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Potsticker posted:For what reason? Unless you're making very small projects with a minimal amount of files, I can't imagine any sort of programming evironment that not using an IDE wouldn't save you heaps of time. I program most of my time in C. It's my favorite language, but I've never found an IDE that didn't want to make me tear my hair out. Most are either platform specific or require the use of some arcane build system. Clion, Pycharm's c cousin for example uses Cmake and it has the most complicated and verbose system I have ever seen. So I learned how to use Make, the most common arcane weird build system. I'm really happy I did, since I know how to use it I can build on systems that have no or few IDE options like BSDs or embedded. You get used to not using an IDE really quickly. It's just a text editor with things built around it. I either use the Atom text editor on my windows computer or Vim with You Complete Me on my Mac. You Complete Me gives me the wavy red lines and documentation links when I need it, though I generally only use it to find the line I forgot to put a semicolon on. Potsticker posted:Also, why push Python? It seems to me there are way better options for beginners that are easier to dive into, yet still offer depth when needed. If the idea is a simple CYOA-style, then there's Twine. Want a structured environment with easy to understand components and a graphical interface, there's RAGS. And if you're okay with a being a little less babied, there's TADS, whose basic form is still very human readable without programming knowledge. Adrift I don't remember too much about, except that I ended up preferring TADS or Inform at the time. Of course, now Inform is a mess of trying to emulate English sentences in it's syntax and last I checked (trying to help a friend debug some IF he had written) the documentation was badly arranged and incomplete. I'm a little biased here as I am a programmer who has never done IF before. Most of the things you've suggested are built around a core existing Engine. Now what if you want to change how the engine works? Without looking into how those options work, I'm guessing that it isn't possible/easy. Now with a proper programming language like Python, it can be very easy to change how things work in an uncomplicated way. I chose Python as a language simply because I really liked the look Tale. My list of wants weren't huge, the Library had to be updated often, I did not want to use a platform specific language (eg, like TADS language) and the language it did use had to be easy to work with strings (which is almost all of them). Going through a database of IF engines, Tale looked superb. I was so happy with it! potatocubed posted:I was going to say, it looks like the main advantage of Tale is that it lets you learn Python while you tool around on your IF project. Speaking only for myself, I find it a lot easier to learn a new skill when I have a concrete end goal in mind. (I got my first Python experience trying to code a roguelike many years ago.) Megazver posted:I like Python as well. I just wouldn't write IF in it, unless if it was for the sake of learning Python. I hope I can prove to you guys that it can be well worth it to write with a programming language over an existing engine. Not that I'm saying that this is better than existing engines, but that it will be more than just a learning experience.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 11:52 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 23:55 |
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If anyone is interested in using the ChoiceScript system for making a game, I spent a weekend reading through their online manual and tutorials (which are awful and bad and full of lovely advice), and wrote up a list of the various commands and explanations of their usages, often with an example of how it's used. I'll post it below (in code tags because otherwise the forum will interpret some of it as BBcode). ChoiceScript is an actually good and flexible language that is unfortunately tied to a company that has made some really, really bad games. code:
RickVoid fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Mar 17, 2016 |
# ? Mar 17, 2016 14:31 |
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RickVoid posted:If anyone is interested in using the ChoiceScript system for making a game, I spent a weekend reading through their online manual and tutorials (which are awful and bad and full of lovely advice), and wrote up a list of the various commands and explanations of their usages, often with an example of how it's used. I'll post it below (in code tags because otherwise the forum will interpret some of it as BBcode). Their new games are pretty good. Unfortunately, you only get 25% of the revenue of the game they didn't pay you to write, so if you want to write something big and sell it, you're better off using something else.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 14:45 |
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Lord Windy posted:I'm a little biased here as I am a programmer who has never done IF before. Most of the things you've suggested are built around a core existing Engine. Now what if you want to change how the engine works? Without looking into how those options work, I'm guessing that it isn't possible/easy. Now with a proper programming language like Python, it can be very easy to change how things work in an uncomplicated way. Okay, for someone with a background in programming I'd definitely suggest checking out TADS. There's nothing wrong with using your language of choice of course, but I do feel at the very least you can get a wider perspective and not only see how things are done elsewhere, but you may find a feature set that already fulfills all your needs. How TADS and Inform both handle their parsers was certainly interesting for me, at least. That tends to be the most complicated thing in an IF engine anyway. Also, as another Python alternative, I've played around with Ren.py a little from the perspective of making CYOA type game and had success making a complex combat system. It was an interesting exercise at least. RickVoid posted:If anyone is interested in using the ChoiceScript system for making a game, I spent a weekend reading through their online manual and tutorials (which are awful and bad and full of lovely advice), and wrote up a list of the various commands and explanations of their usages, often with an example of how it's used. I'll post it below (in code tags because otherwise the forum will interpret some of it as BBcode).
