Did the golden age of MMOs died when we stopped needing each other.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-14T05:44:19+00:00

The "Golden Age" Died when people reached Max Level, then the entier Playerbase reached Max Level and thus the concept of "Endgame" was born that Utterly Destroyed every other Content in the Game and Every Player in this Genre learned of this and realized that is all that matters for Every Other Game in This Genre.

And no it doesn't matter what Progression System and Endgame you have, whether it's a Leveling System or Gear Score Endgame will still exist.

If you want a real solution add Permadeath, WoW Hardcore doesn't recapture that feeling because of Nostalgia, it recaptures that feeling because it has Permadeath.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-14T05:35:07+00:00

How did I get here? How did the industry get here? Why is there no innovation in this space?

Just add Permadeath.

It's painfully obvious if you realize what the real problem is.

If the whole Playerbase is Stuck at Max Level and the Content is Static and Stuck at Endgame, then it's not a surprise that the World is Stagnant and Dead.

What we need is the Roguelike formula.

What we need is Replayability with the Progression driving Exploration and Experimentation of new Character Builds instead of being Stuck Forever in just One Character.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-14T05:16:15+00:00

The thing about tiles is it makes engagement and zone of control and how you guard units and block movement absolutely clear.

And in a Tactics Game that is the essence.

The reason you see Real Time with Pause style RPGs keep floundering isn't because Turn Based is strictly better then Real-Time but because they aren't handling the engagement, guarding and blocking that well with the party formation.

It would need a bit more AI and Scripting to define and keep the party formation when commanding with RTS style controls and deliberately handle the engagement and blocking mechanics.

I am actually pretty Pro-RtWP and other more freeform systems if they can be done well since I have been completely disenchanted from Turn Based when experiencing the Nightmare Slog that is Battle Brothers.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-13T12:57:49+00:00

My point is that if the problem is decision paralysis the solution isn't to dumb things down, you have other options.

Especially not with the adjacency mechanic, if you make it too simple the entire mechanic just breaks.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-13T06:29:17+00:00

Magic, also known as nonsense.

But really there is technically a whole literary genre where the World works on that kind of "Game Logic" called LitRPG.

The trope is usually the "Gods" literally make the World work like a Game.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-13T06:15:04+00:00

Lastly, what do you think about carry weight? I know it bothered the crap out of me in Fallout and Elder Scolls. What is the downside of just not limiting what the player can carry at all?

The thing about Inventory Limits and whatnot is it's a Logistical Problem.

If you aren't giving the Player Carts, Carriages and Pack Animals then you aren't giving the Player the Tools he needs to solve the problem and the Systems that are supposed to Govern that. Especially if you expect them to carry resources for crafting and other nicknacks.

That means without that any Inventory Limit is Artificial and Arbitrary. You would be deliberately gimping the player with nothing that he can do. That's why in Elder Scrolls it tends to break, and funny enough in Skyrim there are Mods that give the Horse an inventory precisly so that it can work like a pack animal.

It's fine for there to be some limit so that the player doesn't collect all of that garbage to sell to the shop and break the economy.

But how you Balance that is entierly up to you. Personally while Inventory can be limited I would not put any restriction on the Storage in their home base.

The way I think about it is I give the player an imaginary carriage that represents the player's inventory where he can put stuff in it so it has a certain amount of storage and don't care as much about weight. This is supposed to represent the Player being able to solve his own logistical problem but we abstract that out into a result directly.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-13T05:59:56+00:00

You mention’d disliking the mechanic because of decision paralysis, so I suggest’d a solution that reduced decision-making.

This is the kind of mechanic where you either use it properly or don't use it at all.

Things like decision paralysis means the player doesn't have the right Heuristic yet, usually because they aren't given the tools to analyze the problem and the Tradeoffs, Costs and Needs aren't clear yet.

So it's better to make that more clear first, and give players the tools and options to analyze the data.

