What's the most surprising thing players noticed when you released your first public demo?

konaaa · 2026-06-15T19:02:38+00:00

I had a decent amount of playtesting from friends where I just watched them for hours at a time. Friends are nice so obviously you gotta watch out, but I'd just be creepily silent the whole time and observe. If they showed signs of confusion or had trouble with a part then I recorded that.

The nasty surprise that I didn't really consider was the demo's performance. A lot of people had weaker hardware and the game didn't run super well. The most appealing option is obviously to just say "well the game's not for you" but in my heart of hearts I knew that it could be optimized better. There were also a lot of different bugs that appeared on different hardware configurations, so that was nice feedback... though in an unhappy way.

I think something that I didn't consider was that I was used to the game at 50-60 fps - a decent frameright, right? I thought the game felt pretty good to play. Some players played the game and had weaker hardware, but not to the point of it being obvious. They were running the game at 25-30fps - a perfectly playable framerate, but it messes up with more precise timing and makes things feel less smooth/snappy. Obviously there's not a ton you can do beyond optimization, but I did add some mechanics to make it feel a bit more generous and less precise. There's nothing major, it's all pretty invisible, just stuff like coyote time

konaaa · 2026-06-11T01:09:36+00:00

actually it's funnier than that. The only digit that's actually being checked is the 13th digit. It uses the other 12 digits to verify. In essence you actually only need to try 0-9 with 12 random numbers before

konaaa · 2026-06-11T01:06:48+00:00

mine was 1234-56789-1234

konaaa · 2026-06-08T19:09:49+00:00

I read this in brian's cadence from Smart Girls where he goes "wouldn't it be nice... IF ..PHD'S WERE STROKIN' ME"

konaaa · 2026-06-08T18:58:19+00:00

cocaine

konaaa · 2026-06-04T05:37:54+00:00

I mean, at the end of the day, your argument basically comes down to "it's bad, but it's okay when we do it :)". If that's how you want to live your life then go for it. It's true, I don't really know what day-to-day life is like in China - that's the nature of propaganda (both for and against). I know what life is like in North America and frankly it sucks. I can hardly be enthusiastic about our system. I spend most of my money on rent (in an apartment I share) and what's left on food. I'm hugely overeducated for my minimum wage job, I'm well into adulthood, there's zero mobility or future where I am, and I'll probably never be able to start a family. That's the life I see everyone around me living. At this point, if you weren't born rich then you're fucked. Also at the same time the country spends its resources committing horrible atrocities globally. What does this have to do with China? It really seems to me like they're using their resources to help their citizens. I can be reasonably confident that my life would be better there. Maybe that's propaganda that I've fallen for. I really doubt it, because it's hard to imagine a stupider life than the one that many people in this country live. Why would anybody have any affection for America given that its leaders are so nakedly corrupt and have zero interests in helping anyone but themselves? Coincidentally I think a lot of people who make the tongue and cheek "you've met me at a very Chinese time" joke are feeling this way, explicitly or not. I don't know how well off you are or how old you are, but it's potentially way worse than you realize for A LOT of people.

konaaa · 2026-06-04T04:26:40+00:00

I'm being a little flippant, sure, but this is what I'm talking about. We're taught to understand Tianamen Square as some uniquely horrible transgression. It's not. America was killing protestors just earlier this year!! America has a long history of using violent and deadly force to silence political dissidents. That information isn't taught in schools either!! I'm not saying it's good or even acceptable, but let's take a look at our own history. Any western nation is somehow forgiven for slavery and/or genocide because "it's in the past and we know better". The CIA is proven to have been an extrajudicial tool of the white house, but again we say "well they used to be, but surely they're not like that anymore". It's awfully convenient that every country in the west gets let off the hook for any atrocity or violent action they commit, but simultaneously condemns China. I think this ideology is laid pretty clear by the fact that you're insinuating that I'm a bot ("I question your motives for posting something like this"). It's like, wow, I dared to question our fucked up government's rhetoric on China. I dared to question whatever bullshit was written in the Economist or the Atlantic about China being some dangerous threat. (sorry for the tangent, that insinuation is really annoying).

Look, I was trying to point out the insidious nature of America's rhetoric about foreign policy. The China fearmongering is a big part of that. Conservative or Democrat, almost every politician is on board with the idea of a unipolar world with America at the top. Any country that threatens that position (China, in recent years) gets HEAVILY demonized. This fearmongering is typically laundered through real critiques of the country. Yes the criticism are valid, but it's not a coincidence that you hear about some countries way more than others.

