Golli posted:

Amazon has an article linked on their AWS | Lumberyard page that includes quotes from Carl Jones talking about the switch.
https://aws.amazon.com/lumberyard/

Carl Jones Interview posted:

Since you adopted CryEngine 3 before the free-license change, did the move to Lumberyard and its royalty free model, mean it was a cost saving for Cloud Imperium?
Well you can’t get better value than free, of course! In the future, it means we will be able to do a lot more for Star Citizen and Squadron 42 without being concerned about the cost of licensing technology, which is no bad thing, but it doesn’t make a huge difference for us economically, in the short term.
Was the decision to move to Lumberyard at all based on the financial difficulties faced by Crytek?
We certainly wanted a technology partner that could support us and be with us for the long term, investing in tools and technology year after year, which Amazon of course can uniquely deliver. But mostly we liked Amazon’s strategy for gaming, specifically with Lumberyard, Twitch and AWS. We knew that over time Amazon would create the best game engine and support technologies to enable and power online games using AWS – it’s inevitable and will be a big help to us and our community, now and in the future. We’re always looking long term at CIG, and with Amazon as a partner, we’re able to feel confident about the future.

A Neurotic Corncob posted:

ive never actually completed a mission in 3.0 ever

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

Skadden is at a level of proficiency and competence that CIG didn't even know existed.

ComfyPants posted:

Crobby! We gotta go back! Back to before the "engine switch!" Something's gotta be done about your lawsuits!

G0RF posted:

Star Citizen is good and the thread is proof.

Brazilianpeanutwar posted:

I played witcher 1 and it was like pulling teeth,i've been told mixed stories of how w2 is even worse :[ drat i want to play w3 cause i've heard good things about it.

AP posted:

https://twitter.com/_icze4r/status/941573008229126144

Nicholas posted:

The idea of a Nazi Vampire is something you'd expect to find in a B-movie, but CIG literally hired one as their lawyer.

reverend crabhands posted:

Just because I keep seeing this argument crop up, that SC and SQ42 is one game therefor CIG don't owe Crytek another license...

Here is Ben Lesnick to explain it : https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/42uni8/why_is_star_citizen_being_split_from_squadron_42/czd8f1o/?st=jbamkw75&sh=a02a99b1

Nyast posted:

They can't do that. The contract states they must provide a compilable version.

A compilable version.

You really think with the thousands of changes, bugs and issues they've introduced, they can provide a compilable version back to Crytek ?

Thoatse posted:

Free Tophat!

Wise Learned Man posted:

CryTek is pushing Chris into something he doesn't think is necessary. His vision is too important to be disrespected like that.

D_Smart posted:

I am also considering doing an audio book of all the blogs, and all the key articles I have written. Just need to figure out if I am going to narrate it, of have a voice actor do it; since I know several who have worked with me on games over the years.

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

I love the "I'm not in a cult, YOU'RE in a cult!" response. It's the perfect amalgamation of self delusion, sunk cost fallacy, and deflection.

Enchanted Hat posted:

There lived a certain man in England long ago
He was stout and bald and his nose was full of blow
Most people looked at him and thought he was a fool
But to space game nerds, he was clever, he was cool
He could code all night with golden fingers
Hallowed be his holy name
And the nerds they thought he'd be the bringer
Of a perfect game

Ro- Ro- Roberts, he
Scammer like you've never seen
There was a dev that really was gone
Ro- Ro- Roberts, he
Britain's greatest coke machine
He crobbled millions in a great con

He ruled the studios just like a Russian tsar
And he shot mocap, it was really wunderbar
Decisions lay with him, he couldn't trust his staff
And fidelity, it became his golden calf
For the nerds he was no wheeler dealer
Though he never made a game
He would be the genre's holy healer
Fill the goons with shame

Ro- Ro- Roberts, he
Scammer like you've never seen
There was a dev that really was gone
Ro- Ro- Roberts, he
Britain's greatest coke machine
He crobbled millions in a great con

But when his lying and hustling and his hunger for money became known to more and more people
The demands to do something about this outrageous fraud became louder and louder.

This man's just got to go, declared the Crytek team
Now their lawsuit would put an end to Roberts' dream
The backers and the shills, their hearts filled up with fear
But the salty asshats let out a rousing cheer
Then one night a team of high-priced lawyers
Served him Crytek's legal claim
Skadden would now be the game's destroyers
(Goons were still to blame)

Ro- Ro- Roberts, he
Scammer like you've never seen
They raised a suit, said "your rear end is mine!"
Ro- Ro- Roberts, he
Britain's greatest coke machine
He laughed it off and said "we'll be fine"

Ro- Ro- Roberts, he
Scammer like you've never seen
They didn't quit, they wanted his head
Ro- Ro- Roberts, he
Britain's greatest coke machine
And so they sued CIG 'til it was dead


Oh, those lawyers...

Natron posted:

I just wanted to chime in with a quick effort post about something I keep hearing the dedicated citizens say. They keep claiming that the timing of this lawsuit is suspect and that Crytek is only doing this because they're out of money/failed/bad dudes.

