Would it? I mean, Husky promotes Nexus Wars pretty heavily, and as far
as I'm aware, the dev(s) of that still aren't rolling in the monies. His
mapmaker friend (Zetal?) produced a bunker wars type map that, despite
again being promoted heavily, was resigned to the depths of the arcade.
Star Strikers, promoted by Total Biscuit of all people, and even had a
Blizzard-backed tournament, wasn't really a life-changing event for it's
makers. Indeed, it's not quite as resigned as the bunker wars map
mentioned before, but it certainly isn't that popular.
I was referring to someone of the likes of PewDiePie with Flappy Bird; but point taken I wrote it the wrong way. Would a shout out from Husky or HD actually made our game popular? Probably not. Would it have given it a surge of players to the point where over coming our biggest feedback issue - there isn't enough people to get a game going - would have been a possibility? Probably. With a multiplayer game you need an active community or else the game will usually perish, at least to the point where you can get the "standard" game mode going with minimal effort. Hence, if a new player joined the community he should be able to play a game within a few minutes, not having to spend hours over skype arranging times etc.
This is where the arcade was the wrong platform for a Moba genre game, especially one that was innovating past a Dota Clone - unlike SoTiS, and don't get me started on Ecko/RNG.
But you see the issue that here-within lies with the Arcade? "It takes about 5 seconds to get a Rank 1-4 pop game going", make it a second page game and see how hard it is. At least with iOS you will usually have the Popularity list moving weekly, yes this can also be given to the fact that the games do not really require a cult following, they are mainly single player games which are easy to developer and at a cheap price point - whilst also being extremely overpopulated with good quality games; but it moves never the less. The Arcade barely does.
I said for years to the few Blizzard Devs I am in contact with that the Arcade needs to be moved to the launcher much like Steam. It needs to be taken out of Starcraft II and pushed to allow the general Battle.net population quick access to it. I believe one day it will move away from being "in-game"; maybe nearing the time Warcraft IV comes along, but as for LOTV I highly doubt it.
Traysent cares a shitload, as does Villers and a huge group of people at Blizzard. It is just the issues when dealing with a company as large as Blizzard and the bureaucracy involved in getting anything "big" done. I hate myself everytime I send an email to Traysent because I know how busy he is, I know how much work he puts into the Arcade and supporting us, and I just fucken hate myself even more everytime I request something from him or Blizzard. For everything they do, we, as a community, have a pretty shitty way of showing our thanks. The majority of us whinge, cry and complain, but very few of us ever show our thanks.
damn, thats heartbreaking story. Full of hope and dreams to fall into
abyss.. Sorry to see that all this sc2 development came to this
conclusion..
This is life. Compared to other things that have happened, neither the amount of money nor the effect it has had on my life comes anywhere close to other things that are better left unsaid. I made my choices and I accept the consequences. But I am Australian, we were born fighting, we live in a country where nearly everything wants to kill us, especially the kiwis, this is who we are. Our whole culture revolves around rooting for the underdog, and the 'Aussie Battler getting a fair go', I will succeed one day.
Btw, you made your custom content, you own it, file a DMCA with [email protected] and get it removed.
You at least know what your passion(s) is which is game development or
something creative. Some people, I think, go through their whole lives
not knowing what they want or what to do and do nothing but work
non-stop or just ride the wave of life and float around.
I was recently asked by a Blizzard Dev what would I do if Blizzard suddenly ceased to exist tomorrow ... what would you do? To be honest I never thought about this question until I was asked and the answer is simple.
I would keep making games. I would go Indi, fight my ass off for grants and government funding, use every legal avenue to reduce my tax and get other expenses back; such as getting a large percentage return for all the money invested into R&D. A lot of this shit exists but people don't know how to access it. But the big one - government funding - was removed thanks to a super-conservative catholic PM who thinks games are the devil. Who is also sexist and racist and homophobic, but you can research him on your own. This has all happened this year.
This response isnt just for you, but its sort of a general thing as
well. Im kind of surprised to be reading some of this stuff. I never
viewed making games in SC2 to be anything other than a hobby that you
could not and should not expect any monetary compensation for. To hear
that there are people out there that actually expected to make a living
off of SC2 mods to the point of being able to support a family is pretty
outrageous.
