"It's A Terrible Time For Games"
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2024
- I have been hearing that it is a terrible time for games...and gamers...and game developers...FOR DECADES. It just isn't true.
Videos I reference:
The Future Of Games: • The Future Of Games
Career Summary 1981-2023: • Career Summary 1981-2023
Career Longevity: • Career Longevity
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![[FULL EP.16] เซียนพาลุย "เผือก-ฟรอยด์" กรี๊ดลั่น จนปูหนี | เฮ็ดอย่างเซียนหรั่ง | One Playground](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FsqUvwS3b-Y/mqdefault.jpg)
When I was starting out, I was told by a very prominent and successful artist not to paint so many half-naked barbarian characters, that the niche is getting stale, boring and that it is on its way out. I now make a living mostly painting half-naked barbarian characters.
Based. Enjoy your success.
Some things never go out of fashion:)
Name drop that bozo
(half)-sex sells
Crom!
The literal example of "I've seen things, you people wouldn't believe"
Blade runner refrences
“Office chairs on fire on the shoulder of interplay”
" pay no attention to the man behind the curtain "
"I watched IP-dreams vanish in the dark near the end of the crunch gate."
"all those controversies will be forgotten, in time."
Think about how many genre defining games like Fallout we never got to see because some random higher up thought the general public wouldn't care
Unfortunately that’s a result of any corporate structure in the creation of media. Although I would say less so nowadays with how things are more decentralized nowadays.
General public genuinely doesn't care.
Luckily it also doesn't really exist, it's thousands of different special publics.
Yes there are games that target everyone, but they end up competing with all these other games which leaves them potentially worse off than if they went narrower.
@@SianaGearz Tell that to the ceo's and business investors because almost every game by a major company recently is the most watered down and whored out game ever.
"When was the best time to get started?
- Yesterday.
When's the next best time?
- Today"
I don't remember who said that, but it's been absolutely true in my field of work (marketing). I'm absolutely certain it's the same for games, too :)
That's really cool saying, man. 😎
Yep, sounds like something straight up from the marine corps: "The only easy day was yesterday!".
There's this Chinese proverb. The best time to plant a tree was 15 years ago. The second best time is now.
Do you who are from the area any explanation for the marketing of the apocalypse? That everything is always bad, be it games, movies, economy, policies, food, toys, I always hear this that tim commented, this is ending, this is bad, blabla
@Willpolita Well, negativity sells. We have an in-grained human desire to seek out negativity. Look at your own life - I'm willing to bet that you remember negative experiences much better than positive ones.
This is because our brains are really good at remembering what NOT to do - It's helped us survive from an evolutionary point of view.
Unfortunately, companies (and creators) have learned to take advantage of that - negative headlines, apocalyptic video titles... They all tap into our brain's desire to learn how to protect itself from future negative experiences.
The funny thing about calling BG3 a fluke is you can literally track the games Larian made building up to making BG3 what it was.
Right? It was *far* from a fluke -- people act like its success came out of nowhere, but the very first moments of the game from when it first hit Early Accesss, all the way back in 2020, IIRC, made it abundantly clear (rough as it was) that it was going to be a spectacular game of unprecedented scope and scale... in spite of DOS2, itself, being very nearly unprecedented, too. The writing was on the wall for years, folks just weren't reading it.
@@Netherfly Yeah I first really became a fan of Larian with DOS1 (although I was aware of them before that and had previously played the 360 release of Divinity 2), and you can clearly see the evolution going from DOS1, to DOS2, to BG3. It was a smooth upward trajectory. Those are all basically the same game at their core, but each subsequent release made improvements across multiple systems.
It's probably one of the most hard earned successes gaming has seen in a long time.
What qualifies as niche? XCOM2 has 67,000 reviews on Steam.
Fair, by what I and many others must mean when we say "Fluke" Is more talking about how it gained such mainstream appeal, enough to win multiple game of the year awards. It was always gonna be loved by the CRPG community its just we never thought it would make waves outside of that audience lol.
@@Limis646 Hype train is real
"If you require everything to be perfect, there will never be a good time.." I feel like that's true of most things in life.. Cheers, Sir.
And somehow not being a good moment people will eat more and more idiots for this good moment, I think it explains this marketing of the apocalypse we always hear.
"Something is bad" "This will end" 'this country is at the end "
It is a bad time for games/gamers. Its 10 am on a thursday. Its prime nap time, but we have to work. Horrible time, almost the worse.
They can take our lives, but they cannot take our nap time!
:P
Agree, it sucks having free access to Unreal Engine, Blender, GIMP, and Tim Cain on TH-cam talking about chocolate
I'm still waiting to learn why white chocolate is bad. He needs to make an entire video series on chocolate, I think, before my curiosity will be fully sated.
@@NetherflyWhite chocolate is bad because it isn't dark chocolate, the best kind of chocolate
Unreal Engine is a mixed blessing for gamers though, because on the one hand it makes the development process easier, but on the other hand a lot (but not all) of the games that use it are shockingly unoptimized and run like total crap relative to the level of fidelity they offer up.
coughTheOuterWorldscough
It's a great tool if developers use it right, but most seem not to from what I've actually played.
edit: also I suppose there's the argument that, if devs are using the built in post processing effects that come with the engine, you often end up with a lot of games that look very similar. To the point where I can often identify UE4 games within minutes of playing just based on those effects alone. That's assuming the game doesn't suffer from frequent asset streaming stutter which gives it away first. Or a splash screen obviously lol.
@@Netherflyin the production process white chocolate is technically the byproduct of the main chocolate, doesn't necessarily make it bad but it wasn't originally considered desirable i guess
There are so many better alternatives to GIMP lol
So spot on to remember that things will never be perfect and you have to just go for it.
Things will only get as close to perfection as the modscene will let it
People look more at terrible games & not at great games, the trick is to ignore what games you don't like & embrace what games you love.
99% of big studio games are terrible tho that’s the problem
@@Insanepie Yep, may not be a terrible time for games, it is a time of terrible games.
@@Insanepie
Then ignore the 99% of big studios & look at the good 1% or indie / small game studios.
Is this true? Or are there just “great” games nowadays to not make the terrible so overpowering?
The problem is that it feels like it's all indie or AAA, the number of AA studios have dwindled to the point of near extinction.
hi tim, last night i decided to play fallout 1 for the first time (dont worry this isnt a rant about being filtered by rats) I greatly enjoyed it, and am thankful for you having made it
I wish I could be you, playing it for the first time! It really still is the best intro to the Fallout world.
@theamazingbatboy SAME, this rocks! I wish I could erase my memory and play it again for the first time.
enjoy it , its a blast! no pun intended.
Dont google or look for guide, enjoy the mistery even if you get stuck from time to time.
Just started as well. It's so interesting. Wish I was a kid who'd never seen an adventure like that.
@@meatbleed It was revelatory. Most kids' gaming experience in '96 were genesis=>playstation 1 platformers/brawlers/fighting games. The most grown-up pc games we had were DOOM, Sierra adventure games and (maybe?)Myst and the average RPG was a silly fantasy setting. As a 17-yr-old punk in the late 90's I couldn't believe what I was playing sometimes. It was like someone snuck a dark secret into a commercial store product.
