Gaming 2020

[hogso]

Dan Houser (writer of GTA since the London expansion way back when, RDR, Bully, amongst others) has left Rockstar. It seems he's been on leave since last year, but leaves officially before the end of the financial year. I wonder if he has worked on GTA VI at all? And if not, what departure from the series so far can we expect? I'm aware some sections of the fandom have been calling our for a female playable character for years, perhaps that could be a step closer to becoming reality. I certainly hope they retain the multiple playable character's aspect from GTA V.

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, hogso said:

Dan Houser (writer of GTA since the London expansion way back when, RDR, Bully, amongst others) has left Rockstar. It seems he's been on leave since last year, but leaves officially before the end of the financial year. I wonder if he has worked on GTA VI at all? And if not, what departure from the series so far can we expect? I'm aware some sections of the fandom have been calling our for a female playable character for years, perhaps that could be a step closer to becoming reality. I certainly hope they retain the multiple playable character's aspect from GTA V.

Dunno if it's just me, but I wasn't a huge fan of the multiple characters thing. And never really have been in games.

More than happy to have a female protagonist, in fact I think it's a great idea. But I'd prefer to just have one character. One main character anyway.

[Daweii]

1 hour ago, hogso said:

Dan Houser (writer of GTA since the London expansion way back when, RDR, Bully, amongst others) has left Rockstar. It seems he's been on leave since last year, but leaves officially before the end of the financial year. I wonder if he has worked on GTA VI at all? And if not, what departure from the series so far can we expect? I'm aware some sections of the fandom have been calling our for a female playable character for years, perhaps that could be a step closer to becoming reality. I certainly hope they retain the multiple playable character's aspect from GTA V.

I'm not sure we'll notice much in GTA VI because I think that has been in development for 4-5 years already so it likely has his fingerprints all over it. The major concern is every other game going forward. His writing style and humour is Rockstar Games whole identity. Him and Leslie Benzies who left in 2016 were Rockstar Games. Dan Houser provided the vision for the story, character and world building while Leslie outlined his vision for the gameplay. This was a duo that worked together on every major Rockstar release going back to GTA III. It's a very troubling time for Rockstar and its fans. 

What's also troubling is this departure comes at a time when Take-Two are pressuring Rockstar Games to make more games, more often. It very well could be that Dan Houser left because he has $100+ million in the bank and has achieved it all, but there could also be another reason for the departure that we may never learn.  

[hogso]

5 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Dunno if it's just me, but I wasn't a huge fan of the multiple characters thing. And never really have been in games.

For what reason? I can understand if it's from the perspective of breaking up the narrative, or if you felt it was pointless and/or shoehorned in. I thought GTA V is a fine, if not the finest, example of it being implemented. The three characters were different enough to have a personality which was clearly defined, the light RPG mechanics worked for them in that gameplay wise, at least early on, they had their own 'traits'.

[dubbs]

I liked the idea of having multiple leads in the story.  Approached the game from different perspectives.  Classic game imo.

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, hogso said:

For what reason? I can understand if it's from the perspective of breaking up the narrative, or if you felt it was pointless and/or shoehorned in. I thought GTA V is a fine, if not the finest, example of it being implemented. The three characters were different enough to have a personality which was clearly defined, the light RPG mechanics worked for them in that gameplay wise, at least early on, they had their own 'traits'.

It always feels like it's a cop out to adding complexity into a game.

I'm probably being unfair, and it probably stems back to the days where you'd have to do the same level several times with several characters in stuff like Donkey Kong 64 to falsely extend the playing time of a game.

I dunno, it just always feel like unnecessary complexity to me.

Even stuff like Brawl Stars that I've recently started playing on my phone. You can get loads of characters and upgrade them and all sorts and I just keep thinking "I just want one character!"

[villa4europe]

Not sure if it's complexity but it enables them to expand the game via the protagonists who can be incredibly well fleshed out rather than via secondary characters who are poorly developed

With Michael you had the central story arc, with Trevor you had the crazy stuff and the yokels, with Franklin you had the low level gangbanger stuff, you had 3 levels of crime all going off in different directions and tying each other in to it

In 4 from memory you had an Eastern European ex soldier type who got involved with yardies, Russian mafia, the Irish, triads, Hispanics, gangbangers, Italian mafia basically everyone who's a bit of a baddie doing all kinds of stuff, it made less sense 

[villa4europe]

Maybe because it was gard to convey what it actually is dreams got pushed to the back of the crowd a bit by sony

Its getting crazy good reviews 

[hogso]

Some of the stuff from the beta is pretty mad, the FF7 remake, Silent Hill, Dead Space, No Man's Sky...curious to see how they work in practice. 

[Dodgyknees]

On 05/02/2020 at 14:24, Stevo985 said:

Dunno if it's just me, but I wasn't a huge fan of the multiple characters thing. And never really have been in games.