Each of us viewed the scenario presented to us back then in different ways. There were numerous 'large' development teams at the start, all of them have folded except for SCU. And Ryan got lucky, super lucky. He can sit on his high perch all he wants and preach that you can do the same as him and succeed etc, but the truth is he is lying out his ass, at least to the point where he doesn't admit the whole story.
Alright, the "idea" of a Starcraft MMO is a much wanted game, but he was only successful in his kickstarter because he had those media contacts who were able to publish his game on the front page of the major gaming websites such as Kotaku _because_ of the original story - Blizzard made a mistake. That is it, that is all. I wish that Blizzard DCMA'd our videos because that is where the value of his project lies, in his story - that Blizzard made a mistake. Think of anytime Blizzard makes a mistake, it is usually huge ones which are very debatable depending on which side of the fence you sit on; such as Diablo III - but this was a simple mistake, Blizzard never makes simple mistakes. And by saying that comment I expect a shitload of people telling me I am wrong >_<.
As with any venture, if there is a story then it helps you immensely. Especially if it is a David vs Goliath scenario; which is what happened there.
I was sad to see all the big teams fold, and all of them told me to get out in the early stages, some even before the end of 2010 because they knew what was coming. I kept my faith.
As for getting into the industry, yep, nearly impossible from my standpoint. There are 20 year olds finishing college in degrees that didn't exist 10 years ago. As the industry gets more and more populated the bench gets set forever higher, those that chose the right platform like Unity and Steam definitely have an advantage over us that chose Starcraft II - this is where those broken promises have to come into play because whilst I accept responsibility for my choices, they were based on certain information we had at the time that we now know were well, ideas that were oversold.
Getting into the gameing industry by just being hired is hard, even if
your clearly a really intelligent person. Even then in the case of
blizzard there are so many really smart, capable people who want to work
for them that in some cases they can pay them like shit, he would not of
been able to support a family on the salary blizzard offered him,
especially not were he would be working. The guy turned down the job for
monetary reasons, got a job at an IT company, makes a salary in the
100-125k range last i knew.
The job I have at the moment is for a company larger than Blizzard, and I was promised things (career pathways) that having now been with the company for six months and meeting those people in corporate who make the decisions (especially the HR manager who does the hiring), I can say that I was lied to. I was lied out the ass to. HR says I was lied out the ass to as well and they are not happy about the situation but nothing is going to change for the rest of the financial year (which is 10 months away). The one who made the promises to me when he hired me has left, those that have promised things since then have nothing to say for themselves because I was simply making them too much money on an extremely low wage. If I walked tomorrow they wouldn't care because the changes I implemented would stay. They learnt my ways, they can train up new people to be like me you know. It is a shitty situation but this is what big business is. And to have this happen straight after what happened whilst developing Tofu is a kick in the guts, but this is life.
Whenever you are a publicly listed company you have to do everything in your shareholder's best interests (at least by law here in Australia) which means the larger the company the more *likely* they are going to screw people over and pay a substandard wage. Hence, working for start-ups is usually a better idea if it is purely about the money.
Dogmai; you say a number of times in your post "people now can laugh at
that decision" or "in hindsight it seems stupid", and I'm having trouble
responding to that. I hate to be an asshole, but I will 'laugh' at those
decisions, and yes, in hindsight they do seem stupid. I think some of
them were stupid at the time you made them as well.
Never for a moment think I was ignorant when I made my decisions, I just had faith in Blizzard. It is hard for me to explain, whether it is a cultural thing or just me being me, but I do trust a lot and yes, as a result, in my life I do get screwed over a lot but we are still comfortable financially. I do not feel sorry for myself, and I never expect a reply to my posts. I merely share as much information as I can so that somewhere some kid or person who is in my shoes, or sees themselves going down a similar path can learn from my experience and make a better informed decision.
I know by posting messages like these that I am digging myself into a deeper hole for getting a job in the industry, but I don't really care because the truth is, I will be just fine if nothing ever happens. Landing a job at Blizzard won't make or break my life, I will keep fighting like I always do but not everyone is in my position and were lucky enough to have made I dare say, better investment decisions in the past so that when this did happen, alright it sucks, but I didn't lose everything and I didn't put a bullet through my brain because of it. There will be those in life who are tinkering on a life and death decision on any number of factors, and a positive post here and there might be the catalyst for change in that person's life. That is why I post, not to seek pity, not to be oh look at me, but to provide inspiration, in perhaps a more truthful way than being ignorant and thinking positive.
