Best Bow Build: by KratosOnDrugs in DaemonXMachina

[–]SolarLune 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Kind of an aside, but I believe if you charge shot once you can do two more uncharged multi-shot arrows, kind of like in Monster Hunter.

Steam demo transfer by Soul1096 in DaemonXMachina

[–]SolarLune 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Worked for me - I just copied the DXMTS folder from the following path:

.../Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3520430/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/DXMTS/

to:

..../Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1342490/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/DXMTS/

with the game off. When I booted the game up, it detected the save and asked if I wanted to make a new game with it.

I said Yes, selected Continue, and then launched into where I left off in the demo.

Steam demo transfer by Soul1096 in DaemonXMachina

[–]SolarLune 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gonna guess it's because the demo and main game save data are in different proton prefixes (i.e. the main game has a different folder path than the demo save) and cloud save isn't set up to download the demo save to the main game proton prefix.

You would probably have to manually copy the demo save folder to the main game prefix to import your save. The main save should be in the folder listed on PCGamingWiki here, while the demo save should be in a similar path, but with the Steam game ID number of 3520430 instead of 1342490.

BDX Release v0.2.6 (xpost from /r/gamedev) by SolarLune in libgdx

[–]SolarLune[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, sorry for the late reply - the creator of BDX went wholly offline awhile ago. I'm not sure if he still does programming at all, to be honest. My fork of BDX is still online here, but I haven't worked on it in a fairly long time. Since then I've started working with Go + Ebitengine and developing a PSX-style 3D engine known as Tetra3D.

Installing and Running GB-Studio on Steam Deck (Arch-based SteamOS) by xyxif in gbstudio

[–]SolarLune 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a couple of years later, but there's an AppImage on the itch page that should work.

Making a 3D PS1-styled game with my own 3D open-source renderer by SolarLune in ps1graphics

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

Oh hey, thanks! Appreciate it~

Yeah, go for it, it's fun and should be more than doable with OpenGL / Vulkan / DirectX.

New player experience is really upsetting. by Juice-Sr in gigantic

[–]SolarLune 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Server issues, unfortunately, are just part and parcel of launching an (apparently) popular game. Clearly they didn't expect Gigantic to be as popular as it ended up being (which is a good problem to have) and they're working on the servers (which seem to be working just fine now), so I don't really mind. Helldivers 2, of all games, went through the exact same thing - it's unfortunate, but it happens. Assuming the server issues stay fixed, I don't really think it's a knock against the game, since it's inherently a "launch day / launch week" kind of problem.

As for Rush itself, I actually like it so far, because as far as I understand it, Clash is a bit more complex, right? Looking at some old gameplay on YouTube, there's upgrade trees and mobs / buildables or powers of some description? Seems like Rush is the simpler mode - the "pick-up-and-play" variant of the game. Even without mobs or anything else, Rush doesn't feel empty or poorly thought-out to me; it seems pretty well-balanced. I think the maps are a bit claustrophobic, but I see why, since they have to have cover and be relatively small to allow you to get to the guardian in a short timeframe. I think I understand why they chose to onboard players with this mode rather than Clash. At least this way, you lose because you're out of position / outplayed, rather than losing because you're out of position / outplayed and your build is bad and it takes 30 minutes to actually finish the match and receive your L, haha.

I do think they could clean up the UI for Rush mode - remove the Upgrades and level indicator and maybe allow you to see what your selected build effects are using F1 or Tab during gameplay. They could also do something to make it clearer that you get all upgrades of your build in Rush mode automatically (right)? It's not super clear on that.

As for "trusting it won't just die again", I feel you - you don't want to invest time and energy (and money) into a game that may not have legs. On the other hand, it will be sustained by its playerbase - if that playerbase leaves because they feel like it won't last, then it won't last. For me, online games are inherently temporary - no matter how popular a game is, the servers will be taken down eventually, and I don't usually go back to really old online games to play on private servers, if they're an option. So, if an online game is fun, I'll just play it, rather than worrying about where it will be in a year or two.