I hear you, I really do. But I also know some insanely talented people who had a job for a year and now are working in warehouses, masters and phd graduates in their field with published siggraph works and a GOTY credit. Out of a job.
I've been trying for twelve years and haven't been able to make over 20k a year. I've been degraded in interviews, and through it all industry leads tell me my concerns and feelings about the industry as a whole lack perspective and a longer time line. And always, the insinuation that this is a meritocracy (and thus I deserve failure) while they tell me stories of having lucked into a job down the street after meeting some guy at a bar, or their college friend had independent seed money.
This isn't the forum for therapy, believe me I've had plenty of it, but I'd like those struggling to know that you aren't alone and it's harder than it ever has been. GDC this year had no career pavilion, every career seminar and networking event reached capacity. You are not alone.
Still, thank you for the video Tim. I know it wasn't the intention to invalidate experiences like mine, nor have you made any insinuations that people like me deserve to fail. I just thought this caveat deserved a little attention.
I can't speak from experience because I wasn't there, but the stories that get shared on this channel are often terrifying to read. I can't say whether or not the industry has gotten worse, but I can say that it seems like it has always been impeded by corporate interests. The fact that this market has always been tumultuous makes me strongly believe that workers should be taking matters into their own hands. Even now, as I'm studying game development, I have no interest in the marketing or industry side of game-making - I just want to make art and learn coding. I'm sorry for your degrading experiences. Capitalism is absolutely not a meritocracy and you deserve to have a fulfilling career.
@@Lichen1 Capitalism is not a meritocracy? That is an interesting assertion. I suppose the argument is that you can't make money without money, and so it's more of an oligarchy than a meritocracy. But the whole idea of capitalism is that if you can find investors who are willing to back you, you can do whatever you want. So maybe the "merit" is whatever the talent or skill is involved in getting yourself in front of investors and convincing them to invest without giving away the farm in the process.
I was involved in running an operation once that afforded people the opportunity to make money giving away phone sim cards - whenever the people they gave sim cards to would "top up," they would make a 10 percent commission. Over 12,000 people signed up for the program. A few hundred made any money at all. A small handful made significant money, and just 2 or 3 people made a lot of money. So 1 in about 2000 or 3000 people made a lot. The people who signed up at all were already a selective bunch, in a way. But the ONLY difference between the people who made nothing and the people who made a lot was amount of effort they put into it. Those 2 or 3 were doing things like selling the sim cards on ebay, and then ordering the cards on behalf of their customers and fulfilling the orders themselves. And putting ads in various odd, small, inexpensive places, and all kind of crazy things like that. You can't suppress such a person. No matter what the barriers are, they just keep trying different things until they eventually win. And they do it even if they aren't really getting rewarded all that much for it and the hope of any significant reward really seems to be slim to none. Those people still pull out all the stops and put a stupid amount of effort forward. Because of those 2 or 3, we made money. We passed go, we collected a paycheck. Just barely. And because of that we were able to pay for all the things that we pay for and. Because of the unbelievable efforts of a tiny few, everyone else was able to put food on the table for another day.
So that whole experience kind of impressed me with the reality that humanity is comprised of thousands of people who.. more-or-less ride the coat tails of the 1 among thousands who actually makes it rain. So oligarchy, to one extent or another, in a free society that allows and rewards the effort that is required to actually make it rain, is more-or-less inevitable, simply because of human nature and the nature of reality.
I'm not a rain maker. Not remotely. I'm a coat tail rider. But thanks to the rainmakers and our capitalist system which allows them to exist and do what they do and make the whole world spin round by doing it, I have a house and a wife and a kid and two cars and two dogs and. I can play a lot of video games.
As a customer my perspective is this, I hate how the AAA industry is run, and I've seen too many good studios and games be devoured by it. so, when it comes to AAA, i do think its a bad time, at least on the customer side, predatory monetization, unfinished games, games being removed from peoples accounts, games getting cancelled and studios shuttered thanks to bad gambling decisions by the publisher, etc. I have a serious chip on my shoulder about this, Prey 2 was cancelled by Bethesda, and Embracers layoffs shuttered Free Radical, who was given a second chance to make Timesplitters 4....and no fault of their own, were shut down because Embracer lost money on a deal. These were games I was very glint eyed about, and it sucks my patience was not rewarded, but punished. As such, I am very cynical towards the traditional publisher model and games budget thats bloated too high, as it usually results in a lot of beurocracy and making the investor the customer and not the player. That is bad and I can't see it any other way.
Thankfully there are tons of smaller budget games and indie titles that remain true to making a good game, and now and then AAA does deliver but it's a coinflip it feels like nowadays. Accessibility(this specifically i mean digital storefronts like GoG and remasters/remakes) and emulators also makes playing retro titles easier, so its a lot i missed out on I can now experience.
Footage of TS4 has emerged. It deserved to have been shut down. It was just a third person Fortnite wantabee. Also AAA isn't a coinflip, it's a 1d100 that only succeeds on natural 100. Virtually **every** AAA title has been an awful broken mess for the past 5 if not 10 years.
Take my points!!
@@kanrakucheese you mean "western AAA" title, last i checked Fromsoftware and Nintendo are doing fine.
@@Ghorda9 No, both removed female from character creation to appeal to the ultra far gone nutjobs. Both now make nothing more than corporate extruded garbage and aren't not worth my time.
Totally in solidarity with you sir!
They told me this at school. 86 ish. They persuaded me to drop computing altogether. I so wish I had a time machine to tell my younger self to ignore the naysayers.
Spot on Tim. Sound advice for the next generation once again. This channel is an absolute godsend. Hats off to you.
I think the only thing that is really hanging over the Games industry is we are staring at the massive loss of old Games either due to a reluctance to allow archiving or just plain loss of hardware. The consolidation of game companies is a big factor in this.
This whole video is basically "Do not cite the dark magic to me witch, I was there when it was written" 😂
I was there too. There was a verifiable golden age of gaming. There was a time when things were pretty damn great. The xbox 360 and ps3 era was a time where great games were coming out left and right. Tell me how many games that are great exclusives that are out for ps5 and xbox series x in comparison to generations before? Not only that but with how games keep coming out completely broken. No one said gaming is dead. Its currently a dark age.
I want to try to apply Tim cains wisdom:
"Arena shooters are dead and nobody will play or make them again"
In honor of my gf, who loves UT/Quake, and has been heartbroken since epic killed the matchmaking servers for the unreleased UT alpha tester last year.
@@SoulbentAnimecry about it. My golden age was the late 90s But the current era is as good as things have ever been.
@raevenrises7595 lmao cry about what? I experienced the golden age of gaming. It's gone but I'm sure as hell glad I experienced it. You missed out if you really believe that haha you're delusional the 90s were great for gaming. But if you think today is great then you're delusional
@@SoulbentAnimeAnd I consider the 360 and PS3 the low point of gaming for me, from when I started in the early 90's.
There were some gems, but that was the era I really had to scrape for games to get excited about, and looking back now there are only a handful that I still hold in high regard.
