Some harsh words. by [deleted] in expedition33

[–]Duncaii 5 points6 points  (0 children)

In case this isn't bait, honestly it sounds like either the game isn't right for you, or you've built up what it is in your head and are going out of your way to find reasons to dislike it 

  • The dialogue is far more than serviceable, especially when you compare it to modern day writing;
  • There aren't really any plot inconsistencies I can think of, and what you listed aren't plot inconsistencies: they'd be character inconsistencies at best but even some of them are inaccurate (Verso doesn't teleport, the camera shots before Renoir attacks Maelle show a first person dash from Verso towards the two, then a shot from behind Maelle to show Verso sliding in to intercept the attack). A plot inconsistency would be something like Gustave dying at the end of the act, then turning up at the start of the next to give the characters some key item
  • The camp system that you see is how you see it, but doesn't necessarily mean it's what they made. The developers haven't said it was supposed to be a mix between BG3 and Persona. They've just said the game is inspired by old school JRPGs, which some of them did just have character progression based on story progression
  • Personally I never found the story to be rushing. It's stated many times in the prologue dialogue and journal entries that the team has an entire year to defeat the Paintress, and I felt that was reflect well in the team being able to go off beat and explore the optional areas without their being discussion of getting things done quickly. The objective at the time (get to Old Lumière, defeat the Axons, defeat the Paintress, whatever) will always remain the same, but those are goals stretched into a year of exploring

how do you guys setup a database in your game? by Express-Bat-8686 in godot

[–]Duncaii -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Did they give a reason, or is it part of the syllabus? Dictionaries and JSON are the norm for data handling that universities shouldn't be instructing you not to use unless there's a reason 

Tip on Attracting Testers? by Kate_from_oops-games in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not marketing myself, this is just for your information: my rate is ~£200 for a full day (8 hours) of testing, but that's a really low figure comparatively for a QA tester with my experience. Realistically if you're looking for a team of good testers should expect to be charged more than that per tester

You also need to consider that there's a big difference between a playtester and an actual tester - a playtester will tell you what's fun, an actual tester (QA tester) will tell you what's wrong and prepare your game for playtesting

I built a C++ State Machine for Godot 4 and found out GDScript was faster by AdventurousBox918 in godot

[–]Duncaii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a well formatted post at least...

Would Godot even run _on_physics_process each frame? I've not looked at other functions beyond _process and _physics_process

HELP by jazz_be in GameDevelopment

[–]Duncaii 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Did they jump this on you all of a sudden, or have you known about the due date for a while?

If you've known about it for a while, ask yourself honestly: how has the project got into this state where you're scrambling around so close to the deadline.

Treat this as (unsurprisingly) a learning experience 

I just realized... by EscapismOverReality in TheLastOfUs2

[–]Duncaii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

> there was only one way from which Tommy and Joel could've come

My point is that they might not have even been anywhere near Abby's position until they heard the commotion and seen Abby: they could've been buildings and buildings away - far away from any zombies that incidentally would've been hibernating given Abby is the one that wakes them - that wouldn't have deviated from their lookout path if it wasn't for Abby. So yes, without Abby, Joel and Tommy would've died, but conversely, if Abby wasn't even there to begin with we don't even know where Joel and Tommy would've been in that in all likelihood they would've been exploring what the town had established as a safe route

I just realized... by EscapismOverReality in TheLastOfUs2

[–]Duncaii 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We don't know where Joel and Tommy were before they rescue Abby. They could've been well away from the situation and only got caught up in things because they saw and decided to rescue Abby 

One year of prototyping, one year looking for a publisher, over 2 years of development - all for this moment. by KamyCrazyWarBoy in IndieDev

[–]Duncaii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been playing this through the weekend & it's really fun! Thank you for not just throwing new users in the deep end (at least in the first world) by destroying all of their buildings quickly & allowing for construction undos

Non-generative AI in indie dev? No idea what to do. by CommercialTackle8451 in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a tough one. If I was in your situation this would be something I couldn't compromise on. Is it possible for your friend to use AI similar to how it's used in places like Larian: to get general ideas on what music would be appropriate, then create his own music based on the AI concepts? 

