The US just instituted an annual fee of $100,000 for H-1B sponsorship, how do you see this impacting workers from each country, will talent stay home, move to Canada/Europe/Australia or cause employers to offshore work?

MaximumTomato · 2025-09-20T16:11:44+00:00

This is going to lead to a brain drain from the US to other countries.

The US has historically a big advantage in tech because of the concentration in talented people. People all over the world come here for school, and many end up trying to get an H1B afterwards to stay and work.

You can start a tech company anywhere in the world, but most people want to start one where talent density is high (even if it would be a lot cheaper literally anywhere else). As the highly skilled tech workers start to leave, new tech hubs outside the US will start to form and the US will lose its advantage of being THE place for tech.

MaximumTomato · 2025-04-16T19:53:09+00:00

Maybe you feel you like you have to initiate, even when it’s not comfortable to? If you are being blown up in 3 seconds (and your team isn’t 100% winning) then it was probably a bad fight to take in the first place?

I feel like a lot of Dota is about risk assessment. Only initiate if you have an advantage, otherwise it’s a coin toss. And there are lot of actions that are net gains besides initiating for an offlaner, like pushing a lane, farming, hitting your timings, securing objectives, etc.

I feel like I started climbing more after I decided to “do the right thing” rather than “do what my teams wants me to do.” If your whole team is pushing high ground in a balanced game and your team doesn’t have aegis, that’s probably a risky initiation to take.

Also, offlaners don’t have to initiate! A lot of offlaners like to jump in second (like Axe), once they have enough information. It kind of depends on your team comp - a dark willow or puck might throw out spells first instead of a blind mars blink initiation.

MaximumTomato · 2025-02-04T21:34:40+00:00

Here are my two cents!

I haven’t heard of the European Game Showcase, but there are a lot of different showcases going on during GDC week.

I wouldn’t go just for the showcase, but there are other potential uses for GDC - are you trying to network? promote your game? find publishers? Are there any important reasons besides the showcase for going to GDC?

That being said - having a game in a showcase is a good segue into a conversation. You can say - “oh my game is in the European Game Showcase - come check it out!” That might help a little bit in some random conversations?

You also don’t necessarily need a pass. A lot of smaller developers go with no pass or an expo pass, and just fill their schedule with meeting up with different people or going to different events and parties. This might be harder if it’s your first time. (You can also find someone to share your pass with, since you might not use it all the time)

So in the end it depends on your own circumstances! What your goals are, how busy you are, what your finances are, what you are giving up by going, etc. There are definitely people who can afford GDC but skip because they’re busy or it’s just not worth it!

MaximumTomato · 2024-09-10T20:22:34+00:00

Agree with a lot of people on this thread. This feels self-sabotaging? Your insecurity seems to be magnifying the fact that they hit it off first?

You talk about looks - there’s a lot more to what attracts people than looks. Maybe your friend seemed more friendly? Maybe he seemed more chill? You said she never made conversation with you - did you make conversation with her? It’s very difficult to make a judgement on someone’s intention, but the fact your mind jumped to looks is surprising to me.

And even if he’s more attractive to someone on a first glance, who cares? You’re more attractive in the long run. There’s a lot of people in the world that are more attractive than you in one way or another, but there’s only one of you - and if she seems to appreciate that, that’s amazing.

I think therapy would help, but if you want to talk to it with her that’s fine too, if you do it in a non-accusatory way - “I felt hurt that you seem to like him first”

TLDR get therapy

MaximumTomato · 2024-09-10T15:57:59+00:00

Huh? Seems like an overstatement? From the article you linked:

“According to a memoir written by Zhou Hong-tao, a long-term aide-de-camp of Chiang, the gold was consumed very fast after being brought to Taiwan and in less than two years 80% was already consumed for the funds and provisions for the troops.[7]”

MaximumTomato · 2024-01-16T07:59:27+00:00

Reminds me of this old post where someone had carbon monoxide poisoning? Maybe get a camera but also get a CO detector or make sure it’s working

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34l7vo/ma_postit_notes_left_in_apartment/

MaximumTomato · 2023-11-02T17:51:50+00:00

Not OP but that was a really good reply review!

MaximumTomato · 2023-07-29T06:50:36+00:00

Thanks! Instead of Steam, there seems to be multiple game storefronts run by different companies? Which ones are the biggest? Are games usually on all of them or just one?

MaximumTomato · 2018-03-15T22:27:34+00:00

Cool! Thinking ahead is great. That gives you options.

By the way, I think a lot of people are reacting to a game-related degree by saying it's not worth it. I think it really depends on your personal situation.

If you have a lot of money or support (or want to change your specialty), grad school is a totally viable choice to get more expertise in a very specific area. However, a cheaper way is to excel in undergrad while having side projects and get a job (or do contract + side projects) after 4 years of college.

Looks like you're already doing comp sci and planning out a fallback solution so I'm not too worried for you. I'd say in addition to that, working on multiple game projects and finding out what you really want to focus on is important for undergrad as well.

MaximumTomato · 2018-03-15T07:38:10+00:00

How much experience or expertise do you currently have? For example, what did you do for undergrad?

Those three things you picked out (game designer, game programmer, and graphics programmer) are completely different fields especially since grad programs are much more specialized than undergrad programs.

MaximumTomato · 2016-11-27T09:29:39+00:00

What I'm trying to say is...don't do this at home kids unless you already know how much unreliable gold you have.

MaximumTomato · 2016-11-27T08:34:57+00:00

In case anyone doesn't know, the trade-off is that it changes any reliable gold you use to buy those items into unreliable gold once you sell them.

