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taxalot

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It was a top secret operation destined to lure the Ultima community as propaganda officers. It worked, for some of us.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
It was a top secret operation destined to lure the Ultima community as propaganda officers. It worked, for some of us.

Somebody's getting worried though: http://ultimacodex.com/2014/02/a-note-on-ultima-forevers-status/

A Note on Ultima Forever’s Status
WtF Dragon February 5, 2014 Ultima Forever

Those of you who are following — or playing — Ultima Forever have probably noticed that things have been a bit…quiet on that front of late. Not that the game itself has gone particularly quiet; I still see plenty of other players when I log in, at least. But some users have been struggling with a persistent login bug, and the official forums have become deathly quiet in recent weeks. Notably, Mythic’s Gene Makely hasn’t posted anything there in quite some time, whereas he was once a regular and consistent fixture of that community.

I was able to reach out to (and get in touch with) a couple people at Mythic, and the reply I got back from both was basically the same: Ultima Forever has not been forgotten, but pretty much all priority has been given to Dungeon Keeper in recent weeks.

In fact, if you peruse the credit lists for the two games, there’s more than a little bit of overlap. Additionally, Dungeon Keeper went from soft launch to global release last week. This, I think, more than accounts for the recent silence…especially since the good Mr. Makely is handling community for that game as well!

(And yes, that’s an issue; one community person really can’t be expected to be able to handle the forums and other online fan presences for two separate multiplayer games, especially when one of these features a PvP element.)

I hope I’m not saying more than I reasonably should by also stating that I have it on record from two different people at Mythic that a new update is in the submissions pipeline right now…which could well mean we see it soon enough this month, assuming it doesn’t get sent back at any point.
 

Dexter

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http://www.baekdal.com/opinion/how-inapp-purchases-has-destroyed-the-industry/

gamingfront.jpg

How In-app Purchases Have Destroyed The Industry
Written by Thomas Baekdal on January 30, 2014

I don't like writing negative articles that don't include a solution to the problem, but in this case, there is no solution. The state of in-app purchases has now reached a level where we have completely lost it. Not only has the gaming industry shot itself in the foot, hacked off their other foot, and lost both its arms ... but it's still engaging in a strategy that will only damage it further.

Why are these gaming studios so intent of killing themselves?
gaming1.jpg

Note: Image from the wonderful 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'.

We have reached a point in which mobile games couldn't even be said to be a game anymore. Playing a game means that you have fun. It doesn't mean that you sit around and wait for the game to annoy you for so long that you decide to pay credits to speed it up. And for an old geezer like me who remember the glory days of gaming back in the 1990s, it's just unbearable to watch.

With the help of NerdCubed (great guy), let me illustrate just how bad in-app purchases in games have become. Let's compare a game from the 1990s with the same game on the iPad today.

I think you will be as shocked as I am.

Dungeon Keeper, 1997
Back in the 1990s, one of the best game developers in the world was a company called Bullfrog Productions. It created some of the best strategy games. You might remember games like Syndicate, Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper.
Obviously, the games' graphics look horrible today, considering that the high-res screen resolution back then was only 640x480. Your iPad is running at 2048x1536.

But let's look at one of these games: Dungeon Keeper.

It's a game that you can buy today (full game, everything unlocked + all expansion packs included) for $5.99 over at GOG. It takes place underground. Your task is to build up your 'dungeon' by digging out rooms and battling other dungeon keeps around you.

Below is a (long) video from NerdCubed of what it is like to play. You don't have to see the whole video, just go to 2:20 and watch how fast and easy it is to build a room.

He is building a treasure room to store all his gold and jewels. It's 45 squares big, and it takes the game about 2 minutes to complete. It's fast and it's fun. You feel the energy and the rhythm of the game.
So this is the old days:
  • Full game price + expansion packs included: $5.99
  • Build a large treasure room of 45 squares in just 2 minutes.
Just remember that.

Dungeon Keeper for iPad/Android, 2014
Now let's look at exactly the same game, but reimagined for the iPad/Android and in-app purchases.
And once again, NerdCubed reviews it. The review below is 8 minutes long, but you have to watch it all the way to the end. It perfectly illustrates just how mind bogglingly bad things have gone.

The modern-day Dungeon Keeper is not even a game. It's just a socially engineered scam. And since people don't remember what real gaming was like in the 90s, they are giving it the highest rating in the app store.
It's just unbelievable.

Two things before you watch it:
  1. Remember the original game play. The total price: $5.99, and it only takes 2 minutes to dig out 45 squares.
  2. Also, Nerdcubed does have a rather liberal use of words, and you probably shouldn't listen to it in the office.
But you *must* watch this because most people don't know how bad things are today.

What EA has done here has nothing to do with gaming, and the same is true for pretty much all other 'free-to-play + in-app purchase' games. We don't have a mobile gaming industry anymore. We have a mobile scamming industry.

There is no game here. And you know what the worst part of this is? Let me show you.

This crap is featured as one of the five top picks on the front page of Apple's app store, as an Editors' choice.
gaming2.jpg

How absolutely f*cked up is that? (...sorry for my choice of words, but this is one of those times where profanity is justified).

