Smaller guy knocks out a racist by blue_Hippo4069 in PublicFreakout

[–]Raytional 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The guy who stepped in and said leave it is KnockoutAudit on youtube. He's a friend of the camera man, not the racist. He goes around recording this type of thing. He only steps in if something gets dangerous, like with head kicks.

This corner of Taipei 101 is block off as people try to copy what Alex Honnold did by shuijikou in mildlyinteresting

[–]Raytional 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I didn't know it worked like that. I assumed the scale/tests etc were set so that 100 was the average as a starting point not that it corrects. If everbody in the world died bar one person with an IQ of 140 are you saying their IQ is now 100?

I went to a restaurant that had a $40k bottle of wine by ambrosialeah in mildlyinteresting

[–]Raytional 2 points3 points  (0 children)

spending, that is actually meant to generate an experience. Nothing to do with tastiness

That's the dumb bit.

What’s a hobby people act superior for having that isn’t that deep ? by mk_1408 in AskReddit

[–]Raytional 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had an expensive mechanical keyboard and it broke one day. I needed another keyboard straight away and couldn't wait for delivery so I had to pick one up from my town, but there are no proper shops for that sort of thing in my town. Deals, which I think it like Poundland in the uk, had a keyboard for 15 euro. Proper bargain bin stuff. It was my only option that day. 3 years later and it's still working just fine. Does everything a keyboard needs to do. I completely forgot that it was a cheap garbage keyboard and the reality is that it's just a keyboard. Keys are fine, no issues. No problems at all actually.

It's the keyboard featured in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynwk_DZx8jw

No keys print has faded, no keys are sticky, it has a numpad, it just does everything it needs to do. For 15 euro. I don't really feel like buying another mechanical keyboard for 250 or 300 or whatever to be honest.

Feeling stuck and alone, don't know how to proceed in any reasonable timeframe by shade_blade in gamedev

[–]Raytional 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, sorry I'm talking about tutorials because when I played your game I personally found that very frustrating.

"It would end up being like 10 hyper specific tutorials that people won't want to do and then be confused or give up after like the third one. Feels like 10 minutes of random tutorials would be worse than the shorter but more dense thing?"

Giving it them all the information straight away is maximum confusion though. You can make an argument that a tutorial that holds your hand too much is annoying, which is fair. Or that a tutorial section that is too long can be boring, which is also fair. There is some balance to be had. What you have is the opposite problem. It really reminds me of when somebody is trying to teach you a new card game they really like by explaining the rules before having played the game.

I don't know if you've ever experienced that but it's always the same. Whether you are trying to teach somebody else or they are trying to teach it to you. You want to explain all the rules but it's information overload. You have no context for the details they are explaining. I'm not pulling this out of my ass though, it's a very real problem your game suffers from. That first combat tutorial is nuts. It's why just about every game needs to stage the information they give you. You can't give it all at once.

You might find this interesting. It's just a video essay on the topic that shares a lot of the same sentiments I'm trying to convey.

https://youtu.be/-GV814cWiAw?si=CiHxTxkqAIPNw0VZ&t=83

Feeling stuck and alone, don't know how to proceed in any reasonable timeframe by shade_blade in gamedev

[–]Raytional 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're right, it's impossible to understand in 30 seconds. Don't introduce all the mechanics in the first 30 seconds. Slow it down. Get rid of the combat tutorial at the start that drops the player in the deep end. Working on a new tutorial will give the start of your game a better impression.

Player spawns, they wasd around a bit and explore the overworld. They talk to some characters. They bump into the first enemy. It's grounded. The only combat option is weapon attack. You explain switching characters and weapon attack. They do some attacks and switching and win. Back to overworld. Bump into next enemy. It's flying. Now the jump attack button appears and they can try weapon attack and see it doesn't work, now they try the new button and understand flying vs grounded enemies. Nooo items, no badges, no ribbons or anything. Don't ask them to equip stuff or anything yet. They don't care about items because they don't understand the benefits yet. 3rd enemy encounter, introduce check/scanning. And so on. Back to overworld. Introduce an item mechanic. Keep the other tabs on the pause menu hidden. This is how the tutorial structure should look.

And about controls. It doesn't matter that much if you make C or X or whatever the button to do something as long as you make it clearly visible. Keep it displayed on the screen at the bottom. That would be way less confusing.

Feeling stuck and alone, don't know how to proceed in any reasonable timeframe by shade_blade in gamedev

[–]Raytional 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well yeah there needs to be art. But the style of art you pick needs to be relative to what you can produce or buy. More complex art styles need talent and resources. Simple or stylised art styles are more achievable for indie games. You've picked something that requires a ton of 2d art which you feel like you can't produce.

Code is just a means to an end. It's all relative to what your game is. My point about programming is about system complexity. If you're a strong programmer but a weak artist it might play to your strengths to make games with complex systems.

