Major Update Speculation Thread v12: Layoffs Edition - Games

[QUOTE=RevengeDeath;39712099][IMG]http://labzerogames.com/images/IGG/Reward_TF2Hat.png[/IMG] From the Skullgirls indie gogo campaign page.[/QUOTE] Oh good it doesn't go through the head And here's the link [url]http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/333003/[/url]

Pretty sure it's going through his ear, psyke. [editline]25th February 2013[/editline] then again it also appears to be giving him a peck on the cheek so what do i know

The reason that SD is so unpopular is b/c its sooo ill designed map that heavily favors engineers and gunslingers in general seriouly its the orange for engies Territioral control is a clusterfeth of a map that results in stalemates and steam rolls major problem with these 2 is map design In arena no one wants to waits for the next round so they can DM i can dm or have fun on servers like pg high tower where people just dm and mess around MvM can be a main game type but not when its in this stage where it get boring and predicitable real fast. They need to use randomized population files per wave basis based on difficulty; this adds replay values Furthermore upgrade the intelegence levels of TFbots stop making them have the intlegnce level below ftps who just more or less hacks i had expected a big tfbot update with the release of MvM :/

So far so good on the fundraiser already at 20k in like 30 minutes. Big Band needs to happen!

I was in shock when I knew that they need 150k just to develop one character, I mean, you could do a decent amount of good indie titles with that money. Then I knew from Seth Killian that making one DLC costume for a Street Fighter title costs pretty much the same ammount of money, now I'm preparing to leave this planet and not live on it anymore.

So has anyone asked them about the "exclusiveness" of the hat? If you can't get it in any other way, it's limited to 5000 copies and you have to pay 30 bucks to get one, I can see it becoming quite the commodity.

[QUOTE=Danzflor;39712291]I was in shock when I knew that they need 150k just to develop one character, I mean, you could do a decent amount of good indie titles with that money. Then I knew from Seth Killian that making one DLC costume for a Street Fighter title costs pretty much the same amount of money, now I'm preparing to leave this planet and not live on it anymore.[/QUOTE] Here is the exact breakdown [img]http://www.labzerogames.com/images/IGG/CostBreakdown.jpg[/img] $20,000 for Quality Assurance. Thats 13% of the budget, As an accountant seeing anything over 5-6% is a big red flag to me.

Actually, they emphasize [B][I][U]EXCLUSIVITY[/U][/I][/B] so much that I'd be surprised if you can get it any other way.

I'm not sure how much control a dev has over that.

[QUOTE=ned_ballad;39711887]Doug Lombardi might be gone :O[/QUOTE]Doug's saying that it's false through one-word email replies (he must have gotten a LOT of messages), and he's fixed the LinkedIn thing that made people shit themselves. So fear not, he's still there making sure Gabe doesn't utter a single word about the next Half-Life game. [editline]25th February 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Barobax;39712334]Here is the exact breakdown [img]http://www.labzerogames.com/images/IGG/CostBreakdown.jpg[/img] $20,000 for Quality Assurance. Thats 13% of the budget, As an accountant seeing anything over 5-6% is a big red flag to me.[/QUOTE]The "Staff" section is smaller on account of the devs taking a massive pay cut to get this thing happening, so that might be throwing things a bit out of whack.

[QUOTE=Kapellmeister;39712357]Actually, they emphasize [B][I][U]EXCLUSIVITY[/U][/I][/B] so much that I'd be surprised if you can get it any other way.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure they will make it so exclusive that you can only get the hat while getting a Double Flawless Fatality while a shadow passes by the moon in The Pit.

well good, glad to see he's not gone and it was just a LinkedIn error

[QUOTE=ned_ballad;39712367]I'm not sure how much control a dev has over that.[/QUOTE] Well, it'd be kind of a dick thing to do and looking at stuff like the Sam & Max set, they have no problem with keeping some things "exclusive".

I'd say 2 grand on hitboxes is a bit much but when you have to manually insert each damage giving and damage receiving square on each frame of every animation well. it's not very fun at all

[QUOTE=Kapellmeister;39712401]Well, it'd be kind of a dick thing to do and looking at stuff like the Sam & Max set, they have no problem with keeping some things "exclusive".[/QUOTE] TellTale said they wouldn't have cared if they were drop/craftable, but it was up to Valve to do it.

[QUOTE=psyke;39712427]I'd say 2 grand on hitboxes is a bit much[/QUOTE] I don't fully understand how Audio and Voice are any different, let alone how Audio can cost more than a Voice actress? Foley Stages are not expensive...

[QUOTE=Kapellmeister;39712331]So has anyone asked them about the "exclusiveness" of the hat? If you can't get it in any other way, it's limited to 5000 copies and you have to pay 30 bucks to get one, I can see it becoming quite the commodity.[/QUOTE] every tier above that tier includes the hat, so it's not limited to 5000, and they explicitly say it's available only from the campaign [editline]26th February 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=RevengeDeath;39712278]So far so good on the fundraiser already at 20k in like 30 minutes. Big Band needs to happen![/QUOTE] funding campaigns typically have big bursts at the start and end, so with that in mind I doubt we'll see big band out of this fundraiser [b]Edit2:[/b] changed details because I read a thing

[QUOTE=Barobax;39712477]I don't fully understand how Audio and Voice are any different, let alone how Audio can cost more than a Voice actress? Foley Stages are not expensive...[/QUOTE] Audio includes sfx for all the new moves/hitsounds Stage music for the character specific stage. Background music for the character cutscenes too And all the music is done by the original same composer too. perhaps they're just pricey?

