Subset Games Forum

Dev A: I just coded the feature we talked about, where the thingamajig targets the whatsit and hits it for 2 points of xeon damage.

Dev B: Great... [plays a while] Testing shows that unless the player has the whoozer installed, they have a 90%+ chance of dying in an encounter with a thingamajig.

Dev A: Oh man... it took me all day to code this new feature.

Dev B: It's ok, we just have to find a way to balance it. We could set it up so the thingamajig only appears after the whoozer, or tweek its damage numbers, or make it dodge-able, or...

Dev A: Wait are you saying we need to do this every time we add a feature?

Dev B: Yes, good game design takes this sort of thing very seriously.

Dev A: Hey I have an idea! 30 years ago when computer games called 'roguelikes' were played from punch cards, nobody bothered to balance games. They could put in anything they wanted and if the player died, they could start over. It's a feature, not a bug.

Dev B: Ohh, I see where you're going with that. So we put in random encounters, and instead of trying to balance them all out, the player can just die sometimes due to chance. Dunno man, players like to be tested on skills. Clicking on an RNG is no fun.

Dev A: You don't understand, this is a feature. Our game is too short to allow player skill to be the dominating factor - people would beat it too quick. Having a few unbalanced random encounters per game is a great way to kill players just enough that they have to keep playing over and over again to win.

Dev B: Brilliant. I can see why this style of game design has been enormously popular over the last 30 years and continues to be used today by big-name game publishers. What will we do with all the time we're saving from game balancing?

Dev A: Hookers and blow?

Dev B: Yay!

if you dont like it, play any balanced mainstream shite. true, the game is unforgiving, randomly unbalanced, but it is not intended to be. it should thrill you, when you encounter tough enemies, maybe you need to escape after the FTL jump is available again.

i admit, i savescummed some times in midgame, just to speed up the things a bit when i had to start all over again, i could just start from a midgame save, where i had a decent layout and skilled crew. i am not happy with the permadeath, lack of savegames, unbalanced encounters, but i just accept it as bad luck that can happen.

i do not complain, when i find one floating weapon after another nor do i complain when 3-missile-barrages miss me in the last fight. it is bad luck for the enemies as well...

but i get your point and it is a ironic and funny approach.

If you don't like the game then its kinda your own fault really. There has been a lot of information about this game available before release, and you should of been able to tell before purchase the game would be balanced as it is.
Either way, if you don't like it thats no reason to whine about it

My guess is that Matthew is Dev A and Justin is Dev B.

Unless I'm mistaking Matthew did most of the coding.

Using difficulty and permadeath to extend gameplay beats the crap out of quicksaving/loadin and is a perfectly valid approach. The other day I watched a guy quicksave after every single arrow shot in Oblivion. Ugh.

Rather have every shot really count

I like the game eh. Its a great game. Love roguelikes, been playing crawl for years. Just teasing a little.

Thought the 'hookers and blow' bit at the end would have been a clue

Glad to hear you weren't being serious, honestly that first post seemed really snarky. All the complaints on this board about randomness and the game being too hard make me kind of sad, and I was going to reply with "So just play on Easy mode then."

The endless discussion of new features is actually a good thing, of course, as it means people love the game and care about its future, but as a somewhat burnt-out software developer those make me feel tired. The game just came out! Give the devs a few weeks to fix the most serious bugs and take some time off before they go back to implementing new features and planning sequels and expansion packs.

I both agree with the OP AND the design approach. Much funnier this way.

Blackjack and hookers. Everyone knows it's blackjack and hookers.

I've got a lot more where these came from, as long as people promise to take them in the spirit they are offered - in fun

bakedlama wrote: The game just came out! Give the devs a few weeks to fix the most serious bugs and take some time off before they go back to implementing new features and planning sequels and expansion packs.

I've been playin games for a long, long time. This is the first one in ages to get me to sit up and take notice (the last one was Distant Worlds, and we all know how that one turned out.)

Whee.