TD-Vice

Back from a long hiatus.

Man, has dA's interface become worse or not? In any case, I'm sort of back, but not really. I had a really hectic couple of months with my work (in places exciting, in places absolutely exhausted), but now near the end of the year, it's time to kick some dust off.

Please, don't mind the fact that I'm gonna talk about the entertainment industry - as said before, I'm on a route of de-politicizing this page, so in future, most of the stuff I'll post about will be about art, concepts, vidya and movies.

I decided to return to the topic of game development after I follow the whole "videogame and journalism" fallout because of some chick sucking cock.

I've already weighed in about why I think indie games are shitty. But now I wanna talk about and to people who are in some way, shape or form connected to game development. To the contingent of non-US and watchers - be you from Europe, Middle East, Asia, Latin American and so forth.

So, here's the premise - probably, in the worst scenario, the video game industry will develop along the lines of Hollywood movie industry. Or, more precisely - it will be heavily self- and out- regulated and censored among the "political correctness" and "social justice" standards.

It already happened in western cinema. The movies that appear on international big-screens are cleared of anything "offensive" to the controlling clique of liberal censors. Think about genre movies where violence is evenly redistributed by sex - ie, not majorly men on the recieving end. Think about movies where minorities are cast in a negative light. Think about movies that acknowledge reality and the complexity of any given political conflict.

It's simple - they're virtually non-existent. I'm not talking about art-house or creator-driven cinema - no, the regular movies you go to. There's obligatory heroic blacks, women outsmarting men, ancient oriental wisdom, level-headed gays, and awful, awful white straight racist filling every villain/bad guy role without looking at the context of reality. This will just intensify. In the best cases, movies just degrade to comic-book adaptation popcorn-fillers that are so abstract, that they just loose any sense to watchers above 8 years old of age.

This is what's probably going to happen to western video-game industry. The loud minority of pussy-whipped simps and feminists, organizing into loud, outspoken groups, influence the big-players (who, in a normal world, would depend only on the whims of a major consumer base, and not fringe political groups) to adopt censorship and creation guidelines, while yelling that the majority is awful people.
 
It's all about who put the "morality' flag on this proverbial Moon first. Sooner or later - and it might be a long-enough process, no hysteria - but the western gaming industry will be just as politicized as the movie one. It became a multi-billion dollar industry with access to millions of people, young and old, so no surprise it's happening. When it was obscure, noone care.

Just to offer a little personal perspective. When I was about 13-14 I got a Tomb Raider game on my PC. I really enjoyed it. And in fact, I enjoyed it because it was a fun game about a bad-ass, dual-gun wielding character that explored ancient temples and fought all sorts of mystic shit and dinosaurs. The dual pistols were the best thing - not the tits. I didn't play the game because OMG SHITTY POLYGONAL TITS IM A TEENAGER AND EASILY AROUSED. Nope. I really liked the story, and as Russian, who was raised on Russian child-and-teenage adventure literature, a female protagonist wasn't something that was OMG RARE. And the game was about that  - it was bout this bad-ass Tomb Raider chick with her Matrix-style glasses being well, bad-ass! It didn't prove any point, it just had a gameplay and interesting enough story to justify the whole exploration shtick.

Now, fast forward to 2013. I bought a copy of the game Remember Me. Well, I bought a bootleg copy for my modded Xbox (yeah, my Xbox is modded to play pirate games, bite me). I love cyberpunk. I love it enough so the fact that I, a white nationalist straight male was ABSOLUTELY OK playing as some brownish chica.
And the game was visually stunning. It was GORGEOUS. Neo-Paris begged for a sandbox exploration gameplay. The story about sold and "re-mixed" memories had an interesting premise. I was ready to have a good time.

And that's where the game started to fall apart at the seams. After I failed to complete even a half of Remember Me (I'll tell why), I read about how the developer, DotNod, had a purportedly "hard time" inserting a female character in the game, had conflicts with the developer, and as I read the interview, I realized, that the game's gameplay failed in large because the developers had a feminist agenda, as they themselves said in various outlets.

The main reason why I couldn't finish or play Remember Me long enough, was a completely botched (for me) combat system. It's an alien to my experience, Batman-esque third-person, arena-centered combo fighting game. It was pure horror, repetative, and enormously taxing on my fingers. It was unsatisfying and droning - I gritted my teeth through every fight. Now, you would ask, why did they implement hand-to-hand fighting, where you could have PROJECTILE WEAPONS that would seem more in lieu of a futuristic world? I mean, if Lara Croft had 2 pistols, why couldn't Nilin have some of that pew-pew?

