Pausable cutscenes. No celebrity voice acting when their actual acting is shit and all they do is drain the budget.

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>No Pretentiousness.

No limiting PC controls to reassigned console buttons.

I'm looking at you, Mass Effects.

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>Be humble

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You forgot:
>Extensive support of user modifications.

>>189666457
>mods
I did yes, forgot to write that down.

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>>189666457
>adding modern weapons to fallout

>>189666660
Did you miss half of the modern weapons in Fallout 1 and 2?

>>189666417
fuck, youre saying that they just remapped the keys? instead of taking advantage of the hundred extra keys :(

>>189666748
Yeah. For ME2 and 3, they removed crouch and a use key, instead having use bound to the same button as sprint.

>No GFWL.
>Achievements that are meaningful/tasteful/not spoilers.
>Skippable cutscenes, skippable intros.
>Effective menus / GUI (eg. not Skyrim).
>No false advertising.
>Plenty of graphics options. (Windowed noborder option).
Yes.

>Be humble (eg. thank players in credits).
>No Pretentiousness.
>Considerably "original" idea (do not steal).
>No viraling.
>Reasonable pricing (eg. not EA).
>No extreme re-use of actors/mocap (eg. Oblivion/Splinter Cell)
>No social media anything - no FB presence - no twitter presence etc.
>No retcon.
>No Memes/Pandering.
>No Consolised HUD.
>60fps minimum, 120+ support.
>No extreme desaturation (eg. not BF3, COD).
Meaningless

>No asset re-use abuse (eg. not FFIV, DA3 copy-paste levels).
>Release servers as open-source after retiring official servers.
>No F2P, no microtransactions, no paid DLC (includes on disk dlc).
>No Slowmo/Focus/Highlighted Objects mode.
>No QTEs.
>DRMless (includes always online) and Steam version.
No.

But I like QTEs in sensible usage. They were fine in The Walking Dead.

>somehow manage to read through op's wall of text
and /v/ wonders why gamers are labeled as being "entitled"

>>189666052 (OP)
>No Slowmo
What about FEAR?
I actually enjoyed seeing clouds of blood after a shotgun blast pointblank in slowmo.

>>189666886
I remember when games weren't homogenised.
Sorry.

>>189666927
It was done right a few times. Max Payne of course. But its overused, see every Eidos game thats come out recently.

>ALL PC GAMES SHOULD BE THE SAME

>>189667040
>ALL PC GAMES SHOULD BE THE SAME AS CONSOLES
fixed.

The post is genre agnostic, is it wrong to point out the stupid casualised features in modern games. Or lack of features.

>>189666591
>Oblivion
>Shitty DLC
Sure there was horse armor but shivering isles and knights of the nine were great expansion packs

>>189667237
Yeah I agree.
But you have to remember that that it was the first obvious example of shit DLC. At the time it was a big deal.

>>189666846
Isint that an interactive movie though?

I don't think you know what agnostic means

>>189667660
What do you think it means?

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>>189667660
I'm waiting...
This should be good.

>>189666052 (OP)
What about a game like The Witcher 2 which allows you to turn off the QTEs?

>60fps minimum

Isn't that kind of impossible? There's always going to be some jerk-off running it on hardware that can't go that high on the settings he insists on using.

>>189667942
Minimum cap, sorry.

>>189667876
I thought you could only turn off QTEs in easy mode. But sure, if it's optional and not tied in with the difficulty that's fine. It's all about options.

>>189666798
Can you elaborate on the No section?

note that I try to be selective with my words.
abuse=overuse. Changing the colours of enemies a few times isint that bad unless you are really lacking variety.
Why no to a DRMless version?

>>189668150
You mean so they can't lock it at 30fps? OK, yeah, I can stand behind that.

>>189668514
Yes, Darks Souls and LA Noire are two modern games that locked the FPS to 30.
Only about half of modern games actually go to 120fps too.

>>189666660
>set 260 years in the future
>hurr no modern stuff!

>>189668651
LA Noire did that too?

Jesus christ how horrifying.

I agree with some, disagree with others.

For example:
>Skippable cutscenes, skippable intros.
Don't make them skippable. Instead, give the user full control over it as if it was a DVD movie.