99% of the games I love came out in generations before and after, and I would still choose the last few years in gaming over that entire generation, even with the negatives that have come with time.
There's so much more variety and options now than during that era, which had become way too homogenized thanks to the rising costs of development and developers struggling to figure out how to cope. It was the era that basically killed the AA game and the indie scene was still in its infancy, so creative and risky ideas were few and far between.
Going on 3 years ago I quit my job as a bouncer to pursue art full time. I started out by painting windows for the holidays then moved on to painting murals and other stuff. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs and sometimes I don’t make enough money but at the end of the day I’m happy. I constantly have people tell me I have to get a real job and that my job is going to be replaced by ai. Sometimes I feel villainized for wanting to do what makes me happy. I’m listening to this while I’m painting a table for a furniture company lol
If you're happy painting then who cares what other people say. The villianization is just the result of corporate propaganda making everyone think you have to be a slave to big companies to "work".
In my country, one of the professions that earns the most money is doctors, they belong to the richest 3% of the country, any doctor without specialization earns 10 times more than a 6/1 job.
No university can open more doctor vacancies without consulting the national medical council, in other words, it is a profession that is monopolized on purpose.
Guess what they are constantly talking about?
"In 5 years they will replace me" "you don't get paid any more than in the past" "give up on being a doctor" ''bad, bad, bad, blah blah".
Good for you for pursuing your dream. But also I've worked as a bouncer.. And I'm trying to figure out why you didn't just do both 😂 but I digress. Hope you find success!
What made you do this? I just want to get your thought process. Do you make income?
@@BigGainer98 Yes I make income... I paint murals in schools on businesses. My last big job was at an army base in Houston.
Anyone who says it's a bad time for gaming (at least as a player) either refuses to look beyond AAA or just has blinders on. It still amazes me how many supposedly hardcore gamers who spend a lot of money on the hobby basically refuse to acknowledge indie games even exist.
EDIT: Given many of the replies, is it any wonder the AAA industry gets away with what it does so easily. Wow.
I can see the argument awhile ago when Indies were essentially all 2d sidescrollers. But now it seems the only innovation comes from Indies.
So you are admitting most AAA games are bad. How is that not a bad thing for the game industry? 🤔
@@kotor610 Indie games haven't been just 2D side scrollers since the early 80s
>just ignore all your favorite franchises going down the shitter
@@Kross415 All AAA films, books, games, music ect is shit and always has been. Popular stuff is made for the lowest common denominator - that's why it's popular.
I'm a game developer fresh out of college in the Philippines, most of my peers share plenty of the cynicism you cited and this video helped motivated me dismiss the discouragement I've felt lately. I appreciate that I'm not alone in still believing to pursuit game development with all the new things we have to deal with. I really needed the confidence boost.
Thank you Tim.
I didn't know you did Aracanum until after I came to your channel. The PC games that shaped my tastes the most were Fallout 1, 2, Tactics, Icewind Dale, and Arcanum. Thanks for the fun childhood, Tim!
It's always a good time for complaining.
From an outside observer perspective, a lot of the issues with the "gaming industry" are similar to issues in other industries. Right now, a lot of the problems with the biggest AAA companies are often issues that any other company of that size and construction are having. As you pointed out, one part of the industry might be having problems, but other parts are doing just fine, thriving, or a getting ready to take off. The indies and smaller publishers are building up momentum everyday and chomping at the bit. The tides are always changing.
Pointing out the indie studios is indicative of the industry though. Years past AAA games were steadily good but now most seem like recycled cash grabs. Coupled with some shady business practices and it's easy to see why people are saying it sucks to be a gamer these days. I used to have no problem spending full price or almost near it for a game. I haven't done than in 8 years and there are few games I've seen in that time I would actually pay full price for.
In terms of ownership of products you pay for, it definitely is particularly terrible time for gamers.
I think the bigger issue with the industry is that these "bad times" seem to be cyclical. It's almost as if the industry isn't willing to learn but instead once the money starts rolling in, the blinders come on and everyone rushes head first into a brink wall. But it's not the captains of the convoys that get hurt. It's everyone else. And on top of that everyone thinks they are the ones to make it big and everyone else are the ones crashing and burning.
it is definitely a bad time for physically owning games
It's always been a bad time for physically owning games. Wear and tear, software being locked to specific hardware and the inevitable failure of said hardware.
@@joeabernathy5402 In fairness, most modern games media today is *far* more durable and resilient to damage than the old CDs and DVDs we had to make due with. I don't think I've ever even *seen* so much as the tiniest scratch on any of my BRDs, and those old flashcarts Nintendo's been using seem practically industructible.
@@joeabernathy5402 embarrassing response, get yourself educated about the real issue op described
@@DarkScreamGames Because "look it up" is such an enlightened rebuttal
@@DarkScreamGames Your embarrassing, what he stated is true. Just because always-online/live-service games are the most talked about point today doesn't disqualify it, especially as older discs fail a lot now due to natural decay.
It is absolutely a terrible time for games, but not due to any of the reasons you listed.
Its a terrible time for games because for the last 10 years we've had multi million (and in some cases multi billion) dollar studios releasing unfinished glitch ridden skeleton games with a 60 dollar price tag.
Half of them take 2 years to complete after they initially launch, and the other half get abandoned. THIS is why its a terrible time for games.
And to be clear, when a small indie dev team releases a game in early access its to be expected. Small team, lower budget, less resources. However when a 'triple A" developer with millions of dollars does it, it just doesnt make sense.
Im genuinely surprised you didnt discuss this in this video. Its exactly why people are saying "its a terrible time for games"
I'm from India and I can't tell you how many times I was told not to get into the industry because "Gamedev is dead in India", and while there's *some* truth to that, it will always remain dead if we don't do anything about it. I still have my relatives tell me that I should do something else on the side or do engineering or something if this doesn't work. And I still hear this while there is tremendous potential and creativity in India.
Right now India is just the "Outsourcing hub" for big tech companies and big AAA game studios, I KNOW that there is potential here to make great games. But I keep hearing the same things again and again and I start to think this is why we don't have a Rockstar, or ubisoft of our own. This defeatist attitude. I'm glad we have games like Raji come out and show the potential of Indian devs.
Yeah, the game industry more or less died in Aus like around 15-20 years ago because most of the game industry in Aus was basically just cheap studios for side projects of AAA studios and some niche sports games studios etc. But with the rise of mobile and indie gaming, we fostered a really healthy gaming industry that is not as big as it could be thanks to government not understanding that they should invest more into games, but it is a lot more viable industry now and it was all made with the efforts of people starting from scratch and coming together.
A lot of people now are turning away from AAA studios, for many reasons, including the countless microtransactions, rushed games, buggy releases referred to as actual releases, etc. This is why the indie/small developer is now taking center stage, and has been for a number of years, as have modders.
Proud of you! thank you for the inspiration
I'm taking my Indian inspiration from Vandana Shiva these days. Yep. India is far from the "outsourcing hub" the Great Vampire Squid obviously sees the country as, just as the British Empire did before it, and Indians such as Vandana Shiva plan to keep it that way.
Western nations ignore obvious attempts at assimilation as opposed to integration at their own peril...obviously.
