Video Games are boring me almost completely

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Before we enter this discussion, let me point out that I don't hate video games or anything. But that I find them a little too difficult than usual to get into, mainly due to school and work responsibilities that I have to deal with.

In addition, I still enjoy the following games:

Medieval II Total War
Fallout 2+New Vegas
Devil May Cry
Baldur's Gate
Planescape Torment
Shovel/Hollow Knight
Diablo II
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Disciples II
age of empires II
Dead Space
Dark Souls
Jedi academy
Gothic II
Half Life
Counter Strike
Knights of the Old Republic
etc.

The point being of this thread is not that I hate video games as I've mentioned before, but that they require such a huge and emotionally draining/daunting investment that I can't seem to find myself enjoying them as much. Granted, I'll still try and play video games more often, but they're such a pain in the ass to deal with, especially how annoying PCs can be for me, considering how I used mac all through high school and such. Maybe I'm too dumb to use or operate them, who knows.

Many of the games I own often have mods to amplify the games experience and extend their lifespan. This can be both a blessing and a curse, however, considering how it's often too difficult to find a game to pick up and play without any mods and with decent controller support that doesn't require a ton of space to download for. But at the same time, it helps to try new things from the same game, but most of the mods are already available for about a dozen or half of the games that I mentioned on top, so it's really a catch-22 when it comes to this situation.

In addition, the market has really gotten more stagnant. and by stagnant, I'm not saying that it's gotten stale in an oldie sense by justifying how the older generation had better games or whatever, quite the contrary. I'm saying that everything's the same and how everything just seems to be possible under the sun. anything you can imagine and it'd already be done, so there's really little room left for creativity nowadays. Especially now with the Fortnite craze.

In addition, given how my PC broke in November and I got a new one a couple weeks back before July ended, I've been unable to become competitive as I once was considering how our family was on a massive financial crux last year. Plus, with the impending and ever-changing environment that's college, I find myself trying to build myself as a person rather than building my steam library due to how difficult it is to find good games on steam, as well as have the money to splurge on whatever games I want. My summer job doesn't pay much and I don't have the time to be focusing on buying a dozen games. I'm more concerned on buying new clothes that'll help me get through upstate NY. I'll buy more clothes later in October/early November to better prepare for the oncoming winter once I save enough money from my on-campus jobs (tutor and library; will plan to work 16 hours per week max). The reason why I'm focusing on clothes is because I don't have much to start with compared to my sister who has dozens upon dozens (as expected) and that I didn't have a whole lot to start with considering how I wore the same thing all throughout middle and high school.

Speaking of steam, it is extremely annoying how I have to constantly update the app. and it's no better now that the screen is blank (will post a picture of it later) and how it's really humid this time of year so it's not like I can play video games when my apartment feels like I'm in India. along with the fact that Gothic 1, a game with many bugs on steam (including a violation error bug), caused the screen to go blank. In addition to how the call of warhammer mod I downloaded 5 times (including 7 and 8 zip to help) didn't work because I accidentally clicked on microsoft edge because of how my PC didn't have the proper application to open said file.

In replacement of most games I play, I'm starting to get into the habit of other entertainment, particularly music, movies, and books. My only problem is though where to start because I never really had a set path in life, let alone what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be. I just imagined myself going with the flow because I never managed to have any friends to help me get through life. It still sucks when almost everyone I know at this age range is a complete and utter idiot and are too apathetic and fixiated on their instagram and snapchat accounts to realize what the hell we're doing and where we're going with this.

I'm not entirely sure I agree with this. I can kind of see where you're coming from, but from my personal perspective, video games don't have to require so large an investment. When I play a game, I play it for as long as my attention span allows me to. And more often than not, I feel fulfilled instead of drained afterwards.

It's a matter of perspective, just like many other things.

I see where you are coming from, I too have recently found myself having a hard time getting into games, especially new ones. I used to play a lot but finding less interest in reading all of a game’s lore and such, I actually often just listen to someone talking about it instead. Between work and my main hobby of anime, I have been spending a lot of time working on a project of focusing on the economics of races and places in Dungeons and Dragons, with not a lot of games scratching my recent itch in fantasy economics and commerce (I am such a dork).

I have got new games, but I have mostly lost interest in a lot of them (except God of War), and fell back on Skyrim and Fallout 4, or Dark Souls, where I can give the feeling of playing in a sandbox I am familiar with while I listen to something I am interested in on YouTube. Been mostly some stress relief while I do things like play an interesting build. But I think it goes down to what you find interesting in a game, for me it has often been creating an interesting and different character, I don’t think there is any shame to just play focus on the parts you like.

