This is like saying to any sort of person involved in commercial agriculture “don’t buy a John Deere tractor if you don’t like their draconic business practices.”

Like… there’s not really many other choices if you want to make a game that can do simultaneous cross-platform networked multiplayer and want to be able to launch on any console.

I mean, unless you want them making something that has massive difficulty coming to console… like maybe Lethal Company is the only recent example I can think of that’s a small non-major publisher-backed title that has networked 4-player multiplayer… and even then i’m not sure what sort of challenges that dev had when trying to implement any sort of netcode for gameplay.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Funny. I'm in thew ag sector and I would not recommend anyone buy a NEW John Deere tractor. Not unless you have the skill to flash the tractor firmware.

My peak multiplayer era was from then Arena shooters were kill. I don't touch Live Service games because of what we're seeing now. This game was going to be my first real try at one once I got a system that could play it as a lot of people were commending how it avoided the pitfalls of other Live Service games.

Just give me a game with a map editor and the ability to self host servers. The community itself will take care of the rest.

simultaneous cross-platform networked multiplayer and want to be able to launch on any console.

Quake 3 Arena came out in 1999 and has versions for AmigaOS 4, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, iOS. There's even fewer differences between PC and console hardware now a days.

[–] Xanis@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

This is the situation we're in, even if you don't like it. Yes, communities can take care of a lot. Yet for so many people the creation process and love of a product is why they create, not the money. I cannot blame the devs for wanting their game to reach as many people as possible. Nor can I blame Sony for wanting to make money, without that desire we wouldn't have as many opportunities to play amazing titles as we do, though we can absolutely blame the way that money is made.

So perhaps you may have gone a different route. Maybe it would have worked, maybe not. Maybe many of us only recognize John Deere, and maybe people in the industry know of alternatives. Point is, I am hesitant to blame devs for nearly anything nowadays. Because this isn't 1999, these titles aren't for the PS1, Dreamcast, or even PS2 or original Xbox. It's 2024 my dude and they had to make a choice: Get the resources, finagle some barely working alternative, or get help. I think many of us would have done the same.

Go shit on the big companies who are almost always the problem. Everyone else, man... they're just making the shit they want because many of them love the process. We're lucky we see so many projects reach the light of day, especially when for every successfully finished one I'd bet there are a 100 which are scrapped part way through.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world -2 points 6 months ago

What's the difference to the end user? I'm supporting indie devs by buying their retro shooters. Asking for server software and map editors don't hurt the the devs. It hurts the stock investors that demand the line goes up.

What I don't buy are Live Service games. This game was going to be my first in a while after being burned the few times I've tried before, but Sony thought they could fuck around.

The idea that there's a high amount of technician problems that need to be overcome to achieve crossplay though is nonsense. Just pick an engine with proven netcode and go from there. The biggest issue would be whatever red tape the console manufactures put up.

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Have you tried Splitgate? They came out with a Forge-like map editor last year, and the gameplay is basically Halo mixed with Portal. It's pretty fun and totally F2P. The only things you can buy are cosmetics.

[–] Kedly@lemm.ee 6 points 6 months ago

Welp, you just gave me a new game to check out!

[–] currycourier@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

I mean netcode for pc-to-pc games at least isn't really rocket science. I'm not as familiar with the crossplay aspect, but I'd hazard a guess that it is only difficult because console manufacturers have locked multiplayer networking behind their own subscription services. I can understand why they went the route they did, but maybe crossplay is overvalued if the cost is stuff like this.