PYF Trolls From Game Developers

The Something Awful Forums > Main > Post Your Favorite: Carefully Curated > PYF Trolls From Game Developers

Bubble Bobby: Jan 28, 2005

Ashsaber posted:

So, here's a recent one: The new expansion pack for The Binding of Isaac Rebirth just dropped on Oct 30, and as was the case with so many games by Edmund McMillen, it was a buggy mess when it came out. The devs fixed a few of the crashes, then took the weekend off. Meanwhile the playerbase is rabid and played through all the new content, some datamining because the pre-expansion version had some hidden stuff that was a pain in the rear end to get. The dataminers found that there was a bunch of items, like half of theones promised, that were kind of in the game, but couldn't spawn and had no graphics, but that would actually work. Also, the new mode that was based mostly around getting money to get ridiculous builds had a thing at the end where you donated your leftover coins to unlock more stuff, but it only accepted 109 before stopping completely.

The playerbase took this kind of badly. It was pretty well known that Edmund was kind of pissed because people had datamined the way to unlock the super secret character in vanilla instead of solving the puzzle he set up (they were like hours away from figuring it out legit), so the playerbase mostly decided that he had basically time gated half the new content that was promised, or was basically going to patch the stuff in when certain conditions were met in individual games. Given that many of the better players had blasted through all the new content within about a day and there was a bunch of stuff they missed people were not happy.

Then Edmund goes on twitter, and starts being coy with stuff like 'look to la luna bitches!' or 'im hiding the remaining content beyond a series of micro-transactions that im calling an ARG, i also require the souls of the non believers' and 'Expect an afterbirth patch mid week should address all big issues and maybe add a few things ... Maybe'. Days later a patch drops that adds all this missing content into the game as well as fixes a few balance things and bugs (and nerfs one character into oblivion by accident) with the explanation that there was a bug keeping this stuff out of the game, they had been on holiday and hadn't noticed it, and they had delayed the patch for an hour to make it fall on the 109th hour since launch since the community was now obsessed with that number.

So the community freaked out over missing content because the devs didn't QA fully, then stirred up the players by implying it was intentional rather than a bug.

Why can't these nerds just have fun playing the game instead of doing all this gay poo poo

# ? Nov 6, 2015 03:59

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 26, 2024 15:26

Orange Fluffy Sheep: Jul 26, 2008; Bad EXP received

Bug Bill Murray posted:

Why can't these nerds just have fun playing the game instead of doing all this gay poo poo

Datamining results in learning exactly how the game works. For a game like Binding of Isaac knowing the specific requirements for certain items or whatever is far better than relying on anecdotes. It can also reveal quirks in the system that can be helpful for pulling off tricks.

When it also reveals that apparently the developers delivered only half of what they promised and that stuff is apparently just arbitrarily unavailable despite being functional, it can also leave a sour taste in one's mouth. You don't even have to be one of the dataminers, you just need to read their report to know half of the items are missing.

It's, like, you buy a game saying "200 unique weapons!" and only 100 of the unique weapons are available despite the other 100 working, it's like, what?

Also involved is the project head being pissy about this. A sane response would've been like "we want to roll these items out as bug-free as possible" or something, instead of being really rude, especially since it was all patched in anyway. He could've just, you know, said that.

"Look to la luna bitches!" is a reference to Mortal Kombat.

It's one the hints for fighting Reptile. The player must in single-player get a double-flawless (win both rounds without taking any damage) without blocking on the Pit stage while silhouettes are flying past, which happens only once every six games. In other words, an obtuse hint for a really specific secret. McMillen made a lovely joke about obtuse unlock requirements as though that's why the items are unimplemented despite working.

When people were asking "why the hell is so much stuff missing" he acted like an rear end for no good reason.

# ? Nov 6, 2015 04:35

flatluigi: Apr 23, 2008; here come the planes

There is stuff hidden in the game to be unlocked and Ed just thought people were complaining about that stuff and not the much larger amount of stuff that was locked off because of a bug. Everything else was people flipping out about nothing, really.

