Google Stadia Experience

I received a package in the mail yesterday. Kind of forgot I had pre-ordered the Google Stadia back in June. Since we are a developer I thought I should have one. I have to say I was VERY skeptical. I had ordered a Steam Link in the past and expected the same laggy performance. 

So I hooked up the Chromecast, installed the phone apps. Our router is in the center of the home on the first floor and the TV I was using was in our basement entertainment area, so wireless. I launched Destiny 2 and it instantly started playing of course with no installing. I experienced zero lag or rubberbanding, and the graphics looked great! It was actually pretty amazing.

Ultimately I wished the subscription service was more like Netflix where you have unlimited access to a game library but that's really a dream service I'm not sure will ever exist.  I've heard with Stadia the subscription won't be required to play games which makes it more like an Xbox Live or Playstation Plus service which makes sense.

Overall I must say I was impressed with the performance.  I'm looking forward to their title choices expanding and I'm optimistic for what's to come from this.

A Great GDC Design Talk from MTG Designer Mark Rosewater

Here's another great talk I wanted to share for those interested in game design.  It's Mark Rosewater who has worked on Magic the Gathering for over 20 years.  He's super easy to listen to and his observations cross into all aspects of games.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/twenty-years-twenty-lessons-part-1-2016-05-30

The Witcher Series Design Process

The Witcher III is one of my favorite games to date with high hopes on Cyberpunk 2077.  Here is a great video from one of Game Designers over at CD Projekt Red.  If you're interested in game design he really hits the covers some awesome methods for creating good designs.

Will Game Services Ever Think Globally?

Does anyone else find it strange that big global companies like Amazon, Sony, Microsoft, etc. don’t think globally?  As a game developer you move a lot and not necessarily within your country.  Very often people move to different countries to work in the field. 

So let’s say you move from the US to Canada.  When you moved you certainly aren’t going to buy all new consoles, & why would you?  Maybe you will when you find your Sony and Microsoft accounts don’t transfer across borders.  You can no longer add money to the accounts to buy games because you have a US account and you can't use your new credit card with a Canadian billing address.  Calling them for help you’re told nothing they can do.  And don't think buying a points card will work, codes only work in the country of the account. Meaning if you have your US Sony account and you buy a points card at a Canadian Best Buy the code won't work.

Blizzard is the same, if you made a US account you cannot change the address to Canada to buy loot crates or items in your Blizzard games.  Steam allows you to change countries but recently changed their policy so you cannot gift games to other countries because of “regional restrictions."  So forget buying that game to your relative back in the States over Steam.  It’s not just game services.  Most online stores will only allow you to ship to the same country as your credit card’s billing address.  This makes holiday gift giving a nightmare every year.

Ironically the companies blocking you from using things across borders hire game developers from all over the world.   They will come and encounter these limitations on the very systems they are developing games for.

As the world get smaller and smaller game services should change to meet the needs of people that don't stay in their hometowns their entire lives.

Farcry 5 Is In Stores Now

Another game in the hopper. Farcry 5 released today.  I hope you all enjoy it.  It was very interesting working on a Farcry game based in the US, created by a French company in Canada. I was a Senior Level Designer on this title at the Toronto studio, which focused on the Northern region of the game.  I’m very proud of the work we all did on Farcry 5.  

I had to do most of my development with the sound off.  The words of the cult leader, the Father in my ears all day was getting to me.  I think it has an unsettling familiarity that Americans such as myself can feel.I could write a whole thing about that but I'm not sure what I'm allowed to talk about so just play it and see if it speaks to you as well.

I grabbed a PS4 copy in hopes that I will buy a PS4 someday.  lol

Dev Stream of Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Usually after release I don't play the game again, they just sit in the shrink wrap.  But I'm currently on a three week vacation and thought it might be fun to play some of the titles I've worked on starting with the first, Return to Castle Wolfenstein.  So yesterday I did a two hour Twitch stream of the game over on my channel. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/226000013

Twitch doesn't keep videos around forever so you can also check it out over on YouTube. https://youtu.be/jjtjYir9dmI

In the video I talk about what working at Gray Matter was like back in 2000 and the industry in general.  Please join me if you can and sub to my channels.  Thanks

How Times Have Changed

I'm getting ready to stream some Return to Castle Wolfenstein on Twitch Monday Feb. 5th.  So I installed it to ensure it still runs and it ran perfectly.

When you quit out you are shown the credits screen and I found it amazing.  Today on a project like Call of Duty or Farcry it takes hundreds and hundreds of people and multiple studios to create a game.  But back on Return to Castle Wolfenstein we made the entire single play game with just 18 people.  Sure they had Nerve Studio make the multiplayer but today they would never dream of letting such a small number of people tackle a major AAA title.