>No extreme desaturation (eg. not BF3, COD).
I don't think you can be so absolute on art direction. While I'd agree those games are as visually pleasing as they could be, that doesn't mean there isn't space for a desaturated game to be beautiful.

>DRMless (includes always online) and Steam version.
I don't think adding a Steam option is needed for it to be non-shit.

>No F2P, no microtransactions, no paid DLC (includes on disk dlc).
Soldat is a great F2P game. The problem isn't the model, but how badly implemented it is in 99.99% of the cases.

>Be humble (eg. thank players in credits).
Nice touch, but doesn't really affect the quality of the product.

>Achievements that are meaningful/tasteful/not spoilers.
I guess it's a matter of opinions, but I've yet to see a meaningful or tasteful achievement. Could you please provide examples of games with those which would have been shit without them?

Still, nice list.

>>189668894
>*While I'd agree those games are as visually pleasing as they could be
I meant AREN'T

/signed

pretty much

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>>189666052 (OP)
Add pauseable cutscenes are were good

>>189668295
Sure.

>No asset re-use abuse (eg. not FFIV, DA3 copy-paste levels).
Asset re-use is fine insofar as it's not obvious. Clever re-use of textures, models, and sounds is part of good technical design. Being critical of that re-use for its mere existence is blaming the unpleasant effect (repetitive experience) on the innocent (asset re-use) rather than the guilty (lazy design).

>Release servers as open-source after retiring official servers.
I agree that server software should be available to the community if official servers are discontinued. I don't agree that it needs to be open source. While FOSS would allow the server software to improve over time, turning proprietary code into open source offers nothing in the desired solution of 'servers are still available'.

>No F2P, no microtransactions, no paid DLC (includes on disk dlc).
The consumer benefits in getting to play games for free without resorting to piracy, the publisher (or developer's income) benefits in making it easier for players to give money, and the developer benefits in having a shorter time between content development and publication. Holding back content for the sake of monetizing it is bad, but monetizing piecemeal content is just streaming an expansion.

>No Slowmo/Focus/Highlighted Objects mode.
I see nothing wrong with these. Some highly-praised PC staples (Thief, Morrowind) have certain intractable objects highlighted, and benefit for it. While the most elegant solution is having POIs highlighted more subtly, having an optional highlight is an acceptable alternative.

>No QTEs.
QTE's aren't bad, excessive use of content (including QTEs) is bad. See: asset re-use.

>DRMless (includes always online) and Steam version.
DRM isn't bad, obtuse DRM is bad. If a legitimate user can play the game and never notice any DRM in use, there's nothing wrong with that DRM.

>>189668894
Someone said make cutscenes them pausable.
These are good ideas here anyway and I can get behind them, but I think at the very least they need to be skippable.

>Desaturation
Yeah you're right. It does depend on circumstances.

>Be Humble
Look at any dejobaan game. Their attitude has almost ruined those games, despite the gameplay actually being fine. Being humble includes in game things, not just Phil Fish style shit talking.

>F2P
I agree that some F2P games are fine. Soldat is a bad example though because I think it was originally shareware, can you say if it has improved since it's transition?

>meaningless Achievment: pic related.
also "Completed Level 1" "Completed Level 2"
> meaningful achievement (Original tf2 ones were good):
First Do No Harm
Play a full round without killing any enemies, and score the highest on a team of 6 or more players.
This achievement is not easy to preform, and it promotes good player behavior.
Other examples of good achievements are finding secrets in exploration games, or difficult sidequests and optional bosses.

As for Steam and DRMless version, I think it's about options. One or the other at the very least. Homebrew DRM is always bad.

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>>189669761
meant to add this pic

>>189669509
>The consumer benefits in getting to play games for free without resorting to piracy
In some ways you do, in some ways it is detrimental.

F2P games will always have way more people playing it which are not really that interested in the game but killing time, which means the quality of the community decreases which is bad for a multiplayer game.

Furthermore, banned individuals can just create a new account and continue playing. So bad behavior, cheating, etc is rampant.

There's also the fact that these games almost always have online only DRM.

>>189669509

EA pls go

Microtransactions actively hurt the design of the game. Because you have to ask the question, how do I motivate the player to spend money on the microtransactions? And the answer is inevitably offering overpowered content or making the player want to skip grinding.

Faget.

