This sounds to me like the right way to combat secondhand sales. Rather than making the game shitty and/or locking features behind online-only, unlock-keyed connections, they added a content mechanic that was actually fun.
I mean, this is basically the entire premise behind roguelike games, just applied to an action RPG instead (in a small way).
Your responses truly highlight your ignorance of his “process”. Seriously, read ONE chapter of that ONE book and then you’ll be back here to apologize.
He wants to release his next game, but he has no clue how to get to the finish line on his own because he avoids structure when it starts to require personal accountability. Were it not for personal financial pressure (and the pressure he was putting on his partner), the first game would have never released. Now he doesn’t have that pressure.
LOL okay dude.
Check out the book and read this whole story about his first game, then come back to this thread. The guy has some real - arguably self-imposed - psychological struggles in his life, and they cause hardship for both him and the people he loves (esp. his partner). He’s now showing that he learned nothing from making Stardew and didn’t emotionally grow from that experience, and this creates a further cycle of pain for him.
After reading about the making of the first game in Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, I’m convinced that this dude NEEDS a publisher, or at least some kind of producer or project manager. He actually needs structure and deadlines, even if they’re a bit soft, or else we’ll never actually play the Haunted Chocolatier.
Fucking git gud. It’s Mario. Not a hard game.
I enjoyed the hell out of Odyssey, in large part because it has these kinds of combos and such. Nintendo did a great job of making a game that anyone can play and beat, but yet still offers some challenge for the folks who want to reach for 100% completion.
We’re all sick of live service games, and that’s why new (copycat) games are failing so hard. Look at XDefinant, Concord, etc.
Plenty of people have one or two live service games that they like/play, and the sustained success of those titles like Fortnite, Destiny, Apex Legends, Diablo IV is why we keep seeing so many clones and attempts to hit the next gold vein. But the creators of those copycat titles fail to capture the real source of others’ success; great gameplay.
Cyberpunk 2077 with Phantom Liberty. 100+ hours of pure joy. And when you need to take the edge off, you can always spend a nice evening with the love of your life.
For real. EA spent north of $10M on streamer sponsorships for the Apex Legends launch and that was like 7 years ago.