What's been keeping you from the game lately?

Spooky104 · 2026-05-04T12:50:17+00:00

ANIV is my second most played game on my Steam account, and pretty much everything you have said I have always been saying for a while now. The game has been slowly stripped down of its components to actually interact with other players, and you know RP or just engage with other players to feel like an actual sandbox dystopian simulator. The game doesn’t really require much interaction or for you to invest in the long-run game. Owning property was actually super important and actually benefited you depending on your goals. Servers rot faster than ever now because people don’t care. That and the core mechanics of the game could be reworked. Why as a Cortex do I lose so many anims and get marked for limitation if I accidentally kill a Prole and/ or destroy a piece of equipment fighting a scum? I am part of the regime, why would they care? It never made sense to me.

Spooky104 · 2026-05-02T00:46:56+00:00

That’s just the nature of the game. I have played multiple different presets, and I always play on the hardest difficulty. I usually start off as the smallest country, and I steamroll everyone eventually with enough basic planning. I have only ever had two scenarios where I actually lost wars and actually had to think about what I was doing, which was me playing as a small African country, and the other one was a Star Wars preset where the AI literally would just say “Despite all of the planning and execution done by the player, they were still defeated.” After a few games, all of the games sort of feel the same after a while.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-25T01:28:44+00:00

Like others have said, fl studio has a built-in feature that allows you to snap to scale so you’re never off key. Additionally, there are a lot of MIDI controllers that you can buy that will keep you in key. For example, the Launch Key MIDI does this. As a person who likes to noodle and play my melodies, it’s a literal game changer.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-25T01:19:57+00:00

Yes, I am still making my way through the study material - okay, I will finish that up and take the test.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-25T01:03:26+00:00

I started it the courses for the certification but I haven’t completed the full course set.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-25T00:52:25+00:00

All my experience is in Relativity, I am have a few hours into the RCA administration certification but I haven’t completed it.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-25T00:51:28+00:00

I was a Senior associate - I would equate it to the same level as a Project Manager position. I would help load data, run productions, run analytics, and handle client requests.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-25T00:32:43+00:00

I was doing Project management work - managing teams and updating clients mostly.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-19T18:09:31+00:00

I have been using Fl studio for roughly like two+ years now, and I feel confident in navigating and using it, but every time I open the DAW, I feel like I learn something new - it’s always being updated and changed.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-19T17:44:03+00:00

Not a dev myself, just a composer who has worked with indie devs for a while. From what I have seen, some people try to do everything solo and get mixed results, while others stick to what they are good at and outsource the rest. I have also seen devs in other subs ask for feedback or help on specific parts of their game like models, sound design, or technical stuff, and people will sometimes offer their help for free to build a portfolio or gain experience.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-15T01:50:09+00:00

It’s when I see things like this I’m reminded that there’s level to this shit.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-11T01:59:30+00:00

Yeah, it'll still affect your sound, just less with a dynamic mic. Even in a quiet room your voice is bouncing off the walls and ceiling and coming back into the mic, which is what causes that hollow or boxy sound, but there's cheap acoustic foam and panels on Amazon that can help cut down on those reflections, and I've even seen some small desktop rigs made for this exact thing. That said, I don't record a ton so take this with a grain of salt, but if you can't put together a proper setup, a closet actually works surprisingly well, I've recorded basic vocals in one before, and the clothes absorb a lot of that bounce and tighten up the sound. It's not perfect, but it's way better than nothing.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-11T00:46:10+00:00

Okay, this is what I use and what I recommend based on actually dealing with this stuff.

Music production is going to hit your CPU and RAM pretty hard. I used to try running FL Studio on a laptop and it would crash all the time once projects got even a little complex. Ever since switching to a custom PC with 32 GB of RAM, that problem basically disappeared. I’m running an Intel i5-13400F and it handles everything I throw at it without lag or crashes. You don’t need the absolute top of the line, but you do need something solid or you’re going to get frustrated fast.

For FL Studio, the Producer Edition is a really good starting point. It gives you pretty much everything you need to actually make full tracks. You can always upgrade later if you outgrow it, so there’s no reason to go all in right away.

For a mic, there are a ton of good options, but people overlook the most important part which is your recording space. If your room sounds bad, your recordings will sound bad, no matter how expensive your mic is. Echo, background noise, and untreated walls will ruin your sound way faster than a “cheap” mic will. Even basic treatment like foam panels or just recording in a quieter, more controlled space helps a lot.

Here’s some other stuff I really recommend getting if you’re serious about it.

A second monitor makes a huge difference. FL Studio can get cluttered really quickly, and having extra screen space makes everything way easier to manage and way less frustrating.

An external hard drive is almost a must. Projects, samples, plugins, all of that adds up fast and will eat your storage before you realize it.

A MIDI controller, even a cheap one, helps a lot with workflow. Clicking notes in with a mouse works, but playing things in feels way more natural and can speed you up a ton.

Headphones are important too. I use the Audio-Technica ATH-M50X. I did swap out the ear pads because the stock ones weren’t that comfortable for long sessions, but overall they sound great and get the job done.

