Rxanadu

I'm a tad angry right now. After working on a project for free for about 3 weeks, the people I've been working with have written up a contract as a programmer for a meager amount and have the ability to terminate me without cause. The good news right now is I haven't signed it. The bad news (aside from not knowing what to do with my code if I don't accept) is I don't have anything to show for it on my resume. The real reason I even accepted to work with them was to add something to my resume to get hired for a bigger programming job in another game studio. I'm not sure how to word a negotiation for a better contract, but the thing that vexes me is the contract as is describes me as a contractor, not an employee. I've never worked as a contractor before. I'm not sure if I want an answer right now. I just wanted to share this with anyone that would listen and discuss what this scenario feels like to others.

I may need to do just that. I've been looking for other jobs requiring experience in Unity around where I live, but I've had little to no luck. I'll at least talk to them about a different deal.

I'm an independent contractor in this case. However, I'm also working on another project for free. I've yet to reread the contract as of late to see whether it allows for any outside projects. What's worse is if I do accept this contract, this will be my only source of income, which will only come in if they reach an Indiegogo goal. I'm not sure if I should have accepted to do these tasks. I'm the only programmer on both teams, and they're expecting a lot from me that I'm not sure I can do with the time given. The free one is even asking whether I can get a demo running for IndieMegaBooth by June 8th. I'm just not sure what to do.

I'm about to become an employee of a start-up game company listed as a LLC soon, and they're making me sign a contract before anything's official. The one detail that concerns me a bit is, since I'm a programmer, they want me to give up ownership of my code after I'm a member. I've heard giving up code rights was common with most programming jobs, but I wanted to know what else I should look for in regards of employee contracts before I sign. For instance, I know they're small and just starting, but I want to know what I should expect in terms of payment with start-ups.

I've been unable to visit a forum for a Kickstarter game for about 6 months now, and despite asking for help with getting my login information, I can't even get the creators of the game to respond to my requests. The main reason I'm so invested in getting access into the forum is because I spend $15 when backing it. I know I shouldn't expect much in regards to getting a game, but I should at least be able to access the forum to discuss the development of said project. However, I actually want to know from everyone if they've visited the forums for Kickstarted games before, and if so, continue to visit them occasionally. I just wanted to know in the event that I'm never able to get access to the forum.

I'm somewhat glad to hear most people are content with just getting the occasional newsletter for their Kickstarted games. I was wondering if I was missing out on some odd influencing for the game. However, this begs the question for why these forums are established to begin with. The game I Kickstarted had plans for some internal game testing among the forum members, but it seems as though that's a rarity or not used that often in other KS forums.

I've always tried to get into working out, but my body literally won't let me. My body tends to itch whenever it's hot or if I'm nervous, so whenever I sweat is usually when my workout ends. However, I'm still not sure if being nervous is a cause or an effect of me itching a lot during workouts. When I did exercise, I didn't pace myself well during workouts and ended up maxing out at around 30 minutes per day. I never felt any stronger when I did exercise, though, and I only did it to wake up; if caffeine worked for me, I'd be a coffee junkie.

Like most people, I've noticed GTA IV running extremely slowly on my Acer laptop. However, I find this particularly odd as I've run games which require higher specs smoothly from start to finish. I just recenlty finished DmC on this computer with little to no graphical hiccups; heck, it ran at 60 fps all throughout my playthrough of the game. I've also been running Portal 2 and Borderlands 2 with ease on High and Medium specs, respectively. I've also installed the latest patch for the game, and it still runs slowly. Both Game-Debate.com and CanYouRunIt say I should be able to run this game smoothly. Then again, I've known Rockstar to release abominable PC ports for most of their games. Here are my specs. Hopefully, they will be helpful in remedying this issue: Machine Model: Acer V5-552-X418 Operating System: Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Hard Drive: 500 GB Memory: 6 GB DDR3 Graphics: ACM Radeon HD 8650G, 512 MB memory Processor: AMD Quad-Core Processor A10-5757M, 3.5 GHz

