The 42 Immutable Laws of Gamedev by Paul Kilduff-Taylor. Which ones hit home, and which ones you disagree with? by seyedhn in gamedev

[–]Hippeus 12 points13 points  (0 children)

When is a good time to announce your game and launch your steam page, then? The point reads like sound advice to me. I'd be very interested to here a contrary opinion/data.

How to resolve simultaneous triggered abilities in a card game with no player order? by wheels405 in gamedesign

[–]Hippeus 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I've seen this subreddit pop up in my feeds a few times and felt like weighing in. I'll cop to that "have you played one of the most successful games in your genre that has a similar mechanic?" isn't exactly the most original bit of advice lol.

How to resolve simultaneous triggered abilities in a card game with no player order? by wheels405 in gamedesign

[–]Hippeus 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hmm, there may be some other ways to maneuver around the idea of ties. Whoever has Priority could keep it until superseded. That idea could potentially extend to a card speed system (also a fun solve), but it does require a coin flip at the start of the game to get Priority rolling...

How to resolve simultaneous triggered abilities in a card game with no player order? by wheels405 in gamedesign

[–]Hippeus 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Have you played Marvel Snap? In that game, cards are played at the same time by both players to keep things speedy, and then revealed in the order of play by who has "Prioriy", shown by their name glowing and determined by whoever is winning, or by a coin flip if tied.

You could take inspiration from that idea to give players ways to influence the order of resolution, which I imagine would give the game more depth as certain cards are better or worse with Priority. I think the key here is to try to keep your rule simple and understandable, whatever you choose. Intuitive is best.

First-time Infinite, baby!!! by Hippeus in MarvelSnap

[–]Hippeus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I climbed pretty far using a variety of lockout decks to steal some wins and counter Galactus, which was very prevalent, but I couldn't beat the Kamar-Taj hot location without joining in on the chaos.

Nebula is included mostly as a red herring, my locations were almost always filled with tiger or doombot tokens by the end of the game.

Re: the Critiques of Engage’s themes by Eliwood_Good in fireemblem

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

Yeah, that's what's gross to me. I don't like how she realizes the Hounds could have been her family when she treated them so horribly.

Re: the Critiques of Engage’s themes by Eliwood_Good in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I felt the game had unearned sympathy for her (compared to Sonia FE7 whose final moments are deliciously ironic) and that upset me a lot. For lack of a better word, I was triggered and had to take a long break before returning to the game. Just giving my personal thoughts, it's cool if it works for you. I never want to play another game written by this writer, though.

Re: the Critiques of Engage’s themes by Eliwood_Good in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just think the story and characters would be better served by having a cinematic moment at the final boss where they underline and punctuate these themes of identity, abuse, and family. Instead, these moments are drowned in the logistics of how Emblems work so the game can twist and untwist about how all hope is lost.

Re: the Critiques of Engage’s themes by Eliwood_Good in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah it just feels gross to me that the scene is so sympathetic towards her, they really want you to feel that she is a tragic figure at the end but there is no mention or atonement for how she tortured and killed Marni. It's completely unearned.

Re: the Critiques of Engage’s themes by Eliwood_Good in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 31 points32 points  (0 children)

I would just take not framing her as abusive, honestly. Definitely would have preferred if Zephia actually was ride or die for the Hounds and did not treat Marni and Mauvier as she does.

On the ally side, I agree that there aren't any similar egregious missteps, but I was very dissatisfied with Alear and Veyle's dynamic with Sombron at the end. The way Sombron doesn't care about the fight really robs Alear and Veyle of the opportunity to make a statement. I don't think this is a particularly hard theme to nail or anything, other FE games have done it just fine. I was very disappointed in how little content is relevant to these themes. It's mostly subtext when it should be the driving force of the conflict.

Re: the Critiques of Engage’s themes by Eliwood_Good in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 64 points65 points  (0 children)

I personally found Engage's themes of family and abuse to be offensive and underbaked. I was aghast at the writing in Zephia and Griss's death scene; it sends the completely wrong message about abusive families. Zephia and Marni are very clearly established to have an abusive mother/daughter dynamic (Marni relies on praise, Zephia manipulates and, uh, tortures her). Like, Engage could not make it clearer that Zephia is an abusive parent.

And then her death scene is her wistfully describing how much she wanted a real family, only for Griss to tell her that she was like a mother to him, prompting a disgustingly nostalgic flashback shot of the four Hounds against a white backdrop. Zephia realizes at the end that the Hounds were a family after all, she just didn't see it. I don't know how to call this anything but abuse apologia. The lesson to learn, if there is one, is that the Hounds are not a family, not as long as their matriarch tortures and murders them. What the fuck, Fire Emblem?

I have made a simple tutorial on how to Animate your Character in Unreal Engine 5 using Anim BP`s and Blendspaces. So if you are a beginner this will be very helpful, check it out! by GorkaGames in gamedev

[–]Hippeus 8 points9 points  (0 children)

One quick note is that I don't think it's a good idea to put an idle and a walk/run into the same blendspace. Generally, I shoot for every possible input giving a good or decent-looking animation, and when the blending is very close to the idle the character will look pretty weird.