Here's Ed's post about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/bindingofisaac/comments/3rjx77/elephant/

# ? Nov 6, 2015 04:40

Drunken Baker: Feb 3, 2015; VODKA STYLE DRINK

Does anyone know how the shops work in isaac? Because I can guarantee when I have 50 coins, no health and find a shop it'll be a greed fight. Next level when I'm in even more dire straits the shop will be Super Greed. Guaranteed!

Is it because I entered shops beforehand and didn't spend anything? (Because the items were shite?) and the game is saying it's because I'm greedy and not spending money?

I don't know but it's super trollish. (Edit. In a funny way

)

# ? Nov 6, 2015 11:28

ArcMage: Sep 14, 2007; What is this thread?; Ramrod XTreme

ChogsEnhour posted:

Does anyone know how the shops work in isaac? Because I can guarantee when I have 50 coins, no health and find a shop it'll be a greed fight. Next level when I'm in even more dire straits the shop will be Super Greed. Guaranteed!

Is it because I entered shops beforehand and didn't spend anything? (Because the items were shite?) and the game is saying it's because I'm greedy and not spending money?

I don't know but it's super trollish. (Edit. In a funny way )

Mostly, it's that you're mid to late-game by then unless you found a bunch of dimes or something.

# ? Nov 6, 2015 12:57

Choco1980: Feb 22, 2013; I fell in love with a Video Nasty

In the original flash Isaac, money was a gamble, because the more you had, the more likely that greed would show up (but he couldn't show up the immediate next level) in a shop or secret room, yet you uh, needed money to buy items. This slowly eased off, especially with Super Greed becoming a separate thing. Mayhaps rear end in a top hat McMillian brought the feature back? He IS fond of only upgrading in harder ways at times...

# ? Nov 6, 2015 16:17

LITERALLY A BIRD: Sep 27, 2008; I knew you were trouble
when you flew in

Bug Bill Murray posted:

Why can't these nerds just have fun playing the game instead of doing all this gay poo poo

Let's not use "gay" as a prerogative, there are plenty of other words to use :buddy:

# ? Nov 6, 2015 19:43

Dr_Amazing: Apr 15, 2006; It's a long story

I've been playing through the Deponia games. They're fun point and click adventures with pretty good puzzles. but one in the 2nd game was a real trial.

You have to get in through a door but you can't because you need to know the secret knock. You do a bunch of stuff to learn it and return to the door. It won't work because you have to pass through a market place with catchy music playing, that makes you lose the rhythm of the knock.

I spent hours trying to find a way to the door without going through the market, plugging my ears, stopping the music, knocking from another location, or remembering the secret knock better. Turns out all you have to do is go into the options menu and mute the background music.

# ? Nov 6, 2015 20:56

Orange Fluffy Sheep: Jul 26, 2008; Bad EXP received

Posting about Reptile reminded me of how the Mortal Kombat devs responded to rumors.

Here's the audit screen for the first Mortal Kombat on arcades. It's accessible through a button combination on the attract mode.

Right below Reptile fights is Ermacs. What this really means is Error Macros, the game counting how many times its crashed unexpectedly. But being right below the obscure secret fight and its name being not exactly indicative made people think it was an even more obscure secret-er fight.

This was not helped by Electronic Gaming Monthly's April Fools gags.

More background information, the digitized people sprites were shot against a green screen, so guy in the ninja costume wore red to contrast with it. Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Reptile are all palette swaps of this original red ninja. What EGM did was hack the game to name one Ermac and have him appear red.

Ermac went on to become an actual usable character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

Anyway, back to audit screens.

Shawn Attacks and Watchdogs do absolutely nothing and never go up. The character Tsang Shung can transform into other characters, but Kano isn't a playable character in MK2. He was in 1 and he comes back in 3, but he spends 2 being held captive. So Tsang Shung can't transform into him.

