(sorry for my English) ENG/PL
There are many crappy games on steam, which look like "asset flips" with the same models, sounds and engine used to make them. "Asset flips" are often made in Unity, because there are many assets from Unity's shop you can just drag and drop on your map, and that's all - you made a game. Congratulations. There is one more software, even easier to use than Unity, that is used to make crappy video games - it's called Game Guru.
Istnieje wiele marnych gier na steam, które wyglądają na „asset flipy” z tymi samymi modelami, dźwiękami i silnikiem, którego użyto do ich wykonania. „Asset flipy” są często robione na silniku Unity, ponieważ istnieje wiele zasobów z jego sklepu, które można po prostu przeciągnąć i upuścić na mapę, i to wszystko – stworzyłeś grę. Gratulacje. Jest jeszcze jedno oprogramowanie, nawet łatwiejsze w użyciu niż Unity, które służy do tworzenia gównianych gier - nazywa się Game Guru.
Yesterday launched his new version, but I want to present you why this engine was so bad, and why you can find many almost unplayable titles made in it. His idea was making possible to make games without coding. Game Guru allows you to create whole levels using only a very simple "drag and drop" system. This idea sounds wonderful, but... almost everything went wrong.
Wczoraj wypuszczona została jego nowa wersja, ale chcę wam opowiedzieć i zademonstrować, dlaczego ten silnik był tak kiepski i dlaczego można znaleźć wiele tytułów prawie niegrywalnych zrobionych właśnie na nim. Jego ideą było umożliwienie tworzenia gier bez kodowania. Game Guru pozwala tworzyć całe poziomy za pomocą bardzo prostego systemu „przeciągnij i upuść”. Ten pomysł brzmi cudownie, ale... prawie wszystko poszło nie tak.
The engine technically was outdated even when it was announced (2013 as "FPS Creator Reloaded"). Visuals were primitive. Water, shadows, default assets looked ugly. The worst was AI. Developer could implement high quality 3d models to replace crappy ones, could make advanced scripts to make gameplay more complicated, but he couldn't edit enemy's behavior.
In the best game made in this engine (Dark Skies: The Nemansk Incident) the enemy is really dumb af. They shoot at the player even when they shouldn't see him, and they make unfairly too much damage. The creator of Dark Skies: The Nemansk Incident tried to show everyone that you can make good game in Game Guru - you must put enough effort on it. He made his 3d models, learned about game design and made really good looking levels and did many more, and Dark Skies as a whole game still isn't even decent. You feel you play something cheap.
Silnik był technicznie przestarzały, nawet gdy został ogłoszony (2013 jako „FPS Creator Reloaded”). Wizualnie był prymitywny. Woda, cienie, domyślne modele 3d wyglądały brzydko. Najgorsza była sztuczna inteligencja. Deweloper mógł zaimplementować wysokiej jakości modele 3d, aby zastąpić te kiepskie, mógł tworzyć zaawansowane skrypty, aby nadać złożoności rozgrywce, ale nie mógł edytować zachowania wirtualnego wroga.
W najlepszej grze stworzonej w tym silniku (Dark Skies: The Nemansk Incident) nasz wróg jest naprawdę głupi. Strzela do gracza nawet wtedy, gdy nie powinien go widzieć i zadaje niesłusznie zbyt duże obrażenia. Twórca Dark Skies: The Nemansk Incident starał się pokazać wszystkim, że w Game Guru można zrobić dobrą grę – trzeba w to włożyć wystarczająco dużo wysiłku. Stworzył swoje modele 3d, nauczył się projektowania gier, stworzył naprawdę dobrze wyglądające poziomy i zrobił wiele innych czasochłonnych rzeczy, a Dark Skies jako całość nadal nie jest nawet przyzwoita. Czujesz, że grasz coś taniego.
So... Game Guru is garbage. Game Guru Max maybe is better (creators are working on AI, lighting and shadows works finally well), but grass and water looks like something from PS3 era and there are many bugs, issues with collisions and much other stuff. I have been watching the whole development cycle, devlogs, first demos and I think it has bigger potential than his previous version. It still has huge library of crappy models, easy drag and drop system, and I'm sure we will see new crappy asset flips with better lighting, than previous asset flips, because every person can understand how to use this software. We will see many of them.
Więc... Game Guru to syf. Game Guru Max może i jest lepszy (twórcy pracują nad sztuczną inteligencją, oświetlenie i cienie w końcu działają dobrze), ale trawa i woda wyglądają jak coś z ery PS3 i jest wiele błędów, problemów z kolizjami i wiele innych niemiłych rzeczy. Obserwowałem cały cykl rozwojowy, devlogi, pierwsze dema i myślę, że ma jednak większy potencjał niż jego poprzednia wersja. Wciąż jednak ma ogromną bibliotekę kiepskich modeli, łatwy system przeciągania i upuszczania, i jestem pewien, że zobaczymy nowe kiepskie asset flipy z lepszym oświetleniem niż poprzednie, ponieważ każda osoba jest w stanie zrozumieć, jak korzystać z tego oprogramowania. Zobaczymy ich bardzo dużo.
Do you consider developers who utilize 'Asset Reuse' and 'Drag and Drop' the antithesis of actually developing a game? I had no idea Unity allowed drag and drop/asset reuse but is an interesting concept,
I recall Sony Online Entertainment coming up with something similar for one of their MMORPGs in development a long time ago where the players could make textures then sell them to other players to use.
Anyway thank you for sharing your thoughts, it does give some clarity about the different game creating softwares.
Reusing assets and drag & drop in itself isn't bad. Even if you reskin a game and sold it as a different thing, isn't bad if there was an artistic reason or value for consumer to do it. The problem is that many games don't even try to be enjoyable, they just make something that plays like a game and sell it, even if they have easily fixable bugs in it or if the assets they used don't mesh that well together.
Which game that was?
I think with the Metaverse, this will become incre4asingly popular in the upcoming years, which can be good or bad as how you see it. (I see it closer to bad, but I can see the good it can do.)
It was 'EverQuest Next: Landmark'. Their goal was to receive help from the players to create game assets and sell them on a marketplace where the creator would get a cut from the sold pieces that other players could buy and place in their area.
Here is a video from the 2013 presentation:
The concept might've been a little ahead of its time but it seemed like a cool idea.
It appeared 7 years too early...
I do. It's also a common opinion in the game industry. There were many game "developers" completely destroyed by critics, audience, every intelligent human being who heard about them (Digital Homicide, this dude who made Hunt Down The Freeman). The problem is fact, that nobody notice most of them. Their "games" appear on Steam and nobody says in the comments, "Don't buy this. It's a scam!". Nobody makes a research and figure out that this title was mix of "FPS Shooter Template" and 3 maps from asset store.
The worst thing about it is that it works... Well, if there was a soul in it, I wouldn't mind. If they were transparent about it, I wouldn't mind. If it was cheap enough and gave some people some enjoyment I wouldn't mind.
But most of the time, they don't even fix the bugs resulting from the loose way they glued up the assets together.
Yay! 🤗
Your content has been boosted with Ecency Points, by @ahmadmanga.
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
Support Ecency
Vote for new Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more