This Friday the defense will present a response to Romine's new amended complaint - after that it falls onto the Judge to decide, so that means more waiting.
To paraphrase Jim Fucking Sterling son, no I won't make a game like them, because when I know I can't do something well, I don't do it. And I especially don't try to sell it on Steam for $10
As an indie developer who has been working on my own game for over 3 years now, I wanted to thank you for putting your two cents out there and calling out these nonsensical devs. I've been through hell and back creating my game and without people like you, Jim, and Total Biscuit, I honestly feel like the good developers stand no chance with the way steam greenlight is right now. I know that these devs talk about game critics stifling creativity, although that's just a bunch of bullshit. It's because of channels like yours that I'm more in-tune to pro consumer stances, able to see what other devs do wrong and learn from their mistakes. I can now look at my game from a game critic stand-point and ask myself -- "Is this feature / idea going to get me blasted in a quick-play / review? How can I do this better? Will this frustrate my players?" etc. Anyways, no matter what other developers say, I just want you to know there's at least a small subset of developers trying to produce high quality games and we appreciate people like you who are helping our potential consumers better weed out all of the stupid shit and help the good developers find their audience much easier. Thank you and have a good day. :)
I can't tell you how much I appreciate that statement. I'm hoping for the best, although I'm still very shy when it comes to showing off my game. I've switched to my youtube channel account to make these comments, because my other account has beta gameplay videos in which my game is lacking the kind of quality I'm striving for. Although, I'm planning on trying for a release before greenlight kicks the bucket (because steam direct's unknown entry fee scares me), so if you're interested I'll send you a message when it's going through the final stages.
Otakurabumon: 3 years? That's commitment :) Just like ConcernedApe - Stardew Valley. That's fantastic, and I hope you do manage to get your title released :D
Otakurabumon I don't know anything about you or your experience (learning or otherwise) with game making, so this might be kinda weird to say, but if you haven't already, you might wanna look up the channel Extra Credits. They go over a looot of stuff in game design. Also, if I remember right, one of the things they said was to not be too protective of an unfinished product. I would go into why they said that, but I'm worried if I paraphrase more I might get the message wrong xP Sorry if it was mildly patronizing to say or something, but hopefully it wasn't, lol Good luck with your game, dude \m/
.....all your statements here have made me want to try your game. Do you happen to have a demo up for people to try? I understand your shyness, but it looks like you are already growing a fanbase just by your own comments here. :3
"Hey, buddy, can you direct a AAA movie title? No? Then what right do you have to criticize Michael Bay's Transformers movies?" "If you can't build a car from scratch, then you have no right to complain about how this car I made is unsafe!" "Can't compose a song? Then you can't be a music critic!" #RomineLogic
Well put together. Though I would have made the argument that the likes of Digital Homicide and Dentola don't even qualify as "Hobbyist" level. They're more like snake-oil salesmen, because unlike a real hobbyist-level dev. THEY. DO. NOT. CARE. about what they're making. Some one who developed games as a hobby would at least care about their game. You can look at any number of RPG-maker projects or fan-game projects that exist out there to realize this.
Hi, Hobbyist level game Dev here, I would agree that they're not at the same level as me. Having played some of their games which got onto steam I can safely say that what I've made in the past is better despite also being asset flips.
sad thing is there are AAA game devs and companies that JUST DONT CARE... as long as we the consumers spend what little hard earned money we make on their product....that being said.. can you really claim ALL hobbyist game devs as the issue.. and i use the term hobbyist loosly since many game devs throw themselves in that catagory just to draw a bigger crowd... take the group making "Dual Universe"..they are a hobbyist dev that could easily go trip-A.. unlike Dentola or DH who seem to only want to rip people off... and then you have companies like EA... who have had hit games and have had crap games.. and have had a history of ruining other games because they wanted people to focus on a certain genre of games.. or they thought they could buy a game/company hoping to get on said games cash cow status only to realise that buying said game/company drove people away due to fear of that game being ruined... the biggest they dont care that ive seen comes from Blizzard.. they spend the first 5 to 6 years building thier customer base... then as they run out of ideas they adopt an I DONT CARE attitude to thier customers with the single comment stating that.."the customer will come back no matter what we give them" so its not just a certain niche in the gaming industy that is doing this.. nor is it only in the last year or 2 that this has been happening.. this has been going on for decades.. for as long as games have had access to the web... this doesnt mean you wont find GOLD as it were... but much of it is now laden with FOOLS GOLD.. if they even attempt to polish their crap as it were... the thing to remember is a game doesnt have to have good graphics to be a good game.. look at Minecraft.. old school graphics and yet still a big seller... thats not to say good graphics wont help a game either.. but not everyone can afford a top of the line machine with max ram and the best GPU one can get... even if one could get such a machine.. one has to remember that windows 10 is NOT a gaming platform.. nor is DirectX as the API .. while you can run games under this environment.. it has never been optimized for gaming and likely wont be as it keeps microsofts tech section in bussiness... that issue aside though.. all a game needs is a good story behind it... the game mechanics or how you play the game is important too.. but story gives the game life.... simply put.. good story.. good chance at being a good game.. crap story.. well you have your work cut out to be a good game...
Completely agree with your thoughts. Steam or any other professional store front is not designed for hobbyists. If I were a hobbyist furniture builder I highly doubt any major retail store would allow me to put my products up for sale until there was some sort of quality threshold met...i.e. not going down to Walmart purchasing a bookshelf or chair and then turning around and selling it in their store with no or very little modification. 25 cents or not, money is money and people generally work hard for it so to have some insight, you/TB/Jim Sterling, into that purchase is as good as gold - in my opinion.
I agree; my first thought was that the minute you enter a marketplace and put your product up for sale, then you are no longer a "hobbyist" - you are a professional, and the merits (or lack thereof) of your product are going to rightly be judged by that criteria. The real problem here is that Valve's greed for market transactions has created an environment where there are no consequences for flooding Steam with utter garbage. If Valve isn't going to do any quality control, then somebody has to pick up the slack.
SidAlpha you did a great job of showing how wrong the user was whilst showing great restraint. I love these long commentry videos. please never stop. ;-)
Seen as I encounter these people on a daily basis in a variety of contexts, I must say it was very pleasant to watch. However, my experience with people of lesser intellect tells me this is going to happen over and over again. There will never be an end to it. And in a way you're preaching to the choir I think. Ofcourse we know whats up. Having said that, this was delightful.
I say this commenter put their money where their mouth is: if it's so easy to make these videos, the commenter should make a YT channel like Sterling and turn it into a primary job with a large audience that is willing to donate to their channel. I mean, it's super easy, right?
Looking at thier channel, they seem to have the same kinda mindset for the 30 views videos on there that they also apply for gamemaking. "...I am unapologetic for any annoyxance I may cause through bad humor, poor video making skills, bad editing....". This seems like someone trying to get some quick views on his channel that never took off. Or looking at the font and the text on the channel a fucking idiot trying to be edgy.
Dude had no excuse, just wanted to troll and whine with the usual empty PC culture thing. It's such a bummer to think of how many trolls actually believe the things conveyed by that comment. And that's why the world is in such a miserable state.
7 ปีที่แล้ว
i know i cant LOL no one wants to watch a person so glued to game they go silent for hours
You know what the difference is between house flippers and asset flippers? House flippers improve their products when they buy them. Asset flippers do the opposite. *Mic drop*
when you ingore a small corner of filth it will slowly expand, when the small corner of filth becomes the entirety of the room it becomes too troublesome to clean so you get a new room. "Just don't look at it if you dont like it" equates to someone looking at a small corner of filth, and the new greenlight equates to getting a new room.
Same thing with "don't like it don't buy it". Oh I'm not going to buy it, believe me. Still gonna complain about it though in the hopes that things improve rather than spiraling further out of control.
Well spoken, clear and concise rebuttal. Glad Jim Sterling directed me towards this channel. You certainly deserve more viewers. Now, time to binge watch all your previous content.
As a programmer and game maker hobbyist I think the commenter needs to grow the hell up. The second you begin charging actual currency for your game, your are being held to scrutiny and a standard of quality. You wanna be a little hobbyist and make games on the side for funsies? Totally cool, throw it up on newgrounds or kongregate and knock yourself out. Steam is NOT the place to throw out your babby's first vidya gaem. Grow up, grow a pair and understand that your shit little hobby game is not worth charging people for.
I admit that I found your channel from Jim's video, but I declare my choice to subscribe is based solely on my enjoyment of your content. Please continue your good work.
What Playinglikea meng doesn't realize that his from boutique to warehouse analogy is completely asinine. Stores any store, needs to keep a certain level of quality control of the products that they sell, either it be a boutique, warehouse, walmart, whatever. They have to be up to date on the products that they're going to sell otherwise not only will those products not sell they can lose money and customers from it. Remember when Macy's pulled Donald Trump's clothing line right after he went on that rant about Mexican people? Macy's pulled it because they didn't want to lose customers as they would have been seen as supporting Trump. It doesn't matter the business, if the quality of the merchandise is pig slop, the "something for everyone" argument is invalid because no one is going to buy it. If a warehouse started selling already chewed gum they scraped off a table underside for $0.25 a piece, would you buy it? Obviousally not because it's garbage and belongs in the garbage. Steam's lack of quality control is just that, they've allowed people for scrape chewed bubble gum off the sidewalk and resell it, which has given rise to other services, like Origin, GoG, Humble Bundle and even uPlay. If Costco started selling chewed gum, broken glassware, broken fishing poles, bent flatware, shattered plates and rotten food, they'd be out of business, and that what these games on Steam are and that's why Steam has become a store front for hot garbage
One point you forgot to discuss about Digital Homicide and this comment. The comment implies that devs such as Dig Hom do their shovelware out of sheer passion as hobby. In this very specific case, however, that is just not true. Said company has stated multiple times that it's their bussiness, basically their income. So no, this isn't about passion. Producing almost 20 games per year with minimal effort is cold calculation. They pay 100 bucks for assets, they make maybe few hundred back to cover cost of a next game. Then in next couple of weeks they spit out their next monstrosity, which certain number of people buy again, possibly just to test it because shit costs like 99 cents and they can make it back by selling cards. They use this as their advantage, but at no point there's any passion involved. Just simple laziness and greed
7 ปีที่แล้ว +3
I'm just popping in here not to add anything to the discussion but to simply tell you that I respect you, I enjoy your content and I'm glad people like you are out there acting on behalf of the consumers of videogames. Keep on rockin'; I will make sure to support you on Patreon as soon as my budget allows.
Just knowing people are supporting me by views and subscriptions are plenty. Monetary support helps, but I would rather know that you are making sure your own needs are met first. I do appreciate it though!
