Quoting: elmapulthey cant legaly completely drop support for something used by millions

Of course they can. What global law are you referring to that obligates a company to support well announced end-of-life products??

Maybe you meant "ethically". They can't ethically drop support. Which I can agree with, but of course, when has Microsoft ever considered the ethics of its actions?

(hint: never)

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If the gameplay was slowed down by about... oooh... 50% I might be tempted. But I actually got stressed out just watching the trailer!

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Quoting: AdutchmanThis isn't a question of "5 minutes of Google"

Yeah, I agree - it's definitely a bit more work than that to ensure Linux compatibility. But they promised to do that work. People bought into their game based on that promise.

Same old problem with crowd funded games - no accountability. Developers have been defrauding the public on Kickstarter for years with these kinds of promises. Whole projects simply walk away with hundreds of thousands of pounds with no repercussions.

I'm not saying what's happening here is on that scale - in the grand scheme of things, "not delivering a Linux version of our game" is a pretty minor form of fraud, but it's tedious how often it happens, and it is still fraud to sell something based on a promise you can't deliver on, even if you think you're justified in blaming a third party (Unity) for that outcome.

(I've seen this defended before, and I think it's because Linux is so small. Imagine if a dev promised a Playstation version of their game alongside the Xbox version, then failed to deliver on the Playstation version - there would be a gigantic outcry. But when it happens with Linux, it's just "ah well, no big deal, there are only 17 Linux users in the world anyway.)

Realistically, we should probably be happy that they're willing to work on a Proton version at all. Look at the Carmageddon assholes, by comparison. Not only did they defraud their Linux customers, they trolled them in social media repeatedly. The Prodeus devs are saints by comparison.

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Quoting: woox2kThis game needs no cinematic mod

Cinematic mod is important for the gaming community, both to show off their world and for camera control in live-action, episodic content, like those that Neebs Gaming make.

But as an indie studio not on steam, no-one outside of GOL is likely to know much about this game anyway.

Quoting: CatKillerIf being on Steam gets you 43% more sales than not being on Steam, then the 30% pays for itself

I completely agree. Maybe the game has sold 50K units off-steam, I don't know, and the dev is happy with nearly £1M revenue, right? But then you have Valheim on several million sales - even with the lower price AND the 30% cut, it's a different league. 50 million sales (so far) - roughly £500M revenue after the 30%. That's... half a billion pounds. Insane money. They sold 3M units inside of a fortnight. You can bet that the 5-person studio behind Valheim weren't moaning about the 30% cut when those sales started rolling in.

And yet there are probably quite a lot of Vintage Story fans that would make the case that it's better than Valheim. Surely worth the risk?

Quotesteam crowds can be pretty harsh

But on the other hand, I agree with this too, and since Vintage Story looks like Minecraft, it's likely in for a rough ride in a way that Valheim somehow got a free pass, despite their similarities.

(That was a very long-winded way of saying that I'll likely pick this up when it hits Steam, but unlikely to do so before it does - it's the kind of game I'd enjoy playing with my small circle of online mates, and getting them to set up/host games from Steam is already a challenge - it's just not worth the hassle trying to coordinate it all in a custom off-steam environment)

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Quoting: wit_as_a_riddle

Quoting: scaineI've never once, ever, in over 1100 games, experienced a launcher which improved a game experience.

Minecraft has a useful launcher. That's the only one I know of though. Funny how people make even better ones to replace the one useful launcher I know of.

I'll give you that. One game. And even then, a launcher that's only actually necessary because the core game design is so poor that you have to juggle versions for mods. So even then, while I agree it's a useful launcher, it's only useful because it's absolutely necessary and I'd STILL prefer that it didn't exist!

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I've never once, ever, in over 1100 games, experienced a launcher which improved a game experience. I don't even read the text they inevitable try to force down your throat - there's a "Play" button and I press it, rolling my eyes.

All launcher adds to the gaming experience is:
1. Longer load time
2. One extra button to press before you're playing (at least, since they often try to get you to create an account for additional milking)
3. Increased likelihood that the game will break entirely, especially for Linux players, or Big Picture players.

Absolutely trash. And for a company to pass a launcher off as a quality of life improvement is disingenuous bullshit.

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Quoting: slaapliedje

Quoting: DoomedpaladinNah. I prefer Wanderbots' name for the genre, "Bullet Heaven." If you controlled a horde then "Horde" would work, but games like Pikmin and Overlord 1&2 would work better for that.

There are Twin Stick shooters (games where you move around on a map, chased by things, but you can aim with a secondary stick, so you can constantly move away from the enemies while shooting them) and then there are 'Flick Stick' shooters, which is what these are. You have to flick the stick in the direction they're coming from to be able to hit them, at least with some/most weapons, as it doesn't aim with the second stick.

Both Spellbook Demonslayers and Nomad Survival allow for second-stick aiming, but there's only a tiny handful of weapons where that's an issue, since most weapons are auto-target, or AOE around you, or a random spot. Some always target in front, or behind, so the aiming weapons occasionally give you some tactical advantages.

To that end, I still think the fourth criteria that really matters is the auto-shoot mechanic.

I love that Nomad Survival even plays on the Twitch runs that VS saw where you're not allowed to move. There's a whole character class that just stands still for the entire run. Quite hard to unlock too, but a fun and extremely tactical way to play these games.

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It's been mentioned in the comments already, but I think a fourth characteristic of the Horde games (Vampslikes) is that your weapons auto-shoot on a timer, which rules out quite a few games that feel loosely similar, but are actually fairly typical twin-stick shooters, like Enter the Gungeon, Tesla vs Lovecraft, or Neurovoider.

Just one more thing - while I love Nomad Survival and agree it's one of the best, I actually think Spellbook Demonslayers will be the better game! I'm just gutted that we have to wait another month before it releases - but the prologue is free and I've spent quite a few hours with it already.

Liam also covered a rare space-themed Horde game called Gunlocked. I haven't tried it yet, but Space Crusaders was bad enough (despite being native) that it's put me off space-themed games for a while!

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If you don't think the price hike is justified, you don't buy it. I don't get the hate (like comparing Paradox to the likes of EA or Blizzard). This isn't an insidious gambling ploy, like loot boxes. It's definable content you get to play for a price, which extends the value you get from the original game.

Sure, argue about the price (or value), but we can't compare this to gouging.

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I think I've mentioned in previous posts about DLC - I actually think Paradox gets this mostly okay. Sure, there's TONS of DLC content for their previous games - hundreds of pounds worth in fact (although only about 5 so far for this title). But no-one is forcing you to buy these, and the model allows you to buy only the bits you think you'd love.

Paradox surely isn't expecting anyone to download every pack. So provided that the packs you ARE buying are good value, then I think that's a pretty nice way to get more play time from a game you obviously love.

Maybe I'm just used to the board game model. These DLC packs are about giving you extended value from the initial investment, rather than making you wait years and then fork out for Crusader Kings 4.

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