jdreyer wrote on Sep 4, 2021, 17:19:
This is hardly surprising given that the percent of black software developers is under 5%.

Terrific organization to donate and contribute too in order to try and improve that number:

https://www.blackgirlscode.com/

Quboid wrote on Jul 6, 2021, 23:43:

Kxmode wrote on Jul 6, 2021, 20:43:
I wonder what portion of this is still CryEngine?

Apparently none.

From VentureBeat:
While Amazon originally licensed Lumberyard from Crytek, the maker of the CryEngine, the company has rewritten the code from scratch. Director of AWS game tech Eric Morales said in an interview with GamesBeat that it is unencumbered by any intellectual property rights. Aniszczyk [CTO of the Linux Foundation] also confirmed that the Open 3D Engine is clear of such encumbrances. It has built-in patent protection, Aniszczyk said.

You can view the source on GitHub. There is still CrySystem and a few other scattered classes. Having been on a team that made a game with LY I can guarantee you that the code was never rewritten from scratch. A lot of it had to be rewritten for current generation platforms and tech, but a lot of the core asset processing and shaders systems were left alone.

Each month though they do overhaul a number of systems so maybe in a few more years nothing of Cry will be left.

All in all this is a good move for LY. They never were going to compete with Unity or Unreal on licensed tech, but they can add some good value to the open source 3D engine space. Will see in a couple years if it catches on and if they can make it make user/small project friendly.

Darks wrote on Jun 11, 2021, 19:01:
Got in the Beta, and its been down all day. Some Beta!!

Technical Alpha, technically. Looks like they got most of it sorted now.

I don’t see the big concern. Photoshop already made pictures unreliable forms of evidence. Deepfakes just do the same to video. Any meaningful information needs to come from a reliable source and show a verifiable chain of custody.

Your EX can already photoshop you doing something embarrassing. This just moves the bar to the next technology.

Hmmmm… 5v5… strict roles… PvE elements… and talent trees…

WE A MOBA NOW BOYZ!!! YEEHAW!

Honestly though, as someone who hasn’t touched OW due to how stale it got after Year 1 I’ll take anything I can get to spark some interest in it.

Donkey_Punch wrote on May 16, 2021, 16:07:
Ugh, it looks like they wrecked what made D1 and D2 fun for me.

Now it looks like they are trying to make it a cross between Gears of War and Fortnite.

No thanks. RIP to UBI.

I played a lot of D1. Only maybe a few hours of D2. Interesting concepts in the Dark Zone and a few mechanics, but the narrative never really clicked for me. Playing a game like Destiny it is easy to rationalize the big space zombie taking 500 rounds to the skull and keep coming back for more.

Shooting 500 rounds of an AK into the head of some street thug with a hoodie? Kinda bring me out of the game. Purely subjective and all, but that was really kept me from investing in the game.

Tried starting a second play through with Patch 1.2. Got to waking up to meet Jackie on the second day and my game hard crashes (4/4) trying to walk past the boxing Arena in V’s apartment building. Back into the game library it goes.

Laughing Man wrote on Mar 7, 2021, 22:58:
lol, this game peaks at like 20k users, of course they can easily go after abusers.

SOURCE

$370M from 20K users? That is an expensive sub.

Cutter wrote on Jan 27, 2021, 13:28:
While patents cover innovation they're supposed to be truly unique. Not just 'Hey let's take an existing thing and stick a few more things on it and call it new.'

Yes, the USPTO is beyond broken. And that's not going to change anytime soon with corporatists like Biden and Harris running things.

I doubt it is ever going to change regardless of the administration. Too much money, too many lobbyists, and not enough direct impact on citizens. There are cities that specialize in patent law cases which are openly bribed on a daily basis to not do anything to fuck with the system. It is a lost cause that you just have to pray you never run afoul of because only the large companies that buy millions of patents can protect themselves.

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Jan 11, 2021, 12:59:
The Polish government is getting involved?!? What the fuck is going on, on this fucking planet? Tens of thousands of people dying every day from Covid19, possibly millions of new infections every day worldwide, and any government is spending one iota of time on this fucking video game!?!

Clearly I am living in some sort of simulated Hell or Twilight Zone.

You do know that just because there is a pandemic going on doesn’t mean that CPAs, lawyers, and fraud investigators are going to stop working and being paid, right? Governments can do more than one thing at a time. They do many things at all times.