Recently, I've been asking myself how to create a game which allows people who cannot see an equally engrossing experience to what those who can see experience. I want to be able to tell a story that is as interesting to a person who can see and hear to a person who can only hear but not see. This is one of the questions I've recently come up with. How do you tell a person a year has passed without stating precisely, "A year has passed" when the person is blind but can hear well? I've been stumped by this question for a while now, and I wanted to ask everyone here if they had a valid answer. The first thing I thought of was having a sound they associate with a specific time in the year which indicates to them that a year has indeed passed. However, I can't think of a single person who associates a specific sound with the passage of time, whether it be a second, a year, or a millennium. Please let me know if you have any suggestions which may help me think about this. If any of you are blind, I would very much like to talk with you about this subject. I'm not trying to offend anyone if they are; I'm assuming you're reading this with some form of text-to-speech software.

Hello, everyone: I recently graduated from college with a B.S. in Computer Science. However, I'm not at a loss for what I want to do at the moment; I know I want to make games, but I don't know who I want to work for as of now. Most of the game studios want to make money or make games milking the nostalgia of the 80s and 90s more than they want to make games that I feel comfortable talking to my family about. So, for the time being, I've decided to try and apply for graduate school. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy my time in undergraduate school; I always saw learning computer science and programming as a means to an end for learning how to make games. With this in mind, I don't want to apply for a Masters for a Computer Science degree. I love games and want to contribute to the creation of games in any way I can. Ever since I started making prototypes with Unity3D, I've become more interested in designing a game with mechanics for not only telling new stories but for helping those with physical disabilities to play the game with less difficulty. I want to make games with a larger variety in characters than the ones we have so far. This has led me to try and pursue a Masters in Interactive Design or Game Design. But I'm not an artist in the traditional sense. Most of the schools offering programs in interactive design (i.e. game design) are offered primarily in art schools. Most of them require the applicants to have a portfolio along with their statement of purpose. I've created basic 3D models for use in my prototypes and game jam entries, but none of those entries would get me near an art studio. However, my main fear is that I'll have to make more art within the actual program even if I do get in. My main focus on going into an Interactive Design program is to create the design for games in terms of how the game is structured not how the game looks artistically. My objective with this post is to see if anyone pursuing a graduate degree in relation to games has any tips or insight for me in regards to what I should do for finding and applying for a graduate degree. In particular, I wanted to know what I should put in my statement of purpose and what I should ask my teachers when requesting my letters of recommendation. I only recently came to the conclusion of wanting to pursue a graduate degree, so I'm not sure what I need to do for that process in terms of getting a Masters in Interactive Design.

If I don't get any people to speed up the development process, I intend to do that after a break from the game. After working for about a month on this game I thought would be a game that would take a week, I probably need to work on something else in Unity or UDK to learn more skills to make development of this game easier and faster. The fear is that I spend too much time away from this game, I do the same thing I've done with every game I've started: it stays in development limbo indefinitely. I still have to think about it.

That's actually the article/Interview Dumptruck that prompted my question. I loved hearing that people were willing to craft the mechanics of their games to ensure more people were able to play it. It's also the reason I love games like Dust: An Elysian Tail for including "Color Blind" modes. Ever since I discovered Jeff, Vinny, and Ryan were partially color blind, I've always thought up ways to handle that issue in my games. If you take a look at some of the textures Borderlands 2 uses for specific enemy types (e.g. armored enemies vs. fleshy enemies), you can see how easy it can be to differentiate what enemy takes what damage, an important piece of information you need when you have about 5 different damage types for the game. So, despite some of the atrocious dialogue coming out of the characters' mouths - no-one should say "Holy Badass" in self-seriousness - I appreciate the team at Gearbox taking the time and effort to make a more overt distinction between the different meters other than placing different colors on them and calling it a day. P.S. Slag weapons are useless. P.S.S. This post took about 7-8 minutes to write.

