Redaxium 2
I need to apologize for a joke I made.
I told a bad joke. It may have had potential but I don't think it came out quite right.
Thankfully the bad joke I made actually wasn't done anywhere near the main distribution channels.
Most of you should be totally unaffected.
But all the same I can forsee the situation isn't guaranteed to stay that simple for everyone.
Others may weaponize my joke-flop to potentially spread offense here causing drama.
I'm literally responsible for everything related to the game so I have to do the PR my self.
I will definitely be censoring attempts to create drama. However I cannot hide from larger social issues
I may have wandered into. We are in a very confused world by my estimation but i'm not going to pretend i'm
I know everything.
I'm making this apology bigger than it has to be, and as a result risking a new sort of flop.
But I need to clear my conscious after spending years defending my game with no end, and then telling
one shitty joke to top it off. Actually the joke is vaguely funny but still has no place in gamedev-o-sphere, so I should have some
shame that I told it at all in someone elses' gamedev forum/chat.
Before I begin I want to say most people know how to make all sorts of jokes with no issue.
That's not guarantee you're a funny person however. I don't see myself as a funnyguy,
but I've had to learn to laugh at my own trauma. E.g. being a failure of a gamedev.
I try not to complain when others make fun of my game or dismiss it out of hand.
Though I do reguarly challenge assertions.
We humans share a common humanity or common spoonfed sensibilites from mainstream/popular culture.
So called political correctness stomps out the rest of our creativity. But we're suppose to believe
we are all equally open canvases since birth except for those things we will stand divided on
because identity is so important in our age.
Jokes are not all created the same way. That's not an equity issue, it's a if you're going to live in this world
expect differences issue. Though I wouldn't be so shallowed minded to say you must cherish all differences.
Occasionally you may find your specific in-group and you hang out with them. This necessarily has some import of a special sensibility or
forces you develop a special way of communication that they are ok with. That means you have a limited way to work with a limited group.
Really though, sometimes we just f*ck up and it doesn't matter who we know or don't know.
We can't all be professional comedians. Like WTF. And even among comedians they have an audience
they care more for than others. That doesn't come from a place of hate, though it does usually
have something to do with taste. FYI your taste probably isn't that good to save you from making a fool of yourself at some point.
But once again sometimes we just f*ck up. Sometimes we end all consideration at "is this vaguely funny to us right now",
and decide then good, time to share it because it seems relevant.
I think I may have f*cked up. Mostly because I don't like the joke I told.
It's kind of gross to spend this much time explaining myself to people who likely don't really care,
but i'm not entirely worried about numbskulls who want their next scalp.
I can say now before speaking out about other people's colored flags, pay attention to your red ones.
Was that funny? No? Right because some poor bastard thinks they are the red color on the innocent flag
they believe in. They don't want to be equated with a negative thing like "red flag" at the same time.
I'm also no war hero but i'm sure there are those who see red on flags in a different way, identify with it
slightly different regardless what they are told it should mean. Blood of saints, or blood of shame, etc.
What's all funny to you really isn't funny to most others, because what's real to you isn't what's real to others.
It actually takes work to give people your own view on things. And some will never let go of theirs for better or worse.
Our culture in my opinion is degenerate and fictious. We stand united in our foolishness to pretend
virtue signaling means getting along, and shutting down bad people is the best way to show how we're right.
Our lives should be more interesting than what we seem to demand in public.
We are individuals we can really take a stand on our own and are even expected to in hard times.
Some may not realize this but getting a laugh or teaching a lesson does not require an accurate historical
understanding. Mythologizing the past can be quite useful, you just have to understand the point of it.
But all this over a joke is pretty silly anyway.
Whatever is the case, so called comedians have to adapt their material over and over
until someone appreciates it and they can cash in on diverse audiences.
Everyone knows, though they may forget it, there are also certain jokes that must be carefully constructed or else it just serves
to offend people.
If a joke is trying to be edgy, good chance it has some double-edged nature to it.
Language is also this way and I will likely be taken not just out of context but given alternative context
by others who want to say they know me better or other's reactions better. In reality they think they know what something means,
only because it's what they would intend something to mean. And that's being quite generous to people
who might purposely take things out of context.