I have a lot of experience creating and administering contracts both large and small. In a previous life I used to create large contracts as an architect for very complex renovation projects, and now I make small contracts as a service provider to architects and other designers, so I've been on both sides of these contracts. These are slightly different than a contract that a game studio and engine holder would enter into, but the tools and intents are the same.

The timing of the lawsuit is in no way suspect to me. Contracts are tools that provide two things(among others): a codified agreement between two parties, and a tool to navigate this agreement and make sure the other side is honest. It protects both parties, and gives both parties recourse in case the other party does something that isn't in the agreement or is against it. During the course of a complex project, you'll encounter many small instances where one side or the other will test the contract. These are like little micr-breaches of the agreement. It's usually just something small that happens during the course of a project that neither side anticipated, or one side didn't realize was actually a part of the contract at all. When these things happen, the side that believes it has been wrong just reaches out to the other side, and what usually happens is a dialogue where both sides make their point and agree to either amend the agreement to add in for this unforseen circumstance, or the side that didn't realize they were out of line must come back in line or offer some kind of recompense for their micro-breach. This is all usually done by the two parties and is almost always quite amicable.

A contract can be a kind of living document, so these changes are somewhat expected over the course of a long project, and sometimes these changes take time to make. The point of having a contract is to spell out exactly what you think should happen between two or more parties, so that no one needs to go to court. Sometimes, when one side does something that isn't allowed, it takes along time for the other side to notice, and the side that has been wronged doesn't immediately start making threats, they just open a dialogue instead. This negotiation can take quite a while and if the other party is loving up other parts of the contract while this negotiation is happening, it can complicate things quite badly and cause bad feelings on either side.

The main thing to realize is that all of this takes a lot of time. If you've ever been a freelance and had to chase someone down to get a cheque or to sign off on a final version of something, you know how this goes. You phone, they stop answering. You e-mail, they don't reply. I have a "payment due upon receipt" line in all of my contracts as well as on all of my invoices. I'd say I'm lucky in getting around 25% of those cheques within two weeks, even though we both agreed. You don't get lawyers involved immediately because going to court is expensive as gently caress for both parties, causes a lot of stress, and will almost always kill your business relationship with your client.

These breaches that Crytek is complaining about took place a long time ago, and they didn't want to go to a trial because they wanted to salvage what they could in their agreement. Going to court isn't something to take lightly, and is only done when all the bridges are pretty much burnt already. The reason this took so long is because it takes a long time to finally lose hope that the person or company you're dealing with is going to do the right thing as per the contract.

G0RF posted:

The RTV Ben Lesnick refuted the Reddit Ben Lesnick, even while contradicting his own refutation. (Reverse the Verse, February 5th, 2016)

(Original thread drop here.)

—


(Ben Lesnick initiates the reverse-the-verse inverse oxymoron maneuver, a highly technical logical paradox. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.)

—

SPACE COURT JUDGE:
(slamming space gavel that doubles as ignition for his ship):
“The Court finds the witness not credible by reason of inanity.”

D_Smart posted:

This was so good, I read this three times.

D_Smart posted:

Yup.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/942373527893798912.html

Dusty Lens posted:

Imagining owning yourself so hard that now you're owned by someone else.

TheAgent posted:

the best part is they've probably shared a shitload of cryengine code with multiple 3rd party studios to help build those ships

can't wait until fuckin space court

Sarsapariller posted:

Witcher 3 is my personal Game Of The Past 5 Years Or So, and I think the writing is what puts it there. The open world is really well done and feels alive, the npc's are just mind bogglingly detailed, and the mechanics are snappy and responsive. But mechanically it doesn't do anything that you won't see in an Assassin's Creed or a Far Cry title. It's the writing that propels it over the top. And that is in spite of some obvious limitations in the game's conversation engine. While much more robust than, say, Mass Effect Andromeda's, after 100 hours you're still going to notice when a cutscene is using the default conversation animations. But the stories are so good you won't care. The bloody baron quest? The mission with Yenn that ends on top of a mountain, fighting a djinn on half a boat? The return to Crookback Bog? All of Hearts of Stone, all of Blood and Wine? If you've played through you know what I'm talking about.

The thing about Witcher 3 is that the level of its writing barely rises above the level of pulp fantasy novel, with a sprinkling of commentary on the human condition. That isn't a criticism! Video games by and large do not rise to that level. That's because they have to involve player agency, and it's really hard to tell a deep and engaging story when it has to branch out in a zillion directions based on choices. Usually you have to make a visually cheaper game to more rapidly produce content (Undertale), or you have to tell a rigid story and not let the player deviate (Spec Ops), or you have to tell a bland story where none of the choices really change anything and the characters don't matter because the player may never even encounter them (Every Bethesda title ever). Witcher 3 manages to walk the thinnest of lines, railroading the player through the arc of several interesting and engaging stories while still giving the impression that your choices really change where things are going. You can actually gently caress up in Witcher and not get the best outcomes for everyone. You can miss whole subplots and characters! That's a risk you have to run, for your choices to matter.

Laopooh posted:

This is a good post and your call to a good game that I’ve played on one end of your storyline spectrum (Spec Ops) makes me want to try out the other. Also how can I scam Miku into buying me a hot new rig so I can play Witcher 3?

Mirificus posted: