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02:14
@Vaillancourt You guys don’t have sports?
@noobprogrammer Not during the pandemic, no.
02:43
During the worst of the COVID stuff, everything was canceled entirely. But, now it’s gotten better and our county is basically just frozen and doesn’t increase anymore.
Oh. Where are you?
We have sports. We also have a flagrant disregard for the prevalence of COVID transmission. 🤷🏻‍♀️
We’re in good old Indiana.
AKA “hillbilly hills”
@brug Where might you be?
I'm in the US. And nothing about our country has frozen.
Transmission rates have never stopped going up.
I know, it’s getting worse. But for some reason our county doesn’t go up much at all. I have no idea why. Maybe everyone got it already? There was a gigantic jump around June.
And that jump just kept going until it just slowed down almost to nothing.
@brug Let’s just hope things get better in the US.
03:03
Always
My optimism isn't very high though.
Same here. But there may be an awakening.
In the meantime I will study compsci and hopefully in 15 years I can get out.
Huh. I think I may just stay here and try to help America in some way, even if it’s just a small action.
You know what I mean?
If that works for you...
I just want to help people.
03:13
I just want to survive
That too. But mainly wanting to help people.
But that might just be because I’m young and haven’t gotten into the real world. Just a thought.
03:33
I mean, helping people is good. Don't lose that.
 
9 hours later…
12:24
well looks like my gaming studio could get acquired by a very big group holding. I'm so excited I had to share :D
nwp
nwp
Let's hope you won't get fired.
 
1 hour later…
13:44
@UriPopov Cool, what's your game studio?
14:18
That's a possibility of what could happen.
Here, when company A buys company B and fires top personnel from company B with a package, the package is included in the "acquisition cost".
14:38
But not always, right?
From what I heard, it depends on when it happened. It has to be within a certain period after the transaction.
(Un)fortunately, I'm not an accountant, so I'm not super clear on the details as I have never had to deal with this personally.
Oh. Well, at least I don't have to worry about being fired!
14:54
:)
15:08
I've decided I want to break the so called "4th Wall" in my game. But, I don't really know how to do that necesarily.
@noobprogrammer Mileage varies. Hostile takeovers are aptly named. But not all mergers & acquisitions warrant the name.
Some aren't overtly hostile, but realistically, the entity being acquired doesn't have the finances to say no to an offer.
That makes sense. Especially if it is an indie game dev.
What I don't think I've seen in game dev is the outcome where the gov steps in & prevents the merger.
We had an interesting scare at Ubisoft a little while ago, when Vivendi started making moves toward buying a controlling stake.
Did they end up buying one?
I mean, I'm looking at their website and don't see Ubi as one of the companies they control, so I'm going to assume not.
Oh, so that's why it didn't come up.
Did the company change much after that happened?
We got a rather generous incentive program to buy up shares in the company to flight off the acquisition. 😉
15:43
That’s a smart move!
16:40
Do you know how I might break the 4th wall? I’ve looked at different examples, but I don’t want to just copy it from the game.
user92578
I'd say that highly depends on the overall narrative and style of the game
The conventional advice is: Don't
It disrupts immersion. It is hard to do well.
Like anything, I'd start with "why do you want to do it?"
Although I also support experimentation and breaking rules...
Is it for comedy? Or to lampshade a gap in the fiction? Or to create a sense of discomfort at the expected fictional rules/magic circle being violated? Or to make the player think about real-world implications of the game? Or to make a point? Or...?
16:44
To make a point that everything they do in the game has a bigger meaning.
And every action has a consequence. Big or small.
user92578
That seems like the opposite of what breaking the immersion would accomplish
Maybe also make the player uncomfortable like @DMGregory said.
So, kind of like Undertale - taking away the player's safe anonymity behind their avatar, calling them out for the choices they are making as a person, refusing to let them just reset the game to try for a different outcome?
Yes, but I don’t want to copy everything word for word, I want it to be different.
What kinds of choices/themes/values do you want your game to be about?
16:58
A battle of good versus evil. I know that may seem vague, but it’s literally going to be saving people and creatures from a powerful darkness.
And how would you like this to tie back to the player's life outside the game?
Make them feel guilty if they assist the darkness in enslaving everything.
Now you have a concrete goal. Try reflecting on things that have made you feel guilty. What makes you feel pangs of guilt or regret? Can you incorporate some of those elements into your game design?
17:19
Yes, I think I can. I’ll make a list.
Thanks for the help! 🙂

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