I must be talking to different people, because I haven't heard anyone cite the layoffs as the end of the industry, or a reason not to get into it, but it is definitely a very terrible and rough time for people working in it. I myself just graduated from a game development program, and the current state of the industry does worry me. I know it's not a permanent situation, but it is still a bad one.
The layoffs are more a problem with public company executives being trend chasing fools. Not really a gaming industry specific issue.
@@MGMan37 no, but in the context of the video the gaming industry is currently undergoing major layoffs, that's what prompted the discussion lol
As a game dev and musician I've heard the same thing in both industries, meanwhile there continues to be some of the best music and games being made. I truly believe we're in the middle of an arts renaissance that has no signs of slowing. The problem is discoverability, people have to seek the good stuff out, which has likely always been the case. Those who complain about the state of things are missing out
Now AI can do music better than most, so better be ready... So we're not getting anything better now.
@@ggadams639 this isn’t true lol, AI music sucks and what most people like about music is the human experience of it, something AI can never do
People complain that games are not as good as they used to be, but 2023 was the year with most 90+ rated games of the last decades. Same with music as you said, i keep hearing some genres are dead but i always find a lot of good artists and great albums in that category...
Oh, 1000%. There's more art being produced now than at any other point in human history -- by several dozen orders of magnitude. The sheer quantity out there -- with more coming out every day -- can make it exceptionally difficult to find, well, anything.
Sometimes, often, I wonder just how many Tolstoys and Rachmaninoffs and Kojimas are out there, toiling away in obscurity, lost in the infinitely-expanding milieu.
It’s definitely true when it comes to the music industry. If games industry continues the way it’s going, we’ll be getting the video game equivalent of Lil Nas X and Drake sooner or later.
when people say that "turn based games are not profitable" i always have to laugh because, for a very long time now, the most profitable media franchise of ALL TIME (Pokemon) is primarily a turn based RPG.
But of course, that's just an exception to the rule. Because as we all know, Baldur's Gate 3, Undertale, Persona 3/4/5, Yakuza 7, Dragon Quest 11, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Shin Megami Tensei V, all the Paper Mario games, and Omori all infamously sold only 0 copies.
I only ever really hear that kind of thing coming from Square-Enix executives (at least inside the industry). And Square-Enix execs are kind of (in)famous for being *desperately* out-of-touch.
What is even "profitable" to people anymore? I'm pretty sure less known turn based rpgs sell pretty good, maybe not to become a millionaire but enough to make a living
That is true. But taking a real time franchise and turning it turn based really rubbed me the wrong way. There are some turn based game i enjoy (xcom and jagged alliance and fallout!), but imagine if Half Life 3 is third person or Anno became a combat rts or God of War became a first person.
X-Com is probably the worst turn-based game ever! /s
@@Zombie1Boy If X-com 2 was so good where is X-com 3?
No seriously, Firaxis, where is X-com 3? We're still waiting.
People don't make the inference that it's not a bad time for GAMES, when it's a time for GAMERS, because of bad GAME COMPANIES.
And some of these companies lose focus for the sake of shareholders and corporate.
It's a terrible time in general.
Definitely. But when was it not terrible? Lol.
Wow, I am shocked that any person anywhere has ever said any of those things. I don't understand how people even exist who think it's okay to discourage people from doing something they're passionate about. That is absolute insanity. Thank you for not listening to them!!
I do think there are some valid concerns:
- The always online, digital only trend will make it very hard to keep these games from disappearing once the publisher/dev decides that it is no longer profitable to run them.
- And the number of horrendous "triple A" games, in terms of quality and monetisation, is also very sad to see.
But these issues won't stop passionate people from making great games.
Yes, there's some grain of truth that games have declined over the years. Even the comments here prove it with the people saying stop playing AAA titles. Isn't that the point of having AAA games? They're supposed to be good
@@MisterMick113 AAA has increasingly been nothing but marketing. I can recall a number of big controversies from 10 years ago. TotalBiscuit, bless his soul, was the biggest gaming consumer advocate that I know of being active back then. He criticized AAA games plenty, but still got a lot of blow back for it. His concerns definitely got validated in my opinion.
@@MisterMick113 AAA refers to the budget of games, not the quality. Big budget games will always take less risks and follow established trends.
As a consumer it is probably the worst time it has been for actualy owning content. There are a lot of good things about modern gaming, massive improvements, the tradeoffs are pretty big and its just getting worse.
There's still a lot of room for plausible and achievable improvement.
You could literally say that about anything at any time. That's a meaningless statement.
@@Wobbothe3rdwhat was the last game that released that had a working mirror? ps2 games have working mirrors… the industry has managed to regress… thats bad.
It’s not a meaningless statement when the industry has moved backwards
@@Wobbothe3rd Why would you not want things to get better? What the fuck even is this reply lol.
@@Wobbothe3rdso do nothing because it's true? Thats why studios can release half baked games these days
Probably thanks to the Fallout show I just recently found your channel. Your videos have been a delight, but also: Fallout, Arcanum, and Bloodlines? Dang, thank you for working on some of my all-time favorite games!
I don't think everything going digital is the end of the industry. It is terrible for preservation though. Its great that fans have come together and saved stuff from the Wii and 3DS store but it really sucks that all that history can just be turned off. Ubisoft not only shuttered the servers on The Crew but physically yanked copies of it off people's catalogues meaning even fans can't save it. We've always legally been using a licence to play games rather than owning them but in a time of physical media that was at least somewhat of a moot point. It feels like the law really needs to catch up on this.
I appreciate that that's not the context or content of this video. Its just a shame that a medium that i think is finally being recognized as art is losing so much of its past. Even bad games are part of the building blocks of everything we love. So many games that i played back as a kid in the late 80's simply aren't around. Maybe as I've got older its something that bothers me more. I know Microsoft has just set up a preservation division but that's obviously going to have a commercial imperative. Its great that so many people who love the gaming space are finally getting engaged with this subject more, and I guess the realization that games you love can just evaporate is sharpened by the loss of physical. It's not really the switch that bothers me, its the cultural loss associated with it.
"that which was, shall be and there is nothing new under the sun..." Just stumbled across your channel and loving hearing the stories and wisdom. Keep the great content coming sir!
One thing people forget: there will always be new kids
Except it even worse remember gen alpha/ipad kids
I love the unbridled optimism of these vids. I can turn on any tv channel, go to any YT channel, and hear 'bad bad evil doom' 24/7. Wish more people were like Mr Cain. I just wanna give him a big ol hug after these vids 🤗.
Crabs in a bucket mentality. Optimism is a superpower.
Not entirely. The arcade market did crash and the consoles market did crash. People lost their jobs, man-- they weren't just being "negative." But as Tim said, things bounced back and evolved in an interesting way as a result. But--- TBH, it *is* always a bad time for at least some people in the industry *because* it's a highly competitive, high overhead and low profits industry without unions or guilds which would, such as in the film industry, protect workers. There's reason to be optimistic that there will always be amazing, innovative games, but let's not lose track of the really real challenges that most devs face. As Gramsci said, pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.
optimism will un-fire the over 10,000 humans who were layed off in the industry in the past 1.5 year? optimism will make bobby kotick, andrew wilson, strauss zelnick, yves guillemot, all the other CEOs, whove never even considered how coding a game or designing an asset works, a better human being? i agree. optimism is nice enough. im not being pessimistic though. im being realistic. this practice of constant growth *IS* bad. its unsustainable. its not a terrible time for games. its just a terrible time for the AAA gaming industry.