It's hard for me as a mix engineer to produce quality the likes of T-Bone Burnett, and that's with experience. Does that mean that it's okay for me to give my customers mixes that sound like my lil' cousins violin practice? No... Just... No.
The commenter sounds A LOT like Robert Romine. Same bullshit argument too. ... hmm.. its like they just used the same argument and reskinned it with another account and make it look like its made by someone else.... wow. doesn't that sound familiar. In the words of Leonard "Sounds a lot like their games, huh?"
Trustworthy McLegitimate I don't think Romaine has the balls to shittalk his own work by implication. He seems like somebody who is fully convinced they're some kind of developer genius.
I've been doing art as a hobby for 10 years and in the past couple years I've been wanting to start making a webcomic. And yeah, it is something I want to be able to earn money off of - which is why I waited so long. I waited until I could say, "Yeah, I'm proud of this" before I started posting my passion project. It's really sad these guys have so little ambition they can't even bring themselves to make something a little original.
"Pff, look at that Jim guy! I can totally do the things he does! It's easy! I just don't do it because... Because... Because I don't have time for it, yeah". Sure, buddy. Sure.
To be fair, and not trying to defend this guy, he could probably do the same thing Jim does. Anyone can make a video discussing video games and upload it on TH-cam. The question is he good enough to turn it into a full-time career like Jim has.
@@mortemtyrannus8813 then he cant do the same thats the problem hes acting like just saying criscm and fliming yourself is all they do when most serious revewiers like sid and kim script there videos before hand use slight mesures of voice acting to make there lines and quotes and criscm sound good and courent anyone could make a crtiscm video sure but no many can make one thats not only entertaining but informative at the same time
The argument that a low price is an excuse to scam you with a non-working product does nothing but suggest that your money is all that's being hurt so your time must have zero value.
So thanks to Jim Sterling I found this channel and I respect on the highest level the way the videos are conducted. p.s. congrats on the 8k man, proud to be a part of it!
For good or ill, when one puts a product or service out there and charges money for it, they should be ready for criticism and critique on a public level.
So what Meng is saying is that we should be willing to put up with crap? Regardless of price? Sorry, but no, gamers should never be forced to put up with games that we are unhappy, unsatisfied or just plain disappointed with, and are substandard, broken or downright unplayable. And what Meng might be unaware of, is this can happen with AAA ttiles as well and not just the shovel-ware on the Greenlight. One of the games i have ever been most disappointed with and regret buying and wish i could refund, is Fable 3 for PC. I even pre-ordered it, with launch DLC. While the game played alright, and the whole rebellion story against your brother was interesting, the way the game was actually made was awful and lacked the polish that Fable 2 had, and even 2 had it's problems. I learned two valuable lessons from this mistake. never pre-order games, and always do you research throughly to see if i game is worth your money. I bought Fable 3 on the name of the previous titles in the series and the name of the developer and the great games they did before, like Black & White and The Movies to name two other series that Lionhead made. That was my mistake. And it was costly. And this is one game, released 7 years ago. There has been many, many more games in the years since Fable 3's release that fall in this category, so many, that you'd run out of digits trying to count them.
I like that you actually called him out. what's often overlooked with assetflips is: how do you think the original devs feel, seeing their basic assets sold to consumers as fully developed games, while they know and often on purpose(so that this exact thing wont happen) that the thing being sold, is broken? or unfinished? that's gotta be a punch to the gut. here you are, creating stuff so that other devs can benefit from having a framework or example and some bastard decides to throw this halfbaked, broken shit on a storefront?
As a TH-cam lurker, I was really pleased with this vid of your, SA.Your language and tone were non-aggressive, and you made some really solid points. Direct reviewers, such as yourself and Jim and TB, and even LetsPlayers like Mark and Jack, protect we the consuming public from wasting our limited resources on shite and tripe. Do not quail in the face of passionate dissent, but know you are supported.
Classy, level-headed response, well done. It's not often you see people respond to spontaneous, counter-productive hate/criticism with cool, structured arguments and hard facts. I mean, we're not savages, we possess the ability to reason and dispute and counter-claim, but should ideally do so without the need to overtly rely on emotion and semantics to criticize someone. It's always good to believe in something, and even better to defend it in a discussion, but the moment you let that belief overtake your grasp on reality is when things get... messy. Unfortunately, there will always be those people that will devoutly and wrongly defend their idols, even those that have clearly done wrong, and refusing to accept any reason, because they have the internet as their veil of anonymity, and therefore feel like they have no obligation to be held accountable for their actions. Though it may not be our duty to call out these people and demonise them, it certainly is our duty to be able to facilitate discussion, provide clarity of information for both sides, before being able to justify our own beliefs. I'll stop there before anyone can accuse me of going into dangerously (and God forbid I say it) - political - territory. On a lighter note, in the most respectable way possible, I highly enjoy your content, and your delivery of videos does give me vibes of some of the larger channels on PC gaming, the likes of TB and Jim Sterling. I know you hold these TH-camrs in high regard, and have no problem with that at all, it is a very productive and motivating thing to have. I'd like to say that I would like to see you, in time, begin to establish your own unique style and character that will distinguish you from the various other critics in this already saturated corner of the TH-cam community to truly carve out your own niche. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a random view who spent WAY too long thinking of a way to type this. *shrugs* And on that note. Good day to you.
9:45 It's pronounced 'ace-prite' or 'a-sprite', as stated by the developers of the program, but I don't think anyone is gonna care all that much if you don't pronounce it that way. Otherwise, I don't have anything to add. You've hit the nail on the head. Fantastic.
Thanks to Jim Sterling, you got yourself a new sub =D As for the commenter you made the video on, looks like a textbook case of a corporate jockey, these kinds of people won't ever listen to reason, to them it is completely fine for any dev or business to do whatever henious act they do because: "They are a business, they are supposed to make a living, how dare you mess with their livelyhood", it's pure emotional garbage,
This aggression against critics kind of mirrors the lack of media competency I'm seeing in many places these days. Somehow, more and more people are forgetting that media, all media, is not meant to be something you just swallow. You have to chew it, digest it. They don't see that - and consequently believe that critics are way more "dangerous" than they actually are. They forget that the work of the critic or journalist, as well, should be - and IS among reasonably media competent people - subject to scrutiny and never something just taken at face value. For example: One just needs to briefly research TB to know that he is a very outspoken proponent of 60 fps being the standard for gaming frame rates. Keeping this in mind gives context to many of his statements on game performance. Now, these people, who have never learned how to properly peruse media, think that TB is making some sort of general statement that millions of viewers will absorb and accept mindlessly. To them, too, not covering certain topics is "censorship", while criticizing certain practices based on the critic's personal experience (Jim Sterling/DigiHom) is "a campaign" against the perpetrator of said practice. That is not the case. It betrays a completely incorrect view of journalism and critique and is becoming way too prevalent these days - not just in gaming.
not only that but also, people buying games from devs who just buy assets will run into the problem of buy games that look exactly the same from two completely different developers
I wish i had just a sliver of your ability to stay calm and rational in a stressful situation. (even if the stress is just from TH-cam comments)You must be part Vulcan or something...Live long and prosper my friend.
Okay, this commenter has made me decide to change my life, I'm going to go over to pateron and pledge some money for sid, this is a first to ever pay for a youtuber. So who ever you are, in defiance of your ideas, and for some long overdue thanks to SidAlpha, I am going to become a patron. Sorry I'm poor developer myself (not games but software non the less), so it'll be a small amount, but a symbolic show of approval. Thank you user who I can't remember, you have been the last push I needed to take action.
Keep up the indulgences - it's always good to listen to someone make an intelligent argument. You may find you get a bigger audience from your talents in this field than reviewing games.
The funniest thing about the takedown by Dentola, is that your channel got exposure... i found your tweets and channel and subbed to you because of that, which is the opposite of what they would have wanted. Thank you for the great videos you make and i hope you never stop :)
You could further argue that a person's time is valuable. Just like money, we only have so much time to spend on games and we want to get the most out of that resource that we can. It's why we decry games that impose arbitrary waiting times or excessive grinding.
Seeing that Space Wolf footage reminds me of a 40K quote I think is very valid when discussing the whole DigiHom Fiasco. "Blessed is the mind too small for doubt"
very nice defense of critics. yes, intellect is a prerequisite to proper critique. i would add "experience," but i was glad to hear you address that "i could easily do what Jim Sterling does" accusation.
It looks like commenter didn't understand what "asset flip" actually meant. It seems like he thought Jim and SidAlpha were complaining about seeing the same assets over and over, rather than complaining about the games being shit. He didn't seem to understand that the phrase "asset flip" refers specifically to the technically legal but extremely dubious practice of buying a bundle of assets and just directly uploading it with little to no changes made, leading almost by definition to something that isn't worth paying 25 cents, and probably wouldn't even be worth downloading if it were free. On a completely separate note, I don't think it was reasonable to assume that the commenter was James Romine (sp?) in disguise. It was pure conjecture on your part, and while I could see why you might suspect that to be the case, I don't think it was necessarily something you needed to include in this video, and certainly not something you needed to bring up more than once.
Here are my thoughts on asset flips, and later both Greenlight and Steam in general: With regards to asset flips you have my full support, I am completely for people who try to sell them getting called out on it. With regards to Steam Greenlight and Steam itself I feel the issue is more complex than what most people let on. For what it is worth, despite the faults, Greenlight has given some good games a true chance. It has even given some previously released games (ones I would personally argue are decent) a 2nd chance. It has also been a sort of blessing to more niche genres like Tank and Submarine sims for example. On the other hand, the fact that Greenlight doesn't take downvotes into consideration is very foolish, and the lax rule enforcement is also a severe problem. The execution of Greenlight was and is quite simply very flawed. What it ultimately comes down to is how far are we as a gaming community willing to go to allow potential hidden gems onto steam? Is it worth all these bad games to get some more good ones as well? If anyone is curious about this I will gladly provide some examples of good games that are now on steam because of Greenlight.
BF18ACE I agree with what you're saying. I'm not against Greenlight in general; I think it was just poorly implemented. Still, I'm very interested in expanding my library of games, and I would love to hear about these hidden gems.
Alright then, here are a few games from Greenlight that you might want to look at: Aragami: A 3rd Person Stealth Ninja game store.steampowered.com/app/280160/ Breach & Clear: Essentially X-com meets Rainbow Six store.steampowered.com/app/266130/ Steel Armor Blaze of War: A very highly detailed tank sim set in the Cold War, takes a while to learn but intriguing once you get into it store.steampowered.com/app/286280/ From the Depths: Basically minecraft meets ship building, but also allows you to build spaceships, and has an active modding community store.steampowered.com/app/268650/ War for the Overworld: A spiritual successor to the classic Dungeon Keeper Series store.steampowered.com/app/230190/ There are a few more I could suggest but should be a decent start.
