Post
Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:39 pm
#121
Re: The End
This is pretty sad. I hope it's not really the end. I wish you success in whatever you do in the future.
Limit Theory the game, became for me only a first step, a proof of concept, a proof of efficacy for something that I have come to believe is not just a video game, but something downright important for the world: The ability for a single person or a small team of people to make complex, dynamic, living virtual worlds with far more ease than typical game development. As AI and automation increasingly threaten every profession, there is an increasing need not only for new jobs, but for new experiences, escapes from the bullshit of meatspace, and for people to find purpose through creative work. It is my sincere hope, my sincere dream that eventually, Limit Theory and the Phoenix Engine will be but a stepping stone to a world where creating a virtual multiverse is as easy as writing a poem...In that a single person can do so rapidly and a dedicated team can create something that makes even the best games of today look downright quaint.December 4th Soliloquy
When others ask about LT, moddability often comes up. Invariably, I bring up Limit Theory's suggestions sub-forums at some point, typically bragging on it as being "surely on of the best places on the internet to find inspiring, space-game/sci-fi ideas of remarkable breadth and depth, elaborated on by people of singular imagination and intellect." Since the KS closed at the end of 2012, there have been >1,000 topics and >20,000 posts in this subforum alone. It is a remarkable place -- one that I wish I had the time to read front-to-back. But that's just it: I don't. I don't even have enough time to read all of the beautiful, elaborately-thought-out gameplay suggestions generated by you all, much less implement them.
What I can do? What I'm really good at doing, as this whole process has taught me, and perhaps, what it is that I love doing above all else: it's probably not game design, it's probably not even procedural nebula algorithms ...no...building things that allow other people to realize creation with ease, simplicity, and power...now that is the kind of thing that can get me out of bed in the morning. And that's exactly what I/we have done. We've built something that can take a high-level, simple description of a new gameplay mechanism, and do everything that needs to be done behind-the-scenes to let that mechanism play nicely with a thousand others, in the presences of tens of thousands of entities stretched across a boundless universe. We've built something that renders many of your suggestions doable in a few hundred lines of Lua or less. And THAT...I'm proud of that
And this is my dream for Limit Theory: that it ships as the vision you all supported in 2012 + the modding capabilities that have since become a core feature, and that, in 10 years' time, it has become something utterly and totally beyond that which I could have done myself or with our small team in the same amount of time. I really can't wait
I endorse this vision, and I wish to sign up for your newsletter.Hyperion wrote: ↑Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:34 pmLimit Theory the game, became for me only a first step, a proof of concept, a proof of efficacy for something that I have come to believe is not just a video game, but something downright important for the world: The ability for a single person or a small team of people to make complex, dynamic, living virtual worlds with far more ease than typical game development.
Thanks Flat, I appreciate that. As good as people on the forums have been, I personally find more value in the wonderful conversations in the IRC that keep my nights at work interesting and fun.Flatfingers wrote: ↑Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:50 pmI endorse this vision, and I wish to sign up for your newsletter.Hyperion wrote: ↑Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:34 pmLimit Theory the game, became for me only a first step, a proof of concept, a proof of efficacy for something that I have come to believe is not just a video game, but something downright important for the world: The ability for a single person or a small team of people to make complex, dynamic, living virtual worlds with far more ease than typical game development.
(Also, and more importantly, please know that you've made friends out here you can talk with anytime.)
OK, back to the encomia.
LOL, Hyperion, I missed what you said at the very end, but now I see it, good oneHyperion wrote: ↑Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:34 pm
That said, I have a few suggestions on how to move forward in a way that I think offers a best-possible outcome.
- Put together a list of what has been achieved, and what you feel remains to be done before what you feel would be the game promised in the kickstarter. And also a supplementary list of things you would have liked to see LT someday accomplish (That way the community has some larger goals to work towards).
- Gather a team and start a patreon to support them and the continued development of the project.
- Release the code in a way that requires a % of any commercial revenue to be invested back into furthering the project, developing new and better tools for making development more accessible and giving a stable income to vetted developers. But also in a way so that anyone who relies on donations to keep everything they receive.
- Release a few editors to allow non-coders to manipulate a few of the existing pieces, especially the content Lindsey worked on.
- Release some of the shiney in a way that allows us to make desktops and screensavers and appreciate now, the ambiance and atmosphere of this wonderful procedural multiverse...The AI and ships can be added in later .
- Don't give up. You might not have been able to do this by yourself, but that does not mean you can't do it. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it wasn't built by a single man.
And Josh, we love you. Know that you alone inspired dozens of people to dream of things that would not otherwise exist. I hope that is some consolation <3
Also, you now have time to read all our suggestions
I took some time to think on all of this, and I'm going to respond now - as a regular forum member, not as an ex-community-manager. My CM hat is off right now.
I would disagree with this. First, there would be always something in his back, something he would still need to do. That is mentally stressful and not a good thing while cleaning a head. Second, it will get harder to come back to the code with passing time, especially if he gets something new started, like university or a job or whatever. So if the code is not released now, it will probably never be released.
Showman Josh locked Pragmatic Josh in the Graphics Monkey cage, I guess.
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