Posts by leplubodeslapin

Quote from blackdog

8 hours ago, blackdog said: I’m very fascinated/interested in this aspect of game development, as I see it the most important conjunction of game and UI design.

It’s must be incredibly tricky to strike balance, considering every player is different. I am for example one that -I believe- is very resilient to frustration, I actually make games frustrating for myself (like I spent at least 8hrs on the shipwreck encounter alone in Uncharted 4 because I was convinced I could resolve it the way I wanted, but needed to be perfect at aiming and timing).

In regard of information overload I’ve felt like this recently when I started playing God of War, when you upgrade a weapon there’s so much information… and god help you when you get to the merchant is a non-stop barrage of pop ups!

I wonder what type of R&D there is for a dynamic system (self or user adjusted) dedicated to this aspect; but I can imagine the realities of business and budgets… and how ad-hoc game solutions are. I can only think the pitch for this is that once you get a system like that up and running, you can keep reusing it, so it would be a bit like upgrading your game engine, if you can come up with a generic solution.

It is indeed very tricky to find the right balance and pace, there is soooo much stuff the player has to learn, such as :

• Who are you, what is your purpose here, who is Colt ?
• Who is Julianna, why is she doing this, wtf is going on ?
• Oh shit, it's a time loop thing, how does it work ? How can it be an issue to me ? How can it be an asset ?
• What are my tools, what are my weapons, what are the slabs, what are trinkets, what are my player mobility options ... ?
• Who are those targets I need to eliminate, to what purpose ?
• How do you convey to the player that they can play however they want, they don't have to fit 1 play style, and they can benefit from the timeloop to experiment things ?
• How can the player progress through space and time within the timeloop ?
• ...

I wasn't actually part of the tutorialization work, but it's quite hard to make it all fit.

Time constraints are what they are, and even if popups are not the most appreciated tools they can be efficient. And at least, if a player skips them because it's getting boring, he can find everything back in the menu, or experience by himself.

I feel you with your experience with Uncharted 4, it is actually a very big deal with TLOU2 too. There's always a part where you can only expect the players to follow the story and go on with it.

@Radu, this is what we call the "Guided Tour", it guides the player for 2-3 hours after the tutorial map. It's a necessity, before we built up the guided tour, players just felt completely lost, lacking a lot of knowledges from very basic concepts of the game. We decided to host this through the real maps, so the player can already spend time on them and learn informations that will be useful once this phase is lifted, but for a few hours we have to force the player to go through some key steps.

Once you get through this, you become free to explore the maps and campaign. But still, we can't just let the players completely in the unknown to solve the big puzzle, there are "leads" that guide the player through the process. You can do these in any order you want, and as for previous games you can disable markers and other options if you want.

The puzzle itself isn't the only important part from the game, it's also how you want to build up an arsenal, there are optionnal missions and vignettes we created to get some extra equipement/lore/rewards (which are usually harder to solve), learning the maps can also become very valuable (finding out new paths, new locations, shortcuts ...), especially in PvP... How you want to play with the loop!

I'm sorry that it feels like too much information is thrown at the player, I actually have to agree on that. It's not necessarily a very complex game, but it's quite unorthodox. It takes a bit of time for the player to feel comfortable with it.

Thank you guys :))

@Vilham and @El Moroes also worked on Deathloop, aswell as @ElectroSheep in the beginnings.

Deathloop previews started to drop today

Man that's weird, people are getting their hands on the game and played a few hours on it.

After so much work, it's a relief. And the previews are actually pretty damn good !!!

Here are a few for the ones interested in the game :

https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2021/0…ing-with-a-bang

https://press-start.com.au/previews/2021/…a-time-capsule/

https://www.polygon.com/22641627/death…bethesda-arkane

https://www.ign.com/articles/deathloop-the-final-preview

https://www.gamesradar.com/deathloop-preview-ps5/

https://www.pcgamer.com/deathloop-is-t…m_medium=social

https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/26/2264…w-ps5-pc-arkane

Quote from RaVaGe

3 hours ago, RaVaGe said: The barest minimum effort ? What effort lol, don't you think it's just a totally different subject here ? I believe it's a total distrust and a complete rejection of the actual system by a big part of the population, it's not a question wether or not you want to protect to people around you, again i'm not against vaccines, but I just don't get that obsession to sting all the fucking planet, free to you to vaccinate yourself and your childrens with that (albeit i'm pretty sure you won't, nor you don't have any).

I might be wrong, i'm not an expert, but that's how i understand things :

The way a vaccine works is by using it on a portion of the population in order to reduce the propagation rate.

We don't know everything but it's been a while already, and we know that this portion ideally should be as large as possible for it to be as effective as possible, the same way other vaccines required it before and made deseases practically disappear. We know that it has an effect on the individuals aswell, to nullify the risk for the covid to put you in a serious situation where you would have to be taken in charge by ICUs. So vaccinating one person means this person won't have to be taken in charge by them, and won't risk to overload the ICUs (which is crucial for public health).

