Sloane

Phaedrus' Street Crew
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Everything posted by Sloane

  1. [Release] Decrepit (GOOD... BYE)

    In System Shock 2 it's basically just another resource to handle, you've got a maintenance skill that you can put points into, so maintenance tools are more effective, and you've got repair tools to fix jammed weapons. It's not unique or special but it's a good fit for the game's theme and other systems. Prey (2017) initially disabled the weapon degradation feature for some reason, which made the repair skills somewhat useless, but it can be enabled using mods. It's pretty similar to System Shock 2's implementation, if I remember correctly, except you're collecting the required resources anyway (for those fabricators), so it's not really an annoyance, just makes the game a bit more difficult. They officially (re-)added a similar system for the Mooncrash DLC, I think. Couldn't find the conversation either -- maybe it was during a stream of System Shock or Cinco Paus and not on Discord? Or I was thinking of something else. And, yeah, those sample visuals look great!
  2. [Release] Decrepit (GOOD... BYE)

    Ah, I remember that discussion. Sounds good! I like item durability in some games / genres (System Shock, for example, would have been a decent fit for Prey, too) but, yeah, in others it's just an annoyance.
  3. Idle Thumbs Hiatus

    So, uh, is there any reason the podcasts stopped entirely? I know they all moved and just might not have time for it but going from weekly podcasts to not commenting at all (?) on Idle Thumbs' future for half a year feels so weird. Anyway, if this was actually it, thanks for everything!
  4. Yeah, the Sea of Thieves story was fantastic. Definitely one of those games that I personally probably would never play but I love hearing about. Wish Nick would stream some of his adventures again from time to time but I guess he's over it. I think I have to give Minit another try, I've played it for half an hour or so and while I understand what it was doing, the 60 seconds thing felt like such an artificial gimmick. Hope we'll get some SpyParty talk next episode, the game is finally (kinda) out, it's amazing, yet everyone seems to keep ignore it, aaaahhh!
  5. So this is somewhat based on an idea I originally had while watching Westworld, specifically the scene in which whoeveritwas (Hopkins? Can't remember!) tells Mauve that she's a robot and where they show this dialogue-tree-style interface that's supposed to explain how she creates language. I'm not sure if it would actually work similar to that in reality but it led me to consider how a (very simple) robot might perceive the world, identify objects, and learn how to interact with them. What we came up with, is, I don't know, something between Creatures, if anyone remembers that series, and yet another puzzle game. I'm probably explaining this in the worst way possible so here's an example: - You've got yourself a robot! - Robot can scan items and perceive adjectives, like colors and basic shapes. - Robot finds berries of different colors, probes them, and learns they are harmless. - Robot has to solve a puzzle in which it is confronted with a fire. - Robot scans fire, learns of fluid shape and recognizes the color, which it remembers from the berries to be safe. - Robot considers fire to be a safe item, interacts with it, and "dies". - Player has to find a way to show robot that fire is not safe, by weakening the robot's trust in the adjective "orange", for example. The game is kind of split in two parts: - The world which the player can interact with, in which he / she crafts and shows items to the robot for it to learn something. - The levels / puzzles which the robot is sent into all by itself and in which it has to reach some kind of target for the player to progress. In the long run, the player could upgrade the robot with new body parts / software which let it perceive new adjectives (aggregate states, temperature, noises) and take out new actions (at the beginning Robot can just move and touch, so maybe it could learn to chop, or hack, or push). Maybe the player could even somehow teach it simple puzzle solutions like lighting a fire or pushing a box onto a button, stuff like that. At first, we wanted to give this a more Thumbsian twist by making the robot evil and you actually having to build levels to trick / kill it, but we felt like going with the nicer option, although the other concept might be a bit more straigth-forward. Like with Cheatin' Hitman last time, my wife and I will be working together on this one, and hopefully get something done. We'll go on vacation next week, so I'm not sure what we will end up with, but we'll try! Thanks for creating the jam and good luck to everyone!
  6. Pretty good first episode, robot talk was entertaining as always. I was completely lost during the Snagglepuss segment though; I didn't know the character or Hanna-Barbera, which Jake referred to (although reading up on them on Wiki, at least The Flintstones ran over here, probably a few others too), so that part went pretty much over my head. Might be a good idea to explain a bit more what you're talking about in future episodes -- with video games there was always some common ground to follow the conversation even if you didn't know the specific game, but with the broader scope some topics might require a bit more of an introduction. Just a thought. Anyway, looking forward to more!
  7. Yeah, that montage made me a little... sad? Sentimental? Still can't believe it has been nine years but I'm glad IT is continuing in some way. Will listen to IIT now!
  8. I haven't listened to the latest cast yet, only read the summary, but to me it sounds like you're making things more difficult for you than they have to be. I don't think people wouldn't be willing to support a Patreon because there are two or three ads in each cast? Maybe I'm wrong. I guess starting a new feed makes sense, although you guys seemed to be a bit disheartened by losing a lot of readers over the last few years or so -- won't the move probably increase that number? Other than that, everything sounds pretty cool and I'm glad to hear Twitch streaming will continue.
  9. https://itch.io/jam/wizard-jam-4/rate/101949 This was fun! Uploaded v2: Fixed a couple of bugs. *** Hey everyone, not a very active member of the community but a Thumbs' reader since 2004 or 2005 and would like to give this a shot! Rough idea: Veteran hitman Nick Breckon (maybe) has had a bad year. On a lonely night, he realizes he's done enough killing for a lifetime and needs to make up for his past sins by saving lives and sending his clients to jail. Will try to include another diversifier, Dishonored Holidays might be fitting. Gameplay loop should probably look something like this: 1. Take on a contract with a growing number of requirements -- a specific cause of death, a specific murder site, etc. 2. Approach the target and convince him / her that you just want to help! Dialogue tree, maybe a small RPG-like minigame. 3. Pose the target (Ragdoll-style?) and apply fake blood, fake bullet holes etc. to take and send a picture as proof. 4. If the client is convinced it's real, meet him / her, take the money, and have the client arrested, I guess? 5. Buy new tools to take on more complex / difficult contracts from more wary clients. Maybe it needs another twist, not sure yet. Kinda feel right now it would be funnier / better fitting if the hitman had just become too lazy to go through the hassle of actually planning and doing the killing. Hmm... Anyway, I will probably work mostly with my wife (Thumbs' listener, too) on it, although we both don't have much of an idea what we're doing to be honest. I've been teaching myself some Unity for a couple of months and she's currently trying to figure out Blender and has some experience with Photoshop, but that's about it. Seems doable in two weeks though? We'll see!
  10. [RELEASED] Cheatin' Hitman

