[oasiz]

"Everything is a remix" does hold true, it's a good way to get things done, natural "mutation" in art. Frankenstein things can be cool and some words are just the best way to describe some things (i.e. metroidvania as a term). Labelling is a good point but I don't think I ultimately have an issue with that.

The problem does however come when you mix & match tasty condiments rather than focusing on base flavours, careful use of one or two might elevate your work but too much and you end up with huge spikes on certain features and clashing design. (I swear I will never stop using food analogues). There are also more extreme cases where people try to turn their soup in to a tomato soup by just pouring a bottle of ketchup in it, sure it tastes of tomatoes and is red but it's strong and has the taste of ketchup.
Many games try to use these strategies to get certain features, unfortunately you can easily taste when ketchup was splashed to "rescue" the dish.

Now there are some nice things happening and I think Graven looks really nice (without any bias).
While I think for the era it should have filtered textures already, it seems to respect it's era with little things like showing a raven early on almost as a "shock value" to gain it's own identity immediately, as if they almost have a statement to make and they really want your attention and have more in store, wanting to share "their world" through the lense of a game. I might be overthinking a bit here and the final version will show more, but it's clearly trying to push it's own mood instead of trying to make a carbon copy.

[MrFlibble]

While the subject of cultural traditions and their evolution is indeed complex, I think the video game part boils down to pretty simple things, namely playability and aesthetic value.

Let's not forget that following the initial success of Wolfenstein 3-D and then Doom, there were immediately lots of copycats, with many being really bad because their developers failed to capture the gameplay dynamics of Doom, even though they copied superficial elements as closely as possible (it's also true that some of the shortcomings can be blamed on poor tech compared to id Software's engines though, but not all of them). Conversely, those who did their homework well pushed the genre forward, like Dark Forces or Duke3D.

The same more or less applies to the modern attempts. Ion Fury is good not because it runs on the Duke3D engine, but because its developers know what they're doing in terms of game and level design. On the other hand, if a game tries to stay afloat only by gambling on the "retro" gimmick, it may well fail if everything else falls apart in the gameplay department.

[ck3D]

MrFlibble, on 10 September 2020 - 09:33 AM, said:

Ion Fury is good not because it runs on the Duke3D engine, but because its developers know what they're doing in terms of game and level design. On the other hand, if a game tries to stay afloat only by gambling on the "retro" gimmick, it may well fail if everything else falls apart in the gameplay department.

That's totally my impression too, now honestly I haven't directly played Ion Fury yet (I know) but I've seen a lot of it and to my naive eye it's obvious how just like the original Duke 3D or even other games like Doom (and in reality a lot of early PC games back when you could still revolutionize what was a new, smaller market the standards of which were yet to be defined), it's good because it's coherent and was constructed from A to Z with a strong direction (the vision the devs had for it), by a team of skilled, sincere Build engine enthusiasts who put actual love into the project and weren't just trying to ride the wave of retrogaming for the sake of riding the wave of retrogaming. In the end the tools only matter so much, it's how much humanity and knowledge of the craft was put into a game that makes it good or not whatever the form; usually by creators motivated by more than just phantasmal hopes of making bank. When you only focus on the form while working on something, making sure it fits established standards, it's just as much effort you could have put into substance instead, both are meant to work together but in my opinion, while very important, form should follow function and not be the primary focus, unless it's actually part of your vision too (but then you need to actually have one).

[MusicallyInspired]

Graven was definitely the coolest thing in Realms Deep by far and it's because it seems like something fresh and not so much recycled. The graphics and art style, maybe. But the gameplay approach feels genuine and fresh.

[Putrid Pete]

I'm not interested in retro games, I'm interested in good games. That many of them happen to be retro is merely accidental. They can slap all the pixelation possible on top of them, but if these new games have no compelling design and carefully crafted mechanics, I have no interest on playing.

To be honest, I find statements like "We hate graphics" or any other type of trendy attitude regarding these new retro titles to be all manners of cringe. I'm happy to see indie devs get a new outlet of expression, don't get me wrong, but I wish the majority of these games had more to offer than "super duper" speed, ultra gore and imitation of old school graphics.

[DisgustedGrunt]

Really good video.

[X-Vector]

Those aren't boomer shooters, this is a boomer shooter:

[MrFlibble]

MrFlibble, on 31 May 2020 - 07:20 AM, said:

Trench Warfare is very advanced and full of new art, weapons and mechanics. Sadly, there's only a DOS version and no visible trace of the source code, although I heard the author of Unsung (that's a WWI game) used parts of TW code. Last time I checked, TW had super long loading times in DOSBox even on max cycles, and would certainly benefit from a modern port. But with the source code lacking it's a bit far fetched ATM I'm afraid.

It looks like Trench Warfare will perform better if you set the CPU core to simple in DOSBox (since it's still a real mode app).

BTW, the same author was working on a pretty neat looking Wolf3D engine game called Lair of the Mantis which was sadly abandoned with nothing released. The screenshots look very good: http://mantis3d.webs.com/screenshots.html

[Nash]

Hi! Hope it's okay for me to post this here. I'm creating a GZDoom-based survival horror game called Darkadia. I just dropped a trailer today; a playable demo is scheduled around the first quarter of 2021.