We don't know for sure that being vaccinated prevents the spread, because you technically could still carry the virus (maybe). But even if it just reduces this duration, because you don't experience its effects, and therefore limits the amount of people you potentially expose to the virus, it's already a big win against the spread.

We also now have quite a a lot of people who got vaccinated, and the secondary effects and risks are completely negligeable, especially putting against the risk of getting hurt from the covid itself (which is much larger).

So it's not just about individuals clearly, getting vaccinated (if you can) is, to me, a public liability. We all have witnessed what covid does and it baffles me that despite all the shit we all went through, and despite the fact that we have a solution for it that is greatly effective (up to now) and with a very low risk, we don't all embrace it.

I feel like, because a vaccine is done through a sting and not just a medicine to swallow, it feels more intrusive and dangerous. That doesn't make much sense (you could kill someone by making him eat a medicine, they're both as intrusive) but that's a feeling, guts speaking. We have to think and realize this kind of bias.

Also simple question : aren't there already mandatory vaccines where you guys live ? It's been like that for a long time, preventing plenty of deaths. If so, how is covid's vaccine "a total distrust and a complete rejection of the actual system" ? The system already uses vaccine no ? My bad I read it wrong. A distruct and rejection of the system from a part of population. Yes i can understand that. Unfortunately all of this isn't politics but i guess it's hard to distinguish it when it's the politics that make such rules. Sorry for reading this wrong

It's so freaking stupid I love it, I hope they embrace it could be very very cool to play with all these crazy mechanics

The set of moves and especially the flying kick are so nice to see come back, can't wait to parkour all around ! I'm super impressed by the map and its diversity, really looking forward for it

December 7, 2021, Nice !

This is great stuff, there's an end to this

My girlfriend has been willing to go back to her place in brazil, to meet her family and friends, the last time she went there was more than 2 years now. We've been acting as the "good students" from the beginning of that pandemic, working fully remotely since the beginning, following all the sanitary measures.

In the beginning of 2021 we decided she had to go back there for vacation, it's been too long and it's worrying for her, for her mental health it matters a lot.

A flight was planned for this Saturday, 1-month vacations, and 2 days ago the french government decided to put a stop to any flight between France and Brazil (no tourism trip is allowed for quite some time already, this time it's targeting all the flights).

This is bad and Brazil politics is absolutely nuts so it's not going to get better magically any time soon.

Vaccine won't be before the end of the year for us; no official waiting list is made anyway ...

I'm glad to see some of you getting it, that's really important. Thank you

Quote from jd40

6 minutes ago, jd40 said: Broke my first print trying to take the support off - printed horizontally ?

oops ^^' sorry

Quote from jd40

7 minutes ago, jd40 said: Nothing I have would quite fit under the translucent plastic cover so yeah I gotta figure something out. Do you use the plastic cover btw? Seems to block the airflow a bit.

I wonder if it's possible to turn off the index usb via software, sure would be nice if it turned on only when you put the headset on.

The one i'm using is pretty standard

[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/pFCB6d8.png]

I designed it so that it stays inside the surface and doesn't prevent you from using the translucent plastic cover

[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/oQ28yFg.png]

[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/1OdHmcO.png]

But in the end my 3D Printer isn't calibrated very well, so the front plastic cover didn't fit really well (might work better by printing it vertically though). I don't know if there's enough gap for the air to move in between, maybe not.

But yea there must be a way to drive the USB from software, because it's designed to be able to receive custom mods and stuff. It would mean that maybe the fan would have to be driven by a data signal and not just powered by the default 5V of a USB plug, so it becomes more complex but probably doable (I wouldn't know how though)

That's amazing @jd40 thanks for printing it !!

Quote from jd40

21 hours ago, jd40 said: Printed vertically on a raft, looks better and easy removal of support. Also ~2hr shorter print!

Yea I feel so dumb I didn't even try, of course you're right, it looks better, prints faster ... The only thing you need to be careful with is not to go to hard when screwing the 4 fans and 4 main screws, to avoid breaking the print.

If you have a ref/sizes for a switch and want me to update the geometry for it, feel free to ask. I didn't release the sources files because i made it with Catia (a CAD software that isn't known much outside of the industry) and had to clean some nasty topology stuff in blender afterwards, it was a bit too messy ^^'

Really good looking print, congratz

i've been working on modeling a Volkswagen Combi T1

The plan isn't to make it a 3D model for a game engine or something like that, it's a model to 3D print.

The challenge isn't much on the polycount or any sort of material, it's to make sure that each piece can be printed, is solid enough, can be assembled with the right tolerances ...

[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/JsLFSIW.png]

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It's a project I started with some friends before Covid but stopped a year ago, i'm going back on it to finish it. It's a miniature RC car (about 30cm long), controllable with a Xbox One gamepad.

The goal is to make it fully open source. I haven't applied my modifiers on Blender and I hope to finish the project like that, to allow anyone interested to modify it with ease.

Along with that new trailer, our creative director Dinga took part in another video to showcase some core concepts for the game :

WOW this is so good !!! Is there somewhere I can play on it ?