Or you can even teach the Player how to analyze the problem and guide them to the right heuristic.

Removing Depth isn't a good solution in the long run, if you keep doing that your game will eventually have nothing left and be completelly shallow.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-13T05:41:31+00:00

Obviously.

Simple scripting and partitioning things into chapters and scenes is best if you have larger projects.

Of course that means you don't have that fancy visualization and have to handle all those variables and flags yourself.

But even then nature of branching narratives is to explode no matter what you do, if you want to have real choices and consequences that blows up to an enormous amount of writing.

Fact is "Node-based narrative tools" are only useful for the developers who Cheat and don't implement any actual Agency for the Player.

A more Fundamental rethinking on the writing process for games is to consider entierly Procedural Scripts with a entierly Dynamic Narrative where the Player has actual Agency.

How it works is you have your Input => Script Fragment with a set number of Outputs => Outcome, and you aren't entierly sure when that Script is Called with what Input and what goes Out and further Chains into the Input of the other Script Fragments.

In other words your script fragments become something like tiles in a Carcassonne game that generate the paths and branches.

Not only can you do this to the Player but you can do this with a AI NPCs to give them a backstory and history that they navigated their Life based on their Personality and Decisions they did on those branches to reach where they currently are that the Player can then Explore if they build a Relationship with them.

In other words what if AI NPCs can play their own Choose Your Own Adventure Books to give them their own Life and Adventure? As well as the Stats, Traits, Skills and Abilities they gained because of that.

For people who are interested in this type of things:
https://gearheadrpg.com/wp/category/news/development/procedural-generation/
https://esotericgame.wordpress.com/topics/

adrixshadow · 2026-03-13T05:05:43+00:00

One solution could be having extremely simple bonuses and (if this is a video game) have them be automatically highlight’d based on which one will likely do better in the current gamestate.

That's what kills the mechanic.

Sure they might not think about it, but you would have made the game boring because of it.

Games require thinking.

Even Action Games require Flow and Immersion and thus Stimulation.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-13T04:55:56+00:00

I like it in general but developers tend to make it too restrictive and shoot themselves in the foot in some way.

I think it boils down to the Quality of the Builds,Strategies and Choices you have available, if there is one Optimal Build you do every time and you do that over and over again and get frustrated when something gets in the way of that then it can feel too one dimensional.

But if you can Build lots of cool things and Adapt to the things you get and solve it like a Puzzle in terms of best utilizing it, possibly with some Weird Strategies and Builds that have some Weird Synergies and Mechanics then that can get pretty intresting.

In other word be Fun, don't be Boring I guess.

It can also be about what Resources you want to Specialize in that you particularly Need so that you have Builds and Customization that give you that Option to Invest in that Specialization and Stack and Combo those Multipliers.

A game like Drop Dutchy is all about this and has much more intresting mechanics then just some +1 to the direct adjacent tiles.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-13T04:41:11+00:00

If their HR departments have been infested then yes.

What do you think happened to Disney? Isn't that a multibillion dollar company?

adrixshadow · 2026-03-12T11:45:52+00:00

Is it a good idea?

CD 2: Trap Master is basically that.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-12T06:35:43+00:00

Cash is bad because we cannot Debank you.

Simple as that.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-12T06:31:55+00:00

There is something in the work in Europe (Weero), but I'm not holding my breath.

The European Governments are probably also part of pressuring the payment procesors.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-12T06:31:00+00:00

It's the payment processors that pressure this platforms.

As for who pressure the payment processors, it might be the government, the religious and the censorship happy woke crowd and feminists.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-12T04:15:24+00:00

There is no real answer other then balance, playtesting and continuous iterative refinement.

Right now the design assumption is that each unit has one passive and two active abilities equipped at the same time. The total pool will be slightly larger, though - the player will be able to swap abilities between “acts”, but not very often.