Brought to your channel by Jim and his ilk. Subbed after listening to this vid. You are getting your point across very well. It is not easy to make it on YT. Well done sir, best of luck in your future endeavors!
Nice to see your Channel Growing SidAlpha ... 10k subs watch out, here comes SidAlpha : ) More likely you brought a bomb (not a gun) to the knife fight.... you obliterated him, hahaha!
A much more well stated reply than that commenter deserved but the reply of course wasn't so for him it was for us, the other viewers. I perhaps enjoy a good tear-down a bit more than I should be it that of an oblivious poorly written rant or a terrible game but it has to be fair criticism and not just spite for spite's sake. I look forward to eventually seeing your video about Dentola Studios as that is ultimately the reason I subscribed when Jim Sterling Son brought it to my attention, previously I had seen a video of yours relating to the ongoing Digital Homicide lawsuit. Praise the praiseworthy and dismantle that which is worthy of condemnation and never compromise on your principles. That is what I respect about Jim Sterling and Totalbiscuit, you know that whatever they are putting out is 100% their opinion and generally well reasoned at that. Not everyone has what it takes to make these kinds of videos and I'm glad your channel is getting attention because you have the potential to be successful in this arena.
Well done, sir - for speaking so candidly and professionally to someone who uses cheap slurs in YT comments as his own 'critique'. I'm a new subscriber too, and am floored by your patience with matters that other critics would be far more... emotional (?) about. (Yes, I like Jim Sterling Son's blue metaphors as much as the next fan!) Thankyou. This video made me want to stand up and applaud.
first, I appreciate the use of rule number one, " never bring a knife to a gunfight" secondly, this is my fourth or fifth video of yours that I'm watching and I'm glad there's somebody who's a "intellectual" out there, we need more people who think. I usually don't enjoy these kinds of videos but you make it worth every second XD
Even as a content creator on TH-cam with a little more than 1000 subscribers, it always baffles me when I see comments like this, where apparently no effort needs to go into creating videos and there's just some magical editor that puts all this stuff together for you (with optional sexy voice permutations such as TotalBiscuit or SidAlpha :D ). If "Playinglikea meng" ever produces that game of theirs (Which I might add, most all of that software they have can be purchased from cheap Humble Bundles and Bundle Star deals), then I sure hope they can take the criticism as well as they can dish it out. Something tells me they'd take it like a vegan takes their steak.
Sid I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every video of yours that you have produced. I am late to game as this video is roughly 5 months old at the time of me posting this, but I completely agree with you put the statement about hobbyist. I am a photographer. It started out as a hobby, and has now pushed more and more towards professional work. While I know I still have miles to go, I can feel proud of the fact of my achievements. I liken this to how you explain asset flippers and what he coined as hobbyist game developers. When I first started out working with people, families, models, or whatever I chose to photograph I did so on my own time, my own expense, and worked to get my skill set up before I charged anybody. The game developers this guy is backing needs to do the same. While I understand my work will not be liked by all, I know that what I do produce needs to satisfy those who pay me. If I don't satisfy my paying customers I will not last. If I fail to meet the expectations of a client or client's, I find a way to rectify the situation. I see game development on a similar level as I do my photography. It is an art. Content is key to success. If a game developer just purchases a pre-made package and just sticks it out there as a final product, then I see no issue with giving them the attention they so desire. I would fully expect the same results if I purchased stock images and put them on my website as my own work. My apologies for the long winded comparison. I am fully happy I have found your channel. In my opinion your content is superb. I look forward to see what more you have to offer in the time ahead.
Hi Sid. I've also found your channel after whatching Jim Sterling's video. I've been involved with the game industry for a few years now, working on both big and small studios and I wanted to say that what Jim and you are doing is not just good for the consumers... is also good for the game devs. There is so much effort, time and money put into our projects, and then we must compete with really bad quality products like the ones made by Digital Homicide. People that defend this kind of productions don't understand just how damaging it is for the industry as a whole to flood the market with so many poor quality games. This is specially true for talented indie devs that can no longer afford the marketing costs required to get noticed. It's getting so bad, that suddenly, it's more tempting to go to the mobile market... since there's actually less competition than on Steam. Can you imagine? Keep up the awesome work!
See, this is why I love your videos, Sid. You take on issues like this in an informed and calm manner, rather than simply throw vulgar rage at it (which honestly can be entertaining at times, but has also been done countless times over). I think of the phrase "Don't argue with morons. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience." a lot, and I can see you don't allow that to happen; you don't attack the person directly, but rather their actual statement and make your arguments against THAT. It's so easy to just say something like "This guy is a fuckwit. Fuck him!" and move on. Actually taking the time to break down their argument and explain why you're against it shows you're intelligent and level-headed enough to generate conversation instead of hate speech. I stumbled upon your channel a few months ago (specifically the series of Digital Homicide games reviews) and checked it out on a whim. I'm certainly glad I did. And I'm also glad that Jim Sterling and TotalBiscuit have taken the time to voice their opinions on the matter as well. It just goes to show that in times like this, the 'bigger' people are willing to band together with the smaller ones to combat this. I hope your channel continues to grow, and I look forward to more videos featuring informed rational decisions and explanations such as this!
I'm honestly impressed that you were able to keep so calm when responding to someone who's just. So wrong. Even if it fell on deaf ears, because let's be real, people like this are hardly ever going to change their minds, this is still a great video with a lot of good points.
Hey sid, new viewer here. I would first like to say it is quite respectable seeing you calmly address this situation. So good on you. Hope to see more from you in the future and would definitely be interested in seeing a video from you talking on how a channel takes its steps to grow. Good luck moving forward
New subscriber here, I wonder if you get tired of hearing that people have come here from Jim's video XD While I agree heartily with most of your arguments, I did want to mention in passing that I don't think the skills of game critique and game development are necessarily mutually exclusive of each other as you mentioned. Obviously it would be hard to hold down both as professional jobs at the same time, because the audience would rightly question your objectivity towards your own projects and those of people you've worked with, to a certain degree some skill in critique is really necessary to produce almost any (there can be flukes, I'm sure) great art. I work as an author, and have also done work on indie films and some writing for a very small indie games company, and I've seen enough to know that the cycle of production, consumption and critique in a fairly even balance is the best way to ensure that your work is the best it can be. You could think your own writing is the most glorious thing on earth, but for all you know, other people might not like it, for reasons that could potentially be easily fixed, or worked on long-term as a means to advance your skills if it's a bigger problem. Engaging with criticism (others, as well as your own) of other products in the same field allows you to absorb some of that. If you can't critique other people's work, how can you critique your own? I honestly think that some of the people who make these kinds of arguments really need to learn how to think critically and give critique well, in order for them to learn how to make better products. If the commenter in question ever reads this, I would encourage them to do their best to try what Jim and SidAlpha do and offer criticism on a game - but be ready for comments critiquing their critique. If you can get good at analysing other people's work, maybe then you can start on your own hobby projects so you can better see where you can improve! It'll honestly help your creation a lot (though of course, it IS a neverending process of growth). Anyway, great video :) thanks for the effort you put into expressing your arguments in a cogent fashion!
Being a student and having to essentially play the role of a literal indie developer for 9 weeks (Had to do EVERYTHING myself), I'd say that game development as a whole is difficult.....obviously as a beginner! I feel that the lack of decent programming and designing education may play a role into these situations, but I'm not going to be definite about it. I mean, I don't know anything about the Romine brother's experience in game design other than the videos I've seen. If anything, I think that the messages of how game design can get deceptively difficult and how certain ethical principles really matter needs to be amplified. Great vid btw
Keep up the fight my good man, I honestly wouldn't be overly surprised if that guy was James Romine or a close friend to go out of his way to defend Romines' be tactics and call them fair. Looking forward to your next video.
I guess "hobbiest-level" is the euphemism some people use to excuse their lack of professionalism and talent. You don't get compensation for pursing a hobby, and if you expect payment you're not indulging a hobby, you're attempting to sell a product. And products. Get. JUDGED.
After watching this video I subscribed. I've watched (and liked) a bunch of videos from you and support your efforts. Thank Ghod for you. (...and Jim Sterling, son.)
Hey Sid, i'm glad i found you channel! You mentioned in your video how you are concerned about your words impacting sales and game devs. Remember that these are not the only ones that may suffer because of it. If you include a person's channel name or nickname in your video, remember that there might be people who may want to confront that person, and they will go after them. So if you don't want a person to be bullied, blur out the name. Thanks
Yeah some others pointed that out to me. I made a huge mistake there and I have no excuse for it. In the future I will most definitely show more consideration as that is absolutely the last thing I would want.
Sorry for being one of many to point that out :D it's a thing to remember for the future - big channels tend to have a "very dedicated" part of their fanbase, which tends to be a bit aggressive.
Thank you for making these videos. I am starting to make my first game and I don't expect it to be the end all be all. I was taking a break from storyboard and concept thoughts I came upon one of your videos and it has greatly changed how I was going to go about my game, and I couldn't be more joyous about it. Your videos have made me want to push myself to make sure I do not make these same acts and being a better developer for it. So thank you and keep up the work.
Thankyou for putting up this video SidAlpha, it has realy helped me understand the role of gaming critics and reviews/lets players on TH-cam. I didn't realise how much "power" you guys have and how much I rely on content creators for their opinions and consumer advice. Keep up the good work and stay grounded. I think it is great your channel is gaining more attention but don't let it go to your head!
You sir spoke very inelegantly on this subject. Glad I clicked the thumbnail when it popped up. Thanks for the informative and entertaining content. +1 sub.
I agree with you completely. I, as a consumer, particularly a picky one, greatly appreciate the work of critics. And not just in games, either. I value good, informed and thoughtful critics for any art form, as well as things like consumer products.
I quite liked his line about Steam changing from a boutique into a warehouse. Have never quite understood why people get upset over steam selling crap games, Amazon sells loads of crap and nobody has ever cared about that
Spot on. The hobbyist part is spot on. I'll just say that there was one particular shitty game that nearly killed the industry: remember ET for Atari? Remember the price it had upon release? I can't find the original price, but I am fairly sure it was around the 30$ mark. Yet it still had much more content than any of DH games, and probably much more "artistic cohesion" than any of their games. I won't even refer Dentola Studios because I don't consider someone who buys pre-made games at X and wants to sell them as their own creation, probably for twice the price as a game developer. I call them scammers. Just that.
I love the argument "You cant judge a game unless you make a game". Digi Hom was a LAUGHING STOCK at my school. We turn out better works in our AS program in 10 weeks then they published to the steam store.
