zero_or_more

That's an interesting question. One thing I see as important is to create an image of an active dev team - to create the feeling that even though the team is waiting for money, work is still being done. Somewhat related... I understand publishers would object, but a project like this could have a sort-of-transparent budget. Not necessarily down to the last line of code, but rather some data showing where the money goes to - maybe publishing some project lead docs or something. (It would mesh well with the crowd-sourced socialist dream I guess. ) Also what was the problem with Wasteland 2 and European backers? No paypal or something? Anyway I think Obsidian would have a lot of international backers, too, jmo. Edit: LOL

I forgot to mention, but I also think Torchlight 2 - with its mod tools and LAN play - will cater more to the casual gamer than Diablo 3. And inadvertently that may ease Diablo 3's final transition to an MMO, too.

I'd rather set up my own, it's right around the corner! But... uh... first I still need to find a 2D animator/artist willing to work on pygame/SDL tech demos with me. Anyway I'm happy with the Firaxis XCOM 'remake', but an Alpha Centauri title would be nice. In the end I agree with WUE though, let kickstarter be a home for underground indie development, not just a publisher rejected projects central.

Broken hearts.

Wearable computing... sounds just as useful as cellphone cameras did at first. But what do I know... King's Bounty is silly, but surprisingly good. Worth its price in any sale if you're a fan of turn-based, imho. And re Max Payne 3: the previous games had that not-so-serious vibe to them, the baseball bat boy and the comics, and MP2 had a TV show with a NY detective who said amusing things like: 'When in my situation, you can only use metaphors...' I fear it's going to be less like that and more like Max Payne shooting in GTA tech.

Sorry for the late reply in such a fast moving thread... I think I get what you're saying and I agree that ME2 set a precedent in the writing in this sense. Eg. the turning people into some DNA goo - or what - is just as ridiculous as the 3 color explosions, however this still won't validate the 'expectations' reasoning, imho. Because in the same game, ME2 had an ending where your team lived or died based on previous in-game actions - even if the ending was just a binary destroy-or-not scene. I don't think it was unreasonable to expect a similar mechanic in the sequel. Still, if you're willing to dismiss this expectation of a 'personalized' ending as unreasonable, the introduction of an omnipotent figure in the last 10 seconds of gameplay who talks utter BS is pretty bad in its own right - good comic relief, though. So even without trying to judge the quality of the writing, both of these game elements contradict a mechanic which was both advertised and reinforced in-game as important - so I think the ending do qualifies as bad for this very reason. This is an interactive media, so as a developer I think you should try to make the player feel more relevant, not the exact opposite.

So let me get this straight... you're blaming the players for having 'too high' expectations... which are actually based on the previous games?

Oh, wasn't aware of that. Well if you will participate, I'd like to read some impressions if you're willing. Especially if you played gw1.

I wouldn't say that's the deal-breaker. However it was clear from the start (no LAN game) that it's just a form of DRM advertised as a feature. A feature which actually takes away options? Using battlenet for multiplayer, ok - forcing it on single... why? I don't know if it qualifies as fighting 'the man', I'm not saying they should release it as free (as in speech) software, you know.

I'm sure it will be fun, but I still don't get the perma-online thing and that percentage from the auction house sales is indeed 'money from gambling'. Whatever, real men listen to death metal. \m/

Anyone in the gw2 beta?

Oh, I wanted to answer. Fyi, the dev's site has some demos since these are flash games so you can check out the other games as well there.

I'm having a hard time grasping what this topic really is about, but I'll give it another try... I do realize that Grim Fandango has some mexican/aztec themes in it even if I didn't buy any books on their history or anything. Emotional investment doesn't mean that I have to be in love with Meche - or even like her character - it only means I care enough to be interested in the motivations and situations of the characters, and thus ultimately in moving the story forward. This also means that I don't play the game because I want them - Manny and Meche - together so badly or anything like that, instead my investment is the actual understanding of the events and happenings. So entertainment comes not from some kind of gratification, but rather is a result of chaining the events into a coherent and hopefully meaningful story. Obviously this contradicts a more bland, but more 'instantly' rewarding mechanic, or a grinding mechanic where eg. the reward is that you can actually show off in-game how much time you have put into it. However only because there are games using the later mechanics, I don't think it means that the former, story-driven games are somehow less relevant or less rewarding. It's just a matter of preference, I think. And no, playing with a nude patch would have had absolutely no extra value to Grim Fandango. In fact nude patches make just as much sense as advertisements using the female body.

Concerning the OP I echo the sentiments on Civ while adding that Civ4 had a really great selection of music, some of which - classical pieces - prompted me to search for them. I would have looked up Lacuna Coil as well after playing Bloodlines, but I already knew them... I do try to play 'morally consistent' characters in video games, however since no game can possibly offer to represent your exact thoughts throughout, more often than not the actual choices reflect the game mechanics/economy rather than my thoughts. Good games try to do their best to hide this limitation, imho. (I do plan to replay The Witcher 2, but it's partially because of the new content... still one of the better games to capture 'neutrality' as a concept.)

Indeed. It was a Spielberg idea anyway, no? Or a Psychonauts animated movie maybe... wonder how the zany levels would translate.

I remember playing a game called Psychonauts, but that was a 3rd person 3D platformer - was pretty good though.

Lol - nice.

Yeah, nobody does linear action games anymore... They seem to have abandoned the comic book feel of the first 2 games - sad.

While reading a post from one of the more literate members of the board, I made a wiktionary lookup on the word moran - just in case I'm missing something... and indeed, it all makes sense now! Also played some 12 bar blues today. Happy.

If kickstarter is a way to get rich, I'll kickstart a vaporware. Who's with me?

Maybe that it wasn't written in Java? Oh wait...

I don't know if it's 'the best' or quickest at all, a sniper tries to keep distance, and I think big guns or burst weapons can do the job 'quicker'... so really it's just the way I played these games, 10 PE, 10 AG, energy weapons, speech, science guy. (Also STR of 4 - might be too low for new players - Gifted and Finesse traits, but traits do have drawbacks as well.) Sneak helps, but you don't need to tag it for a sniper. I remember in Fallout 2 I had dogs and a guy with a sledgehammer as companions as they caused a lot of knockdowns, which stole AP-s from opponents so they couldn't close in as fast on my sniper. It's just how I played. Anyways I agree with Enoch - small guns maybe better for new players, especially in Fallout 2. But there are a lot of options in the game, a RPG really.

I always had the impression that when you're combining too many strings for your eval() that's when you want to use lisp. Don't know if it's true, but I never understood the need for the weird syntax anyway. Nowadays I just stick with python, sometimes it's hard to believe that it's both good and popular (meaning more libraries).

Iirc... it switches to turn-based once an enemy becomes aware of you, so eg. if they face you it'll switch much sooner. However pressing enter/return turns on turn-based immediately. So if you play a sneaky character, you sneak (what was it? F1? F2?) up to the guy and before he reacts you press enter and then use your action points to attack him. Also I played a 10AP sniper most of the time, so I could get into cover in real-time, press enter, step out of cover, shoot, then hide back and got a free attack this way to start the fight. Now I haven't played it in a long time, so anyone - feel free to correct me.

Or Lisp. For some that's the very definition of cool. (Mathematical problems will get you only so far in learning a language though. /captain obvious)