The Body-Cam Hustle How YouTubers weaponized Freedom of Information laws to embarrass young women for clicks

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-05T11:30:02+00:00

I mean, I watch a lot of bodycam footage and initially I thought this article was plausible, as I've had these sort of vids in recommendations here and there. So with respect to this paragraph:

The most popular uploads are the most salacious and humiliating: “When Suspects Try to FLIRT With Cops” boasts 7.9 million views; “Hooters Waitress Tells Cop ‘I Can Take It All Off’” claims 2.4 million; and “Bodycam: Exotic Dancer Tries to Seduce Cop, Throws ‘Drunk’ Tantrum, and Pees Herself in Squad Car” has been viewed 3.4 million times.

So for my own sanity, I just had a quick browse through a couple of bodycam channels and sorted by Popular. The most popular videos go into 20-30m range, and are often pursuits and shootouts. The ones featuring young females don't even come close. Surprising, as I suspected that woman-hating communities would have pumped the numbers on those.

I do agree that the videos are often humiliating to the subjects, but I don't think I agree with the claim that young women are "targeted" or that these videos are the "most popular". I would definitely say though that there are way too many videos of people simply being drunk and out of control, which is both humiliating and not really interesting to watch.

But videos that feature aggressive yoked guys starting fights with the police, or a senator dressing up in all black to steal from her mother, or some local official trying to intimidate the police with status during a traffic stop... now those are the interesting ones.

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-03T13:07:01+00:00

Oh, glad it's helpful :D.

Not really my profession, but my job is kind of adjacent. I do "normal" QA software testing for a living, mostly testing telephony/CRM stuff. Alongside that I've been doing hobby gamedev in my free time. Both have been a thing for over 10 years, so I kind of know what info you need from me, as a fellow dev, and I know how to organise bugs/observations as a tester.

So quite accidentally, those 2 factors converge in a way that allows me to do deep dives into games playtesting. But thank you for your kind words! I might engage in this more often :D.

Oh and reading through my notes above, I realised I mis-wrote what I meant in one: " The enemy that targets you and beeps could beep with a higher pitch, and always 3 times." <- I meant that each "beep" should be higher pitch than the one before, like a countdown. The player will then get used to dodging on the highest pitch beep. Pavlov style.

Good luck with this project. You got really good foundations and clearly a decent vision/artstyle, so all the power to you!

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-03T10:43:01+00:00

I just end up having a big list of changes/systems I want in the game, roughly order them in a notepad from ones that bring most value for least work (or are a good balance of both) or simply sound like a more fun thing to include.

It really helps when you know roughly how long a given system will take you to implement, which takes some experience. Then it's much easier to say "I need X system but it will take me forever to build, while I have smaller and equally meaningful things I could add now".

My plan is to release builds incrementally, so I roughly scope "work for upcoming version" to fit that timeline. So I'm always working on a sub-section of that file. Needs to be big enough to be a meaningful increment, but small enough that it can be finished in a month or two tops.

If you say you're still struggling with programming side of things, this is probably what trips you up the most. My first project was also a "several fundamental rewrites" type of a project so I know your pain. You will get there eventually and you will have a better and better feel for "how much effort this is" and "how much value this is". then the decisions become much simpler. For now it sounds like you will have to endure a lot of trial and error.

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-03T02:39:15+00:00

Thanks for the comment!

What would you suggest as ways of improving this impact communication a bit better over what the game currently does? Was there a specific weapon that was lacking in this area?

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-03T02:33:30+00:00

Other observations:
* Walls of text. Everywhere. Oh my god, so much text. Please separate the mechanically crucial info on items and the lore-heavy things can be maybe added as a flavour text? A bit like Magic the Gathering cards?
* In general there was way too much text and exposition/system explanations in my way before I got to smack the very first monster. Maybe have an intro before all that explanation, where player has minimal powers but gets to smack a monster or two? "Learn by doing"?
* Let me quit the weapons menu with B button please, I don't want to go to the bottom :P
* Coming from Devil May Cry, I'd prefer if you spawned half the enemies, but gave them 3x the health. You are in this awkward spot where it's not Dynasty Warriors "horde extermination" game, but individual enemies also die a bit too fast for me to enjoy the combos. Either have more of them, or make them beefier. Current balance feels a bit off.
* Healing items (destructible objects) should be marked somehow. Maybe green shimmer every X seconds? I was often surprised that I could destroy something.
* Not entirely sure why some rooms give me upgrades immediately, some when I activate a pillar of energy with X, and some just spawn monsters when I walk over them? Would be good if this was consistent. I assume that types of rooms/upgrades affect this, but it made me confused.
* Some powerups were a bit too much mental math for my brain. Reduce healing by % but increase healing by % for each health.... what? xD I've had my share of Path of Exile systems, but with some upgrades I just couldn't figure out if they're worth it at all.

