Author | Lightnews

twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 4h

I can see the appeal of a more generalized point-and-click story-focused game, where various other "voices" intrusively chime in alongside the narrator, but describing DE in that way is uh...strange

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 5h

Tolkien keenly understood how premodern folks named their towns and cities

twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 7h

Either way, the increased resources devoted to AAA games, whether in the form of money or time or whatever, incentivizes AAA games to appeal to as broad an audience as possible which generally results in blandness

twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 7h

I'd say that's part and parcel of AAA games having larger budgets--some of the increased budget goes towards paying devs for longer because the increased scope and content of the games demand more dev time

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 8h

How advanced would AI technology have to get to go from there to have a game with good gamefeel, if this question makes sense?

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 8h

On a related note, how would AI generate things like...movement controls? Would it create code dictating how far and how fast a player moves in a direction depending on what keys or buttons a player presses?

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Reposted by twiceborn.bsky.social

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 9h

the real answer

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Reposted by twiceborn.bsky.social

ghost malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 9h

Silksong had a *lot* of gender going on for a game that didn’t really ever feel like it was about gender, huh

massive spoilers inevitably to follow

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 9h

Can't risk alienating a big chunk of the audience by making political commentary, if that audience is key to making up for the half-billions you spent!

twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 9h

No room for zanier flavors because there's a risk people will be turned off by them. Gotta stick to ol' reliable vanilla and chocolate, vanilla and chocolate, vanilla and chocolate

twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 9h

Someone once made a pretty apt ice cream metaphor in re: AAA videogames

If you have huge costs to make up for and you're selling ice cream, you're incentivized to stick to plain ol' vanilla and chocolate which everyone...might not LOVE, but few will hate

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 9h

I think the enormous budgets of AAA games force them to target as broad an audience as possible while taking as few risks as possible, resulting in them largely becoming bland

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 9h

Fromsoft (Dark Souls, Elden Ring, etc.) also reuses animations from older games, so you see large chunks of Capra Demon in Elden Ring's Omenkillers etc. Again, clever and efficient

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 9h

Spiderman webslinging is fun, you already own the rights to the animation assets, so just...reuse them. They're right there. Anyone who calls you cheap or lazy for doing so is an idiot.

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 9h

There's an anime-art style open world GTA-like gacha coming out published by Sony, where the character can swing around on buildings using animations suspiciously like the ones from the recent Spiderman games (also published by Sony) and I'm like...that's quite clever, honestly

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 10h

How much of the industry's pouring of resources into production values a product of genuine demand, vs perceived demand?

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 10h

On the other hand I'm surrounded by people in my corner of the internet calling people obsessed with graphical fidelity idiots

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 10h

I'm curious as to how the gaming community breaks down in terms of emphasis on production values and graphical fidelity

On one hand you get viral videos/screenshots of someone pointing how this nondescript whatsit is lower fidelity than the rest of the game that embarasses the devs

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 10h

It's true that the AAA sector is enshittified because the margins are low for the amount of labor that goes into it; the major sticking point of the discourse seems to be whether the margins are low vs labor due to mismanagement, or because gamers refuse to pay more for games

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 10h

the duality of man

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Reposted by twiceborn.bsky.social

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 19h

I agree that video games are often underpriced compared to the enjoyment you get out of them, but the industry’s problems seem more related to abysmal management than consumers being unwilling to pay for good games.

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 1d

AAA video games should cost $100 on launch. this would still be extremely cheap for the amount of time and enjoyment you get out of them! But an audience of whiny babies has kept them literally at the same price for *two decades* despite both general inflation *and* sector-specific costs rising

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 21h

Plot twist: Trump becomes so addled, and his minions so disorganized, that China and Russia are able to use this multiple times

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 1d

Agreed. Alas, it is very easy for a "LOOK AT THE LOW POLYS ON THIS NONDESCRIPT PATCH OF DIRT" video or screenshot to go viral, and so devs are pressured to make everything technically complex.

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 1d

And there is also the question of whether AAA studios are making bad investments by pouring so much time and money into game development. If the next COD etc. costs 7 years and $600mn to make, is there ANY viable price point where they could make back that budget?

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twiceborn.bsky.social @twiceborn.bsky.social · 1d

If people are already their limit, then I feel like increasing AAA launch prices to $100 won't increase the total amount of consumer spending on the industry, but rather result in a feast-or-famine situation where a smaller number of AAAs get the $100 and everyone else gets less

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