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[STARSBarry]

So I see people talking about the EU funding and saying shit like it should be removed.

The problem is that for the "art" part of videogames this is super important, and you can't all get hits.

This also surprisingly is why I respect Dustborn more than say Concord. Because this is a full game, so it lands more in the art vs product side for me, they had something they obviously wanted to say and made it.

It is however bad, like really bad, in a physical cringey way. And I am also confused why the culture department for an EU country funded a story about an American road trip. Normally this funding is used to push for games that feature the history or mythos of that region, you know to push your countries culture.

I can't imagine that this game got the funding pass if they pitched it as this, I honestly believe something went on here where they promised one thing and delivered something else.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

According to studio Red Thread on their website, they have 15 people in Oslo, and numerous other employees around the world. So it can be 20, 25 or 30 total. Who knows.

So there's possibility when the game dips to 30 people or less (it'll probably dip to less than 20 in the middle of the night) there's a chance that all gamers on Steam can be Red Thread employees on Steam trying to pump up count. Its a 6 hour forward time difference. So at 3 am eastern time (lowest count), it'll be 9 am in Oslo and that's when they can be online.

https://www.redthreadgames.com/games-with-soul

We have 15 team members in our Oslo office, along with employees and freelancers across the globe.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Church couldn’t get me to quit porn, but if they are the new porn count me out.

 

[Haint]

So I see people talking about the EU funding and saying shit like it should be removed.

The problem is that for the "art" part of videogames this is super important, and you can't all get hits.

This also surprisingly is why I respect Dustborn more than say Concord. Because this is a full game, so it lands more in the art vs product side for me, they had something they obviously wanted to say and made it.

It is however bad, like really bad, in a physical cringey way. And I am also confused why the culture department for an EU country funded a story about an American road trip. Normally this funding is used to push for games that feature the history or mythos of that region, you know to push your countries culture.

I can't imagine that this game got the funding pass if they pitched it as this, I honestly believe something went on here where they promised one thing and delivered something else.

You've somehow missed that DEI, Misandry, Anti-White-Peepo, Anti-Colonialism is it's own culture, and the new culture of much of EU and the world.

 

[ManaByte]

 

[Cyberpunkd]

 

[MayauMiao]

The voice acting...and IGN gave this game 7/10.

 

[Sentenza]

The voice acting...and IGN gave this game 7/10.

This looks genuinely unbearable in every single one of its lines of dialogue. How far deep into your cult you'd need to be to work on this shit for years and never realize it?

Tangentially, I just had the realization that I haven't seen anyone on the purple forum talking about this gem so out of curiosity I went and looked for it. Here's what I found.

- a trailer reveal with 44 replies and people hopeful until review came out.
- A review thread with 23 replies. The reviews themselves would be a problem deserving its own thread here, since the scoring was all over the place (from scathing "2 out of 5" to inexplicable "8 out of 10"), but ALL the reviews tried to sugarcoat the issues with the writing claiming "the game's heart was in the right place but failed to deliver". What's possibly worse, though, is the (very short) discussion itself. While no one went as far as claiming to love the game, the isolate attempts to criticize it openly have been shot down immediately with some good old dogpiling.
- An official OT with less than 60 replies where the very few people hanging around after this debacle try to gaslight themselves into claiming the game is "actually very enjoyable if you give it a chance" or some shit.

Let's face it. Not even most of the supposed target audience want anything to do with this insufferable shit.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

This looks genuinely unbearable in every single one of its lines of dialogue. How far deep into your cult you'd need to be to work on this shit for years and never realize it?

Tangentially, I just had the realization that I haven't seen anyone on the purple forum talking about this gem so out of curiosity I went and looked for it. Here's what I found.

- a trailer reveal with 44 replies and people hopeful until review came out.
- A review thread with 23 replies. The reviews themselves would be a problem deserving its own thread here, since the scoring was all over the place (from scathing "2 out of 5" to inexplicable "8 out of 10"), but ALL the reviews tried to sugarcoat the issues with the writing claiming "the game's heart was in the right place but failed to deliver". What's possibly worse, though, is the (very short) discussion itself. While no one went as far as claiming to love the game, the isolate attempts to criticize it openly have been shot down immediately with some good old dogpiling.
- An official OT with less than 60 replies where the very few people hanging around after this debacle try to gaslight themselves into claiming the game is "actually very enjoyable if you give it a chance" or some shit.

