PCG Article PCG Article Round Up...

[ZedClampet]

Some good articles up on PCG (at least good to me). Please read and discuss....

I love that 'horror fishing game' is becoming a genre
As a fan of both horror and fishing games, this seems right up my alley.

Valve bans Steam curators suspected of scamming developers for free games
The curators were doing "revenge reviews" when they didn't receive free keys. It always lifts my spirits when people get what's coming to them

Sons of the Forest delayed again, but new gameplay footage sure looks nice
Now February of next year. I would have much rather they just release into early access as they did last time. But I guess they have enough money this time that they don't need to do that, so that's nice, too. It's really rare for survival games to launch as finished games.

Elden Ring is the new Skyrim
Says that new RPG's will try to be like Elden Ring. It's the new blueprint. Personally, I'm more old school and would probably get more enjoyment out of Skyrim (I haven't played either), but the FromSoft games are extremely popular. Can't argue with that.

 

[Colif]

We have a front page? Who let that happen. I blame Brian.

 

[ZedClampet]

We have a front page? Who let that happen. I blame Brian.

Brian is generally to blame for everything. Dude is a troublemaker.

 

[Pifanjr]

Some good articles up on PCG (at least good to me). Please read and discuss....

I love that 'horror fishing game' is becoming a genre
As a fan of both horror and fishing games, this seems right up my alley.

I feel like Subnautica would be far more horrifying to me than any of the so-called horror fishing games, as just watching videos of it triggers my thalassophobia.

Valve bans Steam curators suspected of scamming developers for free games
The curators were doing "revenge reviews" when they didn't receive free keys. It always lifts my spirits when people get what's coming to them

I saw that Reddit post. The scammers did receive free keys, but the keys were to the free demo version of the game instead of the full review version because the developer suspected they were scam accounts. Apparently each account had around 25.000 followers.

Note that Steam has a feature to give keys directly to a specific account to prevent those keys from being sold on a gray/black market website, but when you're releasing a game on multiple platforms it's easier to give keys over mail, which means scammers will spam developers with emails asking for codes which they then sell.

Sons of the Forest delayed again, but new gameplay footage sure looks nice
Now February of next year. I would have much rather they just release into early access as they did last time. But I guess they have enough money this time that they don't need to do that, so that's nice, too. It's really rare for survival games to launch as finished games.

They might still release into early access if the delays are caused by development issues. The tweet just mentions they want to "complete the polish [they] feel is needed", but that could just as well be for an early access release as a full release.

Elden Ring is the new Skyrim
Says that new RPG's will try to be like Elden Ring. It's the new blueprint. Personally, I'm more old school and would probably get more enjoyment out of Skyrim (I haven't played either), but the FromSoft games are extremely popular. Can't argue with that.

The article does mention some design philosophies I can get behind, like not gating the cool mechanics behind several hours of playing/grinding and good environmental design instead of just journal entries and exposition dumps. However, I don't need every encounter to be a challenge and I do want the game to keep track of NPCs and quests for me, because I frequently go weeks between play sessions and I won't remember all of the details.

 

[DXCHASE]

Hard disagree with Elden Ring being Skyrim. They both are great games although i hate souls like combat but still torture myself with playing the likes of 'em, but Elden Ring is not Skyrim. Some of the ideas, yes sound great but that combat system is so less fun to play and some of the gameplay elements and how they have certain aspects set up (like fall damage) just set them too far apart, but thats my opinion. I love open world games but if you keep the dark souls like combat, its a pass.

 

[Brian Boru]

It's really rare for survival games to launch as finished games

Ah right, launch in Early Access, and see if they survive—I see what they're doing

I blame Brian

Brian is generally to blame for everything

I get that a lot, and so must apologize for the overcrowding in the 'I wanna be next to blame Brian' lobby. Co-op went well, but the multi-player has taken off way beyond expectations.

Hang in there gang, I'm upgrading the Why Knee server asap, and the Bee Itching will be directly after. Once done, it'll be the bees knees.

thalassophobia

You too? Happened me when an ex stalked me, I sure developed a phobia of that lass.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

The article does mention some design philosophies I can get behind, like not gating the cool mechanics behind several hours of playing/grinding and good environmental design instead of just journal entries and exposition dumps. However, I don't need every encounter to be a challenge and I do want the game to keep track of NPCs and quests for me, because I frequently go weeks between play sessions and I won't remember all of the details.

[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I agree. I go days or weeks sometimes, too. I can't remember everything, and I'm not going back to the stone age where you have to write everything down. I need a game to help keep track of that stuff for me, especially when there are a lot of different things going on.

