Cain on Games - Tim Cain's new YouTube channel

[PunchYouInTheFace]

A lot of people hate Bioware's rtwp combat, didn't stop them from selling millions.

Because they're not coming for RTWP combat. They're not selling DAI as "RTWP" combat game. Player are barely playing it as "RTWP" game since DA2 since Companions are capable to commit their own actions.

They're selling "Game with great story and romanced companion". Feel free to make a survey or ask random people (that are not in this shithole) why they're buying BioWare game.

 

[Roguey]

Because they're not coming for RTWP combat. They're not selling DAI as "RTWP" combat game. Player are barely playing it as "RTWP" game since DA2 since Companions are capable to commit their own actions.

They're selling "Game with great story and romanced companion". Feel free to make a survey or ask random people (that are not in this shithole) why they're buying BioWare game.

There was also a lot of demand for better party AI in Pillars and Tyranny.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

There's a lot of risk in putting all your eggs in one basket.

There's even more risk gambling on a bunch of different things while trashing the things you probably should focus on.

 

[PunchYouInTheFace]

There was also a lot of demand for better party AI in Pillars and Tyranny.

Not sure what are the relevance of this, tbh.

 

[Roguey]

There's even more risk gambling on a bunch of different things while trashing the things you probably should focus on

I've never even heard of Disintegration and Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. TOW got most of the budget and attention.

 

[scytheavatar]

Says who? Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age sold a few million.

I'm pretty sure there is a gap between these games and the release of Pillars 1 which we conveniently ignore to glaze over how "RTWP is not the problem".

Dragon Age Inquisition was released in 2014 and did well enough to keep making Dragon Age games.

It didn't do well enough for EA to keep wanting to make more DA games...... remember that EA tried to force a live service game on DA4 and only relented because Fallen Order sold more than 10 million copies. That's the kind of numbers that video game companies look for nowadays.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I don't care enough to remember all the times I've been underestimated, but Tim remembers vividly? Or does he also put it in writing with little angry doodles on the side?

Tim certainly knows how to hold a grudge, but instead of going postal he just buys a carton of muffins to eat by himself while crying a little. So wholesome.

He probably has a folder on each Codexer and their mean comments.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I've never even heard of Disintegration and Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey. TOW got most of the budget and attention.

The decision to release KSP2 in to Early Access before all the new features that the sequel was supposed to have had been implemented was a gigantic misstep. It didn't even have all the features that the original game had yet. So, the people who did buy it bitched that there was less there than the original game, dropped negative reviews, a lot of those refunded the title, and a lot of the people who anticipated the game decided to sit and wait. Then they announced around a month ago that the studio commissioned to make the game was going to be closed down in June, and most of those promised features still aren't in there.

It's almost like they have just enough money to royally screw things up, but not enough money to be successful. Kind of an interesting business plan for a division of a company that's purpose was to publish small and independent titles.

 

[Infinitron]

I talk about different celebrities I got to meet over the decades of game development.

 

[S.torch]

An isometric crpg from Obsidian would not have sold over 5 million copies. We have proof of that in Pillars, Pillars 2, and Tyranny.

Surely that has more to do with these games being terrible written than being isometric.

 

[NecroLord]

I talk about different celebrities I got to meet over the decades of game development.

Straight Outta Ideas...

 

[Roguey]

Surely that has more to do with these games being terrible written than being isometric.

I would not say The Outer Worlds is significantly better written.

 

[NecroLord]

Surely that has more to do with these games being terrible written than being isometric.

I would not say The Outer Worlds is significantly better written.

That's not what Tim said...

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Some hasbeen game developer who doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about now, and it's questionable if he ever did. This cunt is relevant? Give it a fucking rest.

He's going to be perpetually relevant because of Fallout, same way GabeN is relevant despite not having done anything of note in a long time, and not having done anything actually good since 1998.

Good games are created largely by accident; I don't think Tim has any unique skills and his post-Fallout career is mostly questionable at best, and Fallout itself was - like most good creative works - probably the result of a unique combination of factors and a massive amount of good luck which coalesced to produce something greater than any of the people working on it were capable of doing individually. But Fallout's enough of an achievement that it rightly secures Tim's place in history. He's only made one superb game... but that's still one more superb game than most game devs make. If the creator of Fallout speaks, I'll still listen.

Having said that, I have stopped watching his YT vids on the grounds that I hate hearing him be ludicrously wrong about shit constantly.

If you read the history of Fallout's creation, you will discover that Tim was the spiritus movens of the entire enterprise, which is what it is only thanks to other people (for example, often forgotten Boyarsky or disliked Fargo). He mainly dealt with the engine, and the rest was minor contributions to everything, such as a few less important quests.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

He's going to be perpetually relevant because of Fallout, same way GabeN is relevant despite not having done anything of note in a long time, and not having done anything actually good since 1998.

His game (Fallout) will be perpetually relevant. His opinions on random bullshit have never been relevant. A lot of his opinions on games are even harmful. Never meet your heroes.

 

[Lemming42]

If you read the history of Fallout's creation, you will discover that Tim was the spiritus movens of the entire enterprise, which is what it is only thanks to other people (for example, often forgotten Boyarsky or disliked Fargo). He mainly dealt with the engine, and the rest was minor contributions to everything, such as a few less important quests.

The impression I got is that he had the final say on any and all creative decisions, and can thus receive at least some credit for its consistency and high level of quality (something the other Fallout games lack IMO).

Funnily enough, though, the only example I can give of that is him cutting the Warrens, which I actually think was a big mistake because it would have been one of the coolest areas in the game. But still. Tim! Great guy.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

He's going to be perpetually relevant because of Fallout, same way GabeN is relevant despite not having done anything of note in a long time, and not having done anything actually good since 1998.