MK3 is missing Johnny Cage because the actor who portrayed him showed up basically in-character to another company's game's ad.

And they cut him.

So there's a Johnny Cage Transformations audit in MK3 in the same place MK2 has Kano Transformations. And stored with the match-end text ["Sub-Zero wins" and all that] is "JOHHNY CAGE TRANSFORMATION ACTIVATED". That's sic by the way.

Basically, the devs noticed players making a rumor about what Ermacs on the audits page meant, and started to intentionally leave strange red herrings in the audits page.

# ? Nov 6, 2015 22:02

haetbus: Mar 31, 2011; ALL ABOARD
THE HAET BUS
HONK HONK

LITERALLY A BIRD posted:

Let's not use "gay" as a prerogative, there are plenty of other words to use

That's an interesting spelling of pejorative, or a masterful troll...

# ? Nov 7, 2015 21:04

Domus: May 7, 2007; Kidney Buddies

Why did they have the audits screen be activated by a button press? Literally every other Midway game has the menu system, complete with game audits, accessed by either a test switch inside the coin door, or a dip switch on the PCB itself. MK has these in addition to the button press, too. Either of which can only be gotten to by someone who has a key to the game. I know the MK devs hid a bunch of weird poo poo in the game, but game audits weren't really interesting to players up until that point. And audits started all the way back at solid state pinballs, so...at least 12 years before this game.

# ? Nov 7, 2015 21:09

LITERALLY A BIRD: Sep 27, 2008; I knew you were trouble
when you flew in

haetbus posted:

That's an interesting spelling of pejorative, or a masterful troll...

lmao whoops, don't smoke and post kids :downs:

# ? Nov 7, 2015 23:05

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Undertale has a couple of really hilarious ones.

Firstly, in Sans and Papyrus' house, the door to Sans' room is locked for the entire game... unless you save right before the conversation where he judges your actions, reload it after he's done with the spiel for a secret codeword, reload it again for a double-secret codeword, and then reload yet another time. If you do this and get the key, you end up in a long, pitch-black corridor. Then, once you've walked enough, Papyrus turns the light on to reveal that you're just walking in place on a treadmill, with a note attached from Sans saying that you got pranked across time and space.

Secondly, there's a huge door in Snowdin with four mushroom lights around it. The door is not acknowledged by anybody in the entire game and there's seemingly no way to open it. If you get the best ending and get through the credits minigame without getting hit, the door opens... and it's just a room with a couple of flavor objects and the Annoying Dog, Toby Fox's avatar.

# ? Nov 7, 2015 23:15

MisterBibs: Jul 17, 2010; dolla dolla
bill y'all; Fun Shoe

I hardly count as a game developer, but one Captain mission I made for Spore was broken up into two major section: a city where you spend 90% of the mission, and a nearby area you go for the ending bit. I had it set up that until you needed to go the nearby area, there was a big honking wall there to signify "Yeah, you don't need to go here". Naturally, it went away when you needed to get where the wall blocked.

But because creatures in Spore can fly, I figured someone will use their flying powers to go over the wall. So I put a few giant immortal creatures with some name that was a pun of "Don't Be Here". I've long since lost the screenshot, but for a long time there was a string of people who died on the mission, which was impossible outside of going over the wall.

MisterBibs has a new favorite as of 22:16 on Nov 8, 2015

# ? Nov 8, 2015 22:11

Lord Chumley: May 14, 2007; Embrace your destiny.

LITERALLY A BIRD posted:

lmao whoops, don't smoke and post kids

pretty sure you gotta probate yourself now

# ? Nov 8, 2015 23:25

Regrettable: Jan 5, 2010

Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:

Posting about Reptile reminded me of how the Mortal Kombat devs responded to rumors.

Here's the audit screen for the first Mortal Kombat on arcades. It's accessible through a button combination on the attract mode.