Well, if one reads enough of DotNods words on the game, it's because Nilin was to be a STRONK CAPABLE INDEPENDENT WOMYN. And to illustrate that, she - as she does in the game - punches and kicks fully armored dudes to oblivion. No shoots them - that's to depersonalized, you see. No, the developer wanted to portray her total kick-assery and superiority over clumbersom - and always, invariably male - opponents. To make her seem light and in control in fight to a degree she doesn't need a conventional weapon.

But guess what! This mechanic spoiled the fucking game! It made it unplayable - and not only for me. Most reviewrs had major gripes with the combat. And not to mention a completely CLICHE "one individual overthrowing evil corporation story", this is the case where a slight feminist persepctive and desire to pander to some PC standard (not even mentioning the whole ethncity of the character), FUCKED UP A GAME'S GAMEPLAY.

So, what will happen? Games will change. Their gameplay will change to incorporate the demands of the liberal agenda. It's not about the things like "oh, every character will be an African transgender feminist special snowflake" - it's about what the game will BE, if the characters are African transgender feminists. In a world where killing female NPCs becomes "rape", when all forms of fictional cruelty and suffering is being TRIGGERS - what games will be sold?

But, and here's the main point - it's solely a Western trend. And the thing is, as the industry will change, the people who bought the games for what they like about, won't. There still would be American, British, Dutch gamers who would want to play games without a rainbow-color cast, games that don't explore the opressions of minorities, depression, sensibilities or games that vilify THEM, in the end.

In 3-4 years this is going to be a very lucrative market, as a big chunk of gamers will turn from the PC-cookie-cutter entertainment in order to find the un-censored content.

And this is where national, local game industries can finally flourish. It's a well-known fact that in Eastern Europe, Latin America, some Asian states and so forth, are not very developed. Take Russia, for example - there are studios that are very big in the local and even international, MMO markets and smartphone games, but next to none which can compete in the genre of AAA-blockbuster games. When such projects - like Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light - appear, it's a rarity, rather than a rule. In part, it is due that the market to which such games cater, are already under the control of US-based developers and publishers. Same goes to the Witcher series and so forth. Only exceptional, once in a decade products from the former Soviet state make it that big.

But, note this - both the Witcher and Metro series recieved critial acclaim for the exact fact that they were NOT like US-games of the same genre. Richer narrative, different, more adult and complex tone, less moralizing and more reflecting reality. Grittier, harder, and as result - more exciting as games.

So, there's my poin: the ongoing trends of making games more politically correct and "inclusive" will create audiences in the Western markets who will be dissatisfied with such a development and subsequent games. They'll seek the entertainment they crave in other places - and this gives the opportunitues for non-US, non Western-European developers and publishers, who don't follow the same "ethics" and PC-guidelines, to move their products outside of local markets and to the big Western markets to satisfy such demands. It's an ability to propagate your gaming product as 'uncontaminated" to those who seek such an experience. Digital distribution models, in this case, are an ideal instrument to bypass any transborder regulation in sales.

It will present a truely unique opportunity to make it big. Think about, think what you can and would contribute, and be ready for this to happen. Encourage and  support the estabished developers that could go down this road. It's a chance to earn money, audience and acclaim. It will revitalizie the struggling national game devs.

Granted, it all won't happen overnight. But the possibility is there and it's best to prepare for it.

Yeah. This whole Ferguson thing - hilarious as fuck. I've seriously have no comment on this delicious situation aside from a recommendation for the black community in Missouri to ship some Maidan-activists from the now-allied Urkaine to coach them on proper gubbermint-destabilization techniques.

I can already picture them negroes jumping on one leg and screaming: "Who's not looting - dat's a cracka!"

***

I really don't get Tumblr. Kinda sucky part about it, is that say, you're friends with some artist. You like their art they post on dA. More or less often, it's a girl/woman. And then you notice they have a tumblr too, and you think: "gee, I'll go see what awesome art they have there, maybe some exclusive sketches!". And you go there.

And it's full of gay porn that they draw. Aaaand... other people's gay porn.

Then you go like "eeeeeeh... ok? You show ppl online that you like gay porn, that's what's cool now?". There's very little exceptions to this rule. I dunno. It's all like those inflation/vore/whatever fetishists who put out their porn art on the internet - I don't get the compulsion.