How about a game that takes the best of both and doesn't throw the baby out with the bath water?

 

[SWard]

Sticking this, also would we like more of these? Like one a week?

 

[Pifanjr]

Sticking this, also would we like more of these? Like one a week?

Perhaps. I'm not sure how well it'll go discussing four different articles in one thread, so we'll see how it goes with this one.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The article does mention some design philosophies I can get behind, like not gating the cool mechanics behind several hours of playing/grinding and good environmental design instead of just journal entries and exposition dumps. However, I don't need every encounter to be a challenge and I do want the game to keep track of NPCs and quests for me, because I frequently go weeks between play sessions and I won't remember all of the details.

Yeah, I agree. I go days or weeks sometimes, too. I can't remember everything, and I'm not going back to the stone age where you have to write everything down. I need a game to help keep track of that stuff for me, especially when there are a lot of different things going on.

How about a game that takes the best of both and doesn't throw the baby out with the bath water?

Hi! Insufferable Fromsoft simp reporting!

I can see how coming from other open world games you'd find the idea of not having a quest log weird, and I wouldn't have a problem with them having some sort of basic quest log in the next Elden Ring. They did add in NPC markers on the main map in one of the early patches.

Tbh though I've never really bothered with finishing quests in any Fromsoft game unless I happened to stumble into them while exploring. You don't need to do them for XP and its not like the story becomes much clearer for doing them, without doing a lot of extra research into item descriptions anyway.

 

[Colif]

Perhaps. I'm not sure how well it'll go discussing four different articles in one thread, so we'll see how it goes with this one.

it would get messy if we had 10X more active members and no one quoted the person they replied, but if you all do that, it should be okay

slaps person above me with a wet fish for not quoting

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

it would get messy if we had 10X more active members and no one quoted the person they replied, but if you all do that, it should be okay

slaps person above me with a wet fish for not quoting

FTFY

I just think threads would be better if they were a bit more confusing and you had to puzzle out who was talking to who. More like a Fromsoft game ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Colif]

I just think threads would be better if they were a bit more confusing and you had to puzzle out who was talking to who. More like a Fromsoft game ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

or a discord channel

glad its a little slower here, can almost work out who is talking to who.

I think we best make 1 topic posts for things people will want to talk about in depth and multi topic posts for things that might get missed in the rush?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

or a discord channel

glad its a little slower here, can almost work out who is talking to who.

I think we best make 1 topic posts for things people will want to talk about in depth and multi topic posts for things that might get missed in the rush?

Not to second guess @ZedClampet but maybe part of the reason he's pulled in these few articles is because its hard to tell which of them might engage more people. Maybe we can split off anything that takes off from a weekly thread?

 

[ZedClampet]

Not to second guess @ZedClampet but maybe part of the reason he's pulled in these few articles is because its hard to tell which of them might engage more people. Maybe we can split off anything that takes off from a weekly thread?

I didn't intend this to get pinned or to start a trend. I just saw a few articles that interested me, and instead of making 4 posts, I thought I would try putting them all into one. Whatever the mods want is fine with me. I don't really want to do weekly summary posts, though. If we continue to use this thread, my preference would be to just add new articles to it as we see fit. Usually I'm the one who links articles, but maybe if we had a single thread for it more people might link their favorites. Dunno. But what I do know is that it's easier to borrow a conversation starter than to think of one yourself

I think we best make 1 topic posts for things people will want to talk about in depth and multi topic posts for things that might get missed in the rush?

I can't tell the difference between the two, as should be obvious from my posting history. Part of the reason for this is that I'll generally be happy to discuss anything game related.

 

[ZedClampet]

For example (and as a test)...

Everywhere isn't a metaverse, it's Roblox for grown-ups
Never heard of this before. Sounds kind of appealing. When I grow up I'll check it out.

Rumbleverse is the fresh take on battle royale I needed
It's going to destroy Fortnite. Oh, sorry. Got carried away there. But a 'rastlin battle royale sounds kind of fun to me.

This brutal open world survival game just got its biggest free update in 4 years
All my hopes and dreams for a Conan Exiles 2 just went down the drain. I'll give the update a try though. By the way, this game has the best combat of any survival game that I've tried, as well as the best base building. As far as "brutal" goes, if you create your own server or play in single-player, you can make it any level of difficulty you can imagine thanks to a robust set of options. You can go anywhere from a walk in the park to much worse than Dark Souls.

