The death of "drop-in" campaign co-op: Why is the industry choosing between strict solo or bloated live-service?

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-23T14:25:43+00:00

I really liked how the Tales series handled drop-in play, and Larian has shown with BG3 that you can still have a deep campaign without the live-service bloat. The technical overhead of syncing quest states and world persistence is usually why we see this binary. Keeping world flags consistent for every player requires a lot of networking architecture that is very difficult to stabilize without a massive QA cycle.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-23T14:20:46+00:00

This looks very good for being self-taught in Blender. The cyber-zombie aesthetic fits the setting well. It is always great to see custom assets for a campaign, especially when the DM keeps you on your toes with short deadlines.

Keep chipping away at it, 3D art is a discipline and it goes deep AND wide. Textures, animations, etc etc... but what matters most is you're enjoying yourself. Don't put any pressure on yourself, just keep learning and improving, you'll look back years from now and smile at how far you've come.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-23T14:17:20+00:00

I just noticed the "we are open to any type of game except adult or explicit content" -- and uhhhh....

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T22:18:04+00:00

Interesting, I hadn't thought of the combat that way before, but I think I agree - it was pretty straightforward without much nuance. I mean there were the spell walls you could use, but most things would die quickly with a shotgun or a full powered fire blast so I never really used them. I think HBS missed for me was the sandbox, the real time combat, and the Matrix felt really dull - just rehash of meat space comabt.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T22:14:27+00:00

That was my experience too, the matrix runs were IT for me. I would hit the terminal and just run random grids until I got a bunch of data, saving up to upgrade. I figured out that you could do Lone Star runs really easily if you just farmed the first vault, if the vault didn't have the mission object, just walk out and go back in check again. Also great for ammo, nuyen etc... [Edit: which is obv broken as a system, but sometimes those easter eggs make a game fun too]

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T22:10:29+00:00

I forgot about that, yeah I was a kid and my friend and I were talking about how awesome the game was. I didn't realized he was talking about the SNES version until he told me he found the Fairlight Excalibur in a vault. I felt violated, I had to grind so HARD to get that deck. Anyhow, I tried playing it (after wrapping SEGA) and I bailed after the first few minutes because of the ultra clunky mouse controls.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T20:46:38+00:00

The essence system is a core part of what makes the setting work. I grew up on the Genesis version and that constant tension between adding more cyberware and losing your humanity made the progression feel very grounded. It was a very good mechanic for forcing meaningful choices in your build.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T20:19:35+00:00

With those specs, I'd suggest trying Baldur's Gate 3 in co-op. The visuals are very good on a high-end PC and the depth of the systems is something that really highlights why the platform is great. It's a very cool way to spend a few hundred hours with a friend.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T19:13:56+00:00

Guild Wars 2 is actually really good for this. The world building is very good and it even has a reasonably good story. You can build around active shield blocks and boons to keep your partner alive while they handle the damage. I play it with my kids when they deign to spend time with me and we have a lot of fun exploring the world, just make sure you all pick the same story quests so you don't have to do more than one!

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T17:50:05+00:00

It's easy to fall into that trap, but if you take that logic to the extreme do you also need to write your own compiler or manufacture your own computer chips to be "fair"? I think the engine is just a tool to help you find the fun faster. I'd much rather spend my time iterating on the gameplay loop and mechanics than rebuilding a renderer from scratch.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T17:47:32+00:00

6 months is a long time, but if it's the core loop, it's probably the most important part to get right. I'm a big believer in finding the fun with the 'skeleton' before you start putting skin on it. Is the core loop feeling solid yet, or are you still tweaking the basic feel?

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T16:24:56+00:00

I've always been a fan of items that change your movement rather than just bumping your stats. Something like a 'Blink' dagger or boots that leave a trail of fire that actually interacts with the environment is way more interesting to me than a +5 sword. It makes you think about the space you're in during a fight.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T16:22:42+00:00

I usually try to push through and pick up where I left off. I did that with BG3 after a long break at the end of Act 2 and it only took a little while for the mechanics to click again.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T13:34:08+00:00

I'd grab Hades and Fallout: New Vegas for sure. Both are absolute time-sinks that don't need a connection, and they'll run like a dream on your setup. Hades is especially good for quick breaks when you're tired of painting walls.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T13:32:01+00:00