Jim's not the only one sending folks your way, I followed a link from Leonard French the other day when he covered the Dentola complaint. Good dude, worth giving him a shout-out.
Sid you are an absolute legend. I have only recently subbed but you're an inspiration rational, logical , calm and hilarious. Thank you for the videos.
Personally, I think the biggest problem with allowing people like Romine or Dentola or any of the other flippers free reign is that it sets a precedent. It causes more to jump on thinking they can make some side cash with minimal effort creating an even more bloated storefront and it shakes the faith of users since it's become even harder to find something good. If, following the original comments point about it becoming a department store or warehouse, I walked into Canadian Tire or Costco and most of the products I looked at were a) in the wrong aisle b) falsely labelled, or c) fell apart as I walked out to my car, I wouldn't shop there anymore. I would look for the boutique because I know that they at least want the customer to be satisfied. The fact that Valve won't do that is bullshit to say the least, so I have to say thank you to guys like you for at least trying to put up hazard cones around the major tarpits in the store.
what I can't figure out is why people defend the asset flippers that get called our or go on rampages? You are being sold a cheap game with zero effort put into it right? and someone, whom you don't even know, pointed out it is a bad game. Now you go around telling people that you don't see them doing any better? I don't get it. WHY? why do this? what is the benefit? Please tell me!
This video right here sums up why I not only consider John "Total Biscuit" Bain my favorite You Tuber of all time but also a roll model and a father figure if you will due to the wealth of consumer friendly information and pro consumer practices and ethics he has that i'm sure SidAlpha practices as well. Very glad that Jim Sterling led me to your channel I'm now not as worried that once Jim and TB's age and or health approach a point where YT is no longer a viable business model I will still have a voice to look to for truth in games media & game critique without paid bias. Bravo to you Sir. ^_^
_In the battle of wits and intelligence, that poor soul had brought a knife to a gunfight._ I've been binging your videos for the last 5 hours (yes, SidAlpha is my latest form of crack), and that is, hands down, the funniest thing I've heard you say. Love it! 😂😂😂
i've been a viewer for a while now, and i must say that the "long form" style, or as you've put it so eloquently "essay" reviews and content is refreshing to see once again. that style is the reason i followed you, and bunnyhop and jim and TB. i believe there is a place for the "fast food" reviews to see the TL:DR as a way to see if I'm interested in the premise, and then i will search out the more in-depth critical look to see if i'm going to make that investment, not necessarily of my money, but of my time. the gentleman that you addressed in this video needs to realize more than anything that to people in this fast paced world that the, to quote "jim fucking sterling son", "shite hawk asset flippers" are ripping off my time. i play games in order to escape the 8-10 hour work day i have, and the grind of daily life.For me i can afford the money to be gone, since i don't really have a monetary constraint, but for me it's the time that i feel cheated out of, if a game is just utter shit. why should i support someone and give them my time, as well as my money, for something that they didn't invest their time in creating? why should i even bother to deem them worthy of my disposable income if they don't respect me, or my time, or my money enough to put any effort into creating something that would be even a fair exchange for those things i have? these are the reasons that asset flippers are a nuisance and barnacle on the games industry's keel that drags in the mud. they don't respect the effort that their consumer's make to earn the money needed to purchase their "games". They show that profound lack of respect by not making a fair exchange of their time and talent for our money.
The comparison made to food critique was a great comparison. I always used the slightly more extreme analogy that if you were to go to a dentist to get a crown on a tooth, and the dentist instead did a root canal on the wrong tooth, am I not allowed to go and tell people that was a bad dentist because I don't know how to do dental work? Would people tell me "do you know anything at all about how to perform dental work? I'd like to see you do a root canal correctly." Nevermind the fact that my tooth is still in pain because it still needs a crown. I can't criticize the dentist because I don't know how to do the work. Obviously that is more objective criticism, which doesn't involve anything artistic or interpretive like video games, but nevertheless still follows the idea that for someone to critique a service or product, they have to be an experienced practitioner of that craft, or their criticism is invalid. That is a pretty ridiculous stance to have.
Being a developer is hard, and being a good developer is obviously even harder. Some developers simply cannot handle harsh criticism. And I understand that. It hurts like hell to have your hard work being ground to dust by what can be ignorantly simplified as a "random loudmouth" on the internet. Some developers lash out against them, others just give up. But that's what it means to participate in the creation of entertainment: you constantly run the risk of not living up to somebody's standards. But when it comes to cases like Digital Homicide, it's just baffling how a person can become so violently defensive over shameless ripoffs. They weren't just reacting poorly to criticism, they threw a ridiculous hissyfit over being caught red-handed. They weren't even willing to meet certain standards, but acted otherwise. These kinds of intentionally misleading "developers" not only cause a lot of trouble for others (as Mister Sterling can certainly attest), but also shine this very bad light on the entire industry, since outsiders aren't entirely wrong (just badly informed) when they see this as "arguing about a hobby" and base their whole opinion about gaming on such vocal cases. And then there are apologists like this guy who try to play the hero for a plain-as-day fraud. I have no idea what drives individuals like this (except your assessment of simply lacking understanding of the situation and many facets of the industry), but it's sad and frustrating at the same time to see people being so ignorant of their own arguments. Either way, this was a nice little mindpiece to listen to. And while I hope the commenter doesn't get attacked by others just because of this video, I also hope he falls hard on his face with the horrible standards he expressed - and maybe becomes a better developer as a consequence.
Glad to see that your channel has grown quite a bit, I remember following you because you were a smaller youtuber with some good points to subjects I care about. Now you are on the way to becoming a middle sized youtuber with good points to subjects I care about lol.
Well, here's hoping someday at a con you can walk up to me and say "I knew you when" and we can laugh about how little I knew during my first year(s). :)
Well just keep up the good work and that might just become a reality, well if you keep getting subs at this rate it will happen sooner rather than later lol
I love it when people go onto TH-cam and type into a comment section that they could do it better, now I am not saying that they're unable to, but when someone says that they're able to make better videos and gain more subs than people that are very successful in this medium, and they aren't making that content, they're either fucking stupid or they're equally as incompetent as one might gather from their claims with nothing to show for it while also telling others that they should attempt to do something before criticising it, kinda ironic isn't it? Not that I expect the halfwit to be that self aware or anything, because if they were they wouldn't have made the comment in the first place, Keep up the good work and I actually encourage more videos like this if the subject matter is relevant such as this, apologies for the rambling but just adding my two cents in support of SidAlpha.
Never any need to apologize for a long-form response. I'm new to this level of viewership and you all are my compass on how to stay the course. Trust me I read every last comment with great interest.
The "capitalism" he talks about is what lead to the near gaming industry collapse that we only got out of thanks to companies like Nintendo that offered curated games with a certain quality standard.
very informative work, I plan on being a game developer myself, though saying it kind of brings a bad taste when comparing to those that may intentionally make awful games with little to no effort. I do like your example that a person that walks into a restaurant doesn't need to know how to make it to know it taste like ass. Though everyone has different taste for things. I believe that if a game is being made, it should provide it's worth, which should be it's entertainment. Though the quality should depend on the style being made, the important question should be "Do I want to continue playing?" or "Do I want to play this again?" I can side that it can be difficult to sell games if reviewers and critics constantly give bad reviews to not buy the game, but that's why the game should be better to prove wrong instead of getting rid of bad reviews. When my demo does come out, would like some critique to know from others perspective, thank you
I love it when people say "can you do X?". A Wyatt Derp game is something you'd make as homework for a Game Development course. Hell, I've been asked to do a lot more as a simple test for a job application. Take it from someone working in this industry. Making good games nowadays isn't hard per se, it's A TON of work, but it's not rocket science. I'd be willing to say that any person with a functional brain can come up with something better than DH or other asset flippers if they cared enough to do so. Also, the moment you try to sell your stuff, it ceases to be a hobby. At least in my eyes.
![[TH] 2024 PMGC League | Survival Stage วันที่ 1 | PUBG MOBILE Global Championship](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FVFT-PFwU80/mqdefault.jpg)
"PC gamers are too emotional I think it's valid for a developer to throw a two-year-long temper tantrum."
Hey Jim are we going to get an update on Derpital Suicide's lawsuit? Since their amended brief looks like it hasn't changed anything.
Would you say it's the longest video game related temper tantrum ever or would Konami still hold that title?
This Friday the defense will present a response to Romine's new amended complaint - after that it falls onto the Judge to decide, so that means more waiting.
Thank God for JimFuckingSterlingSon!
the number 1 boglin boy makes an appearance!
To paraphrase Jim Fucking Sterling son, no I won't make a game like them, because when I know I can't do something well, I don't do it. And I especially don't try to sell it on Steam for $10
Nate Puterbaugh I like the phrase "I don't have to have a pilot's license to know you don't land a helicopter in a tree." personally.
*claps*
"Stop selling teddybears full of cum"
But he tries to play a lot of games which he ends up not doing so well at.
But at least he doesn't sell his clips for 10 bucks a pop, yeah.
Apoc Vulkax jizzy bears
As an indie developer who has been working on my own game for over 3 years now, I wanted to thank you for putting your two cents out there and calling out these nonsensical devs. I've been through hell and back creating my game and without people like you, Jim, and Total Biscuit, I honestly feel like the good developers stand no chance with the way steam greenlight is right now.
I know that these devs talk about game critics stifling creativity, although that's just a bunch of bullshit. It's because of channels like yours that I'm more in-tune to pro consumer stances, able to see what other devs do wrong and learn from their mistakes. I can now look at my game from a game critic stand-point and ask myself -- "Is this feature / idea going to get me blasted in a quick-play / review? How can I do this better? Will this frustrate my players?" etc.
Anyways, no matter what other developers say, I just want you to know there's at least a small subset of developers trying to produce high quality games and we appreciate people like you who are helping our potential consumers better weed out all of the stupid shit and help the good developers find their audience much easier.
Thank you and have a good day. :)
And this, Ladies and gentlemen, is the type of Developer that Gamers will flock to and be willing to stand behind.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate that statement.
I'm hoping for the best, although I'm still very shy when it comes to showing off my game. I've switched to my youtube channel account to make these comments, because my other account has beta gameplay videos in which my game is lacking the kind of quality I'm striving for.
Although, I'm planning on trying for a release before greenlight kicks the bucket (because steam direct's unknown entry fee scares me), so if you're interested I'll send you a message when it's going through the final stages.
Otakurabumon: 3 years? That's commitment :)
Just like ConcernedApe - Stardew Valley.
