Cain on Games - Tim Cain's new YouTube channel

[Russia is over. The end.]

That was important because you could have two folders in two different directories that pointed to the same i-node. You could open one, edit it, close it, and go to the other one and it has the edits. Sort of like Windows Shortcut, but not quite the same because both of those files are really the file.

Cain doesn't know Windows nowadays has symlinks and hardlinks.

 

[agris]

I play with Fixt and its companion mod

brother, fixt is fanfic-tier. either play OG, or Fallout Et Tu (F1 in F2 engines w/ optional tweaks).

Fixt changes the difficulty curve by giving you more powerful gear at the start (skill selection dependent), adds unbalanced vendor to Shady shands, includes a lot of mod content like new NPCs and poorly written dialogue, and other stuff. there's no reason to play it unless you want to debase yourself.

Is it? i've been planing installing since it restores crucial cut content such as Follower's spy quest and iguana bob script without mention it also restores the violence level which is censored in the EU/GOG realase

you want Et Tu then. Avoid fixt, tell your friends and neighbors. that mod is like a cancer. its hard enough sparking interest in the old ways of cRPGs, now we have to contend with people's first experience with Fallout 1 being fixt

 

[agris]

et tu, which is built on top of fixt

Lexx excised all traces of fixt a year or 2 back fyi

 

[NecroLord]

I play with Fixt and its companion mod

brother, fixt is fanfic-tier. either play OG, or Fallout Et Tu (F1 in F2 engines w/ optional tweaks).

Fixt changes the difficulty curve by giving you more powerful gear at the start (skill selection dependent), adds unbalanced vendor to Shady shands, includes a lot of mod content like new NPCs and poorly written dialogue, and other stuff. there's no reason to play it unless you want to debase yourself.

Is it? i've been planing installing since it restores crucial cut content such as Follower's spy quest and iguana bob script without mention it also restores the violence level which is censored in the EU/GOG realase

you want Et Tu then. Avoid fixt, tell your friends and neighbors. that mod is like a cancer. its hard enough sparking interest in the old ways of cRPGs, now we have to contend with people's first experience with Fallout 1 being fixt

Yeah.
Et Tu is the way to go.
Makes Fallout run in the improved Fallout 2 version of the engine and all that.

 

[NecroLord]

I play with Fixt and its companion mod

brother, fixt is fanfic-tier. either play OG, or Fallout Et Tu (F1 in F2 engines w/ optional tweaks).

Fixt changes the difficulty curve by giving you more powerful gear at the start (skill selection dependent), adds unbalanced vendor to Shady shands, includes a lot of mod content like new NPCs and poorly written dialogue, and other stuff. there's no reason to play it unless you want to debase yourself.

Please don't be a patronizing dick.
I know all about Fallout 1 and 2.

 

[Naraya]

Really cool episode today, I am impressed by Tim Cain's knowledge. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

 

[__scribbles__]

I talk about “bad games” and how people comment on them.

 

[NecroLord]

Does he talk about The Outer Worlds?

 

[Roguey]

Of course there are bad games. Just like there are bad books, paintings, film, tv, etc. He cites how there's nothing with 100% negative reviews, but people can still like crap. Sometimes they acknowledge it as such, sometimes they're just tasteless.

Does he talk about The Outer Worlds?

He believes if you think it's objectively bad, you're a narcissist.

 

[cpmartins]

Of course there are bad games. Just like there are bad books, paintings, film, tv, etc. He cites how there's nothing with 100% negative reviews, but people can still like crap. Sometimes they acknowledge it as such, sometimes they're just tasteless.

Does he talk about The Outer Worlds?

He believes if you think it's objectively bad, you're a narcissist.

Well, I played it. Can a boring game be good? Because it's painfully boring.

 

[Ivan]

Well, I played it. Can a boring game be good? Because it's painfully boring.

How I feel about those games that do combat by itself like Vampire Survivors. I don't see how ppl can enjoy it.

 

[Modron]

How I feel about those games that do combat by itself like Vampire Survivors. I don't see how ppl can enjoy it.

Would be interesting to have codexers list out games that are good with auto combat, only one I can ever think of is Ogre Battle 64.

 

[Roguey]

How I feel about those games that do combat by itself like Vampire Survivors. I don't see how ppl can enjoy it.

"Jack me into the device and turn my brain off" has appeal to quite a number of people.

 

[Butter]

How I feel about those games that do combat by itself like Vampire Survivors. I don't see how ppl can enjoy it.

Would be interesting to have codexers list out games that are good with auto combat, only one I can ever think of is Ogre Battle 64.