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 14:59 |
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Potsticker posted:Thanks for this writeup, it does look interesting and it answers some questions I had about how the Choice Of games were scripted. Their tutorials are similarly enlightening. The section on fakechoice almost literally says "use this to artificially pad out your game" and it down plays using the more advanced functions "because the player will neither notice nor care". Really explains the design philosophy behind some of the games their studio put out.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 15:07 |
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Potsticker posted:
I haven't checked it out yet, but I heard Ink is very similar. If you're someone who can use Unity, it's probably a better option.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 15:14 |
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Megazver posted:I haven't checked it out yet, but I heard Ink is very similar. If you're someone who can use Unity, it's probably a better option. Yeah, if you read the user guide for Ink it looks like it works a lot like Choicescript. You just have to write your own front-end and sell it yourself.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 15:21 |
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RickVoid posted:Their tutorials are similarly enlightening. The section on fakechoice almost literally says "use this to artificially pad out your game" and it down plays using the more advanced functions "because the player will neither notice nor care". Really explains the design philosophy behind some of the games their studio put out. I wish I could say I was surprised, but from especially their early catalog it's clear that they're not interested in making the digital equivalent of Fabled Lands or anything. I will say (again?) that Mecha Ace and Thieves' Gambit are the best I've seen from them in terms of how much your choices actually matter and help shape the story. They also seem to lack the lovely types of choices that don't actually move the story in the direction the text indicates. Megazver posted:I haven't checked it out yet, but I heard Ink is very similar. If you're someone who can use Unity, it's probably a better option. Quite familiar with Unity, but not with Ink, I'll check it out. Thanks. Potsticker fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Mar 17, 2016 |
# ? Mar 17, 2016 15:26 |
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Potsticker posted:I wish I could say I was surprised, but from especially their early catalog it's clear that they're not interested in making the digital equivalent of Fabled Lands or anything. I will say (again?) that Mecha Ace and Thieves' Gambit are the best I've seen from them in terms of how much your choices actually matter and help shape the story. They also seem to lack the lovely types of choices that don't actually move the story in the direction the text indicates. They have their own house style. They use the Branch and Bottleneck structure instead of an Open World one like Fabled Lands does. That's not really good or bad. That said, I am getting a little tired of it, yes. Have you played Sorcery? 2 and 3 are a step in the FL direction. quote:Quite familiar with Unity, but not with Ink, I'll check it out. Thanks. http://www.inklestudios.com/ink/
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 15:51 |
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Megazver posted:They have their own house style. They use the Branch and Bottleneck structure instead of an Open World one like Fabled Lands does. That's not really good or bad. That said, I am getting a little tired of it, yes. That link led me to this Twine game which I really enjoyed.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 16:33 |
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Thanks for the link. I did buy Sorcery on my phone, but I didn't really enjoy it at all. I barely got very far in it, I think. Either way I wasn't into it so I never checked out the sequels. FL I mostly mentioned because it's structure as a CYOA that could span an include multiple physical books and have interactions that mattered between them was pretty amazing. Especially since I had a friend who owned one book differently than I did, so we traded a couple of times and have discussions and such. Looking at your other link, the Quest style is the one I tend to look most favorably on. I mentioned it as a 'hub style' when talking about how I liked I-0's structure before. Branch and Bottleneck stories are sort of annoying if the bottlenecks are events that feel like they are railroading you in ways that don't properly account for how you acted during the branches. Again a sin of most Choice Of games. Honestly though, plotting style doesn't really matter as long as it feels good with the story. Forest of Doom, which is a gamebook I've only played as a digital app has a structure that flows kind of like the Gauntlet, but you're expected to play through it multiple times to figure out which items you need to start with and which paths to take in order to collect the items necessary to win at the end. Described, it sounds rather lame, but it turned out to be fun puzzling out the solution.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 16:37 |
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potatocubed posted:That link led me to this Twine game which I really enjoyed. This was fun. I especially like the author's explanation and detail on how the endings are structured.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 16:47 |
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Potsticker posted:Thanks for the link. Yeah, I specifically mentioned 2 & 3 because they begin to experiment with the structure in those. The first one is a straight-up adaptation of an old-rear end gamebook that's grog as hell, but they start to work their own stuff into the other ones.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 17:04 |
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This thread has been eaten by a grue.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 17:13 |
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Megazver posted:Yeah, I specifically mentioned 2 & 3 because they begin to experiment with the structure in those. The first one is a straight-up adaptation of an old-rear end gamebook that's grog as hell, but they start to work their own stuff into the other ones. I started digging more into that blog you linked and it's really quite fantastic. I love these breakdowns of gamebooks complete with flowcharts of their page-by-page structure. There's a lot of good IF articles, too.
