shahaan

20m

when I wake up early, the day feels too long when I sleep in, the day feels too short maybe I just hate existing

shahaan reposted

Ahmed Soliman

@solimaniac.com

absolutely insane that Detroit: Become Human started development in like 2012 we're not too far from this tech keynote now

finally watched #TheOdyssey and it got me thinking: how would you design a "god's favour" mechanic in a game? typically, like with most game mechanics, you might design it to be explicitly transactional player does a good thing -> earns god's favour buff 🧵(1/7) #gamedesign

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to make this mechanic you would have to manipulate RNG behind the scenes with the intention to generate player superstition if players start creating theories on how the god's favour mechanic works, the design was successful (6/7)

as soon as players learn how a mechanic works, they begin min-maxing it and the game becomes a check-list rather than an experience ultimately I think having more vague / undefined / hidden systems like this could help players feel more immersed in our worlds (7/7)

likewise, the terms of a god's favour mechanic would have to be hidden from the player's perspective how cool would it be if sometimes unusual things happen in the world but the player can never quite figure out what caused the thing to happen (4/7)

imagine choosing not to shoot a deer, and later you barely survive because the enemy misses the killing blow, or a sudden tailwind carries your ship out of a storm since these things can still happen through standard RNG, it leaves the player wondering: was it god or just a coincidence? (5/7)

however, in real life that's not how our relationship with god works we might do something hoping for favour from god, but the result is vague (2/7)

if something good results from the thing we did, we may attribute that to god but we never know for sure on the other hand, if nothing results from the thing we did to earn god's favour, we don't necessarily stop believing in god (3/7)

12 Sept

want to feel like a flawless person? spend 30 seconds reading the live chat for any game industry event #BlizzCon

3 Sept

sports games should be treated like smartphones upgrade every year and you'll be disappointed upgrade every 2-4 years and the difference will feel tangible sports #gamedesign is too rigid, graphics have matured, and a yearly release schedule is too frequent to warrant big changes

winnipegfreepress.comPartial solar eclipse, meteor shower a feast for skygazers in CanadaTORONTO – A partial solar eclipse was visible across the Maritimes, Ontario, Quebec and other parts of Canada on Wednesday as the annual Perseid meteor shower also reaches its peak this week.

27 Aug

life is like taking a photo never quite how you pictured it

shahaan reposted

Ahmed Soliman

@solimaniac.com

12 Aug

ontario when there's something cool to see in the sky:

Winnipeg Free Press@winnipegfreepress.com

TORONTO – A partial solar eclipse was visible across the Maritimes, Ontario, Quebec and other parts of Canada on Wednesday as the annual Perseid meteor shower also reaches its peak this week.

23 July

I just said thank you to the self-checkout machine AI has defeated me 🏳️

20 July

woke up with a sore neck, a bad knee and an ankle injury sleeping remains the most dangerous activity of my day

13 July

im convinced boomers feel a deep, primal joy when they defy google maps how do we replicate this feeling in games? #gamedev

10 July

as a #gamedev I really envy the songwriting medium songs don't need a plot or characters, they convey an emotion in < 5 minutes with a few looping lyrics I wonder if we can replicate that in games 💭 a short experience with no objectives or resolution - just focused on conveying a single feeling

8 July

shocking statistic I came across today: roughly 1 in 5 AAA game developers in the world are Canadian happy belated #CanadaDay 🇨🇦🕹️

7 July

super cool solution! would love to explore how this can work for situations where you don't have enough room for the symbols, like when using coloured outlines around icons

BoardGameWire@boardgamewire.bsky.social

A pair of tabletop game designers have launched an open-source colour identification system called ColorSym, giving publishers a free tool for colourblind-friendly board game creation: boardgamewire.com/index.php/20...

prices for AAA video games over the last 30 years (inflation adjusted) ps1: $50 -> $110 ps2: $50 -> $97 ps3: $60 -> $103 ps4: $60 -> $86 ps5: $70 -> $90 prices went down but average #gamedev costs exploded (1/9)

AAA games cost too much to make high costs drive away investment and make studios very vulnerable to risks which brings me to my conclusion: (8/9)