Right below Reptile fights is Ermacs. What this really means is Error Macros, the game counting how many times its crashed unexpectedly. But being right below the obscure secret fight and its name being not exactly indicative made people think it was an even more obscure secret-er fight.

This was not helped by Electronic Gaming Monthly's April Fools gags.

More background information, the digitized people sprites were shot against a green screen, so guy in the ninja costume wore red to contrast with it. Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Reptile are all palette swaps of this original red ninja. What EGM did was hack the game to name one Ermac and have him appear red.

Ermac went on to become an actual usable character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

Anyway, back to audit screens.

Shawn Attacks and Watchdogs do absolutely nothing and never go up. The character Tsang Shung can transform into other characters, but Kano isn't a playable character in MK2. He was in 1 and he comes back in 3, but he spends 2 being held captive. So Tsang Shung can't transform into him.

MK3 is missing Johnny Cage because the actor who portrayed him showed up basically in-character to another company's game's ad.

And they cut him.

So there's a Johnny Cage Transformations audit in MK3 in the same place MK2 has Kano Transformations. And stored with the match-end text ["Sub-Zero wins" and all that] is "JOHHNY CAGE TRANSFORMATION ACTIVATED". That's sic by the way.

Basically, the devs noticed players making a rumor about what Ermacs on the audits page meant, and started to intentionally leave strange red herrings in the audits page.

It's Shang Tsung, buddy.

# ? Nov 10, 2015 13:24

LITERALLY A BIRD: Sep 27, 2008; I knew you were trouble
when you flew in

Lord Chumley posted:

pretty sure you gotta probate yourself now

You're not the boss of me :argh:

# ? Nov 11, 2015 06:22

bewilderment: Nov 22, 2007; man what

LORD OF BUTT posted:

Undertale has a couple of really hilarious ones.

Firstly, in Sans and Papyrus' house, the door to Sans' room is locked for the entire game... unless you save right before the conversation where he judges your actions, reload it after he's done with the spiel for a secret codeword, reload it again for a double-secret codeword, and then reload yet another time. If you do this and get the key, you end up in a long, pitch-black corridor. Then, once you've walked enough, Papyrus turns the light on to reveal that you're just walking in place on a treadmill, with a note attached from Sans saying that you got pranked across time and space.

Actually you got super trolled because that room contains something useful after all!
You find the silver key in the dresser, which opens up the back entrance to the house to something small but kinda cool.

# ? Nov 11, 2015 10:00

Double Punctuation: Dec 30, 2009; Ships were made for sinking;
Whiskey made for drinking;
If we were made of cellophane
We'd all get stinking drunk much faster!

bewilderment posted:

Actually you got super trolled because that room contains something useful after all!
You find the silver key in the dresser, which opens up the back entrance to the house to something small but kinda cool.

Note that the back entrance has no visual or audible indicator that it exists. The only way you'd know it exists is through the river(wo)man vaguely hinting at it. The hint tells you not to sneak behind people's houses, which, of course, you have to do to access that room. This is one of about 20 possible lines, and you probably won't be using the boat more than four or five times per playthrough.

# ? Nov 11, 2015 12:23

Rockman Reserve: Oct 2, 2007; "Carbons? Purge? What are you talking about?!"

There's a guy in Val Royeux selling a box for 10,000 gold and acting all snooty about it, I kind of want to buy it even though I'm 99% sure it does absolutely nothing and is just a dev troll.

# ? Nov 11, 2015 16:52

saltylopez: Mar 30, 2010

Ryoshi posted:

There's a guy in Val Royeux selling a box for 10,000 gold and acting all snooty about it, I kind of want to buy it even though I'm 99% sure it does absolutely nothing and is just a dev troll.

If I remember right, you get a new mount or something down the road because of it.

# ? Nov 11, 2015 18:13

Scaly Haylie: Dec 25, 2004

E.V.O.: Search for Eden is a game where you start as a fish, biting other fish to death and eating their meat to gain Evo Points, which are the currency for upgrading your body. Meat is also one of the main sources of healing in the game, so, needless to say, you're conditioned right off the bat to murder and eat everything you come across.