When I want to be able to play, but really can’t figure what I actually want to play, I often chuck on a lets play or something, for me being the like of ProJared, GT Live, Game Grumps, or some lore videos of series I like such as Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Dark Souls, sometimes they interest me in something.

When they bore me I try to do something else that’s a spl interest before going back to them.

It was hard in the beginning but it only takes a few tries to break the obsession and try something else.

I had the same issue a few years ago. My "game list" looked quite a bit like yours, with very similar games. Was getting more and more bored.

The fix: I stepped away from AAA games almost entirely. I cannot remember the last time I bought one.

In other words, indie games, and I dont mean just the really well-known ones. This fixed EVERYTHING for me. Like that line you said about "there's no room for creativity anymore"? That's not the case with these. With AAA games, it IS the case, as the games cost such an absolutely stupid amount to make that publishers refuse to take risks. They find a formula that sells, and they stick to it as if it's the only idea in the world. But that simply doesnt happen with indies. With those, the developers make what THEY want to make. Many such games are incredibly creative, the sorts of things nobody in the AAA realm would even DREAM of trying to do. I can think of LOTS of examples of this. What's more, ENTIRE FREAKING GENRES are missing from the AAA side of things... but they appear frequently in indies. On top of that, games dont get dumbed down nearly as much. Anyone craving a major challenge, or a game with major complexity and depth, will find it there... no matter what genre they're after.

AND. They dont cost NEARLY as much (some are even free... as in, COMPLETELY free).... yet you often get way more out of them. Oh, and no lootboxes or any of that stupid crap. You wont be paying $60 and then even more for ANY of these. I'm used to paying anywhere from $5 to 20. Which doesnt mean low quality or anything. And I'm used to getting anywhere from 30 to 500 hours out of games like those. Not an exaggerated number.


For Steam, if you're having trouble with finding good games, your'e not alone... frankly the store's front pages suck. Try other methods. Look on Youtube, look on sites specially made for it, or ask around. Hell, I cant remember the last time I browsed the storefront, yet I buy games *frequently*. I often find them via the Feed, actually, after having added quite a few people to my friends list that have similar tastes to mine. I watch what they buy and what they talk about, and it leads me to LOTS of things I end up loving that I never would have found through the crappy storefront. Hell, I could probably offer up some suggestions, depending on what genre of game you're after. Unless you're after sports games or something like a JRPG, I avoid those like the plague so I dont know them.

As for meeting friends... well, why not start here on the forum? Most of us are pretty friendly, really.


Anyway, if you want some suggestions for games, if you have any questions about anything, or even if you just want someone to talk to, please do feel free to ask.

Yes, and I see that you have Misery from Cave Story, too.

I don't know if Indie games will fix EVERYTHING per se, and I am well-aware of the recent indie games that made an impact, such as Cuphead, Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight, etc. It seems that indie games are "picking up steam" with the metroidvania genre and I sort of want to go back to the castlevania series of games as well as other console exclusives on emuparadise, but I'm new to the emulation sort of thing and very shy to approach it because of the feds or whatever. Last time I emulated something on my PC (back when I had a dell as a child) was Resident Evil 2 when I was 13, but that was also because my dad owned the game. It worked, but was on a time limit and had no volume.

I don't know why my tastes have changed per se. Could've been the times. Could've been the fact that I stopped buying any more AAA Games since 2014, but that was also because I was going through some tough times in high school, which I dreadfully hated. I'll get to that in a moment, but right now, let's talk about my steam problem and my problem with friends (though I wouldn't necessarily call it a problem).

Thing is though, I'm SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER LAZY (So lazy in fact that I had to type dozens of Us to exaggerate how lazy I am), so it takes a while for me to get things rolling. Granted, though, this could be due to work or family or whatever, but I find myself having trouble to make friends because I deal with so much BS everyday that life sometimes doesn't seem worth it...or at least until the next couple of years when things get better for myself I suppose and get out of my family situation.

It could be due to the fact that I'm trying to cut down on the amount of crap in my life so I wouldn't have to deal with so much BS later in the future. Especially since now I realize that I shouldn't get my hopes up about returning to college since many peers are just not gonna give a s**t about networking or making friends since they'll be glued to their f*****g phones all day. any hopes of having a relationship will have to be put way off until I'm 26 or so because that's when the brain develops fully. Granted, it'll be lonely for me, but at least it wouldn't be so bad since I wouldn't have had any breakups at that point, give or take.

