#my personal pick will always be zoo tycoon 1

[go-go-devil]

Reblog this post and tag it with the video games that you believe had the BEST cheat codes 🎮

[writingonjorvik]

If I Could Ask the Devs 10 Questions: A WOJ Interview

I think if you’ve known me for a while, you probably know I would jump at the idea of getting to interview the SSO devs, particularly because they tend to have internalized or cherry picked interviews that only focus on what they want to tell us, and not on the questions the players tend to have about the game. So if I could have an interview with the devs, these are the 10 questions I would ask.

Sidenote: I have 10 core topic questions with some brief follow-up questions for clarity. If you counted, yes, there would be more than ten, but there are ten core areas.

What kind of updates can we expect for this year; in terms of new areas, horses, features, etc.?

When can we expect the return of bigger area expansions with full side quests prepared for them and secrets like in the Harvest Counties and Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur launches?

Speaking of updates, about 80% of SSO community wants to see the older Gen 1 & Gen 1.5 models updated across the board like with the update to Gen 1.5. Considering that this is a super majority, and these horses are paid for content, what does SSO intend to do to meet this request from its player base?

Again, since this content is already been paid for, would an “upgrade” feature for purchased old models require additional payment, making player pay to make already purchased content playable again?

If opposed to updating earlier gen models, why does SSO ignore something a super majority of their players want that seems it would also benefit the devs work load?

How does SSO plan to counter price bloat, like what’s happened on the upgraded pets?

Expected counterpoint: SSO has said that the walking pets are more expensive because of “all the hard work that went into them.” This is both a sunken cost and false equivalence fallacy. It’s the developers’ job to continue to make SSO better, and make better content for the game. That should not result in bloated prices for players, but rather more product that they can spend their money on. Saying that “all that hard work” just went into making expensive content diminishes the rest of the work made on the game and it trivializes the job the devs are supposed to be doing. It’s your job to make content for the game. We should not have to pay extra for something we already paid for, and certainly not at a bloat of 4-5x the initial cost for a few bonus animations.

On the note of purchased content, over 70% of SSO’s player base thinks that the game is overpriced, but 90%, regardless of their opinions on fairness, say they would buy more often if the prices were lowered. Is there any intention to lower the prices around SSO to make it more accessible?

Is there any intention is making supplementary content, like more unique items in the merch store that aren’t simply designs with your logo on them?

Would SSO be able to release the comic in English any time soon?

Are there any plans to rerelease the Starshine Legacy games on Steam or the teams merch store?

SSO prides itself for being a narrative oriented story. Are there any plans to establish an official writing team on SSO?

What about a canon wiki about the series?

One of the things the devs have stated about the genderlock on SSO is that it’s to create a space for women in gaming. Does SSO donate to any charities that support girls to play video games like Child’s Play, Code Liberation, or Games For Change, or charities that help women in general like National Women’s Law Center, Dress For Success Worldwide, Girls Not Brides, or Futures Without Violence?

What actions outside of having female leads and job equality is SSO pursuing to promote gender equality?

Can we expect the ability to get magic powers that we can use outside of cutscenes?

Would this involve the “power-up” system the devs have discussed before?

What kind of new customization can we expect in the future of the game?

Would this include the return of the housing function?

Will this provide more options for other gender presenting players besides femme?

Would SSO consider letting the player input their own pronouns into the game without changing the story in any other way?

Would SSO ever consider switching to an expansion based system over the weekly release schedule?

If not, why is the weekly release better for the game than having larger, less frequent updates?

If they would, what would this mean for daily content, in terms of daily quests and achievements, as well as the payment system for an expansion?

Would SSO ever bring back more fan generated content, like the T-Shirt contest?

With SSO branching out to more unique types of story telling, would SSO hold contests for writing companion short stories or producing audio stories like Texas Bluebells?

Will SSO release a public list of community guidelines, so both players and moderators know what is correct behavior, and so also ensure that moderators are upholding SSO’s rules and not personal ones?

What about an internal reporting system to simplify reporting?

Question I Think Would Be Asked Of Me

1. Why are you so critical of the game?

Ok. Here’s the essay.

I suppose it would be easy to say that it’s out of spite. And there’s probably some of that in there. Some innate bitterness over the fact that the PR team, for a period, actively deleted anything critical, regardless of content. The fact that they outright lied about empirical data the players were giving the devs (see the AQH release). Sure, there’s the fact that I’ve seen and had SSO’s dev team do a 180 on me from offering me a space on the mod team for trying to promote a better community to having their devs and outreach insult and demean me on the basis of my comments being “critical.”

