World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, Assassin's Creed Unity, A Smidgen of Dragon Age Inquisition, Funemployed Kickstarter, Common Game Design Weak Points, Your Emails and More!
This week Rob Daviau joins the crew to launch the Funemployed Kickstarter and talk about weak points in game design.
To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about or whatever else is on your mind. You can even send a 30 second audio question or comment (MP3 format please) if you're so inclined.
Chairman_Mao's Timestamps
00.02.08 WoW: Warlords of Draenor
00.17.09 Rob's Kickstarter: Funemployed!
00.28.23 Assassin's Creed: Unity
00.37.32 Vigil RPG
00.38.16 League of Legends
00.40.38 This week's topic: Weak points in game design!
01.00.14 Your emails!
Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks
Comments
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Hey GWJers, I'm surprised no-one has called this out yet: There appears to be an absence of at least one audio feed from the recording in the final 10 or so minutes. Conversation becomes a bit difficult to follow...
I'm surprised too! Looking into it ...
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman
I'm not an AC guy, but for those digging on Unity or at least enjoying the setting, I'd love to recommend checking out Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast. He's covering the French Revolution now, and it strikes me that it might pair well with the game. The episodes are also only thirty minutes on average, so it isn't a huge time investment.
As far as design flaws go, I'd say lazy writing is a huge issue for me.
I can't stand unearned drama - it really pulls me out of an experience. The sudden-but-inevitable betrayal of the mentor would likely drive me bonkers. If you're going to utilize a trope, you need to have a fresh spin on it or have it be in service to a greater idea / theme.
Similarly, I struggle with games that opt out of reflecting real world demographics to whitewash / make every major character male for no discernable reason. Inevitably, someone will take that kind of stance and say "don't politicize everything" but I feel like a game is making a political choice when it does that - especially when there is no concrete reason supported by narrative, setting, theme or story. Even games that do have a viable reason to skew male-heavy still often lack the awareness.
LastSuprise: Destroyer of Wallets would be an excellent tag and/or third handle for you.
https://twitter.com/theharpomarxist
Waaaaaaay ahead of you. Great podcast.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman
Link in Wind Waker, maybe?
Certis, thanks for the Vigil RPG mention!
Aggro Magnet Games
I just finished listening to the podcast and had a nice laugh at the line about "challenging indie films" all coming out in February. I had been pushing for my own challenging indie movie to get a 2014 release, but our distributor naturally pushed for February. From the sound of things, it is the only month in which people are willing to try a "groundbreaking" film.
In general, I really liked that question about why the subversive stuff isn't embraced, but I don't think games are far behind other art forms here. There is a perception about what people want that any financial backer is going to aggressively pursue. Why take the risk on something that breaks the mold if the mold is working fine? Of course, art by its very nature wants to break the mold anyway, so you do get the stuff the bursts through and then redefines what the mold is. That usually requires a powerful set of circumstances to make happen. HBO willing to take a chance on the Sopranos, for example. Even Game Of Thrones was a calculated risk that defied convention (mainstream audiences don't like fantasy, too many characters, etc.) Both of these shows defied - and then became - convention.
EDIT - Also, +1 to Vigil! Super fun!
LastSuprise: Destroyer of Wallets would be an excellent tag and/or third handle for you.
https://twitter.com/theharpomarxist
...I suddenly now want to see a pirate who uses a boomerang as his go to weapon.
Edit: And I agree that glitches aren't as bad as they used to be. I remember way back when with Neverwinter Nights 2 there was a show-stopping bug that prevented me for progressing and I had to wait a whole week for a patch to clear the issue.
I wish you guys would stop encouraging him.
EvilHomer3k wrote:You are an evil, evil person.
Baron Of Hell wrote:YOU VILLAIN!
Agreed.
I just got around to seeing How to Train you Dragon 2, and I really liked it except
Cheap pathos isn't clever, and it betrays a poverty of imagination to make an unhappy or bittersweet ending just because you want to differentiate yourself from what Disney does. It's like the Monty Python joke about "spring surprise" chocolates. Sure, it's unexpected. That doesn't make it good.
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
I had a writing teacher who said never to worry about surprising or fooling the audience - just write a good story with characters that are compelling. The second you try to force anything, particularly a surprise, you're going to be losing out on the honesty - which is what people actually respond to.
LastSuprise: Destroyer of Wallets would be an excellent tag and/or third handle for you.
https://twitter.com/theharpomarxist
Agreed, again.
Write me some good characters, and I'm a fan for life. That's why I dig Pratchett so much. His characters feel real, even while being so completely fantastic.
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
Also, re: Warlords of Draenor - I was nearly sucked back into the game after Blizzard gave my wife and me a free week in October. The only thing holding us back from springing for the $50 + $15 x2 was that we knew all our foreseeable future was going to be invested into Dragon Age. Come February/March, we're almost certainly going to give it a shot again.
That said, it seems like a fair amount of the launch issue was tied to a DDOS attack on Blizzard's servers timed to coincide with the usual MMO launch madness. Blizzard's responded by giving 5 days to all their subscribers.
