Notices by Parrot (Jeff) (psychicparrot42@mastodon.gamedev.place), page 4

I've been flip-flopping about having powerups in the main game mode (as opposed to only having them in the faster paced 'arcade' game mode) and I thought I'd settled on them being in both .. and then my son comes along this morning and insists the main game mode shouldn't have powerups because that's not like how Berzerk plays. Now I'm in total crisis! Flip-flop flip-flop flip-flop flippety flipping flippy floppy flipping arrrgggghhhhh! Who's the designer? Me. Not him. But maybe he has a point..

Just FYI: I’m not changing it. The power ups stay in main game mode. This is me close to launch having a wig out about whether or not I’ve made all the right decisions and whether or not the game is good. Happens at the end of every game I make (takes a single comment to get me questioning everything!) but the fact is that I’ve balanced the gameplay, it plays really nicely and I need to leave it the hell alone and stop wiggin! 🤣

@sinbad I coulda just made software instead. I tried it in the late 90s, but it made me go absolutely insane with boredom.

Sometimes (like this morning) I get overwhelmed when I think about how much I have to do to get a game out. I have to remind myself that I'm only one person and that there's only so much I can do in a day/week/month/year.

One of the things I noticed about the end of this talk is that although there should have been a standing ovation at the end of it, you know he just called out 90% of the dickheads in the room and they did not seem very happy about it lol quite a muted response 🤣 https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard/113483951392272543

Had a bit of an epiphany this morning about how Bezerk goads you into working harder. I used to think the game was just about clearing rooms, but it's not. I mean, sure, if you *can* clear the room you'll get more score.. but the taunting from the bots is about making you feel bad if you don't clear the room.. and clearing the room is 10x harder than just wiping out a few bots and getting out of there. It's a brilliant little twist that's leading me to more tweaking of my Berzerkalike.

I don’t know how many people realized this right away or whatever, but I feel like I’ve been missing this really important thing all along.. so yeah, more tweaking for my game this week! It needs just a bit of subtle difficulty tweaking to replicate this better, but I think it’ll make a big difference and present more apparent ‘score paths’ you can take.

It’s been two years now since I made a ridiculously over ambitious 3d game I had no business even attempting. Surely it must be almost time to do that again? 👹

If you're getting into Unreal and want to learn about C++ programming, gamedev.tv have a good bundle running at the moment with 6 of their Unreal C++ courses for US $30

https://www.gamedev.tv/bundles/unreal-blueprints-c-black-friday-2024

#gamedev #UnrealEngine5

Deleted TikTok. All I followed on there are 80s and 90s retro games stuff, but today it decided to absolutely flood my timeline with right wing propaganda videos. Racist, hate-filled shite designed to stir up trouble. Video after video of it. Nope. That’s the end of it for me. If you have kids with phones, don’t let them run that app!!

I just read "Sony 'learned a lot' from Concord failure, will now leverage the strength of 'proven IP'" .. my eyes have rolled out of my head and are rolling away down the street. Yes, stick to what you know. Never do anything new. That's the secret to success. Just ask Ubisoft.

Did some research for the corporate robots in my game.. scrolled through LinkedIn! Found inspiration for a whole bunch of new robot phrases lol

Happy 24th birthday to my fav console, the beautiful PS2! And to all the other PS2s out there still rocking it and still in our living rooms and game rooms keeping us entertained by some of the best console games ever made! #retrogaming #ps2 #playstation2

Found this picture on my phone, thought I'd share it with you guys.. MMmmmmm.

Just got the “you didn’t earn enough to get paid this month” email from Steam, which makes me feel even less like putting Die for the Economy on there. Jack Dragon still hasn’t earned enough to pay for the page on Steam, so will this new game be any different? I doubt it. I’m thinking I’ll just do Xbox and Itch this time, but it plays so bloody well on Steamdeck it’s be a shame to deny people of that!!

@HauntedOwlbear Aw sorry you had to deal with that. That’s awful. Especially when they don’t communicate properly or honour what they said they’d do.

Really feel for developers like Stairway Games who signed with Humble. The future of console versions of their game Coral Island is unknown for them and they're totally in the dark. They had to find out about Humble layoffs through the media - Humble didn't even bother talking to them or telling them about the whole situation beforehand. It's freakin' wrong. Ziff Davis (owners of IGN who are owners of Humble) IGN and Humble should all have done better.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/humble-games-layoffs-leave-developer-unable-to-update-its-game-or-release-it-on-switch/1100-6525328/

Trying out Windows 11 and so far I've found 3 games that don't work on it. Starting to think this was a bad idea and it's only day 2. I think I may be going back to Windows 10 sooner than I expected..

And I can't get GameMaker running properly on here. Game builds run super slow. I'm now absolutely dreading next year when they force us all onto stupid Windows 11. It's been garbage for me so far and it doesn't seem like it's ready for proper use. Maybe it's just this particular configuration of PC, I don't know, but it's really not been a good start.

@JeremiahFieldhaven Just out of interest, how are your lines so straight and neat? 🤔