I read this post yesterday and couldn't get it out of my head, hence the reply.
In June 2010 I sat down and took a look at all my options for making games. In a nutshell I narrowed it down to; Unity, Source, UDK, Spring and Sc2Editor. Each had its pros and cons and the Indi Game Market was a very, very different scene. With the upselling that was done on the Sc2Editor, and the promise of being able to sell your projects, my loyalty to Blizzard sealed the deal and I chose Sc2. In hindsight it is very easy for people to laugh at that choice, but back then, it actually looked like a viable option.
The issue is that if you want to make a career out of this, or simply be able to do what you love full time you need to be making money. There is no better way than to say that if you do not make money, then you will starve. I personally dislike money, but I understand that in order to have a 'better' life, you need money - and especially in order to have a family, you need to be able to support them. This is where Sc2 stops becoming a viable option.
It is very hard for me to say that I regret the choices I made, because in my heart I feel like I don't. I got to meet Dryeyece and together we created something that even though with a lack of player base, was really polished and showed off what could be done with the editor. We got Blizzard to notice us, just two crazy guys from opposite ends of the planet wanting to push the Moba genre, which now has been similarly done with Heroes of the Storm.
But at the same time, I regret the impact this one choice has had on my life. The time I didn't spend with my family, heck I was working on Tofu right up until the minute before I had a shower to go to my own wedding. This project consumed my life for three years, as it did to Dryeyece's - and we have nothing to show for it. Both of us are in a worse position financially than when we first started the project - yes we have a really good project for our portfolio, but it that fails to get us a job in the industry, which for me it has numerous times, then it was all a waste of time.
Staying positive is one thing, being realistic and saying; alright, I gave it a shot, in hindsight I could have picked a platform that would have allowed me to monetize my time (Unity+Steam) ... leaves you to feel like ... take me out to the pasture and shoot me. I was forced back into the workforce for _a lot_ less pay than when I worked for myself (10% of my previous income) and everyday is a struggle because I am torn between earning money whilst getting really depressed, and that urge, that overwhelming urge to make games. I recently found the majority of my sketch books, and all those ideas, all those amazing ideas just waiting to see the light of day ... it sucks knowing that I cannot show people, I cannot touch peoples lives through gaming because I have to eat, and I have to support my family. I know I can make more money by leaving my current job and doing my own thing, but at the same time, it is not going to put food on the table unless I can generate around $50,000 per year through donations (Kickstarter/Indigogo etc) per person of the development team - which let's be realistic, is not going to happen.
Some people get lucky; see: Castle Story, a project that was funded on KickStarter and they have enough funds for say 3-4 years of development. BUT. if they fail to secure additional income during that time, like regularly turning over a profit, that money will be used and the studio will close. This is where MicroTransactions are your best friend, because the easiest way to make a million dollars is to take a dollar from a million people. We as developers should be supporting monetization efforts that are ethical because _we need to eat_. King with Candy Crush Saga is the absolute worse example of an abuse of a Game Developing because it was specifically targeted to turn over a huge excess of cash with minimal effort by using some would say; illegal tactics of manipulation of the mind.
The amount of people who told me to walk away from Sc2 in the early days and to go to Unity, the amount of people from this community who did, god, even people in the games industry told me to do that - but I didn't. I wanted to believe that if I stuck it out with Sc2 that Blizzard would come true with their promises of monetization and that I would live happily every after. This did not happen. Nor was I able to secure a position within Blizzard, because for as much as Dryeyece and I achieved, it still was not good enough to get into Blizzard - why? Because "Real Games" made with Unity and sold on Steam have "Real Reviews" and are held a lot higher than those made on the Sc2 Editor - and I am Australian, don't forget that - it costs a lot to migrate me to the US - even though numerous times I said I would pay for myself to go there to put myself on an equal playing field - no dice. The people at Blizzard are amazing, it is too easy to get caught up on the bandwagon to blame Blizzard for everything that goes wrong in your life or career - but the truth is that it was I and I alone that made my decisions, and I and those around me have to life with the consequences.