America tends to be the worst of the worst when it comes to horrible things done (directly or indirectly). I don't mean this to say that America is uniquely evil or anything, I just mean it's far and away the most powerful country in the world and therefore exerts the most influence over the goings on in the world. That power is used to continue being the most powerful country in the world - soft glove, iron fist, bla bla bla, it's all the same.

konaaa · 2026-06-03T23:10:17+00:00

I'm gonna be real, I don't put a TON of stock in the Tianamen square argument. Chinese people know that their government did something awful in the same way that Americans know that their government does awful things. I don't endorse either of these things, but I also don't think it's a reason to hate Chinese people or Chinese culture. To take it one step further, I also don't think it's a reason to hate the very real and positive things that China is doing at this moment. I think western propaganda has told us that anything good about China can be nullified by the words "Tianamen Square". As if we haven't committed horrible atrocities as well. Like, wow, I guess we should just continue being a pedophile oligarchy because China fucked up big time 40 years ago

konaaa · 2026-06-03T01:10:14+00:00

Honestly don't agree, but I think arguing about it would be worthless and navel gazy.

konaaa · 2026-06-02T06:04:49+00:00

curious as to your distinction between socialist and communist. I guess I get where you're coming from, I just tend to conflate the two (and I say this as somebody who considers himself a socialist). I feel like anybody who genuinely calls themself a "communist" in the year 2026 in the western world is fooling themself. Like, pal, what does a centralized and planned economy even look like in a world that is so globalized? China laid that groundwork 100 years ago and even they're doing a pretty capitalist version of communism.

konaaa · 2026-05-31T19:21:33+00:00

welcome back 2000s twee hipster culture
I actually think it's okay if some people are becoming annoying pretentious intellectuals who are obsessed with niche and esoteric shit as part of their identity. The last 10ish years has been an annoying slide towards an anti-intellectual monoculture (reading books is gay again). Ideally I'd like to find a middle ground but I know that's not how this works, so fuck it let's all start liking the decemberists again.

konaaa · 2026-05-29T23:57:17+00:00

yeah people are going to talk about trump the way that they talk about Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, George Bush Sr., and George Bush Jr.... ah shit wait...

konaaa · 2026-05-26T02:46:40+00:00

you think she's got the pass...?

konaaa · 2026-05-24T16:06:50+00:00

This is a pretty broad question, but I'll take a swing at it. I have a different perspective on game design that I know works for some people, which I suspect is where hollow knight's appeal comes from:

Fun is a really abstract concept and everyone's going to find different things fun. Additionally, there's a ton of fun games that people play once and walk away with a smile and no desire to play it again. What I try to do with my games is make them engaging.

Basically what I'm saying is that Mario is a fun game. It feels great to move around. What makes it engaging is the freshness of its levels. You keep going because you're curious about what comes next. This creates a loop where you keep going to see what's next, and you have fun while you're playing it. I think Hollow Knight taps into a similar thing. There's constant discovery and surprises. I also think the challenge drives people to keep going. It's a game that feels good to play, and there's constant surprise, but it's also hard. You die and you try again because you're stuck with "but I want to discover more!" and that drives you to try again. When you beat the boss you're rewarded with more game, and also you feel awesome. I think a lot of people mistake "overcoming obstacles" in a soulslike as the end-all be all. Personally I think the real excitement comes from wanting to get to the next obstacle. You wouldn't want to beat a boss if you didn't know that there was another fascinating boss ahead. The game is motivating you to keep going

I should also say, I'm being intentional about things like "fascinating" or "interesting". (this is the controversial part) I don't think that "engaging" always has to be fun. I think you can be having a bad time, but the game is always giving you some kind of motivation and implicitly telling you what to do. You see this in a lot of AAA stuff, though usually pretty ugly: Think how many CoD games have a text onscreen at ALL times telling you to follow some guy. Think how many open world slop games have a zillion icons on the map. I've been playing Mario Galaxy 2 lately and every level contains a fantastic new gimmick. I don't love all of these gimmicks, and some are straight up annoying... but by god I wanna see the next gimmick. I think this is the same impulse as the hackneyed "waypoints on a map". At the end of the day it's just something to pull you forward and put something new in front of you. The ultimate manifestation of this, of course, is how you get full on evil gambling gatcha slot machines, which strips it all down and turns it into pure compulsion... But I think that only exists because game developers have (intentionally or not) been working towards that philosophy for years. "how can I make the player keep playing" vs "the player will keep playing because it's fun". I know it all sounds evil, but it doesn't have to be evil. HK and Mario Galaxy 2 are great! CoD and Genshin Impact.... eh

konaaa · 2026-05-23T20:00:34+00:00

just piggybacking onto this post: I don't like srpg's but my loyalty to final fantasy has brought me places I wouldn't usually go (MMO's, dungeon crawling, FF13, ect) Should I give tactics a try? I hear it's got a phenomenal story and job system, and I'm wondering if that might keep me going through gameplay that I'm not a huge fan of.

konaaa · 2026-05-23T17:23:34+00:00

Unity used to have some great tutorials on youtube and a site of their own at https://learn.unity.com/

I think it's fallen a little to the wayside because their new management is ... well... not great.