That's fantastic, and I hope you do manage to get your title released :D
Otakurabumon I don't know anything about you or your experience (learning or otherwise) with game making, so this might be kinda weird to say, but if you haven't already, you might wanna look up the channel Extra Credits. They go over a looot of stuff in game design.
Also, if I remember right, one of the things they said was to not be too protective of an unfinished product. I would go into why they said that, but I'm worried if I paraphrase more I might get the message wrong xP
Sorry if it was mildly patronizing to say or something, but hopefully it wasn't, lol
Good luck with your game, dude \m/
.....all your statements here have made me want to try your game. Do you happen to have a demo up for people to try? I understand your shyness, but it looks like you are already growing a fanbase just by your own comments here. :3
"Hey, buddy, can you direct a AAA movie title? No? Then what right do you have to criticize Michael Bay's Transformers movies?"
"If you can't build a car from scratch, then you have no right to complain about how this car I made is unsafe!"
"Can't compose a song? Then you can't be a music critic!"
#RomineLogic
I built a car from scratch thank you my summer car
Can you build a house? Well, you have no right to whine about mine burying you alive. It's better than nothing!
Wait, MN9?
Jason Miller I have been playing that game constantly, come away from it, watch a video, and it's even mentioned in the damn comments haha
It's called "The no true scottsman fallacy"
Well put together. Though I would have made the argument that the likes of Digital Homicide and Dentola don't even qualify as "Hobbyist" level. They're more like snake-oil salesmen, because unlike a real hobbyist-level dev. THEY. DO. NOT. CARE. about what they're making. Some one who developed games as a hobby would at least care about their game. You can look at any number of RPG-maker projects or fan-game projects that exist out there to realize this.
Hi, Hobbyist level game Dev here, I would agree that they're not at the same level as me. Having played some of their games which got onto steam I can safely say that what I've made in the past is better despite also being asset flips.
At least if a game made by a hobbyist sucks, you can still tell that they loved it and wanted it to be the best it could be.
And like, not sell them for real money.
sad thing is there are AAA game devs and companies that JUST DONT CARE... as long as we the consumers spend what little hard earned money we make on their product....that being said.. can you really claim ALL hobbyist game devs as the issue.. and i use the term hobbyist loosly since many game devs throw themselves in that catagory just to draw a bigger crowd... take the group making "Dual Universe"..they are a hobbyist dev that could easily go trip-A.. unlike Dentola or DH who seem to only want to rip people off...
and then you have companies like EA... who have had hit games and have had crap games.. and have had a history of ruining other games because they wanted people to focus on a certain genre of games.. or they thought they could buy a game/company hoping to get on said games cash cow status only to realise that buying said game/company drove people away due to fear of that game being ruined...
the biggest they dont care that ive seen comes from Blizzard.. they spend the first 5 to 6 years building thier customer base... then as they run out of ideas they adopt an I DONT CARE attitude to thier customers with the single comment stating that.."the customer will come back no matter what we give them"
so its not just a certain niche in the gaming industy that is doing this.. nor is it only in the last year or 2 that this has been happening.. this has been going on for decades.. for as long as games have had access to the web...
this doesnt mean you wont find GOLD as it were... but much of it is now laden with FOOLS GOLD.. if they even attempt to polish their crap as it were... the thing to remember is a game doesnt have to have good graphics to be a good game.. look at Minecraft.. old school graphics and yet still a big seller... thats not to say good graphics wont help a game either.. but not everyone can afford a top of the line machine with max ram and the best GPU one can get... even if one could get such a machine.. one has to remember that windows 10 is NOT a gaming platform.. nor is DirectX as the API .. while you can run games under this environment.. it has never been optimized for gaming and likely wont be as it keeps microsofts tech section in bussiness... that issue aside though.. all a game needs is a good story behind it... the game mechanics or how you play the game is important too.. but story gives the game life.... simply put.. good story.. good chance at being a good game.. crap story.. well you have your work cut out to be a good game...
Fictionerd they're as much "hobbyists" as I am a dentist lmao
Completely agree with your thoughts. Steam or any other professional store front is not designed for hobbyists. If I were a hobbyist furniture builder I highly doubt any major retail store would allow me to put my products up for sale until there was some sort of quality threshold met...i.e. not going down to Walmart purchasing a bookshelf or chair and then turning around and selling it in their store with no or very little modification. 25 cents or not, money is money and people generally work hard for it so to have some insight, you/TB/Jim Sterling, into that purchase is as good as gold - in my opinion.
I agree; my first thought was that the minute you enter a marketplace and put your product up for sale, then you are no longer a "hobbyist" - you are a professional, and the merits (or lack thereof) of your product are going to rightly be judged by that criteria. The real problem here is that Valve's greed for market transactions has created an environment where there are no consequences for flooding Steam with utter garbage. If Valve isn't going to do any quality control, then somebody has to pick up the slack.
Thank God for Jim Sterling otherwise I would not have found your channel. Another gem of a video. Great response! Keep up the good work.
Thank you! I was actually genuinely concerned about posting this one.
SidAlpha you did a great job of showing how wrong the user was whilst showing great restraint. I love these long commentry videos. please never stop. ;-)
Seen as I encounter these people on a daily basis in a variety of contexts, I must say it was very pleasant to watch. However, my experience with people of lesser intellect tells me this is going to happen over and over again. There will never be an end to it. And in a way you're preaching to the choir I think. Ofcourse we know whats up. Having said that, this was delightful.
I say this commenter put their money where their mouth is: if it's so easy to make these videos, the commenter should make a YT channel like Sterling and turn it into a primary job with a large audience that is willing to donate to their channel. I mean, it's super easy, right?
I mean, if the commenter IS one of the Romine Bros., they already made several videos! They tried to "review the reviewer".
Looking at thier channel, they seem to have the same kinda mindset for the 30 views videos on there that they also apply for gamemaking. "...I am unapologetic for any annoyxance I may cause through bad humor, poor video making skills, bad editing....". This seems like someone trying to get some quick views on his channel that never took off. Or looking at the font and the text on the channel a fucking idiot trying to be edgy.
He's barely even putting any effort; he invested his time coyly defending Digital Homicide and shitting on us instead.
Dude had no excuse, just wanted to troll and whine with the usual empty PC culture thing.
It's such a bummer to think of how many trolls actually believe the things conveyed by that comment. And that's why the world is in such a miserable state.
i know i cant LOL no one wants to watch a person so glued to game they go silent for hours
You know what the difference is between house flippers and asset flippers?
House flippers improve their products when they buy them. Asset flippers do the opposite.
*Mic drop*
3 years later, ppl can still hear that mic drop
@@timvoorhees8102 im deaf from that mic drop
when you ingore a small corner of filth it will slowly expand, when the small corner of filth becomes the entirety of the room it becomes too troublesome to clean so you get a new room.
"Just don't look at it if you dont like it" equates to someone looking at a small corner of filth, and the new greenlight equates to getting a new room.
ThatBugBehindYou And Steam is getting a hazmat team to burn and liquidize Greenlight and the new room will be Steam Direct.
Same thing with "don't like it don't buy it".
Oh I'm not going to buy it, believe me. Still gonna complain about it though in the hopes that things improve rather than spiraling further out of control.
I just imagined every single Valve employee wearing HEV suits and wielding the Pyro's flamethrower
wanmohd danial lmao
Well spoken, clear and concise rebuttal. Glad Jim Sterling directed me towards this channel. You certainly deserve more viewers. Now, time to binge watch all your previous content.
The build up to the comment and response is making this surprisingly intense for me.
As a programmer and game maker hobbyist I think the commenter needs to grow the hell up. The second you begin charging actual currency for your game, your are being held to scrutiny and a standard of quality. You wanna be a little hobbyist and make games on the side for funsies? Totally cool, throw it up on newgrounds or kongregate and knock yourself out. Steam is NOT the place to throw out your babby's first vidya gaem. Grow up, grow a pair and understand that your shit little hobby game is not worth charging people for.
I admit that I found your channel from Jim's video, but I declare my choice to subscribe is based solely on my enjoyment of your content. Please continue your good work.
What Playinglikea meng doesn't realize that his from boutique to warehouse analogy is completely asinine. Stores any store, needs to keep a certain level of quality control of the products that they sell, either it be a boutique, warehouse, walmart, whatever. They have to be up to date on the products that they're going to sell otherwise not only will those products not sell they can lose money and customers from it. Remember when Macy's pulled Donald Trump's clothing line right after he went on that rant about Mexican people? Macy's pulled it because they didn't want to lose customers as they would have been seen as supporting Trump. It doesn't matter the business, if the quality of the merchandise is pig slop, the "something for everyone" argument is invalid because no one is going to buy it. If a warehouse started selling already chewed gum they scraped off a table underside for $0.25 a piece, would you buy it? Obviousally not because it's garbage and belongs in the garbage. Steam's lack of quality control is just that, they've allowed people for scrape chewed bubble gum off the sidewalk and resell it, which has given rise to other services, like Origin, GoG, Humble Bundle and even uPlay. If Costco started selling chewed gum, broken glassware, broken fishing poles, bent flatware, shattered plates and rotten food, they'd be out of business, and that what these games on Steam are and that's why Steam has become a store front for hot garbage
This almost sounds like a mini retro rant.
His analogy is simply wrong, its not from boutique to warehouse, its from boutique to landfill.
One point you forgot to discuss about Digital Homicide and this comment. The comment implies that devs such as Dig Hom do their shovelware out of sheer passion as hobby. In this very specific case, however, that is just not true. Said company has stated multiple times that it's their bussiness, basically their income. So no, this isn't about passion. Producing almost 20 games per year with minimal effort is cold calculation. They pay 100 bucks for assets, they make maybe few hundred back to cover cost of a next game. Then in next couple of weeks they spit out their next monstrosity, which certain number of people buy again, possibly just to test it because shit costs like 99 cents and they can make it back by selling cards. They use this as their advantage, but at no point there's any passion involved. Just simple laziness and greed
I'm just popping in here not to add anything to the discussion but to simply tell you that I respect you, I enjoy your content and I'm glad people like you are out there acting on behalf of the consumers of videogames. Keep on rockin'; I will make sure to support you on Patreon as soon as my budget allows.
Just knowing people are supporting me by views and subscriptions are plenty. Monetary support helps, but I would rather know that you are making sure your own needs are met first. I do appreciate it though!
It's hard for me as a mix engineer to produce quality the likes of T-Bone Burnett, and that's with experience. Does that mean that it's okay for me to give my customers mixes that sound like my lil' cousins violin practice? No... Just... No.
Unless you title them "awful sounds for audio masochists". Then you're broadminded.
That could be untapped market in music industry /jk
I don't know, is your "lil' cousin" any good on the old ?
No.
The commenter sounds A LOT like Robert Romine. Same bullshit argument too.