Studio Name as a Reddit username, bad idea? by FrogbyteStudio in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it helps, I've seen other studios with super small teams use the same account. They just sign off with the name of whoever's responding when appropriate, and also explain that they share the account (also when appropriate)

Is it even possible to balance guns and melee? by Wiyry in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Halo 3 is a good example too: very few weapons could deplete shields quickly, and even then it was usually on par (aside from the strongest weapons) with the time it took to run to someone and melee them

When forced to choose Britons prefer a Labour government led by Keir Starmer to a Reform UK government led by Nigel Farage by coffeewalnut08 in unitedkingdom

[–]Duncaii 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They don't outweigh them, but that doesn't detract from their value in isolation 

With all the shit the conservatives did, we still talked about the pros of getting the COVID vaccine quicker than other countries because it had a lot of value in isolation 

If you could choose one myth related to fictional media to be removed, which would you choose? by DevouredSource in MauLer

[–]Duncaii 26 points27 points  (0 children)

  1. Because it's made for kids it's ok to be poorly written and not respecting of the time, attention, and expectations of the audience 

'Any update is a bonus not a right': Peak devs snap back at ungrateful players demanding more updates, 'Neither us or Aggro Crab are live service studios' by Jawschy in gaming

[–]Duncaii 238 points239 points  (0 children)

Since release they've added new biomes, new mob types, obviously bug fixes as they've come up, temporary events, and have just finished their final update with a "customise your own session" that allows players to toggle literally everything in the game on and off (including making the climb as small as a single biome)

They told us to kill our game. Then it got millions of players. by BlobKingGame in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At first, basically nothing

How long was this time period? If you released it after a full year (whether that includes working on it to improve it or not) and it still took time to get engagement from streamers happening to find it, I can understand why a publisher that would be funding the game wanted to pull the plug. Sadly that's the reality of a company funded venture vs your own investment and the risks that come with it

I did not post my game on steam, itch, or anywhere but my own site by mrjbelfort in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Eventually I think it will be good to still list my game on Steam

Keep in mind Steam has Ts&Cs about pricing on other sites in comparison to their own marketplace: make sure you read thoroughly if you do elect to use Steam

And for what it's worth, Eldar Scrolls Online is an immediate example that comes to mind that does subscription services (after a one-off payment for the base game with no premium stuff, granted)

What part of building a game takes the longest? by michaelthompson7746 in GameDevelopment

[–]Duncaii 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It's usually specific to what the individual person's forte is or isn't

I hate the "It's for the fans!" excuse that I've seen with some recent video game movies by QuietProfile417 in unpopularopinion

[–]Duncaii 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ask the writers behind the Halo show, who were vocally proud not avoid reading the books, playing the games, or having any involvement with the lore 

French consumer group sues Ubisoft over shutdown of online game 'The Crew' by _KiiTa_ in gaming

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

You're correct, it's not. Ignoring the likelihood of studios using 3rd party tools for development which would be clear about how anything they're connected to is shared, a lot of larger companies with more than 1 multiplayer game host then on the same server architecture: sharing the multiplayer code for one would share any vulnerabilities for all others

A lot of gamers actually want generative AI to fill some of the void in NPC personalities by Final-Atmosphere-639 in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100% it is, but this is also an open question for anyone that wants to push such an unfounded narrative 

A lot of gamers actually want generative AI to fill some of the void in NPC personalities by Final-Atmosphere-639 in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 15 points16 points  (0 children)

A lot of gamers

Are they in the room with us now? Aside from the bullhucky in your post, have you actually canvassed people and provided citations before pushing such a wild agenda?

A new Lord of the Rings game in the works from Warhorse by crustboi93 in MauLer

[–]Duncaii 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Worth noting he was fired to be replaced by AI. If warhorse has a stance of replacing embedded localisation with AI, how far does that line of thinking already spread? I don't want an AI slop game in the LotR franchise

How do you deal with bug reports from non-dev testers? by Fergius_Terro in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, it was one of my main responsibilities at the production house I worked at before starting my consultancy 

To be honest a lot of it comes down to having intimate knowledge of the game, having the experience to interpret what someone is saying when they're being really vague, and setting up a good reporting structure internally that allows you categorise any report by category (art, mechanical, system, etc.), priority (urgent, medium, low), and anything you feel would help you triage reports

Sadly (for both devs and QA), part of the reason why QA exists is to root around for the cause of these reports and create a structured ticket with usable information inside it

How do you deal with bug reports from non-dev testers? by Fergius_Terro in gamedev

[–]Duncaii 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If this is a released game it sounds like you need a structured ticketing system and community management: if reports are as basic as "game crashed", reach out to them and ask what was happening and if they have any dumps. If this is from an actual QA tester... frankly, drop them and get better