As numerous people have mentioned, Unity is more of a team working environment, and without great assets, chances are your game will fail to attract players (Minecraft is a one in a million game that will not be repeated any time soon IMO). Without players playing your game you will not earn money, and without money you will not be able to support yourself. If you still live with your parents, yeah go nuts, work your ass off while you have a shitload of time and don't need to earn money to live, experiment, try new stuff - cherish every second of that time and make something amazing - but at the same time, think about your future, choose the right platform that will allow you to earn an income so that when the day comes and you are on your own, you can still make games and you can still support a family. Oh, and HYPE from one of the major YouTubers can make a project and change your life, for all the years spent trying to get Husky or HD or someone out there to give us a shoutout, it never happened. When it does; Flappy Birdddddddddddd...........
It is a win / win scenario that could be explored. Blizzard calculates that there is a current need in the Arcade for X type of map, for example, out-of-the-box TDs (Not a Standard TD) and creates a contest to foster that idea. This serves two purposes; 1) it fills a current gap in the Arcade, 2) it encourages new games to be created from scratch.
Of course there could always be those that were working on that type of map anyways and the contest came along; so you have a better starting hand. But for most, it would require a new project from off the ground.
Paid contests also help alleviate some of the financial burden from creating projects for the Arcade, and yeah, even though for say 4 months work $3,500 (split first prize) is 25% of minimum wage, if it was done in your spare time it would be a good incentive.
It was cool seeing the people I have been in and out of contact with over the years at Blizzard. Watch the video to find out who won.
Needless to say I was disappointed that none of our games got through, as I really wanted that Video Conference opportunity, but we can only hold on to that hope that everything was meant to be and it will all work out in the end. Congrats to those who won, hopefully there will be more comps in the future.
And no, neither Dryeyece nor I have any time to make games any more, we did our best with what we had but if I learnt one thing through the experience, cherish those around you and don't put too much into a career. Even though I was physically at my wedding, I was working on Tofu up until a minute before I had a shower to get ready and I missed that moment in my life because my mind was too busy chasing a dream, rather than living in the moment.
Actually the way that Dota does it (or at least did it the last time I played it), was that when an order is issued targeting a tower to command that tower to target the hero. If a hero attacked a tower without issuing an order (ie; naturally) then it would not be targeted by the tower.
Considering the other one was spam for shit that doesn't really need to be talked about regardless of which side of the argument you stand on, this would simply say wiki, solved, dun dun dun.
Are they going to say, X map was disqualified ... probably not ... are they simply not going to select said map for the top 10 player's choice ... this would be the most likely of scenarios.
When it comes to an organisation as big as Blizzard, in the most cases it is best to keep your mouth shut when dealing with the community. Which is why you never see them speak specifically about issues that we have long wanted an answer for. Once they give us an answer it becomes almost set in stone, so, unless there is a real need for an answer we are never going to get one.
0
For those that are going and can stand and talk we have a chance to have things said on our behalf.
I have a question in my head that I long thought needed asking, but what questions do you guys have?
Perhaps we can compile a list and hopefully those who go can show a united front and ask?
0
Yep, you're right.
Don't feel like an asshole.
I have to hold on to something otherwise I will end up in a bathtub somewhere.
0
I was referring to someone of the likes of PewDiePie with Flappy Bird; but point taken I wrote it the wrong way. Would a shout out from Husky or HD actually made our game popular? Probably not. Would it have given it a surge of players to the point where over coming our biggest feedback issue - there isn't enough people to get a game going - would have been a possibility? Probably. With a multiplayer game you need an active community or else the game will usually perish, at least to the point where you can get the "standard" game mode going with minimal effort. Hence, if a new player joined the community he should be able to play a game within a few minutes, not having to spend hours over skype arranging times etc.
This is where the arcade was the wrong platform for a Moba genre game, especially one that was innovating past a Dota Clone - unlike SoTiS, and don't get me started on Ecko/RNG.
But you see the issue that here-within lies with the Arcade? "It takes about 5 seconds to get a Rank 1-4 pop game going", make it a second page game and see how hard it is. At least with iOS you will usually have the Popularity list moving weekly, yes this can also be given to the fact that the games do not really require a cult following, they are mainly single player games which are easy to developer and at a cheap price point - whilst also being extremely overpopulated with good quality games; but it moves never the less. The Arcade barely does.