The trailer is a real beauty !

Quote from WD

4 hours ago, WD said: Got me a printer just not too long ago. It's amazing how good quality printer you can get nowadays for the price your paying for it. I can barely even notice the print pattern it does when I crank the print quality to max, manufacturer calls it an entry-level printer. They've gone a mile ahead since the early days.

What printer did you get ?

I haven't looked too much into it, but I noticed some improvements on the low budget side too.

I've heard of printers like the Artillery Sidewinder X1, that are on the same budget (400€) and size (30 x 30 x 40 cm) as the Creality CR-10S I bought ~3 years ago, but with things like linear bearings, direct drive, silent motors ... It's really cool to see such progress!!

Hello

I just submitted a 1 fan version on my Valve index mod. It can feel like a rollback but it's actually a better version I believe :

• 1 fan is enough to pull out the warm air, it's not that big ?
• It's a lot easier to make the USB plug, much more space for it
• Added a switch to control the fan
• Filled and the tiny holes that were making it less efficient

Here it is with a few pictures in case someone is interested : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4735054

[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/vMtgQ5g.jpg]

(and I also updated the 2 fans version with the holes filled too : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4565466)

I am having plenty of script bugs (mostly sound bugs or animations not working well if I pause the game in the middle of it), anyone else?

Same as you Dux, feels like it would have benefit a lot from more love and polish, especially with these visuals (it's stunning)

The steam link is a tad too slow for resolutions above 1080p from what i've tried, so it's a bit of a shame if you have a big 4k tv

There must be more modern solutions now i guess?

Our latest trailer that showcases how we're doing stuff with the timeloop

Well ... It's better to play this masterpiece late than never :x

It's the kind of game that is so polished and so great that it won't age too fast anyway

I feel like i can now share a bit about my experience on this topic.

I had a weird profile, making maps was a hobby since I was a teenager, but I wasn't aware that video game schools exist and I went on another direction for my studies and beginning of career. I never lost that hobby though, and realized at some point that my skills at making maps could allow me to work on that field. From that point, I started to take it more seriously and learned stuff online as much as I could (thank you GDC) but didn't go to a videogame school and i had no pro exp on making a videogame. Another issue was that I was aiming at a company that makes SP games and at that point I almost only made MP maps (CSGO), and I don't even know anything else than Source (No UE4/Unity knowledge, no visual scripting, no model-only / modular world building ...).

So ... the bet was risky but, as Grapen said, the only way to figure it out was to give it a try, at least I wouldn't be disappointed that I didn't try. What I did first was trying to build a portfolio that could convey things in my work that could be interesting for what I was aiming. Even if you're making MP maps, there are plenty of stuff you're doing that are similar to SP : building a layout, solving bottlenecks/dead ends problems, tricks to guide the player, make your map readable, easy to learn, create a theme and make it a believable space, script systems... Being able to show finished projects also helps to demonstrate that you can focus on something, iterate on it and bring it to its final state. Most of my previous profesionnal experience was useless for a LD position, but I've been on projects, I managed an industrial project and I worked with people for a few years ; this is valuable for a company if you know how a real-world project is handled and can bring knowledges and methods from another industry. I also worked on a SP map while my portfolio was being processed by HR, to be able to show one good piece of SP work.

It worked, my folio catched the company attention and i'm asked to do a test (the usual process). I dedicated time for it, used some day off, and tried to stick to pillars and rules that I assumed the LD were following for the test. Being able to manage your time here is crucial, you don't want to make something too simple but you also want to finish it. It was tight, I decided to build it on Source (HL2:EP2) so I had the brushwork and entities systems known pretty well, but I had to create systems for AI (to allow stealth, which is inexistent on Half-Life 2) and mechanics (very few and simple). I was proud of my work but had no idea if it would be good enough. I just gave as much as I could into it.

It worked, I got an interview. I was able to explain my intention, why i'm here and why is my profile weird. It went well. Interview is important to show your personality and communication skills.

And after some time (a very long time actually ^^') I joined the company. The same way it has been told before on that topic, for a profile like mine it was kind of a bet for them : no profesionnal experience in that field and no school → You start with a Junior position or something close to that (at Arkane there's no official junior/senior levels but still, this is considered for the salary obviously). But in the end, i managed to adapt successfuly and got reevaluated after a year. Learning a modern engine wasn't that hard, it was pretty quick. Having tech LDs and being able to ask your colleagues for help accelerates things, but the same way I always did when I was doing this as a hobby, looking for things by yourself and trying to ask to the right persons helps tons too.

I invested myself quite a lot into the project, so I am hoping it will be good so that I'll be proud of my first game! It's been quite a journey but I'm not thinking about my previous work at all and still find ways to use that knowledge/exp (for instance : at work with env artists, because i was a mechanical engineer so I know quite a lot about this, or on personnal projects where I can still do some stuff as a hobby this time, thanks to 3D printing :)). So for now it's going fine ! Best of luck to other who want to "break in" the games industry !