@@maymayman0 Nah, if you were being realistic you'd realize that those 10k humans found other jobs. You'd realize that a terrible time for AAA games is a boom to small-mid sized companies. Booms and busts are absolutely sustainable. They have been for centuries. It's more important that you remain flexible in your industry than go around doomering about things that never play out the way you predict.
@@drockopotamus1and yet you have idiots like yandere dev and phil fish
Honestly I love the ending of this video. I recently left my previous role because of some really toxic stuff happening and was pretty bummed about it. I decided to strike out and I've formed my own company (hoping to focus on games mostly, with some other stuff too), and I have been a bit nervous about whether I'll regret it.
Your point about people regretting the things they don't try really hit a chord with me. Thanks for the video ❤
You’re right regarding the dev point of view, but from a consumer prospective it’s getting extremely stale. Every new game is just an open world (without the need for it) “rpg” (has a shitty skill tree, no actual choices) with 4.99 dlcs ( it’s an armor and a new horse). They’re all boring, they don’t take any kind of risk and feel like they were designed by a committee that had to follow a checklist. Maybe it’s because games are getting more expensive and it’s no longer worth it to risk it with innovative ideas, but it’s pretty tiring to play the equivalent of marvel movies.
Edit: also, many times they make the campaign something like 120 hours WITHOUT THE NEED FOR IT. They just fill it with boring fetch quests/clear a meaningless dungeon/ collect x of such item just because they think that this way people will think paying 70 dollars for it is worth it since they get “more game”.
This mentality is honestly just needed in life but in the workplace especially. Everyone is always so quick to blame the economy or society or some other external factor. Waiting for everything to be perfect will take a long time! Optimism is a hell of a thing. Loved the video Tim
No offence intended. It's definitely nothing personal and waiting for the state of human affairs to improve very likely would prove a lifelong wait for budding game developers as well as everyone else. Tim is absolutely right about that. Part of the problem with our "thinking" today, however, is the worldview that everything and everyone, up to and including Nature herself, is some factor utterly "external" to us: a mere object. Ergo, the idea that we live in "an environment," as though the Earth herself were an inanimate object, and why the corporate imperative to privatize everything, supposedly "internalizing" profit and "externalizing" loss, increasingly along with any and all costs of doing business. (This dynamic, of course, some call "socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor" and not without reason, but politics as practiced today is not likely to solve the central "issue", which lies in human consciousness itself, as I see it.) It's not just "bailouts" of the "too big to fail" with public money that is propping up 'Democracy, Inc.' at this point, with thanks to Sheldin Wolin for the image. What he termed "inverted totalitarianism" is no longer a spectre, if it ever was, imo, when even formerly governmentally administered programs are being handed off to private corporations, e.g. massive health insurance companies, and government agencies designed to protect the public from predatory business practices have been defanged to the point that they've become little other than arbitrators between singular individuals and powerful corporations. These are but symptoms of the dis-ease from an aperspectival "point of view", however, and not the dis-ease itself.
It's a worldview that is changing at what might seem like a snail's pace to us. An awful lot of people seem to thiink they can accelerate the process and/or have fallen into fatalism and despair, but it is changing and has been for quite some time. 'The Overview Effect' is in full effect today and, no doubt, facilitating the process, but no one of us is in control of it. It's not something that can be forced, imo. The interested might want to check out the short film by that name, if they haven't already, for context. My preferred treatment, of course, is Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee's film, Earthrise, and astronaut, Edgar Mitchell's, quote about 'The Overview Effect' just so happens to be among the most profound, imo, like it or not.
I knew better than to hope that Starfield would be about or allude to 'The Overview Effect' in any way. From what I hear, learning about what fictionally led to Earth's demise in Starfield is the one thing players have found most interesting about it and the present obsession with spaceflight and exploration itself has been captured by corporate interests, e.g. Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. The video game, Prey (2017), developed by Arkane Studios is about as close as we've come in the medium to imagining what corporate capture could mean for the future of space travel, humanity and the planet, imo, the "blowback effect" also being in full effect.
Somewhat agree but I also recognize that there may be some normalcy bias. Truth is we really don't know where things will go. What is unquestionably true is that this is the best time there has ever been to be a "gamer" and I haven't even touched a new "triple A" game in probably a decade. Mostly play old stuff and occasionally indie but I'm so awash in games I'd like to play that I'll only ever be able to experience an infinitesimally tiny slice of it all in my lifetime.
Hey Tim, my heart skipped a beat when you mentioned arcanum. I know its not your most successful game but this was my favourite game growing up and im so thankful for your part in this.
Totally with you on this Tim. It's very much the same with music, particularly the "They don't make music like they used to" brigade. I'm nearly 70 and I remember my mum telling me nobody would remember the Rolling Stones in 10 years. To give her credit she wasn't quite so sure about the Beatles. Whatever, this is all about a combination of rose tinted nostalgia spectacles (nothing can ever beat the first good music you listened to or the first good games you played as a kid) and Survivor Bias (for every record the Stones or the Beatles or Led Zep put out there were 100 others nobody can remember now).
If you make a kickarse game then players will find it and play it. It don't matter what style of game it is, the genre that gamers are always looking out for is called "kickarse". "Nobody plays RPGs or TB games any more". Yeah, right. Nobody plays BG3, do they.
The big issue with BG3 it that is wasn't commissioned and led a by a suit, it was commissioned and led by Sven Venke. No suit would ever have commissioned a BG3, not in a million years. Josh Sawyer half jokingly tweeted "Can some give me $120m to make PoE3 please?" on BG3's release. If anyone at Microsoft had any brains they'd do exactly that. But they won't. 'Cos they're suits.
Go turn on top 40 and tell me music is as good as ever.
@@Mattened Dunno, man. If this one had come out in 1974 it would have blown minds right, left and center. Of course given the lyric it couldn't have, but that perhaps is the point th-cam.com/video/4GppXftC9Yc/w-d-xo.html
There is no way music today is as good or better than that of the past. The reason you think it is is because it's psychologically designed to be catchy. We see it in games too, they've created live service games and an environment where people can be addicted to games and dedicate their lives to them. It's the same concept with music today, they hook you at a subliminal level so you end up with the song stuck in your head. Theres also a lot of sampling of older songs as well as covers these days. Yes, I'm aware it's happened in the past too, but it's more prevalent today.
I think when people tell you this, "Don't do this, it''s risky, it's not gonna work out, this is a bad time", they do not speak to you. They voice their own reason not to do it.
The only thing that is in real trouble right now are the absolutely massive games that cost a fortune to make, take very long to make and need to sell 5 million+ to break even (and let us not overlook the fact there is way too much focus on the first three months of sales).