I said for years to the few Blizzard Devs I am in contact with that the Arcade needs to be moved to the launcher much like Steam. It needs to be taken out of Starcraft II and pushed to allow the general Battle.net population quick access to it. I believe one day it will move away from being "in-game"; maybe nearing the time Warcraft IV comes along, but as for LOTV I highly doubt it.
Traysent cares a shitload, as does Villers and a huge group of people at Blizzard. It is just the issues when dealing with a company as large as Blizzard and the bureaucracy involved in getting anything "big" done. I hate myself everytime I send an email to Traysent because I know how busy he is, I know how much work he puts into the Arcade and supporting us, and I just fucken hate myself even more everytime I request something from him or Blizzard. For everything they do, we, as a community, have a pretty shitty way of showing our thanks. The majority of us whinge, cry and complain, but very few of us ever show our thanks.
This is life. Compared to other things that have happened, neither the amount of money nor the effect it has had on my life comes anywhere close to other things that are better left unsaid. I made my choices and I accept the consequences. But I am Australian, we were born fighting, we live in a country where nearly everything wants to kill us, especially the kiwis, this is who we are. Our whole culture revolves around rooting for the underdog, and the 'Aussie Battler getting a fair go', I will succeed one day.
Btw, you made your custom content, you own it, file a DMCA with [email protected] and get it removed.
I was recently asked by a Blizzard Dev what would I do if Blizzard suddenly ceased to exist tomorrow ... what would you do? To be honest I never thought about this question until I was asked and the answer is simple.
I would keep making games. I would go Indi, fight my ass off for grants and government funding, use every legal avenue to reduce my tax and get other expenses back; such as getting a large percentage return for all the money invested into R&D. A lot of this shit exists but people don't know how to access it. But the big one - government funding - was removed thanks to a super-conservative catholic PM who thinks games are the devil. Who is also sexist and racist and homophobic, but you can research him on your own. This has all happened this year.
Each of us viewed the scenario presented to us back then in different ways. There were numerous 'large' development teams at the start, all of them have folded except for SCU. And Ryan got lucky, super lucky. He can sit on his high perch all he wants and preach that you can do the same as him and succeed etc, but the truth is he is lying out his ass, at least to the point where he doesn't admit the whole story.
Alright, the "idea" of a Starcraft MMO is a much wanted game, but he was only successful in his kickstarter because he had those media contacts who were able to publish his game on the front page of the major gaming websites such as Kotaku _because_ of the original story - Blizzard made a mistake. That is it, that is all. I wish that Blizzard DCMA'd our videos because that is where the value of his project lies, in his story - that Blizzard made a mistake. Think of anytime Blizzard makes a mistake, it is usually huge ones which are very debatable depending on which side of the fence you sit on; such as Diablo III - but this was a simple mistake, Blizzard never makes simple mistakes. And by saying that comment I expect a shitload of people telling me I am wrong >_<.
As with any venture, if there is a story then it helps you immensely. Especially if it is a David vs Goliath scenario; which is what happened there.
I was sad to see all the big teams fold, and all of them told me to get out in the early stages, some even before the end of 2010 because they knew what was coming. I kept my faith.
As for getting into the industry, yep, nearly impossible from my standpoint. There are 20 year olds finishing college in degrees that didn't exist 10 years ago. As the industry gets more and more populated the bench gets set forever higher, those that chose the right platform like Unity and Steam definitely have an advantage over us that chose Starcraft II - this is where those broken promises have to come into play because whilst I accept responsibility for my choices, they were based on certain information we had at the time that we now know were well, ideas that were oversold.
The job I have at the moment is for a company larger than Blizzard, and I was promised things (career pathways) that having now been with the company for six months and meeting those people in corporate who make the decisions (especially the HR manager who does the hiring), I can say that I was lied to. I was lied out the ass to. HR says I was lied out the ass to as well and they are not happy about the situation but nothing is going to change for the rest of the financial year (which is 10 months away). The one who made the promises to me when he hired me has left, those that have promised things since then have nothing to say for themselves because I was simply making them too much money on an extremely low wage. If I walked tomorrow they wouldn't care because the changes I implemented would stay. They learnt my ways, they can train up new people to be like me you know. It is a shitty situation but this is what big business is. And to have this happen straight after what happened whilst developing Tofu is a kick in the guts, but this is life.
Whenever you are a publicly listed company you have to do everything in your shareholder's best interests (at least by law here in Australia) which means the larger the company the more *likely* they are going to screw people over and pay a substandard wage. Hence, working for start-ups is usually a better idea if it is purely about the money.