And it does drive me a little nutty to see the devs so successfully have turned their player base on anyone who might critique the game. To see my hard work trying to get players to be decent people in the game turned on its head when I say one word crosswise about something that might make the game better. And I’ve be wrong to say I don’t get frustrated when I talk about changes SSO could apply with after being a gamer for way longer than most of the people debating me, with enough research done on my own to be the basis for a master’s thesis, only to be told by someone who SSO is their first video game telling me how the industry works. But that’s really not it. 

So, here it is:

Star Stable is one of the only non-combat MMOs in the world.

Let me repeat that; Star Stable is one of the only non-combat MMOs in the world. And I imagine that invokes a sense of pride, like you’ve hit some kind of niche. But that’s not a truth because of some lucky chance.

Non-combat MMOs survive on small niche markets, before consistently dying off because of failure to expand beyond their initial targets. And it’s not for lack of trying. People love non-combat games; Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, Nintendogs, Roller Coaster and Zoo Tycoon, the Myst series, so on. But when those games refuse to look passed their niche, to expand and improve, they have historically failed as MMOs because one niche cannot fund an MMO.

And where SSO has survived on the niche market of “horse girl fantasy,” it is most certainly not expanding. SSO talks about its overall player count being in the millions, but ignores that fact that for every unique player there are five duplicate accounts, which is a metric that continues to bloat. That out of 12 million players, only 3% of those players are regularly active, compared to most MMOs which will hit 15-25% of their player base regularly between expansions. And no matter how you swing those numbers, no matter how much more you bloat the prices, that is not a long term lifespan. You can’t survive on that niche.

I genuinely believe SSO could help influence the industry. And I don’t mean that in a “if you follow all my ideas, everything will end up perfectly.” I’m not always right, and I’m willing to admit that. But the fact that SSO has been so resistant to any criticism results in a mob mentality with its core player base and it ostracizes anyone who can’t put up with that attitude any longer. Not only does it put the developers into an echo chamber where they can’t improve, it continues to push away the people who care enough to sit down and explain why they’re frustrated. You tighten that niche. You limit your market. You run out of resources.

And I do think SSO has already made leaps ahead for parts of the industry. The number of people who say SSO was their first MMO, their first game, is amazing. It’s great to see a game helping young people get into gaming, particularly girls who, when I was their age, were bullied for even liking video games. So for SSO to make that platform is amazing. But they cannot abuse that by taking advantage of new gamers who don’t know any better about how games are made or sold. I feel, and I feel this of every company, not just SSO, that there is a moral obligation to do right by people, and not to take advantage of their ignorance. And with such a powerful platform to invite young people into this sphere, into making new games and telling new stories, it is imperative that SSO does right by people.

I’m hard on SSO because I care, immensely. You could say I have a fixation on the game, really. I am invested in the survival of this game. But you can’t survive without getting better. Not to mention, the criticism SSO gets is free! From thousands of people. When I edited my book, I paid over $2,000 for my two editors I worked with, and that’s not even getting into beta readers and reviewers. I would love to be able to get feedback for free like SSO does. Because it’s an opportunity to improve because we are never going to be perfect. And if SSO wants to survive the trends surrounding their genre, then they can leave no room for quarter to people like me. Not out of oppression of people’s voices, but by listening and making a better game.

Thanks for your time.

[spidermanfarfromhome]

This is the messenger of happiness! 1)Which book always makes you feel fuzzy? 2)Which movie makes you cry happy tears? 3)Which song helps you to feel better? 4)Which activity did you used to do with a loved one? 5)Which person or character always makes you happy? Send this to five more people and help them remember small but joyful things :)

Thanks so much for asking sunshine!!!💕💕1. I don’t really read a lot of happy books, but probably The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon!! (She wrote Everything, Everything too!) Such a cute book and very relevant to today’s issues and I just love it a lot :)2. La La Land!!!!!!!! Everyone says the end is sad but I disagree!! They still found happiness and achieved their dreams without each other and I think that’s really beautiful and it gives me a lot of hope!3. The song that comes to mind is Through and Through by khai dreams! After my last therapy session I was a mess driving home and it came on shuffle the lyrics really spoke to me and made me happy!4. When I was little and before I had siblings my mom and I would go to the zoo like constantly!!! I loved watching the animals and I got it in my head that I was gonna be a zoo keeper, till I learned that zoo keepers have to scoop poop all day. I decided to settle for playing Zoo Tycoon!5. Ahh I have so many!! I’ve probably gotta say Drax, he never fails to make me laugh!

