Not requesting anything since my backlog is already long enough, but still wantted to say thanks for the giveaway!

Its artificial intelligence for an artificial person. They don’t have to think or be sentient or even be smart to be AI. It just needs to be an artificial intelligence.

This seems like too much complexity, given how small (relatively) Valve is. Then again, Valve is always hard to predict. Basically all their projects are wild moon-shots in one way or another, half their stuff doesn’t make it to market, and they have a long history of fake leaks.

I think you’re misunderstanding this. AI has always been a term for algorithms controlling NPCs, including simple ones like the enemies in a Mario game. Nowhere does it say anything about ML, so it seems like (if the rumors are true) its just a much improved version of their existing AI tech, A.K.A. very fancy state machines and navigation algorithms.

Mechanical complexity as in the amount of stuff to learn to “actually play” Minecraft, aside from the controls. For example, which resources are which, what crafts into what, and how to find and gather everything. Its easy enough to punch wood, but trying to figure out (and then remember) how to craft tools or farm food while also trying to remember how to position your fingers on the keyboard is a much bigger ask.

Its going to be a lot harder to play Deep Rock Galactic or Portal 2 together if she sticks with her current perfered movement method: click and drag with the mouse.

Is the US really that central to PC component manufacturing, or is this (mostly) just a US thing? Like, don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of these companies are US-based, but isn’t basically all the manufacturing and most of the distribution handled elsewhere?

The article doesn’t add anything, so here’s the direct link: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-play-on-the-go-bundle

“Aged poorly” was a bad choice of words. My point was more that the industry has moved on from them, and while some of the conventions are the same, its largely stuff that predates them. If you go back to retro RPGs when you’re used to Skyrim, Dark Souls, Final Fantasy, ect. you’ll be unfamiliar with much of how the game plays. Not much was carried over from these games specifically. I’d argue that the influential RPG, that would be the genre’s equivalent to Doom, would be D&D. While not a video game, thats the model everything referenced, and still references, moreso than even Doom. It’s what codified core mechanics like HP, classes, character stats, and more, in the same way Doom codified modern first-person mechanics, ammo management, and exploding barrels.

While they’re important, I think they’ve also aged poorly in many ways something like Doom has not. I’d compare their importance more to something like Pong or Galiga. Good games, that pushed the limits of the medium for their time, and are foundational, but more acted as a steping stone rather than something other games were widely inpired by or modeled after.

I can’t think of anything that really competes overall. It could be argued games like Pong, Pac-Man, Quake, Half-Life, WoW, ect. all were pivotal points in gaming, but I don’t think anything has had as direct and widespread influence as Doom.

Unfortunately, this is only the Travelers Tale-style games. None of the classic, unlicensed ones like Lego Island, Lego Racers, Legoland, Bionicle, ect.

Honestly, I like the look of the leader/civilization changing and mixing. Looks like a lot of fun, in the “late-game rogue-like”, “Break the game by amassing synergies” type way. Its a different appreal than 5, but that just means I can enjoy both rather than picking one. That said, given the price, the DRM, and the reported buggyness, I’ll probably still be waiting a few years at least. At least that gives modders time to get to work.

I saw this posted a couple days ago which pretty succinctly summarizes the current state of the market.

Commented this a year ago, and its just as relevant today.

The disbling of lifesteal on Bristleback’s Bristleback feels like it destroys him as a hero. I have no idea how you’d make a viable core build for him now.

I was kinda suprised too. I know someone else was saying they’re popular in developing nations, because of better regional pricing, although I can’t confirm that. I also know that they were a popular choice for crypto grifts and similar shady and scammy games, since they had less moderation than Steam, so its possible some of the income also comes from stuff like that.

In comparison, spending on third-party titles declined by 18% to $255 million

Some key context from the article.

Basically, profit from Fortnite increased significantly, although the store itself isn’t doing great.

Given that its $255 million in customer spending, not revenue or profits, and Epic reportedly takes only 12% plus reduced fees on Unreal Engine effectively lowering it further, I can’t imagine its profitable. If we assume 10%, that leaves revenue of $25.5 mil, which doesn’t seem like it’d be anywhere near enough to cover exclusivity deals, and giveaways, nonetheless infrastructure and other factors.

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I think the vast majority of users only use launchers to launch games. For that purpose, it does that perfectly fine.

Does it? Lets envision the minimum viable product for a game store. You have a very basic web interface and you download games or installers from it. Something like itch.io, or similar to GOG. Is using Epic’s launcher better than just downloading the installers from a browser? I’d argue not, given the hastle of creating a new account, installing the launcher with all its spyware and using it, rather than the bare minimum of just downloading an installer, running it, and then running the game directly.

I suspect that even if Epic invested billions into bringing their store up to feature parity with Steam, users still wouldn’t switch. They’d need to be leaps and bounds better, and that’s hard to comprehend in terms of features and cost.

Look at how other platforms have eaten into Steam’s control most successfully without resorting to anything too shady. Humble Bundle and Fanatical offer unique bundles with better deals. Itch.io works more closely with devs, esspecially smaller devs. GOG cut out a niche by specifically seeking out old games to licence or fix themselves, as well as by ensuring everything is DRM free.

None of these had even a fraction of the funding Epic did. Imagine if Epic spent their early years trying to replicate these practices rather than paying to remove stuff off other platforms. Instead of spending millions on exclusivity deals, they offered customers things like weekly discount bundles, a designated DRM free section on their store, or maybe a community games section with less moderation, meant for quick-and-easy publishing for new devs.

If that isn’t enough, and they aren’t busy spending ten or hundreds of millions on pissing off their potential customers, then they could also look at loyalty programs, better sales, or even just straight-up marketing for their platform and the games on it. Epic isn’t a small company and their store has been a major investment.

All of that is just easy, obvious stuff off the top of my head, none of which even affects the launcher. Implement even half of it, (without burning the bridge with your customers first) and I’m confident you’ll have a very strong competitor to Steam.

Okay, but any significant plans to make the launcher or store itself worth using?