>>189667417

the first example of DLC was on the Dreamcast

>>189670241

TF2 does microtransactions right

We really need to post this guide on every kickstarter page and ask if the devs agree.

>>189669761
level completion achievements are a great way for developers to track how people progress through the game

>>189669509
>Asset re-use
I think we are actually both agreeing with the same thing. The problem seems to be that i've tried to sum up lazy design by saying "asset re-use abuse". I know certain assets need to be resued a lot, but it doesnt have to be obvious to the player.

>turning proprietary code into open source offers nothing in the desired solution of 'servers are still available'.
Surely it does that and more? The community can not only benefit from running their own servers (which will happen by an invested community). But they will also mod it and fix it, your abandonware is not going to get you any more money.

>F2P
You can do all of that without it being F2P. World of warcraft might call itself a F2P model now, but its a trial.
The only DLC I deem acceptable is large "expansion pack" style DLC that doesnt affect non-dlc-owning players.

>Slowmo/Focus/Highlighted Objects mode.
If you want to talk about options, then I recommend they are off by default and you can turn them on in the menu. Options are good with me.
Games that NEED highlighted objects are just badly designed (see Bioshock Infinite, you cant see any money on the ground without it). Deus ex HR could have had it in an augment.
Having objects highlight when you mouseover them and are within using distance is acceptable, this is not what im talking about.

>DRM
I agree DRM is not always bad. I mentioned an option of steam there too. You cant say that NO DRM is bad though.

>>189669996
"Quality of the community" is a meaningless, nebulous, slippery concept that really means "I don't like certain people". More people in a community means you'll meet those undesirables more often, and if you don't have the tough skin to put up with them, that's your own damn fault.

Ban evasion happens in paid games too, just costs a little more. Bans are a deterrent rather than an absolute block, and so long as it takes less effort to ban than to evade a ban, they work as intended.

F2P games are online; obviously you wouldn't be able to play them offline. That's no more DRM than Counterstrike's multiplayer-only design is DRM. If you could play them offline, it would be just "free".

>>189670241
What's the difference between microtransations and an expansion pack? Size and cost. Cost-per-content and requirement of the base game is (usually) the same. P2W is just bad design, and shouldn't be considered indicative of micrtransactions as a whole.

>>189670452
No it doesn't
Dota 2 does

>>189670551
Developers can do that without using achievements.
Valve do this by sending stats home every few seconds. Battlefield do this anyway, how would they award the achievement if they didn't know how many kills you had?

>>189669509
>No asset re-use abuse (eg. not FFIV, DA3 copy-paste levels).
>Asset re-use is fine insofar as it's not obvious. Clever re-use of textures, models, and sounds is part of good technical design. Being critical of that re-use for its mere existence is blaming the unpleasant effect (repetitive experience) on the innocent (asset re-use) rather than the guilty (lazy design).

There's also that, the larger the game, the less viable NOT re-using assets becomes. It's all a case of placing priorities, and making sure that every square inch of the game is unique shouldn't even be on the list, let alone an important part of it.

As you said, the key is in the design, which should stand regardless of which assets you use, and being as efficient as possible - saving manpower (and loadsamoney) by using their fancy art degrees on unique assets that are also bloody impressive.

>>189670452
I think TF2 does it right insofar as it makes money, but the quality of the game has reduced dramatically after the hats.
Both because of BR players and the items themselves.

I have 2000 hours in TF2 and 2000 hours in Dota, I stopped playing because both communities became horrible :(

I just wanna see "...and YOU!" in the credits in games today..

>>189666660
>my fitst Fallout was 3

>>189671023
I always cringe when I see that. I'm a fucking consumer, not some valued friend.

Why do people like this? It's insulting, if anything.

>>189669761
>Look at any dejobaan game. Their attitude has almost ruined those games, despite the gameplay actually being fine. Being humble includes in game things, not just Phil Fish style shit talking.
I have never played any of their games. I'm a bit less radical than you on this one but I agree humbleness is a positive trait for a developer.

>I agree that some F2P games are fine. Soldat is a bad example though because I think it was originally shareware, can you say if it has improved since it's transition?
When I used to play it you could buy color customizations. I don't think it is exactly an improvement over the shareware model but I don't think it is bad. Given the way it is usually implemented I've grown to despise it, though, so I see where you are coming from.