You bastard, Tanglebones. :)
ClockworkHouse wrote:Yay! My Sony bone is getting tangled!
thrawn82 wrote:Tanglebones is a better man than I, in tears at my desk.
New audio file up, all fixed!
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman
Well I hope you're proud of yourselves. You've finally gotten me to kickstart something.
Brace yourself for cats and dogs sleeping together, mass hysteria and all that goodness.
You've never known true joy until you've shaken a lich stick at someone.
Damn that Assassin's Creed... it never puts away its dishes!
I laughed.
Great podcast this week.
I had a moment in Assassin's Creed Unity that really bugged me, when playing through the rifts. The point of the rift is to gather data to free an Assassin operative who is trapped in a malfunctioning system. Whenever you rescue the operative, the voice-over always says "He sends his thanks." This on top of the no playable female assassin thing is kind of a drag.
When people have lied to themselves for that long, the truth feels like an attack.
—from Frostbitten by trichy
LOL, I just finished listening to the Conference Call, too.
It is a very strange feeling when the dropout first happens. You think it's just an awkward silence, then Julian laughs as if someone said something funny. After that happens a few times you realize you haven't heard from Rob in a few minutes...
Un bon mot ne prouve rien (A witty saying proves nothing). - Voltaire
It's like Garfield minus Garfield!
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
Noice ....
Thanks for another great and entertaining podcast!
The Flappy Birds reference will haunt me forever - Thanks for that
Very curious to hear how the sensory deprivation chamber session is going to turn out. Maybe you finally will be able to connect to your inner dwarven female warrior princess
A tip from me: Go to the toilet beforehand - lying in warmed water totally releaxed will do things to your bladder - just saying
Been playing AC:Unity on a i7 4GHz with a GTX980 and must say it is still terrible... sure framerate is way better than on a PS4! However compared to all the other 60Hz (or 75Hz Oculus) games on my PC the new AC:U is a setback...
On the other hand the bug ridden AC:U is also an opportunity: Currently we are in gaming heaven. There is FC4, GTA5 and Dragon Age... so till we finish those gems AC:Unity certainly will be fixed. So lets all be thankful!
WoW finally got player housing. That is the biggest temptation to return ever.
Funemployment sounds hilarious!
Teacher by day, gamer and musician by night, husband and father all the time.
There's a sensory dep tank place opened down the road from me recently, and the wife got a GroupOn, so we both had a go. Both of us were utterly underwhelmed by it.
Don't get me wrong, it was pleasant and relaxing, but no more so than a nice long bath at home with an eye-mask on. A mildly interesting experience that I would in no way pay $80 (their going rate) to do again.
Don't believe the hype about it being a transcendent or psychedelic experience. If that's what you're after, save yourself 70 of those bucks and buy yourself a hit of acid.
You've never known true joy until you've shaken a lich stick at someone.
Can't argue with that part! It was just a big, long meditation for me and it was AWESOME. If you're looking for visions or floating in there waiting for something to happen I think you'll be disappointed.
As a silent space to still your mind and float, it's pretty phenomenal.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman
I have a toilet in a bathroom with no windows for that.
I wish you guys would stop encouraging him.
EvilHomer3k wrote:You are an evil, evil person.
Baron Of Hell wrote:YOU VILLAIN!
Along these lines, if you want a huge time investment I recommend watching La Révolution française - Les Années Lumières + Les Années Terribles. It was filmed for the 200th anniversary of the revolution and is a monster of a film at about 6 hours.
The bad news is it's hard to find. It only came out on DVD in French. There's a version on Youtube where somebody added subtitles but I believe it's missing some scenes since it clocks in at just over 5 hours. A great film though.
I had wanted to re-watch the movie for years having seen bits of it in high school but all I could remember was 1) it was really, really long and 2) The main theme song. Fortuitously a few months ago an internet friend of mine tweeted she was about to watch a 6-hour movie on the French Revolution. The internet is awesome.
"Four legs good, two legs bad!"
Jonman - I was drawn in as well.
Thanks for another good show gang.
Flickr Stream |
Steam id: Rahmen
If an alien needed to see a game to understand humans, there are a dozen JRPGs that would do the job. Any of the real life simulations, dating simulations, etc.
As for Funenployment - i'm in. Well played. Another sucker plunks down the bux on kickstarter.
Yes. We all start in life knowing nothing about it, but someday we may grind through enough boring crap to actually enjoy ourselves, but too many of us quit before we get that far.
Oh, and we spend large parts of our lives passively observing things that we can neither skip nor pause.
And then there's the dating sims...
You know, I was trying to be funny there, but I think we may have hit on something.
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
There are way too many times that humans say "..." rather than gird their loins and actually say what they really feel or should say. Yeah. JRPG checks out.
"...mahal ko ang longganisa!" - Demosthenes
And hopefully a super powered exhaust fan.
Lol - I can only support the last statement!!!
PS: Damn, Gamma 1.01 of Elite broke DK2 support - now I really need a hit of acid!
Well, for once, I didn't miss a promotion because I listened a month late.
Funemployed actually gives you some wiggle-room. Cards against humanity sometimes just blurts it out. Like, one of the cards was "Daniel Radcliffe's ***hole." That's it, that's the whole joke.
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