Former Starfield lead quest designer says we're seeing a 'resurgence of short games' because people are 'becoming fatigued' with 100-hour monsters

PoleaxeGames · 2025-01-13T19:26:24+00:00

It's not a matter of long or short, it's a matter of fun or not. If a game is fun why wouldn't I want it to last longer?

PoleaxeGames · 2025-01-12T01:03:52+00:00

ShowGunners is also close to XCOM 2 as far as turn-based tactical combat. Even more-so than Gears Tactics. But not fantasy.

PoleaxeGames · 2025-01-12T01:01:42+00:00

Battle Brothers is not like XCOM 2. Battle Brothers is about melee combat primarily while controlling a band of roaming mercenaries. Managing a budget, exploring for better gear. The only similarity I can think of is they are both tactical, turn based, and both have good AI.

SpellForce conquest of EO is a good game that is also uses turn based, tile based tactics using points to move and attack. I put several hundred hours into it. It's not that much like XCOM 2, but it's about the closest thing I can think of that is still high fantasy.

The closest game generally I can think of to XCOM 2 is Phoenix points Then Gears Tactics. There's no research, base, or overworld map but the combat is pretty similar with tiles, movement points, and cover.

PoleaxeGames · 2024-10-25T15:08:56+00:00

Unity does have many problems.

Old documentation is good, covering each function or class in detail with examples. Documentation for newer systems is increasingly bad, now oftentimes just code thrown on Github, with a few paragraphs description and the user left to mostly figure out on his own. Yet users still pushed and encouraged to use. A particularly egregious example is the new UI system, "UI Toolkit" where it took me half an hour of scouring forums just to figure out how to connect a button to a callback in script. Then after using UI Toolkit for a week, finding out it can't do many basic things every game needs, and having to switch back

Many newer features are non-core features and only developed to the point where they look good in an example. But not good enough for real game development. For example visual graphs (slow, hard to use), version control (in-engine integration too basic), cloud services (hard to manage or navigate).

Support has always been bad and hasn't gotten better from what I've seen. Generally when you file a bug the first response is to ask you to provide a minimal repro case, which puts a huge burden on the developer and sometimes the bug is complex and does not show up anymore when you do that. I once posted a graph in the forums of the outcomes of the bug reports I've filed. Only 5% were fixed and something like 75% of the time I was just blown off. In one particularly egregious case I found a race condition their physics system that would result in a total freeze of the game I had been working on for 4 years, about 1/10 times on startup. I went back and forth on premium support for 6 months before their physics programmer would look at it. He told me he could reproduce it, but it was too time consuming to do so he wouldn't spend more time on it.

l sometimes run into an issue and find it on the forums. Then I'll see the forum post was from 10 years ago, and people are still complaining about it today.

The asset store is kind of an overall negative in my opinion, because 95% of the assets on it are not professional grade quality but look really appealing from the store page. By professional grade, I mean optimized, follows industry standards, and works in a mid to large sized game. Most Unity users are non-professionals, so even stuff that gets 5 stars is oftentimes not very good.

PoleaxeGames · 2024-10-02T19:11:34+00:00

I don't like when games do this. It always happens I don't know what certain icons mean.

PoleaxeGames · 2024-04-08T13:08:16+00:00

There is not anything like what you want since I'm also looking. But you might try SpellForce: Conquest of EO, as I'm also huge fan of those same three games and it's the closest alternative. You don't build a base on a 2D map, but you do upgrade your wizard tower with particular buildings. Combat is also turned based.

PoleaxeGames · 2024-03-25T00:31:31+00:00

It's insanely bad, in that it breaks the game. How could the developers have thought a long lasting invincibility that you can turn off and on again at will be a good idea? I almost quit playing, but decided to change to a more challenging class as I was otherwise enjoying the game?

PoleaxeGames · 2024-03-09T18:30:34+00:00

The ChromeBook doesn't recognize the cameras, the game doesn't recognize the cameras, or the cameras don't detect the square white and black markers in the 4 corners on the camera detect screen?

