Latest Comments by Mal
The Paradox Launcher is now available on Linux
28 Jun 2018 at 9:25 am UTC Likes: 2
28 Jun 2018 at 9:25 am UTC Likes: 2
My 2 cents. I hate launchers.
Steam kind of makes the exception just because it's one launcher (and much more) for ALL games. So it's not an additional click between me and my game because it basically replaces the click on the game folder. Imho launchers go against modern GUI design rules and are an expression of an 80ies mentality and I would rather have all my games without them than every company making his own launcher.
Steam kind of makes the exception just because it's one launcher (and much more) for ALL games. So it's not an additional click between me and my game because it basically replaces the click on the game folder. Imho launchers go against modern GUI design rules and are an expression of an 80ies mentality and I would rather have all my games without them than every company making his own launcher.
Valve are easing up on what content is allowed on Steam
14 Jun 2018 at 9:24 am UTC Likes: 1
Second I agree that an School Massacre Simulators games should also have a chance to fight for their place in the market.
Yet in the case of Active Shooter the difference was made by its developer. Who's for what I've understood is not exactly is a genuine national rifle association enthusiast that developed a piece of VG art/entertainment out of pure love for firearms and shooting. Given his past records I have no arguments to dispute Valve decision of calling him troll and banning him from the market.
But I also admit that I'm not very interested enough in this genre to spend my time on the Internet trying to figure out if Valve decision was correct or they abused the game developer. I'm quite uninformed outside the official news channels. So if anybody here can and want share some arguments on why this guy isn't a real troll I'm open to read it.
14 Jun 2018 at 9:24 am UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: KelsLOL! This isn't Valve taking a stand for freedom. This is Valve cowering in the corner and saying "Stop criticising us! Look! You can have your anime tiddy games!"First there is nothing wrong with tiddies games.
As other people have noted, they left themselves a "trolling" loophole to allow staff to kick out stuff like Active Shooter, although they're sure to only do so if there's a lot of negative media attention first.
Second I agree that an School Massacre Simulators games should also have a chance to fight for their place in the market.
Yet in the case of Active Shooter the difference was made by its developer. Who's for what I've understood is not exactly is a genuine national rifle association enthusiast that developed a piece of VG art/entertainment out of pure love for firearms and shooting. Given his past records I have no arguments to dispute Valve decision of calling him troll and banning him from the market.
But I also admit that I'm not very interested enough in this genre to spend my time on the Internet trying to figure out if Valve decision was correct or they abused the game developer. I'm quite uninformed outside the official news channels. So if anybody here can and want share some arguments on why this guy isn't a real troll I'm open to read it.
Valve are easing up on what content is allowed on Steam
13 Jun 2018 at 6:15 pm UTC Likes: 4
Trouble-makers are always looking for a company to target with a holy crusade to enforce their own personal values on the masses. I bet it won't be long until some of these assholes start a @boycottvalve campaign using some insignificant game that nobody is forced to buy or play as a pretext. Yet Valve resolved to endure this for your and my freedom as well. And I praise them for that.
When the shitstorm will happen I will support them with my wallet as I do for linux gaming.
13 Jun 2018 at 6:15 pm UTC Likes: 4
Quoting: KelsI'd say it's rather the opposite. It has always been easier for companies to censor and discriminate to appeal powerful religious/political organizations and stay out of their radar as much as possible.Quoting: NanobangGood. I'm glad Steam has grown up and grown some huevos....by taking the most spineless position possible that avoids actually having to actually do anything.
Trouble-makers are always looking for a company to target with a holy crusade to enforce their own personal values on the masses. I bet it won't be long until some of these assholes start a @boycottvalve campaign using some insignificant game that nobody is forced to buy or play as a pretext. Yet Valve resolved to endure this for your and my freedom as well. And I praise them for that.
When the shitstorm will happen I will support them with my wallet as I do for linux gaming.
Valve are easing up on what content is allowed on Steam
7 Jun 2018 at 1:24 pm UTC
7 Jun 2018 at 1:24 pm UTC
Finally they came to their senses. It took some time, but I knew they would arrive there eventually.