Let's face it. Not even most of the supposed target audience want anything to do with this insufferable shit.

It more like anyone that frequents the other forum knows any criticism will get you a ban. It's self-censorhip.

 

[nowhat]

And I am also confused why the culture department for an EU country funded a story about an American road trip.

Just to nitpick, Norway is not a member of the EU.

 

[Branded]

Is this real?

It'd be wild if they didn't realize they're parodying themselves here.

 

[STARSBarry]

Just to nitpick, Norway is not a member of the EU.

Yeah that's my fault and a fair comment, they did get EU funding as well I believe, which again is head scratching.

Arts funding is very Important otherwise it essentially means that only the rich can effectively have a voice, as they would otherwise be the only people able to effectively pay for the ability to make it while never gaining enough to live off. Very few people can live off art, people with rich parents certainly can.

So it's sad to see such programs adding stipulations on what has to be made, it's effectively the rich telling the poor what they are allowed to make as art to recieve funding... defeating the purpose.

 

[ShadowNate]

I'm still puzzled about the thought process behind the design of this game's mechanics.

I don't agree that it's SJWs pushing some agenda. It does not fit.

It can be perceived as "offensive" to both ends of the spectrum. The anti-woke will be turned off just by the horrible lyrics and the mention of buzz words in the dialogue (and probably the look of the characters, stuff like pronouns etc). And the random screen grabs that were sure to be circulated on twitter.

But I also can't see how the "woke" crowd would be cheering for stuff like "Cancel", "Bully", "Trigger", and such being used as power words / moves to manipulate people, which they also hate -- and actively deny taking part of. Well, they hate them *because* they can't admit they partake in them, which of course they have, but you know, it's not a good look if a game exposes this.

This more and more comes off like either something that someone thought up as funny (and maybe smart thing to do) and, boy, did it misfire. Or it's plain really superficial understanding with strong vibes of mockery of the whole political discourse as presented (and mostly lives) on social media. And again it's a swing and miss.

 

[Toots]

Pure Orwell

He wrote a warning, but those who govern took it as a blueprint...

 

[Da1337Vinci]

The gameplay is kinda unique. Either you don't recognize all these words or if you do time to scale back the social media usage.

Or maybe it is satire

 

[Pejo]

The more screencaps/video clips I see of this game, the more I wonder if it's just not a satire with VERY thick sarcasm and deadpan jokes. It's kinda like how I STILL don't know for sure if DJ Khaled is an actual person or just a character that the guy made up and lives as, while in front of cameras.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I will give GaF Gold to anybody who buys this, plays til they get at least one Steam achievement, then gets a refund.

 

[Sonik]

I will give GaF Gold to anybody who buys this, plays til they get at least one Steam achievement, then gets a refund.

I'm pretty sure that torturing people and then paying them for it is still a war crime

 

[MagusMajul]

We're the new porn

 

[Darkness_Arises]

I will give GaF Gold to anybody who buys this, plays til they get at least one Steam achievement, then gets a refund.

Nah bro, ain't nothing in this world worth going through that torture. Also, buying and playing this might trigger Steam's algorithms to recommend more crap like this.

 

[AJUMP23]

Is this game Satire?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Nah bro, ain't nothing in this world worth going through that torture. Also, buying and playing this might trigger Steam's algorithms to recommend more crap like this.

Yes but think of all the gratitude and prestige you’d receive from your peers here on GAF

 

[Mister Apoc]

so this game is horrible?

 

[Valt7786]

Is this game Satire?

It...has to be after seeing those shots.

 

[Dynasty8]

I will give GaF Gold to anybody who buys this, plays til they get at least one Steam achievement, then gets a refund.

You can offer me Gold for a year and I still wouldn't be able to do it.

 

[Bombolone]

I think this game is satire.
I saw another 'Bully' screenshot and a light bulb went off in my head. Definitely satire.
I know nothing of Norwegian people, land or culture. but for some reason that feeds into my belief that it must be satire, lol.

It's either that or you are admitting that you go out of your way to treat others with hostility. Be a shitty person.
Concord and this have genuinely left me baffled this week.