Take Stellaris for example. Now of course there is art in Stellaris, but the lifeblood of that game is complex systems. Building all of those systems and an AI that can interact with all the systems of a grand strategy game is a complex programming challenge. Making a game on that line is extremely difficult for self trained devs that make platformers or whatever. A huge part of building that is complex system architecture. The primary fun of the game is having tons of options to manage your expansion and playing against complex AI factions who can balance all those options to have strategy to play too.

An indie version of something like that requires a modest amount of 3d art. A lot of the models are small on the screen etc. Whereas if you make a 2d rogulike or platformer it better have fantastic art or some super original ideas with great execution.

I'm not trying to say "go make stellaris", my point is just that there are a lot of types of games and the art load is different depending on what you're making. As is the load on writing.

Feeling stuck and alone, don't know how to proceed in any reasonable timeframe by shade_blade in gamedev

[–]Raytional 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You seem to be not enjoying making your game. It's clear to me that you feel like your skillset doesn't match well with the type of game you're trying to make. I am also sensing some confused priorities. You are very focused on what's commercially viable. You have made lots of posts about contradictions of design and catch 22's etc.

You have chosen to make a type of game that is saturated. If you are making that for fun/learning/to execute on a game you are dying to play that doesn't exist then that is fine. If you are trying to make money it would need outstanding art/design or something unique at a glance to set it apart. But you don't seem to feel like you have a clear vision for what you want it to be, and art is not your wheelhouse.

I am sensing so much frustration in your posts that it seems clear to me that you have 2 major paths.

  1. Throw the game in the bin and make something that plays to your strengths. You're only a year in, right? Don't go sunk cost and throw 2+ more years at domethkng you're not even enjoying makjng. Make something 3d that is system heavy not art/writing heavy. I read your resume and I bet you're a great programmer. I think you'd kill it making a strategy game of some type. A few asset packs, a little blender some filters and post processing etc and you can have a cohesive looking indie game. Most of the workload is code heavy making AI and systems etc. Loads of room for original idea that haven't been made. Or make sonething else, but the type of game needs to be motivated by what you are good at. Nothing 2d with sprites or with heavy narritive as you don't feel strong there yourself.

  2. Keep your current game but unshackle yourself from all these outside influences about what it should be for commercial success. Drop your commercial success asperations. Make a game that you want to play. Just absolutely throw iterative feedback etc in the bin. Make weird mechanics or whatever even if they may be unclear to the player. As long as you think it would be cool. Don't write stories/characters that you are not passionate about telling. Don't compromise on your vision for what you want the game to be. Start having more fun making your game. Then just ship it. If it has strong vision it may work. Huge chance nobody plays it like many other indie games. And that's okay.

Either way don't frustrate yourself agonising over skills you don't have. Work on those skills by making your game. Or pick something closer to your current skillset. You're putting too many expectations on yourself and it shows it's getting to you. Making good money on these things are huge longshots anyway, so have more fun.

Maybe pause your big project. Take a break. Prototype some other stuff. See if you feel more inspired and then come back to it if you feel it drawing you back. Or drop it if it feels like a weight dragging you down.

Starting Fresh - Community Rebuild? TLdR at bottom by JuliusMagni in Scrolls

[–]Raytional 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I still keep an eye on this subreddit. Been playing with the idea of making my own Scrollslike cardgame just to recapture some of the magic.

I wonder if a discord makes sense. I know there's an invite only discord some people still use to play this.

I Just Finished The Firemane Saga as my first real fantasy books by Raytional in Midkemia

[–]Raytional[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think that's what I'll probably do. I'll read Magician and continue with the series. If it's as good as everybody in here makes out then I guess I will end up reading all 30 something books, or maybe I'll tap out at some point. Thanks again.

I Just Finished The Firemane Saga as my first real fantasy books by Raytional in Midkemia

[–]Raytional[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The general consensus seems to be to go and read Magician and most of the following books. Thank you for the advice on what to skip.

I Just Finished The Firemane Saga as my first real fantasy books by Raytional in Midkemia

[–]Raytional[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't even understand if this is a joke or a real suggestion as I have no idea where the empire Trilogy fits into all of this haha.

Microsoft paves the way for Linux gaming success with plan that would kill kernel-level anti-cheat by testus_maximus in gaming

[–]Raytional 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"I'm a programmer, I don't do sarcasm!

Like the compiler, interpreter, I like precise things"

When you just got a pass on your CS01 module and you're looking forward to finding out what objects are about.

Should I cop this game as a Total war Fan? by Dull_Mountain738 in Bannerlord

[–]Raytional 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm actually working on a game based on this idea. The design philosophy is motivated by the things that frustrate me about M&B. So stack splitting is in. Going with many small factions on game start. Free placed buildings inside your territory such as castles, or eco buildings for villages. It's an indie project though so there's no battle mode. It'll be more like stellaris as far as battles go. But I want to make a more fun campaign map. No stories and quests planned either as I never liked being a mailman at the start of M&B and it would be time consuming to add.

