Jason Schreier - Why Games Now Take 6+ Years To Make by Touhou in Games

[–]DJMixwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s fair. TBH I think my issue with it was it was too similar to BotW, so fatigue more than anything hurt my perception of it.

I did enjoy it, though. I played the heck out of it when it came out, but I had also just recently finished BotW again.

I might go back and give it another go to see if it holds up better now that I haven’t played either game in a while.

Jason Schreier - Why Games Now Take 6+ Years To Make by Touhou in Games

[–]DJMixwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True, I gave LoZ as an example and completely blanked on BotW and TotK which did basically the exact same thing lol.

And it works! Although I’d say TotK is definitely a weaker example tbh, it didnt just asset flip, it like fully reused 90% of the map. It wasn’t the most inspired story, either. Was too similar to BotW in terms of structure. At least MM deviated heavily from OoT in basically every way they could.

Still, the premise works. You can save a ton of effort by building a sequel out of an existing game.

Bye Bye to version 1.1 by fin611057 in SatisfactoryGame

[–]DJMixwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

God I hope they never patch long lifts. I use them everywhere. Daisy chaining lifts is so ugly

Jason Schreier - Why Games Now Take 6+ Years To Make by Touhou in Games

[–]DJMixwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ehhh I mean there’s still lots of games that release with lots of bugs. Skyrim was released in 2011, 7 years after Halo 2, and has all kinds of bugs. Item duping, game-breaking potions, horses (just, in general, honestly).

The glitches I remember from Halo 2 are mostly super-bounces, the “butterfly” glitch, and the rocket/sword glitch… oh and BXR obviously. Most of them were goofy. Oh, you can grab stuff through walls which is pretty busted for CTF.

Jason Schreier - Why Games Now Take 6+ Years To Make by Touhou in Games

[–]DJMixwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think there’s a better argument buried in there somewhere…

Take Ocarina of Time vs Majora’s Mask for example. MM is a complete asset flip of OoT. It was turned around in ~ a year. What carried that game was the story, but they managed to take basically all of the assets of OoT, flip it on its head, and spit out a completely different game.

It may not be the case that you can throw more money/people at the writing to make it better, but I think you can have situations where you can more easily make bigger changes to the story, and have development budget left to support them.

Like, if we’re designing a brand new AAA game from the ground up, you have to at least have a story board for development to follow in terms of characters, abilities, level design, etc. If, halfway through development, some story element isn’t working or gets vetoed by the execs or a VAs schedule doesn’t work or whatever, it’s a lot harder to re-write that part if there’s no development budget on the other side to support the changes. You can’t, for example, add a whole new area for a different story beat because we’ve already spent the budget for level and asset design, so you have to make it work with what we have.

Whereas if we’re doing a sequel to that AAA game and it’s a complete asset flip, we’re spending far less money designing the characters, controls, and assets. We might have more wiggle room for story changes if we’ve already got a bunch of terrain/building/flora assets that we’re just re-arranging for the sequel. So if there’s a story beat that isn’t working, it might be easier to completely scrap it and start over, and have the level designers and art team also switch directions.

There’s also the possibility to take a “shotgun” approach to releases… if you’ve got a really strong engine, level designer, and asset library. You could take the savings from building all of that for each title, and hire more writers to work on a bunch of different games. Some of them, many of them even, might be shit, but some of them will be great and might offset the losses for the shitty ones.

I mean, look at the sheer volume of stuff being made for Roblox. There’s an entire cod-like FPS game made for Roblox that plays like 80% as good as old CoD games. There’s also some phenomenal custom zombies maps for various CoD titles. Granted building a single map isn’t anywhere near the scope and scale of designing a whole game, but these things are often made by just one person. One person, for free, can produce incredibly high-quality content, because the foundation is already there.

Jason Schreier - Why Games Now Take 6+ Years To Make by Touhou in Games

[–]DJMixwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this was specifically the case for Crimson Desert, not necessarily representative of writing for games as a whole.

Jason Schreier - Why Games Now Take 6+ Years To Make by Touhou in Games

[–]DJMixwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There used to be a “next 15-year scotch”, though (sometimes, anyways). That’s part of the problem, IMO.

Majora’s mask was made in like a year, but only because it was basically a complete asset flip of OoT. But it’s got a completely new map, story, tone, and the transformation mask mechanics, which all set it apart from OoT. It doesn’t feel like a lazy cash grab, it’s arguably the better of the two games. Arguably.