Never for a moment think I was ignorant when I made my decisions, I just had faith in Blizzard. It is hard for me to explain, whether it is a cultural thing or just me being me, but I do trust a lot and yes, as a result, in my life I do get screwed over a lot but we are still comfortable financially. I do not feel sorry for myself, and I never expect a reply to my posts. I merely share as much information as I can so that somewhere some kid or person who is in my shoes, or sees themselves going down a similar path can learn from my experience and make a better informed decision.
I know by posting messages like these that I am digging myself into a deeper hole for getting a job in the industry, but I don't really care because the truth is, I will be just fine if nothing ever happens. Landing a job at Blizzard won't make or break my life, I will keep fighting like I always do but not everyone is in my position and were lucky enough to have made I dare say, better investment decisions in the past so that when this did happen, alright it sucks, but I didn't lose everything and I didn't put a bullet through my brain because of it. There will be those in life who are tinkering on a life and death decision on any number of factors, and a positive post here and there might be the catalyst for change in that person's life. That is why I post, not to seek pity, not to be oh look at me, but to provide inspiration, in perhaps a more truthful way than being ignorant and thinking positive.
0
I read this post yesterday and couldn't get it out of my head, hence the reply.
In June 2010 I sat down and took a look at all my options for making games. In a nutshell I narrowed it down to; Unity, Source, UDK, Spring and Sc2Editor. Each had its pros and cons and the Indi Game Market was a very, very different scene. With the upselling that was done on the Sc2Editor, and the promise of being able to sell your projects, my loyalty to Blizzard sealed the deal and I chose Sc2. In hindsight it is very easy for people to laugh at that choice, but back then, it actually looked like a viable option.
The issue is that if you want to make a career out of this, or simply be able to do what you love full time you need to be making money. There is no better way than to say that if you do not make money, then you will starve. I personally dislike money, but I understand that in order to have a 'better' life, you need money - and especially in order to have a family, you need to be able to support them. This is where Sc2 stops becoming a viable option.
It is very hard for me to say that I regret the choices I made, because in my heart I feel like I don't. I got to meet Dryeyece and together we created something that even though with a lack of player base, was really polished and showed off what could be done with the editor. We got Blizzard to notice us, just two crazy guys from opposite ends of the planet wanting to push the Moba genre, which now has been similarly done with Heroes of the Storm.
But at the same time, I regret the impact this one choice has had on my life. The time I didn't spend with my family, heck I was working on Tofu right up until the minute before I had a shower to go to my own wedding. This project consumed my life for three years, as it did to Dryeyece's - and we have nothing to show for it. Both of us are in a worse position financially than when we first started the project - yes we have a really good project for our portfolio, but it that fails to get us a job in the industry, which for me it has numerous times, then it was all a waste of time.
Staying positive is one thing, being realistic and saying; alright, I gave it a shot, in hindsight I could have picked a platform that would have allowed me to monetize my time (Unity+Steam) ... leaves you to feel like ... take me out to the pasture and shoot me. I was forced back into the workforce for _a lot_ less pay than when I worked for myself (10% of my previous income) and everyday is a struggle because I am torn between earning money whilst getting really depressed, and that urge, that overwhelming urge to make games. I recently found the majority of my sketch books, and all those ideas, all those amazing ideas just waiting to see the light of day ... it sucks knowing that I cannot show people, I cannot touch peoples lives through gaming because I have to eat, and I have to support my family. I know I can make more money by leaving my current job and doing my own thing, but at the same time, it is not going to put food on the table unless I can generate around $50,000 per year through donations (Kickstarter/Indigogo etc) per person of the development team - which let's be realistic, is not going to happen.
Some people get lucky; see: Castle Story, a project that was funded on KickStarter and they have enough funds for say 3-4 years of development. BUT. if they fail to secure additional income during that time, like regularly turning over a profit, that money will be used and the studio will close. This is where MicroTransactions are your best friend, because the easiest way to make a million dollars is to take a dollar from a million people. We as developers should be supporting monetization efforts that are ethical because _we need to eat_. King with Candy Crush Saga is the absolute worse example of an abuse of a Game Developing because it was specifically targeted to turn over a huge excess of cash with minimal effort by using some would say; illegal tactics of manipulation of the mind.