... hmm.. its like they just used the same argument and reskinned it with another account and make it look like its made by someone else....
wow. doesn't that sound familiar. In the words of Leonard "Sounds a lot like their games, huh?"
How many comments have said this. Nice job, spouting unfactual garbage. You're acting like the subject of this video, plus grammar.
Or maybe the commenter brought it off of the TH-cam Argument Assets Store.
Trustworthy McLegitimate I don't think Romaine has the balls to shittalk his own work by implication. He seems like somebody who is fully convinced they're some kind of developer genius.
I've been doing art as a hobby for 10 years and in the past couple years I've been wanting to start making a webcomic. And yeah, it is something I want to be able to earn money off of - which is why I waited so long. I waited until I could say, "Yeah, I'm proud of this" before I started posting my passion project.
It's really sad these guys have so little ambition they can't even bring themselves to make something a little original.
"Pff, look at that Jim guy! I can totally do the things he does! It's easy! I just don't do it because... Because... Because I don't have time for it, yeah".
Sure, buddy. Sure.
To be fair, and not trying to defend this guy, he could probably do the same thing Jim does. Anyone can make a video discussing video games and upload it on TH-cam. The question is he good enough to turn it into a full-time career like Jim has.
@@mortemtyrannus8813 then he cant do the same thats the problem hes acting like just saying criscm and fliming yourself is all they do when most serious revewiers like sid and kim script there videos before hand use slight mesures of voice acting to make there lines and quotes and criscm sound good and courent anyone could make a crtiscm video sure but no many can make one thats not only entertaining but informative at the same time
The argument that a low price is an excuse to scam you with a non-working product does nothing but suggest that your money is all that's being hurt so your time must have zero value.
Good observation.. Kudos👍👍
Funny thing is Digitalfuckerys games arn't as cheat as this guy makes them out to be. I think they even tried to charge $20 once.
So thanks to Jim Sterling I found this channel and I respect on the highest level the way the videos are conducted.
p.s. congrats on the 8k man, proud to be a part of it!
Thank you! I'm glad to have you all here! Hopefully more will follow your example!
@SidAlpha We have! Thank Jim for you!
I found you through Leonard French and his Copyright Law videos
What if that commenter is James Romine? :U
Zanon I thought the exact same thing.
For good or ill, when one puts a product or service out there and charges money for it, they should be ready for criticism and critique on a public level.
So what Meng is saying is that we should be willing to put up with crap? Regardless of price? Sorry, but no, gamers should never be forced to put up with games that we are unhappy, unsatisfied or just plain disappointed with, and are substandard, broken or downright unplayable. And what Meng might be unaware of, is this can happen with AAA ttiles as well and not just the shovel-ware on the Greenlight.
One of the games i have ever been most disappointed with and regret buying and wish i could refund, is Fable 3 for PC. I even pre-ordered it, with launch DLC. While the game played alright, and the whole rebellion story against your brother was interesting, the way the game was actually made was awful and lacked the polish that Fable 2 had, and even 2 had it's problems.
I learned two valuable lessons from this mistake. never pre-order games, and always do you research throughly to see if i game is worth your money. I bought Fable 3 on the name of the previous titles in the series and the name of the developer and the great games they did before, like Black & White and The Movies to name two other series that Lionhead made. That was my mistake. And it was costly.
And this is one game, released 7 years ago. There has been many, many more games in the years since Fable 3's release that fall in this category, so many, that you'd run out of digits trying to count them.
Well done on keeping your cool and speaking your mind well, mate! That's why you're awesome.
I like that you actually called him out.
what's often overlooked with assetflips is: how do you think the original devs feel, seeing their basic assets sold to consumers as fully developed games, while they know and often on purpose(so that this exact thing wont happen) that the thing being sold, is broken? or unfinished?
that's gotta be a punch to the gut.
here you are, creating stuff so that other devs can benefit from having a framework or example and some bastard decides to throw this halfbaked, broken shit on a storefront?
As a TH-cam lurker, I was really pleased with this vid of your, SA.Your language and tone were non-aggressive, and you made some really solid points. Direct reviewers, such as yourself and Jim and TB, and even LetsPlayers like Mark and Jack, protect we the consuming public from wasting our limited resources on shite and tripe. Do not quail in the face of passionate dissent, but know you are supported.
You have the patience of a saint and are very entertaining to listen to. I'm looking forward to exploring your back library.
Classy, level-headed response, well done. It's not often you see people respond to spontaneous, counter-productive hate/criticism with cool, structured arguments and hard facts. I mean, we're not savages, we possess the ability to reason and dispute and counter-claim, but should ideally do so without the need to overtly rely on emotion and semantics to criticize someone. It's always good to believe in something, and even better to defend it in a discussion, but the moment you let that belief overtake your grasp on reality is when things get... messy. Unfortunately, there will always be those people that will devoutly and wrongly defend their idols, even those that have clearly done wrong, and refusing to accept any reason, because they have the internet as their veil of anonymity, and therefore feel like they have no obligation to be held accountable for their actions. Though it may not be our duty to call out these people and demonise them, it certainly is our duty to be able to facilitate discussion, provide clarity of information for both sides, before being able to justify our own beliefs. I'll stop there before anyone can accuse me of going into dangerously (and God forbid I say it) - political - territory.
On a lighter note, in the most respectable way possible, I highly enjoy your content, and your delivery of videos does give me vibes of some of the larger channels on PC gaming, the likes of TB and Jim Sterling. I know you hold these TH-camrs in high regard, and have no problem with that at all, it is a very productive and motivating thing to have. I'd like to say that I would like to see you, in time, begin to establish your own unique style and character that will distinguish you from the various other critics in this already saturated corner of the TH-cam community to truly carve out your own niche. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a random view who spent WAY too long thinking of a way to type this. *shrugs* And on that note.
Good day to you.
9:45 It's pronounced 'ace-prite' or 'a-sprite', as stated by the developers of the program, but I don't think anyone is gonna care all that much if you don't pronounce it that way.
Otherwise, I don't have anything to add. You've hit the nail on the head. Fantastic.
Thank you I was scratching my head about that one.
No problem, mate.
Thanks to Jim Sterling, you got yourself a new sub =D
As for the commenter you made the video on, looks like a textbook case of a corporate jockey, these kinds of people won't ever listen to reason, to them it is completely fine for any dev or business to do whatever henious act they do because: "They are a business, they are supposed to make a living, how dare you mess with their livelyhood", it's pure emotional garbage,
This aggression against critics kind of mirrors the lack of media competency I'm seeing in many places these days. Somehow, more and more people are forgetting that media, all media, is not meant to be something you just swallow. You have to chew it, digest it.
They don't see that - and consequently believe that critics are way more "dangerous" than they actually are. They forget that the work of the critic or journalist, as well, should be - and IS among reasonably media competent people - subject to scrutiny and never something just taken at face value.
For example: One just needs to briefly research TB to know that he is a very outspoken proponent of 60 fps being the standard for gaming frame rates. Keeping this in mind gives context to many of his statements on game performance.
Now, these people, who have never learned how to properly peruse media, think that TB is making some sort of general statement that millions of viewers will absorb and accept mindlessly. To them, too, not covering certain topics is "censorship", while criticizing certain practices based on the critic's personal experience (Jim Sterling/DigiHom) is "a campaign" against the perpetrator of said practice. That is not the case. It betrays a completely incorrect view of journalism and critique and is becoming way too prevalent these days - not just in gaming.
not only that but also, people buying games from devs who just buy assets will run into the problem of buy games that look exactly the same from two completely different developers
SidAlpha, your argumentative style is *textbook*. I love it.
We need more educated talkers like you. I respect it to the world's end.
Thank you.
I wish i had just a sliver of your ability to stay calm and rational in a stressful situation. (even if the stress is just from TH-cam comments)You must be part Vulcan or something...Live long and prosper my friend.
Okay, this commenter has made me decide to change my life, I'm going to go over to pateron and pledge some money for sid, this is a first to ever pay for a youtuber. So who ever you are, in defiance of your ideas, and for some long overdue thanks to SidAlpha, I am going to become a patron. Sorry I'm poor developer myself (not games but software non the less), so it'll be a small amount, but a symbolic show of approval. Thank you user who I can't remember, you have been the last push I needed to take action.
Keep up the indulgences - it's always good to listen to someone make an intelligent argument. You may find you get a bigger audience from your talents in this field than reviewing games.
The funniest thing about the takedown by Dentola, is that your channel got exposure... i found your tweets and channel and subbed to you because of that, which is the opposite of what they would have wanted. Thank you for the great videos you make and i hope you never stop :)
I would not be surprised in the slightest if dentola or even this commenter is actually Romine, great video SidAlpha👍🏻
Seriously first thing popped in my mind when I heard of this from Jim's video
You could further argue that a person's time is valuable. Just like money, we only have so much time to spend on games and we want to get the most out of that resource that we can. It's why we decry games that impose arbitrary waiting times or excessive grinding.
Another great video Sir. Happily subscribed and looking forward to seeing and hearing more from you!
I'm so damn happy your sub count has increased quite alot lately. Another great vid, Sid.
Usually coming this early is a disappointment.
No Mature Content I took that the other way lol
Seeing that Space Wolf footage reminds me of a 40K quote I think is very valid when discussing the whole DigiHom Fiasco.
"Blessed is the mind too small for doubt"
You, sir, have earned a subscriber.
very nice defense of critics. yes, intellect is a prerequisite to proper critique. i would add "experience," but i was glad to hear you address that "i could easily do what Jim Sterling does" accusation.
It looks like commenter didn't understand what "asset flip" actually meant. It seems like he thought Jim and SidAlpha were complaining about seeing the same assets over and over, rather than complaining about the games being shit. He didn't seem to understand that the phrase "asset flip" refers specifically to the technically legal but extremely dubious practice of buying a bundle of assets and just directly uploading it with little to no changes made, leading almost by definition to something that isn't worth paying 25 cents, and probably wouldn't even be worth downloading if it were free.
On a completely separate note, I don't think it was reasonable to assume that the commenter was James Romine (sp?) in disguise. It was pure conjecture on your part, and while I could see why you might suspect that to be the case, I don't think it was necessarily something you needed to include in this video, and certainly not something you needed to bring up more than once.
Here are my thoughts on asset flips, and later both Greenlight and Steam in general:
With regards to asset flips you have my full support, I am completely for people who try to sell them getting called out on it.