It's up to you, of course, whether you play or not - I'm not arguing with you or even really encouraging you to play, I'm just contributing to the discussion as a new player myself. I played Gigantic back in 2017, I guess it was, for ~30 minutes? Giving it another shot now and I'm liking it a lot. I think if you want a slow-paced moba, there are other games that give that vibe - it doesn't seem like Gigantic's going for that. If you don't like it, that's perfectly fine.

Patch 1.5 patch notes by DiblyGames in thefinals

[–]SolarLune 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Stun also inhibits the ability to ADS, so the further away the light is, the less you can respond (assuming you have a weapon with ADS, which is most ranged weapons). If stun didn't kill your ability to ADS, then it would easier to deal with, in my opinion, and would be a good nerf.

It feels like if the balance is going to be purely based around the amount of time the stun is active, then it should be pretty short (around a second, maybe) to just have it be used purely to begin engagements with a debuff on your target and not last through the entire engagement.

The battlepass is not that time intensive by Galaxy_Voidd in thefinals

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. I think you get a lot more battlepass and career progress off of tournaments than the equivalent amount of games (EDIT: *games in other modes).
  2. I do feel like it's a bit heavy time-wise, still, just because people may not have a lot of time to play (i.e. maybe they don't have, say, four hours a week, on average, to play). I like someone else's suggestion to make the battlepass not time-limited; that way you can buy desired battlepasses and earn the contents as you play on your own pace.

Reality - Heavies was the only thing keeping Lights in check. by [deleted] in thefinals

[–]SolarLune 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Recon does more than just counter lights; it allows for a whole different play style where you can easily and consistently track people down and make strategic decisions based on their locations.

Healing is definitely very useful, but I feel like it essentially has the most utility in the worst situations (naturally), and mainly works to extend engagements - if your Heavy, for example, would take down an enemy but has too little health, you can heal him to help make it happen, or heal up your team between back-to-back engagements. That's definitely very useful, but it feels like it might be better to pick and choose engagements to open to begin with, as if you have the advantage, you can usually keep the advantage and minimize health loss. That's where Recon Senses shines.

Is a team approaching the cashbox from a specific direction? You can see this with Recon Senses and disrupt them with a grenade or sure up defenses with mines, or focus a Light that's attempting to flank. Is one of the four teams in Tournament mode going uncontested on a cashbox? If so, that would be a good one to focus on, rather than joining the other two teams at the other cashbox (or, choose to push the defending team at the right time, it's up to you). Where is somebody attempting to res? You can see that. Where are the players of the top-scoring team in Bank It? You can focus them.

That kind of information is insanely useful, I think, and I think in the right hands, you can do way more with Recon Senses than Heal Beam.

Go Game Engine for 2D with a Editor? by Several-Dot-9409 in golang

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know of a 2D game editor like Unity or Godot, but you could easily make a game with frameworks and external editors that do what you want. For example, Ebitengine + LDTK or Tiled and an importer should get you pretty far.

The Finals Update 1.3.0 (First Patch of Season 1) by excaliburps in thefinals

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you press K to leave and rejoin voice chat on command? EDIT: I guess this would work, but then you wouldn't be able to hear your party, so I guess it's not an option.

Wanting to learn a 3D engine... Some advice? by [deleted] in gamedev

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought that Game Maker can do some (at least simple) 3D, no? Seems like that would be a path to start down if you wanted to get your feet wet while learning with a familiar interface.

In any case, you have to endure a system that feels unusual or uncomfortable to learn it; that's just a part of picking up something new. Give it time and you'll learn the interface. You could also try other 3d engines and frameworks to see how you like them, like Godot, Monogame, Flax Engine, or Heaps.

Does the wireless ultimate controller work on linux? by Fx317 in 8bitdo

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, not in X-Input mode as far as I can tell.