I have not used my public platform(s) to push any edgy or discriminatory jokes. Though I cannot say i've been flawless in my
entire online presence.
However the game does feature a few alternative culture takes. For current year some of my memes are not very entertaining even
to those who agree with them. Though some games shine because they are trying to be trapped in their own historical or cultural
framing.
For some reason people call these alternative culture embraces "shizo takes". If something you say doesn't mesh with all of what society
is comfortable admitting in the open, somehow you are wrong, not just technically wrong, but morally wrong.
Some takes are trying to be prophetic. In that sense maybe they should be judged less rigidly.
A game may feature a claim about the future of society that doesn't seem to be on the horizon.
Is this a conspiracy by the gamedev to be the problem rather than the solution? No. But I can't read minds and neither can you.
Look this post is about one joke and I won't quote exactly the original form of it. But you'll get the full idea of what it was.
Here we go.
[JOKE]
Certain people may as well take the next step and put themselves on display literally since they insist on reminding us
all the time of their existence. It can be like the good old days!
[/JOKE]
*In my defense the original joke form I noted they would be hung by undergarments.
This is ofcourse rude because who wants to be forced to be their own decoration in some humiliating way?
Frankly no one wants to do anything against their own will. Though some people do decide to self-humiliate.
But that's for them to do.
Consent is important. Though I wouldn't say it is the end of all moral consideration of personal choices.
Yet some activists have been known to use their literal body to share their message.
Usually with disruptive non-consent.
A small preview of what I mean:
Jumping in front of vehicles, gluing themselves to the ground, stripping half-naked, setting themselves on fire (not recommended!),
cuffing themselves to office buildings, using their body as part of an artistic display (occassionaly nude),
marching in public with exposed genitals regardless if children are near them, dressing up as things they don't identify as just too confuse or piss people off,
desecrating exhibits using paints or fingerpaints or foodstuffs, setting fire to property (albeit with no one usually inside),
hacking into people's devices to own them for wrongthink, but also fairly mundane things such as being wrong on the internet so you can
claim a certain group reacted to you is the real problem.
Context ofcourse matters for acts of activism. And for everyone you love there's a good chance some are weirdly silent when one or more actions go too far.
Why? Courage issue? What if your buddy has strange support for what is clear to you as wrong or misinformed action?
Well you have your priorties, or are worried about chilling effects of even trying to approach them.
Being forced to speak out also is lame.
The truth is i'm not an activist. "Activist" doesn't have to even mean a bad thing for anyone.
But I guess in a world of self-identification anyone can be pissed of at some activism.
In this case my joke more or less was targeting activists who are obssessed with self-promotion. But that's not how people will view it because
they attach their identity to anything that agrees with them on something. My joke arguably struggle with this very point. Realistically we
can only celebrate what we like about others. And unless you like someone for just existing, weird tbh, it's pretty hard to
never find them annoying.
I have no choice becuase I think I will be asked this anyway...
If you personally need a flag to celebrate simply existing well that's sad and interesting. You must have real problems!
But there's a line with self-promotion where you annoy everyone,
and if you start to bend laws to your will to do it unchecked.. expect others to want to critisize.
If you want the world to critisize you in a way that only empowers you because you have some identity..
..that might make for a fun video game idea, a great fantasy! However not sure this dynamic in real life won't
bait some people into having insenstive jokes to poke fun at you.
IF enough people agree with you, then we call those who backward or behind on the times.
I'm just a gamedev, can't we just like what we like, and dislike what we dislike?
Well no because I foolishly told a bad joke.
Everything I said doesn't matter in this case. That's what i'm suppose to believe. Because a joke is mostly taken on its own merit. That
brevity is what makes it so perfect. But merit is assessed from context you think you get. But also the consequences you think you understand.
Sob stories aren't an excuse for bad jokes. You don't need that sort of context. But victims are special and we should tread carefully.
I can appreciate that sentiment.
Joke tellers must always conduct ourselves as if we might accidentally be
the cause of a horrorfying social revolution or simply hurt one person's feelings. Whichever it is,
try to be mindful.
But is this situation, that? IDK.
In truth i'm one who is upset my joke isn't very good. Getting banned is nothing new to me. Humans are very utilitarian and rarely
the snowflakes nor the open-minded folks they present as. We want things easy.