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# ? Mar 17, 2016 17:16 |
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You might also enjoy https://emshort.wordpress.com/ Also, what I've been reading this week: https://lloydofgamebooks.wordpress.com/2016/02/07/blog-posts-i-read-to-improve-my-gamebook-writing-updated/ http://www.thebrewin.com/blog/entry/the-brewin-guide-to-writing-better-gamebooks Megazver fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Mar 17, 2016 |
# ? Mar 17, 2016 17:24 |
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potatocubed posted:That link led me to this Twine game which I really enjoyed. Magical Makeover was lovely! I ended up playing all the endings and was impressed by the sheer amount (and quality!) of writing for such a short-looking game. I got the cassowary ending first and expected the other endings to just be variations on a theme - instead, they're completely different stories. Judging by the text at the end, the author is a goon - if anyone knows who they are/if they happen to be reading the thread, I'd be really interested to know whether they have written anything other than the 2 Twine games on IFDB.
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# ? Mar 19, 2016 02:43 |
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CEJ Pacian released a new game and it's loving rad. Highly recommended.
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# ? Mar 26, 2016 12:47 |
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Megazver posted:CEJ Pacian released a new game and it's loving rad. Highly recommended. Two reviews saying it's rad, if my assurances aren't enough (how dare you): http://cmgroover.tumblr.com/post/141752879821/superluminal-vagrant-twin https://emshort.wordpress.com/2016/03/27/superluminal-vagrant-twin-cej-pacian/
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# ? Mar 28, 2016 19:32 |
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Megazver posted:CEJ Pacian released a new game and it's loving rad. Highly recommended. That is quite a fun game. I've found a few secret planets which aren't listed anywhere in game. Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris and Xyzzy are there any others? My total count by the end was 51.
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# ? Mar 30, 2016 00:01 |
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Megazver posted:CEJ Pacian released a new game and it's loving rad. Highly recommended. This is a really cool game! I'm missing two bounties (Natalya and Yuzo-I) and apparently four planets, though - can anyone help?
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# ? Mar 30, 2016 00:12 |
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Air is lava! posted:That is quite a fun game. I've found a few secret planets which aren't listed anywhere in game. Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris and Xyzzy are there any others? My total count by the end was 51. Well, if you talk to the twin after you find them they'll tell you the twelve things you need to do to have seen everything. Jayme posted:This is a really cool game! I'm missing two bounties (Natalya and Yuzo-I) and apparently four planets, though - can anyone help? I think this is something I might have had a problem with as well. Minor hint: There are three instances in the game where you look at the planet name and are supposed to go "hmm, there might also be planets called... oh there is!" The Solar system, of course, is one. Megazver fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Mar 30, 2016 |
# ? Mar 30, 2016 07:21 |
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Megazver posted:I think this is something I might have had a problem with as well. Minor hint: Thank you so much - (hopefully) found them all, and got all of the achievements!
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# ? Mar 30, 2016 14:15 |
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Pretty good article about the history and evolution of text adventures, past to present.
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# ? Apr 2, 2016 10:13 |
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Emily Short posted:Adam Cadre’s now-disowned I-0, Well, that answers my question from earlier.
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# ? Apr 3, 2016 04:52 |
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Potsticker posted:Well, that answers my question from earlier. Why did he do so??
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# ? Apr 3, 2016 05:08 |
Twerkteam Pizza posted:Why did he do so?? If I remember right, it had a lot of very unsavory content in it. As it says, the protagonist was a sexy college girl and I think there was all sorts of sex stuff in it. I never got far in I-O because I'm just that bad at puzzles. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Apr 3, 2016 |
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# ? Apr 3, 2016 05:27 |
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While I think that it's basically the textbook on well-structured and designed IF. I-0 does has some sophomoric pornographic content with cringe-worthy writing if you take certain actions.
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# ? Apr 3, 2016 05:31 |
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So text adventures have two big contests each year. IFComp in the autumn and the Spring Thing which now has games available to play. Looking at that list, Chandler Groover's game at the very least is probably worth trying, he's been doing great work.
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# ? Apr 7, 2016 08:09 |
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Megazver posted:Looking at that list, Chandler Groover's game at the very least is probably worth trying, he's been doing great work. Well... that was a twist I wasn't expecting. E: Although it's done the usual thing that playing good IF has done and killed my motivation to work on my thing stone dead. Why even try to compete?