Sorry for getting off track, but I feel like friends are too difficult to make sometimes. Sometimes I may even know more than anyone else in the room. Sometimes I may be too smart for my own good. Now, I'm not saying that I am smarter because I don't want to boast myself, especially in front of other people and I don't see myself as smart because I have a lot to learn and it takes a lot for me until I'm able to settle down with someone. Plus, posting this long to explain everything can be a pain in the ass to do and many of the threads I see just deal with too much overbearingly emotional sh*t, as selfish as that sounds. I want to be able to focus on the philosophy side of things or where electrical engineering would lead me, which is what I plan to major in when I transfer to a 4-year. I know that's not what everyone wants to hear, but I feel like that that's the only thing going for me.

In addition, I am on discord, but one of the recent servers I joined before joining a warhammer one was very-Europe heavy with a half-dozen australians, some heavy right-winged folks, and a couple of brazilians. Granted, most left during the finals of the world cup and given my half-french ethnicity, let's just say that the australians didn't take a liking to the fact that France won. and let's just say that they were also leaning towards the eugenics side of things.

Besides that, the steam problem seems to be weird. Given, MandaloreGaming has posted a video of the first Gothic so that seems to be good timing so I'll post a link down below for you to watch, but what's weird is that the screen isn't the right space and there's a bit of empty space on the outside of the steam screen too. In addition, it only works well in big picture mode.

https://ibb.co/mZs31K
https://ibb.co/noXgoz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvpnl24kFxs

You could try your hand at hacking or some well chosen electronics DIY things.

Hm, alot to reply to here.

What I mean by "fix everything", is, well.... the variety of stuff here is pretty much endless. If you're willing to try games beyond just the super well-known ones (which things like Cave Story and Shovel Knight do fit into, they're some of the most well known indies out there), you can find things that will be exactly what you want. Whatever it is you're after, chances are, you arent the only one that wants it, and someone else went and made it. Mainstream gaming has alot of us rather disappointed, so alot of devs go into this with a "screw it, I'll make it myself" sort of view. Hell, even I've been able to make a game now, and that's pretty much how I looked at it. The challenge is just finding the really awesome stuff... sometimes not too hard, sometimes definitely hard, but always worth it.

Note also that Steam isnt the only place to look for stuff... it's just the one that I usually refer to as the best. However, I'm aware that it's an obnoxious bug farm. But there are other sites that focus on this stuff too. Just that their selection is different.


Now, as for all that other stuff about making friends and whatnot... yeah, I know where you're coming from on that. Frankly, I'm just as lazy. Possibly even moreso. I'm not overweight or physically unfit or anything, but... really all I do all day, every day, is pretty much play around. Got the computer here, got a dog, got a van so I dont go stir-crazy, dont have/need a job, and.... yeah that's about it. So I know all about laziness, haha.

When it comes to stuff like what you refer to as "networking", yeah, I seriously just dont care too much either. As you say, alot of people pretty much duct-tape their stupid phones to their heads (I swear I feel like the only one that doesnt even like phones), and even alot of THAT is doing that sort of "fake"-ish friendship thing that I doubt I have to explain... making REAL friends is tough and rare, so I dont bother trying for it much. Ive got one close friend near me, and a couple others that I've known online for awhile now, and that's about it. Never go to social events of any sort, because screw it.


I know society as a whole tends to obsess over the whole friendship thing. Or, to be more specific, it tends to obsess over HOW MANY friends you have, and how many stupid groups you fit into. But I dont think your view on it is a bad thing. I tend to see it the same way. I dont want to deal with all of the useless drama that surrounds alot of people, or the "overbearingly emotional stuff" as you put it, or the stupid groups/cliques they often try to be a part of, or any of that crap. It's just not worth it, I say. So.... I just ignore it all. I'd rather be able to focus on my interests. Even on this forum here I tend to avoid alot of the drama-focused threads... too much trouble, those. What few REAL friends I do have (offline or online), are aware of this and are the sort of people that understand that (and they also understand that I am very erratic about how often I'll be in contact, as plenty of days I just cant deal with being at all social). I dont see something like your viewpoint there as being a selfish view... it's just different than the norm, yet rather similar to my own. And it's a viewpoint alot of people are familiar with on this site, I think.


Now as for the Steam problem, ever tried posting about it somewhere? I dont mean on here, I mean on Steam's support forum or something similar to that. There's places on Reddit or Discord that could probably help as well. An explanation of what's going on and some screenshots of the problem might go a long way there. I'd try to help myself, but my solution to computer problems is kinda the equivalent of someone putting a snapped-off side mirror back onto a car by just covering it in duct-tape and yelling at it alot, so... yeah, maybe not the best idea, haha.

I mean, yeah, I'll look into that, for sure. Especially considering how Cave Story (not plus) is free on the developer's site. But still, emulation leaves me a little worried. I did try using abandonware to download Severance blade of darkness. Now the text is too dark to play it, who knew! Man, old games can be a pain to deal with sometimes.