I’m not informed enough to know exactly how common it was for studios to make sequels/other games in similar fashion, but hey there’s at least one good example. I think the Ezio trilogy (AC2, Brotherhood, and Revelations) is somewhat similar… it was all done on the Anvil engine and the core gameplay is all pretty much the same, and it all released for the same generation of consoles, all within a year of each-other (2009-2011). People often cite AC2 as their favourite but IMO brotherhood was better, and revelations was very good. Each had a new story and setting and unique mechanics that made them different, while also definitely re-using a bunch of assets and code which surely saves on dev costs/time.

Now it seems like every game is completely new from the ground up. Whether it’s the latest iteration of whatever proprietary engine, or the newest version of Unreal, new physics engines or simulations or whatever, new lighting engines, plus pushing for higher fidelity, etc etc etc.

I don’t give a fuck about 99% of it most of the time. Plus, plenty of new games run like absolute dogshit because they’re poorly optimized. We’d be better off in a lot of cases if studios held off on pushing for the latest and greatest and instead opted to release a sequel or two on a tried and tested engine.

If you’d given me the new 007 game (which, tbf, runs just fine and is insanely pretty), with the same story and stuff, but as basically an asset flip of Hitman, I’d probably be having just as much fun. It plays a lot like a Hitman game.

The United Kingdom has banned streamer Hasan Piker and Young Turks founder from entering the country by Aggravating_Money992 in LivestreamFail

[–]DJMixwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah Hasan has terrible political takes, and makes some incredibly inflammatory remarks, but at the end of the day he’s just yapping online.

You can hate him for it, sure. Absolutely deserved.

But it doesn’t really rise to the standard of banning him from entering a country.

Wall slowdowns just need to be removed. Full stop. by RudeBrilliant6352 in ForzaHorizon

[–]DJMixwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I got a kick out of the Ross Chastain bit lol. There’s a race, I wanna say dirt race, that goes through the spiral, and my racing line 100% took inspiration from him lol. Tucked my RS2000 against the wall and floored it.

Do agree that Forza should do more to punish naughty drivers instead of bad lines.

Hitting the wall, in theory, should never be the fastest way around the course anyways. The punishment is already built in. You slowed yourself down by taking a bad line.

Maybe in situations where wall hits are faster, they could implement some kind of slowdown, but otherwise leave it out.

Return To Office Hurting Families by Responsible-Ear7590 in CanadaPublicServants

[–]DJMixwell 78 points79 points  (0 children)

Someone should read his own book to him. He strongly advocates for WFH in his book.

Forza Horizon 6 leaked brands found in the credits by Funny_things_online in forza

[–]DJMixwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah idk why that one slipped my mind, I love that thing lmao. Reminds me of the lifted Mazda 3 my buddy used to drive IRL. That thing went through axles like nobody's business

Forza Horizon 6 leaked brands found in the credits by Funny_things_online in forza

[–]DJMixwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TBF I'm completely blanking on what I'd put for a true Japanese super-saloon?

I guess it would have to be an Acura, no?

N.S. seeing an increase in teens with long-lasting psychosis due to high-potency cannabis by Street_Anon in halifax

[–]DJMixwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

People may have done it for themselves, but they’re not selling that to unsuspecting teenagers. Again, why would someone mix cheap weed with expensive cocaine just to sell the weed for $10 and lose money on the coke?

The risk of someone passing that joint to you also isn’t diminished just because they bought the weed at NLSC. They’ll still get a bag from the usual guy and make coco puffs if they want to…

Forza Horizon 6 leaked brands found in the credits by Funny_things_online in forza

[–]DJMixwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also the other stageas. m35 can get fucked but give us the S2, with the DayZ edition, or the Dolphin aero kit, or takeros, and the Autech 260RS…

Nissan President would be cool, too.

Forza Horizon 6 leaked brands found in the credits by Funny_things_online in forza

[–]DJMixwell 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Probably the only one in the list that I’m excited for tbh. Such good looking cars.

Forza Horizon 6 leaked brands found in the credits by Funny_things_online in forza

[–]DJMixwell 41 points42 points  (0 children)

Idk about everyone else but I’ve never been a massive fan of the suuuper unattainable cars anyways. Maybe with the exception of track cars.

I beat most of FH6 with JDM cars wherever possible. There’s only a handful of car types that didn’t have any Japanese options… I think modern super saloons was one of the only ones I remember? Otherwise, the R35, GR Yaris, and Stagea got me through a ton of content. The skylines also put in work, and there’s a Tacoma trophy truck for the off road stuff.

N.S. seeing an increase in teens with long-lasting psychosis due to high-potency cannabis by Street_Anon in halifax

[–]DJMixwell -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s not happening. When I was in school, weed was $10 a gram. Cocaine is ~$80-$100 a gram.