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# ? Apr 7, 2016 10:17 |
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potatocubed posted:Well... that was a twist I wasn't expecting. Well, if you enjoy creating IF and you can deliver something that's finished, why not compete?
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# ? Apr 7, 2016 11:23 |
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John F Bennett posted:Well, if you enjoy creating IF and you can deliver something that's finished, why not compete? Eh, it's all just the way I process things. In the end:
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# ? Apr 7, 2016 12:56 |
Zachary Sergi is about nine hours away from releasing another Heroes Rise game on Steam.
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# ? Apr 8, 2016 08:46 |
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Meanwhile, I'm really missing the ability to iterate through unordered arrays (datamaps) in Twine. I'd be tempted to jump to that Python-based system mentioned up-thread but I'm 8000 words in so like hell I'm changing systems now.
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# ? Apr 8, 2016 10:22 |
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Milky Moor posted:Zachary Sergi is about nine hours away from releasing another Heroes Rise game on Steam. Are they really that bad?
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# ? Apr 8, 2016 22:34 |
Sinteres posted:Are they really that bad? I'm not the kind of person to call anything bad as an overall descriptor. Usually, I can easily find elements I enjoy in every bit of media I read, play or watch. But these are just flat-out bad.
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# ? Apr 9, 2016 00:12 |
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The low-health-alert-as-paid-DLC* bullshit is still there. (*There is a bit more and a bit less to it than that. If it's like previous instalments, you can check your health at any time, so dropping extra coin can save you...regularly pushing a few extra buttons. Oh, but it also tells you which option in combat will be the most effective. Basically, you pay to strip away what little gameplay there is.) Edit: Nope. Nope. Should have bought it on Steam for the refund. There is only one thing you need to know. One. PRODIGAL'S BACK AND IS IN YOUR loving HEAD JUST loving UPLOADED HERSELF AS A FREE MECHIP PERSONALITY AND NOBODY BOTHERED TO loving PURGE HER SHE'S YOUR CLIPPY ...also, your sister is a jellyfish. VivaLa Eeveelution fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Apr 9, 2016 |
# ? Apr 9, 2016 01:41 |
The Deviations posted:The low-health-alert-as-paid-DLC* bullshit is still there. i'm sorry that you had to do this, friend i would have liked to see the 'highlights'
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# ? Apr 9, 2016 04:27 |
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Maybe later, in that small window of opportunity when my motivation rises and my self-esteem hasn't followed. B'yeah, the entire attempted emotional climax of the original trilogy was Prodigal dying as a martyr after a life that can be summed up as the Trauma Conga Line trope but since she's Sergi's Rose Tyler he just can't loving let go Oh, and since your character's an unwilling shapeshifting furry, the bird fetish returns as your first two transformations are a hawk and a chicken. And things continue to have stupid names. Über's still around in the future...known as Süper. Because superheroes. ...oh god dammit I'm doing it anyway aren't I E: The story itself pestered me to give it money through the MeChip, adding a paragraph after my rejection pretty much saying that if I die then it's my fault for not giving Choice of Games enough money. And calling attention to the Home page of the app in case I've been manipulated enough to change my mind. gently caress off, Prodigal. Oh, this is after a perspective shift where I played some...blind fashion designer/some other job'd person...who seems to be in a cabal and specifically in charge of the primary PC even though said PC doesn't know it except they do because I do, because as a blank slate they are me and I am they. I may have missed some nuances, if they were there. My eyes glaze over at that boring conspiracy crap, and I've happily sat through 3 seasons of RWBY and Cinder's evil plan of having an evil plan. I can see how full-blown Tumblrinas just skip to the (even more) diverse sexuality options and call it well-written. This is why mainstream representation is important; so we're not so starved that we'll accept anything. (About that. Instead of - like last trilogy - an arbitrary adherence to the binary within this sexual utopia, the PC's gender is fully customisable. Fully. You can give them their own pronouns and that's definitely not going to be abused in any way, nope.) VivaLa Eeveelution fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Apr 9, 2016 |
# ? Apr 9, 2016 04:43 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 23:55 |
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Is this a case where the sequels are much worse than the original? I played the first game tonight out of curiosity and didn't think it was too bad. I mean nobody's going to mistake it for subtle or anything, but it didn't seem as bad as the dire warnings. The new game sounds loving terrible though. On second thought, the diva personal assistant actually was pretty bad, and having a customizable love interest who looks just like a current celebrity is too. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Apr 9, 2016 |
# ? Apr 9, 2016 06:36 |