Twenty Sided

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Mar 10, 2021

Filed under: Column 79 comments

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You might remember that last year Epic Games decided to pick a fight with Apple. Epic’s gripe was that Apple used their monopolistic power over the AppStore to make themselves an even BIGGER monopoly. The idea is that if you put an app / game on the App Store, then you MUST use their store for all financial transactions. Furthermore, by using their store you end up surrendering 30% of your income to them.

Now, a few details on this are still a bit hazy to me. I heard many claims that Apple tries to extend their control to other platforms. So if you’re based on iOS, then they want 30% of ALL transactions, even ones on Android devices. On the other hand, I’ve heard other people say this claim is nonsense, and other people claim it’s true, except Apple makes exceptions for large partners. Maybe my search skills are inadequate, but I couldn’t find a definitive answer to this. All I could find were merry-go-round flame wars between randos in the comments. If you’ve got a definitive (or at least authoritative) answer to all this, please drop a link in the comments.

It should go without saying, but I am not a lawyer. I do not give legal advice, and I’m not trying to. Also, this is not intended to be news or serious analysis. I’m not telling you the news, this is just me yelling at the television while the news is on.

Anyway, before we explain how Valve Software comes into this, let’s talk about where this all started…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Epic vs. Apple, and also Valve for Some Reason”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Source Code TheftPrevious Post

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79 comments

Diecast #335: Fallen Order, Prodeus, Aurora

By Shamus Posted Monday Mar 8, 2021

Filed under: Diecast 147 comments

 Diecast #334: Mailbag BingePrevious Post

Next PostDiecast #336: Creepers, Butts, and Sonic Games 

People have been telling me for years that the Persona series is brilliant and that I would love it. So then last week Persona 5 Strikers came out. Is this Persona 5 with some extra DLC? Is this a spin-off title? If so, is it anything like the core games? Normally you can read the webpage and it will answer these sorts of questions, but I did, and it didn’t. Can anyone tell me what this thing is?

Then again, some dumbass put Denuvo Anti tamper on this thing, so maybe I don’t care.

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Hosts: Paul, Shamus. Episode edited by Issac.
Diecast335

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Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Diecast #334: Mailbag BingePrevious Post

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147 comments

Jedi Fallen Order Part 26: The Next Jedi

By Shamus Posted Thursday Mar 4, 2021

Filed under: Retrospectives 135 comments

 Jedi Fallen Order Part 25: Pitch MeetingPrevious Post

Next PostFactorio Part 1: The Story 

The game ends with our heroes on the ship. They just destroyed the holocron. Their mission is over. The final line of the story is when Cal asks, “So where to next?”

Now, that’s a fine enough ending I suppose. I don’t mind that they’re setting up a sequel. My concern is that they seem to be setting up a sequel specifically for Cal.

The first game establishes your starting point, while the second one establishes your direction. If you make the second game about Cal, then the audience will assume this franchise belongs to Cal, just like Tomb Raider belongs to Lara and God of War belongs to Kratos. Stick with him now, and it’ll be harder to change later. More importantly, sticking with Cal constrains you in so many ways.

First, we’ve learned his backstory and experienced his big character arc. Order 66 was the most important event in his life, and he’s now dealt with it. There really isn’t room for more big surprises in his story. Sure, you can add flashbacks to awkwardly sandwich fresh skeletons into his mental closet, but how long can you keep doing that? How many games can claim, “Oh, here’s yet another life-defining moment he needs to deal with and that’s never been mentioned before.” The dude just isn’t that old. You can’t do that forever. Eventually he becomes a stable adult with a clear moral compass, it becomes harder to take him in a new direction. Sure, you can bend him a little, but he’ll never be as malleable as a new character.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Jedi Fallen Order Part 26: The Next Jedi”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Jedi Fallen Order Part 25: Pitch MeetingPrevious Post

Next PostFactorio Part 1: The Story 

135 comments

Nothing to See Here

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Mar 2, 2021

Filed under: Random 85 comments

 Sidetracked!Previous Post

Next PostMyers-Briggs Personalities 

This post was supposed to be a monster 6,000 word critique of EA CEO Andrew Wilson’s anti-management over the years. Normally I’d take something that big and divide it up into three posts that would appear over the course of three weeks.