I picture one or a few people on this dev team, 'aware' and just gassing up their ideas and contributions, knowing that this was going to bomb.

edit.
(thinking more about it)
There are people on that team who genuinely believe and see this game as *thumbs up* stuff, and then there are some on the team having a gaff at it all.
or probably not. The fact that I can't tell...

 

[StreetsofBeige]

it's no parody game. Just check Red Thread's website and flip through the tabs at th top of the page. They are all about diversity.

red thread games

The official home of Red Thread Games, developer and publisher of Dreamfall Chapters, Draugen and Dustborn.

www.redthreadgames.com

Check out their careers page. Name one other company whose so focused on demographics and quotas.

Jobs — red thread games

www.redthreadgames.com

 

[StreetsofBeige]

On Steamdb, their main page shows it's got 26 players, but I couldnt find it i the comparison charts? I get this.

 

[Sgt.Asher]

I may have to pick this up if it is ever on sale. I find it fascinating.
It's like a look into the mind of a far-left lunatic that loops into parody. Add in some bat shit insane story elements (JFK becomes a dictator or something, there's conspiracy ghosts possessing people).

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

On Steamdb, their main page shows it's got 26 players, but I couldnt find it i the comparison charts? I get this.

Click that link at the bottom

 

[taizuke]

Has a piece of media ever gone so far left it actually turns right? Now we're questioning whether this game is satire or not. I'll be honest i'm kinda confused myself. lol

Move over Black Myth Wukong, Dustborn is the true anti-woke bullet the culture war needs!

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Click that link at the bottom

I'm trying to get that view where you see 100 games per page and Dustborn ill be lets say rank 3000, sandwiched between 50 games ahead and 50 games below it. similar to this kind of view for Concord.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Has a piece of media ever gone so far left it actually turns right? Now we're questioning whether this game is satire or not. I'll be honest i'm kinda confused myself. lol

Move over Black Myth Wukong, Dustborn is the true anti-woke bullet the culture war needs!

I doubt it. If you skim my links above from their web site, they are no satirical game maker.

If they truly tried to make a parody game, that's one heck of a fail at reverse psychology.

 

[taizuke]

I doubt it. If you skim my links above from their web site, they are no satirical game maker.

If they truly tried to make a parody game, that's one heck of a fail at reverse psychology.

You're probably right. It's just funny seeing this game be so overtly woke, to the point that I can see why it can be confusing.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

Is there any chance this game is in-fact a parody? It just can't be real... I saw some gameplay which showed the insufferable main character calling someone a racist and a conversation where you had to bully and manipulate your friend.

 

[ShadowNate]

It's perplexing that they thought this would be clever gameplay. It more and more sounds like a half-joking idea someone would suggest well into their sixth beer at some party.

Ragnar (the creative mind behind The Longest Journey and its Dreamfall sequels) has been writing for games with diverse, but not-if-your-face characters, since more than 25 years ago. It's not new for them. Nor it's experimenting and failing at their gameplay mechanics (albeit some in Dreamfall were iirc enforced by the publisher).

But this, this is something else, even for them. I'd expect them to be more mature at tackling this or keeping their own more sane perspective on diversity and inclusivity, while not coming across as super focusing on it or doing whatever this shitty gameplay with power words is.

 

[Physiognomonics]

The problem is not that those kind of games are trying to brainwash the players into some kind of cult. The main problem is that specific ideology is racist and intolerant.

 

[Hudo]

I want to get some EU funding to buy Command & Conquer off of EA's ignorant and incapable hands and license it out (cheaply) to a dev team that cares.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Is there any chance this game is in-fact a parody? It just can't be real... I saw some gameplay which showed the insufferable main character calling someone a racist and a conversation where you had to bully and manipulate your friend.

If I didn’t know the dev behind it, I’d swear this was some prank like “let’s see what’s the most preposterous piece of art we can get the Ministry of Culture to pay for”

Sadly though I think this game is just what happens when these people take the mask off and say what they really feel. Probably a small team of like-minded wackos with nobody to tell them how retarded and tone deaf their vision was.

 

[RJMacready73]

it's no parody game. Just check Red Thread's website and flip through the tabs at th top of the page. They are all about diversity.

red thread games

The official home of Red Thread Games, developer and publisher of Dreamfall Chapters, Draugen and Dustborn.

www.redthreadgames.com

Check out their careers page. Name one other company whose so focused on demographics and quotas.