I never thought of achievements promoting good behavior but it is certainly interesting. I'd agree on that one then.

>>189670406
>first obvious example of shit DLC
Was the dreamcast DLC shit?
Did it get much press coverage for being shit?

>Skippable cutscenes, skippable intros.
only after first play through assfaggot

I hate achievements and not just the meaningless ones. I feel they cheapen actual decisions made by the player. This doesn't apply to all games but I feel like if say the original Deus Ex was released today, I wouldn't be as satisfied with myself if there were achievements. Paul tells you to stick with the prod and watch out for casualties, lethal force is never necessary. Following his advice makes things much harder for you and with no reward whatsoever but satisfaction and some altered dialogue. Later in the game, continuing with this non lethal practice still has effects and repercussions yet no one tells you to do it. It's completely by choice of the player. But with achievements it's no longer "This is how I feel JC would actually behave as a peacekeeping agent that's been trained and augmented" nor is it "this is what I feel is right and it's how I'll do it". Now it's cod gamers goin in blastin rooty tooty point n shooty which is just fine, nothing against shooting your way through everythingm it's a valid method. The problem arises when now instead of anyone thinking of actual reasons to go stealthy or non-lethal, they'll want to get their gamerscore up, check the menu and see "Preserving the spirit of america : Clear Liberty Island without staining it with blood - 250 gamer points" and just do it for that. The beauty of the game was finding out all these ways to do stuff on your own or hearing about it from others and being like WOW never knew that was possible! Until very very recently I never knew Gunther had a killphrase because I never told Jaime to stay at UNATCO, I didn't know you could save Paul first time around, I didn't know you could let Walton Simons live at the sub base and fight him again at Area 51, I didn't know you could go the entire game without killing a single person at all ever. But if it were released today, all of those things would have been achievements.

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>>189666052 (OP)
So The Witcher 3?

>>189670838
But there are f2p offline games. CS can also be played offline.

>>189671332
Haha, yeah I know the way I've seen it presented a few times has taken me aback.
When it's done right it's nice.

"Thank you for playing our game."

>>189671542
Doesn't TW3 have QTEs?

>>189671530
Hell, achievements would be spoilers too. For the first like 5 fucking hours of the game UNATCO are still the defenders of justice and order and you think the NSF are truly irredeemably evil and unreasonable.

Jesus can you imagine if KotOR was made today?
>Achievement : Confront the Jedi Order about your past as Revan

>>189670793
>assets
We're agreeing on things that have always been true for any not-shit game, no matter the era, platform, or genre. There's no need to codify things that are considered universally desirable.

>servers
Open-source isn't necessary for mods. And given the choice between no servers and community servers without mods, the latter is clearly better. Open-source is best for the consumer, no question, but there is a major cost to the developer in releasing source.

>F2P and DLC
You objectively can't do all that without F2P. At the very least, you can't have "free" if the game's not free.

Take a full expansion at $40 and break it into four $10 content blocks. If the consumer only wants one of those blocks, they only pay $10, rather than $40 to get other content they don't care about. That's a benefit to the customer. If the blocks are priced higher than the sum of their content, that's a pricing problem, with no relation to a microtransaction/DLC model.

>slomo/highlights
If most people who play the game - even if you think they're casual - like it on, it should be on by default. Period. As for when/how they're enabled if it's toggled, that's very dependent on context, but a far cry from "should never be included". DX3 in particular only highlighted objects within a certain distance, and it makes it much less arduous to find items among a clutter of environment objects. When and how the highlights in a game are shown is like asset re-use: good when used properly, bad when used improperly.

>DRM
No DRM is best, but like open source, is harmful to the developer. I'm accepting of as much DRM as I don't notice, because it gives security to the developer at no inconvenience to me.

>>189671530
Deus Ex 1 was the master of hidden choice flags.
I know exactly what you mean.

My point on achievements was to make "good" ones if youre going to make any at all.

But on a side note, you know that there are secret achievements? Deus Ex HR has them on steam, you cant see them all, only the basic ones. Xbox supports hidden achievements too.

>no F2P
dwarf fortress confirmed for shit game

>>189671929
F2P =/= Freeware

>>189671627
TW2 had a few, Devs confirmed there would be 0 in TW3.

>>189671954
same shit, there is no difference to the customer.