I know that there are other sites like you said, especially since I mentioned GOG or something, idk. My brain feels super lazy. However, while GOG is selective at best, they don't have games like the Devil May Cry series (not counting the godawful reboot, even though we're getting a 5th installment) or Medieval 2 Total War. Plus, I don't want to go nag to GOG to have them nag to Creative assembly just to release their games on GOG's site. Especially now like you said about the triple-a becoming cash cows and whatnot. But I really need to become an electrical engineer if I'm to dig myself out of the hole that my family's in, which I'll explain later.

as for friends, yeah, I see where you're going with that. But I still try whatever I can to get through, even if they do feel pretty shallow. I swear, sometimes, I feel like I'm in a video game where the NPCs around me are pretty much essential until their usefulness comes to an end, as terribly cringeworthy as that sounded. The only decent people on-campus tend to be the professors and a few faculty members here and there. as for social events, I mean yeah I don't bother with them, unless they have free food or video games. Which I go for because I need to eat to survive and shave off some money for groceries.

Ignoring it sounds like a better idea, yeah, and I know I should focus on my interests more, but I just don't have time. Sometimes, I just like to list out all the pros and cons of living on-campus as opposed to my parents' apartment (we used to own a house but the mortgage got too high and had to move out).

On one hand, living on-campus offers me more personal freedom and more time to myself to explore my interests, but living with my parents provides me with the only decent amount of human empathy that I may ever get from my worthless, pathetic life (not saying this out of self-pity, just saying it out of sarcasm, hahaha ). That's why I have a harder time communicating over the summer or winter breaks when I come back from school because every day there's so much drama to be had. Just recently my mom spoke out of pity when I told her how many times I've been screwed over during my first semester and how I almost got evicted because my parents, especially my lazy deadbeat dad who "does nothing but eat popcorn and drink gin and tonic while watching movies" as my mom says, didn't do anything to help with the financial aid because they were too busy finding a job after they got fired last year. Not to mention, she told me how she almost got arrested 3 times and had to hitch onto trains without paying a ticket, but that doesn't excuse the fact that I almost got kicked out, now does it.

On top of that, having to move an entire dorm apartment BY MYSELF, while also sleeping on the couch due to my sh***y roomates f*****g and smoking weed all day while also making sure I get through this semester to prove to my parents that I'm not a loser because that's what dad called me when I was unemployed for almost 5 months, just one month shy of long-term unemployment, after having been laid off in March. While I was having my tail between my legs with all the s**t I had to do. Laundry, tutoring, schoolwork, some kid getting jumped on, etc. all happening at once. Granted, though, the laundry, which later got thrown out by maintenance, possibly had a matter to do with the stink rather than waiting too long to pick it up because I was probably using some of those clothes to clean up the apartment and it's not like I want to throw them out or let them be thrown out, but this came at a stressful point in time where my mental health was splitting itself apart after recently having a breakdown at that time. I knew that after the bill had been settled that college DID NOT offer the same flexible mentality that it so called "states" online or whatsoever. Everything is so purposefully straightforward and relies on the nitty-gritty and cut-and-dry of things that there's no time to have anything in-between. But then again, it could've been where I was living or my mother's mentality. Not that she has or had anything to do with what I've been through, but considering how she's from France, where they don't emphasize greatly on work life, it kind of became semblant in our family lifestyle, especially how when Dad tied the knot with her, everybody took the French lifestyle and culture to an obsession.

Now, I'm getting off topic here again, so I'll go back to what I've mentioned about the pros and cons. The point being is that living on-campus incites a lot more "me-time" to be had with myself, especially now that everything that's done from groceries and other stuff is done by my whim, not my family's. In that way, I'm able to eat more of what I want and cook more protein-heavy meals as opposed to skimming out every now and then at my parents' apartment because unlike the laundromat in college, they're not free there.

Yeah, I'm gonna post about it, though for two threads so to speak: One for the screen problemo and one for Call of Warhammer not installing properly.

Sorry about all the "drama" in this post, heh. Just wanted to show you how difficult it can be to game when your dad doesn't give a s**t and your mom and sister go at it like cats and dogs. There's never a day for me when I can kick back and relax.

Just to clarify: I dont mean emulation when I speak of any of that gaming stuff. It's not actually involved. Anytime I talk about emulation, I mean strictly retro stuff, and pretty much always the SNES era and prior to that, or the Golden Age of arcades.

When it comes to the indie stuff I often talk about, none of that is involved... there's no reason for it to be. This includes things like free versions of, well, whatever. They're not free because they're in some shady emulated state: They're free because the developers themselves decided to make them free.