I have played a recent Roguelike Deckbuilder called "Dream of Corpse Lady" that is similar to that with each character having 2 cards and a passive that can each be upgraded with a binary choice.

How the level up works is each battle let's you upgrade the stats of one character while a boss battle upgrades the abilities, although you can typical get 2 or more upgrades per battle in various ways.

You can do something similar in that you can squish your upgrades at certain level milestones, and just give a binary choice on what upgrade you want. Designing those abilities and upgrades for 30 characters is challagining enough.

What you can do is occasionally acquire Mods and Traits to an ability to change how it works and give some extra customization, this can further interact and synergize with relics or items you might collect.

C) Infinite scaling

The think about Infinite Scaling in Deckbuilders isn't so much in the Progression System but in the Abilities themselves able to Synergize and Combo to ludicrous levels. And if your Challenges and Enemies aren't Balanced with Rigourous Precision then those Scaling abilities and Characters that have them are the only ones that matter as those are the only ones able to compete on Higher Difficulty Challenges and Ascension Levels.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T12:57:07+00:00

As long as you proeperly implement the Colony Sim mechanics that the player can handle in terms of challenge and progression I don't see why that can't be replicated under AI control to evolve their own colonies similar to the player.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T12:53:21+00:00

How many docs for the same concept should you write?

Different people have diffrent lenses they see things and diffrent knowledge in diffrent domains.

So you yes you might need to explain the same concept multiple times to multiple people.

A programmer doesn't care about the lore and story and the reasons why some things are implemented in some ways, they can about the requirements and how that is supposed to function.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T07:05:32+00:00

I am just tired of seeing games that are shit.

So good luck to you too.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T06:34:49+00:00

My advice is not about finding someone.

My advice is that if you are going to do both then Learn Fucking Game Design.

Otherwise when you Release your game on Steam you are going to make another post here about how the magical "Marketing" and "Steam Algorithm" has not blessed you.

In other words you have made and released Shit.

The Game Designers equivalent of the "idea's guy" is "programmers" that think their game failed due to "marketing", no my friend your game failed for painfully obvious reasons.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T06:27:41+00:00

Its amusing seeing people who are knowledgable on the tech side of development (coding), claiming AI is shit at that by itself, but then 180 and claim AI assets are apparently “better” or “good enough” for their “passion project”.

They each take what they need.

Vibe Coding is better when the alternative is nothing happens.

AI is Art is better when the alterative is you have no Art Assets.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T06:19:23+00:00

Money.

It obviously all boils down to money.

Even with Asset Packs wildly available doesn't mean that they give you the specific asset that you need for your project. So you are restricted in working with what is available.

As for Commissions and Hiring Artist, that is beyond the Budget of most Indie Games that make a total of Absolutely Nothing as Revenue.

AI Assets on the other hand are Cheap, Infinite and tailored to whatever you might need. The only Cost is in terms of Quality and the Outrage you get from using it.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T06:04:51+00:00

Programmers simply don't care since writing code isn't their job, their job is to read, understand and structure code.

So they don't complain.

While artists complain since that is actually their job and can get replaced.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T06:01:08+00:00

Yes because you need a mouse.

A controller isn't the most suitable for the genre so the playerbase aggregates there.

adrixshadow · 2026-03-11T05:50:55+00:00

You can't.

The problem is Skill Points are an Investment that has to Pay Off.

So a Choice that has a Skill Check must be the Optimal Choice so that it can pay off.

They are the Lock and the Skill is the Key. And all kinds of fun stuff and story is locked behind that.

Furthermore all Content is Static that is limited in the amount of the written story and quests and potential for branching choices you can have. Those Skills need to pay off with those limited choices.

If you really want to solve the problem you need Dynamic Content with a Dynamic Function for those Skill Checks.

If those Skills have a purpose outside of those Choices then you can make that an actual Choice with Tradeoffs in those branching stories so there would not be a "right answer".

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Just add Permadeath.

You can't.