AgentBirdnest: Yes... very lovely. I may ask this cold to marry me in a few days :-)
Hopefully that is the cause of your toothache. I've had a couple of toothaches myself since my cold started. I'm always reluctant to take any medicine for it, but I finally caved tonight :-p

AgentBirdnest: Yes... very lovely. I may ask this cold to marry me in a few days :-)
Hopefully that is the cause of your toothache. I've had a couple of toothaches myself since my cold started. I'm always reluctant to take any medicine for it, but I finally caved tonight :-p
AgentBirdnest: Thanks! Much appreciated :-)
The medication cessation sensation that's sweeping the nation calls for a celebration! My mind continues to feel great, but I still have troubles from the withdrawals. My twitchy fingers never rest. The ringing in my ears is finally starting to take short breaks, which I am quite happy about :-) ... Sleep is still quite difficult, but slowly getting better. Hopefully these symptoms will be gone in another month or two, or at least improve to the point of being unnoticeable... but no regrets at all, I'm feeling wonderful!

Couldn't agree more. That lovely little bird makes grown men weep with her delicious chocolate :-)

AgentBirdnest: Thanks! Much appreciated :-)
The medication cessation sensation that's sweeping the nation calls for a celebration! My mind continues to feel great, but I still have troubles from the withdrawals. My twitchy fingers never rest. The ringing in my ears is finally starting to take short breaks, which I am quite happy about :-) ... Sleep is still quite difficult, but slowly getting better. Hopefully these symptoms will be gone in another month or two, or at least improve to the point of being unnoticeable... but no regrets at all, I'm feeling wonderful!

Couldn't agree more. That lovely little bird makes grown men weep with her delicious chocolate :-)

ElTerprise: That's what i meant. And yes the variation is really good. I actually haven't paid that much attention to these business practices earlier but i became more aware of it recently. For example: I was really looking forward to Arkham Knight as i played and enjoyed all the other Arkham games but after that disaster of a pc version i'm very careful about WB now. I don't like to be treated as second class customer at all...

l0rdtr3k: Nothing. But I sold a Magic card for 25 bucks.

ddickinson: I am glad to hear the ringing is starting to take short breaks. I hope that you will continue to feel better and that the symptoms won't bother you for much longer. Fingers crossed that in a few months you will be fine and ready to conquer the stars with Empress Owl. You have to get your sleep sorted, or you won't get any stickers. :-)

And I agree, Owl's chocolate is world class, which is why the postal service stole it and stopped you receiving your shipment a short while ago. :-)

ddickinson: Sadly gamers are often treated poorly by publishers and developers. Which is so strange, can you think of many other markets where the customer is not listed to, treated poorly, and is expected to adapt to the publishers/developers wants, rather than the publishers/developers adapt to the customers wants.

ddickinson: Is that a good price?

ddickinson: Sadly gamers are often treated poorly by publishers and developers. Which is so strange, can you think of many other markets where the customer is not listed to, treated poorly, and is expected to adapt to the publishers/developers wants, rather than the publishers/developers adapt to the customers wants.

l0rdtr3k: Is not a very rare card,so yes.

ElTerprise: Well i can't think of many other markets. But the main problem is that the vast majority of gamers accept this treatment. I mean gamers could let their wallets speak, they could make a difference. But that won't happen. Too many people still preorder or buy badly ported or optimised games (especially Triple-A titles, i can accept that from an indie developer to a certain degree but not from a big developer/publisher).

ddickinson: That's true. If only they had voted with their wallets on the bad points of gaming, we would have no DRM, the lazy developers and publishers would be out of business (or forced to put some effort into things), and we would have a lovely game market.

Should indie developers be given more leeway with the bad practices? I do not thing so. They should be help to the same standards, with in reason of course. Bad practices are bad practices, no matter how big or small a company is. Indies should never be let off lightly for broken games, failed promises, and other things like that, just as the AAA developers and publishers should not.

ElTerprise: Yes.
I think i wasn't clear enough. I was only referring to the optimisation which can be a problem for a small developer but definitely not for a big studio. I actually meant that i can accept that indie games might be rough around the edges and fixed/ smoothed later. I won't accept things like those you mentioned though.

ddickinson: I know, indies should be given some leeway for some things, but this whole phase of cheap and lazy graphics, gameplay, and optimisation that exists with the "we're indie" excuse is becoming very annoying. Some games pull of the retro art style, most just look like early to mid 1990s games. With the internet there are more resources than ever (code, assets, etc.), so the whole poor indie excuse is not as valid as people think.

ElTerprise: Yes that's true it can get really annoying and some indie developers are really guilty of bad behaviour....
I actually don't mind the pixel art or the retro art style but i'd agree that there should be much more variety in styles and the use of this pixel art style often seems a lame excuse indeed...

ddickinson: The thing is, there is good pixel art and bad. A game made today should not look the same, or worse, than a game made over 20 years ago. Think about it, overly priced games that are getting to be all the same and resembling something made over 20 years ago.

Not that there are not good indie games, look at games like Outlast, Dust (which was made by single person), and many others that have decent graphics, interesting gameplay, and have put some passion and effort into the game.

ElTerprise: Totally agreed and it also should make use of the available technology (like having proper resolution options etc.). There are even free games looking better than some indie games.
Well of course there are great indie games and i'd say most of them are done with passion no matter how complex or simple they are. That's what i like about indie games. The variety of topics and themes and mechanics they offer :).

ddickinson: That is a nice thing about indie games, they are free from the horrible AAA publishers and can make lots of varied game types that the AAA publishers would never allow.

ddickinson: That is a nice thing about indie games, they are free from the horrible AAA publishers and can make lots of varied game types that the AAA publishers would never allow.

EndreWhiteMane: Then there are Indy games from AAA publishers.
Fate of Atlantis
Emperor's Tomb

Just Sayin'