NMS 2011: Hyper Princess Pitch and stuff

I gave two presentations at the NMS August 2011 game jam in Stockholm, the first showing and talking about Hyper Princess Pitch, and the second giving a not-too-serious talk about critiscism. The people indirectly mentioned in the slides shouldn't take them seriously either, it's all in good spirits - the atmosphere at NMS is very relaxed and joking in general. :)

Video editing by Martin Jonasson. I adjusted the volumes since I can't speak louder than this without hurting my voice box. The parts not seen in the Pitch trailer due to editing were the rainbow megalaser and Goddess Buster.

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[mackiovirus]

While I agree with you that criticism is important, there are ways to go about criticizing a game. Criticism should offer ways to improve something, like mentioning a flaw or a hole in game design, such as a bug or glitch. That's helpful to make both the game and the designer better in the end. But that other comment, "This is bullshit!" and any comment like it, is just a flame. There are far wordier ways to say "fuck you." Player perception is important; but it's not helpful through insults.

[Ultimortal]

@mackiovirus Of course, with "critiscism" I mean constructive critiscism. I just brought those weird comments up because I thought they were funny, and tried to convey that they're the noise you need to filter through. Sometimes a tirade full of insults and personal attacks still has critiscism in its core, and you need to focus on that, not the language surrounding it. Some people think swearing and being negative is funny though, and wrap their critiscism in it by default.

[Ultimortal]

@Ultimortal (Continued) Not that negativity can't be funny in itself, but if you want to present a point rather than entertain, I think hyperbole takes the edge off critiscism and shifts the focus to what you're wrapping it in. If that makes sense. :p

[mackiovirus]

@Ultimortal It does. Hell, Yahtzee wraps his criticism up with insults and dirty words. Developers have one of he hardest jobs out there. You have to come up with something that's interesting and "original", all the while finding new and intuitive ways to keep the player entertained, challenged, and satisfied through every little ounce of picky they can have. Between the writing, the design, the mechanics, the point, graphics, the music, and everything else, it can get hectic.

[Ultimortal]

@mackiovirus Absolutely. At work, deadlines and budgets trump ambitions and polish. Nothing we can do about it, and sometimes the marketing works contrary to our intentions (in one case, omitting our game's unique selling point in favor of a generic action slogan).

I'm not picky about games and overlook a lot of flaws if the rest of the game is fun or interesting. There are only a few games where the flaws stack up so much as to make the game boring or unplayable for me.

[ronin7199]

Is this your full time job? How exactly do you make money? I'm sorry I was thinking of being an Indie dev.

[Ultimortal]

@ronin7199 I make no money on my own games, since they're freware (nor do I want to). I have a full-time job at Ludosity, which allows me to make these games on my spare time.

[TheMONEYMAN9999]

FUCK IM FALLING DOWN ALL THIS CODE .............

[RogueBuraiSolo]

It's nice to know that you still are making more indie games. I don't find that you copy games of other titles, you do make them into something completely different. The details in the games you make also are ENTIRELY huge like what you did with Iji and I did noticed them, making me want to replay them again and again just to see what other little details you did.

[mackiovirus]

@Ultimortal There's one thing people should remember when they play a game: the game doesn't have to be flawless for you to enjoy playing it. Hell the game doesn't even have to be that great for you to enjoy playing it. Mega Man X6 gets a lot of heat for its design choice; and while I was/am aware of its flaws, I still enjoy(ed) playing it. It was just hard as shit and unforgiving at times. Contra was no cakewalk at times. It's a matter of focusing on what you enjoy.

[UselessJapery]

HOMESTUCK FANS UNITE

[TheStrongBadMan]

@analplay IT KEEPS HAPPENING

[analplay]

I LOVE THAT SHIRT.

[KnightOfCydonia90]

Interesting music you used for your trailer:

Now I'm no more surprised why iji reminds me so hard of SS2.