AAA studios must reduce costs to avoid layoffs high costs are largely a result of complex workflows which require more workers to save money, workflows need to become more efficient but more efficiency means less people are required which means either way more layoffs are coming 😬 (9/9)

objection 1: microtransactions exist super true and for a while microtransactions produced enough profit for studios to offer their games free-to-play, but success with this model is getting increasingly rare not every game can be fortnite, nor should it be (6/9)

objection 2: studios lay workers off even if their game is a hit mega true and dev cycles are real but I think this points to a much bigger reason: (7/9)

some math: in the ps2 era, a studio that spends $10M on a game could generate $78M in profit if it's a hit - a 780% return in the current era, a studio that spends $193M could generate $100M in profit if it's a hit - a 52% return (4/9)

what this means: big budget studios today have significantly less room for error more remakes and trend-chasing / less experimentation and innovation a single failed game could be enough to shutter the whole studio (5/9)

average dev cost for AAA games over the last 30 years (inflation adjusted) ps1: $2.2M - $11M ps2: $10M - $20M ps3: $26M - $52M ps4: $72M - $144M ps5: $193M - $386M but surely the increased number of gamers in today's market makes up for the reduced prices? (2/9)

average net profit for a hit AAA game over the last 30 years (inflation adjusted) ps1: $44M - $176M ps2: $78M - $195M ps3: $86M - $258M ps4: $115M - $360M ps5: $100M - $400M 😬 (3/9)

29 June

i've been learning a lot about camera lenses and an interesting lens trait i've come across is its "personality" - which describes how the optical flaws of the lens create an interesting aesthetic (1/6)

in #gamedesign I think this is where an underrated aspect of game feel comes into play a hero that's created on a spreadsheet is going to be mathematically perfectly balanced but may not feel great to play (5/6)

29 June

as a player it's a lot more fun to be overpowered than perfectly balanced as game designers we can focus on balancing levers that control *when* the player is allowed to be overpowered rather than *if* they are allowed to be overpowered (6/6)

modern lenses aim to achieve optical perfection, which has its use cases, much like launching a rocket takes mathematical perfection (3/6)

29 June

but art does not aim for perfection, and for someone taking pictures as a form of art, a lens with a lot of character is a lot more fun to shoot with (4/6)

the word "personality" is really fitting for that trait because when we describe an interesting personality, we're usually describing what stands out in that person, something about them that's not "ordinary" (2/6)

26 June

we also have to be ok with not seeing graphical improvements every year games are so much more than hyper realistic simulations current hardware limitations will force devs to focus on art direction rather than fidelity

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26 June

I wrote a thing then got AI to make its own version of the thing without context of my thing and it wrote a thing that's almost the same thing as my thing does that mean the robot is as smart as me or am I as dumb as the robot?

9 June

madison square garden is a circle

8 June

pro game design tip: don't start the workday with an entire box of double stuffed oreos for breakfast

3 May

day 1 as an amateur wildlife photographer ft. this curious little guy

28 Apr

we are programmed to hope for things but that puts us in a constant state of grief would we be happier if we didn't dream?

shahaan reposted

Ahmed Soliman

@solimaniac.com

12 Apr

civilization destroys itself and all that's preserved are the sacred learnings on building B2B SaaS

10 Apr

suddenly extremely sympathetic to quebec language laws because why does that new cafe have a "restroom" who is resting in there. it’s a washroom. we need a federal mandate. #canada

27 Mar

we all grow up thinking we’ll do things differently than the generations before us after all it's human nature to be a little self-centered it takes real humility to learn from past mistakes, because first, you have to admit that you aren't so different, and you're prone to the exact same faults

16 Mar

history is littered with brilliant people who switch fields expecting the same success, only to be humbled greatly - steve jobs ignored doctors - bill gates ignored educators - elon musk ignored PR advisors moral of the story: listen to the experts in your life 🤓

7 Mar

sometimes I watch a whole video on a dead interest just because I'm touched the algorithm remembered and I don't want it to feel bad

22 Jan

there's something really cinematic about Carney delivering the eulogy for the American Empire the betrayed best-friend steps out of the giant's shadow to lead the rebellion it doesn't feel petty, and it's not about vengeance it's an underdog story, and it's about justice 10/10 character arc

12 Jan

if you are a people-pleaser, DO NOT work in AAA #gamedev when you aim for mass appeal, you'll be stuck considering fans of the franchise vs. fans of the genre lean into one, you alienate the other try to balance both, now everyone's pissed off it's a lose-lose folks, don't do it ✋

10 Jan

#HotTake: moving to another country because your money is worth more there is the IRL equivalent of smurfing I may be broke but at least I have my honour ✊🥲