You all know that web series called 'Extra Credits'? This is a thread about that show asking what game devs think of it. http://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1rwuwj/what_do_you_think_of_the_show_extra_credits/ can't help but laugh as the thread gets sidetracked into the political divisions within the lizardman community also a lot of them seem to miss the point thinking its supposed to be a seminar for their benefit rather than an attempt to bring average gamers into the design space.
As much as I disagree with most of what Ragic posts, it's more appropriate for general discussion than most of the new threads that have appeared here in the last few days.
you seem to post more in threads you want moved to off topic than you do in threads that are on topic. I think someone wants to be a player mod.....
This talks about some bias against me, that or you don't even care to read relevant threads anymore so you don't notice my input.
I don't know "Extra Credits", but I think that our devs, and many of us -- most prominently Sokolov -- have a great deal to say about what a great game should look like. I think theorycrafting a game is a fun topic.
This should serve as an example of why Gabby should not be a mod. The obvious tryhard is comical though. I WANT SOME AUTHORITAI SO BAD I'LL SHOW YOU HOW GOOD I AM AT POLICING THE FORUMS, LOOK AT ME!!!
I don't even know how that is possible tbh. Surely you've seen a utube of the show linked in various threads. If not check out the link in my sig. they aren't always right, but when they are, its music to the ears.
As a dev, I dislike Extra Credits in general. The content is generally fairly superficial and lacking in the reality of development, while largely trying to appeal to their intended audience (gamers). The result is that it makes gamers think they know more than they do, with people linking Extra Credits eps all over the place like they are some sort of design bible. You try to explain why it doesn't apply and the gamers go, "You are just stupid, I watched EC and I know better than you now." Additionally, many episodes are preachy and opinionated, rather than grounded in facts or design theory. And then they are just plain wrong in many cases as well - mostly because they are being idealistic about a particular subject and ignoring reality. Now, they do say a lot of correct things, but it's often presented as though it's the one and only way and everything else is an abomination when reality is much grayer than they imply. Also, they seem to love being redundant and repeating themselves over and over so that's just annoying. Maybe they've changed, but I haven't watched them recently. But yea, no. No one I've ever spoken to who has been in the industry for awhile thinks EC is for them. We have plenty of amazing resources for knowledge sharing. I can't speak for all, but personally I just wish they would stop misrepresenting the industry just to pander to their audience, with the end result making our ability to communicate with players much harder.
Also, no one is really sure what James Portnow has actually done. He used to run a couple different companies, one closed in 1996, and the other you can't find any information on. He has allegedly worked in Call of Duty before it blew up in an unknown capacity, and apparently helped worked on the narrative of Farmville. He also teaches at Digipen - which is pretty cool. As an aside, I must say I have never interviewed any designers from Digipen that ended up getting hired. Though I think that's mostly because anyone worth having gets picked up as part of a team straight out of the school or starts their own thing and so it is not reflective of the school itself. Then again, who am I? Just a guy worked on PoxNora and some mobile games. So there's that