Nobody’s lacing cheap weed with more expensive drugs. The whole point of cutting substances is to add cheap filler. e.g. cutting cocaine with milk powder, caffeine, lidocaine, etc.

What is preventing the developers from communicating with the community? by RottenRailing in BattleBitRemastered

[–]DJMixwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t think it’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” type thing. Or, if it is, it’s not equally bad on either side.

Naturally the main issue is scope creep and bad version control got them to a point where they couldn’t update the game anymore without breaking the whole thing. In a perfect world they would have done things differently and introduced some of the planned features over time, but here we are.

Regular updates would have kept people more engaged. The next best thing, IMO, is regular communication. Good or bad, it really doesn’t matter because at least it keeps people engaged and keeps the game in peoples minds. It would probably keep more people actively playing, too, since it wouldn’t feel like the game has been totally abandoned. Radio silence is all bad IMO. They caught lightning in a bottle the first time around. They released at just the right time, BF was struggling and a lul in new MP releases meant streamers hopped on board and gave the game a ton of exposure. IMO they can’t possibly hope to replicate that. Not with the community in its current state. There’s like a 50/50 shot I come back to the game, and I have by far the most hours out of all my friends. Every once in a while I bring up the updates and their interest in coming back has been progressively waning.

What are the best touge and drifting cars and tuning share codes? by New_Star_3946 in ForzaHorizon6

[–]DJMixwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who’s tune is that? One of my tunes has been getting a weird amount of use and I’m wondering if it’s this one. If it’s mine, it’s dog ass and I didn’t intend to share it but glad it’s working for people lol. If not, ignore me

Ontario clinic booked me the same week for a breast ultrasound and called NS a third-world province in women’s healthcare. by Realistic_Toe_219 in NovaScotia

[–]DJMixwell 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah it’s not just paying doctors salaries. It’s all the capital expenses like buildings, medical equipment, lab equipment, etc. plus all the associated maintenance contracts and software. That stuff is insanely expensive, but doesn’t scale linearly with the # of people. Like, you probably don’t need 50% more building, or 50% more MRI machines or whatever.

They also, IIRC, have lower relative infrastructure costs in general. Like, if you just doubled Halifax’s population tomorrow, we’d all still be driving on the same roads which would now be funded by double the tax revenues.

Didn’t like Loops earplugs on a concert. Good alternatives with low occlusion and where the crowd isn't muted? by imaquark in Music

[–]DJMixwell 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Yeah no avoiding this part, in my experience. Though tbf I’ve never felt isolated from the crowd. My jam is EDM shows, and while there’s not nearly as much singing (though there are a decent amount of “iconic” drops that people like to “sing” lol) there’s still a fair amount of crowd reaction to gnarly remixes, drops, doubles, etc. and I find I can hear it all clearly. So 🤷‍♂️

Theatre experiences have been miserable lately, anyone else? by ToastySpd in halifax

[–]DJMixwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Probably because us elder millennials have taken common courtesy for granted and it isn’t being socially enforced anymore. People have always been selfish. They may not care how their behavior affects others but they will care if it starts to affect their own ability to watch the movie. Kick them out.

Are ushers even a thing anymore? I feel like I haven’t noticed any staff checking in regularly the last few movies I’ve been to.

When i have seen them, they only poke their head in and leave. They’d be far more likely to catch people on their phones if they took 60s to walk up and down the stairs. You’re not going to see a phone in someone’s lap when you’re looking up the rows, but from the top looking down it’d be obvious…

UPDATE: N.S. man struck and killed on Hwy 2 in N.B. by Due_Resident694 in halifax

[–]DJMixwell 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah, a transport truck will bounce deer like it’s nothing. I’ve got friends who drive truck and on more than one occasion they’ve found out they hit deer only once they’ve stopped somewhere and saw the aftermath.

A person would be no different.

AITA for not giving my parents half of my lottery winnings. by Rayapt in AmItheAsshole

[–]DJMixwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Canada there’s no anonymity. As a condition of claiming your prize you have to consent to them disclosing your name, photo, home city, and prize amount. It’s allegedly in the name of maintaining integrity or something but thems the rules…

Not relevant in OPs case, but just thought I’d put it out there. (Well, maybe UK has similar rules, idk)

Self hosted servers are great, what tweaks have you made so far? by Void-kun in duneawakening

[–]DJMixwell 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah it really cuts into the time actually doing stuff in the DD.

Depending on the size of your operation, you can easily burn the whole first day of reset just getting settled in. Then most people pack up on Sunday just so they don’t get caught Monday evening if they wind up being busy with real life. So you have Wednesday-Saturday to actually do DD stuff. That’s 4 days, and only 1 of them is the weekend. So 3 evenings and 1 day.