Also, frankly alot of emulation sites and similar things are... shady at best, dangerous at worst. Not to mention that the process of getting things can be complicated. I have, on my PC, every version of every arcade game ever made (with a couple of extremely specific exceptions) before, uh, 2006 I think it is. I went to *alot* of trouble to get that... it was not a fun process, and not one I'd recommend to anyone else.

The vast majority of the things I find/play, and talk about, are on Steam, because it's the largest and most inclusive vendor. Yes, the Steam client itself also blows goat chunks, and the store page is even worse, but... still better than damn near all of the other vendors out there. GoG, I never even use. They're WAY too freaking strict about curation, to the point where alot of developers are very frustrated with them. Hell, the game I mentioned, the one I worked on, ran into GoG's curation wall as well. They declined to put it on the site, and for one of the most bloody stupid reasons I've yet heard: "We have alot of twin-stick games already". That's literally the entire reason (and a reason that I notice doesnt apply to FPS games or RPGs). The quality of the game (which has reviewed very well on Steam and elsewhere) was never even examined. And that's been the case for other developers that I've known... they arent exactly fond of the place either. Often they make games that I (and others) think are fantastic, but GoG refuses them for increasingly nonsensical reasons. So, yeah... GoG kinda sucks, at least in my opinion. And nagging at them accomplishes nothing, too... the developer I worked with found that one out the hard way. It's one of those groups that doesnt listen to anyone but themselves. You cant reason with them.

I would recommend trying out Itch.io though (yes it's a dumb name). What passes for a "store" page there is dramatically better than Steam and they have no need for curation. What's more, plenty of games are either free, or are the "pay what you want" sort (alot of developers that use the site are after feedback more than they're after profit). I dont use Itch.io much, but I've found some superb stuff on there. When Steam is being irritating, it's a good place to go. Note though that Itch.io is almost purely indie stuff. Most of the AAA guys focus entirely on Steam, often leaving other vendors out in the dust. Which makes sense, as a company you gotta go where the target consumers appear in the largest numbers.

Now as for the bits about being on-campus, hmm, I have a harder time relating to that one. My own living situation has been abnormal for a long time now. I could go into a long explanation of it, but I find that in most cases, exactly two words suffice: "family wealth". That's usually all the explanation needed. I've been to college, but it was the sort of place that didnt even have dorms, as they werent really necessary. Bloody bizarre experience, too. For reasons I cant quite remember, way too many classes were not held at the main campus, but instead in big hotels in the middle of freaking nowhere, in small conference rooms. I remember ALOT of rather stupid driving. I'm sure it made sense to at least someone at the time. Whole thing ended up being a waste of time though... havent worked a day in probably 10 years and never will again (no need). So yeah, the typical college life that alot of people like to talk about is a bit out of my understanding.

I can understand some of the troubles of living with idiot roommates though... being forced to deal with jerks on a daily basis. I dont really have any advice for that one though. My usual approach to situations is to forcibly take control of things, which... isnt applicable for everyone. It happens for me because I'm inherantly stubborn and have a very short fuse. Hmm... have you considered talking to college faculty about the situation? Heck if I know if that could accomplish something, but... maybe it could?

I can appreciate your dedication to getting yourself into a real career though. Not everyone can pull that off... I know I sure wouldnt be able to. Such an attitude towards it as yours is very admirable. I hope you're able to get what you're after. Despite college being a pile of suck, based on your description of it.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Like, I'm tempted to play the Castlevania and Metroid games, especially the ones that are on the DS or 3D, as well as some Shin Megami Tensei games (though those I could just buy the disc for). Throw in some YuGiOh, Silent Hill, and Monster Hunter while you're at it, too. But whenever I think about, or think about trying to install it, I still think that the FBI are gonna bust down my door the moment I try and start the installation or whatever. Plus, I'm aware that some developers put some of their games up for free and I'm completely fine with that. I only recently got into GoG when they mentioned that they'll allow transfers of Steam games to GoG if said games are available, but the moment I connect the two profiles, nothing happens. Like, what was the freaking point of that, lmao.

That sucks. Though there's not much I can say about that. You said you worked on a game. Was it the twin stick shooter you mentioned? If so, have you looked through or discussed with them the greenlight community because it could be the case for any new indie games coming through. With GoG, though, it makes sense considering how I mentioned before I didn't want to nag them. I tried itchi.o 3 years ago before I used Steam and before I bought my first PC.

That's...quite a situation you had there. I can't imagine taking my math course at a Marriott or a Hyatt. Still, why haven't you worked for 10 years? aren't you worried about living expenses like food and rent (if applicable)? I just assumed that when people said that college was/were the best 4 years of your life, I figured that that was a loaded statement. In essence, college is just high school but without the involvement of parents. Granted, though, with roommates, I was more into the "big stick policy" as Teddy Roosevelt used to state, but I figured that overtime, I should be a little more laid back. after all, the last thing I want to be to my roommates is a second mom to them.

