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[quote who="Dhraconus" reply="38" id="2814088"]...Many RPGs had '99 level dungeons' (Lufia 2 for example) that were basically complete rogue-like games just thrown in as a side-quest. Today RPGs just don't have that anymore, Final Fantasy 7 was the last RPG I'm aware of that really did the whole 'game within a game' thing.[/quote] Today, that 'excess content', which is only going to be enjoyed by a percentage of the people who bought the game, is considered 'cost ineffective'.&nbsp

Steamworks doesn't promote itself as DRM, rather an API that can be intergrated into any game. A side benefit of using the Steamworks API, which requires the Steam Store Client, is that games on Steam must be authenticated online. If I recall correctly, this allows it to sidestep any issue.

There are plenty of women who use the internet, chat in forums and interact with numerous online communities. Most have learnt not to advertise the fact that they are female to avoid the crap that errupts when little boys with zero accountability are able to write anything they want. Others pretend to be men to avoid the issue entirely.

As was raised in Beta, some of the ideas that stem from the concept of Resource Refinement simply make for a more obtuse game, rather than a better game. While it's more realistic to mine Metal, then Refine it into Steel, then Imbue the Steel with whatever Shard you have under your control to recieve Elemental Steel, and then use it to build Armour or Swords that use the Elemental Steel and then Train a Unit that uses the Elemental Steel Armour or Sword, it doesn't make t

[quote who="solidsmooky" reply="16" id="2812104"]The only people left on the board are people who actually still play this (fanboys) and those that like watching car crashes. I'm the car crash guy. Don't bite the bullet. There are better games to spend your money on[/quote] Hahahahahaha! I don't have anything to say to this, I just wanted to quote you to give people another chance to read your abnormal stupidity. Congratulations, you're an utter moron.

As of this very moment, Elemental is a pretty good game with a few technical flaws - I don't have any, however I don't speak for everyone - and some balance issues. Insofar as Stardock's support goes, the only reason I can even play Demigod - a game developed by Gas Powered Games - is because of Stardock's work post-release. They're pretty much on the level, so you don't need to worry about that. They'll make good on their promise. If you need more convin

[quote who="Nesrie" reply="151" id="2811046"]Which is pretty awful. It's unfortunate I get reamed by my cable company as it is, high prices, higher prices if I don't have TV with them, very slow uploads, marginal downloads and now the idea of a cap. How exactly is this going to help digital distribution?[/quote] As an Australian, I feel your pain. We pay through the nose for our Internet down here, and it's well behind the industry standard. With things like the ACTA, however

[quote who="konjad" reply="90" id="2811114"]And every Elemental owner is forced to make Impulse account.[/quote] Using a Developer's own platform for their games is fine, and in no way influences the market. Valve's games - most of which I listed - use their platform. I have no issue of any kind with this, and a logical reason for an issue with this doesn't exist. Blizzard uses Battle.net, EA Games have their own platform, etc. The issue comes with third party titl

[quote who="Lord Xia" reply="51" id="2810474"]I hated all those supposed must have mods for Oblivion.[/quote] The BT Mod for the PC-Resolution friendly UI was the only mod I felt I needed.

Impulse::Reactor doesn't have high profile titles like Modern Warfare 2 or Counter-Strike Source pimping it's features to the mass market. Impulse is basically where Steam would be if Valve didn't shackle Half-Life 2 with it; fighting for ground. The only reason Steam is even has 30,000,000 accounts is because Valve forced a signficant portion of them to make those Accounts. Every Civilisation V owner, every PC Modern Warfare 2 owner, every one who has Half-Lif

[quote who="mentalinstra" reply="8" id="2810371"]...I guess the actual game doesn't matter, its the silly little program running in the background that's really important.[/quote] Should we blindly accept a forming monoply without question? What requirements and checks need to be placed on you before you're not willing to use whatever it is in order to avoid those requirements? Where do you draw the line? Some time from now, when you're complaining about

Hmmm, haven't removed the Steam requirement I see. *walks away whistling*

[quote who="Russki_Bear" reply="48" id="2808668"]...But Vanilla Oblivion was rubbish.[/quote] Becareful Russki, them's fighting words where I come from!