(I literally just scrolled thru my followed list and picked 5 random people to ask so!! sorry if that’s annoying!)

[game-refraction]

XBOX Offical Gamescom Conference - August 20, 2017

At 1:00PM MST, the official stream from Cologne, Germany came alive on my XBOX ONE (via Mixer) as myself and most of the gaming world sat in eager anticipation of what Microsoft had in store for us.

Here is a breakdown of what was presented:

The CGI world premiere trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Origins was presented in all its glory. This trailer provided a better insight of the game storyline and a better look into the gaming environment and landscape. The game will be released October 27, 2017 and will be one of the 4K enhanced titles for XBOX ONE X.

The trailer for Playersunknown Battleground was presented, followed by a breakdown of the game with one of the developers regarding gameplay and behind the scenes storyline.

The world premiere for  Jurassic World Evolution where you get to build your own Jurassic world, coming Summer 2018.

Aaron Greenburg, developer, indicated that over 400 titles (and growing) will be available for backwards compatibility on the new XBOX ONE X including those from the XBOX ONE and XBOX 360.

And then the stream crashed for EVERYONE!!!! (oh no…)

The stream came back to a special exclusive game announcing — Recore: Definitive Edition, releasing August 29, 2017. If you are a Game Pass member, get it free.

It was announced if you were watching the stream on XBOX Mixer and were signed in, you could win a copy of the game.

Something big for the PC Gamers was the announcement of the Age of Empires, 20th Anniversary celebration tomorrow. There will be a live stream, live at this time tomorrow, wherein they will release exclusive information regarding the game.

Many games will be utilizing the cross platforming such as between Steam/Windows 10/XBOX Live.

Rise of Nations – real time strategy game, is being brought to Windows 10 and will unite Steam players and Windows 10 players.

This being the fifth holiday season with the Xbox One, it  has been announced that beloved family titles from Disney and fan favorite Zoo Tycoon will land on XBOX Live OCT 31 in full enhanced 4K HDR.

Halo 2 Wars has a new expansion coming with a new campaign and story. You will play as the banished and from a new perspective. New multiplayer maps and fire fight mode. This expansion drops August 26 in full 4K HDR.

A promo for Xbox Game Pass that came out in June, costs $11.99/month, and has access to over 100 games to download and play and add 7 new titles this month. Try it for free for 14 days.

http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/games/xbox-game-pass

Conversations with main developers on the Xbox One X, talking how gamers pick Xbox because of the access to the biggest franchises in gaming. Xbox One will be exclusive be Forza Motorsport 7, Sea of thieves.  State of decay 2, among other in full 4K HD.

The 4K resolution and power of the Xbox One X, has enhanced by 40% power 60% memory.

100 titles are planned to be enhance for Xbox One X in full 4K HD, from all types including shooter to RPG.

Check out Major Nelson website for all things XBOX news: https://majornelson.com/page/2/

Official Gameplay trailer of Forza Motorsport 7:

Provided info on new cars. Is the first game built from bottom up for PC, with 700 available cars and dynamic weather. All designed to full 4K resolution.

This game will have an unlocked frame-rate.

Designed to bring PC and console players into one place and is capable to run on simple devices including ones such as the surface pro 4.

Standard and Deluxe edition available October 3, 2017 and Ultimate Edition available September 29, 2017

Xbox One x Exclusive Release Teaser Trailer (same one as e3)

The transition from Xbox One to Xbox One S to Xbox One X has been made easier. Settings can transfer through Xbox live account, and get all updates downloaded live now before the One X launches and then you don’t have to wait for it to download when the system is first installed and you can jump into the games right away. You can attach external from you Xbox One and plug right into the One X and no need to worry as all your games will work the same.

Some new features already been seen on the One that will be for enhances One X-  when you boot there is a new home screen with enhanced speed and discovery (easy to find info and other players), streaming on Mixer by other players — bringing gamers together, personalization, content blocks to pin people and pin things that you want easy access to see, new guide for speed and layout.

Light mode will be added as the home screen is currently set to always be in dark mode.

Mixer is becoming an easier way to stream live to other players and will be enhanced to allow live game streaming.

State of Decay 2  teaser trailer

Gamers must play State of Decay 1 in order to understand the backstory and gameplay of this one. It is a ruin survival fantasy game that allows you to essentially build your own story. The game will reveal more secrets to the backstory and allow for further discovery. Releases in Spring 2018.

Official World of Tanks War Stories Trailer

Trailer for XBOX Design Lab 

Now has several new options for customization.

https://xboxdesignlab.xbox.com/en-CA/?rtc=1

ID@XBOX Games Trailer

There was a discussion of the Id@Xbox program which is celebrating its 4th anniversary – 2500 dev kits every month, over 1500 games, over 2 million achievements. Has spawned indie developers such as Big Giant and AAA.

