Next time, Chair, create pathways linking areas so that I don't have to spend twenty minutes running like a bat out of hell from one side of the game to the other because I missed a powerup. Metroid Fusion had the right idea.
Aspiring game designers should read this postmortem and take note. Game design is less about coming up with awesome ideas and is more about lots and lots of work with metrics. I.e. stuff like "the player can jump this many units high" is what you'll be doing for most of the project.
I liked the demo, and wished to play the rest of the game; but then I found it was an Orson Scott Card project. I enjoy Card's writing, what I don't enjoy are his personal opinions and I feel I cannot draw a line between the man's created works and his personal (homophobic/gay bashing) opinions.
I made the decision a while ago to no longer financially support Card because of his beliefs, and I wish more people would too.
Here's an example:
http://www.nauvoo.com/library/card-hypocrites.html
(The irony of Card- whose writings have always been laced with slightly homoerotic imagery, calling homosexuals hypocrites..)
and here's an article about Card:
http://www.afterelton.com/people/2008/7/orsonscottcard
Well, I purchased and played through the entire game and I can gladly report that not a single homosexual was bashed throughout the entirety of the experience.
@shidarin000001: I disagree with Card. I couldn't disagree with him more.
I also couldn't disagree with you more. You don't change someone's mind by boycotting their projects and insulting them. You don't make someone see your point of view by ostricizing them. It's completely counter-productive.
@Yertle8: I don't think I could have said it better.
I can understand boycotts in reaction to poor policies and business decisions. I've done them before.
I can't figure out boycotts on someone's personal opinion, or strong arming companies who happen to sponsor someone with a different opinion.
What happened to "I may not agree with you, but I'll defend your right to say it?"
@shidarin000001: Do you realize how many other things you pay for that support CEOs or business owners who have homophobic beliefs? Your local grocery store, your water and electric bills, your transportation, your taxes... you don't know how many of the people who gain money from those things are gay bashers, do you?
What's your favorite AAA video game? Once you answer that, find out how many people helped make it. It's going to be somewhere around 50-200 people, maybe even more. I'll bet you anything at least one of those people is homophobic, racist, or an outright neo-nazi. Congratulations, your favorite game funds those people. You should probably stop playing video games.
Just buy the game to support the developers and to play a game that you already said you would enjoy. When you try to be all high and mighty about "not financially backing someone who is homophobic" you're buying into media hype. If nobody told you the game's plot was loosely based on a Card plot, you'd have bought it, yes? What if I told you Card lost money every time someone bought the game? Would you buy it twice?
@gordo789: I agree Shadow Complex was lacking in some aspects, but you're also comparing a full, retail game by a major first party to a small studio's $15 XBLA release.
@Kobun: Good point. I guess for $15 it would compare reasonably to a $60 release. I guess I never realized how much of my love for Metroid and Castlevania had to do with the variety of environments and enemies.
ALSO, I think part of the treasure hunting aspect of the game was lackluster because of the way the map marked locations of hidden items with a question mark. It made it a simple matter of flashing the light around all over the question mark room until you found the "hidden" panel or whatever.
@gordo789: The only issue was how buggy this game was, as guys got stuck in walls or went through them when I got the power suit. I was showing it to a friend when a barrel rolled onto me as Jason started vibrating wildly with no way to get out of it besides loading the last save.
@YorickB: I'm pretty sure I designed an entire sidescrolling game on loose-leaf paper when I was a kid. It starred a short, fat construction worker and the levels took place on girders and such.
At first I named the bad guy Bowser but my older brother informed me that that might not be the most original idea for a villain. So I named him ICON, after those super high-tech computers with the trackballs that were out at the time.
after reading all the comments I still don't understanding HOW people are cheating (hardware mod, game exploit?), or WHAT the cheating results in (high score?)
What I can say is it never affected me because I only ever see my friends scores next to mine. There is no multiplayer so I am not seeing it in real time, and therefore don't care if it isn't getting enforced/fixed.
If it is a SOFTWARE issue, then Microsoft should be wiping the gamerscores of all the Chair employees, and any testers who worked on the game.
@IvanDashSmith: people are downloading the trial and by means of exploit they can play the full game.
and no, neither chair employees nor their QA department should be punished for this, but the people that use it. just because an exploit made it into the final build doesn't mean it's ok to abuse it.
@JahB: I though they where talking about the people with max score in leaderboards. The trail game exploit cant be done with the newest update afaik. And im pretty sure that if you stay offline with your unupdated version, you can play the trail without risk. And obviously you cant go online without the newest update.
@Mundus: After reading into it further, they are affecting the people who modded their game saves. Probably copying them to the computer then copying back to the Xbox.
@JahB: I still stand by the idea that any "exploit" found by a gamer is the responsibility of the developer. Wiping their scores, obviously a joke, but as a developer you should be aware of what you are giving away in a demo, and for a game like this a time limit may have been a good idea.