My biggest concern with games is that players are incentivized to wait for sales and patches: games these days often improve a lot over the first six months, get cheaper and then you have expansions that players can wait for some kind of Definitive Edition. I wish there was a way around it, I used to buy games on release but I've been burned too much, I almost always wait a year to get a better game and for (sometimes) a lot cheaper.
I feel the same way. Last game I paid full price near release for a game was RDR2. I pick up everything on sale now, especially since it seems like studios don't really have the game in a finished state until months or a year later. That and the other shady business practices like season passes and exclusive content like in SW outlaws makes people feel like this is a bad time for gaming. There's some bright spots with indie developers but if AAA studios are mostly crappy then that says something about the industry as a whole.
I think that part of the problem of this massive games costing fortunes is mismanagement, they dont have a clear vision for the product besides chasing whales and then put more money in marketing than in making a good game. BG3 is something that i can point out for comparison, what Larian achieved with much less money than others big AAA studios can tell something about how bad these others manage the game development.
I also think there's a genuine technical bottleneck right now. Even if a developer diligently playtests a game, vettes the plot and play mechanics and does everything 'right', what do you expect to happen when a new game hits a gazillion users at once (pre-order making that even worse)? If there is anything new or innovative in the code or gameplay, it's gonna break. Unavoidable. Indies seem to get more patience to work this out over time, but AAA studios are understandably expected to do better.
This is the first time in 3 months (at least!!!) that I see your video in my feed. YT one day decided that I don't want to see you anymore.
Your videos are apart of my bedtime ritual now. Gn everyone
There is always a reason to critique and fix the state of things, too. You have to acknowledge what is actually bad about the process and do your best to make things better.
You and your comment are valid and loved.
In my experience, in the creative professions especially, you create your own niche. We're used to thinking of it as demand creating supply, but it's often the other way around. If there is a supply, especially if it's become so rare that only you do it at a high level anymore, people will want it.
Many of Tim’s videos are so great because they actually extend far beyond the lens of games. A big takeaway for life is don’t be so anxiety filled about what the herd is always thinking. Don’t completely ignore it, but take it with a grain of salt and be true to yourself. often times people come back around only to realize what you wanted to do was a great idea and then act like the original thought never existed. I’ve heard this with everything including
- where to live
- what the next “it” job will be
- the type of diet you should have
- how to get ahead in life
Blah blah blah.
Hi Tim, it's me, representing everyone.
Second that.
Tim, what you described as bad times for the game industry are actually bad times. But it being a bad time for the game industry doesn't mean the industry is dead - it means it's going through problems or challenges, or trying to rebound from huge mistakes.
I understand devs talking about it being a bad time since it's now harder to find a job. But when I see gamers talking that "it's bad" I'm like... dude, just stop playing only AAA games. Gaming (for audience) were never so good. So many amazing games literally coming out every month. Again - unless you're only playing AAA titles.
It's hard to find a job anywhere.
New generations are facing the fact that there's too many people that need money that are bieng hired by people with too much money that want to give less and less while getting more and more.
The fact you have to say "don't okay AAA games" is indicative of the industry going downhill. Some of us are old enough to remember when yoy wouldn't have to say that
@@jorgeloredo100 It's easier to find a job now than at basically any point in the past lol.
It really is. I see no point in investing in the current generation of gaming.
At least we have 40 years worth of solid games to hold us over.
"If you require everything to be perfect. There will never be a good time"
That's going on my list of quotes.
4:35 A friend of mine when I told him that I had put 250 hours into BG3: "Turn based is boring and old though." I said, you must try it. We play together now.
"Kids these days."
"That ISN'T Music."
I could go on. But great points.
That's why I only listen to praise for Apollo on the Greek Kithara.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
When I listen to slipknot
My neighbors do to
I just want to let you know how happy I am that your message is out there. That people are listening to you and I believe can and will achieve more with your wisdom. Thank you for all the good times in your inventive creations, and thank you again for what you do today.
There are many amazing games out there, there has never been so many different games for different players as they are now. That being said, I see two major issues:
1 Bad practices in gaming - so many games now try to get players addicted to, get more money from them, micro transactions, selling incomplete products etc (SW Outlaws where apparently players will be charged extra for ‘bonus’ mission) - certainly in case of AAA games this feels much more common compared to let’s say 90s
2 Incompatibility / unavailability of older games - that’s a real worry for me and will only become worse as more games require online connectivity / client server model. Many online games are already unavailable because the companies who made them are no longer supporting the servers or even went bankrupt in some cases. People might say who cares - but imagine how much worse off we’d all be if the same was happening to music, literature, paintings or movies. Or even architecture. Imagine the world where all of a sudden, Mona Lisa, Van Gogh’s / Rembrandt’s paintings, Mozart’s music, Alien, Matrix, Terminator etc. all became unavailable all of a sudden. That’s happening to games and with time, it will only become worse
Agreed, I'll also add that there are some soft scams in place too, more so with gamepass and it's tiering system and the interface with that. I know on playstation if you want to cancel your ps plus subscription you have to go into your settings and then navigate through a few menus to finally find where you can cancel it. Sony also only has options for yearly subscriptions, they used to do one and three month periods as well. The people who point at the variety of games and try to say it's the best time for gaming ignore the shady practices companies engage in within their games. I think one of the biggest issues is you have the businessmen running the show and the only focus is on making money, there's almost no heart in making games at larger studios anymore. That also plays into the bad practices you mentioned
I started making my first crappy lil game 5 months ago, and I'm having a blast! As you say, if I had waited for the perfect timing, I might never have learned how to code or make pixel art or design UIs. And I might never have realized just how much fun I was missing out on.
By the way, your channel is one of my favorites to listen to while I'm pushing pixels around on the screen. Thanks for all the insights and stories and spot on advice!
As I've observed political discourse, I think we have always lived in uncertain times.
Thanks for the pep talk Tim! I'm trying to make my own Tabletop RPG. I feel your videogame advice and insight still helps me think of questions about my game that I hadn't thought of.
It’s not exactly a good time for games is it… all the big studios suck… just because the industry isn’t going to die doesn’t mean it’s not a shit time for games
Exactly, I think thats the point a lot of people are missing. AAA studios are still part of the industry so if you say don't look at them, indie games are doing just fine, thats still indicative of an issue with AAA studios. And that's what a lot of people play and want to play, not the hundred indie rouguelike games out there. Granted, there are good indie games that aren't like that, but that doesn't change the fact that the popular studios and games have declined
There are amazing AAA games being made: BG3, Yakuza , HellDivers 2, GTA 6, Elden Ring, GOW. You're just always going to find something to cry about when you're either sheltering yourself from the good products or living with rose-tinted glasses on.
@@vilifieddimensions7248 Haven’t played bg3 yet, idk anyone who’s played Yakuza, Helldivers installs malware onto your PC, GTA 6 isn’t out. It’s true Rockstar have a perfect track record with single player games but a looot of the OG’s left after rdr2 including lead writer/co-founder, Elden Ring is one of my favourite games and GOW 5 is genuinely the most boring game I have ever played it actually pissed me off so much when I played it I hate that game so much
@@vilifieddimensions7248 Most of your list are "AA" games.