More than happy to have a female protagonist, in fact I think it's a great idea. But I'd prefer to just have one character. One main character anyway.

Same

[Designer1]

On 12/02/2020 at 21:53, villa4europe said:

Maybe because it was gard to convey what it actually is dreams got pushed to the back of the crowd a bit by sony

Its getting crazy good reviews 

Picked up the digital copy this morning. Looking forward to having a tinker around with some of the creative features over the weekend and taking a look at some of the user created content. 

[dubbs]

14 hours ago, Designer1 said:

Picked up the digital copy this morning. Looking forward to having a tinker around with some of the creative features over the weekend and taking a look at some of the user created content. 

Tempted to pick this up so would welcome what you guys think. 

[dubbs]

Maybe I need to give this more of a chance but seems a bit meh initially.  Give it another go for a few hours I guess. 

[Designer1]

35 minutes ago, dubbs said:

Maybe I need to give this more of a chance but seems a bit meh initially.  Give it another go for a few hours I guess. 

Dreams? It's absolutely incredible. Worked through a few of the (many tutorials) watched a load of YT stuff about the logic etc and it's utterly mind-blowing the amount of stuff that can be created. I've got so many ideas for sculptures/games etc but I'll probably never be able to finish all of them because of time.

As a piece of software I think it's breathtaking. 

[dubbs]

3 hours ago, Designer1 said:

Dreams? It's absolutely incredible. Worked through a few of the (many tutorials) watched a load of YT stuff about the logic etc and it's utterly mind-blowing the amount of stuff that can be created. I've got so many ideas for sculptures/games etc but I'll probably never be able to finish all of them because of time.

As a piece of software I think it's breathtaking. 

Sorry yeah Dreams.  Like I said I'll keep at it - probably wasn't in a great place yesterday tbh - not just Villa doing my head in though. 

[Designer1]

@dubbs There's a really good community on Reddit for this which showcases people's creations, answers technical questions etc Might give you a bit of inspiration for some creative ideas. I also follow the group on FB and (so far) it's been a very informative and friendly experience.

I'm gonna have another couple of hours on it when I get back in from work. I've started a Scene creation (very basic) and I'm looking to get a few more bits and bobs added to that.

Edited February 18, 2020 by Designer1

[hogso]

A game which has had a really long development cycle, but I've never heard of, has had a curiously good write up on Game Central. Hunt: Showdown was released the other day on PS4, XBONE, and Windows/Steam, and is retailing for a not unreasonable £35. What's really piqued my interest, even as a self confessed non-fan of PVP/E shooters is the following in GC's review;

Quote

The main game mode is called Bounty Hunt. Here you team up with two other players to collect clues as to the location of a particular boss enemy. Clues are visible as blue orbs when you use a special vision mode and finding them gradually shrinks the area of the map indicating where the boss is. Beating the boss is no easy task but that’s not the end of the match, as there are also other teams of players trying to collect the same bounty and the second you kill the boss they’re told exactly where you are.

Left 4 Dead was clearly a major influence here but Hunt genuinely feels like a straight survival horror game at times, as while the map is teeming with lesser enemies few of them are pushovers and the ones that definitely aren’t will be altered to your presence the more noise you make. That means that stealth is usually the best tactic for the early part of your mission, as you gingerly make your way through the impressively ominous-looking swamp, desperate to pull the trigger but worried that doing so will bring you more trouble than you can deal with.

And all that’s before you even think about how to tackle the boss and get past the other teams. You’re never told which boss you’ll be up against when you start and although there are only three – an ugly great bullet sponge, a sneakier assassin type, and a truly horrible giant spider – their tactics and position vary greatly. The bosses are the biggest single threat in the game but even once you do beat them you’ve immediately got the other players to worry about, which creates an entirely different strain of fear and paranoia.
...

...although there is a reasonable variety of lower level enemies, from simple zombies to Lovecraftian tentacle monsters, there are only the three bosses at the moment and that combined with the lack of maps is going to limit the game’s longevity eventually. There is a roadmap to add more but that doesn’t help mitigate the fairly high asking price for the game at the moment.
...

...while it may be lacking in content Hunt: Showdown does not feel unfinished. What’s here works perfectly and turns the mixture of survival horror and battle royale into a glorious blend of high tension and panicked action. Rarely has a multiplayer map felt so dangerous and unpredictable; Hunt: Showdown almost makes you too scared to pick up the joypad and try again, and for a game this entertaining that is a considerable achievement.

Game Central review @ Metro Online

Anyone had any experience with it?

[AVFCDAN]

Doom is out in about a month, can't wait!

Apart from that what else are people looking forward to? 

[LakotaDakota]

 

[LakotaDakota]

Sure there will be plenty of others added to the delayed list but this is one of the bigger ones (again..)