***

Just loaded that playable "Silent Hills PT" teaser. Damn, the shit looks AWESOME and I wonder if the whole game will have such a level of presentation and realism. Visually, it's sort of close to the "Alien: Isolation" project, and sad enough, it's these new next-gen games that have reached that level of visual fidelity that's IDEAL for a virtual experience, won't be getting any of that Oculus Rift or Project Morpheus support - seemingly.

Which is a damn shame.

But I do long for a quality, scary, big-studio horror game, because the last one was Dead Space 3 I think, and that was a long time ago. Also thinking about buying the remastered Last of Us for PS4, but hadn't decided yet - zombiesque apocalypsis shit isn't my thing really, but I've heard many good opinions about it, so kind of on the fence if I should waste my time and money on it.

I confess - sometimes I read vidya game news. Sometimes it happens that I read them not on Igromania.ru or stuff, but on western gaming websites. Like, honestly, I really enjoyed Engadget's subsidiary, Joystiq, for a while.

That is, while the whole INDIE thing had not started. So instead of having 80% news devoted to actual gaming news about actual real games, 80% of the content shifted to tell the stories of Kickstarters and Steam Greenlights about indie developers. Yeah, I get it, news draught. But come on...

So, a couple of days ago, on one such site I read a lulzy story about how a "female indie dev" was caught fucking journalists for favorable reviews on several gaming news outlets. That aside, the game in question was a text-based SJW shitfest about "depression" - not even a real game, but a multiple-choice quest.

And see, that's what's the whole indie scene is - pretentious fucking shitfestering pile of abhorrent talentless gunk.

So there's that - I loathe "indie" games. And I can actually make a case for it.

First off tho, I have to make an important term distinction. There are big and small studios and publishers. EA, 2k, Blizzard, Warner Bro's Games, Netherrealm studios, Ubisoft, Visceral, Bethesda - big players, yup. Yager, Starbreeze, arguably THQ, GSC, CD Projekt - smaller/small. But these are viable business entities, employing dozens of people, having quality control, SLA, legal departments, full-time artists and programmers, marketing, etc. A small studio isn't INDIE, even if it's not connected to a major publisher - a small studio will still get it's game on the shelf by someone else's means.

In my classification, Indie game are made not by factual, full-line process studios and devs, but by makeshift, on the go, just "forming" collectives, who are missing or outsourcing key departments and employees, who are not connected to proven, known to the market publisher, and who rely on outside real-time investment to fund the game.

This is why indie games, well - SUCK.

The main thing is resources and money. It should come as no eye-opener, that the more resources you have - the better tools you can affort, and better tools yearn better quality of the product that is made through them. Tool include not only material assets, but more importantly - human resources. If your budget has a limit of say, $2 mill over 2 years of a production cycle for a game design department, you can hire 4 big industry professionals that require a 250K over the year. If your budget is $30 000 for a year, you can hire well, 2 students for 15k a year. Yeah, these students MIGHT BE the next Joe Karmak (sp?), but they still have zero experience, and you wouldn't expect them to produce the same result as 4 solid professionals.

Same goes for material assets. You have to rent server spaces. You have to buy your designer and programmers adequate equipment - computers, professional software, cameras, etc. When you don't have professional work-station servers, you can't expect to render realistic cut-scenes with hi-poly models - that's a given.

More importantly, a functional studio has departments that take care of all the inner operations - ordering materials, doing the logistics, proving the needs of the employees, etc.

But indie studios? People multi-task. One person is often working as a designer AND modeler, AND photographer, AND is responsible for system administration, because the studio doesnt have the money to hire actual separate specialists. Multi-tasking in a work environment always downgrades the quality of each job unit. Then, you have to rely on always fixing things on the go, changing stuff of the go, outsourcing - and then wasting energy trying to gather the outsource puzzle into one functional work process.

That is the reason why an overwhelming majority of "indie" games are one of the following:
- retro-pixel side-scroller variation
- retro-pixel side-scroller platformer
- flash-based abomination that is "artsy"
- pixel-hunting quest thingy with detailed immobile background
- fps/horror/game that is so polygonal it should've stayed in the early 90s
- abstract AND artsy

See, that's the point. For example, "retro-pixel side-scroller" - why is it so prevalent? Well, firstly, such games are OLD. Their source codes had been released decades ago, and are available now for free. It costs nothing for an "indie dev" to obtain them, and then just modify them to the hearts content. The codes are simple enough to be worked on by beginner programmers. Pixel graphics don't require a lengthy - and costly - production process.

