One thing to consider is that you really only need one or the other. Either variable damage or variable health. It'd be redundant to have both.


Many games, including many shooters, but specially RPGs, have variable damage. It is meant to provide a sense of realism by simulating the possibility of glancing shots or uneven armour in games without advanced hit detection.

These games would often work in a "critical hit" system where hits meeting certain conditions (ex: headshots) would deal full damage, giving the player a skill-based chance to overcome the damage variation.


In the end, it depends on how your game is paced / presented. Damage variation can keep combat from becoming too predictable and stale, but it can also lead to frustration if it becomes too evident for the player that the damage they are dealing is random.

What's wrong with supporting USB controllers with actual analog sticks?  

Finally managed to get the hang of LICEcap! Here's my first dev-gif. Details on my devlog:

[*]

This mockup is a lie...

... mostly because it is an "in-game*" shot.

But pretty much everything has been set up by hand (tiles, lines, etc...) for testing purposes. The only truly functional thing there is the Doomie running around. Still, no devlog thread until something can be shot in-game.

* For an extremely lenient definition of "game"... 

[@Sar:]

@Sar: Indeed. I would wrap that under the the "have a plan B" option. Sadly, even a good employer can become a bad one when things get tough. Worse, though, sometimes you can't really choose.

[Read on the Law:]

We are the generation(s) of convenience and complacency, which means that a great many are unprepared to deal with the upcoming hardships of adult life.

IT industries have this be more noticeable because of their makeup, generally computer nerds with little in the way of a rebellious attitude. Not to mention that, socially, IT gets no respect (as most people still see the industry as that "new geeky thing").

But yes, more socially respected sectors, like healthcare, are still getting the shaft in this.


What to do? Simple:

• Read on the Law: It isn't unusual for employers to ignore where the boundaries of their power lie. A well informed worker can often slap them back when they overstep their bounds. And it is good to be prepared for any curve balls they might throw your way.
• Keep your eyes open for opportunities: A worker's greatest power is the ability to quit and move on to something else. Exercise this power by always having a plan B, or a way out. Many employers get extremely nervous when they realize the "I can fire you" threat no longer applies.

Mind, you, I'm not saying employers are always evil, just pointing that it is easy for the employer/employee relationship to go bad due, mostly, to ignorance and complacency on both parts.

Use a ruler to draw the straight lines. Do them in a single trace.

Irregular lines and multiple traces give drawings an organic feel that makes drawing robots harder.

Just draw them on the computer, using linetools or vectorial graphocs, and you'll see how they start looking more "artificial".

And make them shine, like they are made of plastic/metal.

Back to building a functional Monastery in the Minecraft server I frequent... Cloister is almost done, now on to the Mess Hall!

Dynamic Lighting using Normal Mapping for 2d sprites.... using Java2d.

Or, in other words, masochism.

High bullet damage? Go pick up any shooter with an Insta-Gib game mode.

No, seriously, go pick it up, play it, and come back. I'll wait.

....

Now, did you like it? Yes? No?

Don't misunderstand me, the debate going on about realism in games is interesting, but the bottom line will always be how the individual player enjoys the experience, and that can't really be argued.

So the best thing you can do, as a developer, is push the bullet damage over 9000, go play a few rounds / levels, and then step back and think if you liked where it was going.

Game development is not an exercise in mathematical analysis. Debate is awesome, but, in practice, we all have to try and get a "feel" for what we are doing.


Also, to paraphrase Yathzee, if shooters were realistic, you'd spend months training, to then step on a landmine 5 minutes into your first actual mission and require several months worth of painful rehabilitation to be able to function normally without legs.

Reality sucks, please go back to making fun games. 

The only reason I'd consider charging for one would be because some see "free" as a sign of lower quality.

That is, sadly, very true. There's a very strong social conditioning towards associating price with quality and viceversa, resulting in good but cheap products being ignored in favor of overpriced ones.

Not sure how this can be overcome, apart from continuing to push out nice free/inexpensive games and hope the audience realizes a price point is not necessarily indicative of quality.

one thing to realize is that it's *cheaper* for the industry to employ people for 5 years. because, you know, beginners fresh out of college are paid less than veterans.

Sadly, that is endemic not only of the game industry, but of all technology related industries.

And it is, also sadly, a wrong perspective, enforced by upper management, who are usually business people, and suffered by lower management, who are the ones realizing that a more experienced and motivated developer is more cost-effective than an inexperienced one who will be burnt out and eventually leave the team.

It's the idea of "expertise retention" that many HR professionals are trying to make upper management understand. But guess nothing short of a total market crash will get through at this point.


Yes, speaking from experience here. Our development team at work suffers greatly whenever someone leaves for a better opportunity elsewhere, but the upper management (the ones we don't even know personally who decide budgets from overseas) just understand the equation of how much money they put into us and how much they earn, and any decrease in earnings is understood as a failure of the department as a whole.

Not blaming the people making the decisions, though, but the system used to evaluate profitability.

Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Sometimes Erectus) native to Sol 3

[enjoy]

Probably the important part is: do you enjoy making games?

If you do, the actual development is its own reward, and making some profit is icing on the cake.

If you don't, then make some market research or whatever you need before you sink too much time and effort for no reward (the reward either being money, or attention from an audience).


As for the free game stigma, that's an stigma to anything, not only games. Free products as seen as inferior because.... Well, because we've all being indoctrinated from an early age to measure the value of everything based on its price.

It's a hard habit to shake off, so don't feel too bad when a lot of people don't seem to find value in art for art's sake.