As NerdCubed said in his review, the problem is that all the future generations of gamers are going to experience this as the default. They are going to grow up in a world, in which people actually think this is what gaming is like. That social engineering and scamming people is an acceptable way of doing business.

It's not!

It's a scam... done by sick people who have nothing left in their lives other than selfish greed. They should be thrown in jail for deceptive business tactics, and not featured in the app store as an Editors' Choice.
This is outrageous.

You and I have a responsibility to speak out against it. This is not what we want our future to be like. This is completely unacceptable behavior.

As I started out saying, I wish I could end this article on a positive note and a constructive solution. But there is no solution here. There is no way to fix this other than stop doing it.

So for you mobile game developers I simply ask this of you. Walk into the closest bathroom and look yourself in the mirror. Do you like the person that you see? Is this what you want to be remembered by? Or do you want to be remembered as a game developer like Bullfrog, whom everyone loved because they made real games worth playing?
And if you are one of the very few developers who are still making real games (without the in-app purchase crap), I salute you. You are my heroes.

Games like Oceanhorn, Minecraft, XCOM and others. You guys are freaking brilliant, and I absolutely love you for having the courage of sticking to your principles.

Also read: "Optimizing Your Industry to the Point of Suicide", in which I show you how it will cost you almost $3,500 to unlock everything in Asphalt 7.
---
In response to the many wonderful comments, I have published another article (29 pages) about how to do in-app right (without the element of deception).

Update: I made this short comic to visualize the real problem. The problem is not asking people to pay, but the deception in that game developers promises that we can 'play' for free'. Waiting is not the same as playing.
taxi-inapp.gif
 

carbonbased

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"would you like to defend your dungeon? The first attempt is free." dev. souls = sold.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk
 

Angthoron

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Obviously, the games' graphics look horrible today, considering that the high-res screen resolution back then was only 640x480.

Like, fuck you.
That's prolly a concession to gaming newfags.

Anyway, an okay article, but not without flaws. Price tag should be at launch, not GoG, for one. The jab at F2P isn't entirely spot-on either, since people getting into F2P, unless they're children, usually expect various shit hoops like artificial gating and/or millions of ads. It's not like people have raged against F2P, more against how retarded this particular F2P is.

Yeah, it's nitpicking, but it's nitpicking for the sake of making water-tight arguements. This one leaks.
 

Zboj Lamignat

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Obviously, the games' graphics look horrible today, considering that the high-res screen resolution back then was only 640x480.

Like, fuck you.
It's almost like they have no idea about the game they're talking about and don't even know that you can increase resolution by pressing alt + R, but of course it's impossible since they're game journalists.
 

Gragt

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin
He talked mostly in general, not just DK, but even then there are many games that look great at 640x480. I usually run DOSBox at native resolution without filters and if a game looked good before, it looks good today.
 

Zboj Lamignat

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I also remember there was a 3dfx patch for DK1, though I don't remember much how it looked in use, probably blurry as hell.
 

Tytus

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I also remember there was a 3dfx patch for DK1, though I don't remember much how it looked in use, probably blurry as hell.

I played DK on a Voodoo graphics card and I think I used the 3dfx patch on it back in the day, but don't remember if it did anything :P
 

FeelTheRads

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NerdCubed videos:

Speaking of best value and that most popular. Now, best value would be obvious to anyone that it's been there from the start of the game, but I'll bet my dick the most popular tag was there hard coded as well. Most popular... riiight. Game is just released, first player ever sees "most popular",
 

Tytus

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NerdCubed videos:

Speaking of best value and that most popular. Now, best value would be obvious to anyone that it's been there from the start of the game, but I'll bet my dick the most popular tag was there hard coded as well. Most popular... riiight. Game is just released, first player ever sees "most popular",

Well it was "most popular" in the office of people who created it, so they didn't lie!
 

Tytus

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for some reason certain consoletards here are saying it can't be dark and funny at the same time
They need to be crotch stabbed using a voodoo doll and then incinerated with a flare pistol.


Apparently black comedy doesn't exist. Good to know.
Das rayciss.


I'm sorry.

But should I call it Afro-American Comedy, Afro-European Comedy or Afro-Polish Comedy? Does country of origin matter in this case?
 

DraQ

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for some reason certain consoletards here are saying it can't be dark and funny at the same time
They need to be crotch stabbed using a voodoo doll and then incinerated with a flare pistol.


Apparently black comedy doesn't exist. Good to know.
Das rayciss.


I'm sorry.

But should I call it Afro-American Comedy, Afro-European Comedy or Afro-Polish Comedy? Does country of origin matter in this case?
Do you have many Afro-Poles in Płock?
 

Tytus

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for some reason certain consoletards here are saying it can't be dark and funny at the same time
They need to be crotch stabbed using a voodoo doll and then incinerated with a flare pistol.


Apparently black comedy doesn't exist. Good to know.
Das rayciss.


I'm sorry.

But should I call it Afro-American Comedy, Afro-European Comedy or Afro-Polish Comedy? Does country of origin matter in this case?
Do you have many Afro-Poles in Płock?

I think there are two. Adonis Okonga Lodi who is a doctor in the city's hospital and some other one I don't remember now. :P
 

ERYFKRAD

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Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
If we're gonna go full retard politically correct, shouldn't it be morbid-comedy?:lol:
 

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