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James Margaris

@markymarg2.bsky.social

92 followers 84 following 880 posts

A perfectly harmless box. Game dev, half of Dark Roast Entertainment. Games criticism at http://jmargaris.substack.com

jmargaris.substack.com

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James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 25d

open.substack.com/pub/jmargari...

2XKO's "intuitive" control scheme cannot be learned, only memorized, as it doesn't follow much apparent logic in terms of what result you get when you press a direction and a button.

And more thoughts on replacing motion inputs with dodgy alternatives.

2XKO's Control Scheme is Not It

And other concerns about 2XKO's reception

open.substack.com

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 9h

The Valve version of the same game would look better and run at 90 FPS on my PC, simply due to different choices made.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 9h

I played the demo for a new Warhammer tactics game and it runs at 17FPS, and even with DLSS / TAA turned off and set to native res it looks extremely blurry to the point it kinda hurts my eyes.

What are we doing? We took a wrong turn somewhere.

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James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 14h

Something that never occurred to me before, but that is extremely apparent with 2XKO, is that lab-heavy fighting games make for terrible viewing. If you go on Twitch and watch people "play" half of them are practicing combos in training mode, it's like watching paint dry

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 14h

Looks cool I like games in the Solve 'Em Up genre.

PAUL CONWAY @doomcube.bsky.social · 20h

#ScreenshotSaturday. Can you solve the supernatural mystery of Blake Manor.

Launching on OCt 27th. Wishlist Now!

#Indiegames

👻 store.steampowered.com/app/1395520/...

#ScreenshotSaturday A man with spectacles standing at the bottom of a grand staircase

#ScreenshotSaturday 3 red comic panels. A strange panel is carved on a standing stone. A man's eyes are white with power.

#ScreenshotSaturday A woman stands agains a black screen. The UI highlights a pin on her shawl.

#ScreenshotSaturday A UI showing connecing pieces of information.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 1d

This general class of problem is introducing new stuff when there a) isn't enough time left in the game to explore it b) there isn't enough space to use it (it crowds out existing content) and/or c) there's some sunk cost in the existing content in terms of upgrades or just player understanding

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 1d

My experience with tactics games is mostly the opposite as the one described - I end up replacing all the guys I trained up with the new named units. But either way it doesn't feel great.

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James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 1d

This is a problem in a lot of tactics games but this *class* of problems is pretty common.

In God of War 1 (the PS2 one) they give you a second weapon when you're 90% done with the game, after you've spent most of the game learning and upgrading your main weapon. (Which is more fun to use!)

Max Nichols @maxnichols.bsky.social · 1d

RE late recruitable characters—

A LOT of games have issue. Fire Emblem, FFT, Ogre Battle, the unlockable classes in Etrian Odyssey…

It’s especially an issue in games that have both generic characters you invest time building up, AND later named story characters that join you

Max Nichols @maxnichols.bsky.social · 1d

And so… these named characters immediately get benched. They’re underleveled, they lack the broad set of job skills and levels, and I am pretty attached to my existing squadmates. It would take a ton of work to being them up to par.

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James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 1d

In my experience almost all these games have the problem of late recruits either being useless or being good and displacing generic units you had been growing the whole game. Either way it pretty unsatisfying.

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James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 1d

"Peacemaker needs a pacemaker as Season 2 flatlines."

My review of Peacemaker season 2.

If you would like to hire me to write dumb headlines I'm available, I know that's a real job because I read websites.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 1d

Gain Ground must be partially inspired by this. (Or maybe they're both inspired by something else) Same extra tall screen, very similar graphics style, same similar touches like thrown grenades that scale to indicate they're travelling in an arc.

Gaming Hell @sarahssowertty.bsky.social · 2d

This week's Arcade Archives release is Battlantis, Konami's 1987 take on Space Invaders. Defend the sacred island with your crossbow and any special items you grab along the way, no matter the cost!

Dreamwidth post!
tepidsnake.dreamwidth.org/28141.html

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 2d

Boomer list would have Unreal Tournament 99.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 2d

If that's the case it reminds me how WoW went from punishing players who played too much to rewarding players who played sparsely, by using new terms and reframing the conversation.

