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to weigh in on the arcade game discourse earnestly: i’ve been slowly getting into them more and more lately, playing both shmups and beat em ups, having a great time with both and i think they’re extremely inviting and fun and rewarding even and arguably especially at lower skill levels

A lot of what attracts people to continues can easily be solved by robust practice modes now that we all own the games we buy. Its more benefitial to push the practice culture arcade players already engage with (through save states), then the alternative

i just dunno if that’s true? i think continues have specific design benefits beyond practice modes. being able to play a run out after a death for practice while you’re doing attempts or slowly reducing the credits you need to clear are two, to me, valid and healthy approaches that you’d lose

The word limit of these websites is horrendous

linking my thread on this here, but basically: if we actually wanted to resolve this argument we would inevitably have to embrace a data-driven approach, and i'm not sure that's a road i would want to go down in what is supposed to be an artistic medium bsky.app/profile/ziad...

Couldnt you apply this to fail states themselves? If you signal when you are supposed to die, the right players will buy into it and restart themselves, making death upon reaching 0 hp a data driven approach forcing a similar experience upon everyone

In fact, now that I think about it, you can apply the same defence of continues on to infinite health, down to allowing the player to keep playing for practice, as long as you signal they are supposed to die here

For a lot, turning away, but turning away is temporary for some, some people later in life develop a taste for the style,etc. Dark souls turned a lot of people away at first too But if you dont see the game as a real choice, you will never second guess yourself, thats what continues did

There is also the aspect of, maybe its good to turn a lot away as long as some can be caught falling between the track. Its just not healthy that to get into Arcade games, you need to go through a cultural reprogramming by MarkMSX/Boghog/Me/DevInterviews/Friends/DerekYu

i guess i just don’t think you need much reprogramming? my intent with my posts was to say, to people intimidated by the genre, that i think these games are much more accessible and easy to get into than their reputation suggests. they were made to be played by literally anyone