To get in on the developing fun, you can open Xbox to download the software, design your own game and then have it shipped to use on Xbox. It’s something that is open for anyone who wants to create their own game.

Some feature indie games that are coming out include Cup Head, Path of Exile and Raider of Broken Planet.

http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/Developers/id http://www.idatxbox.com/

Sea of thieves Trailer

The big development since E3 is that the game is being developed for cross-play between the Xbox One and Windows 10, allowing for more friends to be able to play together. Release date for both platforms is same day

Minecraft Console Exclusive World Premiere

  Middle Earth Shadows of War Exclusive Trailer

There will be released exclusive bundles for this game that will be announced in the future.

There is an exclusive conference from the developer that will be live feed on Tuesday August 22, at 9:30 pm Germany Time that will provide more details and unique special announcements

Cuphead Trailer

The game is  currently active in demo mode , wrapping up development soon. and will support mutli platform.

The game will be available September 29, 2017 on Xbox One, Steam and Windows 10.

Surviving Mars World Premiere

Coming 2018

AND THEN THE MOMENT WE ALL WERE WAITING FOR:

The World Premiere of the Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition

Pre-Order is open NOW!

http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/xbox-one-x#buy

And if that wasn’t enough, Major Nelson himself unboxed a Xbos One X Scorpio Edition LIVE!!

  As I am writing this, I have already placed my pre-order for the amazing device. IOt was already sold out at one place in my area so I was lucky that the other one had some left for pre-order. It won’t get here till November 14, 2017….but I’m willing to wait.

The limited edition version: Project Scorpio will sell out fast so pre-order your now.

The XBOX ONE X launches November 7, 2017!!

Out of stock

XBOX Offical Gamescom Conference – August 20, 2017 was originally published on Game-Refraction

[ttaikattalvi-blog]

[rules:  repost.  always post the rules. answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you]

Tagged by @thedalishbloodmage. Tagging everyone because I just chugged half a bottle of wine. 1) What was the last movie you saw? Was it any good? The last movie I saw in cinema was Wonder Woman. I went to go and see it with my mom, which was sort of odd—my mom and I don’t typically agree on movies and that sort of thing so we don’t often go and see them together. However, I did enjoy it. It was awfully nice to see David Thewlis in a big role again. Even though there were some flaws (nothing is perfect or exempt from analysis!), I’ll definitely watch it again and may even purchase a physical copy.