The second chapter has you playing as an amphibian, and after you beat its first boss, an elderly amphibian thanks you, then leaves. There's a small window where you can attack him, so naturally you'd want to see if you can kill him. When you eat his meat, it gives you a small amount of Evo Points. It also heals you for a very large negative amount of HP, killing you instantly.

Don't eat your friends, kids.

# ? Nov 11, 2015 19:28

Nuebot: Feb 18, 2013; The developer of Brigador is a secret chud, don't give him money

Lizard Wizard posted:

E.V.O.: Search for Eden is a game where you start as a fish, biting other fish to death and eating their meat to gain Evo Points, which are the currency for upgrading your body. Meat is also one of the main sources of healing in the game, so, needless to say, you're conditioned right off the bat to murder and eat everything you come across.

The second chapter has you playing as an amphibian, and after you beat its first boss, an elderly amphibian thanks you, then leaves. There's a small window where you can attack him, so naturally you'd want to see if you can kill him. When you eat his meat, it gives you a small amount of Evo Points. It also heals you for a very large negative amount of HP, killing you instantly.

Don't eat your friends, kids.

You can also go through a really complex set of evolutions to turn into a human.

Humans suck compared to pretty much anything else you can be by the end of the game.

# ? Nov 11, 2015 23:47

PicklePants: May 8, 2007; Woo!

saltylopez posted:

If I remember right, you get a new mount or something down the road because of it.

I believe it's a nug mount? Something like that.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 00:01

foobardog: Apr 19, 2007; There, now I can tell when you're posting.

-- A friend

Additionally in E.V.O., the boss of the reptile stage (a T Rex) offers for you to rule the world with him. If you say yes, a little cutscene plays that says things go great until the meteors come and kill you and now you're just a stupid fossil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Ep6lbhNLY&t=513s

It does this a few more times in the game, but the only "trolly" one is the sentient fish people offering the same deal before they get caught by fishermen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0yttdPqFwY&t=345s

# ? Nov 12, 2015 01:13

Reubenesque Sandwich: Aug 1, 2006; Their flashing tongues, spitting out blood and poison.; Fun Shoe

Ryoshi posted:

There's a guy in Val Royeux selling a box for 10,000 gold and acting all snooty about it, I kind of want to buy it even though I'm 99% sure it does absolutely nothing and is just a dev troll.

I bought it, knowing it was a troll.

Shortly after that I found a use for all that gold, but as I couldn't afford new gear I got smacked down a lot. Lucky for me the next mission was the god awful ball, so I stopped playing.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 02:39

Dabir: Nov 10, 2012

What is the godawful ball?

# ? Nov 12, 2015 04:08

Orange Fluffy Sheep: Jul 26, 2008; Bad EXP received

Regrettable posted:

It's Shang Tsung, buddy.

The greatest troll along was me, trolling myself.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 04:14

U.T. Raptor: May 11, 2010; Are you a pack of imbeciles!?

Nuebot posted:

You can also go through a really complex set of evolutions to turn into a human.

Humans suck compared to pretty much anything else you can be by the end of the game.

Humans aren't bad per se, statwise they're very good. It's just that they're really expensive to heal by evolving and they're the only creatures who have to eat seperately from attacking

There's also the "arms and legs" section which is used all of once in the entire game I think.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 10:23

davidspackage: May 16, 2007; Nap Ghost

Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:

Your troll... is MINE

Fixed

# ? Nov 12, 2015 13:54

G-Mawwwwwww: Jan 31, 2003; My LPth are Hot Garbage; Biscuit Hider

I just started playing Godhand for the PS2. Godhand is pretty brutal but also an insane beat-em-up.