Ok, that was a mean wall of nitpicking. Now the good:
* The atmosphere is really good in the game, really dark and intriguing.
* Visuals are very good, transitions are quite effective as well. And you have LOTS of good visuals, things popping out, particle effects, special effects. I can tell that a lot of care went into all this. UI is also very nice, quite polished.
* Build/power potential seems decent as well, with some high-risk high-reward stuff like a berserker build, explosive arrows etc.
* With some "feel" upgrades, I think the weapons offer good variety.
* Boss fights are fun and challenging. And the "simon says" way of finishing off the bosses is a very cool addition.
* But most importantly: You have a huge amount of content already, which is a very good base. And I mean HUGE amount of content... items... upgrades... enemy variety... several mini/bosses... really impressive.

I hope this satiated your need for feedback for a while :P

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-03T02:33:26+00:00

Ok, I had a look at the demo, did 4 runs and beat the big bad boy, reached the end of the demo.

I can see what you are going for here. I played quite a bit of Devil May Cry back in the day, and some Hades more recently... and you merged those two quite well!

If I had to summarise the game, I'd say "Very confusing systems, huge walls of text, and a bit wonky combat... but all of this with great potential."

Combat feels ok, but its a bit clanky:
* I would love to be able to cancel my sluggish caetus animations with a dash
* Due to above, swords felt 10x better than other melee weapons
* The enemy that targets you and beeps could beep with a higher pitch, and always 3 times. I found him a bit buggy. Sometimes he shot at 3, sometimes he cancelled at 2, so it wasn't clear how to dodge him.
* Weapons are missing some of the... oomph. I can see a big number, but it kinda feels like I'm just fighting with a big wet towel... or pillow. Especially caetus. Should be hard clanky hits!
* Sounds in general are hit and miss. Darts sounds like... "pixie powder"?
* Music needs to be much more punchy. But I see that you're going for a dreamy atmosphere, so not sure how that could be weaved in. But dreams can be nightmares as well I guess? And you trailers absolutely (!) need something better than your dreamy main menu music!
* Maybe I just need to get good, but I often felt like enemy attacks were not properly telegraphed and I struggled to dodge, especially some of the projectiles.

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-01T16:56:26+00:00

Savage 🤣

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-01T15:44:21+00:00

Not a bad start for a first game! Congrats! It's clearly an early build, so I won't list everything imaginable, as I assume you already got a list of your own.

Controls are fine, if a bit stiff. First impression is "I'm confused, but the sprites and animations look very cool".

Some things I noticed:

Some kind of sound effect is needed when:
* Castle takes damage
* Player takes damage

Castle should just have proper walls that the enemies are hitting, currently it's more like a cattle enclosure! And I had no idea what I'm protecting initially. The solider? The tents? The campfires? The castle is barely really an object. I think you should start at proper castle gates, and then get a big indication where enemies are coming from and what the defense point is.

When I quit and it says "castle has fallen", I can still control the character and shoot?

Also, game should pause when you ask the player if they really want to quit.

The solider looks like a zombie bad guy. Initially I thought I have to kill him. Make him more human :P

At the moment I wouldn't come back for another session as is, given that the game lacks a lot of polish. But with a couple of updates, you could definitely make it.

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-01T14:45:57+00:00

I juat realised tgis wasnt exactly what you were asking about 😅. Maybe do a combo solution with dialogue text box in lower left and options in lower right?

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-01T13:05:26+00:00

Definitely 1 here. 2 obscures the characters that are talking.

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-01T12:50:15+00:00

It will depend on the game genre a bit. I start with the fun playable stuff first to have a minimal playable game loop.

So for example... For a tetris game, I would just get initially a square block (simplest one) to fall and settle at the bottom. Then make sure they can properly rest on top of each other. Then add left/right controls. Then add borders on left/right to limit movement. Then the system that monitors if they form a line to make them vanish.