[QUOTE=psyke;39712582]Stage music for the character specific stage. Background music for the character cutscenes too[/QUOTE] Actually the stage + story mode is a +$25k stretch tier

[QUOTE=Mr. Magoolachub;39712606]Actually the stage + story mode is a +$25k stretch tier[/QUOTE] So basically they need 5k for a bunch of grunts and kicks? (and maybe the Opera part of the character if the VA can't sing)

If I am so hard pressed to release my already finished game that I need to ask the community to front me the money, I'd, quite frankly, just get my mom/sister/wife/girlfriend/neighbor lady/etc to do the voice and just rent out a studio for a few hours for a couple hundred dollars. Isn't the lead artist a woman? Can she grunt into a microphone for a few hours? Will she cost 5k? [editline]25th February 2013[/editline] if she needs a theme song, and she's an Opera themed character, just do a cool remix of Carmen or some public domain Opera and save lots of money Seems like there are avenues they could save money, they just want the best of the best (but don't have the budget for it)

[QUOTE=Barobax;39712660]So basically they need 5k for a bunch of grunts and kicks? (and maybe the Opera part of the character if the VA can't sing)[/QUOTE] Last time i checked characters in fighting games talk too. not in grunts either. regardless it's not really that bad when you consider how much capcom spent creating standlone DLC characters for the recent street fighter games. [ rumoured to be upwards of about 200,000 ]

makes you wonder what the real costs of making a TF2 update are

[QUOTE=Revolver Osha;39711380]I came up with how to fix the short circuit: -10 metal pershot Can crit (why does it have no random crits anyway? It'd only do like 10 damage) On crit stuns enemies Good idea?[/QUOTE] Bad idea. It's a total shit idea. First of all it already crits, it does 15 damage on crit. Second it's not meant to be used on enemy players and with both a ridiculously small range + low health you're dead before you get there. It would emphasize an offensive playstyle that relies on a horrible luck element, a randomly activated core mechanic. It's worse than the holiday punch because it doesn't even have a way to work on nocrit servers and it's not a reward for say getting behind a player. The thing you do to get the reward is the opposite of what the weapon was designed to do which is clear projectiles and has no bearing or relation to the weapon's main function at all. An idea that would ACTUALLY make sense: Reward players for breaking projectiles with something more than "lol your sentry didn't take damage", something along the lines of "returns some metal per projectile broken" so you don't waste all your metal for a repair that would take like 25 metal to fix anyways.

[QUOTE=01271;39712835]Bad idea. It's a total shit idea. First of all it already crits, it does 15 damage on crit. Second it's not meant to be used on enemy players and with both a ridiculously small range + low health you're dead before you get there. It would emphasize an offensive playstyle that relies on a horrible luck element, a randomly activated core mechanic. It's worse than the holiday punch because it doesn't even have a way to work on nocrit servers and it's not a reward for say getting behind a player. The thing you do to get the reward is the opposite of what the weapon was designed to do which is clear projectiles and has no bearing or relation to the weapon's main function at all. An idea that would ACTUALLY make sense: Reward players for breaking projectiles with something more than "lol your sentry didn't take damage", something along the lines of "returns some metal per projectile broken" so you don't waste all your metal for a repair that would take like 25 metal to fix anyways.[/QUOTE] Pretty out there but what if on sucessful fire with the short circuit the projectiles arn't outright destroyed but directly reversed/bounced back towards the agressor or is that too much?

[QUOTE=01271;39712835]Bad idea. It's a total shit idea. First of all it already crits, it does 15 damage on crit. Second it's not meant to be used on enemy players and with both a ridiculously small range + low health you're dead before you get there. It would emphasize an offensive playstyle that relies on a horrible luck element, a randomly activated core mechanic. It's worse than the holiday punch because it doesn't even have a way to work on nocrit servers and it's not a reward for say getting behind a player. The thing you do to get the reward is the opposite of what the weapon was designed to do which is clear projectiles and has no bearing or relation to the weapon's main function at all. An idea that would ACTUALLY make sense: Reward players for breaking projectiles with something more than "lol your sentry didn't take damage", something along the lines of "returns some metal per projectile broken" so you don't waste all your metal for a repair that would take like 25 metal to fix anyways.[/QUOTE] I always figured a good way to "fix" the short circuit would be a mechanic that allows for easier spy checking. Make the beam only arc to enemy players and not friendly ones. Hell, make the beam not even fire unless it has something to hit.

[QUOTE=Drury;39447777][b]Short Circuit[/B] +On Fire: Generates an electrical field that destroys projectiles and does slight damage to players +Each disintegrated projectile deals 25 damage to whoever fired them. +No reload necessary -Per Shot: -35 ammo -Uses metal for ammo -No random critical hits If a demoman lays down three stickies next to your sentry and you disintegrate them, the demoman receives an electric shock dealing 75 points of damage regardless of his position on the map. And if you place an obvious stickytrap of 8 stickies and a short circuit engie disintegrates it... It misfires terribly. You can't really blame the engie, though.[/QUOTE]

either remove the metal cost all together or lower it to 5 or 10 and up the firing speed slightly

I'm a bit late on the Halloween discussion, but one idea that's been thrown about on the SPUF forums that I really agree with is this: A dedicated boss mode. Based heavily on MvM, a certain amount of people join, Ready up, then fight the boss. The HHH was fun, but every boss after that was an exercise in frustration and just seemed to bring out the worst in the community. Plus, a dedicated boss mode opens up some interesting opportunities for community maps and such.

[QUOTE=psyke;39712779]Last time i checked characters in fighting games talk too. not in grunts either. [/QUOTE] Yea, The characters voice is represented in the $4,000 Voice part of the pie graph. I was saying how can they justify having a bigger budget for Audio when Audio probably just means some quick SFX that can probably just be re-used from another character (like each TF2 class sharing the same drowning noise).