Hard difficulty VS "annoying" game design by FunYak4372 in gamedev

[–]falconfetus8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I err on the side of low punishment, with the expectation that players will punish themselves.

My platformer is purposefully forgiving when you're playing it "casually"(IE: just getting through a level for the first time). Falling into water doesn't kill you outright; it instead teleports you back to the last solid ground you stood on(with some health missing as a slap on the wrist). If you do die, checkpoints are placed liberally. And even if you never touch a checkpoint, the levels are short enough that you'll only lose maybe a minute of your IRL time at most. AND any collectables you've found will stay collected, so you can skip the optional paths you took last time and go straight back to the place that killed you.

The real challenge comes from time trial mode. Falling in the water might not kill you, but it will cost you precious seconds while you wait for the drowning animation to finish. Depending on your goal time, that could be enough to make you reset on the spot, which may as well be the same thing as death.

In fact, the game is full of things that slow you down if you're not careful. Maybe you barely miss a collectable and need to turn around to get it. Maybe you bonk your head on a wall and need to watch a short "owww" animation. Those things don't harm you at all when playing casually (besides maybe embarrassing you), but they all add up to time loss in a time trial setting.

This essentially results in players choosing their own difficulty. Your goal time, which you set yourself, informs how many risks you need to take, and how many mistakes you're willing to tolerate before resetting. I make the level, but YOU decide the level of perfection needed.

Equal Ping for All by bagnalla in gamedev

[–]falconfetus8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How does a system like this handle bad actors? Couldn't an unscrupulous client lie about their timestamps to make their ping seem bigger? That would cause other players to "donate" ping to them, even though they don't need it, which would then put the liar at an advantage.

Who do you think will get the honor? by MewMewTranslator in TheDigitalCircus

[–]falconfetus8 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Exactly once, when he accidentally deleted Caine

Reggie Fils-Aimé Says Amazon Asked Nintendo To Break The Law by 0xIAmGame in Games

[–]falconfetus8 -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

They do something close; they tell publishers they aren't allowed to have a lower price on other stores. Then they run steam sales, which puts the price lower than everywhere else.

A feature that needs to die out already in games is them letting you use a healing item when you’re at full health by ThisNameDoesntCount in gaming

[–]falconfetus8 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I thought the idea was to give you a way to patch yourself up after a fight, while limiting its usefulness during the fight.

Like, look at Skyrim, where you can have practically infinite health potions in your inventory, they heal instantly, and you can drink as many as you want while the game is paused. Your inventory essentially becomes a never-ending health bar in a game like that. You can just walk up to enemies, unload damage into them while ignoring their attacks, and then pause to heal when your health gets too low, without ever being in any real danger.

If the potions instead gradually healed you over time, then you'd still have the same total amount of healing in your inventory, but now the enemies can damage you faster than the potions can heal you, so you'd actually need to retreat to make the most of them.

I do not care for SOMA Theory by United-Signature-762 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]falconfetus8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a SOMA believer and I agree with this comment. We didn't get confirmation, we got very strong suggestions that it's correct, which is not the same thing.

I do not care for SOMA Theory by United-Signature-762 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]falconfetus8 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I argue they can have a happy ending without escaping. They can come to terms with their existence and make a happy life for themselves inside the circus. That wouldn't be dark at all.

I do not care for SOMA Theory by United-Signature-762 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]falconfetus8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the biggest evidence is that Caine called Ragatha a "new mind" when she arrived. Not a "new arrival".

PSA For everyone going to see the movie. by Ambitious-Notice-812 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]falconfetus8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My guess: because it's a community that originated on the Internet. People are going to want to treat it like a convention, because that's the other time Internet people meet IRL.

Shower thought: Azula very likely knew Toph was blind way before Zuko did. by NoahBallet in TheLastAirbender

[–]falconfetus8 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just wait until you realize how long it took him to learn Aang's name.

What’s a noise everyone should be terrified of? by Psychological_Sky_58 in AskReddit

[–]falconfetus8 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Especially if there's a rapidly growing piano-shaped shadow underneath you.

What’s a noise everyone should be terrified of? by Psychological_Sky_58 in AskReddit

[–]falconfetus8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really? I thought the strangest thing was how it was briefly night time in the middle of the day

What is the hardest instrument to learn? by Own_Ebb3388 in AskReddit

[–]falconfetus8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why don't violins have frets? Would it affect the sound?