2) Is there a genre of books you like the most? What about when it comes to video games? This is an interesting question. For me, at least, it really depends on what an author is trying to accomplish. I’ve always been a voracious reader and will read nearly anything I can get my hands on. What it really boils down to whether or not the book or video game is an effective medium for whatever literature is being composed. For me, satire and world-building is incredibly ineffective when placed in a book only format. It takes a while for me to get into it, if I can manage to at all. As far as videogames go, I’m down for almost anything. My undergrad program treated their undergrads as if they were grad students and we had to essentially write thesis arguments and pick thesis projects. Mine was videogames as ultimate forms of literature and my big end project was over the original Mass Effect trilogy. My main downfall with videogames is that I’m pretty cock-eyed so I don’t have the best depth perception and I get motion sick super easy. As long as I don’t get sick, I’ll usually give any game a chance. 3) Is there something that everyone hates that you love, like a book or a movie that bombed? There are definitely movie and book and videogame characters and pairings that Tumblr seems to truly hate that I really like. However, I tend not to take Tumblr seriously on some things because I think that any and all sorts of social media sites are the worst kind of echo chambers. I mean, it doesn’t keep me from having them or using them for my own means but I’m still aware of it. I can’t really think of any books or movies off the top of my head, but what I can think of is food. I absolutely adore black licorice—-especially strong black licorice—-and salted black licorice. Some of this is likely a cultural thing, but some of it definitely isn’t. I don’t have too much of a sweet tooth, but I will down an entire package of salmiakki faster than you can blink. 4) Do you have a special hobby? If so, what is it? I tend to always need something creative to do with my hands, or I’ll get bored and get myself into trouble. Anything artistic, I probably do. I sew, crochet, draw, cosplay, paint, and so on. Lately I’ve been coloring in adult coloring books, but before I did summer school for work, I was on a drawing and colored pencil kick. 5) Outside of BioWare games, what are some of your favorites? I’ll always have a soft spot for BioWare. The first game with a campaign that I ever remember “beating” (really, my uncle beat it and handed me a mouse that wasn’t plugged in while he played because I was about four) was Bauldur’s Gate. I also love Bethesda games. Morrowind was the first big RPG that I ever really got into. I like a lot of tabletop RPGs too, but I haven’t played them in ages and likely wouldn’t remember anything. I like card and board games. As a kid, I played a lot of Reader Rabbit and Jump Start games. They were educational and since both my parents are teachers, I’m fairly certain they got them from their schools. I also played a lot of Zoo Tycoon and turn-based civilization building games, like 1602 AD and Pharoah. 6) When roleplaying, is there anything else you do like listening to music or drinking something in particular? Not particularly, no. I’ve always been more of an opportunistic writer—doing things quickly or in-between tasks. The most that can be said is that I have to be entirely comfortable and sort of in a mode where my brain is refreshing and not actually trying to work. That being said, the majority of my writing tends to come out when I’m watching something stupid on Netflix or when I’m in bed and trying to fall asleep. 7) If you could choose between mind reading and teleportation, which would you choose and why? Teleportation, definitely. I could go see friends and travel for no cost and when it was time for bed I could just go home. Also, I would have absolutely no qualms about teleporting into a bank vault and getting enough cash to pay off my student loan debt, tuition for grad school, my sister’s and parents’ student loan debt, replace my car with a decent used one, and move out or even to a different city. I would literally be a world class thief in order to pay off debt, keep myself mildly comfortable, and then likely to donate money to no-kill animal shelters and charities. 8) Do you like ancient mythology? If so, what culture is your favorite? I think it would be more appropriate to ask what I don’t like. In general, I’ve never been incredibly fond of ancient Roman or Greek mythology. I find it to be far too overdone. My favorites overall are likely Egyptian, Norse, and Slavic. There are several kinds of myths that I have an overall fondness for. I especially like mermaid and siren myths. Most kinds of mythologies have some variation on fae or elven courts, and I enjoy those as well. And, as should surprise absolutely no one, I have a huge soft spot for tricksters. 9) If you could meet anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why? That’s a damn good question, and I nearly always change my mind each time I’m asked it. There are so many interesting historical figures that I would love to meet, good and bad, that I’m not sure I could choose just one. The top of the list includes more historical figures (Thoreau, Whitman, Poe, Hatshepsut, Elizabeth I, Lovecraft, Tesla, Jefferson) than live people (Rowling, Jennifer Hale). The people who I would like to meet generally are people that I would like to actually sit down and spend time with. They're people I've admired or found fascinating since I was young. There are, of course, two people who have passed in my personal life who I would give anything to see one last time. I would like to see my great grandma, who passed when I was in eighth grade, and tell her that I managed to get through college and that I have a decent job---she was so, so fond of all her grandkids and great-grandkids and she wanted to see us all go to college so badly. She was older when she went and I'm okay with that now, but she was such a nice lady and I think she'd be just so pleased. The other person I'd like to see would be my second momma who passed away from leukemia not even a year ago---I had known her since I was five and she was such a tough woman and never put up with my shit and pushed me to do my best and she was such a good, proud person. The job I had at the time wouldn't give me time off when I finally got word that she was in hospice care or when she passed and I asked to go to the funeral. She did get a college graduation invite and even though she didn't get to actually see me in person, she did get to see the live stream. I never really got to say goodbye or give her a hug or anything, and I know she basically considered me her kid. 

10) What about your blog is your favorite thing you've done?

I have a lot of headcanon that I haven't published yet. I need to get on that. There's one in particular, about elves and elvhen and footwear, that I really like.

Roleplay on Tumblr is a lot different than on other sites, which is interesting. 

I like the friends I've made on here most of all. I know that is awfully altruistic, but I do value them immensely.

11) What drew you into roleplay? What made you stay?

Honestly? I was bored.

I've been roleplaying off and on since Xanga and GaiaOnline, which is hella sad. 

As for what drew me to Solas? Honestly, when I started I hadn't even finished a playthrough where I had romanced him yet. A friend jokingly said that he and I have quite a bit in common so I started sort of as a laugh.

Joke was on me, I suppose. They were right---Solas and I do have a lot in common, which has made writing for him a deliciously difficult challenge---and I'm still here two years later. 

Don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot about myself while writing for Solas. It is immensely relaxing to write as him. Which has helped me stick around, too.

Questions:

1) who?

2) what? 

3) when?

4) where?

5) why?

6) how?

7) Lannisters or Starks?

8) Who did 9/11?

9) Tell me about it, stud.

10) How would you do it?

11) Who was phone?