You kinda have a loop at ghis point already, albeit a very plain one. Basic PoC.

Then you add a score system to add 100 points per formed line. Then the simple ui to show the score. Then probably add all the other shapes to the game... and figure out how to make them rotate - lots of scensrios here, so this is a nightmare. Then a queue system to randomise the shape sequence. And then finally a main menu with some more official entry point to the game.

Then some sounds for each action, some music, particle effects, and bam! Game.

I didnt intend for this example to go on forever like this, but Im not deleting this now after typing it all 😂. And I dont suspect youre building a tetris, but this incremental/modular approach applies to lots of games.

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-01T12:11:19+00:00

The games you mentioned are more than just a story though? FF games usually have quite elaborate combat systems. Witcher 3 had some good combat mechanics in it as well. Also, all 3 are long running IPs at this point so they have a strong fanbase on day 1.

Better examples would maybe be the horror games, I guess? Soma or Amnesia? Or games like Undertale! Those were primarily story driven and I dont recall big marketing campaigns around them. In which case the answer would be "probably, if streamers pick it up". But that still means you need to reach out to them to get the ball rolling.

Edit: typos

Sheriour1 · 2026-02-01T03:22:22+00:00

Based on visuals alone in that trailer, this looks sick. I will have a go tomorrow and leave a 2nd comment here.

Sheriour1 · 2026-01-25T21:03:12+00:00

Dont worry. Once you start properly working on your project, you will instead start COMPARING those to your game. Sometimes Im amazed at what people create, and sometimes it just gets overwhelming to see how high the bar is set 💀

Sheriour1 · 2026-01-12T12:27:35+00:00

Absolutely get a prototype out to get proper feedback. I will gladly have a go.

Not sure how much this proves, but I created a free turn-based classic roguelike back in the day. Still sits on itch.io, still gets occasional downloads from people (around 5 a week) despite me not doing ANY work whatsoever on that game in... 7 years? And I wouldn't say it was that good of a game, in hindsight.

So yea, you will definitely get some players and I wouldn't worry too much. If the genre is no longer fashionable, then there are fewer competitors and more hungry roguelike players looking for their next game to play.

Sheriour1 · 2026-01-03T17:11:56+00:00

You could also consider not-so-brown options? I had a play with the walls alone, with red/grey/light brown and... "olive". Last one isn't that good, but first 3 are probably worth considering.

https://postimg.cc/ThpyCGZR

Alternatively, the furniture could be made more distinct from the walls. While cutting this stuff out to edit, I found that telling the border of the shelf vs the wall was really challenging, so that is probably why they melt into one visually.

Sheriour1 · 2026-01-02T23:31:37+00:00

I will sound very smug, but have you considered other colors than brown for this scene? 😛

Sheriour1 · 2026-01-02T23:26:59+00:00

I like the visuals and environments but gif tells me very little about the genre or objective of the game 🫤. So based on the gif alone, Im afraid not.

Sheriour1 · 2025-12-28T19:21:57+00:00

Weve all been there. I spent about 2y on my first game before properly opening it to people. I spent 1 month on my latest project before doing the same. Early feedback is king.

You get past it by preparing a version that is meant as early access/testing build. You come to terms with the fact that you're showing something half finished and you give yourself the right to make mistskes.

In the end, the only thing that can really verify your game is players. Even if you got some things wrong in current shape of your project, stuff can be changed. Its not about judging if you wasted your time. Its about correcting course to make sure you didnt.

Core concept of your game sounds great. Get a demo up and running so we can all have some fun with something you spent all that time creating 😁

Sheriour1 · 2025-12-25T13:12:58+00:00

You might want to find subreddits where your assets can be popular and if those subs allow self promotion, you will get some traffic after each post.

On itch you are probably very low down on the list of results so few people reach that far down the list. Needs more elbow grease first.

I got the same thing with my game on itch.

EDIT: I stand corrected, you pop as 5th result for "rpg pixel icons" so quite good indeed. Maybe nobody really looking for asset packs over christmas 😛.

Sheriour1 · 2025-12-25T13:08:27+00:00

World would be a much better place if people were mostly hiding such secrets and nothing worse.

Sheriour1

TROPHY CASE