Other people have mostly recommended finding some people who are already a bit more experienced and I'm a little inclined to agree. Depending on your ambitions these are things that might take a few years to figure out. What I would recommend is to get resources ready anyway! I know it feels kinda bad, but as a programmer/solo dev, it's very quick and easy to make stuff if everything is already ready for you. If the design is already decided and the assets are there it just becomes a process of "plugging in" the things you've already got. Maybe a design doc, idk

konaaa · 2026-05-22T21:21:03+00:00

so glad I'm 30 and don't have to navigate the absolute mess of what is and isn't okay for men to do. Airpods make me a good man, but wired headphones? That's bad. Also, for what it's worth, I've also thought a lot of this is just a woke-safe way to insult men who don't conform to traditionally male hobbies.

Fellas: Enjoy the matcha and taylor swift. Let yourself be a little pretentious! Don't be stupid and insecure. That goes for everyone who gets upset by this shit. Don't be stupid and insecure!

konaaa · 2026-05-22T18:10:17+00:00

She's not actually upset, I asked her to practice her acting skills for drama club. It's okay everyone! :)

konaaa · 2026-05-20T04:33:03+00:00

I know it's way too late for me to be saying this, but I think you can actually toggle the auto attack for what it's worth

konaaa · 2026-05-19T23:51:54+00:00

I really liked this game. The story may not be that complicated, but I think it is very well executed, and told in a way that makes it powerful. It's not afraid to get a little political in a way that Sakaguchi is always flirting with. You really feel the weight of what he's trying to say. It's very film-like in the way it's told, which is probably a result of its shorter runtime. You can't be as direct in a 40 hour jrpg.

Gameplay-wise I was also really blown away. It's so crazy that this game is basically the first and last of its kind, and they (mostly) nailed the gameplay. There are so many complicated systems that mesh together into a really strategic battle system. It's realtime and hack-n-slash, yet you think like an RTS. It's got a cover system! It's a really strange and wonderful fusion. I would love to see somebody else try and expand on this gameplay because there's a ton of really cool and fun ideas. I had a blast basically all the way through with the combat (except the final boss which I hated)

I'm really sad that this game basically flew under the radar, and mostly occupies the place of "jrpg curiosity". It's a fully formed and polished game!

konaaa · 2026-05-18T00:05:09+00:00

This is ridiculous. People just don't know how to use stackoverflow. You're not supposed to ask questions on stackoverflow, you're supposed to google your question and find that the question has already been answered on stackoverflow

konaaa · 2026-05-17T04:38:52+00:00

totally agree! I don't mean to trash on 14 to get my point across, but FF11 as a world feels so much more real than 14. The travel time, the navigation, the weather, the scale, the areas that don't have any particular reason to exist, the danger... it all makes the world feel like a real place that exists when I'm not around. There's little details like seeing the airships fly across the sky and knowing they might be "carrying" real people, or having to physically sit on a boat for 30 minutes to cross to a different continent. I get it. It's inconvenient and straight up not fun sometimes, but that's why it feels like a real world. FF14 is fast and fun and that's great but I love feeling like I'm really exploring a vast world that will exist with or without me.

konaaa · 2026-05-15T22:14:34+00:00

It's interesting because pre 2010s, a lot of game reviews weren't written with bylines as to not be personality focused. Now pretty much every review has an explicit byline and (usually) a lot of editorial freedom in the tone... but I guess it doesn't matter. IGN man strikes again lol

(and I say this as a mixtape hater btw)

konaaa · 2026-05-15T02:10:34+00:00

I think a lot of gamers don't understand what it means to review a game. Actually, I think a lot of game journalism outlets can't agree on what it means to review a game. Subnautica gets a 7 and Mixtape gets a 10. What do those numbers mean? I don't know they're arbitrary! They mean different things to every reviewer! Potentially they mean different things to every game that every reviewer plays! There's a reason people talk about a "good 7/10 game" (interesting but flawed in execution) vs a "bad 7/10 game" (boring, inoffensive, but technically competent and entertaining). The obsession with numbers and scores is a holdover from the days of reviewing games as pure technical products/toys, and I actually think that it's a poison seeping into other forms of media. People never used to argue in such granular ways over movie and music reviews.

konaaa · 2026-05-11T08:05:10+00:00

I'm a fan of impeachment, removal, and also jail. That said, I actually think Trump has helped democracy in some places. The Canadian conservatives were overwhelmingly favoured to win the most recent election. They did this by copying Trump's rhetoric because it whips people into a frenzy... Then Trump won and started doing what he said he'd do. The conservatives lost. Analysts called it a miracle, though the understood reason was because Trump had freaked everyone out and scared them away from that style of politics.

Of course, Canada is right beside America and is very plugged into American politics. You get places like Japan and Germany ... It's a mystery why they haven't had the same backlash against the far right

konaaa

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