Maybe I had corn in my ears, but I don't remember anyone saying gaming was bad or it was a bad time to get into game development in the 90s, or the 2000s.
I feel like the indie scene is bigger than it's ever been, and that's good, but each time there is a new undertale, lethal company, or battlebit remastered ect, the same thing happens.
Everyone loves them, plays the hell out of them, but PLEADS with big devs to take notes and start makes more experiences people want to enjoy.
More single player, no always online, no live service, and more classic grounded approaches to multiplayer.
I know you have a dim view on people criticizing "creatives" but the flip side of that is devs feeling emboldened to tell gamers what they REALLY want despite being told otherwise, painting gamers with a wide brush so they can dismiss them as bigots, then using their public accounts linked to the company they work for to spout their own bigotry and abuse on their customers.
We're out here dropping 70-120 dollars on a single game, then having 5-30 dollar in game purchases dangled in front of our faces after the fact.
Big companies are scooping up smaller studios, then dissolving them, sitting on old IPs and letting them rot, not to mention the 1000s of layoffs we keep hearing about every week or so now.
It aint lookin too good.
But for creatives, the answer seems more and more leaning toward independent work, though it would be quite difficult for a beginner hoping to be the next smash hit when the barrier to entry is lower than it's ever been to get into development as a hobby.
Doesn't mean you shouldn't try if you're passionate about it.
Every game now feels like a CTRL-C, CTRL-V.
You're old and a fool
Expand your horizons man.
@Souldestroy199 grass isn't always greener
I love your videos so much. You're such a wonderfully insightful and storied individual. A wealth of wisdom.
It's a terrible time for games... that are half-@ssed products with bloated budgets developed by soulless corporations looking to make maximum profits from the consumers who are still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
For indie games and actual passionate creators however? It's just the beginning.
In general it the end
I’ve been wanting to get back into my art stuff recently and these vids really have helped to push me to actually do it. I don’t care if I ever make any money off my art although I have already made a little bit(not much at all like maybe $200 but it was more the person wanted to help me out and get me more art supplies) but After watching these vids I really can’t wait to start painting again and maybe even set up a stand to try and sell some stuff someday. Mush love🍄🖤☮️
The literal idea of "Back in my day, things were so much better." And they weren't. They really weren't.
I've been a software engineer since the 1990s, I've done very well for myself. My daughter trained as an architect and she is now an interior designer for a video game. They aren't going anywhere. "AI will take your coding job" is the latest warning I get.
As far as I know, it's only Rockstar recruiting building architects but it shows where the industry is heading.
Gaming has never been better. Anyone who had to configure their SoundBlaster could tell you this.
Remember, IRQ7 is also used by the printer! And don't forget your custom QEMM386 boot disks.
It is easier to enjoy games, that doesn't necessarily make good games or bad games. You have the choice to play good games, though that weren't made with the "modern audience"™ in mind. I mean those two people who enjoy ugly females and marxist ideology.👍
How so? Its shit woke politics all over
@@CadugamingCry harder about diversity old man.
@@Cadugaming
Honey please, adults are taking.
Hi Tim,
Yes, there are always layoffs, but I’ve never seen in this bad. There have been over 17000 layoffs in the games industry in the last year and a half. I was just laid off myself, and the job market is in the worst shape I’ve ever seen.
I don’t think the games industry is going to die but I think the current situation is going to drive a lot of people away. In the last 14 years I’ve had 10 jobs and 5 international relocations. There’s no way to make long term plans, start a family, etc. If game design was valued in other industries, this would be my cue to tap out.
Just get out now, go back to school. I went back to school in ME in my late thirties, now 50% of resumes get interviews compared to 30-1 callback ratio as an experienced 3d artist. I wish I had done it in my early 30s, and the places to get hired are way cheaper than hub cities.
I love games industry, it has great moments great friends, but being a man and having a family it's basically impossible. My LinkedIn is a bloodbath with friends getting laid off.
Ofc I love Tim, but it's partially survivorship bias.
@@aintnomeaning Wait so what kind of working are you getting as a 3D artist now if you were doing the games industry before?
I found this video strangely motivational and got the urge to send it to a lot of my co-workers who seem to have swiftly adopted the "X is dead" mindset. Thank you, Tim!
2023 was one of the best years for gaming ever, Baldur's Gate 3, RE4 Remake, Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2 etc.
A year comprised entirely of sequels and remakes lacks creativity.
@@TT92348 baldur's gate 3 may be a sequel but that doesn't take away how good the game is. There's a LOT of creativity within it, dnd gives people such a free range to tell so many different stories within the main quest.
@@TT92348 Who cares if it's a sequel or a remake, as long as the game is fun I'm playing it
Wow 4 games, 1 of which is a remake anyway and a bunch of sequels. Compare how many great games came out last year to the games that came out in 2006 and you'll realise how much of a joke it is right now.
@@TT92348you're straight up lying if you're claiming all of the major games of 2023 were just sequels and remakes. 2023 rwally was an amazing landmark year for original AAA titles.
Wolfenstein 3d was a "remake" of an older 80s game, btw, but no sane person would have argued it wasn't original and new as a game. Every year of gaming in the 90s had sequels and remakes too.
It is a terrible time for gamers, at least for those that still value the big-budget, mainstream AAA titles and the companies that produce them. It's much better for those of us who've just given up on that segment of the market getting better again and just play old and indie games now.
Mostly old or pirated
I am so glad turn based games still has a player base
it has many newcomers thanks to baldur's gate 3
90% of indie games are turn based lmao
me too! honestly, i've always hated turn based games (it's why i've never played fo1 and 2) but i would hate to see them go. a lot of people get a lot out of them and it would be really sad if they lost that.
One of the biggest problem in the modern world is people forget how good it is. Everyone is always down on everything. I swear since around 2000 you will always fine people screaming that the sky is falling. Games, News, doesn't matter the subject. "All the great writers are dead." Everyone is always saying we are in a downward spiral, and yet the truth it the opposite. We are constantly rising and yet some people are constantly bitching.
You know what? We got it pretty good, across the board. Do bad things happen? Sure. Is it the end? Nothing ever ends.
Every time someone says this, I roll my eyes. We are so spoiled for choices in this era of gaming, you can't spit without stumbling over a number of great titles.
Maybe it's a bad time for games because we no longer have freedom to play through our backlogs?
What choices of new releases do we have? Either a broken and boring AAA game, a remake or a indie 2D rouge like… that’s literally all of the 2023 new releases
@@InsanepieI agree. The indie space has excellent tittles but they are usually shorter. We just don’t want to have to wait 15 years for another elder scrolls or fallout. That’s what we want lol
I remember back when CRPGs just... didn't exist. Now there are so many I literally don't have the time to play even half of 'em.
@@Insanepie Look at some of the Japanese stuff coming out. Lots and lots of great stuff.
@@geek593Problem is that the Japanese developers tend to market more towards a Japanese audience, so Americans or people from other countries can be turned off by Japanocentric games. Aka the problem is that AA dev studios outside of Japan are nearly extinct these days.
