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ag_roberston_author

@ag_roberston_author@beehaw.org

writer/fantasy nerd

working on: Singularity (novel)

latest: Hide (short)

Links: Patreon, Substack, Instagram, Mastodon

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ag_roberston_author ,
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That's literally been their business model since the beginning, it just used to be that the content was Umezawa's Jitte or Chrome Mox and now it's Gandalf or Doctor Who.

The real pack sellers are power creeped cards, not the IP of that set.

Can somebody explain why game makers don't start their own companies together?

It seems like every other week a game studio is massively laying off employees; sometimes after years of development. What I'm reading is that it's a quick way to lower expenses and pad the investors' pockets, flooding the market with developers and reducing their value, to then hire them back a few months later at lower...

ag_roberston_author ,
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They do. There are plenty of indie Devs.

The reason why everyone doesn't do it is because it requires significant capital to be able to support a dev team through production for a number of years.

Not to mention they will still have to deal with publishers potentially fucking them over, as shown with the Helldivers 2 PSN fiasco.

ag_roberston_author ,
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It's primarily socialising and having fun with friends, so it makes sense it would improve mental health.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Usually analog sticks, but it depends on the game. Something like shovel knight is better with the dpad.

I just happen to play more games that are better with analog sticks.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Well that's not why she's been hired. She's been hired to squeeze every possible piece of money out of the property.

If you were a CEO who cared about the property and not about making the most money possible, you'd never be hired in the first place.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Well you have to consider it's 7 years old. It was incredible in 2016.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Balatro, the Joker Poker has me deep in it's clutches.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Looks pretty cool. Hope it lives up to the original and is successful for the studio.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Love it.

Such an incredible gaming experience with absolutely no words.

I also love Abzū, which is kind of like a sequel to it, but also not really.

I did try and get my girlfriend (non-gamer) to play Journey and she did not enjoy it at all, which made me realise a large part of why I love it is that it doesn't hold your hand, and it assumes you are adept at gaming in some way.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Probably the ones outlined here, which you should be aware of, given there are statements from you included in the article: https://docs.beehaw.org/docs/important-questions-decisions-and-reflections/beehaw-lemmy-and-a-vision-of-the-fediverse/

ag_roberston_author ,
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They are probably using the default installed theme, which doesn't have scalable icons so everything is horribly pixelated. Not sure why it's still the default, but as you said it's pretty easy to change.

Anyone else addicted to Balatro right now? ( www.playbalatro.com )

I'm not usually a huge fan of rogue-likes, but I've enjoyed a few, like Hades. I bought Balatro last week and have been absolutely smashing it ever since then. I love the way the game works, each run being so different even within the same framework, and the feeling when your build starts to go off is so incredibly satisfying....

ag_roberston_author OP ,
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It's crazy how I feel like I barely notice the music when playing but it just pops into my head throughout the day.

I had to play on mute the other day when my headphones died and it was like a completely different game with out the background music and the dings to give me that dopamine rush.

ag_roberston_author OP ,
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Love when that mult mults.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Call me crazy, but I think if a game can be "retired" by Warner Brothers (or another megacorp), and the dev doesn't control it anymore, then it's not really an "indie".

The Witness Appreciation Post

I got the urge to play the witness for the 3rd (or maybe even 4th) time again after being slightly disappointed by the Talos Principle 2, and man I cannot express enough how much I enjoy this game. It just satisfies something deep inside me every time I play it. And I know a LOT of people (probably some here) strongly dislike...

ag_roberston_author ,
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Well you can watch it ad free on Nebula, as linked in the video description.
I honestly can't hate on him for that decision, he needs to eat as much as the rest of us, and unless we're paying for a Nebula subscription, video sponsors are the only way to do that.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Because YouTube and Twitch are notorious for reducing ad payments or demontising creators. Have you forgotten about the adpocalypse already? Patreon also increased their fees with very little notice in 2019.

It'd honestly be an idiotic move to not take a video sponsor if they're offered, because that is guaranteed and likely upfront, supplemental income to support the creation of videos.

Nebula is collectively creator owned, so it's the only one of those that won't fuck over creators for more money, but as I said, not a lot of people are paying for subscriptions. It's small, the per-creator payouts are probably even less than Youtube.

And finally, the real answer: Man's gotta eat. Simple.

All of that considered, I didn't even see the sponsor ads you're complaining about because I have Sponsorblock skip them automatically.

ag_roberston_author ,
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"Pokemon with guns on PC."