Why do I have to explain this?

It has got to be better than the movie, right?

...

Right?!

Cutter wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 23:27:
I wonder what constitutes "the team" for that profit sharing exactly? QA? Support staff - cleaners, receptionists, et al.?

My guess would be all non-outsourced game team members (engineers, producers, art leads, directors). QA/Artists gets the short straw like always as they are usually contracted but they also avoid crunch as their contract usually stipulates the work they will deliver and the hours they have allotted. Support staff usually aren’t involved in crunch.

Basically anyone on salary paid by the company itself.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Jul 23, 2020, 09:54:
Do your job, collect your salary, and then go home. Those are literally the only things you ever need to do at any place of employment.

This is a fantastic quote to remember and live by, but it doesn't take into account a lot of the lifestyles that have been built around employment in different environments. Especially in game development when you are working obscene hours and the only real social interactions you have is with your coworkers. Trying to keep things on a purely professional basis is challenging as these are the people you sweat and bleed with. More personal relationships are bound to form, even if the root source is shared trauma. In no way am I saying this is a good idea or something you should pursue, but at the same time I completely understand the desire and temptation certain industries foster.

Also, if you have any modicum of power over another individual, even when you are on the same professional level, you should never pursue a personal relationship as they has the largest potential for coming back to bite you professionally, sometimes even if things go well with the relationship.

In my opinion, this is just another symptom of crunch lifestyle in the industry.

jacobvandy wrote on Aug 18, 2019, 15:28:
"Freeloaders" isn't an insult unless you are an over-sensitive asshat. It's a simple statement of fact when referring to F2P games, where 90-95% of players don't pay a dime

They don’t pay a dime, but they make the game feel alive and give paying customers someone to play against. Otherwise, like a few pay-2-play titles that are multiplayer only, match times gradually begin to climb and the player base dies off.

“Freeloaders” is an openly derogatory term and not really accurate because without the mob of “asshats” the game would be dead.

saluk wrote on Jul 10, 2019, 18:41:
We don't need another f2p lord of the rings mmo that's based on the books. Having it be more like the films would have at least differentiated it.

Back when Athlon (a Leyou subsidiary) got the rights to LOTR last year, it was apparently for the pre-book stuff. From what Athlon's president says, the game will be set before the age of men so you won't have any humans running around.

Sounds like the "Years of the Trees"? Elves galore.

El Pit wrote on Jun 15, 2019, 04:04:
Has Amazon already released a game? I have not heard about it. Is anything close to release?

Couple mobile games and The Grand Tour Game (Console) which was more like an interactive TV show than a stand-alone title.

El Pit wrote on Apr 18, 2019, 12:43:
Sad to lose people lose their jobs but the head honchos should try to cater presumed dead or niche genres like RTS, TBS, and maybe even do single-player, story driven games and not another MOBA or Battle Royale. Maybe they can actually stay in business with some braver approach to gaming.

Uhh... Atlas Reactor wasn’t really a MOBA in the strictest sense. It was actually a competitive, team-based, hero, turn-based/tactics game. It was literally the braver approach to gaming you were asking for. And it died because no one played it.

I didn’t follow it much after the initial release, but it was fairly solid. My big gripe was that it was like playing a tactics game, but one where you had to share control with 3 other people and they wouldn’t always be in line with your strategy. I didn’t feel the multiplayer added much except frustration.

Will W wrote on Apr 11, 2019, 09:05:

• If developers/publishers are saving 18% by putting the games on Epic's store, why not give the consumer a 9% discount and keep the other 9% for themselves.

They believe the average gamer is a sheep who will put up with any nonsense and shenanigans they pull as long as they get they can play their game at the end of the day. Time will tell if they are wrong, but I have a suspicion they are right.

Just selling the games at a discount would of definitely hurt their bottom line and been massively disruptive to their potential future earnings as their customer base would expect that level of discount going forward. Being bullies and assholes while preserving their revenue streams was seen as a better alternative.

So Randy prefers the platform that doesn’t offer user reviews. Makes sense.

Cutter wrote on Apr 5, 2019, 15:27:
I'm sick of being gouged by these fuckers where they sell the exact same product in other places for way less money.

Yeah! Screw poor people with their under-performing economies! Now they'll have to pay a month's worth of their income to enjoy their hobby.

Oh... or were you delusional enough to think publishers would lower their prices to match the lower price?