But then I realized that the structure didn’t allow for that sort of division. Each section built on the previous one. Also, you REALLY don’t want to post an assertion and then have all of the supporting arguments appear a week later. That’s a good way to lose your mind by fielding dozens of objections. I’d end up posting the same reply over and over again, “Yes, I know this doesn’t make sense now. But next week you’ll see what I’m talking about.” That’s not fun for either of us.

Yes, you can fix this by making sure a point is never separated from it’s supporting arguments, but then you’re trapped by the length of those points. I wouldn’t want to public a three-part series that took the form of 4,000 words, 500 words, 1,500 words. That’s just silly.

While I was puzzling over how to partition the article, I realized that this shouldn’t be a column at all. It should be a video. It’s actually a natural follow-up to my previous video on executive salaries.

But a 6,000 word video? That’s going to end up being half an hour to forty minutes in length. That’s about double the size of my usual video.

Anyway, now I need to figure out what I’m going to do with this thing. This last-minute realization left me without content for today.

So… here’s a bunch of crap from my “This might make a good article someday” list:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Nothing to See Here”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Sidetracked!Previous Post

Next PostMyers-Briggs Personalities 

85 comments

Diecast #334: Mailbag Binge

By Shamus Posted Monday Mar 1, 2021

Filed under: Diecast 80 comments

 Diecast Unplugged #4: Bad News and Lost TimePrevious Post

Next PostDiecast #335: Fallen Order, Prodeus, Aurora 

Paul is back, and this week we answer a record-breaking TEN emails. Ten is not a lot of number, but it’s still more than we’ve ever done before.

Also, the ending music is several decibels lower now. I’ve been getting complaints about this. I suspect that people have been using my droning voice and banal observations to lull themselves to sleep, and then the end music was startling them awake again.

Direct download (MP3)
Direct download (ogg Vorbis)
Podcast RSS feed.

Hosts: Paul, Shamus. Episode edited by Issac.
Diecast334

Link (YouTube)

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #334: Mailbag Binge”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Diecast Unplugged #4: Bad News and Lost TimePrevious Post

Next PostDiecast #335: Fallen Order, Prodeus, Aurora 

80 comments

Jedi Fallen Order Part 25: Pitch Meeting

By Shamus Posted Thursday Feb 25, 2021

Filed under: Retrospectives 86 comments

 Jedi Fallen Order Part 24: Do The Right ThingPrevious Post

Next PostJedi Fallen Order Part 26: The Next Jedi 

I should note that this entry was written months before EA lost their exclusive rights to Star Wars video games. Oh yeah, and in case you didn’t hear: EA lost their exclusive rights to Star Wars video games. That’s an important thing to note.

At any rate, I imagine the pitch meeting for this game went something like this…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Jedi Fallen Order Part 25: Pitch Meeting”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Jedi Fallen Order Part 24: Do The Right ThingPrevious Post

Next PostJedi Fallen Order Part 26: The Next Jedi 

86 comments

Source Code Theft

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Feb 23, 2021

Filed under: Column 87 comments

 Cyberpunk 2077: What if the Heist Worked?Previous Post

Next PostEpic vs. Apple, and also Valve for Some Reason 

Heads up: This post is a bit more dashed-off than my usual columns. I actually think this would eventually make a good video for This Dumb Industry, but I need to do a ton of research before I can commit my thoughts to the indelible format of a YouTube video. For right now, this is mostly me thinking out loud.

Anyway…

So the news is that someone hacked into CDPR’s server, downloaded the source code for several games, then locked the files and held them for ransom. When CDPR refused to pay, the hackers “sold it on the Darkweb for 7 million“. The hackers obtained the source for Witcher 3, Gwent, and Cyberpunk 2077. From here on I’m going to talk about the Witcher 3 source, but most of this is applicable to all of the games.

My question is this:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Source Code Theft”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Cyberpunk 2077: What if the Heist Worked?Previous Post

Next PostEpic vs. Apple, and also Valve for Some Reason 

87 comments

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