GU Comics by: Woody Hearn

As I was reading through my various gaming news sources, I ran across an interview with an "indie" developer working with a few other guys on an RPG called The Age of Decadence that features turn-based combat. Vince D. Weller (pseudonym) is the Lead Designer on AoD and apparently decided to use the interview direct rather negative commentary at readers of the Rock, Paper, Shotgun site after they responded poorly to a video Vince had released showing the game's combat.
Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun [ more info ]

After reading the first inklings of "Vince"s grumpiness, I decided it was best to go watch the combat video and read some of the comments "Vince" was responding to. This way I could see where both sides were coming from before proceeding with the rest of the interview.

For a visually motivated person such as myself, it was painful. I actually caught myself nodding off. And where some of the comments were far more negative than they needed to be, I understood their displeasure. The video and comments fresh in mind, I returned to the original article. To my dismay the interview spiraled into a morass of bitterness and vitriol. And since the interviewer was too kind to tell "Vince" to sod off, I decided to say it for him... kinda.
( Note: What Vince says in the comic was taken directly from his comments in the interview. )

Now rather than go into a lengthy tirade about being hypocritical where making sweeping generalizations is concerned, I encourage you to go read the the cited article yourself. I can see where "Vince" is coming from. I even agree with some of the basic ideas around which his comments are formed. But the truth is all of his valid commentary ending up being overshadowed by the pointless lashing out he did.

UPDATE:
I changed my mind about not linking the game. I've never done that before and it was unfair of me. Just because one guy insulted another community doesn't mean the game isn't worth linking. For that I apologize.

A couple of things to note about my response...
I was on "Vince"s side until he insulted the RPS readership. I read his Oblivion review at RPGCodex and where it was a bit nitpicky, it mirrored a lot of what I thought about the game. It should also be noted that I have nothing against turn based gameplay. I loved XCom (on the PS2). And I definitely feel gameplay has suffered in the face of pretty graphics. What made me want to hug the interviewer was his calm in the face of RPS's community being insulted.

And finally, I thought the actual graphics in the AoD video were nice. It was the animation that caught me snoozing. A sentiment that, apparently, "Vince" shares... to a certain degree.

[ discuss ] - replies ( 47 ) last post by: Woody