Hi Tim. I respect your point of view and your videos are always super nice to watch. I'm not 100% convinced though. I was a kid in the 90's so maybe it always been like this but when i read game/tech press, it's all about poor salaries, crunch-based policies, harassment, toxic behavior and so on... But I'm way too lazy to work in game industry anyway.
And thank you very much for your work on Fallout, one of my favorite RPGs ever (with Final Fantasy VII and Baldur's Gate 3)
Go look at the number of new successful AAA IP launching in 2007/2008 and compare to now. Hell even Nintendo hasn’t launched a successful new IP since 2015.
Sometimes, when it;s a "terrible time", it's the BEST time. I started my business in January 2009. This year, we started with more under ontract than we did all of last year. the bad times opened doors for me that wouldn't have been opened in better times.
"This too, shall pass."
Thanks for the motivational message of the video, I'm currently working on my first game, as a completely solo developer, I do it for fun, and I'm having that fun.
After +10 years of learning different skills, now I'm in a point where I feel I can make my game completely solo, and I'll try my best, and if someone else enjoys it, that will make my day.
Not making it for money.
I mean late 90s and 2000s games are absolutely destroying modern day games is quite concerning, modern games that are almost 150gbs with basic content and not detailed like the games that release almost 20+ 30 years, it's like we lost the technology to make games that content filled and detailed, people who argue that on why games are taking up storage is because of the graphics, I'd rather have a game filled with content then pretty graphics, and live service has destroyed the industry.
Sorry but how is this in any way true?
Tim come on, the golden age is behind us you know it.
When people say that games are dying, what they really mean is "there are no games catering to my extremely niche preferences"
2024 is looking to be a banger year with Palworld, Helldivers 2, LAD Infinite Wealth, FF7 rebirth, Tekken8, GBF Relink, Unicorn Overlord already released. Elden ring dlc, Metaphor refantazio also scheduled for release this year. Some indie games im looking out for are Streets of Rogue 2, Rabbit&Steel, Hades2 and 33 Immortals.
We have more options in videogames than ever before.
Name a good game please 🥱
He just did pay attention kiddo@@purples2765
Is it supposed to be a good thing that games just copy each other and don't try to be unique mechanically?
Ah yes, the very niche genre of "stop companies from fucking over their customers and exploiting their workers".
What does it matter if a genre is niche?
Clearly there's enough people into said niches who'll pay for niche games and make it a profitable venture.
In my view a big problem with the gaming industry is that so many consider mass appeal as a primary goal.
Someone once said that when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
Don't be afraid to cater to niche groups of gamers.
It is genuinely a bad time for games when there is only one Studio who has made a great game in about a decade definitely within the last 5 years, and it isn't Larian. Larian did something that RPG gamers have been BEGGING for forever. We want branching narratives, and they did that, and while on release the follow through wasn't quite there, they actually gave gamers that one thing they've been wanting, and SURPRISE people loved them for it. Of course they're hated for all the DEI, but they're loved for that.
So what is the one studio Warhorse. Kingdom Come Deliverance, in spite of the flaws because as any reasonable person nothing is "perfect" and it was a new studio with a small team. However that game was the greatest game of ALL time. There hasn't been one made like it since. In "a women's lot" they expanded on the dialog which made things better. Now we're looking at the sequel coming out. Are people excited for the new Starfield DLC? No. Are people still interested in Starfield? No. Are people hyped about fallout 76? No. People are angry with the latest update to the Fallout 4 game, and that game was fairly mediocre. I would rate it as an "ok" game and with mods we can bang it into a buggy, but good game.
Lets look at the latest final fantasy game. It's beautiful, but the story sucks, it is complete garbage. The characters have been rewritten to be unlikable. Specifically they have made Aerith and Yuffie completely insufferable, and Tifa unlikable. Cait Sith was cool, but then the whole party treats him like garbage. Of course since the party is unlikable Cait only looks better. Also the battles would have been better if they were turn based.
RDR 2, Dragon's Age Inquisition, and the Witcher 3 were all good games as well. RDR 2 and Witcher 3 were fairly on par with each other with RDR 2 edging it out a little bit because of the little things like being able to walk into a theater and even be incorporated in an event in very natural ways. Assassin's creed Black Flag had a good feature and that was your ship and fishing, and it was a lot of fun to do those things, but that's not what the game was about, and now it's over a decade later and the game that was intended to be made around that feature got devolved substantially into live action garbage. Never every studio that I have mentioned either by game or directly with the exception of Warhorse, and I'll throw in Iron Tower Studios. All other devs who have made good games 5-10 years ago have no plans of making a good game ever again. They have no plans to focus on making a good game. Their focus is DEI. Their focus is political. The heads of their departments don't care. The CEOs don't care. The investors don't care. They just want to push out trash and the mobile market only makes things worse.
Inspiring and very helpful, I have been dragging my feet so much, started a little minigame 4 months ago, finished it, but then just stopped working, never published it or reworked the artwork or converted it to a desktop app, idk why I just stopped. Maybe I felt overwhelmed or scared, either way, getting back to it asap
The layoffs aren't good.
But we literally just got BALDURS GATE 3. It's still winning awards. It's that New
Lies of P. Still fresh, still winning awards. New game developer making a great game off the rip. In a category that you have to live up to FROM SOFTWARE.
The fallout games recently had 5 million players playing. Interest in video games are at an all time high.
It's not a rut.
I’m so glad you’re making these types of videos ❤
Hey Tim! My friends and I are brainstorming game ideas in GODOT. Roguelike spinoffs in the ilk of 'Dwarf Fortress adventure mode' and 'Risk of Rain '. You had a unique name for the pseudo isometric graphical 2d perspective that Fallout 1/2 and Arcanum were coded in? Some form of skewed trimeric perspective? Resources are so abundant these days it's trivial to start a project, yet I was curious about the details of design decision for the graphical perspective you and your team decided on for those games. (You already mentioned it in another video? But I can't find it! If anyone else remembers.. re-enlighten me please) :)
I believe it’s called cavalier oblique projection, apparently.
It's just isometric but with hexagon tiles instead of square tiles.
@@realbillyb That's it! Thanks :)
It's a great time for old games 😅
I'm glad I saw it, because after reading the title I was thinking about abandoning my over two-year-old project...
cheaters in all multiplayer games kills gaming for me
That's on objective skill issue buddy. Not because you're losing to a hacker,but because you let it ruin your interest
@@MrJemoederopeenstokj Yeah, he should've just installed cheats of his own to combat the cheaters. Yet here he is throwing in the towel 🙄
@@The_Endless_Now Nope, not at all, but you definitely should have tried to think a little harder before posting.
There's a million games out there, letting cheaters put you off gaming as a whole is dumb as hell. You can always find something new to play if you make an effort.
@@MrJemoederopeenstokj Nah, trolling shouldn't involve thinking hard. The whole point of trolling is to get people riled up without even trying
☠
Should've titled it "It's a terrible time for the gaming industry" instead, 'cause it's pretty clickbaity as is (good on you for baiting my click I guess). Was really lookin forward to hear how good live services are and how dark patterns are the best thing in the world. It would be nice to hear that things won't get any worse for consumers. :^)