True, however Extended Gameplay Sequences (available on YouTube) and hundreds of screenshots are a pretty good indication of the final product. If not, then why bother showing them at all?

True, however there is something to be said for all feedback - if someone has an issue, it's important to understand their concern and weight them against your vision before dismissing them. When creating a new instalment in a popular franchise, like Final Fantasy or Diablo, the name carries a certain pre-built concept with it. For Final Fantasy, and I'm speaking broadly here, it's about exploring a large world, meeting and talking with memorable characters during the course of an

[quote who="Heavenfall" reply="74" id="2808465"]So high sense of entitlement from so many, eh? It's a new game, it's a different game, if it's better or not - well, let's leave that for when we play it, yeah?...[/quote] So fans of the series who bought enough copies of the previous two games to warrant a third one, and who are expressing their dislike at the direction that said third game is headed do so due to a sense of entitlement, rather than a concern that a ser

There was more to Diablo II's Gothic Horror atmosphere and style than it's use of colour or in-game brightness. The Art Style for Diablo III more closely resembles World of Warcraft than it does Diablo II. This is an observable fact. This carried through to everything; Armour Sets and Weapon Design in particular. For example, take a look at this Picture , twitted to show off some of the Armour Designs of Diablo III. The

Supporting the market leader is not considered anti-competitive behaviour, regardless of it's implications. Valve was founded by ex-Microsoft employees, which in itself means nothing however it does give the situation an sense of deja vu. The problem is no cares right now because Steam isn't abusing it's position. When it does - and it will - people will turn on Valve like they turned on Microsoft and Activision. The problem is that then - like Microsoft and Activision

Diablo III will require an internet connection and, like Starcraft II, users accept tht Blizzard will run Warden behind-the-scenes to monitor what applications are running on their machine. As Custom Maps for Starcraft II are stored on Blizzard's servers, it's entirely possible that Multiplayer Characters will also be stored on Blizzard's servers to further reduce cheating.

[quote who="Alstein" reply="28" id="2806773"]...I'd argue that them offering their DRM for free while other methods require money, could be construed as an abuse of their dominant position, as it forces other services to either discount (D2D, no one would be using them for Civ V if they were the same price), or not pick up the game...[/quote] You argue wouldn't hold up anywhere that mattered, unfortunately. For anti-competitive legislation to apply, Valve must be using it's dominan

The 20/80 Rule is something that really hits home in Game Development. 20% of your code does 80% of the work. 20% of your time is coding, 80% of your time is figuring out why it didn't work. Once you've got a complete game - which is, frankly, harder than it always appears at first - then you go back and look at what needs optimising, re-coding and polishing. While developing with multi-platforms in mind is always a good idea, for your first few projects - and

This is getting some fairly decent reviews. Described as a much faster Gears of War . Seems perhaps I was wrong? In any case, I might have to check out the demo.

In terms of resume, C++ is a massive plus as it is, to my knowledge, the industry 'standard' for lack of a better term. With whatever you make, as long as it's well crafted and recieved and you convey that within the context of your resume, I think you'll be fine. I've talked with people in various communities ( http://www.gamedev.net is a great place to take a look if you haven't already ) who are entirely self-taught and have put

Well, to be fair, I think sprites just have a certain... charm about them that models simply lack :)

Horses for courses really; C++ can be nice and fast, however it requires some indepth knowledge of memory management for complex projects. C# handles a lot of that stuff for you, however you need to manage your content around the Garbage Collector. Take a look at some of Microsoft's Visual Studio stuff; it's entirely free, and you own everything you make with it. What kind of game are you looking at making? Can you describe the kind of complexity you're