The first boss battle in god hand is against two very flamboyant twins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFr-4_Kykd0

You get a small selection of super-moves and they're limited in number depending on how many pickups you have. And one of the first super moves you have is called the ball buster. If you try to use the ball buster on the flamboyantly gay twins, all that happens is a dull "thunk" sound and he takes no damage.

After you win, you can go inspect the bodies. And if you inspect them, it says "He must have lost his balls in the war."

# ? Nov 12, 2015 18:08

many johnnys: May 17, 2015

CaptainScraps posted:

I just started playing Godhand for the PS2. Godhand is pretty brutal but also an insane beat-em-up.

The first boss battle in god hand is against two very flamboyant twins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFr-4_Kykd0

You get a small selection of super-moves and they're limited in number depending on how many pickups you have. And one of the first super moves you have is called the ball buster. If you try to use the ball buster on the flamboyantly gay twins, all that happens is a dull "thunk" sound and he takes no damage.

After you win, you can go inspect the bodies. And if you inspect them, it says "He must have lost his balls in the war."

It only fails against the one of them. The other one can be kicked in the dick to full effect.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 18:20

3D Megadoodoo: Nov 25, 2010

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't God Hand one of those games that gets harder if you play well?

# ? Nov 12, 2015 23:34

Section Z: Oct 1, 2008; Wait, this is the Moon.
How did I even get here?; Pillbug

Jerry Cotton posted:

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't God Hand one of those games that gets harder if you play well?

Yeah, but getting hit lowers it again so I never really saw Level DIE all that often as I stumbled my way through it.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 23:55

many johnnys: May 17, 2015

Jerry Cotton posted:

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't God Hand one of those games that gets harder if you play well?

That's correct. If you play on easy mode, it caps your difficulty at Lv.2 (medium), so you never see Lv.3 or Lv.DIE. I wasn't able to handle the game with that skill so I only played on easy...

Hard mode sets it to always be at Lv.DIE :twisted:

# ? Nov 12, 2015 23:58

Who What Now: Sep 10, 2006; by Azathoth

Jerry Cotton posted:

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't God Hand one of those games that gets harder if you play well?

Yep. Which makes achieving and then maintaining that level of difficulty very satisfying.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 23:59

Len: Jan 21, 2008; Pouches, bandages, shoulderpad, cyber-eye...

Bitchin'!

God Hand was a brilliant game and it disappoints me that ~~clover~~Platinum hasn't made another game using that style combat system.

# ? Nov 13, 2015 00:07

RareAcumen: Dec 28, 2012

Len posted:

God Hand was a brilliant game and it disappoints me that ~~clover~~Platinum hasn't made another game using that style combat system.

I'm annoyed that everyone decided to go in the exact opposite direction in regards to the camera. Why be able to keep your character in frame forever when you can have water drops and blood splatter on it as it spazzes out in a corner?

# ? Nov 13, 2015 00:13

Section Z: Oct 1, 2008; Wait, this is the Moon.
How did I even get here?; Pillbug

Len posted:

God Hand was a brilliant game and it disappoints me that ~~clover~~Platinum hasn't made another game using that style combat system.

Well, since we are past the PS2 era I think even Platinum Knows a Tank Controls beatem-up game would be too niche audience even for them to get away with.

Brigador, a (admittedly Isometric view) game where you literally drive Tanks (and Mechs, and hover cars with guns strapped to them, and-) has tank controls for everything but Hovers and the devs keep getting posters and reviews moaning about the tank controls, again, in a game where you drive literal Tanks.

# ? Nov 13, 2015 00:17

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 26, 2024 15:26

3D Megadoodoo: Nov 25, 2010

Len posted:

God Hand was a brilliant game and it disappoints me that ~~clover~~Platinum hasn't made another game using that style combat system.

I don't really like the game that much but I played it to see what the gently caress would happen next. I mean like

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

# ? Nov 13, 2015 01:15

The Something Awful Forums > Main > Post Your Favorite: Carefully Curated > PYF Trolls From Game Developers

«‹›74 »