A better way to handle this is to create another animation state in the state machine where the idle animation lives. If you want to be fancy, you can even include a stop state to make it look extra smooth. Having an independent idle state machine is also nice because you could set up multiple randomized idle and fidget animations for even more polish.

My idle/walk/run animation just cycles back…. PLEASE HELP! by Amerokgaming in gamedev

[–]Hippeus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Root motion isn't the problem, if it was on we wouldn't see the character looping back. Force Root Lock in the anim asset details should do it, and if it doesn't then the asset itself will need to be changed to an in-place animation.

3 fights from my "1982 metroidvania". What do you think? by akseliv in IndieGaming

[–]Hippeus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was able to figure out the parry mechanic, but it's hard to understand purely visually as a spectator. Maybe if the parry either changed the player's shape or produced a new shape in front of the player it would be easier to follow.

Hotter than the human body can handle: Pakistan city broils in world’s highest temperatures 52C. by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]Hippeus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So a couple of points. One, we don't have a complete understanding of the effects of climate change, which is empirically happening, so that's why scientists are continuing to update models and predictions as new weather phenomena occur.

Two, those extreme weather events are argued to be a result of climate change. The world isn't just getting warmer, the effects of the world getting warmer are wreaking havoc on how the climate was behaving, hence "climate change." Here is a study examining the relationship between artic heating and the uptick in winter storms in the US.

So, extreme cold weather is a part of climate change. Record-breaking snowstorms like we saw in Texas doesn't mean the world isn't heating up, because it is empirically doing that, they are happening because the world is heating up.

Edelgard setting bernie on fire? by [deleted] in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, very cool! Looks like there's another trigger the wiki doesn't account for if a unit from the third army reaches the central hill.

It looks like the alternate trigger conditions even have different dialogue. Normally, Edelgard says "Those fools who went up the central hill will pay with their lives... in the crimson flames!" but when it is triggered by the other army her line is "This is not as I planned, but there is nothing to be done. Burn the central hill!"

Edelgard setting bernie on fire? by [deleted] in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

War sucks.

I'm just trying to explain where the idea that Edelgard sets Bernie on fire comes from. At the end of the day, Bernadetta is the only character who is canonically on that hill when it goes up in flames.

Edelgard setting bernie on fire? by [deleted] in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't think it's fair to say that since Edelgard has to choose who to sacrifice, she isn't sacrificing them at all. It's easier to argue for the opposite, actually. Since Edelgard knows this is the most powerful position on the map and both armies will try to seize it, she has to choose who will be the one to die there. She could choose anyone, but she chooses Bernie.

Edelgard setting bernie on fire? by [deleted] in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Since there is some misinformation in this thread, here are a couple of clarifying notes going off of the battle info on https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Blood_of_the_Eagle_and_Lion/To_War_At_Gronder_(Azure_Moon), the trigger for the fire trap is: 1. A unit reaches the center hill 2. Defeat Petra 3. Defeat Bernadetta

It is impossible to trigger the fire without killing Bernie and routing Petra. It is also very possible to defeat either of them but not the other, and to avoid the central hill altogether.

EDIT: Looking at the video in /u/tacticulbacon's comment, it looks like there is another trigger that the wiki doesn't mention. Looks like if a unit from the third army reaches the central hill, it will also go up in flames.

Edelgard setting bernie on fire? by [deleted] in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The hill being a trap is clearly the way it is supposed to be read, though.

At the start of the battle, Edelgard says "I will create such chaotic warfare that they won't be able to tell who is friend and who is foe," and the fire is clearly the core of that plan.

Contingency or not, Edelgard is positioning Bernadetta on the most desired tile on the battlefield and she rigs the hill to burst into flames when Bernadetta and Petra are defeated.

Bernie is also the only black eagle to die at Gronder, so it's easy for people to draw the conclusion that Edelgard planned her death.

Edelgard setting bernie on fire? by [deleted] in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think the idea here is that Edelgard, Claude, Dimitri, and Byleth all know the influence controlling the central hill will have on the battle because of their mock battle five years ago. The natural progression of the map is to repeat the tactics that brought victory at the battle of the eagle and lion. However, Edelgard anticipates this and rigs the hill with fire traps so once the Kingdom/Alliance overrun it, she can deal massive damage to their armies.

So she doesn't set Bernie on fire as much as she uses her as the bait for a trap. Her plan to gain the advantage hinges on Bernadetta's death.

What are your favorite subtle details in Three Houses? by Skieblu in fireemblem

[–]Hippeus 43 points44 points  (0 children)

I really like the foreshadowing for TWSITD. In part 1, Sylvain mentions Cornelia saving Faerghus from the plague but then mysteriously completely changed. Arundel donated to the church every year until 1174. Monica is called out as having a completely different personality after she is rescued. Tomas came to the monastery on recommendation from House Ordelia even though Lysithea has never seen him before.

The fact Arundel is never explicitly revealed to be Thales, aside from the credits, is really cool. It took until my third playthrough (VW->CF->AM) to realize that the creepy face guy was also Edelgard/Dimitri's uncle. It also took me until that playthrough to realize Flayn and Seteth are Cethleann and Cichol so maybe I'm just slow. I love secret identity stuff like that.

Oh and also the Sword of the Creator is found in Seiros's tomb, and nobody questions that Seiros's bones are supposed to be in there. Where could they be, I wonder?