Making a good, A(AA) game is a really complex process akin to filming a blockbuster. Consider a game like I dunno, Grand Theft Auto. Aside the engine programmers, aside from the coders, you need people that:
- conduct motion capture (so that in-game and cut-scene models move realistically)
- go around a country filming and taking shots of architecture, textures and etc - to build libraries for the designers and modelers
- sound effect directors
- voice actors
- animators
- AI programmers
- level designers
- lighting specialists

the list goes on. No indie collective that prances around Kickstarter, can afford that. 

The result is the same as in cinematography. It's not about making a visual eyegasm only. Even realistic, grounded films like say, Trance or series like Breaking Bad, that don't involve giant transforming robots, need a huge budget and effort from a massive, professional team, to make it look good as it does.

But independent films are more often than not a "shaky cam" cheap experience with overlong shots of a floating pack of garbage, or some dark, dank, weird-ass shit. There's a reason why District 9 was rolled out in theaters worldwide, but Neils Blokamp's short film that preceded it became only a Youtube hit.

Indie games, due to the constraints put on them, are always badly made and boring - that's the bitter truth. You may whine that stuff like Battlefield 4 or Call of Poopy is boring as well because its all pew-pew and VIOLINS, but at least it's breaking technological and production grounds, paving way for the medium to develop. 

But you see, there's nothing fun or innovative about yet another "nostalgic" sidescroller, or a flash game about some developers "feels". It's no new word in gameplay, and it's visually repulsive. How a game like say, Isaac's Binding is good and innovative, when the pew-pew top-down view dungeon crawlers existed since the 80s? Hows is Slender a technological or gameplay feat when it lasts 20 mins at max (and yet people complain that 8-hr games are short)?

More so, these games are NEVER desired by or played by a general audience. They are a niche thing, born by gamers who want to feel "special" about liking "non-mainstream COD CLONES OMG". It's a completely self-contained, circle-jerk scene for which quality is an anathema since it gets "less genuine".

Simply put - these games are bad. They are bad because their developers don't have the budgets to make anything good. They are bad because they are a repetition of old, worn-out shit. They are bad because the niche they exist withing doesn't try to acknowledge the fact that quality, not pretentious wrapping, sells a concept. They are bad because they are made by faggots for faggots.

I'm not saying that indie games should cease to exist. No, they should - they might well be a platform for rag-tag collectives to someday develop into viable, professional teams, if only for that.

I'm arguing that we should look at these games for what they are - horrible, broken turds that deserve the same level of scrutiny and critisms that solid gaming products get. That they are a thing for a hipster niche, and should not influence mainstream, quality gaming. That people who do them are often tallentless scammers.

That's my view on this shit. I have a really cool idea for a game. But I have a presence of mind to realize that such a game would require a lenghty production cycle by a professional team - and I have the presence of mind not to buy some half-baked flash engine and try to do it on my knee, taking the role of 4-5 employees.

Correct way of handling such a desire, is to go to a bank, take a big-ass credit for a beginning small business, assembl a quality team with all key studio departments, and set out to do it like a professional business entity which you are. When you beg for shit on Kickstarter, and go around Deviantart begging random artists for free concept art, you know that your product will be lump for shit.

So you go and make a 2D pixel retro side-scroller platformer, and game journalists piss their pants.

Thanks, I'd rather play Aliens: Colonial Marines.

For quite some time, I've been shifting to new art themes and techniques in my work.

From my perspective, there was a considerable evolution in terms of artistic vision and even worldy outlook over the past few years that I had. What I did in the past, I've no interest in during the present day, and I think it's cool. Change of path to avoid a stagnation for a hobbyist.

Torture-device was all about warhammer, gore, and politically spurring journals. I'm no longer interested in warhammer, I dunno what to say new in gore, and in my 28 years I've realized the intrinsic futility of announcing your political opinions on the internet. You might say I'm too old too realize that, but I'm as much as a product of the Internet age as most of us here, and good that I realized it not a decade later, like many still do - I feel lucky)

TD-Vice, in return, just wants to do his own concept art, visually cool stuff, his own stories and with time, move to more lucrative grounds for exposure. It's all about bright neon colors, cyberpunk, narrative studies and a dash of newretrowave in the mix. Deviantart is still a good platform for massive exposure, and not gonna lie, it's what's keeping me here for the most part. But hey - all things change, and that's a great thing.

Thanks to everyone who keeps with the journey)