Jobs — red thread games

www.redthreadgames.com

You’ll be joining a small indie studio working out of a cosy office in downtown Oslo, Norway. We occupy the third floor of a beautiful and historic 146 year old building, with two restaurants and a café/bar on the first floor, a pizzeria/bar and an amazing coffee-and-sandwich place across the street, a Japanese Izakaya around the corner, and multiple grocery stores, lunch bars and cafés just minutes away.

We’re a ten-minute walk from much of what central Oslo has to offer, including all public transportation, malls, museums, parks, restaurants and nightlife — and the forest and fjord are only 15 minutes away by metro or bus. Oslo has been ranked #7 on the list of the world’s happiest cities, and Norway ranks fifth on the list of happiest countries. What we’re saying is: this is a happy place!

We don’t believe in crunch time at Red Thread. We believe that family, friends, and a thriving personal life are more important than work, and that people are more creative and productive when they’re also happy and healthy. We work five days a week, seven-and-a-half hours a day. We have five weeks of annual holiday, along with additional personal days and flexible work hours. And don’t let anyone tell you there’s no such thing as a free lunch: we serve one every day!

tbh id fucking love to work for them, just dye your hair purple, call yourself Sally and its a win win... in all honesty they sound like a company that's all about its people which is a fucking lot more can be said for most American corpos

 

[Esppiral]

Never heard of it.

 

[Shubh_C63]

If they had made this a parody game people actually would have bought it. But that takes balls.

 

[STARSBarry]

You've somehow missed that DEI, Misandry, Anti-White-Peepo, Anti-Colonialism is it's own culture, and the new culture of much of EU and the world.

I just want to say that this shit really pisses me off in art.

Like largely because as someone who studied to be a creative (I wanted to make videogames, didn't like it so tried to move into Broadcasting and was equally horrified) and have the papers for as little as they are worth, this is a real problem.

Right now art is pretty much back to being the playground of the rich, you need to substitute your life for years effectively with little or no income, only people with well off parents can afford that. There's few routes in and exceptions, going indie is now an option admittedly but that's mainly a solo gig.

But for larger projects like this, you need funding, and now the funding is adding stipulations, you must include black people, you must include minority religion, you must include gender queer... you MUST write a story that these people want you to... this is supposed to be an art grant for artists to make something they want to say. And this is where the funding for the arts is falling down, the rich are telling the people begging for scraps what they can and can't say in advance before allowing them to be "creative."

For those thinking I'm exaggerating read the grant stipulations here

Relevance. Audience. Sustainability.

In the Norwegian Ministry of Culture White Paper “The Power of Culture,” issued in the autumn of 201...

www.nfi.no

This is what this game was mostly built on, no wonder it turned out this way.

The arts are fucked.

 

[MudoSkills]

Yes but think of all the gratitude and prestige you’d receive from your peers here on GAF

It's not worth it.

 

[Aenima]

Asmon got a clip with the character using the cancel skill. This game must be the most unintentional funny shit ever.

 

[Mondai]

Probably one of the most "I knew this game was going to fail hard as soon as I saw it" games of all time.

 

[Sgt.Asher]

Here's another funny thing. The main cast cannot stand when someone has a gun to protect their home, but they are perfectly fine with lighting people on fire with malatov cocktails.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Should hit single digits soon during off peak hours. Steamdb's yellow line graph shows it bottoms out at 12 gamers in the middle of the night. And at that time it's morning in Oslo (their head office).

No doubt some of those gamers are employees logging in first thing at work.

It's possible when that happens the only people playing the game in the entire world are employees in Norway as the studio has 20+ people working there.

 

[Duchess]

What I find funny about this thread is that everyone is doing a double take and asking if this shit is real

 

[STARSBarry]

What I find funny about this thread is that everyone is doing a double take and asking if this shit is real

its so bad it sort of comes back around, its one of those "not sure if serious" squinting look things.

like the developer and his past tweets make me think its for real, but if he came out and said "yo guys this was a long con, its actually making fun of people like this" it would perfectly fit, like the cast come across as utter unlikable psychopaths, and its played strait, they would need to change nothing for this to be true.