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>>189666052 (OP)
>No paid DLC
If it's good DLC, it's alright. But we have no way of knowing that, so it's a neccessary evil. No way out of thisone unless the devs want don't want to give out DLC
>No Viraling
They need money to fall back on. Those guys sponsors could have helped fund the game.
>No extreme re-use of actors/ mocap
I have no problem with them using a small team of actors, since money is tight, but all characters that are important to the story or giving the awesome quests should be unique voices that cannot be voiced by any other person, or the should be voiced by one of the team who is great at doing other voices.

>>189672026
yes there is. Pay 2 Win...

>>189672067
then say "no p2w" instead of "no f2p"

not every f2p games is filled with p2w

>>189672026
Of course there is.

>>189672129
what is p2w about dota2?

>>189672061
>DLC
You cant know if DLC levels and expansions are bad, but you can if its cosmetic shit.

>Those guys sponsors could have helped fund the game.
but.. that's not viraling.
Viraling is what Game Dev Tycoon did with their publicity stunt.

>actors
I agree, i was generalizing sorry. You get the point though.

>>189672161
I didn't say it was p2w, I said there are clear differences between both models. In one, you get a product for free. In the other, you get part of a product for free and you have to pay in order to enjoy it entirely.

There might be some games where the unlockables are not interesting enough to justify the price asked for them, but they are still different models that affect the design of the game. F2P usually try to make you invest much more time that you'd need in a free game, for example, so at some point you feel like spending money on it is not a bad idea. This applies to Dota 2.

>>189672101
There are few f2p games that dont give an advantage to people who pay. Even tf2 can be considered p2w if you consider that you get buffs from wearing collections of items.

>>189672161
>>Dota 2
Its not p2w yet, but when gabe introduces pay-2-unmute, pay-2-unban then it probably wont make you much happier than p2w.

>>189666052 (OP)
>No extreme desaturation (eg. not BF3, COD).
Id argue against that. If done right, it can be quite nice.

>>189672320
>F2P usually try to make you invest much more time that you'd need in a free game, for example, so at some point you feel like spending money on it is not a bad idea. This applies to Dota 2.
what the fuck are you talking about? what is there to grind in dota?

>>189672494
I didn't say there was grind.

>>189672576
what is your argument then? f2p is bad because people play it?

>>189672101
Every time Dota2 invites rolled out, your exposure to BR and RUS was exponential.

If you don't know why BR is generally considered bad, then you should Google it. RUS were not much better than BR.

F2P = BR

>>189672815
As I said, it is designed so that you have to invest much more time than it would be necessary otherwise.

>>189672871
Better start playing singleplayer games only. You have zero BRs in singleplayer.

Multiplayer = BR

>>189672898
are you implying you would need to "invest" less time in dota if it was not free? a reminder: your time investment amounts to nothing but your own, personal skill.

>>189672994
When a game is F2P, its open to the lowest common denominator.
These are people who have a bad attitude, no regard for other players and no fear of consequences.

If such a thing as banning or kicking existed in said F2P game.
There is nothing to stop them coming back with another account.

Sadly, games in Brazil are expensive and many Brazilians are forced to play cheaper games or free games. It's a horrible generalisation and Brazilians are not the only group of people causing this issue, but its generally the example.

Type in "brazilians ruin" into google.

>>189673076
A non f2p dota clone could be designed in a very different way, indeed. I'd rather not discuss the details as it will inevitably end in "you don't get dota".

The thing is the game is designed in such a way that it wastes your time. Valve and anyone with at least a bit of knowledge of how games are designed know it. They could have corrected so in the sequel but decided not to because it bonds perfectly with the f2p model.

But hey, if you think I'm wrong and it works the other way around then fine, I don't really feel like fighting over this.

Thank fuck I've yet to run into a BR online here in Europe.
They sound horrible

>>189673357
so pretty much the better quality/price ratio of the game is, it is worth buying for more people, and that includes more BRs.

the game should be as shit and expensive as possible for minimum BR. got it, thanks.

>>189673597
>They could have corrected so in the sequel but decided not to because it bonds perfectly with the f2p model.
Question now is, are you retarded or just pretending?

>>189673357
>There is nothing to stop them coming back with another account.
Could just range-ban accounts, though.

