Game musings and news

[Thad]

Oh hey, the Everything You Need to Know About Godot Humble Bundle has suddenly reappeared.

[sei]

EDIT: The backpedaling has begun. Unity rushes to clarify price increase plan, as game developers fume (Axios)

After initially telling Axios earlier Tuesday that a player installing a game, deleting it and installing it again would result in multiple fees, Unity's Whitten told Axios that the company would actually only charge for an initial installation. (A spokesperson told Axios that Unity had "regrouped" to discuss the issue.)

- He hoped this would allay fears of "install-bombing," where an angry user could keep deleting and re-installing a game to rack up fees to punish a developer.
- But an extra fee will be charged if a user installs a game on a second device, say a Steam Deck after installing a game on a PC.

They'll just spoof HWIDs and install bomb inside of a sandbox.

Unity Runtime fee does not apply to our film, gambling, or education subscription plans at this time

I guess that takes care of Genshin Impact.

[Mongrel]

I guess that takes care of Genshin Impact.

[Thad]

So Digital Eclipse just posted this image on their Mastodon



and okay you have my attention.

There are a lot of ways this could go -- will it be more of a compilation of multiple versions of multiple games in the series like their earlier stuff, or more of a making-of documentary like Karateka? -- but two things are for sure: I know better than to actually try to play the original Wizardry again, but I sure have some thoughts about it.

[Brantly B.]

If you think it's bad being a Unity customer right now, imagine being an average employee.

Ars: Unity shuts two offices, citing threats after controversial pricing changes

How unfortunate.

[Thad]

Penny Arcade weighs in.

[Thad]

If you think it's bad being a Unity customer right now, imagine being an average employee.

Ars: Unity shuts two offices, citing threats after controversial pricing changes

How unfortunate.

Not sure if you posted that before or after the update was added, but the article's been updated to indicate that the person who *made* the threat was an average employee.

So that's fun.

[Thad]

So Digital Eclipse just posted this image on their Mastodon

⇳ Click to Expand Summary

and okay you have my attention.

There are a lot of ways this could go -- will it be more of a compilation of multiple versions of multiple games in the series like their earlier stuff, or more of a making-of documentary like Karateka? -- but two things are for sure: I know better than to actually try to play the original Wizardry again, but I sure have some thoughts about it.

3D remake of the first game, now in Early Access. Currently few bucks off over on GOG.

I see an automap and spell descriptions in the screenshots. That feels like the two biggest pain points in the game taken care of, anyway.

The thing where you can overlay the original Apple II graphics over the game is pretty fun.

[JD]

Cynical thought: Most indy developers will never have this problem with Unity, because their game will never reach the threshold of 200,000 sales.

[Thad]

It's 200,000 installs, but yes.

[Mongrel]

It's been pointed out that Unity has steadily been losing money for ages. Here for example is their last 12 months:



Now, their Revenue and Profit are in fact within industry standards... and instead of clearing some tens or even hundreds of millions, they're losing near a billion every year. This chart does not seem to show operating expenses, but obv it can be deduced that it lies somewhere between the earnings before taxes and the posted losses.

Where in the hell is two billion is going every year, huh John?

[Destynova]

So Digital Eclipse just posted this image on their Mastodon



and okay you have my attention.

There are a lot of ways this could go -- will it be more of a compilation of multiple versions of multiple games in the series like their earlier stuff, or more of a making-of documentary like Karateka? -- but two things are for sure: I know better than to actually try to play the original Wizardry again, but I sure have some thoughts about it.

Huh. I actually had a thick book of Wizardy maps (Proving Grounds,Knight of Diamonds,Legacy of Lgyawhatsit) Had everything labeled where stuff was so I could safely teleport around. Having actual updated versions would be interesting.

[Mongrel]

Per Bloomberg, Unity taking big steps backwards after being slapped silly
The tl;dr is
- Fees will no longer be retroactive
- Unity will allow devs to self-report their installation numbers rather than imposing any sort of monitoring
- Fees will be capped at 4% of a given dev's revenue

We'll see if they stick to this, but it sure looks like they blinked.

[Friday]

Our endless descent toward becoming Ferenginar precisely is ever so briefly slowed

and yes I include the "females can't wear clothes and are slaves" part

[Mongrel]

When do we get the Ooh-Maks?

[Upthorn]

That'll require some biological adaptations which may take a while still.

The following four step process produces the closest equivalent to the sensation yet discovered by man:

1. have skin allergies
2. expose an area really strongly
3. wait for the hives to show up
4. apply ice to those hives

[Thad]

Terraria dev Re-Logic donates $100K to Godot Engine and FNA, plus ongoing funding

The team at Re-Logic has been watching the recent events surrounding Unity with both interest and sadness. The loss of a formerly-leading and user-friendly game engine to the darker forces that negatively impact so much of the gaming industry has left us dismayed to put it mildly. While we do not personally use Unity (outside of a few elements on our console/mobile platforms), we feel like we cannot sit idly by as these predatory moves are made against studios everywhere.

We unequivocally condemn and reject the recent TOS/fee changes proposed by Unity and the underhanded way they were rolled out. The flippant manner with which years of trust cultivated by Unity were cast aside for yet another way to squeeze publishers, studios, and gamers is the saddest part. That this move was wholly unnecessary pushes things into the tragedy category - a cautionary tale the industry will not soon forget.

We do not feel that a simple public statement is sufficient. Even if Unity were to recant their policies and statements, the destruction of trust is not so easily repaired. We strongly feel that it is now equally important to get behind some of the other up and-coming open source game engines. Lighting some candles in an otherwise dark moment.

To that end, we are donating $100,000 to each of the open source engines listed below. Additionally, we are sponsoring each of these projects with $1,000/month each moving forward. All we ask in return is that they remain good people and keep doing all that they can to make these engines powerful and approachable for developers everywhere.



Re-Logic has always been supportive of game developers and indie studios that do things the right way. We feel that our actions in this moment are the best way to carry that mission forward - by accelerating and strengthening competing open source game engines, we hope to empower and assist studios that are struggling with how best to proceed given these recent events.

[Friday]

[Mongrel]

Hahahahahaha

In the next act, Unity hires the Pinkertons.

[Thad]

Unity makes major changes to controversial install-fee program

No fees for Personal tier or old/current projects, new 2.5% revenue cap, and more.

That's probably enough to keep them from getting sued by developers. It should be enough to keep most devs from migrating past or current projects to a different engine. I don't think it's enough to keep them from doing it for their next project.

And I don't see them walking back their "let's send MS and Sony a bill for streaming games" plan, so that's going to be fun once games start rolling out under the new fee structure. If any.