The first thing I asked myself when posing this question was, "What if I'm hiking a snow-covered mountain in the middle of the summer? How would ambient sounds state what time of the year it was in such a uncommon environment?" I tend to find answers to questions that fit in all cases. I've always thought this way: How can I find a solution for all situations of this type? I don't want to reinvent the wheel every time I come across a similar situation but with different variables. I'll ask this: when you think of where a blind person lives, what do you think he/she hears to specify what time it is? Do they have alarms with every hour, each alarm with a different sound? Do they just adapt to the area they live in, picking up audible cues from a crowd or environment to dictate what time it is? Do they even live around other people who they could ask for the time? I tend to think for all cases, making my questions that much harder to articulate. Thus, ensuring I take around 40 minutes to write a post. I think I took about 8 minutes for this one, though.

I was a part of two failed attempts to make a game on Giant Bomb. Those experiences set a sort of fear about me for making games with others. This in turn has caused me to be more self-motivated to at least learn how to create sample art. Hell, it's not great, but I created the boss used in this . I've also recently finished the basic structure of a game where you defend a tower by rolling yourself into incoming projectiles. What I'm trying to prove is I'm self-motivated, but I still need dedicated people to help me with my projects. These people are what I lack in making myself a better game developer, but I've always feared they would leave me with a broken shell of the game I wanted to create when the "going gets tough," as it were. I'm actually looking for a game design school for two reasons: I'm more or less being forced into it by my parents. Without me knowing, they told almost all of my relatives I was already going to attend grad school after graduation; that was the first time I had even heard them discuss the idea! The second reason is directly related to the first: if I'm going to go to grad school, I may as well specialize in doing what I've wanted to do since high school: make games. I want the foundation of leading a team to completing a game and putting it either online for free or on the market for sale (I'm not aiming for Steam just yet, though). I knew well before I graduated I didn't truly want to (nor need to) go to grad school to become successful. This is an odd place to ask for this, but I do need some help with finishing the game I mentioned above. Hopefully, you actually played the game and saw it needs much more polish. But the foundation is finally there; I just needed to finish that aspect before I asked for help. If any of you know of any 3D artists, musicians, or programmers willing to create free assets for the game and help me put the game up for free online, the help would be much appreciated. It worked for Tom Francis, and he made Gunpoint. For the time being, have them contact me on Twitter via "@Rxanadu." Thanks again for taking the time to read this message.

I'm asking this without any form of snark at all: How long did it take for you to write that post? It takes me about 40 minutes to write a post because I have that much trouble formulating my questions in a way people can understand. However, I want to talk, so I send my post out regardless. What kind of information do you want to answer my question? I just want to bring the discussion back to sounds. I legitimately want to know what kinds of sounds people could use to write a story without pictures that was as good of an experience as some of the best stories in entertainment as possible. If you're still reading this thread @tengen, I want (and need) you to come back to the post if only to explain your post and to say I'm sorry for whatever pain I caused you. I don't blame you if you don't want to return. However if that's true, I would request this thread be locked by any moderators in an attempt to stop this madness.

@BenX: I was referring to ThunderPeel's comment. As you can tell by my post count, I don't post often, and that person's post is one of the main reasons why. I don't understand what I did to cause someone to curse me out, and I'm too afraid to look at the post because of how much pain it still causes me. As for @Twig's most recent comment: my first language is indeed English; I just have trouble articulating myself in a less formal fashion to others, on- or offline. The aforementioned post is the main reason why my speech is so (for a lack of a better term) stiff: I'm trying my best not to offend people. Now, I want to tackle your comment about my (apparently) unusual form of speech. I know you meant no harm by the comment, but I find it personally offensive you would consider me as someone who does not speak English as a first language because you perceive my skills at interpreting phrases and onomatopoeia presented in vague contexts to be inadequate to your personal standards. I would ask you, at the very least, refrain from saying such terms to me in the future.

What are you talking about? All Tengan did was say "HAPPY NEW YEAR" and state an onomatopoeia afterwards with no explanation of what that meant. Since you're also arguing against the validity of this thread (as you seem wont to do in most of my threads), what do you think I should have asked about?