Thanks, and if this is the wrong place to put this, I apologize!

[Ninety-Six]

From what I could see kinda reminded me of Grey (or Gray?); that one Half-Life 2 mod. Not a bad thing, mind.

Still, I hope another trailer comes out to show off what the gameplay is actually like.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

For some reason the XIII remake is $40 bucks,
not saying that their time spent on development doesn't necessitate the price
given that XIII is $6 on gog

They probably should've spent less on development
so they could reach a lower price point

I was waiting for the remake to come out and was going to pay the normal 20, 25, or possibly 30 that remakes normally eschew,
I know, I know, the spyro and crash remakes were 40, but those had 3 games each.
but 40 is too steep a price when I can get the same experience for literally 6 dollars

I don't think it's going to sell very well because of this.

[Jimmy]

XIII getting a remake before it gets a sequel is the most Ubisoft thing to ever happen.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Prodeus is getting good reviews,
looks like a good option for people like me who don't want to touch doom/doom eternal
because they didn't like the "improvements" on the game play

I'll probably get to it once the early access window ends

[MrFlibble]

Anyone played Immortal Redneck? Is it worth trying?

[jkas789]

MrFlibble, on 22 November 2020 - 12:16 PM, said:

Anyone played Immortal Redneck? Is it worth trying?

Eh its allright I guess. You certainly could play much worse.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

MrFlibble, on 22 November 2020 - 12:16 PM, said:

Anyone played Immortal Redneck? Is it worth trying?

Same as every procedurally generated fps game, its good if you get it cheap.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Took me almost a month to complete XIII where it would take a normal person a couple of days.

I definitely like it alot.

There's alot of things that could've been done better, but I felt like that was due to either console constraints or not enough money or time.

I enjoyed the story, the missions, the atmosphere all great.

Gameplay was ok, guns weren't super satisfying besides long range kills, the stealth system was not very realistic, (person yelling and shooting at you but no one else notices) but I felt that added to the quirkiness of the game, making it more comic-esque then simulation, whether or not it was on purpose.

I loved the comic book styling, and I wish more games would adopt such, only other game I can think of was comix zone, and that game was fantastic also.

If any of you guys haven't tried it, it's worth the $6.

[jkas789]

I replayed Hedon and I gotta say I still enjoyed the Hell outta that game. Thick orc lady still kicks ass. If you guys have not tried it out yet y'all can get it on GOG and Steam very cheaply. Though that may be because of regional pricing.

[Ninety-Six]

I've seen a lot of praise for that game, but for some reason it looks incredibly dull to me from all the footage I've seen. I can't even pin down why since I normally don't care about visuals but something about it is just very off-putting for me. Maybe the combat doesn't look like it makes up for it like in something like Serious Sam? I'm legit unsure why it looks so unappealing to me.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

I think it looks like sphax pure bd craft and I hate that texture pack. The art style just bothers me too much.

[MrFlibble]

So here's gameplay reveal of Selaco, the new GZDoom project that was mentioned earlier:

[NightFright]

That looks very clean and polished. It's going to be a commercial release, I assume?

[deus-ex]

NightFright, on 05 January 2021 - 06:34 AM, said:

It's going to be a commercial release, I assume?

Yep, pretty much so: https://www.doomworl...ning-on-gzdoom/

[Aristotle Gumball]

I like that the protagonist isn't trying to do that "I'm a hard girl" thing.

[Sanek]

del

[Balls of Steel Forever]

BattleWalrus, on 05 January 2021 - 01:41 PM, said:

I like that the protagonist isn't trying to do that "I'm a hard girl" thing.

I like viscerafest's main character,

batshit crazy and partially possessed by cthulhu

I feel like the new tomb raider reboot did fit that not a hard girl role well also.
and
well
vanille
in final fantasy xiii

but let's not talk about that.

serah in xiii-2 also played that role well.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

I always felt those that got enjoyment out of the apocalypse
and always bright and cheery
characters like vanille
but without the excess moaning
were the toughest

not the ones that acted like it

not the ones reacting and adapting to it as it went on

but those that were so used to it their main goal was to make everyone feel a bit better about the hell that they were stuck in by their demeanor.
so used to it that they could add a bit of humor, to an otherwise bleak situation, and somehow believe and convey belief in the lie that they told themselves that everything will be ok.

[Ninety-Six]

That art style is so familiar and it drives me crazy because I swear I know it from somewhere.


Anyway this one actually interests me. I enjoy the completely insane and psychotic main character and the gameplay seems to have the kind of spice I like.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Ninety-Six, on 05 January 2021 - 07:00 PM, said:

That art style is so familiar and it drives me crazy because I swear I know it from somewhere.


Anyway this one actually interests me. I enjoy the completely insane and psychotic main character and the gameplay seems to have the kind of spice I like.

Blake stone was the first thing off the top of my head.
I think he mentions that in the video too.

[Balls of Steel Forever]

Vomitoreum