the day

[Yokosuka Martian]

My current PS1 wishlist consists of the Final Fantasies, Chrono Cross, Metal Gear Solid, and Vagrant Story (I see it mentioned here a lot so it's probably great)

Any other suggestions?

*Silent Hill
Tomba
Tomba 2
Tekken 1-3
Monster Rancher 2
Tomb Raider I- III
Crash Bandicoot 1-3

[Jokatech19]

The crazy thing is that most of those games are on PSN. It still feels so surreal to have gems like Tekken 2 and Legend of Dragoon in the palm of my hand right now. I don't care what the industry says. I'm still amazed at the PSP.

[Spokane]

Coincidence or not?

One of the main places in Ratchet & Clank is called Blackwater City. The largest town in Red Dead Redemption is called Blackwater.

[Vyse Hazuky]

^Not. Unless it's Coca-Cola subliminal messaging.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

this last week fucked with my head

[MiTT3NZ]

Ooooh, a hint at a story that we won't hear because you're not allowed to tell it. Intriguing.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Ooooh, a hint at a story that we won't hear because you're not allowed to tell it. Intriguing.

I'm not under an NDA, I'm still sorting out the information in my own head. I saw a lot of things in the span of a few hours and I'm not really sure how to feel about any of it.

[Sonikku]

So tell us so we can put our collective minds together sorting it out and figuring out what to think.

[Jokatech19]

amazing how Monkey Ball is made for children supposedly, but very few kids or even adults for that matter, have developed the patience and coordination to even hang with it.

[Sonikku]

I saw a handful of "next gen projects", I saw the devkits for "Piston", "Orbis", "Ouya" and "Durango" and was talking to two major publishers about my status as an indie developer and what they could do to get me working on high fidelity games.

That might not seem like a big deal but you've got to understand, to me AAA basically means death. I've wasted my talent doing a great job for little pay in fields that have nothing to do with my strengths.

The other pat of this, is that games as an industry and medium are changing. I'm not sure what to believe anymore. The success of The Walking Dead is great, its a good thing that people are being so deeply affected by such a good narrative. Thing is, this isn't new, this exists and it has existed for a while. Whats more, when a great writer who doesn't have a popular tv/comic series to work with creates a set of believable and well rounded character, will they get the recognition they deserve? Everything that seems like a step forward is really two steps back.

The whole obsession with power and hardware seems so pointless. I saw games running on console sway more powerful then what we have today but some of them looked like crap, why? because they aren't finished. Animations, modeling, texturing, meshes all that stuff still needs to be done, but all that stuff requires more work then actually getting the game running, which loses priority. Does the game run is less important then, does the game look good, and all this power that people are going to be paying hundreds of $$ for is being used to cover the pockmarked cheek of the gaming whore. Its all just dressing without offering a real change in how we play games at all.

Then theres this idea that anyone can make games, which is good because anyone CAN makea game, but not everyone should make a game. The War Z is a prime example of how messed up things really are. actually you could point at any content protection service and call bullshit. why are tere 90 Suduku games on DSishop that have the "Official seal of quality", how is it that certain default texts will flag an iOS game as unfinished but a complete clone of mario won't hit any problems. There are games on Droid and iOS that crash n startup 100% of the time.

and I'm scared. I'm afraid I won't make it as an indie, just like the publishers told me I wouldn't. I want to tell the story of a man who was molested, examines the definition of rape and contemplates suicide before he can hurt anyone. I don't know if anyone would play the game. I want to make a game that basically goes through what its like to be a native. I want to write about men who love men, about understanding balance and harmony. I want to write about things that terrify people even if they don't admit it. But "they" might be right, and I might not be able to reach a single person.

I want to resist, but I don't want to hold myself and other back stubbornly. Is it the right thing to just go with the flow? What if I'm wrong, what if i just keep making things worse?

All of this (and much more) got dumped in my lap in just one sitting.

[Bluecast]

Are we talking 600$+ consoles again because if so I'm out.

[Who Really Cares?]

Its funny reading gamer comments on next gen consoles. So many want super powerful consoles but then quickly say if its over $400 its DOA

Its actually a little sickening to see so many want so much for so little.

[Bluecast]

Not a concern with power fr me. Cost is #1 and games is tied with it.

[St. Elmo's Fire]

If you have your foot in the door of the AAA developer career path and manage to stay there (think it was you who told us about the turnover rate of employees and loads of payoffs/re-hirings?), is some sort of lead position a viable eventual aspiration? Your game probably would still have to be done by yourself, but you could put "your" touch onto games you're being employed to develop in some ways?

Or, Kickstarter for your game project, whether it's a full time effort or on the side to your "job"? Guessing you've thought of that long ago anyway...

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Basically. Theres Piston which is the steam box and acts as an intermediate for PC gaming. See by establishing a hardware standard now PC games can be optimized around a specific base. Shield feeds off that since it is pretty powerful in its own right, even though its technically a handheld its capable of HD output to a TV and playing whole libraries of games through Droid and Steam.

Then theres Ouya, which supposedly is going to have games exclusive to it, as well as being able to run droid stuff. I think its worth mentioning my mom's Galaxy Note runs Jet Set Radio better then my PS3. Everything about it is open source even the console itself, and its a devkit. The standard Ouya that any guy can buy is all you need to make a game and sell it for Ouya.

Those 3 additions, clutter up the 3 existing consoles.

You know WRC, I totally agree. People have no sense of value, and sure its partly gamers fault, but designers have made things toxic by devaluing their own work. Did you know that within the first month of being out, I saw an add at a local gamestop for Mass Effect 3 at 30$. If anyone remembers, I returned ff13-2 for full value because less then 2 weeks after buying it it also became half priced, by march I had rebought the game for less then 20$ NEW.

If you really want to see entitlement take a look at Square-Enix iOS games. People actually ccomplain 5$ is too much for chrono Trigger, but dish out 40$ on the base Theatrythem and 40$ more for songs that should have just been in the game.

If you have your foot in the door of the AAA developer career path and manage to stay there (think it was you who told us about the turnover rate of employees and loads of payoffs/re-hirings?), is some sort of lead position a viable eventual aspiration? Your game probably would still have to be done by yourself, but you could put "your" touch onto games you're being employed to develop in some ways?

Or, Kickstarter for your game project, whether it's a full time effort or on the side to your "job"? Guessing you've thought of that long ago anyway...

I've been in AAA for a bit, I was 17 when I first started and since then I've only worked on marketing for shooters or QA that should never have gotten to me in the first place for shooters. AAA development is a really messy messy business (it might not have been me, but I do see that kind of stuff happening)

One of the things a producer told me, was that he could guarantee me double the current budget of my game on kickstarter. To be honest, its not so much getting the games made thats a problem. Tim Schafer once said "If you make cool games people will always want to talk" and I've found that to be completely true, the thing is, it sucks hard if no one plays em, and even harder if people do play em, and don't get what you're trying to say.