With regards to Steam Greenlight and Steam itself I feel the issue is more complex than what most people let on. For what it is worth, despite the faults, Greenlight has given some good games a true chance. It has even given some previously released games (ones I would personally argue are decent) a 2nd chance. It has also been a sort of blessing to more niche genres like Tank and Submarine sims for example. On the other hand, the fact that Greenlight doesn't take downvotes into consideration is very foolish, and the lax rule enforcement is also a severe problem. The execution of Greenlight was and is quite simply very flawed.
What it ultimately comes down to is how far are we as a gaming community willing to go to allow potential hidden gems onto steam? Is it worth all these bad games to get some more good ones as well? If anyone is curious about this I will gladly provide some examples of good games that are now on steam because of Greenlight.
BF18ACE
I agree with what you're saying. I'm not against Greenlight in general; I think it was just poorly implemented. Still, I'm very interested in expanding my library of games, and I would love to hear about these hidden gems.
Alright then, here are a few games from Greenlight that you might want to look at:
Aragami: A 3rd Person Stealth Ninja game
store.steampowered.com/app/280160/
Breach & Clear: Essentially X-com meets Rainbow Six
store.steampowered.com/app/266130/
Steel Armor Blaze of War: A very highly detailed tank sim set in the Cold War, takes a while to learn but intriguing once you get into it
store.steampowered.com/app/286280/
From the Depths: Basically minecraft meets ship building, but also allows you to build spaceships, and has an active modding community
store.steampowered.com/app/268650/
War for the Overworld: A spiritual successor to the classic Dungeon Keeper Series
store.steampowered.com/app/230190/
There are a few more I could suggest but should be a decent start.
Brought to your channel by Jim and his ilk. Subbed after listening to this vid. You are getting your point across very well. It is not easy to make it on YT. Well done sir, best of luck in your future endeavors!
Nice to see your Channel Growing SidAlpha ... 10k subs watch out, here comes SidAlpha : )
More likely you brought a bomb (not a gun) to the knife fight.... you obliterated him, hahaha!
We've already destroyed my end-of-year goals. At this rate maybe my new goal should be go full time by the end of the year...
that would be nice to do this full time . that way you dont have to take extra time out of the day anymore :)
A much more well stated reply than that commenter deserved but the reply of course wasn't so for him it was for us, the other viewers.
I perhaps enjoy a good tear-down a bit more than I should be it that of an oblivious poorly written rant or a terrible game but it has to be fair criticism and not just spite for spite's sake. I look forward to eventually seeing your video about Dentola Studios as that is ultimately the reason I subscribed when Jim Sterling Son brought it to my attention, previously I had seen a video of yours relating to the ongoing Digital Homicide lawsuit.
Praise the praiseworthy and dismantle that which is worthy of condemnation and never compromise on your principles. That is what I respect about Jim Sterling and Totalbiscuit, you know that whatever they are putting out is 100% their opinion and generally well reasoned at that.
Not everyone has what it takes to make these kinds of videos and I'm glad your channel is getting attention because you have the potential to be successful in this arena.
A well done video. Thanks to Jim Sterling for tweeting this vid. I'll be playing catch up on the rest. Keep up the good work please =)
Well done, sir - for speaking so candidly and professionally to someone who uses cheap slurs in YT comments as his own 'critique'. I'm a new subscriber too, and am floored by your patience with matters that other critics would be far more... emotional (?) about. (Yes, I like Jim Sterling Son's blue metaphors as much as the next fan!)
Thankyou. This video made me want to stand up and applaud.
first, I appreciate the use of rule number one, " never bring a knife to a gunfight"
secondly, this is my fourth or fifth video of yours that I'm watching and I'm glad there's somebody who's a "intellectual" out there, we need more people who think. I usually don't enjoy these kinds of videos but you make it worth every second XD
Even as a content creator on TH-cam with a little more than 1000 subscribers, it always baffles me when I see comments like this, where apparently no effort needs to go into creating videos and there's just some magical editor that puts all this stuff together for you (with optional sexy voice permutations such as TotalBiscuit or SidAlpha :D ).
If "Playinglikea meng" ever produces that game of theirs (Which I might add, most all of that software they have can be purchased from cheap Humble Bundles and Bundle Star deals), then I sure hope they can take the criticism as well as they can dish it out. Something tells me they'd take it like a vegan takes their steak.
Sid I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every video of yours that you have produced. I am late to game as this video is roughly 5 months old at the time of me posting this, but I completely agree with you put the statement about hobbyist. I am a photographer. It started out as a hobby, and has now pushed more and more towards professional work. While I know I still have miles to go, I can feel proud of the fact of my achievements. I liken this to how you explain asset flippers and what he coined as hobbyist game developers.
When I first started out working with people, families, models, or whatever I chose to photograph I did so on my own time, my own expense, and worked to get my skill set up before I charged anybody. The game developers this guy is backing needs to do the same. While I understand my work will not be liked by all, I know that what I do produce needs to satisfy those who pay me. If I don't satisfy my paying customers I will not last. If I fail to meet the expectations of a client or client's, I find a way to rectify the situation.
I see game development on a similar level as I do my photography. It is an art. Content is key to success. If a game developer just purchases a pre-made package and just sticks it out there as a final product, then I see no issue with giving them the attention they so desire. I would fully expect the same results if I purchased stock images and put them on my website as my own work. My apologies for the long winded comparison. I am fully happy I have found your channel. In my opinion your content is superb. I look forward to see what more you have to offer in the time ahead.
Hi Sid. I've also found your channel after whatching Jim Sterling's video.
I've been involved with the game industry for a few years now, working on both big and small studios and I wanted to say that what Jim and you are doing is not just good for the consumers... is also good for the game devs. There is so much effort, time and money put into our projects, and then we must compete with really bad quality products like the ones made by Digital Homicide.
People that defend this kind of productions don't understand just how damaging it is for the industry as a whole to flood the market with so many poor quality games. This is specially true for talented indie devs that can no longer afford the marketing costs required to get noticed. It's getting so bad, that suddenly, it's more tempting to go to the mobile market... since there's actually less competition than on Steam. Can you imagine?
Keep up the awesome work!
See, this is why I love your videos, Sid. You take on issues like this in an informed and calm manner, rather than simply throw vulgar rage at it (which honestly can be entertaining at times, but has also been done countless times over). I think of the phrase "Don't argue with morons. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience." a lot, and I can see you don't allow that to happen; you don't attack the person directly, but rather their actual statement and make your arguments against THAT. It's so easy to just say something like "This guy is a fuckwit. Fuck him!" and move on. Actually taking the time to break down their argument and explain why you're against it shows you're intelligent and level-headed enough to generate conversation instead of hate speech.
I stumbled upon your channel a few months ago (specifically the series of Digital Homicide games reviews) and checked it out on a whim. I'm certainly glad I did. And I'm also glad that Jim Sterling and TotalBiscuit have taken the time to voice their opinions on the matter as well. It just goes to show that in times like this, the 'bigger' people are willing to band together with the smaller ones to combat this.
I hope your channel continues to grow, and I look forward to more videos featuring informed rational decisions and explanations such as this!
I'm honestly impressed that you were able to keep so calm when responding to someone who's just. So wrong. Even if it fell on deaf ears, because let's be real, people like this are hardly ever going to change their minds, this is still a great video with a lot of good points.
Hey sid, new viewer here. I would first like to say it is quite respectable seeing you calmly address this situation. So good on you. Hope to see more from you in the future and would definitely be interested in seeing a video from you talking on how a channel takes its steps to grow. Good luck moving forward
New subscriber here, I wonder if you get tired of hearing that people have come here from Jim's video XD
While I agree heartily with most of your arguments, I did want to mention in passing that I don't think the skills of game critique and game development are necessarily mutually exclusive of each other as you mentioned. Obviously it would be hard to hold down both as professional jobs at the same time, because the audience would rightly question your objectivity towards your own projects and those of people you've worked with, to a certain degree some skill in critique is really necessary to produce almost any (there can be flukes, I'm sure) great art.
I work as an author, and have also done work on indie films and some writing for a very small indie games company, and I've seen enough to know that the cycle of production, consumption and critique in a fairly even balance is the best way to ensure that your work is the best it can be. You could think your own writing is the most glorious thing on earth, but for all you know, other people might not like it, for reasons that could potentially be easily fixed, or worked on long-term as a means to advance your skills if it's a bigger problem. Engaging with criticism (others, as well as your own) of other products in the same field allows you to absorb some of that. If you can't critique other people's work, how can you critique your own?
I honestly think that some of the people who make these kinds of arguments really need to learn how to think critically and give critique well, in order for them to learn how to make better products. If the commenter in question ever reads this, I would encourage them to do their best to try what Jim and SidAlpha do and offer criticism on a game - but be ready for comments critiquing their critique. If you can get good at analysing other people's work, maybe then you can start on your own hobby projects so you can better see where you can improve! It'll honestly help your creation a lot (though of course, it IS a neverending process of growth).
Anyway, great video :) thanks for the effort you put into expressing your arguments in a cogent fashion!
Enjoyed and added to favorites with the intent of sharing the video when it's not 5 AM. Very well said; very well handled.
Being a student and having to essentially play the role of a literal indie developer for 9 weeks (Had to do EVERYTHING myself), I'd say that game development as a whole is difficult.....obviously as a beginner! I feel that the lack of decent programming and designing education may play a role into these situations, but I'm not going to be definite about it. I mean, I don't know anything about the Romine brother's experience in game design other than the videos I've seen.
If anything, I think that the messages of how game design can get deceptively difficult and how certain ethical principles really matter needs to be amplified. Great vid btw
Keep up the fight my good man, I honestly wouldn't be overly surprised if that guy was James Romine or a close friend to go out of his way to defend Romines' be tactics and call them fair. Looking forward to your next video.
I guess "hobbiest-level" is the euphemism some people use to excuse their lack of professionalism and talent. You don't get compensation for pursing a hobby, and if you expect payment you're not indulging a hobby, you're attempting to sell a product. And products. Get. JUDGED.
After watching this video I subscribed.
I've watched (and liked) a bunch of videos from you and support your efforts.
Thank Ghod for you. (...and Jim Sterling, son.)
Hey Sid, i'm glad i found you channel!
You mentioned in your video how you are concerned about your words impacting sales and game devs. Remember that these are not the only ones that may suffer because of it.
If you include a person's channel name or nickname in your video, remember that there might be people who may want to confront that person, and they will go after them.
So if you don't want a person to be bullied, blur out the name.
Thanks
Yeah some others pointed that out to me. I made a huge mistake there and I have no excuse for it. In the future I will most definitely show more consideration as that is absolutely the last thing I would want.
Sorry for being one of many to point that out :D
it's a thing to remember for the future - big channels tend to have a "very dedicated" part of their fanbase, which tends to be a bit aggressive.