Deep down I am worried some of the people who
enjoyed or played my game, might have been upset by my joke if they saw it.
To you guys: i'm sorry.
Leaning into "Good old days" framing of the joke didn't help. Sure it added more punch but it can give the wrong
message.
I think it's time to address the issue of PRIDE. I probably took too much pride in writing this post,
but imagine if I spent anymore in making it shorter, can't be bothered.
It's not hard to turn a good thing into a bad thing. I may have done so here. PRIDE can do this easy. But it also is what makes some developers
or modders do great work. But when does self-promotion and self-reverence become an out of control
invasive force in other people's lives? Technically speaking almost immediately if it's there at all, but "by out of control"
we usually mean beyond the tolerable limit.
Tolerance is a good thing ofcourse. Self-promotion also a good thing, unless you're bad at it.
I've been prideful about what I accomplished. I've indulged in talking about my game a bit too much
especially where I ended up telling the bad joke.
Perhaps it's my own jealousy when I hear about people who can make it a felony for others to put a single blemish on their art which they lay down
in prime territory for easily marking it up. Yes by law we can make all sorts of distinctions in how we go about breaking the law,
but maybe ask if it really makes sense in this case. I don't know, context doesn't really matter imo.
My joke was still bad.
So without further ado, yes I apologize. My joke was overly general and insensitive, and it hurts my own pride that I
can't really stand by.
p.s: you can comment on this if you like but i'm not really interested in discussing the broader social issues.
Remember keep things ontopic about the game if you're going to post on the steam forum.
Patch 2.3b
Lagorigana, Romfore, Zaltenjock, and Ethicsburg.
-Fix: Anxiety and AdrenaBoost information not showing up on perishable items.
-Fix: MPCure being ineffective.
-New/Change: Using Innkeeper to stay now grants MP curing to go along with Anxiety, and
Fatigue cure, and a small amount of health gain as well.
-New/Change: Traveling by Car now has guaranteed 2x less time use.
15 Game Minutes instead of 30. Your Car model/type also still matter how far you
go during this time passage of 15 minutes. By contrast: walking means 30 Game Minutes is guaranteed
costed.
-Fix: A couple memes were unreachable.
-New/Change: Your exact MP points are now in your stat menu.
Otherwise percentage is still displayed in the game.
-New/Change: Escort Merchant now gives you random material pack
for completed missions.
-New: You now get a 50% chance of receiving a Zulde Star for completing Escort Mechant missions.
These can be redeemed for ZP.
-New: You get a 33% chance of receiving a Zulde Star for completing Golden Sphere missions.
Patch 2.3
They have 33% chance to regenerate 1 point every hour.
Paste Machines have been added to every town and to half the passage ways.
Every Guild/Home as either a food or water paste machine that comes with it.
This means if you buy a bunch up you can greatly take care of your food/water needs.
-New: Mental Doctor. You can pay a Mental Doctor and they will cure your Anxiety
or max your Adrenaline for you.
You can find one at Romfore and one at Ethicsburg, and a hidden one at Lagorigana.
-Fix: Banks not keeping your money.
-Fix: It was discovered that all the shopkeepers were being ignored for saving/loading.
They should now (where applicable) save/load information.
Highly expected that you may have to re-roll your character or start a new one for
stability.
Patch 2.2
-New/Change: Probability of more money for shopkeepeers/traders.
-New/Change: Added Rewardsmen to Legacy Hall
and outside of boss lairs. (Prospercanius and Crystal Dungeon Tower)
-Fix: Excessive ZP not being considered by Zulde.
-New/Change: Your ZP can now roll-over into the next Godweek.
-New/Change: Your sacrifice of blood and survival essence to Zulde/Divine shrines is returned to you
if you don't use it. But this may not be a guarantee.
-New/Change: Appeasing Zulde/God now leads to PP gain.
Note: Banking remains unreliable. And if your skills disappear in combat you may have to restart
the game app in addition to loading save to see them again.
Patch 2.1b
-New/Change: ZP now handed out for killing bosses and solving mysteryboxes.
-New/Change: Anxiety, Adrenaline, and Life are healed a tiny amount when sleeping.