I guess I could So, what you're saying is I have at least two "states of sound": one representing a state of time passing and one representing a state of time standing still (or at least not passing as quickly as the other state). That may help. I'm not sure how it may work in every case, but it's a start.

I appreciate the post, but if you do not have any constructive input for this topic, I would ask if you refrain from posting here.

It's the end of the year, a time of reflection, both of oneself and of the society they live in everyday. In this case, we're talking about those who play games. Very often, we tend to look back at their personal Game of the Year; other times, they focus on the worst games they played during the year. However, I've noticed a constant lack of people talking about those games played by almost no-one but them. They may be hidden gems, they may be mediocre games forgotten about within the week of release. They may be that one game you say to yourself, "Was I the only one who played this?" This year, I wanted to contribute to the community by creating a list of games that were overlooked, rarely played by people outside of a few others, or just flat out forgotten about. The reason I'm creating this forum thread is simple: I want to help in the preservation of games as much as I can. Hopefully, this will become a place to come back to for reference's sake. However, I only have two games I can think of: Lost Planet 3 (Wasn't this announced 4 years ago?) The Swapper (a.k.a. That One Puzzle-Platformer That Isn't Gunpoint Patrick "Sports" Klepeck Likes) I've racked my brain for hours thinking of other games fitting this classification, but, ironically enough, I can't remember many. This is where you come in: all I need is for you to post about that one game you remember but not many people remember came out this year. It can be a console exclusive; a small indie game on PC; a Flash game; whatever. So long as you can put the month and year it came out (and a few personal words you have to share about the game), I'm OK with it. An exact date would be preferable, but a month and year will do. When you do list the game, please place the name and date in bold for easier searching. Also, try to write your personal reasons as to why you think the game was (or could have been) forgotten. Your initial entry should look like this: Lost Planet 3 (August 27, 2013): The game had a stealth release: almost no-one knew it came out due to a lack of advertising and public awareness. I liked it for [this reason] and [that reason] and [Congrats Nick]. As stated above, all I need is for everyone to post at least one game you think will be forgotten by the end of the year otherwise. In your post, state the date of its release (month and year will do fine) and a simple reason for why you think the game was forgotten. Place the name and release date in bold. That's it. Thanks again for taking the time to read this post. I hope to hear from all of you soon.

I completed To the Moon yesterday. It had a very touching story about a man struggling to deal with his clinically ill wife and repressed childhood memories. I'd love to see more stories like this in games more often than not. The main reason I loved the story was for its subtlety when discussing and displaying most of the topics featured in the game. The main reason I loved the gameplay itself was for the simplicity of its control scheme and subtle reminders to the player for stating when they regain control of the characters. All point-and-click games should allow the player to play with only the mouse. I hope to see more from Kan [Reives] Gao and the rest of the team at Freebird Games. Freebird Games is making another game titled A Bird Story set to release later this year.