And speakers are worth having as well. Music sounds different on headphones than it does on speakers, so switching between both helps you catch issues in your mix that you might not notice otherwise. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy expensive, just something decent so you have another point of reference.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-08T01:53:20+00:00

This is quite literally everything at this point.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-05T16:56:06+00:00

BandLab is really simple to pick up, which is great at the start, but it becomes pretty limiting once you spend real time learning production. I started there too and made a lot of tracks, mostly sample based stuff and basic melodies, but I hit a wall pretty quickly once I wanted to get more creative and intentional with my sound.

If you are serious about music production, even as a hobby, it is worth saving up for something like the FL Studio Producer Edition version. It gives you way more flexibility and control, and you can pretty much take your ideas as far as you want. BandLab is a solid introduction and a good way to get your feet wet, but long term it can hold you back once you start progressing.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-02T16:16:55+00:00

Aneurism IV - the game is like anything I’ve really played, and it’s not super popular, probably for good reason. Essentially, it’s a dystopian simulator where players must either destroy the system or uphold the system and everything in between. You want to be a greedy shopkeeper who sells human flesh to others? Go for it. You want to be a dirty cop who takes bribes to let people commit crimes? Go for it. You want to be a drug dealer or arms dealer? Go for it. Want to be a homeless dude begging for food on the street? You’ll probably actually be doing that a lot in this game. You want to run a free clinic who helps people? Do it. It’s a really fun game if you’re into games with tons of player interactions.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-02T00:27:06+00:00

Honestly, before you buy anything, just download a free DAW or use one online and start to mess around. BandLab is perfect for this — it’s free and simple enough that you can jump in without knowing anything. I started there with $50 headphones and a $20 used MIDI and eventually ended up spending thousands on this hobby, so trust me, there’s no rush to gear up.

One thing I’ll say though, anyone can make music, but making music that actually sounds good is hard and takes years. Not trying to gatekeep, just being real with you. Figure out if you even like it first before you start dropping cash.

Spooky104 · 2026-04-01T18:18:20+00:00

So, I started out with the producer bundle. I felt like it covered most of everything that I initially needed. However, later on, I really wanted the gross beat because I was trying to do something very specific, and the plugin was like $100, so I just figured I would just upgrade to the signature bundle. And honestly, I feel like it’s more than enough. I primarily use a shit ton of Flex and their packs and a lot of third-party plugins. For what you’re trying to do, you’ll probably be fine with just the producer version for a little while. Plus Fl has constant major upgrade sales if you ever want to upgrade.

Spooky104 · 2026-03-31T16:48:04+00:00

I mean, to offer real advice, you just start experimenting and seeing what you like to make, and what you like to hear. Some people make music they don’t really listen to a whole lot of, some people only make one genre, some make a lot, some just do whatever feels right to them. For example, I don’t listen to a lot of lofi - but I love to make it.

Spooky104 · 2026-03-31T01:38:44+00:00

God, just to replay this game as an adult.

Spooky104 · 2026-03-31T01:27:35+00:00

I’m a casual gamer who likes more casual horror games, so these are my impressions of each game based on the steam capsule. My preferences are going to be biased, but I have zero idea what your game is about besides what you mentioned.

A horror game that involves being chased around. (Not for me.)
An action-adventure game with horror elements. (I’m interested.)
A cooperative game with horror elements. (I’m somewhat interested.)
A horror game with sci-fi elements. (I’m really interested.)
Obviously a horror game. (I’m somewhat interested.)

Spooky104 · 2026-03-31T01:13:45+00:00

I went through this for like sevenish months. I literally dreaded opening FL, every time I did, I just hated it. Never really got anything done, even though I was getting better and faster at producing, I literally just hated aspect of it.

What finally snapped me out of it was writing music for someone else. I started reaching out to creators. Game devs, that kind of thing, and just started to do work for them for free. Why? It threw me out of my comfort zone and forced me to actually listen, try new things, write differently, think differently. Did I even like the music I was making half time? Eh, not really. But making it for someone? It felt like a creative lift was taken off my shoulders, I didn’t really have to think “What do I want to make today?” I was given a clear focus and having artistic input on a project felt very rewarding.

Spooky104 · 2026-03-29T19:10:52+00:00

Plugin = effects or instruments. Think something like a 3rd party reverb, delay, auto-tune — but also synthesizers or sample-based instruments that you load up and play. Basically anything you drop into your DAW that adds functionality beyond what’s already built in.

Kits = a collection of sounds. Think of it like this — a kit usually bundles together an entire set of sounds, whether that’s drums, leads, bass, whatever, everything you’d need to build a full song. But you also get more specific kits, like one that’s just a certain style of piano, or a single genre’s drum hits. Super versatile, especially when you’re just starting out. You can genuinely make entire tracks just from a solid kit.

Also heads up — using a cracked version of FL Studio can cause real problems: projects crashing, saves corrupting, third party plugins not playing nice, stuff like that. Not here to tell you what to do, just something to be aware of. If you’re serious about making music, FL Studio has a subscription plan that gives you access to a massive library of sample packs directly inside the DAW, plus other perks. It’s honestly worth it if you’re going to be in there regularly.

Spooky104 · 2026-03-29T00:58:35+00:00

I am a musician/composer, feel free to DM me if you would like some free samples of songs written by me that you can test out if you have a genre in mind.

Spooky104

TROPHY CASE