I think they basically made an "undizzy" that feels like a reward rather than a punishment.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 2d

If you hit the enemy a lot eventually you do a big hit that sends them flying and ends the combo. All the VFX and tutorial text and such indicates "this is a big damage thing you want to try for" but again I'm 90% sure it exists to prevent players from trivializing enemies via one long combo.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 2d

Having played the game I'm 90% sure the "cash out" mechanic is a pretty heavy-handed from of infinite prevention, similar to "undizzies" in Marvel vs Capcom 2 or the combo limit in Tokon. But the game tries very hard (and successfully) to present it as a good thing rather than a limit.

Eurogamer @eurogamer.bsky.social · 2d

Absolum, from the publisher of Eurogamer Essential Streets of Rage 4, is a brawler that lets you cash-out a combo - and it's brilliant.

In a hectic month, don't let it get overlooked.

www.eurogamer.net/absolum-from...

Absolum key art showing several fantasy characters, the main one with a large sword, in a cartoon montage against red background

Reposted by James Margaris

I'm Uni :3 @unicouniuni3.bsky.social · 2d

My punch is the strongest. Wanna try it?

A black and white cat with yellow eyes is sitting, slightly tilting his head while raising one paw forward, as if preparing to punch.

55 670 5.2K

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 2d

It's definitely one of her go-to moves, and surprisingly applicable!

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 2d

I think recently this has gotten much worse with the rise of resentful NEETs. Online spaces have always been dominated by Too Online people but now there are a bunch of people who are online all the time because they have absolutely nothing else to do, and are horrible people to boot.

Aura/Moom @moomanibe.bsky.social · 2d

I feel like the thing I always find myself thinking when ppl are talking about "oh the gaming audience is awful" is that, like... i'm not sure i believe that so much as I believe that any unmoderated space will inevitably surface the most toxic people (who drive away more-reasonable ones)

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 3d

I don't mind, I just didn't say the title because I didn't want to spoil it.

It's "Colony"

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James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 3d

Nobody is making progress on "are reviews different from criticism?" or "should games have difficulty levels?" or "is yellow paint bad?" etc etc. People just state their belief, hibernate for a year, then state that same belief again.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 3d

Discourse has become a bad word because most of it is bad. In particular video game discourse is endlessly repetitive, where people cycle through the same topics making the same points without progressing. There is no real point-counterpoint or advancement, so discourse should come with air quotes

Run, It's Ghidra! @nkghidorah.bsky.social · 3d

I don't like how "discourse" became a bad word for a bad thing. Discussion with differing views on stuff is fun! At least when it's not like an axiomatic difference in basic values lol

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James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 3d

@tolkoto.com After listening to your robo-racism on a podcast I just have one question for you:

this you?

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 4d

I suck at Chess but I feel like it works largely because the space is very constrained, the sucky units are up front, and building up a solid structure important.

To make it work in a tactical game maybe you need some of the same components like strong zone of control mechanics. (Just spitballing)

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 4d

I wrote a little more about that here:

bsky.app/profile/mark...

It strikes me as challenging to avoid a scenario where a player uses a couple of their most powerful units and neglects the rest.

Not that you shouldn't try but it's definitely doing game design on hard mode.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 4d

In Banner Saga player and enemy turns alternate, but you can't choose to move the same unit each time it's your turn.

In Last Defense Academy your squad takes a turn then the enemy squad takes a turn, but you can choose to move the same unit as many times as you want.

Those are close-ish.

Max Nichols @maxnichols.bsky.social · 4d

(Quoting for vis)
Good question! I can't think of any

I'm guessing that the RPG-ness of it—where characters are leveled up unevenly, have highly distinctive actions that might be hard to balance if they can be done in rapid succession, and there's pressure to spread EXP around—are a big reason why

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James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 4d

In Last Defense Academy you can use the same character over and over but they get gimped a bit after their first turn, which is how they incentivize using different characters without forcing it.

James Margaris @markymarg2.bsky.social · 4d

In theory if you do good enough game design the player is incentivized to use all their units, but "you have to move each character once" is a nice safety valve vs coming up with a super smart game design that makes every character useful.

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