Yeah, well, it's the only thing I got going for me in order to live a better life and to get out of the family s**thole. Though I wouldn't call myself admirable just so I could just get a piece of paper saying I majored in EE lmao. at least I got through most of the shittier pre-reqs (i.e. arts, spanish, half of PE, etc.), but work hours to earn money leaves a little to be desired for. I was hoping to work 16 (10 for the library, 6 for the tutor) hours per week, but the library manager said that his budget was cut.

I spoke to Steam about my issues, though I've only gotten feedback for Medieval 2. One guy thought I never heard of winrar, smh.

Ehh, there's no reason to worry about troubles with the law, when it comes to emulation. For the most part, even groups like Nintendo dont really take it seriously. They tend to not really give a fart. On rare occaisions (very rare) Nintendo in particular will make a show of trying to take down some random emulation site, but... it's alot of buildup that just ends with a sad little fart sound. The thing about emulation of older stuff is that for the most part, those older games arent making anyone any real money. There are very, VERY few roms of older games that are whatsoever relevant today, among current software. Even less so now that Nintendo in particular is no longer doing their Virtual Console thing. Outside of the "mini" devices, NONE of those games are making them any money. And even for the ones that are, most people will, for whatever reason, still buy the devices rather than deal with emulation. Probably because the emulators are simply more complex, sort of. But yeah, none of these groups really care. Which is why emulation of older stuff is so very easy to find. There's no effort involved. Granted, as I said you have to be careful about which site to get them from, but... that's the internet for you. Even sites that SHOULD be safe sometimes arent, without the creators actually realizing it.

Now as for the game I mentioned, yes, it's the twin-stick one. It's called Starward Rogue. Reviewed quite well, but didnt sell well... there was a ton of difficulty in getting it noticed. People cant buy a game if they dont know it exists. And GoG's bizarro rules really dont help with that. There's nothing that can be done there. I have zero influence on that myself, and the dedicated PR guy on the team couldnt convince them either. It was a lost cause almost immediately. Now, we did end up putting out an expansion for the game recently, but... it was a MUCH smaller team working on it, just me and three others. All on a volunteer basis. The dev team overall is having alot of financial troubles, and the main guys have a different and more pressing project to work on. It's been an interesting if sometimes infuriating experience. My role is making the game's bullet-hell elements (enemies, bosses, and all of their overly-complicated attack patterns, and making sure that this all comes together in a game that uses procedural level generation) and making sure that the difficulty remains balanced. Well, my version of "balanced", anyway. I was given *alot* of authority over the project. I'm still not quite sure why, but it worked out well enough. Even if there were about 10000 moments where I wanted to punch my monitor through a wall. Bug-hunting: I havent the patience for it. Had to do it anyway. I have *alot* of respect for full-time game developers after this experience. Anyone who can do this for a living without going completely mad in the process deserves respect indeed.

The reason I havent worked in 10 years is pretty much what I mentioned earlier: "family wealth", to put it simply. I dont work because I dont need to. Instead I tend to just do whatever I feel like at any given time. Well, within limits of sanity anyway... I'm not running around buying helicopters here or something. When it comes to normal stuff though, I just do whatever. It works out well since I'm technically disabled anyway. When I DID used to work jobs, I was frankly horrible at all of them. The one job I held for quite awhile... a full year... was working at a bank. I ran the check sorters, big machines about the size of a small car. I kinda suspect the main reason I was able to keep that job is that nobody else was really willing to tolerate the horrid things. Their function was to sort giant piles of checks that came through every day. What they ACTUALLY did was flip out and go bonkers constantly... they'd do things like spray checks into the air, shred them up, glitch out, and other "fun" events. Other than that, the jobs I had back then were all of the very mundane variety, typically retail. Glad to be out of that crap now. That sort of thing is brain-meltingly boring.

But then, I was never qualified to work at anything higher than that really (the bank job was sort of a fluke). College was... hard. And I was a terrible student. All the more reason why I think your own accomplishments, and your attitude towards the whole thing, is impressive and admirable. Since I do know what goes into it, even if I couldnt pull it off myself.

