Randomly Mine #5

They Call It… Bad Company

It’s recently been leaked that Bad Company 3 is finally going to be a thing. Taking place during the Cold War as oppose to modern has me concerned the Bad Company name is just being used for PR, but there’s something else much juicer in regards to appealing to gamers.

It was said in the article I read that it wouldn’t have any Microtransactions and possibly would Cleve Battlepacks entirely. In the case this happens to be true, there’s something I firmly believe.

This deserves no credit.

If true, this would only be a move taken out of having swung so far in the other direction with Battlefront II to the point of damaging its launch, and to do something similar again, especially with a name as beloved as Bad Company would tank DICE’s already lofty reputation.

I’ve always been a huge fan of DICE. Battlefield has been a great franchise, so I’ll naturally be hoping for the best with Bad Company 3, but as always, ever since Mass Effect 3 and Master Chief Collection, cautious optimism is the best I can give.

Rise Up

There’s a constant discussion in video games about rising costs. Both of development and of games with gold editions, season passes, etc. Yet, there’s something a friend brought up.

In every other non-entertainment industry, companies and products are constantly in a war to reduce prices. One of the biggest ways to compete, whether its chocolate bars, vacuum cleaners, or clothes, is to be cheaper.

Yet in art and entertainment, it’s seemingly about the opposite.

Microsoft had no issues launching the Xbox One for $100 more than their previous console. Big publishers axed the middle-market almost entirely. Microtransactions permeate experiences with a high entrance fee.

The only sector that seems to be using this strategy of reduced pricing is the Indie and Free to Play scene. Titles like Rocket League, Paladins, or Counter Strike offering relatively equal experiences for much less.

This isn’t surprising. The Triple A’s industry only knows how to up expenses. What I wonder is if there’s a threshold, a breaking point that will end their course.

Yeah

I’ve replaced this third portion of the document about four times, and breaking the forth wall is honestly the best thing I can do, because it made me think.

This desperation I feel, this lack of ability to craft a couple paragraphs that peak my interest, let alone others, is something writers feel all the time. But… I’ve got control.

When you’re writing for a large project, a big website, or huge corporation, you don’t.

This emptiness I feel at times is what explained to me, the frequency of mediocrity in games or any other artform. I imagine having nothing to show, nothing I’m proud of, nothing I think will impact anyone, and someone else takes it from me to show the world.

Yeah.

It sucks.

Dying Royal

Polish Developer Techland has been rather quiet ever since their expansion pack for Dying Light, until just now. Their silence was spent brewing an all new experience no one has ever seen before…

A Battle Royal Mode!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I can already imagine the tomfoolery and hilarity that will stem from giving 100 people with Walmart Wi-Fi a parkour system.

But for the love of god, is there ever going to be a Battle Royal mode/game with decent shooting and networking?

Fortnite’s weapons have got all the bite of toothless dog. Battlegrounds’s netcode has the sophistication of AOL. H1Z1 is a copy morphed into a different copy that itself was copied. GTA5 is Max Payne 3 when he’s actually drunk.

I know this may just be the most cancerous thing I’ll ever say but, imagine Call of Duty with this mode.

No, seriously.

Call of Duty’s a lot of things, clunky isn’t one of them. It’s one of the most buttery smooth FPSs out there, with aiming that’s tight as a drum, and movement as quick as a cat. Even its crappy netcode is still legions above the efforts made by Bluehole and Epic Games.

Now, the map size alone would likely make it impossible since Call of Duty’s not able to render a hallway without finding some way to make it smaller and more linear.

I just want Battle Royal to not be confined by other games limitations, or one team’s difficulties.

And to get a death that I feel like is my fault for once.

Fucking lag.

Fucking jank.

Less is More

There’s a key to indie game development. You make a game over two years with one friend, and it goes onto make $200k. That’s $50k a year for each person. Not amazing, but pretty good, you’re able to live relatively comfortably.

But, if that game is made with ten people, the amount each person gets half a minimum wage job.

Not only is a small team able to keep a more consistent vision, it’s one of the best ways to make your venture into this artistic medium profitable.

Nearly every renowned developer from the 90’s started out as 2-5 person teams before growing into the 200-300 monoliths we have today, and that’s because they wouldn’t have survived otherwise.

It’s fantastic that so many developers are out there making money so they can keep making games, instead of making games just to make money, but, you still need to make money, and bringing on people to make your game better, may just result in it being your last.