I personally bought the game at release, and don't condone sequence breaking the demo as a means to not buy the game.
@Arlus00: But they won't, your not abusing glitches or hacking to get those achievements. While boosting your still in the set rules your just helping other or your self to get achievements. If this was the case M$ would lose a lot of money because there is a lot of achievements whore out there, this would be a kick in the nuts for them. AND if you pay 60 bucks for a game you can do w/e you want as long as its not glitching and or Hacking.
@Zer033: Based on posts at MSs forums. You will be reset and/or banned for aquiring achievements without PLAYING for them. Since boosting generally requires players to play (even if not 100% in line with the intended rules of the game) it should be covered as something they won't ban for. If you unlock a bunch of achievements out of order, within minutes of each other, or online achievements while offline, you're probably screwed... except then again, I have a list of about 20 people who have done these things (including getting achievements for DLC that isn't out yet) and MS doesn't seem too worried about resetting them.
This crap is so funny to me. The people who actually care about gamerscore/leaderboards going "Oh noes my gamerscore that does nothing but illustrate my elitism is gone" and the impending "how dare you do this to me I spent money and I'm entitled to break rules because of it" and the backlash "no you're not so stfu".
I'm all for seeing things pop up on the screen acknowledging certain deeds that actually have merit but tying them to an arbitrary number with no real reward is just silly.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/20/09
11/19/09
An absolute brilliant title and is a must for anyone thats a fan of old school design
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/20/09
Bit of a design flaw, there.
11/19/09
10/13/09
10/13/09
I made the decision a while ago to no longer financially support Card because of his beliefs, and I wish more people would too.
Here's an example:
http://www.nauvoo.com/library/card-hypocrites.html
(The irony of Card- whose writings have always been laced with slightly homoerotic imagery, calling homosexuals hypocrites..)
and here's an article about Card:
http://www.afterelton.com/people/2008/7/orsonscottcard
I'm just saying, yo.
10/13/09
10/13/09
Well, I purchased and played through the entire game and I can gladly report that not a single homosexual was bashed throughout the entirety of the experience.
Awesome game.
10/13/09
I also couldn't disagree with you more. You don't change someone's mind by boycotting their projects and insulting them. You don't make someone see your point of view by ostricizing them. It's completely counter-productive.
10/13/09
I can understand boycotts in reaction to poor policies and business decisions. I've done them before.
I can't figure out boycotts on someone's personal opinion, or strong arming companies who happen to sponsor someone with a different opinion.
What happened to "I may not agree with you, but I'll defend your right to say it?"
10/13/09
What's your favorite AAA video game? Once you answer that, find out how many people helped make it. It's going to be somewhere around 50-200 people, maybe even more. I'll bet you anything at least one of those people is homophobic, racist, or an outright neo-nazi. Congratulations, your favorite game funds those people. You should probably stop playing video games.
Just buy the game to support the developers and to play a game that you already said you would enjoy. When you try to be all high and mighty about "not financially backing someone who is homophobic" you're buying into media hype. If nobody told you the game's plot was loosely based on a Card plot, you'd have bought it, yes? What if I told you Card lost money every time someone bought the game? Would you buy it twice?
Critical thinking. Try it sometime.
10/13/09
10/13/09
I love it.
10/13/09
10/13/09
10/13/09
ALSO, I think part of the treasure hunting aspect of the game was lackluster because of the way the map marked locations of hidden items with a question mark. It made it a simple matter of flashing the light around all over the question mark room until you found the "hidden" panel or whatever.
Fine for $15 I guess.
10/13/09
10/13/09
Life is unfair.
10/13/09
10/13/09
At first I named the bad guy Bowser but my older brother informed me that that might not be the most original idea for a villain. So I named him ICON, after those super high-tech computers with the trackballs that were out at the time.
10/13/09
10/13/09
hohoho
10/13/09
10/13/09
10/13/09
10/13/09
09/15/09
What I can say is it never affected me because I only ever see my friends scores next to mine. There is no multiplayer so I am not seeing it in real time, and therefore don't care if it isn't getting enforced/fixed.
If it is a SOFTWARE issue, then Microsoft should be wiping the gamerscores of all the Chair employees, and any testers who worked on the game.
09/16/09
and no, neither chair employees nor their QA department should be punished for this, but the people that use it. just because an exploit made it into the final build doesn't mean it's ok to abuse it.
09/16/09
09/17/09
@JahB: I still stand by the idea that any "exploit" found by a gamer is the responsibility of the developer. Wiping their scores, obviously a joke, but as a developer you should be aware of what you are giving away in a demo, and for a game like this a time limit may have been a good idea.
I personally bought the game at release, and don't condone sequence breaking the demo as a means to not buy the game.
09/15/09
09/16/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
09/16/09
09/15/09
I'm all for seeing things pop up on the screen acknowledging certain deeds that actually have merit but tying them to an arbitrary number with no real reward is just silly.