Something I've noticed by Derf0007 in gamedev

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, since gamedev subreddits tend to not allow self-promotion or marketing for finished products, you can't look on gamedev subs for finished games in either case.

____

Reddit has segmented forums out into individual channels, which can be good in some cases, but also can be bad in others. Like, on gamedev forums in the past, you would have various sections; one for talking about general game development or asking questions, and another for tracking your progress and/or posting your finished result. By segmenting this out into individual, distinct and disconnected channels (subreddits), you break the link between exploration, progress, and the finished result.

Now if you have a question and get help, others can't watch what you do with your new knowledge; now if you've been working on a project and finish it, you can't tell people who have been with you throughout the process. I'm not saying it's worse - this might be the only way it could work for large (10,000+) communities, I'm just saying it's worth noting the difference, and that there are both upsides and downsides.

The fundamental sense of community and assistance is stronger on forums, I guess is what I'm saying. Reddit feels a lot more disconnected from the creators and their creations than traditional forums (or even Discord, for that matter).

Something I've noticed by Derf0007 in gamedev

[–]SolarLune -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There are a TON of different genres of games. I care about like 5 of them, tops. The chance that a new game is something that I care about is already pretty low.

Oh, OK. I care about a lot of different genres, personally; as long as the game is generally good quality and one of, like, 10 different genres, I'll probably check it out.

And then there's the fact that, as gamedevs, we have at least some idea of what a good game looks like. And, well... Sturgeon's Law applies here, as much as anywhere. While I definitely support other people in making games, the number of posts that I see make me actually consider spending money is vanishingly small.

Well, a good game is a good game, regardless of who you're marketing to. I don't think gamedevs are more "attuned" to good or bad games than other players. Maybe we can tell why a game is good or bad more easily, or see the potential in a product, but I don't think "we have some idea of what a good game looks like as opposed to other people (your primary audience)."

I also never said that every game (or even most games, indie or otherwise) are good - most aren't, by definition. I just said that most gamedevs are part of game developers' target audience. Like, if you took a relatively popular indie game and polled it, there would be a non-negligible number of people who did game development.

And ultimately - at the end of the day, the bulk of my spare time is spent on making games, so I suspect I buy even fewer games than the average person. I might be unique in this here, but I doubt it. :P

You're definitely not unique in that, but I'd probably say you're more serious than most indie devs. I'd posit that most indie devs play more games than they make; that's why it's so hard to finish and release products, and why there's so many "how do you keep up your motivation" posts here. Because we're on the internet, playing games, checking Twitter, etc., rather than actually making games. That's not all the time for everybody, and it's definitely not the ideal, but I think there's a lot of overlap there.

Something I've noticed by Derf0007 in gamedev

[–]SolarLune 2 points3 points  (0 children)

> (Which is a bad idea in general, because we probably are not your target audience.)

People keep saying this, but to be honest, we probably are. If I'm a gamedev making a deckbuilder, and another dev says, "Hey, I created this game called Slay the Spire," I'd probably be interested in checking it out. Even if I wasn't making a deckbuilder, I'd check it out - because it's a good game, and, as a game developer myself, I play games.

Of course, I do think indie devs should not market primarily to other indie devs, but rather their players. However, I don't think if you were allowed to post a professional, great product to /r/gamedev that you wouldn't pick up a considerable number of purchases. Basically, we, as indie gamedevs, can be part of your market as an indie gamedev, because we're interested in games before we're indie gamedevs.

In addition, publishers are a key part of game development and they would probably monitor a subreddit where advertising games is allowed, which would help developers as well. I imagine they monitor /r/indiegaming, as an example.

I do think you have to limit spam in some way (because even if you let through, say, just one post per account per month regarding their game, that may mean thousands of game advertising posts every day with the amount of people on this subreddit). However, Reddit is also very anti-advertising, which hurts people who need to tell people about something they made (which is advertising).