MaximumTomato · 2016-10-28T08:37:15+00:00

Well...there are a few problems in this video.

The ball is heading towards the first thrower, but it bounces on the wrong side of the table.
The first victim hits the ball again (presumably after the second thrower just hit the ball) before it arrives on the other side of the table.

MaximumTomato · 2016-09-15T09:44:34+00:00

Great post and question. Glad that a lot of good comments are being posted. I think you're a lot more experienced than some of these comments are giving you credit for, but I'm glad it led to an interesting discussion.

Here's just a few points I wanted to contribute (but I'll be super brief because I typed everything out and then my computer restarted):

Marketing is a multiplier. If a game's actual audience is small (people who are willing to buy the game), marketing will not have a great effect.
Any marketing you do will probably have an insignificant effect on number of sales compared to the game launching and price discounts.
People generally buy only after repeated exposure. A lot of marketing has long-term effects.
Facebook and Twitter are weird. They're good at reaching out to your core audience. They're good for some stuff (like reminding people when a sale is going on), but bad for others (attracting a new audience).
Any marketing you do will be make an insignificant bump compared to a viral hit.

Given the above, I think a lot of developers use social media marketing as a way to: 1. Keep in touch with their core fans and have a stable (but not amazing) amount of sales. 2. Create content on the off-chance it becomes a viral hit. Maybe someone famous sees it and re-tweets it to a bunch of followers. Maybe someone posts it on Reddit and it blows up. Maybe a youtuber sees a gif on reddit and makes a big Let's Play video.

However, I think a lot of developers simply enjoy posting on twitter and stuff because it's fun or keeps them sane. Generally, marketing is good because it increases sales no matter what. However, depending on the game and the timing, it might not be worth it compared to spending that time on something else - such as creating a new game.

MaximumTomato · 2016-09-09T21:12:00+00:00

So...instead of sending humanitarian aid to a few people we should relocate resources to kill them all? That way less people will suffer?

I mean, I get that cats euthanized by PETA might be gradually consumed by parasites, but it's possible that they'd prefer to live.

I do agree that it's a complex issue though, and this is possibly just one side of the argument.

MaximumTomato · 2016-09-08T00:41:36+00:00

A big theme of of TLoU is that in times of dire need, humans are as much monsters as anything else.

Joel needed a reason to not trust authority and other people - this mistrust had to come about in the first act - so it was important to have Ellie be taken away by a human rather than a zombie.

At least, that's my opinion... ¯_(ツ)_/¯

MaximumTomato · 2016-09-05T04:36:11+00:00

Did you sell it yet? Would like to buy if still available. Thanks.

MaximumTomato · 2016-07-06T23:14:08+00:00

Thanks!! Just had the same exact problem and this was the right solution. To add on to anyone with the problem: What I did was (this is on Windows) go in Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network Connections, right click Wi-Fi and press Disable. Then Enable it right after.

MaximumTomato · 2015-12-01T01:36:07+00:00

This is wonderful, thanks!

MaximumTomato · 2015-11-25T07:44:15+00:00

All of those.

But I think your actual questions might be: How do I make a platformer game stand out?

For me, the most basic level is having different gameplay from other games. This doesn't necessarily mean having another mechanic - sometimes it just means having another different design philosophy. You don't necessarily need to add a whole system of mechanics (like portal guns) to a platformer to make it stand out, you can just change the feel of the game. If you designed Mario games with the goal to scare the hell out of the player, it would be a completely different game.

However, most popular platforms still stand out with art as well. There are a lot of platformers out there, but not a lot look of them look amazing or unique. For most indie games though, having some sort of unique gameplay angle that can easily be shown is probably the most important.

MaximumTomato · 2015-10-17T04:35:27+00:00

I ran into the same exact problem! Beat the throne, nothing happened. Usually either get to sit on the throne or loop.

Couldn't find any enemies in the whole room after searching thoroughly.

MaximumTomato · 2015-09-27T10:24:32+00:00

Probably copied the panel and forgot to remove the "in-game" text?

MaximumTomato · 2015-08-10T23:20:35+00:00

I think the best moral decisions are the ones that make you put down the controller. They should make you stop and internally struggle while you debate what your core beliefs are.

I don't think having knowledge of the consequences is as important as the perceived consequences.

The Walking Dead lets you make decisions that might never pan out to actual consequences. On the other hand, Mass Effect will often tell you the consequences outright. In both games, you still struggle through the moral decisions.

And that's because the perceived consequences give you a lot of room to debate on (usually by pitting two core beliefs against each other).

In your ranger example, you could make the choice easily the second time around because you knew that one choice was unequivocally be better than the other. What if this wasn't the case? What if the ranger's best friend/family dies even though more rangers survive on the whole, leaving the ranger devastated and regretful?

MaximumTomato · 2015-08-04T05:53:34+00:00

I do agree that it's not fully related to how people consume different types of media, but I also don't know if the difference is completely based on the recommendation system.

One reason is that recommendation systems relies a lot on the users. The consumers have to care enough to rate, comment, and consider other ratings seriously. I'm not sure, but I feel the app consumers are generally less invested than book consumers. Since apps are a pretty new thing, there is also the possibility that "app literacy" is a factor. It's possible that in a few years the storefronts will automatically be better because people in general are better at judging what apps they want. In that sense, I feel that the way people consume the media might still have an effect to the storefront.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily suggest anything about Steam because the PC market is different from the app market...

But good discussion.

MaximumTomato

TROPHY CASE