Quoting: kuhpunkt

Quoting: Smoke39

Quoting: kuhpunktI just find this hostility towards VR from some people so weird.

If someone doesn't find VR appealing, then making a game that only works in VR looks like an arbitrary and unnecessary barrier to entry. That's why people are hostile toward it. People feel like games are being kept from them for no good reason.

Being hostile isn't very mature. And people are stupid if they actually think that. As if they are owed a game...

Of course they aren't owed a game, but they're allowed to dislike a product, they're allowed to exress that dislike, and they're allowed to be frustrated when a franchise they're invested in is handled in a way they don't like.

And from where I'm sitting, you seem pretty hostile toward anyone who doesn't care for VR. Both sides have good reason to be emotionally invested in the issue.

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Quoting: kuhpunktI just find this hostility towards VR from some people so weird.

If someone doesn't find VR appealing, then making a game that only works in VR looks like an arbitrary and unnecessary barrier to entry. That's why people are hostile toward it. People feel like games are being kept from them for no good reason.

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Quoting: BeamboomI miss the layer of polish that high budget games have. They are simply more professionally made, created by experienced designers and it obviously makes a difference.

And no, I do not now talk about graphics (in fact there's plenty indie games with great visuals - I'm not one that demand "realistic" graphics at all, and rate artistic style much higher than the number of polygons or the visual effects).
No, the polish I talk about is on all the other things. The hundreds of little components that makes out a game. Everything from an intuitive interface to a well thought out tutorial to fluid mechanics, responsiveness, camera control, map design, every other little thing that isolated doesn't mean all, but each on their own adds up.

This is just straight up bullshit, and disrespectful of the skill demonstrated by some indies. Just because a game has a larger budget doesn't make it more "professional" or more polished.

As a random example off the top of my head: Shovel Knight. Anyone can cobble together a basic 2D platformer, but designing a game of Shovel Knight's quality takes genuine skill. Coming up with novel obstacles that one might take for granted as a player is not easy, nor is designing levels that are challenging but fair. It takes real creativity, and real design skill.

I would argue that Shovel Knight is actually better than a lot of the games that inspired it, and that's because Yacht Club didn't just haphazardly throw down tiles or blindly mimic what came before. They're not just quaint hobbyists dicking around. They're skilled professionals with a deep understanding of game design, who applied that knowledge to create a product that was highly polished.

It's fine if games like Shovel Knight don't interest you, but it is undeniably exceptionally well-crafted, and just as "professional" and polished as any AAA game.

Quoting: BeamboomAnd THEN, on top of THAT, we can start talking about content: Voice acting, scripting, story line, animations, cut scenes, visuals, audio, network play, size of player base (in multi-player), freedom of movement, character creation, etc.

You said your issue wasn't with indies being "too small/basic," but you're talking about scope here. And again, it's totally fine if you prefer games with more to them. But just because a game has a larger scope doesn't mean it's better, or more professional, or more polished. It just means it's bigger.

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Canceled. The campaign had no momentum, and the devs are desperate for income because they don't get royalties from Sonic Mania.

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RetroArch used to be my preferred way to use emulators, but ever since they changed the interface I haven't been able to configure the blasted thing. Last time I tried I couldn't even get my 360 controller working properly. RetroArch was always kinda complicated, but for me they've actually managed to make it worse. :(

Maybe the more mainstream attention of Steam will help them to finally design a comprehensible interface.

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Quoting: sub

Quoting: ElectricPrismRidiculous. Iron Maiden is not a fucking brand, it's a fucking torture instrument from mid-evil times.

Absolutely ludicrous. Still I think they made the easier choice so they can focus on game development and not pointless legal circles designed to extract as much cash from IP owners and so on. The legal system is a racket. The lawyers always win and the defendants even if they technically win always loose. It's political deadlock.

Maybe they should have renamed it some snarky alternative like Metal Maiden or some other cheesy but effective name.

Iron Mayhem

"Mayhem" would've been a better substitute than "Fury." I like the "Ion" part, though. Sounds cool, and suits the sci-fi setting. I don't really care about sticking it to the band, I just want a cool title. :b

Quoting: svartalf

Quoting: GoboI'm glad they are able to settle it just like that and get on with the game.

Indeed.

Quoting: GoboOn the other hand, that is a dent in the shiny aura that surrounds Iron Maiden in my eyes. Not cool. I mean, come on, how could a brand new video game be mistaken for THE metal band that has been around for decades?

Let's for a moment, set aside the notion that it's the band that did this. I'm betting good money that their lawyers or their label's lawyers were in full play. Entirely too many lawyers are pure unadulterated, unmitigated d*cks, full stop.

Quoting: GoboWould have been way better if they had worked out some tongue in cheek appearance, probably even with a commercial tie in that promotes their latest album or something. Think of at least posters in the game or some of their songs playing in bars or crowds lining up before a stadium for a concert. And the band playing their song "Iron Maiden" while showing a speed-run of the game or something. Both sides could have gotten a good laugh out of this.

Which is why I'm inclined to believe that a humorless prick (A? One?? Yeah, who am I kidding here?) in the legal staff on that side of things was solely in charge. A good attorney would've been trying for something that preserved trademark and copyright and yet made epic PR for at least their clients. The law REQUIRES work on ensuring purity, etc. of the same instead of dilution- but there's ways of doing this...and more than one of them.

Quoting: GoboAnyone remember Notch challenging Bethesda for a Quake match to settle their dispute over the Scrolls name? That is what fans love, not that legal nonsense.

Yet another reason why I say what I do on this. It wasn't the band...it was their label's prick lawyers.

The band is the lawyers' boss. They're complicit in anything those lawyers do on their behalf. If they thought they were being dicks, they should have intervened.

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Quoting: TheSHEEEPI'm all for Steam adding a simple "Download as installer/archive" button or something along those lines to DRM-free games in their store

Is that not what this does?

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Quoting: timgarbosDeveloper here. Totally get your concerns, but we are not trying to keep anything secret. Of course, we care about our backers and that's why we tell them the news before the general public. The news will be more public and is already publicly being discussed on our Discord.

Anyways, thanks for keeping up to date. I'll let you know once we have Linux news.

You kept this Epic exclusivity decision secret until it was already made, didn't you? You can't really tout your transparency in the wake of a totally opaque decision process.

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Quoting: hardpenguinI think it is also unfair to keep repeating how not having access to the game files is a drawback. What about the upsides of this solution? There is no download and installation time, you can seamlessly switch between devices without stopping the gaming session and you do not have to own a gaming PC or a gaming console that is capable of running the game. And one more for us, Linux fans - you do not have to deal with the Windows 10 bullshit :)

But... it is a drawback, and not even a necessary one to have those benefits. Stadia is basically Steam Link, except Google provides their own host hardware and arbitrarily denies the option to run the games yourself. Stadia could be a regular ol' game store with streaming as an extra feature, and if anything Google would save money because anyone playing locally wouldn't be using their hardware or network infrastructure. The only way disallowing local execution makes sense is with a Netflix-style buffet subscription, but that's not what this is.

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Quoting: KuJoIn context it looks a bit different.

How? The analogy is still absurd. He's still arguing in favor of trying to wrangle a monster into granting you some scraps of freedom in favor of simply using an OS that is inherently free. The "fight for the freedoms we have" bit seems to indicate just how much he takes Windows for granted, and a catastrophic incomprehension of the value of FOSS. I don't see how what he said could be interpreted as anything other than dismissive and ignorant.

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