The amount of people who told me to walk away from Sc2 in the early days and to go to Unity, the amount of people from this community who did, god, even people in the games industry told me to do that - but I didn't. I wanted to believe that if I stuck it out with Sc2 that Blizzard would come true with their promises of monetization and that I would live happily every after. This did not happen. Nor was I able to secure a position within Blizzard, because for as much as Dryeyece and I achieved, it still was not good enough to get into Blizzard - why? Because "Real Games" made with Unity and sold on Steam have "Real Reviews" and are held a lot higher than those made on the Sc2 Editor - and I am Australian, don't forget that - it costs a lot to migrate me to the US - even though numerous times I said I would pay for myself to go there to put myself on an equal playing field - no dice. The people at Blizzard are amazing, it is too easy to get caught up on the bandwagon to blame Blizzard for everything that goes wrong in your life or career - but the truth is that it was I and I alone that made my decisions, and I and those around me have to life with the consequences.
As numerous people have mentioned, Unity is more of a team working environment, and without great assets, chances are your game will fail to attract players (Minecraft is a one in a million game that will not be repeated any time soon IMO). Without players playing your game you will not earn money, and without money you will not be able to support yourself. If you still live with your parents, yeah go nuts, work your ass off while you have a shitload of time and don't need to earn money to live, experiment, try new stuff - cherish every second of that time and make something amazing - but at the same time, think about your future, choose the right platform that will allow you to earn an income so that when the day comes and you are on your own, you can still make games and you can still support a family. Oh, and HYPE from one of the major YouTubers can make a project and change your life, for all the years spent trying to get Husky or HD or someone out there to give us a shoutout, it never happened. When it does; Flappy Birdddddddddddd...........
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Do it by hand.
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Themed Contests would be the way to go IMO.
It is a win / win scenario that could be explored. Blizzard calculates that there is a current need in the Arcade for X type of map, for example, out-of-the-box TDs (Not a Standard TD) and creates a contest to foster that idea. This serves two purposes; 1) it fills a current gap in the Arcade, 2) it encourages new games to be created from scratch.
Of course there could always be those that were working on that type of map anyways and the contest came along; so you have a better starting hand. But for most, it would require a new project from off the ground.
Paid contests also help alleviate some of the financial burden from creating projects for the Arcade, and yeah, even though for say 4 months work $3,500 (split first prize) is 25% of minimum wage, if it was done in your spare time it would be a good incentive.
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I am kinda surprised as this was posted 16 hours ago and no one has posted it here.
http://us.battle.net/arcade/en/blog/15199276/and-the-cabinet-will-rock-winners-announced-8-14-2014
It was cool seeing the people I have been in and out of contact with over the years at Blizzard. Watch the video to find out who won.
Needless to say I was disappointed that none of our games got through, as I really wanted that Video Conference opportunity, but we can only hold on to that hope that everything was meant to be and it will all work out in the end. Congrats to those who won, hopefully there will be more comps in the future.
And no, neither Dryeyece nor I have any time to make games any more, we did our best with what we had but if I learnt one thing through the experience, cherish those around you and don't put too much into a career. Even though I was physically at my wedding, I was working on Tofu up until a minute before I had a shower to get ready and I missed that moment in my life because my mind was too busy chasing a dream, rather than living in the moment.
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Actually the way that Dota does it (or at least did it the last time I played it), was that when an order is issued targeting a tower to command that tower to target the hero. If a hero attacked a tower without issuing an order (ie; naturally) then it would not be targeted by the tower.
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Considering the other one was spam for shit that doesn't really need to be talked about regardless of which side of the argument you stand on, this would simply say wiki, solved, dun dun dun.
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....
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This thread is intentionally left blank because I am sick of seeing the deleted thread shit on the main list. Feel free to delete.
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Are they going to say, X map was disqualified ... probably not ... are they simply not going to select said map for the top 10 player's choice ... this would be the most likely of scenarios.
When it comes to an organisation as big as Blizzard, in the most cases it is best to keep your mouth shut when dealing with the community. Which is why you never see them speak specifically about issues that we have long wanted an answer for. Once they give us an answer it becomes almost set in stone, so, unless there is a real need for an answer we are never going to get one.
Wait and see what they come up with.
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And I don't even like popcorn.
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Good catch, I didn't notice that.