-Fix: You can now type in what number you want for trading items to/from Shopkeeper/Traders.
-Broken!!: Banks do not seem to retain player money. I do not why this is.
You'll have to buy copper/silver/gold/platinum tokens and store them in your
private storage or inventory until this issue is figured out.
-Broken!!: Skills on the skillbar seem to disappear at some point.
Only way to get them back is to restart the game application itself.
Keep in mind sometimes skills can't be used because you are out of MP.
Patch 2.1
to "Tim" in Prospercanius.
-New/Change: Overall atleast four more Barkeepers added to the game.
-New/Change: Added O2 pad to both entrances/exits of the first town.
-Change: Moved O2 pad deeper into industrial zone of the first town.
-New/Change: Savings and Savings Deposits are now tracked separately.
-New: You can view the status of Savings and Savings Deposits.
-New: Use "Empty Savings" button to withdraw all savings including your deposits.
-Change: Lowered price of O2 cans and Doctor Field Paks by about 25% each.
-New/Change: Closing a Void/Portal grants 5 ZP.
-New/Change: Perishables should now always cure something.
-New/Change: Anxiety and Fatigue cure should show up on perishables more often.
-New/Change: You can now sort the Shopkeeper/Trader's inventory using the
"Sort (theirs)" button.
-New/Change: Shopkeepers now have a 20% chance to add new items per hour rather
than once daily.
-New/Change: Item level requirements should be more reasonable.
For best stability you may need to re-roll your existing character(s).
Or start a new gam/character.
Patch 2.0c
-Change: Widenened some of tutorial to be less claustrophobic.
-Fix: Toxic Areas not harming player if health is already at 1% or very low.
-New: CLVL now also viewable in player INV.
-Fix: Player Max Level now enforced when leveling.
-Change: Health items cure by 1 health and 1% health, rather than just 1 health.
-Change: Updated help about Fatigue.
-Experimental: Approx every 4 hits with your weapon should give you 1 proficiency to weapon skills.
-Change: You are now informed if the weapon you are using in TBC is not a proper weapon.
You can still attack people with weird non-proper weapons if you choose.
-Change: In your personal player inventory if you hover your cursor over weapon/hand slot or your armor slot,
the items you can't equip to the slot will have extra dark fade on them.
-Change: You are now informed if you lose reputation from killing a civilian.
-New/Change: You can now attempt to Mass Store items to npcs.
-Change: No stealing from Shopkeepers/Traders.
-Change: You can now loot items one by one from npcs.
But you get back a random item at a item from their inventory.
-Experimental/Change: Less stamina needed for most skills.
(you may have to start a new game to get these changes)
-Change: Breathing ticks go down more slowly.
-Change: Not as much XP is gained for killing NPCs.
Patch 2.0b
Fixed: Prof Rollover, however you'll need to re-earn the lost prof.
Fixed: O2 Cans not being recognized as usable.
New: Boomerrang. Any object you normally could open an interaction menu with,
now can be interacted with at longer distance by launching a boomerrang at it and making contact.
Patch 2.0
-Change: Doctors now also sell O2 Cans.
Traders still sell O2 Cans as well but probability remains approx 25% chance you come across a trader who does.
-Change: Infinity Abyss now bring you down to 1% of health if you have OVER 33% health.
Otherwise it's still instant death.
-Fix: Some health damaging functions were ignoring your Vitality stat bonuses from items
and other things.
-Note/Reminder: You take more damage when cornered.
Cornered is defined as no place for TBC to playout.
NPCs do not have this problem. But your team members will.
-Change/New: You gain +1 O2 max every time you hit an even level.
e.g. Level 2, 4, 6 each will give you 1 boost to O2 max.
Note: If you started a character before this change: you can go to a Renewer or O2 Renewer Pad and your breathing cap will be properly
set.
Patch 1.09c
I also tweaked some texture settings so you're in for a surprise in some locations.
-New/Change: Added a tutorial section for learning about O2.
-Improved: Text centering for buttons is a little bit better overall.
note: ambient occlusion has recently broke for Linux OS users. I'm looking into this issue.
Consequence is lighting/shadowing will look bad if you're a Linux OS users.