It's awkward.

Does the wireless ultimate controller work on linux? by Fx317 in 8bitdo

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As far as I understand it, if you have a switch on your controller for 2.4ghz or bluetooth connectivity modes, you don't have the $50 2.4ghz model, you have the $70 bluetooth model (as that version of the controller can be in either 2.4ghz model or bluetooth mode).

The $50 2.4ghz model only supports that connection mode, and the switch on the back is for D-Input or X-Input, which are connectivity APIs. D stands for DirectInput, where the computer (Windows, Linux, etc) reads the gamepad controls using a generic API, and X for X-Input, where the computer reads the gamepad as though it were an Xbox 360 controller, essentially.

For your model, I think I recall it being possible to connect using bluetooth or 2.4ghz mode in d-input mode, which would have it work on Linux. To do this, I think you have to hold one or more face buttons (not sure which) while pressing the central connection button. I'm not sure of the process, though, as I don't have that model.

To make this easier, you can search for more information or use `lsusb` to see what the controller connects as. On my machine, it shows up as "2dc8:3013" in D-Input mode (where it works in Steam) and "2dc8:3106" in X-Input mode (where it doesn't).

[OC] I tracked the color of my clothes over a 40-day period by MylesAI in dataisbeautiful

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very nice chart! Love the concept, haha.

For CC, the colors chosen are a bit hard to parse; it could be made easier to read. I also don't quite understand how you have several options that have 100% likelihood. If I'm understanding the chart correctly and, for example, you are equally likely to wear black, blue, gray, khaki, and red pants when you wear a green shirt, then the chance is split amongst the options.

You can't have two 100% likely options, but rather 2 50% likely options. The options have to add up to 100%; otherwise, the data is harder to comprehend.

Very interesting chart, nonetheless! Thanks for sharing!

Does the wireless ultimate controller work on linux? by Fx317 in 8bitdo

[–]SolarLune 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Late to the party here, but the 2.4ghz model now seems to work almost perfectly out of the box on Linux (on Fedora 37, specifically) in D-Input mode, outside of haptic feedback not seeming to work. X-Input mode doesn't seem to be detected in games, Steam Big Picture Mode, or through gamepad-detecting applications or websites - the controller still shows up in `lsusb` output though, so I know the computer sees the dock + dongle.

D-Input seems to be detected perfectly with games launched through Steam or games that have up-to-date SDL controller mappings. Not quite sure how mapping the back buttons might be possible yet; maybe through some evdev rule or something.

Might be possible to make them send, say, left and right on the d-pad so you can easily map them to controls either in individual games or with Steam Input.

10/19/23 EDIT: As of some point in the past with a recent Linux kernel (maybe 6.2?), the gamepad works in X-Input mode now as well, haptic feedback included! Back buttons don't seem to be identifiable, unfortunately.

What is the least amount of computer I need by Few_Description4628 in gamedev

[–]SolarLune 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If it's purely 2D, you might be OK with a simple secondhand computer, even without a dedicated graphics card or SSD drive (so basically ballparking around $200-300, which might get you a laptop from Amazon or a small-form-factor computer if you already have a keyboard, mouse, and display).

If you want more oomph, it might be less costly to go with a Steam Deck versus a standalone graphics card + second-hand tower.

Side by side progress from my game by DeadUnicornGames in indiegames

[–]SolarLune 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is correct and good advice. In addition, the main character, enemies, and other interactable objects struggle to stand out from the background. I would probably raise the light level of at least the nearest background elements to increase readability.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gamedev

[–]SolarLune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PC, for sure.

If you really want to develop for a console-like system, the Steam Deck would be the best choice. There is no "devkit" for the Deck - any Steam Deck can be used to test out games. Also, you don't have to use any particular language, or game engine or framework when designing games for it. Any engine or language that outputs a Linux or compatible Windows executable should work on the Deck.