IDK what Vampire Survivors is, but there are some interesting tower defense games wherein you place the structures/units and then they do battle without your direct control.

 

[Butter]

This video is Reddit-tier cringe. Tim doesn't think it's okay to express a negative opinion unless you explicitly preface it with "I think..." or "In my opinion...". Failure to do so constitutes a character flaw. Naturally, positive opinions are not held to this standard.

 

[NecroLord]

Tim should come back on the Codex.
He's gonna have a FUN TIME!



Right?...

 

[Redshirt #42]

I talk about “bad games” and how people comment on them.

For sure he was thinking about the Codex when making this.

 

[Roguey]

This video is Reddit-tier cringe. Tim doesn't think it's okay to express a negative opinion unless you explicitly preface it with "I think..." or "In my opinion...". Failure to do so constitutes a character flaw. Naturally, positive opinions are not held to this standard.

Back in the early 00s it was Codex consensus that phrases like "in my opinion" were totally redundant and unnecessary because of course the thing you're saying is your opinion. Tim has forgotten this.

 

[rojay]

This video is Reddit-tier cringe. Tim doesn't think it's okay to express a negative opinion unless you explicitly preface it with "I think..." or "In my opinion...". Failure to do so constitutes a character flaw. Naturally, positive opinions are not held to this standard.

Back in the early 00s it was Codex consensus that phrases like "in my opinion" were totally redundant and unnecessary because of course the thing you're saying is your opinion. Tim has forgotten this.

That was pretty much the consensus of most English departments in the 80s, too. I suspect it's older than that, but I lack context.

Tim needs to cut the frequency of his posting. I mean, I know *I* want to hear his opinion on laundry detergent, but I'm a superfan.

 

[__scribbles__]

I talk about my thoughts on sequels, especially on me making sequels to my games.

 

[StrongBelwas]

In general, doesn't like making sequels, at least not nearly as much as making original IPs. Would choose something new over making a sequel. If he's made a game for that world, he's already explored pretty much what he wanted to explore. His games are large and have multiple ways of playing them, which means he's already explored all of the ways one could play in that IP. Making sequels feels superfluous, nothing more to say or it would just be dragging thinks out.
Part of the reason he didn't want to work on Fallout 2. When Fallout 1 was finished, didn't think he was going to work on Fallout 2. Was told he'd be put on a D&D game after Fallout 1 because that would make money. Three and a half years making one game, that is a long time, and you get tired of it.

Of course, Cain has made games in other people's IPs. Wasn't expecting to ever do a South Park game, but got himself immersed in the IP, watching episodes and discussing what the team wanted to do. But these were always his first time in those IPs as video games. Explored all he wanted to explore in those worlds in the form of a videogame. Have to be very respectful IP, that was why he was happy he got to talk to Gygax. Even with it being his lowest scoring game happy how it kept the memory of Temple. Repeats his ideas for editing some stuff in a Temple remake. Has made some IPs that were fully intended to have sequels made for them. First one was Arcanum. When you start it, you are coming to a new continent to look for work, don't know anything, perfect way for player character and play to share knowing nothing, like coming out of the freeze in Outer Worlds. Bunch of stories they still wanted to tell, knows people want the gnome story continued, want to know what was happening to other dwarf clans or elf groups, how the industrial revolution continued. When he picked up the D&D license, and they told he could make any module, picked ToEE fully planning to to implement the rest of the GDQ series (Against the Giants, Queen of the Demonweb Pits.) Would have pushed for those if ToEE was a success. Outer Worlds was designed from scratch for sequels to be not only possible but desirable if it did well. Added descriptions (sometimes one line, sometimes paragraphs) of other colonies, who founded them, what the planet was like, important to be distinct from Halcyon. Earth could be a thing all of itself to explore.
Sequels are never off the table, just not his first choice, especially right after the first game. If he'd just done a game, would want to shift gears and do a different kind of game. Part of why making Arcanum 2 first person was planned. Was Excited for Bloodlines because it was his first time working with C++, first time working in World of Darkness, and first time working on a first person game.

South Park/Bloodlines/ToEE made Cain understand the difficulty of someone else's IP, have to be very respectful. Wanted to be respectful to South Park's humor, ToEE's mechanics and settings, and Bloodlines' Masquerade and modern day story. Lots to take in, Cain hopes when people making sequels they are also trying to do the same thing.
Cain dislikes hardly sequels and remakes that throw too much out, will not name certain very recent TV shows that did that and make him worry for future TV shows. Thinks they were disrespectful to the source material, they either threw too much out, or they were so desperate to add their own things to the IP that they jammed it in there, and added a very modern sensibility to something older to try and make it fit even if it didn't belong. Doesn't think you can't modernize it, but you have to be very respectful to source material. Modernize should be showing it in a better light (i.e for a game better visuals, better UI.)
People who do not respectfully making a sequel will probably end up making very bad sequels and not understand why people don't like it (The people who complain about it may not even realize why exactly they don't like it), tend to end up talking past each other.
Danger of making sequel is people have a preestablished notion, advantage of original IP is there is no pre established notion of what Cain is offering you.
Main reason he likes making original IP is that it is challenging, fun, and lets him explore things he couldn't do in previous games.
TL;DR Would make sequels, wouldn't be his first choice.

