Nazdar

@PopeUrban And here I was thinking that ACE was being sorta-transparent. Honestly, that StarBaseGame forum is more than impressive. For all the clever and cute, I still get the feeling that ACE spends a lot of time over-curating their public image before being "transparent". I'd love to see more of ^^^ this ^^^ around these parts.

Five Years. This is the story of a small game studio. They had a lofty goal ($800k!). They planned to launch in one year. But, it's funny what happens when you give someone a lot of money... $$$ See, running a studio isn't cheap. Take a look at the payroll. Big numbers become small numbers fast. We've got to get this Spruce Goose in the air. We've got business chops. We've got hype. Tout the numbers! Raise more capital! Then -- THEN -- we will have enough runway. Then -- THEN -- our players will forgive our missteps. Then -- THEN -- we will be successful. How does the story end? A glorious takeoff? A fiery crash? We will see. Now then... how much more runway does $11.7M get us?

My good friend and indie developer created a dungeon crawler puzzle book. It's cute, fun, and high quality. I've handled the prototype. If you like this sort of thing, check out his KS page. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/caravelgames/twisty-little-passages Cheers!

I love the look. What kind of a bite does this take out of performance? I don't suppose you'll spill on which Unity plugin you settled on?

Sorry, I'm honestly not sure what you're saying here. What do you mean by off-hour players? Can you clarify?

This is the right discussion. (I have thoughts. I'll get back to you.)

Are you just going for post count at this point?

@PopeUrban @KrakkenSmacken Thank you for the thoughtful discussion. You bring up good and valid points. @Jah My opinion of your non-rebuttal remains unchanged. Lazy. Trite. Let me break it down: This solution successfully encourages PvP in controlled times/places. Despite the accusations, I think everyone here gets that. However, it comes at a cost. There are other game design solutions that could have had the same effect without over-regulating the tempo of the game. This change literally moves the game in the direction of a match-based game. If you look at the announcement, you will see screenshots that literally resemble a lobby for a match-based game. While sarcastic, it seems entirely reasonable to complain that design is shifting (in an unhealthy way) towards being more of a MOBA than an MMO. The false dichotomy here is that was the best and only solution to the problem. With a little creativity, I believe we could have the best of both worlds. Also, you may think me a troll, but I complain because I care.

Simply put, this is a major deviation from the concept of freedom and emergent gameplay. Yes, this is a solution to a problem. But I like to believe there are solutions that do not deviate so far from the original vision. @Jah You can shake your head and tell me that I don't understand the change, or you can form a rebuttal to my, albeit sarcastic, extremely valid argument.

Congratulations on your new lobby system! This is going to be a great MOBA! What a shame.

It's not about any one feature. It's about overall emphasis. If I felt like the core game design objectives were being given as much attention as the periphery, I wouldn't be voicing this frustration.

I regularly attend local indie game dev meetups, and I am continually astonished (astonished!) at how many game developers there are who have, as their sole aspiration, the desire to re-invent the wheel. Me: "What are you making?" Them: "Well, it's basically a Diablo clone, but mine has some different monsters." Me: "WHYYYY????" ~~~ I harbored the illusion that the ArtCraft team was different. I believed that they weren't just creating the next MMO clone. But after piles of meaningless skill trees, the revelation that there will be experience and leveling, limited use recipes, mob bloat, etc. I'm reformulating my opinion of the motivations driving this team. But, seriously. This is not just frustration, this is accurate and scathing satire. And it resonates. It feels like we are watching the game we were hoping for slowly sail away into the distance. ~~~ Every small change is easy to rationalize and justify. However, the sum of the small changes is adding up to substantial drift away from the original vision. I know I'm harshing on someone's baby, but it seems to me that this baby is getting bloated and off-course. I feel like we were sold something different. Is it too late to refocus on the original game design goals?

This will seem unrelated, but I have a rant and a request. The Rant I'm starting to see a pattern. Establish a high-level goal Hand off design of a sub-system to a team Once the subsystem is created, realize that it doesn't mesh well with the goal Instead of making deep changes to the already built sub-system, modify the high-level goal slightly to match This time, it was in relation to the changes to skill trees. High Level Goal: let players make important choices that define their character in meaningful ways Sub-system: it was built to be overly complex to the extent that players cannot figure out the consequences of their choices without trial and error. Conflict: Trial and error are heavily penalized, so the system is frustrating to explore (when it should be fun!) Result: Instead of dramatically altering the complexity of the skill systems, a compromise is proposed where players will have fewer significant choices so that they don't get as frustrated. Do you see what's happening here? No single compromise is "breaking the game", but this pattern keeps happening. Slowly, but surely, the original high-level goals are being compromised to accommodate sub-systems that are poorly aligned. The Request Please, go watch (or rewatch) this GDC talk to remind yourself of the importance of Role and the dangers of Complexity. Then, do as he says. "Once you're done, cut half." Please. For the love of the game we were sold.

"Fun", he says about cutting features. Riiight. We all know y'all are sweating bullets right now.

https://youtu.be/rL0c8snCGz4?t=124 R.I.P.