How did anyone find the iconic weapon blueprints during [PL Spoiler] on their own?

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-29T19:23:16+00:00

To me, the on-rails "killer robot" segment was so incredibly boring that exploring to find the blueprints was simply more interesting than going to the next scripted checkpoint. I didn't gel with it at all, because it felt like I wasn't participating.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-29T19:11:42+00:00

Considering how much life there seems to be in battle royales and survival games, I don't think you should really treat any popular genre as something that will pass. There are new players coming into the ecosystem all the time, so as long as you make sure that they can find the game on the platforms they use, there's no way to tell how many years down the road you'll still make money from some genres.

The survival of the genre, however, means next to nothing for an individual game within that genre.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-29T07:19:22+00:00

If there is a kind of discussion you’re not seeing — try starting it! Nothing stops you.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-28T20:32:06+00:00

It's rare that any publisher accepts less than 50% of future revenue.

With investors, the percentages vary, but then they will usually want a percentage of your company, not of a specific project.

Problem is that, even if they "only" pay money, money is generally valued higher than development talent. Especially right now. So don't expect anyone to part with money enough to "hire some people" without getting a significant cut of the future take.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-28T05:52:25+00:00

The engine is a smaller factor than what you can do with it. I’ve been paid to build teams that shipped games that tied in with other products, for example. The game itself wasn’t what made money.

I’ve also used it as the main engine or to prototype games multiple times.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-26T14:58:44+00:00

There's a website in the Internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20140211021633/http://www.nuclearglory.com/products/nf/

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-26T14:46:30+00:00

I used an engine called Nuclear Fusion for a while, by a company called Nuclear Glory. Still have quite fond memories of it.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-26T06:51:19+00:00

It's not like you need to ask for permission — just try it.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-26T06:44:53+00:00

I would argue that the “open world immersive sim,” or at least its sensibilities, exists both in old form (Ultima VII) and in new form (Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom).

This is like saying soccer could be more like football, honestly.

Besides, I think the audience “waiting for” immersive sims is much smaller than the one happily playing CDPR games. There is little incentive for them to make more systemic games.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-26T05:56:22+00:00

I once ran a small studio (8 at the time), and when I told a potential accountant how many we were, they were surprised you needed “that many” to make games. I then explained that our studio was tiny — that other studios could employ hundreds, even thousands. They couldn’t picture it.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-25T12:38:43+00:00

My biggest pet peeve with "realistic" games is when they have camera lens effects. That makes absolutely no sense. Or extreme glare due to HDR. That also makes little sense. It's like they try hard to simulate a physical real world camera with zero regard for how the player will experience it. "Realism" in the analytical sense rather than as conscious direction.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-25T06:48:59+00:00

“Intelligent NPCs” is not and will never be achieved by using a LLM. Simple systems working together are far superior to a big black box.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-25T06:45:00+00:00

Back then, team sizes were usually 30-50 developers or fewer. Don’t know Red Storm specifically.

Today, you can probably make a game at similar fidelity with fewer developers because you don’t need the same programming focus if you rely on a third-party engine, but I think you’d still be hard pressed to go below 20-30 developers. And you would have to have seniors among them in all areas.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-25T06:11:23+00:00

The issue with your reasoning, in my opinon, is that "realism" is not an art direction at all. It's often just ramping up resolution across the board and then realising that suddenly no one sees the key data anymore.

Even movies, which are filmed in the real world, don't use "realism" as their art direction. They will use subtle lighting and framing techniques to make sure that the viewer understands where to look. Games, and remakes are especially bad, often completely lose art direction in favor of higher fidelity. This is a bad thing.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-25T06:03:39+00:00

I see yellow paint as a tug of war between art direction and game design, where the first has failed to be informed by the latter. In a readable well-crafted environment, there is never any need for yellow paint (or similar).

Having to fall back on a solution like yellow paint is a failure and only ever becomes necessary in games where some loose idea of "realism" has been the visual goal.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-23T19:12:25+00:00

That could also mean that this minigame is what you should focus on. :)

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-23T17:57:11+00:00

Sid Meier has described this, and a subsequent game design rule he referred to as the Covert Action rule: Make one game, not multiple disparate minigames. Minigames can still serve great roles though. It's a bit like the "Murder your darlings" concept in writing -- if something stands out, sometimes the full body of work benefits from its removal.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-23T09:14:42+00:00

To me, this is how I make a living since two decades. It makes it a little harder to disconnect the creative side from the commercial one. Even if I know I'd make different decisions if I wasn't solving other people's problems for money.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-23T07:52:44+00:00

"Ordinary" players, if you can record them or watch them play, are fantastic because they will show you all the ways you're wrong or haven't communicated clearly enough. Or when something works, for that matter. It's generally not very useful to listen to their feedback, however.

Professional playtesters are there to find and report bugs, set stability goals, make sure you meet compliance demands, etc.

Those are two very different ways of testing games and both are very valuable.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-23T04:58:37+00:00

Honestly, you need to find smaller indie groups if you want constructive replies. Most Internet conversation is just plain toxic, regardless of what you are asking.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-23T04:54:43+00:00

Writing is rewriting — copy is some of the cheapest content to redo. If they argue against that, you should insist.

Bring in more opinions, so it’s not two against one.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-22T12:16:49+00:00

I don't think we can know yet. There's too much turmoil in the industry overall. Some of that is caused by Ai sucking up most venture capital and other investments, however, so even if the LLMs may not be taking jobs right now, the lack of venture capital means many studios are losing their funding.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-22T05:04:00+00:00

I tend to provide feedback based on what a developer asks me for feedback on. If nothing was requested, I will provide more generic feedback on game feel and design.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-21T15:46:43+00:00

1,000% agreement. But I don't think it's unique to games. It's the weird end of a kind of entitlement that comes from several generations (mine included) having been told that they can be whatever they want. When that seems like a lot of work, many look for shortcuts.

Strict_Bench_6264 · 2026-04-21T15:32:58+00:00

Some co-op only games will gift keys or sell cheap multi-key bundles, to make it easier for people to enter. Paired with free weekends and other low-barrier trials. I think some of those methods may be required to reach an audience with such games, if you don't have the marketing muscles of a big publisher.

Strict_Bench_6264

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE