LogFAQs > #923012994

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Topic	I feel like this is something that every game developer should read.
BTB 06/09/19 2:54:15 PM #1:	So, today I need to bitch about one of the most awful yet ubiquitous design flaws in video games, which is the inexplicable need to accompany repetitive sound effects - generally voice clips in anything even remotely modern - with player actions that will be performed approximately several thousand times over the course of an hour's worth of gameplay. Bonus "fuck you" points for effects that aren't cute/funny the first time you hear them, let alone the millionth. What bothers me most about this is the apparent complete lack of understanding on the developers' parts about just how obnoxious this shit is. It seems exactly like the kind idea that some empty-headed fuckhead executive would come up with, or maybe even just a bored coder, but literally 30 seconds of actual gameplay testing should reveal to even the most stubborn of creators what a horrible abomination their efforts have wrought and that it clearly needs to be destroyed for the sake of all humanity. Yet, even after over twenty years of this practice becoming commonplace, not a single developer has seemingly ever been forced to endure their own creation or witness a single player scream, "OH MY GOD SHUT THE FUCK UP, WHY WON'T YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING WHORE MOUTH YOU PIXELLATED PIECE OF DOG SHIT JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP I HATE YOU." And again, this is not something I can peg on a single developer. This is something pretty much everyone started doing around the late 90's and ostensibly the only thing preventing them from doing it before that was the technical limitations of the 8 and 16-bit eras (which still managed to torture us with that incessant "low health" beep that gives me Guantanamo flashbacks every time I hear it). That said, there certainly are companies who are worse offenders than others. Take, for example, one of my favorite games of all-time, Super Mario Bros. 2 (US). Extolling upon its many virtues is a topic for a different day, but one of its flaws was that it didn't do much to force a player to thoroughly explore through its levels once they already knew the best way through them. The GBA remake addressed that issue with the addition of collectibles in the form of Super Mario World's "dragon coin" system. What it also did was shit so badly on the entire game with the problem I mentioned above that the damn thing is fucking unplayable to anyone with working eardrums. Charles Martinet, better known as the voice of Mario and the various genetic accidents that he's seemingly(?) related to, is a nice guy. I'll forever be in the "Captain" Lou Albano camp of what Mario should really sound like, but Charles has the notable advantage of still being alive. I've actually gotten to meet Charles and I think he does a good enough job and is a pleasant person. That said, through absolutely no fault of his own, pretty much everything Nintendo has ever done with his voice has made me want to strangle him. Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNIY2Z5T8Jc" data-time="&start=81 I'm so sorry, Charles. You didn't deserve this. And neither did we. --- "Good luck and good gaming." -Klaravoyia <cite>BTB posted [p:923012994] in I feel lik... [t:77773788]...</cite> <quote>So, today I need to bitch about one of the most awful yet ubiquitous design flaws in video games, which is the inexplicable need to accompany repetitive sound effects - generally voice clips in anything even remotely modern - with player actions that will be performed approximately several thousand times over the course of an hour's worth of gameplay. Bonus "fuck you" points for effects that aren't cute/funny the first time you hear them, let alone the millionth. What bothers me most about this is the apparent complete lack of understanding on the developers' parts about just how obnoxious this shit is. It seems exactly like the kind idea that some empty-headed fuckhead executive would come up with, or maybe even just a bored coder, but literally 30 seconds of actual gameplay testing should reveal to even the most stubborn of creators what a horrible abomination their efforts have wrought and that it clearly needs to be destroyed for the sake of all humanity. Yet, even after over twenty years of this practice becoming commonplace, not a single developer has seemingly ever been forced to endure their own creation or witness a single player scream, "OH MY GOD SHUT THE FUCK UP, WHY WON'T YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING WHORE MOUTH YOU PIXELLATED PIECE OF DOG SHIT JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP I HATE YOU." And again, this is not something I can peg on a single developer. This is something pretty much everyone started doing around the late 90's and ostensibly the only thing preventing them from doing it before that was the technical limitations of the 8 and 16-bit eras (which still managed to torture us with that incessant "low health" beep that gives me Guantanamo flashbacks every time I hear it). That said, there certainly are companies who are worse offenders than others. Take, for example, one of my favorite games of all-time, Super Mario Bros. 2 (US). Extolling upon its many virtues is a topic for a different day, but one of its flaws was that it didn't do much to force a player to thoroughly explore through its levels once they already knew the best way through them. The GBA remake addressed that issue with the addition of collectibles in the form of Super Mario World's "dragon coin" system. What it also did was shit so badly on the entire game with the problem I mentioned above that the damn thing is fucking unplayable to anyone with working eardrums. Charles Martinet, better known as the voice of Mario and the various genetic accidents that he's seemingly(?) related to, is a nice guy. I'll forever be in the "Captain" Lou Albano camp of what Mario should really sound like, but Charles has the notable advantage of still being alive. I've actually gotten to meet Charles and I think he does a good enough job and is a pleasant person. That said, through absolutely no fault of his own, pretty much everything Nintendo has ever done with his voice has made me want to strangle him. Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNIY2Z5T8Jc" data-time="&start=81 I'm so sorry, Charles. You didn't deserve this. And neither did we. --- "Good luck and good gaming." -Klaravoyia </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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