Q&A: March 30th, 2022 (Patreon)

Sayn_Raincloud90 Asks
What is a good instance of the gameplay serving a particular set piece/story moment whilst not limiting the players options/moveset?

Spec Ops immediately jumps to mind. Obviously, it does limit your via the situations. You can't just avoid the crowd of people throwing rocks at you, but you aren't choosing prompts, you're remaining in the world while you make the choice.

Really, I think that's what players want. They want setpieces or story segments to restrict players through circumstances. 

The best Call of Duty games are really good at this.

Even the "bad" ones like Ghosts, when there's a mission that's about blending in a restricted area, you are free to whip your gun out and shoot down everybody, it's just 95% of players aren't going to even attempt that, because context has directed them to avoid that confrontation.

It's the difference between guiding somebody and pushing them.

GiantPurplePen15 Asks
What is your favorite memory of being excited for a game release?

Not a game but a console. I happened to have a bunch of friends over when my Parents got me a Nintendo Gamecube, but unfortunately, it didn't have a memory card, so like a bunch of dumb kids, we ended up playing as far as we could into StarFox Adventures with no memory card.

Of course, the console would somehow turn off in the middle of the night and we'd be cursing and raging at having to play it again, but we'd take different turns, memorize the layouts, and get further each time.

It was really fun.

John Stefanelli Asks
Why single me out in the "Spying on the patrons" thing? I'm a potato, but I still have rights!

No you don't.

Thor Asks
Have you checked out Stalker Anomaly?

Technically yes, but I haven't had time to sit down and fully dive into it. I've mentioned it before, but I hope to be able to at some point in the future.

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