>>189673771
Thats going to get you minimum BR alright, but the game doesnt have to be shit.
It can be priced just above the threshold for all the BRs that dont have jobs.

No need for the sarcasm.

>>189673597
>A non f2p dota clone
hon ($40 initially, became f2p maybe two years after release)
dota is not technically free (warcraft3)

>The thing is the game is designed in such a way that it wastes your time.
more like every game, regardless of it being f2p or p2p.

brood war forces you to get better by playing thousands of matches. it wastes your time and it's a full price game.

>>189673991
Like when maplestory blocked the BR ip range.

>>189674069
It didn't work?

>>189673991
Its a quick solution I guess, but you are blocking out legit players in Brazil who arent shitheads.
You'll always get shitheads, I know.

Guys, what part of genre agnostic don't you get?

Why are we talking about MOBAs?

>>189673992
>No need for the sarcasm.
no need to be a binary black-and-white cis scum faggot.

there needs to be balance in everything, and saying stuff like "if the game is free it's automatically always shit, only full price games can be good" shows you have none.

>>189666052 (OP)
good someone should make same kinda rules but for consoles

>>189671772
That's cool. That's real cool even

>>189674328
>consoles
>not shit game
it's impossible, sorry

>>189674162
But you can range-ban on specific subranges instead of the whole thing, though.

>>189674190
Because the best way to prove a claim is by analogy, and the claim being discussed is that F2P is a bad thing.

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>>189674554
>Because the best way to prove a claim is by analogy

Maybe if you're a retard

>>189674258
There is a difference between a free game, a free to play game and a full price game.

One HAS to have microtransactions.
Thats f2p incase you didnt know that.

Nothing i said was binary black and white. Everything i mentioned was followed by an exception to the generalisation.

>>189666052 (OP)
Making a game to your specs is pandering
FPS is largely dependant on the machine it is being played on
If the devs make something post release shouldn't they be paid for it
Humility is for losers
Fuck marketing let's see to it that our games don't sell
EA has always priced reasonably. Blizz Activision on the other hand...

>>189674439
what dude consoles have the same games as pc and more

>>189674439
le pc is master race

>>189674793
read the thread.
>minimum fps cap = 60.

The devs shouldnt release an unfinshed game.
Or half a game. With the rest as on disc DLC. (or day1 dlc).
They should release something good and worth while, not clothes and cosmetic items.

You have no idea why modesty exists, fuck off.

Viraling is not the only way to market. I'm not sure you know what viraling is.

>Ea
nope.

>>189674951
>and more
DID YOU JUST SAY THAT

>>189675101
yes have you heard about such thing as a console exclusive

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>>189674793
>Making a game to your specs is pandering
maybe it is, but its not memes and its not this.

>>189675181
do you understand what the word "more" means?
there are LESS games on consoles.
MORE PC exclusives.

>>189666052 (OP)
Paid for DLC is fine if it's like DLC was intended to be. Which is an easier to deliver expansion pack. If you make a DLC with content like brood war, yuri's revenge, lord of destruction, aom the titans or any other ExPac of old, i'll gladly pay for it

>>189675307
ok but lets get to the point console games are good

>>189675258
Good point. I cringed. Devs should know better

>>189675064
OP went blanket on paid dlc. Capcom's on disc BS is bullshit but stuff like the additions to Valkyria Chronicles, Mass Effect, Red Dead, inFamous etc are really good additions and not just content that should have been there in the first place. Be specific in your criticisms

I know it's cool to hate on EA right now. But why do it. Are the EA sports series shit and at most you should buy one a generation? Yes. Do they mistreat their developers? Yes. But they don't overcharge for games. Their prices are competitive on all platforms. And Origin is so much less intrusive than Steam. (It doesn't have to be open to play Origin games except on initial launch). Don't act like they're the devil they do some evil things but are credited with more evil than they've actually done.

>>189666052 (OP)
What is this, an OP that isn't a faggot? I don't even

That said, I disagree with:
>No Slowmo/Focus/Highlighted Objects mode.
As unpopular an opinion as it might be I'm pretty convinced that highlighted objects are a better solution than aiming at EVERYTHING, then pressing your use "use" key or whatever - at least as long as games are so very limited in their object interactivity (as in the only items/objects that DO anything are relevant to plot/objective-crucial). If everything was detailed as fuck, I'd have no problem with this, though. Really getting to rifle through someone's shit and discovering a bunch of crap but also some cool stuff would be cash.

