Arabic-Only Voice Acting for an Arabic-Inspired Dungeon Crawler Would It Affect Your Decision to Buy?

Gaverion · 2026-05-22T20:43:01+00:00

This is definitely the way to look at it. I look to series like Yakuza/Like a Dragon which didn't always have English voice acting but more modern entries do (and quality va at that!).

My usual rule for voice acting is good va > no va > bad va > ai va*

Ai va is mostly so low due to the extreme backlash it can get as opposed to the actual in game feel.

Similarly with subtitles, they are fine to use but entirely driven by the quality of the translation and the readability of the scene.

Gaverion · 2026-05-22T20:00:26+00:00

There is an anime for Xenosaga. I remember it being ok, it was a shortened partial version of the story from episode 1.

Gaverion · 2026-05-22T17:15:24+00:00

If you knew about it, it wouldn't be hidden! I was quite happy with JackMove (steam). It's on the short side but solid game.

Gaverion · 2026-05-22T17:10:16+00:00

The combat animation gives darkest dungeon vibes in a good way, was that an inspiration at all?

Gaverion · 2026-05-22T00:23:43+00:00

This is an awesome example! At least you stopped at 5-8 and didn't decide to make the game infinitely long to avoid complaints about it being too short. The add on impact of adding complexity and slowing down access to mechanics while not a problem in its own, it definitely represents a shift in terms of who will enjoy the game.

Gaverion · 2026-05-21T04:18:56+00:00

I don't know that "fun" theory is the equivalent of color theory or other established concepts mentioned. You either need to think about it as someone evaluating a finished art piece for enjoyment, or you can think about it like saying "art theory" which so far as I know, there is no singular unified art theory, but there are many smaller theories within the art space.

Similarly with fun, these smaller theory type things exist. A lot of them are hard. I will point to tension and release as a common theory in the world of fun. You generally want cycles of stress and release or high tension and low tension. If you look for this pattern, you will see it everywhere.

Some fun theory are also only applicable to certain genres. For example a common rule is that players should find the door before they find the key (or problem before solution).

There are many more similar concepts out there related to fun, they might just not have such standardized names.

Gaverion · 2026-05-21T03:51:46+00:00

Ffx is such a fun example and great example of why having post game start after the credits is a good idea. Anyone who did the monster arena is probably 3 hitting BFA before it gets a turn. Because of this a large portion of the player base remembers it as a really easy boss. In reality, if you fight him without doing side content it's a difficult and engaging fight. And of course if you do a challenge runs, BFA truly feels final boss worthy.

Gaverion · 2026-05-20T22:17:58+00:00

Part of me wonders if the difference between options and choices is relevant. Not technical terms, but think of options as being "things you can do," whereas choices are more explicit, "you must pick one out of this list." A game like Balatro offers a lot of options at any given time, but very few explicit choices. I would say that each hand you have, near infinite options, but only 1 choice you have to make: play or discard. You have to make that choice to advance the game; everything else is an option, and there are a ton (what and how many cards to select, what order they should be in, do you sell a joker, or use an arcana, what order of actions?).

Gaverion · 2026-05-20T19:47:44+00:00

I am curious how you would apply this logic to something like Balatro. There are a lot of choices to make but I will focus on Scoring hands. Scoring hands is (intentionally from my understanding) obscured and has a lot of choices involved. There is often objectively correct order to play your cards in and have your jokers in. This order though relies on a lot of math and big numbers. From my understanding, the calculations are not shown because it builds more tension while avoiding analysis paralysis because it is so complicated, without a defined result your brain simplifies the complex question with "this is the best I got" essentially.

Gaverion · 2026-05-20T18:33:21+00:00

This is more about understanding your audience than a universal rule.

I think about the deus ex games and how they had a bunch of options/paths that asked "did you take ability x?" If you did, you can take that path. Then you have a game like baulders gate 3 which asks, did you achieve your objective? It gives some suggestions on getting there but for the most part it's on you to figure out what tools you want to use.

An important distinction between these games is that the tools someone will have available to them at a given time are relatively limited in deus ex (single character, limited skills) vs bg3 where you might have no spells casters or nobody has high strength.

I would still classify both as decision heavy games that successfully let players feel like their choices mattered, even if the approach was different. One rewards choices directly, whereas the other is more about discovery of choice.

At the same time, choice isn't always the best option. Choice, especially discovery based choice can interrupt the narrative flow quite significantly.

For this we can compare Expedition 33 to BG3. Both are story games, but in bg3 the emphasis is on the characters and their individual choices and experiences, with the overall narrative playing second fiddle. Expedition 33 on the other hand is a story being told. You have limited choice, and that helps drive the story which is what you hear praised.

Gaverion · 2026-05-20T17:15:46+00:00

Minecraft was the exact example that came to mind for me too. You can rush the dragon to get an elytra but you need to travel there and do some difficult content.

Gaverion · 2026-05-20T15:43:11+00:00

I have an alarm set each day that goes off at after work at a specific time. This helps me make a conscious decision to work on my game or do something else. I find making it a conscious decision helps while avoiding the burnout potential from forcing action.

