BlueCupTools Podcats! Grundislav & ThreeOhFour! Episode 82!

[selmiak]

you look like the inventors of the word cool. And judging from the tools, you worked really hard on that!

[Grundislav]

Episode 73!

Working outside your comfort zone.

[Fitz]

If I remember correctly, you've discussed impostor syndrome only recently, around ep. 70 or so. This podcast was a nice follow-up. Other than the basic question of "when are you ready?", the issue of specialisation vs. expanding and experimenting is one that's on my mind a lot. I dabble in so many things at once that I don't have the kind of time -- or maybe the ability to focus -- to really master one. I'm ok-ish, and willing to experiment, too look for new ways expression -- but as soon as the thought of going commercial pops up in my head, I freeze in panic. I briefly considered fully fleshing out and extending my current project in order to go commercial. I applied myself to animations to give them more polish, improved my background style... But then I decided the background art is just not good enough, no matter how hard I try. And then, eventually, the complexity -- and clunkiness -- of the code made me think it's just too much to handle. No matter how much I try, it won't be perfect -- and not because I'm a bad coder, but because I'm trying to do something AGS doesn't allow. I love my project, and I'm having tons of fun with it, adding new things as I go along to make it even better -- but I keep thinking it's just not good ENOUGH for a commercial product. I might also be fully consciously shooting myself in the foot with my artistic choices, such as the 16 color palette -- which puts certain limitations on me that I end up resenting. Not to mention I'd probably have a heart attack if a player/buyer reported a game-crashing bug.

As for "thingamajig" -- The first time I heard the word was from my Australian friend, so I actually thought it might be Australian slang.

And Francisco, I sent you that pm prior to listening to the podcast. Didn't think you'd actually remember. Nevertheless, what I said in the message still stands

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

I want to try some "slice"!
Sounds so tasty    or it could be something painful  (Is Grandmother violent at all?)
The bro-mance continues...

[Grundislav]

Episode 74!

[Armageddon]

I made an adventure game so short people were telling me it wasn't even an adventure game.

Good talk this week. Also I disagree with the LA Noire sentiment. I missed a lot of evidence and even failed cases and it changed quite a lot of dialogue.  A lot of stuff changed the second time I played. I think it's a fantastically designed system. Each case is its own self-contained narrative and depending on the way the case turns out it will determine how the first 10ish minutes of the next case is told.

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

I think my heart is broken... Going to have to cry in the shower for a bit before I can work on my game 
I wonder though how you feel about the hard puzzle/easy puzzle/hard puzzle/medium puzzle flow relates to pacing, should you devote a lot of planning time to this (then build the story around that)?

[Grundislav]

Episode 75!

Endings!

[straydogstrut]

Three years old already, happy anniversary!

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

Episode 75 was phenominal, by the way.   

[Grundislav]

Episode 76

[Stupot]

I've said this before but I'm not really a fan of this obsession with choice in recent adventure games. I'm perfectly happy to play one story if that story is well-written and satisfying. If there are going to be choices then they need to be covert. I'd rather not realise I even had a choice until afterwards, when I'm seeing the consequences. Life is like that. It's full of choices, but rarely are they presented to us in such a contrived binary fashion. We just go about our lives, and even the little unnoticeable choices can cause our lives to take dramatic turns.

Despite having just said all that, my game Power Nap does actually have a choice which affects the end of the game, but you don't know it until you get to the end and are told which ending you got. The game is short enough that the player can try again for the other ending if they really want to, but once the player is aware that the particular choice gives you a particular path or ending, it's no longer worth having the choice at all, in my opinion.

[Armageddon]

I think you're too worried about what other games are doing. Players are dumb, they don't expect anything from anything. I hate the Telltale stuff because they always highlight every choice, but nothing changes, not one thing other than maybe a single line of dialogue later on or one character vs another. I think Telltale games feel more linear than most adventure games. Give the people the choices you want to give them to have, it's up to you, you are the master.

The Dig was fantastic and my favorite adventure game. The only problem is that ending. The whole game's moral is, reversing death is bad, playing with life is bad, you can't be sure the person coming back is the same consciousness. But then they cop out on the ending and bring everyone back, oh well haha.

Also Dreamfall Chapters is incredibly boring. The UI is awful and unintuitive and walking is slow and dialogue is poorly written. Graphics and character models are wonderful though.

[Ponch]

Thanks for the new episode, guys!

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

Interesting episode 
I find the little choices in games fun.. even if it makes only immediate small results it's entertaining.

Let me definitively settle the debate on the background of Crankosaurus Prime:

Spoiler

One day Ponch, myself, Dr. Wookey and Mandle were sitting in a Texas saloon discussing the development of the game.. it became clear that Crankosaurus needed an underlying theme. Crank's similarities to a bitter crocodile-like game developer is entirely intended, he pursues the Blue Crystals begrudgingly just as a developer makes a game for a paycheck pushing and shoving obstacles rather than creating a clever puzzle-solution. The team unanimously decided Charles Cecil's grumpy ways would be the entire message of the game, we wore large cowboy hats and shot our six shooters into the saloon ceiling.
    Sorry Grundislav .

[close]

[ThreeOhFour]

hey kids don't read this next bit it's gonna have a rude word

TAKE THAT MOTHERFUCKER I LOVE BEING RIGHT ABOUT THINGS

okay you can keep reading now

[Grundislav]

Paying people off to agree with you is a new low, Ben.

[selmiak]

...and Bubble Bobble has not one but 3 endings!

[Ponch]

Let me definitively settle the debate on the background of Crankosaurus Prime:

Spoiler

One day Ponch, myself, Dr. Wookey and Mandle were sitting in a Texas saloon discussing the development of the game.. it became clear that Crankosaurus needed an underlying theme. Crank's similarities to a bitter crocodile-like game developer is entirely intended, he pursues the Blue Crystals begrudgingly just as a developer makes a game for a paycheck pushing and shoving obstacles rather than creating a clever puzzle-solution. The team unanimously decided Charles Cecil's grumpy ways would be the entire message of the game, we wore large cowboy hats and shot our six shooters into the saloon ceiling.

[close]

At last the truth comes out! Finally. I was so tired of living a lie.

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

Let me definitively settle the debate on the background of Crankosaurus Prime:

Spoiler

One day Ponch, myself, Dr. Wookey and Mandle were sitting in a Texas saloon discussing the development of the game.. it became clear that Crankosaurus needed an underlying theme. Crank's similarities to a bitter crocodile-like game developer is entirely intended, he pursues the Blue Crystals begrudgingly just as a developer makes a game for a paycheck pushing and shoving obstacles rather than creating a clever puzzle-solution. The team unanimously decided Charles Cecil's grumpy ways would be the entire message of the game, we wore large cowboy hats and shot our six shooters into the saloon ceiling.

[close]

At last the truth comes out! Finally. I was so tired of living a lie.

Isn't it just great how the Blue Cup Tools podcast not only brings us entertainment but healing as well.

Paying people off to agree with you is a new low, Ben.

Well, everyone but Grundislav