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Battle royale games were done better decades ago? I can't even think of a battle royale game from the 90s.
quake, unreal tournament, tribes, battlefield, planetside.. Deathmatch with many players. Same thing pretty much, but with more action.
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The fundamental difference between all of those games and what I would consider a battle royale game is you only get 1 life. As an aside, I loved Tribes 2 construction mod.
I dont know but I'd bet theres an old quake mod that makes that small change.
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Can someone explain more about "making the same game over and over"? I don't know anything about these games. Were they all similar, despite being different franchises?
All the games followed the same basic gameplay roadmap. Event happens -> Talk to other characters -> Another event happens Usually the events were cutscenes or QTEs (timed button presses) that you either pass or get a gameover if you fail too many. Now this wouldn't be an issue if the games were marketed as such but instead they tried to present them with the taglines "Your choices have consequences" while it was cle…
That said, your description of the illusion of choice in the story... sounds like every story-based videogame ever. I've been playing games since the 90s, and I can't really think of any such games off the top of my head where your choices will lead you down a completely different path.
Commonly the game will have different ending cutscenes depending on your choices, but the main story quest always takes you to the same locations.
Deus Ex was lauded for giving you choices, but you always took the same general path through the game. Maybe you saved that character and then you meet him again for a short conversation much later - but it didn't really matter.
Planescape Torment is often described as the best story-driven RPG ever written. While it had lots of optional sidequests and offered the option to roleplay your character in loads of different ways, in the end you always took the same path through the main storyline.
These are just two examples of higly rated, character- and story-driven games that happen to be among my favorite games of all time.
It's understandable, after all creating content costs money, and content that won't be seen except by a tiny minority of players seems like a sunk cost to the developers.
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Just as a counterpoint - I've worked for 4 years now as a programmer at one of the biggest publishers in the industry, and honestly, the work life balance is great, the pay is ok for the region(plus I get decent amount of shares every year), the work is varied, interesting and I like both what I do and people I work with. I think the last time I did overtime was 2 years ago, and even then it was only for a week aroun…
> Plus the usual for EU 25 paid days off Sometimes I really hate living in the US. -_-
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The company didn't cease to exist; they still had (have?) employees finishing existing contracts. They also tried to raise money to staff back up and finish off the Walking Dead games.
It sucks but if there is literally no money left then the company is simply not able to fulfill its obligations. Like if pay is owed where will that money come from? I don’t excuse management for a second; they must have known the coffers were bare while they were still hiring.
The gaming industry is a tough place to be. I have so much respect for game designers, 3D artists, animators. Because it takes a lot of time, skill, rendering and sleepless nights to get something good out. Unfortunately, most game companies are controlled by mediocre people at the top, who run things like a sweatshop.
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There is "Unemployment Insurance" in America, and companies have to pay into it for their employees by law. Any employee who no-fault loses their job can draw from it. This company used a "cheat" in the legal system in America for labor where they illegally labeled their employees as "independent contractors", which are treated differently under the law. These contractors aren't "employees" and aren't eligible for un…
this is also a thing in europe, with similar consequences.
- have multiple sources of income/contracts (at least 3, and no single contract may be worth more than 70% of your total income)
- have complete control over how to do your job (i.e. the hiring party can only tell you what to do, not how or when to do it)
- actively promote your own company (acquisition, marketing efforts)
- invest in your own company: your tools (laptop, software licenses) must be your own (they are tax-deductible)
- have your own liability insurance.
If you fail any of these conditions, the tax auditor may classify you as an employee regardless of what the contract says, and both you and your employer may be fined (depending on whether they see you as a victim or an accomplice).
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It seems to work for most AAA games.. In fact they usually dont even bother changing IP eg. assassins creed series, farcry series, call of duty series, madden series, etc. etc. Look at the ridiculously popular battle-royale games like fortnight.. They are pretty much clones of each other, and that gameplay has been done (better) decades ago.
Yeah but in those you have some mechanics to use. Telltalle took the adventure game formula, which is mostly exploration and puzzles, and dumbed it down until you were left with linear exploration and kindergarten puzzles. I stopped looking at their titles ages ago because while I grew up with adventure games, the Telltale titles ain't that any more. Edit: also, games made after a movie license (or a game license, Mi…
Telltale had a chance to take the Visual Novel, clean it up some for more Western sensibilities, and really create a market here for the genre.
Instead you just got a badly rendered machina. It was unfortunate.
That said, I've heard great things about the writing for Minecraft Story from adults. So, you know. If your expectations are appropriate, there's room to be impressed.
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No. Actually in most countries "social security" and "unemployment insurance" are 2 different things. Social security IIRC is mostly there to take care of medical expenses, including for employed people.
Social security generally pays unemployment benefits too. How that works is obviously very dependent on the country. Also, at least in the UK there are national funds available to cover redundancy. And yes, I was being facetious - I'm aware unemployment benefit is often pretty low and that actual income protection insurance does exist.
True, so why make a broad statement about a continent that includes 30-ish countries, each with their own system, only based on "the UK-way"?
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Game dev is a meat grinder. While making games is a great way to learn programming, and is a lot of fun, the working conditions make it an untenable career choice for most.
Only way is to either make it a hobby project, and work a day job that pays well. Or, take the risk and go indie - effectively a lottery ticket.
Do it for fun if you want, but doing it for the money will lead to heartbreak.