Retrofire
First time out of the vault
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Growing trend: Games made by anonymous developers - does this bother anyone else?
I know, I know video games are big money now, and therefore you must expect an influx of <cough> FINANCIALLY MOTIVATED <cough> — and probably less impassioned — games.
Maybe, maybe this is just because I care a lot about video games as an artform, both as a game dev and a player, but something about seeing 200 Stardew Valley rip-offs — of which none are from a recognized studio — bankrolled by multinational shell-companies, without ANY transparency in regards to their creation whatsoever, just pisses me the fuck off.
And, you got these nebulous-ass "about me" pages where they desperately try to seem relatable. this game Caliber might be fun (!), but it lacks heart, and that bothers me. It is just a "game" in the most soulless, derivative sense of the word... it reminds me of what we see at most AAA game devs now.
art is about personal expression, no?
this ain't supposed to be some kind of anti-capitalist rant or something, i personally think poly-sci is a bunch of hogwash, the rapacious sorts always ruin everything... call it whatever you want. they don't play nice with others.
i have been watching Tim Cain's YouTube channel and his recent video on the why? behind him leaving the Fallout 2 crew came about, and i think i saw the beginning of the end. he provides an eye-witness account of the slow transformation of game publishers like Interplay:
these Bobby Kotick wannabees look at the game industry as a giant cookie jar, and their hand just navigates to secure as much of it as possible...
i see every larger game becoming progressively more formulaic, they adopt the same GUI design, the same mechanics, even the same menu schemas, why does EA DICE not remember what made Bad Company 2 amazing?
bc Bad Company 2 was not a product, it was a loveletter (!), it was fun (!!), it was made by a bunch of nerds nerding out in a broom closet (!!!). ultimately, they were pieces of art. bastions of creativity. they asked daring questions like "what if we did this" and not "we were told to do this",
people keep acting like its some kind of enigma why big games have become "bad".. this curse that has befallen us all. captain obvious here: seeing those sweaty dudes on stage might have been gross, but they cared. they made video games out of blood, sweat, and pixels.
old-school game design:
we need that shit back. we need the sweaty dudes [and gals] with social anxiety making decisions again.
less of this:
I know, I know video games are big money now, and therefore you must expect an influx of <cough> FINANCIALLY MOTIVATED <cough> — and probably less impassioned — games.
Maybe, maybe this is just because I care a lot about video games as an artform, both as a game dev and a player, but something about seeing 200 Stardew Valley rip-offs — of which none are from a recognized studio — bankrolled by multinational shell-companies, without ANY transparency in regards to their creation whatsoever, just pisses me the fuck off.
And, you got these nebulous-ass "about me" pages where they desperately try to seem relatable. this game Caliber might be fun (!), but it lacks heart, and that bothers me. It is just a "game" in the most soulless, derivative sense of the word... it reminds me of what we see at most AAA game devs now.
art is about personal expression, no?
this ain't supposed to be some kind of anti-capitalist rant or something, i personally think poly-sci is a bunch of hogwash, the rapacious sorts always ruin everything... call it whatever you want. they don't play nice with others.
i have been watching Tim Cain's YouTube channel and his recent video on the why? behind him leaving the Fallout 2 crew came about, and i think i saw the beginning of the end. he provides an eye-witness account of the slow transformation of game publishers like Interplay:
- $$
- Corporatization
- Bureaucracy
- Sideline Devs
- PR culture
- Censorship
- Lost creative freedom
- "product"
- Team cohesion collapses
these Bobby Kotick wannabees look at the game industry as a giant cookie jar, and their hand just navigates to secure as much of it as possible...
i see every larger game becoming progressively more formulaic, they adopt the same GUI design, the same mechanics, even the same menu schemas, why does EA DICE not remember what made Bad Company 2 amazing?
bc Bad Company 2 was not a product, it was a loveletter (!), it was fun (!!), it was made by a bunch of nerds nerding out in a broom closet (!!!). ultimately, they were pieces of art. bastions of creativity. they asked daring questions like "what if we did this" and not "we were told to do this",
people keep acting like its some kind of enigma why big games have become "bad".. this curse that has befallen us all. captain obvious here: seeing those sweaty dudes on stage might have been gross, but they cared. they made video games out of blood, sweat, and pixels.
old-school game design:
we need that shit back. we need the sweaty dudes [and gals] with social anxiety making decisions again.
less of this:
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