That's a great sales pitch.

ag_roberston_author ,
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It's naive to think AI is going to disrupt the status quo from the rich. It's just going to make the rich richer. Just look at who owns the AI.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Seconding 8bitdo.

Very satisfied with mine. Not the ultimate, but the SN30 Pro+. Has no issues connecting to my PC or switch, no mechanical issues so far either, after about 4 years.

ag_roberston_author ,
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It’s not weird at all, he owns a car company.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Making my way through Phantom Liberty slowly but surely. It’s quite a decent amount of content, and it’s enjoyable.

ag_roberston_author ,
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One: Starfield.

Not much I can say about it that hasn’t already been said, it was just so bland.

ag_roberston_author ,
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I feel like they would be insane to miss the PC streamer market for their online play that they will 100% be making all their cash from.

ag_roberston_author ,
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One of the guys who was working on it

There’s only one person working on it: Eric Barone.

ag_roberston_author ,
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First of all, BG3 is built on the DnD 5th Edition system, (with some slight changes) so a lot of people who have played DnD are going to be very aware of the system and how it works. But to be honest, on the easier settings, it’s almost impossible to fail the game, you can do what ever you want.

A big tip for BG3 inventory management is to use the “Send to camp” option for items. Grab them whenever, they don’t take up inventory space.

ag_roberston_author ,
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My inventory is finite and at some point I have to choose what stays and what goes.

It’s not, actually. You can send anything and everything to camp and decide about it later on. This includes camp supplies/food.

ag_roberston_author ,
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The strangest game of 2023: “They’re going to be like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’”

Oh, so it’s gonna be just like Starfield?

ag_roberston_author ,
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Look how many of them are from private equity funds. No wonder they chose him in the first place.

ag_roberston_author ,
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After the IPO, a companies only goal is earning money for shareholders.

ag_roberston_author ,
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This technology takes human creativity and output to a whole new level,

No, it doesn’t. There’s nothing “human” or “creative” about the output of AI.

ag_roberston_author ,
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An LLM isn’t human and shouldn’t be treated the same as a human. It’s as foolish as corporate personhood.

ag_roberston_author ,
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By current legal definitions

Yeah, definitions that were written before this technology existed. I don’t base my opinions on what is legal, legality nothing more than rules determined by those in power.

Instead, I base them on what is ethical, and the consumption of material by LLMs and other AIs without the express permission of its creator is unethical.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Well it has to be a bonus action cleric spell with concentration because throwing an object is an action, so the options are: Shield of Faith, Holy Weapon or Spirit Shroud. She’s not holding a weapon, and it doesn’t look like she’s summoning spirits of the dead, so I’m going to go with she is casting Shield of Faith.

ag_roberston_author ,
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It was 2000 shares, he’s already sold like 50k in the last year. Nothing sinister about it.

ag_roberston_author ,
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Yes, but Fallout 3 came out in 2008. You’d think there would be some advancements in that time.

ag_roberston_author ,
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On Steam I have 150+ hours and in my achievements I see that only 0.7% of players have touched 100 planets.

So I don’t think that people are being honest and/or don’t really understand how big the game is.

But why would I want to touch 100 planets? They all feel exactly the same and there is no gameplay or role-playing reason to explore them.

ag_roberston_author ,
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I sat down to play it last night, got destroyed by spaceships I’m trying to kill to level up my piloting skill and access class B and C ships, went to the simulator in the UC base to get some free kills and realised I wasn’t having any fun with the game any more, so I closed the game and started playing High on Life. Had way more fun.

After the

spoilerStarborn

reveal

spoiler(which I saw coming as soon as the Starborn were introduced)

I realised it’s just not fun. I can’t get into the roleplay as all the characters are bland cardboard cutouts with weird facial expressions, the only fun I was really having was the shooting which grew stale once all the enemies became bullet sponges.

The lack of city maps, the boring cutscenes for everything, clunky console first interface, drab colours, bafflingly hideous item designs, lifeless procedural planets. The factions are all boring. Permanent skills, with no respec options?! And for god’s sake, let me eat food on the ground by long pressing E.

It’s actually worse than Fallout 4, and that’s 8 years old.

It’s at best a 5.5/10 for me.

ag_roberston_author ,
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It really doesn’t deserve to be on par with New Vegas.

ag_roberston_author ,
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I’d say it’s probably to integrate games across mobile and Vision Pro in the future. They’re already partnered with unity to bring games to it.

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