I love how calm and clear you explain stuff :D subbed
Thank you for making these videos. I am starting to make my first game and I don't expect it to be the end all be all. I was taking a break from storyboard and concept thoughts I came upon one of your videos and it has greatly changed how I was going to go about my game, and I couldn't be more joyous about it. Your videos have made me want to push myself to make sure I do not make these same acts and being a better developer for it. So thank you and keep up the work.
Thankyou for putting up this video SidAlpha, it has realy helped me understand the role of gaming critics and reviews/lets players on TH-cam.
I didn't realise how much "power" you guys have and how much I rely on content creators for their opinions and consumer advice.
Keep up the good work and stay grounded. I think it is great your channel is gaining more attention but don't let it go to your head!
You sir spoke very inelegantly on this subject. Glad I clicked the thumbnail when it popped up. Thanks for the informative and entertaining content. +1 sub.
Thank you Sid ''The World can always use more Honest Heart of Gold critics like you, Jim Sterling & TB.''
Really good video, You just got yourself a subscriber- sorry for any spelling or grammar error. English is not my native language
I could sure go for a gumball right a bout now. Great video, keep it up.
I agree with you completely. I, as a consumer, particularly a picky one, greatly appreciate the work of critics. And not just in games, either. I value good, informed and thoughtful critics for any art form, as well as things like consumer products.
I quite liked his line about Steam changing from a boutique into a warehouse.
Have never quite understood why people get upset over steam selling crap games, Amazon sells loads of crap and nobody has ever cared about that
Jim Sterling may have lead me here but your oddly arousing yet soothing voice is what made me stay
Spot on. The hobbyist part is spot on.
I'll just say that there was one particular shitty game that nearly killed the industry: remember ET for Atari? Remember the price it had upon release? I can't find the original price, but I am fairly sure it was around the 30$ mark. Yet it still had much more content than any of DH games, and probably much more "artistic cohesion" than any of their games.
I won't even refer Dentola Studios because I don't consider someone who buys pre-made games at X and wants to sell them as their own creation, probably for twice the price as a game developer. I call them scammers. Just that.
I love the argument "You cant judge a game unless you make a game". Digi Hom was a LAUGHING STOCK at my school. We turn out better works in our AS program in 10 weeks then they published to the steam store.
Jim's not the only one sending folks your way, I followed a link from Leonard French the other day when he covered the Dentola complaint. Good dude, worth giving him a shout-out.
Oh I already have and we plan to do some collaborative work. Thanks and welcome to the channel!
Sid you are an absolute legend.
I have only recently subbed but you're an inspiration rational, logical , calm and hilarious.
Thank you for the videos.
I love your content, subbed just now.
Voice really is a top selling point.
Commentary and logic are also a very good selling point.
Hobbyist game developers doesn't belong on Steam. If you sell your game, you're professional and are to be judged as such.
these aren't even hobbyist. it is baby's first video game that they are putting on steam for sale. not for free!
Personally, I think the biggest problem with allowing people like Romine or Dentola or any of the other flippers free reign is that it sets a precedent. It causes more to jump on thinking they can make some side cash with minimal effort creating an even more bloated storefront and it shakes the faith of users since it's become even harder to find something good.
If, following the original comments point about it becoming a department store or warehouse, I walked into Canadian Tire or Costco and most of the products I looked at were a) in the wrong aisle b) falsely labelled, or c) fell apart as I walked out to my car, I wouldn't shop there anymore. I would look for the boutique because I know that they at least want the customer to be satisfied. The fact that Valve won't do that is bullshit to say the least, so I have to say thank you to guys like you for at least trying to put up hazard cones around the major tarpits in the store.
what I can't figure out is why people defend the asset flippers that get called our or go on rampages?
You are being sold a cheap game with zero effort put into it right? and someone, whom you don't even know, pointed out it is a bad game. Now you go around telling people that you don't see them doing any better? I don't get it. WHY? why do this? what is the benefit? Please tell me!
Christiaan Burger Because they've often done the same snake level shit.
This video right here sums up why I not only consider John "Total Biscuit" Bain my favorite You Tuber of all time but also a roll model and a father figure if you will due to the wealth of consumer friendly information and pro consumer practices and ethics he has that i'm sure SidAlpha practices as well. Very glad that Jim Sterling led me to your channel I'm now not as worried that once Jim and TB's age and or health approach a point where YT is no longer a viable business model I will still have a voice to look to for truth in games media & game critique without paid bias. Bravo to you Sir. ^_^
_In the battle of wits and intelligence, that poor soul had brought a knife to a gunfight._
I've been binging your videos for the last 5 hours (yes, SidAlpha is my latest form of crack), and that is, hands down, the funniest thing I've heard you say. Love it! 😂😂😂
i've been a viewer for a while now, and i must say that the "long form" style, or as you've put it so eloquently "essay" reviews and content is refreshing to see once again. that style is the reason i followed you, and bunnyhop and jim and TB. i believe there is a place for the "fast food" reviews to see the TL:DR as a way to see if I'm interested in the premise, and then i will search out the more in-depth critical look to see if i'm going to make that investment, not necessarily of my money, but of my time.
the gentleman that you addressed in this video needs to realize more than anything that to people in this fast paced world that the, to quote "jim fucking sterling son", "shite hawk asset flippers" are ripping off my time. i play games in order to escape the 8-10 hour work day i have, and the grind of daily life.For me i can afford the money to be gone, since i don't really have a monetary constraint, but for me it's the time that i feel cheated out of, if a game is just utter shit.
why should i support someone and give them my time, as well as my money, for something that they didn't invest their time in creating?
why should i even bother to deem them worthy of my disposable income if they don't respect me, or my time, or my money enough to put any effort into creating something that would be even a fair exchange for those things i have?
these are the reasons that asset flippers are a nuisance and barnacle on the games industry's keel that drags in the mud. they don't respect the effort that their consumer's make to earn the money needed to purchase their "games". They show that profound lack of respect by not making a fair exchange of their time and talent for our money.
The comparison made to food critique was a great comparison. I always used the slightly more extreme analogy that if you were to go to a dentist to get a crown on a tooth, and the dentist instead did a root canal on the wrong tooth, am I not allowed to go and tell people that was a bad dentist because I don't know how to do dental work? Would people tell me "do you know anything at all about how to perform dental work? I'd like to see you do a root canal correctly." Nevermind the fact that my tooth is still in pain because it still needs a crown. I can't criticize the dentist because I don't know how to do the work.
Obviously that is more objective criticism, which doesn't involve anything artistic or interpretive like video games, but nevertheless still follows the idea that for someone to critique a service or product, they have to be an experienced practitioner of that craft, or their criticism is invalid. That is a pretty ridiculous stance to have.
You just earned yourself a new sub Sid F***ing Alpha Son.
Being a developer is hard, and being a good developer is obviously even harder.
Some developers simply cannot handle harsh criticism. And I understand that. It hurts like hell to have your hard work being ground to dust by what can be ignorantly simplified as a "random loudmouth" on the internet. Some developers lash out against them, others just give up. But that's what it means to participate in the creation of entertainment: you constantly run the risk of not living up to somebody's standards.
But when it comes to cases like Digital Homicide, it's just baffling how a person can become so violently defensive over shameless ripoffs. They weren't just reacting poorly to criticism, they threw a ridiculous hissyfit over being caught red-handed. They weren't even willing to meet certain standards, but acted otherwise. These kinds of intentionally misleading "developers" not only cause a lot of trouble for others (as Mister Sterling can certainly attest), but also shine this very bad light on the entire industry, since outsiders aren't entirely wrong (just badly informed) when they see this as "arguing about a hobby" and base their whole opinion about gaming on such vocal cases.
And then there are apologists like this guy who try to play the hero for a plain-as-day fraud. I have no idea what drives individuals like this (except your assessment of simply lacking understanding of the situation and many facets of the industry), but it's sad and frustrating at the same time to see people being so ignorant of their own arguments.
Either way, this was a nice little mindpiece to listen to. And while I hope the commenter doesn't get attacked by others just because of this video, I also hope he falls hard on his face with the horrible standards he expressed - and maybe becomes a better developer as a consequence.
10:30 I love how monotone you say "tard fuck rabblerousing". Anyway well put video!
translation
"Why are you not eating my sh!t?! I made it with my own bowels!"
Glad to see that your channel has grown quite a bit, I remember following you because you were a smaller youtuber with some good points to subjects I care about. Now you are on the way to becoming a middle sized youtuber with good points to subjects I care about lol.
Well, here's hoping someday at a con you can walk up to me and say "I knew you when" and we can laugh about how little I knew during my first year(s). :)
Well just keep up the good work and that might just become a reality, well if you keep getting subs at this rate it will happen sooner rather than later lol
I love it when people go onto TH-cam and type into a comment section that they could do it better, now I am not saying that they're unable to, but when someone says that they're able to make better videos and gain more subs than people that are very successful in this medium, and they aren't making that content, they're either fucking stupid or they're equally as incompetent as one might gather from their claims with nothing to show for it while also telling others that they should attempt to do something before criticising it, kinda ironic isn't it? Not that I expect the halfwit to be that self aware or anything, because if they were they wouldn't have made the comment in the first place, Keep up the good work and I actually encourage more videos like this if the subject matter is relevant such as this, apologies for the rambling but just adding my two cents in support of SidAlpha.
Never any need to apologize for a long-form response. I'm new to this level of viewership and you all are my compass on how to stay the course. Trust me I read every last comment with great interest.
The "capitalism" he talks about is what lead to the near gaming industry collapse that we only got out of thanks to companies like Nintendo that offered curated games with a certain quality standard.
very informative work, I plan on being a game developer myself, though saying it kind of brings a bad taste when comparing to those that may intentionally make awful games with little to no effort. I do like your example that a person that walks into a restaurant doesn't need to know how to make it to know it taste like ass. Though everyone has different taste for things. I believe that if a game is being made, it should provide it's worth, which should be it's entertainment.
Though the quality should depend on the style being made, the important question should be "Do I want to continue playing?" or "Do I want to play this again?" I can side that it can be difficult to sell games if reviewers and critics constantly give bad reviews to not buy the game, but that's why the game should be better to prove wrong instead of getting rid of bad reviews. When my demo does come out, would like some critique to know from others perspective, thank you
I love it when people say "can you do X?". A Wyatt Derp game is something you'd make as homework for a Game Development course. Hell, I've been asked to do a lot more as a simple test for a job application.
Take it from someone working in this industry. Making good games nowadays isn't hard per se, it's A TON of work, but it's not rocket science. I'd be willing to say that any person with a functional brain can come up with something better than DH or other asset flippers if they cared enough to do so.
Also, the moment you try to sell your stuff, it ceases to be a hobby. At least in my eyes.