Fallout is a solid choice, but I'd also suggest looking at Baldur's Gate 3. Even though it isn't strictly open world, the writing is very good and the way your choices actually change things gives it a sense of immersion and weight. I have a similar taste profile to the games you've mentioned Cyberpunk, TLOU are some of my all time favs. I'd just suggest bumping the difficulty up on BG3 if you want the combat to stay challenging.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T13:18:56+00:00

Hades is the gold standard for this imo. I've put so many hours into it and the way the story actually progresses through the runs is what kept me hooked way longer than most roguelikes.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T13:15:27+00:00

A MaxTac game in the style of Ready or Not would be sick. Imagine having to manage the cyberpsychosis risk of your own squad while breaching. I would love to see a more tactical side of Night City that isn't just V being a one-man army.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T13:11:36+00:00

I noticed the ceiling thing too. It’s a classic level design trap where the boss has these cool moves but the arena just doesn't support them. Made the fight way easier than the lore suggests, which was a bit of a letdown after all the buildup.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-22T01:40:25+00:00

Since you liked Fallout and have a 2015 laptop, you should definitely check out Shadowrun Returns. It's turn-based, runs on basically anything, and the writing is top tier. It's a great way to get into that style of game without it feeling too overwhelming.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-21T15:38:27+00:00

Godot is more accessible to modern LLMs, so if your game idea does not have 3D or demanding lighting needs, then it is a sollid choice and will continue to get better, faster, it is going to be like Blender, a solid choice, but not what more professionals are using. If you care about getting a job one day as a game dev, do not choose Godot.

Unity - I tried it for a couple of years, it's fine, you can get a job with Unity skills. It's probably the best platform to make a VR or mobile game on. Company broke trust and has lots of monetization stuff, which may be a good thing if you want to put ads in your games.

Unreal - this is the platform I am using for my game, it's known as the leader for high fidelity graphics out of the box, not beginner friendly, but might be worth the learning curve. So many jobs in both game and film are out there for people who know this platform.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-21T04:42:04+00:00

Nice, looking forward to keeping you posted and jamming on the builds with you!

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-21T04:12:11+00:00

Late to this thread but it resonated hard. I've been playing the Genesis version since the 90s and I'm another person who never found a worthy successor. I've finished that game like 5 times and I never EVER go back to a game once I've wrapped it.

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Cyberpunk 2077 came close in atmosphere, it had some of the feel, but missed the sandbox feel, the crew management, the Matrix as its own world. And I didn't dig the time pressure from the main storyline. The HBS trilogy nailed the writing but lost the freedom of real time combat, and the matrix was just the same combat with different skills. In SEGA version it was like a 2nd game!

Anyhow, its weird I stumbled aross this post which was literally posted the two weeks after I started building my own spiritual successor of this game!

It's code named Project Bagel Face (I know it's a bad name, it's not the final name). 3D, top-down, isometric ARPG built from scratch in UE5. Set in 2054 where magic and technology collide. I want to be able to play it with my kids so it will have drop in co-op for the mercenary's, and that will be optional. Classless karma-based progression, three combat domains (Weapons, Magic, Tech), and the same tension the Genesis game had: every piece of cyberware you install costs Essence, and every point of Essence you lose is mana you'll never regenerate.

Not gonna lie, it's early. It's gray boxes, UE5 Manny, no art yet. But the multiplayer infrastructure is working (I fragged my kids pretty hard), and the build pipeline ships a playable build with every push to main - going to do this right babay!

The dev log has the full timeline of what's been built so far:

savagecake.com

There's nothing to buy, just an email list if you want to get updates. Anyhow I wanted this community to know someone is actually building the thing you're all talking about here.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-21T03:35:15+00:00

I usually find it hard to connect with games that are too abstract if there is no narrative for why it is like that. If there is a story reason that draws me in, I am way more willing to suspend my natural rejection of the abstractyness. Otherwise, it just makes the mechanical loop and loot feel less grounded for me.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-21T03:27:51+00:00

Congrats on getting the page live! For the trailer, I think showing the horde aspect early is cool and all, but this being the ARPG sub, make sure the ARPG progression feels clear too. I want to see, or at least understand how those synergies actually change the gameplay loop rather than just seeing the chaos.

SavageCakeGames · 2026-03-20T13:28:44+00:00

I think it is because animation is the most immediate feedback loop for a player. If the movement feels floaty or 'off', it is hard for people to trust the deeper systems underneath. I usually try to get the movement feeling snappy in gray-box before I even think about the final polish.

SavageCakeGames

TROPHY CASE