I'll keep that in mind about emulation. as for Starward Rogue, yeah, it looks good. Sorry you had to go through a lot of loopholes to get it working, but I'm sure you worked hard on it. as for college, yeah it is hard, as to why this reply is shorter than it is, considering how often I tried to make a reply but my wifi was crap and the post didn't go through no matter what. I told myself not to get my hopes up because by God, this first week was intense as f*ck. The stakes are even higher now considering how the budget was cut due to lower enrollment rates and how the college is a f*cking *** about it. Courses are more intense and just last night it took me three and a half hours. THREE AND A HALF just to buy all of my stuff from Walmart and Hannaford for supplies and food and this day alone took me so long to clean it all up considering how beat and tired I was and how I'm still trying to rest. I still don't know how I can take a breather since I have to do my homework and by God, it's a lot.

I'll try and elaborate on this in another thread if I can. and I'll try if I can participate more on this forum. It's pretty good so far.

Ehh... honestly I'm not as much of a hard worker as that might have made it seem. Frankly I can be very lazy. Like, okay, the game has ALOT of bosses in it... coming up with unique patterns for each is the tough part. But there were a couple of cases where, well... there's something that TVTropes calls an "Ascended Glitch", a bug in a game that ends up turning into a feature. Not actually all that uncommon. In my case though, when it happened, it was like... okay, this bloody thing isnt working, I've been trying to make it do this thing for 2 hours and I just cant figure out what's going wrong. And I look at it, and instead of the complex pattern it's supposed to be doing, it's producing this bizarre, clumpy tornado pattern. After getting too irritated at it, I basically went "screw it, that's the pattern it's going to use there" and moved on. This didnt happen particularly often... the way they made the game engine, it's pretty easy to get it to do the funky things I want it to... but it did happen a couple of times. Again, not uncommon, but definitely a case of laziness + frustration. Really I hate bug-hunting. Not to mention that the hours-per-week was actually very low. could be anywhere from 12-20 depending on what I was doing and how "into" it I was. The funky thing about the content I was making is that it could be fully made *very* fast without problems. And the devs fully knew this was going to be the case going into it... again I was lucky to be working with them, instead of with people that would have demanded like 60 hours in a week.


Anyway, as for college, well.... yeah, what you describe DOES remind me of even my own experience. Like, the homework, I mean. It could be outright stupid. What always got me about it is that none of it seemed to ACTUALLY aid in learning. Like, they were using them to "test" you not for the purpose of learning, but for the purpose of testing. It always seemed bloody stupid to me. Also seemed detrimental. Like, if you want students to really be EFFECTIVE in class each day, it might not be the best idea to drive them up the wall and tire them out AT HOME with hours of homework each day. Ugh. But that's a whole other topic, and a rather futile one.

Also yes three and a half hours of dealing with big stupid stores is... definitely a stress-inducer. Hell, places like Walmart kinda suck to begin with. 3 freaking hours of being in one of those stupid places... ugh. I feel your pain on that one. I have a hard enough time doing a 30-minute store run. 3 and a half hours is just crazy. What the heck makes it take so long? Too much stuff to buy? Bad layout? Crowds? All three?

At least it's done though, yeah?

Lastly I sympathize on the bad connection bit. I do alot of travelling, so am frequently frustrated by useless internet at hotels. I know just how freaking irritating that sort of thing can be. Hopefully, it'll start to work a bit better later on for you. Wishful thinking maybe, but hey, it could happen.


Oh, that brings up something though: the problems you have in posting here, they're not all on your end. In fact, ALOT of it can be the site's fault. Wrongplanet is... ehhhh... a useful place, but it's buggier than a box of buggy bugs (I cant think of a good analogy here). It's probably the glitchiest, most crash-prone site I've ever encountered, as forums go. It's a nice enough place but even on a fantastic connection, it just plain doesnt work probably about 50% of the time.

I often also use autismforums.com. Not just because this place is bugtastic, but also because forums like this can be a bit slow sometimes... so it can be nice to have two of them to use when either one is being uninteresting at the time.

But still, making a game and making sure it runs well and praised well is no easy feat, especially on Steam. You've done well to become recognized there. although I can understand your frustration, you've worked really hard and I think you should give yourself a pat on the back for that.

I mean, yes, it could be stupid, but the courses I'm taking are heavily intensive. College algebra, General Chem, another PE course (it's mandatory, but this is my second of the two. You can choose fitness center courses, but you're better off being a guinea pig if you bother taking those courses; will explain later), Macroeconomics, and Philosophy. Followed by that is Physics, Pre-Calc, College Literature, and Technical Writing (I think). My last semester after that would be Early world Civ, Calc I, Writing in electronic media, and modern american novel. Followed by that is (hopefully) a transfer to a 4-year like Stony Brook. But other than that, I can agree with you regarding the detrimental effects of learning. I had to wound up taking the crappier courses (foreign language, one outside course (idk why but they make us take it), PE, and arts) first in order to get to the better and more interesting stuff. But in turn, it really ruined my self-esteem and motivation. I mean, after having been through 7 grueling years. SEVEN GRUELING YEARS OF SPANISH. You'd think that they'd get the memo about having a placement test for that but no. What's the point of even learning a foreign language if all you're supposed to go is to get a C or above it to pass.

