“They have formulas that they apply to games to try to figure out how much money they could make, and in the end you end up giving a whole lot of games that look exactly the same as last year’s games, because that makes some money,” Gilbert explained.
…
He continued: “That’s why I really enjoy the indie game market because it’s kind of free of a lot of that stuff that big publishers bring to it, and there’s a lot more creativity, strangeness, and bizarreness."There’s still a lot of creativity in big games but it’d be shame to see more movement towards nostalgia-driven/pastiche type games.
He’s been talking about it on Mastodon for quite a while now. It’s a shame.
/edit: It wasn’t the game he talked about on Masto; that game finished/released! My dumb. I thought it was continued development.
It’s a shame, but also, there’s billions of games and RPGs out already. The game industry is so oversaturated, it’s not even funny.
I will take this opportunity to recommend Crosscode, one of the best action RPGs of all time according to 90% of people who play it.
But yeah even amazing games like that fly under people’s radar in the huge deluge of games. I wish it were easier for good games to find their audience
I like CrossCode, but I am going to bat for Phoenotopia Awakening, one of the best game almost nobody has heard about. Slightly different perspective but similarly massive game full of secrets, puzzles, fun characters and a consistent world where even the tiniest bit of banter can lead you to discover something on the other side of the map.
I bought it last night after reading this. I hadn’t heard of Phoentopia at all. You suggested it. I watched one video. I found it on sale on GOG, and I bought it. I will install it and play it this weekend.
Thank you!
Not having a quest log made that game hell for me. Massive world with tons of little quests that take you all over the map and no way to track progress or see what the last part of the quest is asking for.
I can kind of see that.
It was not a huge problem for me, but I play lots of metroidvania, and I am used to memorizing stuff for later. And for stuff that I know will be hard to remember, occasionally, I might take notes or screenshots of hints.
Though most of the time, there are more than one hint for a single quest. The game does a very good job at updating every related NPC dialogue when something has changed.
But if you want to find everything, yeah you have to talk to absolutely everyone. TWICE. Almost everyone has two lines of dialogue at any moment.
Thank you both for the recommendations
Wow this looks incredible actually! Definitely giving it a go, thank you
Weird that it’s unsupported on steam deck. Doesn’t look that demanding technically.
It runs fine on the Deck.
Source: i have only played it on the Deck.
Mind you, it has been docked and played on a TV, so the text is fine and the controls are from an Xbox controller, so YMMV.
Edit: I am talking about CrossCode. I haven’t played Phoentopia, yet.
A bit weird indeed. I’ve played it on switch and it runs perfectly fine on it.
Hey a fellow Phoenotopia Awakening fan!
I love that game but I made the mistake of putting it down for a year. When I came back I was completely lost and had no idea what I had already done or what to do next. The game does not have quest logs and does not hold your hand this way. It’s a game where people might benefit from documenting their progress as they go, especially in case they ever take a break from it.
I really liked CrossCode’s art and vibe and everything. The puzzles are good, too. But the puzzles are kind of hard in a way that tires me out.
I guess that’s how some people feel about dark souls. “Oh, I’m glad that’s over”. That’s not quite the vibe I’m aiming for.
Maybe I’ll play it with a friend who’s good at puzzles so I can just do the fighty parts.
That’s funny, I loved the puzzles, but dropped it because the combat didn’t click for me.
And there are so many games that never got finished or polished properly.
It’s a confusing article, the game he talks about on Mastodon (Death By Scrolling) has just been released. There was another game he stopped dev on: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@grumpygamer/115657740122347206
Using a screenshot of Stardew while quoting a developer saying it takes money and staff to finish a project is diabolical
That’s not Stardew Valley
That’s further proving @p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com’s point.
Stardew Valley totally would have taken staff and money if you can’t live in your parent’s house forever. edit: I didn’t want it to sound mean towards Barone, it’s great what his family did for him, but this game was made possible with a very strong support net – a luxury not many have.
“It’s either a passion project you spent ten years on, or you need a bunch of money to be able to hire people and resources”
From the article.
I also thought it was Stardiew but after 3 seconds looking it’s evident it’s not.
the interview that was mentioned:
I wonder if he tried to get in touch with smaller indie publishers (something like yacht club games) or he focused on more established companies.
I like Ron Gilbert.