>No extreme desaturation (eg. not BF3, COD).
It's fine if not consistently overdone. A game here or there that uses it stylistically isn't a problem. No one would have given a shit about this if BF3 wasn't an AAA game but an artsy Russian indie abomination.

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>>189674951
b7

>>189679420
3

>>189679934
.....what?

FOV must be customizable.

Keys must be customizable.

Options such as toggle crouch vs hold to crouch must be customizable.

Game assets must not be locked away in encrypted archives: if the player wants to replace a texture or alter an item's model/animations/whatever, they should be able to do so. Looking at you, vpk files.

All config and save files must be unencrypted and editable.

>>189675936
I was trying to keep the points succinct.

I do not agree that the mass effect DLC was very good.
Red Dead Redemption is an example of a good expansion, not DLC.

I'm looking on the origin store now.
54.99 € for Crysis 3 standard edition. That's not acceptable for a single player consolised PC game.

Dead Space 3 is 50€. They liquidated Visceral Games, which is proof enough that they think DS3 is shit. It's still 50€.

Maybe these are all acceptable for console games that you get physical copies for. But it sure is not for PC games that are digital download.
(Steam do it too).

>>189680628
>FOV
Great point that I missed.

>>189680628
On the topic of game assets being encrypted.

Generally those files are packed into a container to improve performance. For example GTA 3. The assets werent encrypted, but there was a semi-proprietary software required to extract and modify the resources.

I agree with keeping the files unencrypted, but not for packing them into containers.
Similarly to the save file issue, I can agree to keeping them unencrypted, but having them store anything other than structs or something basic is a lot to ask from a dev.

>>189680308
5

>>189675480
Yes, its unfortunate that DLC is now synonymous with the current shitfest that it is.

Making an expansion pack downloadable is perfectly fine, but there can be a thin line between an expansion and an extra level.

>>189680886
>Proof that DS3 is shit
Or that EA are idiots with unrealistic sales expectations?

>>189682067
It doesnt matter if it was good or not, they think it failed, and they have the power to change the price.
They didnt.

>>189681549
Packing them into containers is ok as long as you can still replicate the file structure outside the container and your modded files will overwrite the container's files.

Valve example: GCF files let you take a file from the GCF, make folders so it matches the location inside the GCF, edit the file, and that file will then be the one the game uses. Delete it, and the game will revert to the GCF's internal file. On the other hand, VPK files, even though you can take a file from them, you cannot replicate the file structure: nothing will happen, the game just uses the VPK and ignores your modded file.

As a result they broke mods for Dark Messiah of Might and Magic completely, and for any other Source game that didn't have native mod support.

>Similarly to the save file issue, I can agree to keeping them unencrypted, but having them store anything other than structs or something basic is a lot to ask from a dev.
Well, sometimes you just want to unlock stuff so it's ready on the first playthrough. Like in Mass Effect, I didn't play it until there was a savegame editor out and I could unlock the bonus skill lines or whatever it was called (been so long), so I wouldn't have to grind away at a bunch of classes to unlock them or play the game multiple times... I just wanted it available on the first playthrough, which is the most immersive playthrough. Some people might call that cheating but in a singleplayer game it should be the player's choice what they do. I don't give a fuck about achievements and I don't care if I'm getting achievements more easily than other players... it's a singleplayer game.

>>189682259
>save files
Yeah I see what you're saying,
If it were stored in a basic struct like I said, a hex editor can be enough to change that flag.
If its stored in plain text, the devs have to write readers and writers for everything, which can get very complex down the line.
I know you could also unlock the DLC on mass effect 3 by changing a text file too, that's not really a save-related thing though.

>>189682956
>I dont think the VPKs were ever intended to be modified
Which is an enormous problem.

>the data seemed baked into it, which is why the moved to GCFs
Uh, no, dude. GCFs are the older format. They took GCFs, which were great, and replaced them with VPKs, which were shit - from a modding standpoint, anyways.

>>189683109
I deleted that post because I think I had some inaccurate information.

>>189682229
I certainly think that Origin's pricing is completely unreasonable, and their refusal to have large sales because they don't want to "devalue" IP is ridiculous.