Paradox has announced Stellaris: Distant Stars, a new story pack
27 Apr 2018 at 2:36 pm UTC
27 Apr 2018 at 2:36 pm UTC
In the controversial dev diary #92 where asymmetrical FTL scrap have been announced the lead game designer justifies the choice with the fact that having all three together bogs all future development. Designing new expansions that work with all the base mechanics is difficult: they scrap some of them so they can expand more the game in the future. Outside that post I also remember him be very clear on twitch about this: it's either asymmetric FTL scrap or Stellaris stops at 1.9.
For a game with that many sold copies and such an enthusiast fan base the only motivation I can imagine for such drastic course of action is that either they are able to simplify the (game mechanics/code of the) base game enough so they can start to produce a satisfying amount of DLCs (and money) per year or the management will scrap the project because is not profitable enough.
Which is legit for a publicly quoted company. It's also legit for me as a customer in love with their game to hope that they slow down on DLCs schedule instead and take their time to release with less bugs (a constant issue of the game, they often apologize but the issue remain) and implement mechanics that in addition to be easily expandable (as they need) allow also for a more varied play styles (personal opinion ofc but I do find 2.0 to be less fun than 1.9 and without going into details the main reason in the end is just this: more restrictive game play).
For a game with that many sold copies and such an enthusiast fan base the only motivation I can imagine for such drastic course of action is that either they are able to simplify the (game mechanics/code of the) base game enough so they can start to produce a satisfying amount of DLCs (and money) per year or the management will scrap the project because is not profitable enough.
Which is legit for a publicly quoted company. It's also legit for me as a customer in love with their game to hope that they slow down on DLCs schedule instead and take their time to release with less bugs (a constant issue of the game, they often apologize but the issue remain) and implement mechanics that in addition to be easily expandable (as they need) allow also for a more varied play styles (personal opinion ofc but I do find 2.0 to be less fun than 1.9 and without going into details the main reason in the end is just this: more restrictive game play).
Paradox has announced Stellaris: Distant Stars, a new story pack
26 Apr 2018 at 12:34 pm UTC
My opinion on 2.0 overall is that the game has been made more restrictive to the player. In the sense that either options have been removed entirely or new balance changes makes so that adopting a play style that diverges from the "meta" intended by the game designer is totally non viable compared to before. So yes: difficulty changed in the sense that several macro options have been removed. But the new play style enforced on the player does have a lot of new things to manage. So if 2.0 is more or less difficult is more of a subjective thing (how fast you can adapt to it and how much you are ok in doing that).
26 Apr 2018 at 12:34 pm UTC
Quoting: Purple Library GuyMy point was just on game implementation and testing not on game difficulty. Just with the mere FTL cut they removed a lot of code and a lot of edge cases from the game which ultimately makes it easier to develop (especially when they will enhance it in future) and test.Quoting: MalEven the controversial 2.0 release with all the feature scrapping and game style flattening ultimately had the purpose of simplify the game implementation so that it's easier to develop and test it (with... arguable success for now).I don't really know whether I agree or not with the rest of what you say--I just have insufficient information to form a judgement--but I don't think this is really true. In some ways it makes the game more complex, like it tends to lead to more fleets running around. But mainly it seems like the key changes that simplify the game (mainly the shift to only hyperdrive movement) was aimed at impacting tactical gameplay. For the most part it was aimed at putting limits on the number of avenues invaders have to attack through, creating the possibility of chokepoints and making the idea of guarding borders at least plausible. This goes together with the new system of starbases which can be built up to seriously badass fighting power.
I'm not yet sure whether I think that's an improvement, but it does seem to have been a major motivation for the changes. They weren't all about simplifying the code.
My opinion on 2.0 overall is that the game has been made more restrictive to the player. In the sense that either options have been removed entirely or new balance changes makes so that adopting a play style that diverges from the "meta" intended by the game designer is totally non viable compared to before. So yes: difficulty changed in the sense that several macro options have been removed. But the new play style enforced on the player does have a lot of new things to manage. So if 2.0 is more or less difficult is more of a subjective thing (how fast you can adapt to it and how much you are ok in doing that).
Paradox has announced Stellaris: Distant Stars, a new story pack
25 Apr 2018 at 1:03 pm UTC
The problem is PdX addiction to dlc regular cash flows. Imho this has been especially detrimental to stellaris. Stuff is released unfinished and untested over and over again because release dates cannot be postponed or diluted over time. Even the controversial 2.0 release with all the feature scrapping and game style flattening ultimately had the purpose of simplify the game implementation so that it's easier to develop and test it (with... arguable success for now).