Granted, considering how I got an A- (don't know how, but considering how 2/5 or 3/5 of the tests came before algebra ones, it really broke my concentration on what to study for more), that meant I could "tutor" the subject, along with computer applications, college writing (highest grade in the class), american government (B+ on transcript, but moved up to A on tutor worksheet), modern western civ (maybe highest grade, considering how I got an A+), but that doesn't mean I'm well versed enough to string together a sentence. and that goes to show that even though college isn't anything like high school...it kinda is. The whole point of it is not to learn, but to get a good grade. The only difference is just that there's no parents to look after you, more awareness on cheating and plagiarism, etc. But like you said, that's another topic for another time and Idk how we'll get started on that but who knows.

The point is though regarding that 3 1/2 hour long shopping trip were the taxis, ATMs, water break, weather, and shopping. I went to the atm to transfer some money, but Chase is very nosy about taking money out of atms outside Chase so I risk losing $3 from the regular atm because of some BS state policy and 2 from Chase because they realized that I took money out of a machine that wasn't theirs. In addition to the water main break, which just broke this week, there was a boil advisory that was eventually lifted and the same thing happened last year, albeit later in the month and not just in the beginning. People say it happens later in the winter but it's doubtful considering how it never happened (or at least, when I wasn't around. The weather tends to be chillier than downstate New York by roughly 7-10 degrees lower and I even had to shut the windows last night because it was so cold yet early in the week it was quite warm out. I had to put on three layers of socks and chances are I'll probably have to invest in some "hot" water bottles and cook bags of rice in ziploc bags. Check it out:

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Heating-Pad

The problem with heat, especially later on before the colder months is that the heat runs on one unit considering how it's an older apartment and so it doesn't get warm until let's say late october/early november because the weather's (sort of) bipolar. Never too hot to be cold, never too cold to be hot.

Regarding taxis and shopping, whenever I ask to be picked up, I have to wait until "affordable (yes that's the name of the company)" has at least somebody to pick me up and it can range from 30-45 minutes before they do and it takes about 10-15 minutes to get from college hill to either walmart or hannaford. although I mainly shop at hannaford, I had to go to walmart to pick up pillows (because my mom forgot to pack some), school supplies, and cleaning supplies. This took me about an hour because even though I had a shopping list, I didn't bring a pen (stupid me) to check so I checked by memory (if that makes sense) and had trouble finding a couple of things because the store is just too big to get lost in. Plus, it took me an hour considering how much I had to familiarize myself with the store and it took 15 minutes for the cab to pick me up after I was done shopping and then back to the hill and then drop everything off asap because hannaford closes at 10. Get picked up at 8:20. Shop for an hour. Wait 20 more minutes. Get picked up. Drop everything off. Put all the perishables away. Move everything to my room. Sleep for the night. Wake up at 10 and veg for a couple of hours. Clean everything up, including my room, make coffee, etc. It wasn't easy and today, considering how better rested I am, I'll get a move on with the homework. Next week, though, I'll have a lot more time on my hands because I wouldn't have to do the same thing again.

But what makes the icing on the cake of this story is my paycheck that came in today. Given how I worked at a college bookstore not related to mine (in addition to being a very annoying and pretentious liberal arts-heavy college where JJ abrams also graduated from (it's ridiculous how it costs $60K to go there. Looks like a friggin' daycare center for all I know)), I had to put up with a lot of sh*t and considering how the bookstore was also owned by a corporation, we usually get stuff from them and we're not sponsored by barnes and noble or amazon because we buy a lot of stupid s**t like makeup that nobody even uses. I can't even imagine going to that school either due to the lack of STEM books available in lieu of baby lit or oddly titled books (i.e. They can't kill us until they kill us, When my brother was an aztec, calling a wolf a wolf, etc.). Plus, a majority of the books seem to be poetry based, so that's like adding salt to an already burning wound. But backing up to my case, the way the paycheck came out was on a weekday basis so from monday-friday with no weekends included. But given how I worked over last weekend, it doesn't add up, even when it's the same week as the rest of the weekdays. So I'll have to wait another two weeks until I get the rest. That's some cryptic BS.

I'll second this; hacking and studying electronics, especially those of use by corporations, is great. It's a good gateway into white hat hacking, which I'm hoping to get career in for the future.

Speaking of studying, just do it for a little before playing games. Say, use two or three hours to study. Then when you play games it won't feel so stale because of the change of pace.

It works for me.