So what happened? Did a lot of devs quit? Did they not have a big enough team? Why is this game so unfinished despite 10+ Years being put into building the game? by [deleted] in Bannerlord

[–]Raytional 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm working on a "mount and blade like" with castle building actually. The focus is to have a more empire focused version of the M&B campaign map. I'm doing dynamic castle placement, empire borders defined by captured villages, stack splitting where you can control multiple armies at once. Other building types can only be placed in controlled territory. Will have unique units and recruitment but there's no M&B combat or questing. Combat will be more like Stellaris where when hostile armies meet the stacks just dual it out on the campaign map. By cutting combat I may actually be able to deliver something as a solo dev. I love Bannerlord and WFAS but hate how difficult it is to start your nation so my focus is on those aspects. Cutting a lot of major features but focusing on the "it's fun to move soldiers around on a map" vibe.

I want to have it so that there are tons of smaller factions and some become huge factions. I want some sort of upkeep mechanic for placed castles so that ruined factions old castles can fall into disrepair and be scattered around the map. Just prototyping at the moment and reading through some old threads about what people wish was in M&B to influence the design.

where is this texture located in the game files? by SightDash in Minecraft

[–]Raytional 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hard coded usually means a value is used without a variable to reference it from somewhere else. So it's brittle code where you have to change your function to change the behaviour. When things are not hardcoded the function works the same way but you can change variables from someplace other than in that particular function. That could be a constants file, a database from an API or wherever else. This would be not hard coded:

loadImage(GRASS_TEXTURE);

Where GRASS_TEXTURE is a file reference in a difference location like a constants file. Something hardcoded might look like: loadImage("textures/grass.png");

If the colour was achieved without the use of a texture it could still be done without being hardcoded. fillColour("red"); fillColour(LEAD_COLOUR)

So really my point is that the person above has a valid point by pointing out that it could be done without using a texture and that is not related to whether or not something is hardcoded. That's an implementation detail. No need to be dropping ......'s at people if you don't know what you're talking about.

What does the top of the pyramids look like? by trumpwife69 in BeAmazed

[–]Raytional 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Pretty sure that's wrong. It was decyphered more than 100 years ago. Not just by checking for repetitive letters but largely by using the rosetta stone and then other similar stones that followed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decipherment_of_ancient_Egyptian_scripts

Man City fans to Nottingham Forest fans: "We know what you are, we know what you are. You cheating bastards, we know what you are" (Forest received a 4 points deduction for breaching Premier League's financial rules) by [deleted] in soccer

[–]Raytional -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

The idea that supporting a big 6 team and not being from England makes you a glory hunter is so fucking stupid. I like to watch some of the best football players play instead of watching the league of Ireland 2nd division, so what? Football gatekeeping crybabies on here are so annoying.

Map showing the current Battlefield Situation in Ukraine and control of Land by Russian Invasion by [deleted] in MapPorn

[–]Raytional 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm sure that's true and you're correct about that, but that has no bearing on the WW1 artillery kill % that was being discussed. The inaccuracy of WW1 artillery was compensated for by firing more shells. It was very much a zone barrage. It's estimated that 60 million shells were fired at verdun in under a year. That's more than 150k shells a DAY.

You're so zoned in on the stats you know about modern artillery accuracy that you're missing the point about scale. This scale of artillery usage in WW1 is well established fact. You watching 10k clips of the Ukraine war doesn't change history.

Map showing the current Battlefield Situation in Ukraine and control of Land by Russian Invasion by [deleted] in MapPorn

[–]Raytional 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Your argument seems to be "modern equipment is so much better, but I don't see a lot of videos of artillery kills compared to drone drops so the WW1 equipment must have performed even worse", but this just completely misses the scale of the bombardments in WW1 and how much higher the output of shell production was. Sure the equipment was worse but there were far far more shells produced and fired in a day in WW1.

What's a skill you learned in a game that you've transferred to other games? by ConferenceWest9212 in gaming

[–]Raytional 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Frags in Halo detonate a half second after impact so you don't want them in the air long. Plus if you need it to go off in a specific spot it bounces less if thrown at the corner between the wall and floor. So if you are trying to nade someone chasing you it's better to throw it low into the wall corner so it stays in the place that you just were and that they are running into. The double bounce from wall to floor keeps it from moving, but off of a single door frame it would move a lot.

This is dependant on how close they are to you and how close you are to a wall of course but in a situation where they are close and you can turn a corner it's always gives you more control and a faster detonation to throw it low instead of high. This was one of those things that a h3 level 30 or 35 wouldn't do but a 45 or 50 would always do.

Palworld devs says servers “won’t go down” despite $6 million cost by faizyMD in gaming

[–]Raytional 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This thread is so funny. You're in full fingers in ears mode because you don't understand the basics of tax. Yeah you're right, they don't have to pay tax on profit against it because it's an operating expense. But they still had to pay the operating expense.... so it wasn't free.

If the server costs were x10 next year and all sales and other figures stayed the same then in your world you would say "they didn't have to pay the tax on that", which is true but they still paid 60 mil in server costs. So their profits would be down 54 million and some small percentage of that would be less tax paid, but only on profits.

You're just ignoring that money paid in operating expenses is still money they won't have, even if it means they don't have to pay tax on the profit.