I'll be honest: since I've gotten a better grasp on what games I want to play, I haven't asked about game purchasing advice in years. That aside, I've found a lot of the games listed in this sale met some initial interest I had for games in general. Most of the games I either already have or I have no interest in whatsoever. These are the games that caught my eye: Sleeping Dogs ($4.99) - Because Giant Bomb's Vinny Caravella made such a strong case for it last year, I need to play it for myself to see what he saw in itNone of the DLC is included with this version; however, I didn't see that any of the DLC brought anything interesting to the table Alice: Madness Returns ($4.99) - I'm interested in seeing a different perspective on the world of WonderlandI like me some tight 3D platforming, but I may never touch this game again after I beat it Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines ($4.99) - Every time I read about this, people say it's an amazing gameI honestly have no interest in playing this game outside of using mods and for 'academic value' Fallout: Las Vegas: Ultimate Edition ($4.99) - It includes all the DLC for the initial gameMuch like Fallout 3 before it (and Skyrim after), it looks like the game may be filled to the brim with fetch quests, similar looking dungeons to crawl through, and busted AI that may make the game worth it for the first 3-4 hours I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream ($2.49) - It's somehow become part of some zeitgeist, and since it's cheap I wanted to check it outI honestly hate old point-and-click adventure games, as they require you to pixel hunt for most things to interact with. The puzzles usually take the acceptance that most PaC game makers don't know how logic works in their own world (i.e. why do I have to combine a ruler and a string to make a fishing rod and use it to make a fan work?) Condemned: Criminal Origins ($3.74) - I wanted to see what all the fuss was about with this game.I honestly don't have any idea as to what this game may truly be outside of jump scares and a good FPS combat system Overlord: Complete Pack ($4.99) - I heard the games were like Pikmin but playing the "bad guy." It includes the entire franchise, for what it's worthI honestly don't know if these games are any good outside of making Pikmin-like goblins destroy things for you As you can see, the main issue I have in front of me is (for the most part) I don't know if these games are as good as they are claimed to be. Right now, I'm leaning towards Sleeping Dogs for its combat system. However, I just got finished playing Arkham City, finding that experience, though enjoyable, quite draining. I look forward to everyone's viewpoints on the games I've presented here, as these viewpoints are what will truly sell the game for me.

Thanks for all the advice from everyone. As the sale is now over, I may as well say I purchased Sleeping Dogs and Vampire the Masquerade. It seems the fears I had for Sleeping Dogs were true: the combat is a bit loose, and it feels exactly like "GTA in Hong Kong." As of this post, I haven't played VtM. I hope to fiddle around with it soon with the Unofficial Patch.

I think I've done something terrible: I just found out Dead Space and Dead Space 2 are on sale for $4.99 on Steam each. Luckily, I've decided to just get Sleeping Dogs and skip Condemned; I already have Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Steam) and The Penumbra Collection (GOG), so I'm good for horror games. As for Fallout, I honestly fear I'll just get sucked into that world (in the bad way), so I'm skipping on that one indefinitely. Note that I have not purchased Sleeping Dogs. However, I'm willing to spend up to $10 for this sale. For my other game, I'm split between Dead Space 1/2 and Vampire the Masquerade. This may be the last post before I just go and purchase Sleeping Dogs and one of these games. For those who've played at least one of these games, I'd like to know your favorite moments of each game and compare them with one another. The thing that got me to buy Arkham City over Asylumn, for example, was the talk about Catwoman's choice in a previous episode of Idle Thumbs. It was so interesting, I had to see it for myself. I want to see if something as interesting occurs in either Dead Space or Vampire the Masquerade.

Thanks for the tip! Just got "I Have No Mouth" for $1 via the link you provided, so I'll cross that one off the list. As for the other games, it seems to be a battle between Condemned and Sleeping Dogs. The major fears I have for both games are listed below: Sleeping Dogs - The combat in this game has been compared to the combat featured in Arkham Asylum. I recently finished Arkham City on Hard and found the combat system to feel more like a rhythm game where each button press acts as a queued-up action you can't cancel out of. This system led to a much more nuanced experience, resembling a dance rather than typical button-mashing combat found in games like Darksiders or the recent DmC. After playing the demo of Sleeping Dogs, however, I found the combat to feel very loose and less situation-oriented. I haven't spent much time with the game yet, so it may feel like a fusion of the earlier Devil May Cry games with the counter system of Arkham Asylum. I just feel the combat won't carry the game outside of my declaration of the game as "GTA in Hong Kong." Condemned - The first thing I think of when someone talks about a first-person game with a focus on melee combat, I think of Chronicles of Riddick. Unlike most people though, I found that game to be lacking in a good combat system in general: I found myself constantly throwing punches at thin air and the shooting was downright terrible. I remember liking when I was in the dark in that game. I'm not speaking of stealth mechanics at all; I merely loved the visual indications showing I was hidden from other characters in the game. Everything from CoR was poorly executed IMO; I just fear Condemned will be just that but with crazy hobos.