Imho PdX should milk Stellaris Project a little less for the time being and let it stabilize. If they continue to squeeze it like they're doing it will severely hurt the game.
25 Apr 2018 at 1:03 pm UTC
Quoting: DisharmonicI don't get the hate on Paradox's DLC policy. I mean, sure some of the DLCs are overpriced on release and i don't like that for some games they sell the new art separately, but do you know of many other developers that keep expanding their games continuously for several years? They have to pay for that somehow.Personally I don't blame the dlc policy by itself. Megagames like eu4 and ck2 wouldn't exist without it.
The problem is PdX addiction to dlc regular cash flows. Imho this has been especially detrimental to stellaris. Stuff is released unfinished and untested over and over again because release dates cannot be postponed or diluted over time. Even the controversial 2.0 release with all the feature scrapping and game style flattening ultimately had the purpose of simplify the game implementation so that it's easier to develop and test it (with... arguable success for now).
Imho PdX should milk Stellaris Project a little less for the time being and let it stabilize. If they continue to squeeze it like they're doing it will severely hurt the game.
Paradox has announced Stellaris: Distant Stars, a new story pack
23 Apr 2018 at 5:57 pm UTC Likes: 1
23 Apr 2018 at 5:57 pm UTC Likes: 1
For me the final Stellaris release is 1.9. I pass on Stellaris 2 dlcs. A pity since the theme of thia pack is just right.
Work is under way to get proper Steam Controller support in the Linux Kernel
1 Mar 2018 at 10:36 am UTC Likes: 3
Now Steam Controller -as opposed to the whole Steam Machine thing- was a huge success. A large part of this success has been possible because they took this way in the first place and were allowed to evolve it very fast. And ok: the device is not experimental anymore. The updates are pushed less frequently and maybe the time could be right to transition into a more conventional linux approach and maybe use the steam client only for the firmware updates. Yet doing that would cost resources and bring very limited benefit to the average user compared to now so it's hard to justify the investment cost. Supporting foss volunteers now that they emerged seems a good compromise to me.
1 Mar 2018 at 10:36 am UTC Likes: 3
Quoting: ShmerlOk I get it. But the Steam Controller Linux driver is not just a "kernel module". There is the kernel side and there is the firmware on the controller. Both of which requires to be upgraded in synch, automagically (given that the target audience are masses not just techies) and given the experimental nature of the hardware to support in parallel an easy switchable stable branch and beta program with frequent updates and roll backs as well. And there are also all the controller profile features that can only exist if they have an on line account and a cloud to leverage so Valve was already bound to use their client to deliver these anyway. In their cloths I would have done the same and kept the things simple.Quoting: MalThat's not a proper Linux approach, and Valve should know that. AMD for example could argue the same thing (like Nvidia did). But they decided to be a good Linux citizen. So can Valve.Quoting: ShmerlWhy can't Valve make such driver and use it directly after that?First thing I can think of because otherwise they would then depend from linux kernel release process for steam controller updates and features. And linux kernel guys have comprehensively other priorities. So it makes sense for them to leverage steam client to deliver their software since it's already good at doing that.
Now Steam Controller -as opposed to the whole Steam Machine thing- was a huge success. A large part of this success has been possible because they took this way in the first place and were allowed to evolve it very fast. And ok: the device is not experimental anymore. The updates are pushed less frequently and maybe the time could be right to transition into a more conventional linux approach and maybe use the steam client only for the firmware updates. Yet doing that would cost resources and bring very limited benefit to the average user compared to now so it's hard to justify the investment cost. Supporting foss volunteers now that they emerged seems a good compromise to me.
Work is under way to get proper Steam Controller support in the Linux Kernel
28 Feb 2018 at 5:30 pm UTC Likes: 3
28 Feb 2018 at 5:30 pm UTC Likes: 3
Quoting: ShmerlWhy can't Valve make such driver and use it directly after that?First thing I can think of because otherwise they would then depend from linux kernel release process for steam controller updates and features. And linux kernel guys have comprehensively other priorities. So it makes sense for them to leverage steam client to deliver their software since it's already good at doing that.