His game (Fallout) will be perpetually relevant. His opinions on random bullshit have never been relevant. A lot of his opinions on games are even harmful. Never meet your heroes.

This isn't always true, but whenever we talk about people like Tim - never choose a gay as your hero. Never.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

If you read the history of Fallout's creation, you will discover that Tim was the spiritus movens of the entire enterprise, which is what it is only thanks to other people (for example, often forgotten Boyarsky or disliked Fargo). He mainly dealt with the engine, and the rest was minor contributions to everything, such as a few less important quests.

The impression I got is that he had the final say on any and all creative decisions, and can thus receive at least some credit for its consistency and high level of quality (something the other Fallout games lack IMO).

Funnily enough, though, the only example I can give of that is him cutting the Warrens, which I actually think was a big mistake because it would have been one of the coolest areas in the game. But still. Tim! Great guy.

I think Tim had, at that time, the ability to bring out certain positive things in people. These things weren't necessarily in him, but he evoked them from his associates.

 

[Paul_cz]

Tim is a great programmer and designer, I think more accomplished than 99.9% on this forum (or earth), including me.
Sure I disagree with him on the Fallout show, but so fucking what.

 

[Lemming42]

I think Tim had, at that time, the ability to bring out certain positive things in people. These things weren't necessarily in him, but he evoked them from his associates.

Maybe. I get the impression he was a really solid project lead with a clear vision (something he's seemingly not really managed to replicate in any subsequent project).

I've seen him give a talk on the history of the game and Fallout does seem to have been largely his creation. I'm sure most of what makes it so great came from elsewhere (Scott Campbell is, some say, the unsung hero) but Tim was the one who set out to make a GURPS-based cRPG, came up with the retrofuturism stuff, came up with the "three ways to solve any quest" concept, identified key sources of aesthetic inspiration like City of Lost Children, and ultimately was responsible for what did and didn't get approved for the game.

In one of his YT vids he was talking about how insanely hard it was to get people to do things at Obsidian while making TOW because everyone acted like babies (him writing people's names next to assignments on a whiteboard was seen as hostile or something, and people threatened to leave when he made a daily goal list), so from that I assume that he was doing a lot of effective organising and directing with Fallout.

 

[Wesp5]

Funnily enough, though, the only example I can give of that is him cutting the Warrens, which I actually think was a big mistake because it would have been one of the coolest areas in the game.

Are you talking about Fallout here or Bloodlines? Because Tim only said that the Bloodlines Warrens are too long, and pretty everybody who played Bloodlines agrees with him on that!

 

[Alphons]

Are you talking about Fallout

It think Lemming42 mixed up Warrens with Burrows- the village of West Tek's test subjects (most prominently talking raccoons).

 

[La vie sexuelle]

I think Tim had, at that time, the ability to bring out certain positive things in people. These things weren't necessarily in him, but he evoked them from his associates.

Maybe. I get the impression he was a really solid project lead with a clear vision (something he's seemingly not really managed to replicate in any subsequent project).

I've seen him give a talk on the history of the game and Fallout does seem to have been largely his creation. I'm sure most of what makes it so great came from elsewhere (Scott Campbell is, some say, the unsung hero) but Tim was the one who set out to make a GURPS-based cRPG, came up with the retrofuturism stuff, came up with the "three ways to solve any quest" concept, identified key sources of aesthetic inspiration like City of Lost Children, and ultimately was responsible for what did and didn't get approved for the game.

In one of his YT vids he was talking about how insanely hard it was to get people to do things at Obsidian while making TOW because everyone acted like babies (him writing people's names next to assignments on a whiteboard was seen as hostile or something, and people threatened to leave when he made a daily goal list), so from that I assume that he was doing a lot of effective organising and directing with Fallout.

I think his charm worked perfectly at the turn of the century, with people born in the 1970s. But as he got older his market awareness flew away and his former colleagues were replaced by millennials, he completely lost the ability to manage people and, as a result, create games. if that's the case, I don't wonder why he's so secretly bitter. He is still of production age and already retired.

He wants to feel needed again.

 

[ropetight]

I think Tim had, at that time, the ability to bring out certain positive things in people. These things weren't necessarily in him, but he evoked them from his associates.

Maybe. I get the impression he was a really solid project lead with a clear vision (something he's seemingly not really managed to replicate in any subsequent project).

I've seen him give a talk on the history of the game and Fallout does seem to have been largely his creation. I'm sure most of what makes it so great came from elsewhere (Scott Campbell is, some say, the unsung hero) but Tim was the one who set out to make a GURPS-based cRPG, came up with the retrofuturism stuff, came up with the "three ways to solve any quest" concept, identified key sources of aesthetic inspiration like City of Lost Children, and ultimately was responsible for what did and didn't get approved for the game.

In one of his YT vids he was talking about how insanely hard it was to get people to do things at Obsidian while making TOW because everyone acted like babies (him writing people's names next to assignments on a whiteboard was seen as hostile or something, and people threatened to leave when he made a daily goal list), so from that I assume that he was doing a lot of effective organising and directing with Fallout.

I think his charm worked perfectly at the turn of the century, with people born in the 1970s. But as he got older his market awareness flew away and his former colleagues were replaced by millennials, he completely lost the ability to manage people and, as a result, create games. if that's the case, I don't wonder why he's so secretly bitter. He is still of production age and already retired.

He wants to feel needed again.

That might be true.
On the other hand, if you see Kanban board as microaggression, maybe development isn't job for you.

 

[Bulo]

Frankly I want more games like KoTOR. RTwP works surprisingly well in third person