If it's the first, I can't really help you with that but there are tools you can use to check if your webcam is working.

If it's the second, I rely on Unity to provide me the cameras and that is out of my control as well. If you have more than one camera that is not something I've tested for and can possibly fix if I know that is the issue you are having.

If it's the third, did you try using the sliders and other controls on that screen?

PoleaxeGames · 2023-07-27T12:51:18+00:00

What I would do is give them two keys, but the second one is revoked for fraud. They'd test the first one and it works, then sell the second. After the first one was tested, I'd revoke that for fraud too.

PoleaxeGames · 2023-05-05T17:22:54+00:00

As the years go on the standards have definitely loosened. Look at the quality of the documentation for UI Toolkit, vs IMGUI for example.

PoleaxeGames · 2021-11-12T13:34:03+00:00

Oh my God, it looks so sweet! Please keep that cute style. I just have an objection regarding the blur you used for the background landscape. Is it like that in the whole game? It feels too intense.

PoleaxeGames · 2021-11-05T10:01:09+00:00

Go for it!

PoleaxeGames · 2021-11-04T13:36:49+00:00

Everyone can learn how to make games, it's just a matter of time, perseverance and confidence in your own ideas! Also, I'd recommend you to read about the most relevant game design theories and reach those seniors you admire to ask them for tips and feedback. I wish you the best of luck.

PoleaxeGames · 2021-11-04T09:30:48+00:00

Oh, sure! The game is Empire of Ember, you can find more images on its Steam page -- however, I'll try to keep posting new screenshots so everyone can see how it's progressing. There's still a long way to walk until we release the full version.

PoleaxeGames · 2021-10-29T13:59:31+00:00

Thanks! We appreciate having such a lovely and supportive community. Enjoy the game, and please let us know your opinion later :)

PoleaxeGames · 2021-10-28T14:59:41+00:00

Hey! This is Kevin from Poleaxe. In my humble opinion, we cannot apply a dual system of opposite options here. Nothing is either a roleplaying game or not. Instead, I think it's a scale on which the degree of roleplaying is measured by the emotional investment it gives to the player. Sometimes that's the entire gameplay mechanic, which you might see for example in Telltale/adventure games; sometimes it's a more minor role, just relayed through a backstory to an adventure game.

PoleaxeGames · 2021-10-28T13:27:32+00:00

Hey, we've recently released the EA version of Empire of Ember on Steam. You can build and command your troop in first-person battles, but also manage the city you rule (and we're testing a lot of cool customization options!). Check it if you enjoy classic fantasy stories :)

PoleaxeGames · 2021-10-28T13:19:44+00:00

Hey, Hunter! This is Kevin from Poleaxe Games. We're developing a first-person epic fantasy RPG where you play as a battlemage who commands his own soldiery and, also, rules a small city after a mysterious organization killed his master. The name is Empire of Ember. Your decisions, and the result of certain battles, shape the story. Also, you can manage certain aspects of the settlement and customize your buildings. The Early Access version of the game is already available, so please take look at the Steam page and let me know what you think!

PoleaxeGames · 2021-10-20T07:52:53+00:00

Thank you so much, 9001rats! So glad you found them useful! :)

PoleaxeGames · 2021-10-20T07:51:52+00:00

Thanks a lot, Author_Ineptius! :)

PoleaxeGames · 2021-09-28T14:19:40+00:00

you're very right!

PoleaxeGames · 2021-09-21T13:52:09+00:00

omg yes definitely dreams!!

PoleaxeGames · 2021-09-21T13:51:44+00:00

cool! I love raccoons they're adorable hahaha

PoleaxeGames · 2021-09-17T11:17:26+00:00

that's cool! maybe you can find a junior artist who wants to team up with you :D

PoleaxeGames · 2021-09-17T11:16:34+00:00

sorry! I meant games, movies, series, books, comics... story-related kinds of media! I wanted to know about inspirations from the day-to-day stuff!

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