    I'll just leave this here. Think the guy might like Thumbs.
  11. [Dev Log] The Bear's Black Heart

    Yeah, that number is pretty interesting. For us, I think it was 0,3% or something with the most watched English video. For some reason, our game was more popular in Eastern European countries (mostly Russia and Romania, I think) and the conversion rate with those was about five times as high. I know next to nothing about YouTube though, so maybe that's just coincidence. Getting to the front page of Itch definitely helped the most in terms of actual downloads.
  12. [Dev Log] The Bear's Black Heart

    Nice. This one and the Memorable Maid game really stuck with me. Looking forward to seeing more of it (and of Big Bad Spanish, which I can relate to ).
  13. [RELEASE] Business Guys On Planes

    Looking forward to it, that gif above looks really good. Also, love how different this take on the episode title is.
  14. [RELEASED] Cheatin' Hitman

    Thanks for playing and for the feedback! Yeah, the conditions aren't very well explained, we noticed that on the final day or so and tried to solve it by having the target comment on it if you're doing something wrong but the system might not work entirely -- a simple tool-tip or something would probably be a better solution anyway. It's usually yellow if you have too few props on stage (you need at least 6 or so for the setting condition to go green) or if you're having an inconsistent setting / cause of death, so a dumpster in the forest, for example, would always cause it to stay red or yellow.
  15. [Release] Bogost in the Shell

    Love the theme and the art looks amazing. I'm dumb though, what do I have to do on the second screen? I picked something up, disguised myself, approached the hacker, he starts shooting at me, and then-- how do I continue?
  16. [Released] Most Memorable Maid

    Very nicely done, I love the "clean" look of the whole thing, seems really fitting. The remainders of humanity were all sent to trash sadly, I was way too slow.
  17. [Dev Log] The Bear's Black Heart

    I think I wandered (literally) into a tiny bug where the level border wasn't quite right (the path was blocked but another part wasn't) and I left the screen. Anyway, amazing work, everything and especially the characters really look stunning, incredible stuff. If this popped up on the AppStore I'd buy it in a second.
  18. [RELEASED] Cheatin' Hitman

    Thanks for playing, glad you like it!
  19. [Release] Cool Blob Future

    Great idea and works nicely! The animation of the blob getting into place is weirdly satisfying to watch! Is it possible to jump over the Big Dogs when they return?
  20. [RELEASE] MID JAM POWER MOVE

    Almost entirely made in five hours? Holy crap!
  21. [RELEASE] Dead Letters

    Just tried it and was surprised how good it worked, I actually thought pressing three keys or something at the same time was still the limit. Cool concept, I'm a sucker for local multiplayer.
  22. This is really, really good -- and it gets surprisingly difficult once you reach the second level. Managed to pick 36 sausage faces correctly!
  23. [RELEASED] Cheatin' Hitman

    Aaaand we are done! https://itch.io/jam/wizard-jam-4/rate/101949 Things went pretty well all things considered, probably should have spent a bit more time on the UI and dialogue but oh well.
  24. Yup, looks amazing and already pretty polished, too!