> But why do we see smooth movement and animation?
>
> Interpolation. Serious Engine interpolates between the current and the previous game tick based on time passed between. Try opening the in-game console (~ key) and typing this to see how the game looks and feels without interpolation:
>
> /net_bLerping=0
>
> It's kind of like playing a modern console exclusive.
That list bit made me spit my tea out, I laughed so hard.
Great game. A staple of our LAN parties, what, 25-ish years ago now?
Not as advanced as your script (with dithering, etc), but I've always just used this script, which accepts the input video, and a custom dimension (optional):
A mate cycled 15km to my house back in 1995 with a stack of floppies a foot high, saying "dude, you need to install this right now. And when it asks for mount point, just put a /, that's the only tricky part".
It was Slackware. I've used all sorts since: redhat, Gentoo, yellow dog, Debian, arch. Never looked back.
A job I had once required windows, and I tried WSL, but it felt ... so limited.
I had a similar start, probably similar era, maybe a '98ish. My mom grabbed me one day and said I had to meet the new neighbors.
So, I went round and they had a front room full of a whole crazy mix of stuff. Some Next machines, Macs, AUX, Sun, BeOS, everything, on all sorts of crazy hardware.
We got chatting, he handed me a Yellow Dog CD and told me to install it and see what it's like. That led to SuSE 6.4 then 7, some BeOS, Gentoo, Ubuntu, etc. Had to purchase the SuSE CDs early on because on 56k couldn't download the ISO and didn't own a CD burner anyway.
> UK MPs do not dare criticize the country's policies anymore
We have to remember that the UK is not a real country. It does not have a real government. It's all Potemkinised. It's all for show. It's not real. It's not run by serious people. It's run for oligarchs and money launderers.
Besides, the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is now a massive 6 years in the past, so no-one is tweeting about it or shaming any Saudi-friendly folks publicly about it any more, so the startup CEOs can come and busk on the Riyadh street corners without fear of retribution.
> I somewhat wonder about trying to release those games on FOSS licenses (still with asking for “paying” for them to support the creators), that would be “purer” from anarchist perspective than using proprietary license but this is not something I have thought about that much. The pro would be it being impossible to get the license stolen how almost happened to Disco Elysium creators.
This is absolutely the model I want to follow.
Pros:
- More people will try your game if it's free. Especially useful if a studio isn't known yet
- You can slap on a GPL3 license to force derivatives to also be FOSS
Cons:
- someone can easily take your FOSS game, build it, and sell it. Some might even go through the trouble of rebranding your game ever so slightly before re-selling it (even if you had the GPL3 license on there, but who cares, right? Lawyers are expensive, etc)
- There might be a bit of a stigma attached to free games, as something which might not really be worth your time, or perhaps comes with trackers/ads/malware/etc so I'm really sure if folks would pay much attention. Personal experience: even if I get an itch.io alert that someone I followed released a new free game, I rarely even have a look (and TBH, a lot of thumbnails + descriptions are quite boring, and looks like more of the same I see everywhere)
- if you follow the sales funnel (I use dummy numbers as an example): number of people who see/discover your game (10,000) -> number of people who claim it or add it to their account (1,000) -> number of people who install it (100) -> number of people who actually run the game (10) -> number of people who actually play it for a significant amount of time (1) -> the number of people who think it's worth something and actually saw the call-to-action that says "if you like this game, please support us by donating or buying our premium DLC or X" -> now we're getting into the vanishingly small numbers. Even if your call-to-action was super clear and can't be missed, no real significant number of people will actually send money your way.
> Game dev is very susceptible to exploitation from capitalists
OMG, the layoffs are heart-breaking. And the recent spate of Bethesda studio closures by M$, considering that these studios actually made successful games, is just disgusting.
(mad rant: From the "7 deadly sins", (capitalist) greed is definitely deadly. It's causing people stress, bad health, lack of funds to pay for doctors, etc. Maybe not so deadly for those at the top, but then I guess swimming in a sea of fire and brimstone forever more while Papa Satan sings his sweet tunes (apparently he was the leader of music in heaven before his fall, haha) is worse than death.)
> I already tried creating such a project but due to internal disagreements it didn’t pan out
I think the reason that something like sokpop works so well for now is because those 4 guys are roughly (exactly?) the same age and culture, and have roughly the same life goals and immediate needs, so it's like taking yourself and multiplying by four.
In the real world, some people have kids (might not be always available), some people are 10 years from retirement (maybe want to be more conservative with their income), some people only want to do it in their spare time (won't be in the "office" the same time as you), some people's productivity are measured differently (is a 3 minute song the same as a new level in a 2-bit single-screen platformer?), etc. It's just very difficult to get alignment on an entire founding team in a co-op. Perhaps it takes a certain kind of individual to function in a co-op.
Anyway, dude, this is a good idea. More people should pursue co-ops. There's definitely place for a kinder alternative to capitalism as we currently know it. I haven't really dug into the nitty gritty in-depth, but a lot of folks are doing it, so the resources are out there to learn more.
Feel free to reach out. Contact deets on my website.
Disclaimer (apart from being a ranting mad man who doesn't know much): I'm currently just a gamedev hobbyist, and don't have any big dreams of being successful (for whatever definition of successful), but I am having fun when I do spend my few minutes a week making games, and I'm not beating myself up when something doesn't get finished. (I think this was the nail in the coffin for me w.r.t "gamedev as a career": https://www.mimimi.games/our-final-game/ I mean, if THEY can't survive, who am I to survive, lol)
I used to be quite good at FPSs around 20 years ago, and played Counter Strike often. I tried again recently, and got shouted at, called a cheater, etc. No thanks.
I also love a good open world over Xmas holidays, but man - can I be bothered to struggle with a game's "launcher"? (Steam/Linux/Deck player here). No thanks.
Just last night, I tried playing a game for the first time in a month. Wasteland 3, because I loved the original Fallout and the first Wasteland games. I just got a mess of pixels and what sounded like random SFX playing. Not even using Proton. Could I be bothered to search the web for a why/what/how/etc? No thanks.
There's been one little shining light recently. I've always been a fan of "Honey, I shrunk the kids", and saw this game a few months ago called "It takes Two", which is purely co-op. I bought it on sale. I've got two kids (8 and 11), and I got an extra controller and hooked the Deck up to the TV, and boy - that game is awesome. I can watch them play while I cook dinner, and would dip in every now and then when they get stuck (not often, mind). I had a closer look, and it's EA, and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't crap and had a launcher, etc. Such varied game mechanics, and beautiful too.
Oh, and then there are the other little shining lights - indie games. No launchers, no crap. Just start playing. Good 30 minutes of fun, then you can crack on with your life. And usually when you come back after an absence, you're not lost. (Looking at you, Witcher 3.) I support these guys whenever I can. In fact, I'm trying to be one. But, bills, kids, house, etc, haha - it just doesn't pay. It will stay a hobby to me forever more.
>
> Interpolation. Serious Engine interpolates between the current and the previous game tick based on time passed between. Try opening the in-game console (~ key) and typing this to see how the game looks and feels without interpolation:
>
> /net_bLerping=0
>
> It's kind of like playing a modern console exclusive.
That list bit made me spit my tea out, I laughed so hard.
Great game. A staple of our LAN parties, what, 25-ish years ago now?