 

[NecroLord]

What a legend of a game Toee could have been...
Still really good (and with the patches like Temple+ even better), but it could've used some more polish. Maybe some voice acting and interactions between companions, even though you make your own party, so you use your imagination to write their backgrounds and so on...
Game is also not that long and really could have benefited from having some more content and quests.
Other than that, it's a wonderfully tactical cRPG.

 

[Roguey]

Sounds like Tim was not a fan of the latest season of True Detective. That last bit can also apply to Bloodlines 2 and its very pessimistic reception.

 

[__scribbles__]

I talk about what might have happened if Kickstarter had existed back when Troika Games was still in business.

Gahbreeil

 

[StrongBelwas]

Had a bit of a discussion with Leonard and a few designers at Obsidian about this.
Would Troika have tried to use Kickstarter/crowdfunding if it existed at the time and what for? Yes, and Arcanum 2.
Troika was a small company, made Arcanum with 14 people Very efficient, wore lots of different hats. Programmers who were designing, designing who were doing arts, artists who were scripting.
It was perfect for the efficiency that you need for a Kickstarter budget. You can raise millions of dollars, but it costs millions of dollars. Have to get it right first, can't go back to the well after drawing from it like you can with a publisher.
Troika was small enough that if they had gotten that budget and developed for that budget they could probably have kept to that budget. Not that true with Bloodlines, but stayed within the budget for Temple but gave more than what was asked for and probably more than they should have done.
If they had done this, wouldn't have done Bloodlines or ToEE, would have made Arcanum 2. References the video where he discusses plans for that. Journey to the Center of Arcanum, maybe they would have done that, maybe because it's a Kickstarter game they wouldn't have. Would have asked what people wanted. Would you want a same engine game, would you want a first person game, would you want a Source engine game (The person who had signed them to Sierra worked at valve, so still an option.)
They had way more stories to tell in Arcanum, had barely scratched the surface of a fantasy world going industrial revolution. You can add a lot of side quests to a game, but at some point you have to focus on telling the story you want to tell (Who is the gnome in the crash, and who is this dangerous villain returning.)
Wanted to dive more into elves, dwarves, much more into orcs. What about orcs in the wilderness, what about ogres, what about the entire half ogre storyline?
If they had gone kickstarter, an advantage would be that it was hard enough to tell their stories back than without being censored. Anything even vaguely homosexual was censored. Nowadays, Cain doubts you would be able to tell many of Arcanum's stories in a game today.
A big chunk of Arcanum was real, actual races that were genetically different humanoids. There was racist stuff going on, Arcanum addresses it. People don't want that now, people want you to pretend that nothing is bad or going on. Act like there isn't a problem and it will go away if you ignore it.
So many different stories in Arcanum that if you weren't interested in one you could not follow it. Didn't have to follow the gnome and ogre plot. Didn't have to go too deep into dark elves or dwarf clans. Would have loved to tell those stories in a Kickstarter.
Kickstarter provided a better communication method to the fans. Could do an early beta and get feedback on it with less trouble. You can get feedback from people you know paid. Takes a lot of time to get feedback from the comments in his videos, has a month full of videos to go through. Youtube has suggested he setup memberships that would highlight comments from paying members. Kickstarter would allow him to setup forms that only people that gave money (Or even money above a certain amount) can respond to.
One more reason, very personal to do Arcanum, if they kickstarted. Really liked working on Arcanum, particularly coming from Fallout where there was a lot of pressures on Fallout he had to deal with that other team members didn't have to. Talked to Leonard about this, for Leonard it was the other way around. Fallout was more fun to work on than Arcanum because there was less pressure, and when Leonard worked on Arcanum there was suddenly a bunch of other stuff to deal with. Cain felt like more of his ideas were going into Arcanum with less discussion with higher ups. Really liked that, would have love to do it again.
Maybe it would have been Journey to the Center of Arcanum, maybe it would have been an isometric game set on another continent, maybe another game in the same continent given they already made a bunch of cool locations.
Kickstarter came 10 years too late for Troika.