Nostalgia replays have become my go-to escape from pandemic stress
Wish I could do this, but old games tend to just irritate me. Also, I keep forgetting about the pandemic. In Tennessee everyone just all kind of agreed to pretend it doesn't exist. I haven't seen anyone wearing a mask in probably a year. I just keep getting booster shots every 6 months and joining all the nuts with their heads in the sand.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I didn't intend this to get pinned or to start a trend. I just saw a few articles that interested me, and instead of making 4 posts, I thought I would try putting them all into one. Whatever the mods want is fine with me. I don't really want to do weekly summary posts, though. If we continue to use this thread, my preference would be to just add new articles to it as we see fit. Usually I'm the one who links articles, but maybe if we had a single thread for it more people might link their favorites. Dunno. But what I do know is that it's easier to borrow a conversation starter than to think of one yourself



I can't tell the difference between the two, as should be obvious from my posting history. Part of the reason for this is that I'll generally be happy to discuss anything game related.

I dont really have an opinion either way I guess @SWard was suggesting that she might make some kind of round up thread herself on a weekly basis? If thats the case it doesnt mean that you couldnt still have this thread as well IMO, or however you want to do it.

 

[SWard]

Just seeing what works for you folks, and what would encourage discussion on the articles here - as the forums allow for more nuanced discussion. I guess the idea would be you could reply on each or one thing, and If a hot take required it's own thread one could be made?

 

[Brian Boru]

would we like more of these? Like one a week?

I don't think so. We already have the 'PCG Article' button for threads about individual articles, which gets used regularly. Then we have Zed's ongoing weekly thread for aside mentions.

One thread with 3-4 topics in it goes against everything the forum structure is about, makes it like a chat app or email loop. Every thread started here may or may not get responses—no biggie, it'll run its course.

In short, either its own thread or a throwaway mention in Zed's weekly.

forums allow for more nuanced discussion

Not if there's more than one topic in a thread

If we continue to use this thread, my preference would be to just add new articles to it as we see fit

Yeah, one thread for all would work—yours, D'Artagnan.

no one quoted the person they replied

Few members do that, even the seasoned regulars usually quote a whole post rather than segments. Assume same for this thread

we best make 1 topic posts for things people will want to talk about in depth and multi topic posts for things that might get missed in the rush

How would a poster know this in advance?

glad its a little slower here, can almost work out who is talking to who

Yeah, most of the time. Which is the point of a forum, why it has the structure and tools it does.

 

[Zloth]

Skyrim -> Dark Souls:
It isn't out yet (and may never release for all we know), but Wayward Realms has the scent of a Daggerfall 2.

All in all, though, a lot of games can be 'the new Skyrim.' It just depends on what aspects you focus on. For many folks, Starfield couldn't possibly be 'the new Skyrim' because it takes place in space, not a fantasy realm. Others may say it has to be Starfield or Fallout because those are the games Bethesda is making.

Come to think of it... it would be fun to find 12 games that all of us have played at least halfway through, then have each of us arrange all 12 games on some hex paper (we're all old enough to know what hex paper is, right?) according to what games are most similar to each other in the ways we consider most important. Then somebody posts one and everybody tries to guess who's "game preference fingerprint" it is. Alas, 12 games that we've all played? Probably not going to find any such set.

Everywhere:
I don't know Roblox from a hole in the mousepad, so I wasn't sure what I was reading in half that article. It sounds like nobody really knows what the game is supposed to be about, though, so no big loss.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Lol. I'm used to IGN forums, where nobody there gives a rat's backside about the website's articles. I'm not used to being on a forum where people actually care.

 

[Zloth]

On the plus side, they are probably real people and not just a collection of bot AI programs that @SWard wrote a couple of years back. I wonder if we've gotten to the stage where she lets a couple of real people in to see if we can fool them both as a sort of Turing test?

 

[Brian Boru]

what games are most similar to each other in the ways we consider most important

Would Quantic Foundry's motivation chart be a useful base for that?

she lets a couple of real people in

I'm not clear—do you still think Stevie's human?

 

[SWard]

*bleep bloop*

 

[SWard]

Valve bans Steam curators suspected of scamming developers for free games

Always makes me sad to see devs (especially indies) getting bombed for no good reason. I think theres also a perception problem with bigger studios that can afford to drop 1000 keys for influencers and streamers and a two person indie, some folks are really needing every sale to get funding for their next game, keep the lights on etc. I guess the mentality is "If this platformer only costs 2 bucks just give me it" but every sale can make a difference.

I was looking into these bombing groups back when V launched, and they do move as a bit of a swarm too... the interesting thing is I think they organise off platform, which is so much harder to police and anticipate.

TLDR: Buy indie games