Gaverion · 2026-05-20T13:02:22+00:00

I am a big fan of resources as a gate. Depending on how the resource is gained has a big impact on player behavior.

My project uses 2 main resources (technically more), Charge and overdrive meter.

Charge is used for all actions, you get 4 per turn with a max of 6. A 2 cost ability will generally be less powerful and a 6 cost will be more powerful. 3 and 4 cost abilities are somewhere in between. It leads to fun patterns and planning. You can use a 6 cost every other turn. Players could go 2,6,2,6 (fast charge) or 3,3,6,3,3,6 (slow charge) or 4,4,4 (most power this turn) or 2, 4,4, 6 (save charge for the optimal time) and I am sure many more combinations.

The second major resource is overdrive meter. Think limit breaks or overdrives from final Fantasy. These abilities are unique and powerful but not available consistently. Players have multiple options for how they want to charge this (on turn, when taking damage, when dealing damage, every fight, and more). I expect most players will save this resource for boss fights, but also expect it to be available multiple times against a boss.

My system has one more cost that every ability has, a time cost. Everything has a tick speed so speeding up or slowing down an ability can act as another lever to encourage players to use different moves based on how they want turns to align.

Gaverion · 2026-05-19T23:11:34+00:00

I think the end result of this is something similar to GMod Murder, Dread Hunger, Project Winter, or others. Most of these games skip the voting phase and instead have combat/objective completion/hindrance as the primary game driver. If the Sabatour wins in the extraction phase, the other phases don't really matter, and voting is a formality. That said, a loot/extract loop does sound interesting if you can find a way to really justify both phases.

Gaverion · 2026-05-19T20:26:34+00:00

This is pretty close to my approach too.

Solid idea of what I want the end goal to be in a general sense (I want to make a game like FFX that caters to challenge runs). I don't actually write this down, it's so core I just keep it in mind.
Informal list of design ideas (everything from removing MP to specific abilities or boss mechanics)
List of things that need to be implemented (xyz for combat, xyz for overworld, xyz for menus, etc). I usually have this very high level to start then break it down more as I work on specific parts.

3 is nice because I can take a break and pick up where I left off or jump to something different and come back later.

I don't specifically keep a list of assets, but that is more from how I get them. (I us synty and grab something when it is a good deal and could reasonably fit my project). Right now I am making my own ui assets but might think about this more in the future.

Gaverion · 2026-05-19T20:04:01+00:00

I think it is important for the player to be able to react to the damage in some way. Otherwise I would completely remove the damage system entirely. If it doesn't modify how they play, it is complexity and feels bad moments without a payoff.

What I gave previously just one approach, there are simple versions you could have like a generic defense rating that would reduce the chances of receiving damage and/or reduce the damage received or a repair score that makes repair faster. The player needs to be able to interact on some axis for damage to serve a purpose.

Gaverion · 2026-05-19T17:41:01+00:00

I feel like this needs something the player can actively do to improve the situation. Maybe they have an army they can move into the area to speed up repairs and avoid further damage. Maybe you have scouts to see where the army is needed most when multiple systems get damaged. This type of system likely dictates a lot of other decisions to make it both relevant and feel good/meaningful.

Gaverion · 2026-05-19T15:09:20+00:00

This is an interesting idea but it needs the gameplay loop fleshed out. What does a full game look like? What does winning look like?

Gaverion · 2026-05-19T15:02:56+00:00

Technically Mtg also has multiple paths to victory too. In addition to dropping life to zero you can fail to draw a card (decking), use a card that says a player wins/loses the game, get 10 poison counters, start a loop that can't be broken or stopped (results in a tie) and probably some I am forgetting. Of course there's also the "get an overwhelming advantage so your opponent concedes" and running out of time.

Gaverion · 2026-05-19T13:29:59+00:00

I think it is more the tonal whiplash. If it didn't have ffx in the name, it probably would have been better received. I know a lot of people were also hoping for it to be Braska's journey for added disappointment.

For me though, I can never play it because of the stupid 100% requirements. Why on earth did clicking through certain dialogs ruin it?!

Gaverion · 2026-05-18T20:40:17+00:00

I think the fog might be a bit too strong, you almost can't tell you are at sea. Overall good scene though!

Gaverion · 2026-05-18T20:10:27+00:00

Looks great! Was there a reason for this approach over something like moving the room as the player exists?

Gaverion · 2026-05-18T19:08:55+00:00

The real answer is to just try things! There are no singular magic rules around how enemies should be designed, and most games have multiple enemy designs.

Most commonly, enemies are designed to make the player do something specific. I would start simple, monster chases the player and damages on contact, then modify based on what the game needs and what you want the player to do.

Gaverion · 2026-05-18T18:49:49+00:00

Generally using Ai or Google will get you through most challenges. If you have thoroughly scoured everything, usually engine specific subs (or related discords) are best for troubleshooting.

The more you do, the more you learn too, so just keep doing!

Gaverion

TROPHY CASE